Miley lay in her bed. She, honestly, couldn't sleep knowing Lily was out somewhere. She looked at the clock. Neon numbers flashed out 1:00 AM. Should she be worried?

Suddenly, a click and slam of a door filtered through. Miley was glad her dad was out for the weekend, or Lily would have a shotgun shell through the head for scaring the house like that. She heard the guest shower turn on. And then the guest door closed. Lily had never slept in the guest room before, but Miley was okay with it. And she closed her eyes for a much anticipated sleep.

Miley awoke. The neon alarm clock flashed a bright 8 am. She hardly ever slept any later. After her late arrival, Miley figured Lily would probably still be asleep. Something in her mind told her to go check on her.

She went to the bathroom and fixed a few crazy curls, brushed her teeth, and then walked over to the guest room. She opened the door as silently as possible, and walked inside.

Mangled between the white sheets was a little bundle of innocence. That was the only way to describe her. The light penetrating through the constricting blinds was shining down on her in a radiant kind of way. It was no halo, but in its own makeshift way, it made the blonde appear angelic. She was beautiful in repose. The way her lips were slightly parted, the way her golden locks curled around her face, and the way her eyes were so calmly shut. Her image gave deception to rumors of drugs and pointless whoring about.

She looked innocent of anything. Even with the evil that seemed to crawl about her surface, all Miley could see was a misguided treasure to be adored for the good moments of her personality. That's all anyone could see of Lily this moment. The scene completed cleared Miley's mind of all the younger girl's misdoings. All she wanted to do was make a big, yummy breakfast for the girl, and hold her in her arms.

It was so wrong. It was so wrong that Lily couldn't appreciate the things Miley did for her. It was so wrong that Miley wanted to passionately slave over this girl, tell her everything was okay, and make her life better. It was so wrong that Miley had the urge to hug the girl so closely she could feel every crevice in her form, every crease in her clothes, every breath in her chest. Oh boy, that was so wrong.

Miley turned away, ashamed at her thoughts. She exited the room and closed the door. She was beginning to understand Lily. She knew that when Lily got up, she'd probably receive the cold shoulder and the brunt of whatever had pissed the little blonde off last night. She decided maybe she should leave her alone today. After all, she did have a date planned with Jake.

Jake. Jake was getting to be very different after his week away. He was so much kinder and gentler. This was the Jake that Miley had fallen in love with. This was the Jake Miley sat by faithfully with. This was the Jake she longed for and forgave. She felt bad for forgiving him, but it was necessary. She had to spend her life with him. Plus, as long as she promised to "do it" with him at least twice a month, he would never be forceful. He promised. And in the past week he proved it, by never forcing himself on her mouth, never forcing his hands on her. Being told to have sex twice in a month wasn't that bad though, was it? Nope. Not if she got the boyfriend she knew and loved back. Love is supposed to be sacrifice right?

After she was finished convincing herself that her actions were right, she pulled out her cell phone and punched in the numbers.

"Hey my Smiley girl, how are you?" It was early, and Jake was certainly straining to sound excited. He must have just gotten out of bed. She giggled a bit at the nickname though.

"Hey Jake, we still on for the park?"

"Yeah, uhh, it's 8:15 in the morning Miles, you think we could go out a little later?"

"Can you pick me up at 9:30?" She really wanted to be out of the house before Lily woke up.

"Uhh sure no problem sweetheart. I'll see you in a bit."

"Okay, see ya Jake."

"Bye Miles."

The line went dead. Miley still didn't trust Jake completely. She shocked even herself at how fast she'd gotten over the incident. But a day spent remembering the boy she loved was certainly necessary. She kind of needed to get her mind off Lily. So she went downstairs and began to cook breakfast.

Lily awoke to a big ass column of light in her eyes. She groaned and turned over to look at the standard alarm clock by her bed. The neon print read 11 am. She let out an exasperated sigh of annoyance.

Her stomach twisted in pain. She realized she hadn't eaten after the weed last night. Not only was she hungry because it was the morning, but also because she hadn't satisfied the munchies. This is gonna be one of the kill me now days. She got up slowly and made her way to her overnight bag. After she readied herself for the day, she walked downstairs, the familiar scent of food lingering in the air.

"Miley?" She looked around for the girl. Most likely, she wasn't upstairs. She was always awake by now from the two weekends Lily had spent there. She felt like she'd been floating on some cloud. It was the greatest two weekends of her life. But she had to get real. She had to realize, like everything in her life, happiness disappears. But this time it was her who had made it disappear. She groaned. Better me than someone else. At least I know happiness in a lie.

She looked for something to eat. As she neared the refrigerator, a note with her name on it sat in big letters.

Lily,

I know you're mad at me. I'm sorry for whatever it is I did. I won't waste my time asking you to talk to me, and to avoid further pissing you off, I decided to leave you alone for a bit. There's some bacon and eggs I made for you in the microwave, and if you need me I'm out with Jake. Just call.

Miley

Lily looked at the note and scoffed. How could she go out with Jake? The Jake that caused her all that pain? Lily thought about last weekend. They were talking about Jake.

Flashback

"I just don't know what I did for it Lily. Why did he do that to me?" Lily sat with Miley curled in her arms. She was honestly uncomfortable, but she knew Miley needed it. She kept showing off her new talent of hugging, as Miley played with the straps of her shoes and confessed her feelings about Jake.

"Miley it's okay, you didn't do anything to deserve it. You should just break up with him." What was she supposed to say? Why hadn't Miley broken up with him already? A fresh set of tears wet her arms as they slid off Miley's cheeks.

"Thank you Lily." She had a dark look in her eyes. Like she was trapped. Like she was hiding something. But she was utterly grateful. What'd Lily do? All she did was sit there and hug Miley. But, if that was helping her, then so be it.

"It's okay Miley." She was nervous. What was she supposed to do?

End of Flashback

Lily delved into the bacon and eggs. It was amazing. She kept thinking about Miley. She kind of wanted the company. She wanted to apologize for being a bitch. Even though she'd never apologize to anyone else, she felt the need to say something. It was awful to think that Miley had thought about her, let her stay in the house, and made her breakfast…RIGHT AFTER SHE'D BEEN A TOTAL BYOTCH. The thought actually made Lily laugh. Miley was so weak. She was too kind for her own good. She was going to get destroyed, eaten, spit out. But she'd have to figure that out on her own, because after she said sorry to Miley today, she planned to leave the house for good.

She pulled out her phone.

-Thank u Miley

She looked around for what to do. What was there to do? Was she supposed to leave? Was she supposed to stay? She decided to clean up and do homework. It would keep her mind off things. At least until Miley came home. She rehearsed her speech a few times. Why was it so difficult to just say I'm out?

Jake snaked his arm around Miley's shoulder. They were sitting on a bench, silently watching the antics of little children. Honestly, being with Jake had been amazing. They had gone out for breakfast together, taken a long refreshing walk, and now they were cuddling on the bench. She hesitantly rested her head on his chest, tucking herself into him.

He was warm, and he smelled great. He always did, really. But the way he was being so gentle and gracious today was just making him even more appealing. He was coming back. He was fading in. The old Jake was crawling back out. She was starting to find the shoulder she used to cry on, the eyes that used to melt her. Her Jake was finally back. Her heart was starting to flutter again.

"Hey Miley, you look a little troubled. Is everything alright?" Was her face really that distracted? No, she was pretty good at hiding it. This was the old Jake that could always tell when something was wrong. This was the one her heart lived on for. Right?

"Miles?" He hugged a little closer for her attention. She looked at him, meeting his shiny blue eyes.

"Nah I'm fine, just got a bit on my mind."

"You wanna talk to me about it? I'm no advice giver, but I can listen."

"Nah I don't need to bother you with my life."

He looked down at her with eyes full of concern and a smile of pure…care? His eyes were the warm sunny rays she remembered.

"Miley, your life isn't a bother to me. I wanna be close to you like I used to be. I know I've been saying things like that all week, but listen Miles. I wanna be your best friend again. The guy you go to straight away when you need help, need to talk, need a hand. I don't know how I let myself grow so far from you. I've been so selfish and stupid. But let me be here for you always."

Miley looked with the greatest love in her eyes. It was her fault. It was her fault she let Jake go. She's supposed to have sex with her boyfriend. It was her fault that she ever made him resort to violence. She was so lucky to have a boy like this. How could she not see that? After all, besides the rape, he'd never done anything bad. He was perfect. And maybe it wasn't rape? Maybe if she would've stopped being a drama queen, she could've enjoyed. No, he didn't rape her, he made love to her.

"I forgive you Jake. It's my fault. Forgive me?" He smiled and they came together in a warm kiss. That's it. I've got her. As long as I can talk myself out, she's in my control. He smiled against her lips, and they stayed together, harmlessly kissing, for what seemed like hours. Miley was content. That was a feeling she hadn't been used to with him.

Miley crept through the door silently. It was 5 pm. She'd gone to a movie with Jake and then they'd headed to an arcade. Wow. She'd spent around seven hours with him. It flew by so quick.

She saw Lily hunched over the island-bar. She got a distance so she could see what the girl was working on. Homework?

"Hey nerd, how ya been?" She was in a good mood.

Lily turned around suddenly, embarrassed that Miley had seen her doing homework.

"What's got you in such a great mood?" Didn't she hang out with Jake today?

"I was out with Jake silly, didn't you read the note." Am I missing something? Didn't Jake rape her? Didn't he cause her all those tears? Like what the hell? Lily wanted to man up and ask why she would hang with Jake after all the tears, but she knew how those conversations often went. They were avoided. And her intention wasn't to piss Miley off; it was to tell her not to invite her to her house anymore. This was just someone she couldn't handle taking advantage of. It had to be wrong for her to want to preserve Miley's feelings. It had to be. Damn my conscience. You don't work when I do drugs, you don't work when I get in fights, the minute I wanna be bothered taking advantage of someone sweet you damn near strangle me with guilt. Fuck you.

"Lily?"

"Umm Miley I'm gonna go home tonight okay? Thanks for letting me stick around today; I apologize for what I said to you yesterday, it was out of line for me to get so pissy." Miley's face dropped.

"But Lily Rick's there this weekend. Isn't he?"

Lily should have lied and said no. That way she could just go. But no, of course, the conscience was working against her better judgment. Plus, she could handle him. She didn't need anyone's damn help!

"Yeah he is. But it doesn't matter, I can han-"

"No, Lily! You can't handle him. I'm not letting you leave. Please Lily? I know you're a strong girl, I know you're brave and able to face anything, but this doesn't count as something you shouldn't be worried about. No Lily, please don't go." Miley's tone was strong, serious, and pleading. There was no denying those eyes. Miley wanted to ask why Lily hadn't done something about Rick, but that would just lead to a Jake discussion. And she was not ready to unveil her secret about Jake.

"Miley…" Lily whined.

"No Lily. Please?" Lily looked at her. She was already in submission. They both knew it.

"Okay. Thank you Miley. I guess…I guess I just always handle." Did she just breakdown? Damn you inner Lily!

"Lil, can I have a hug?" Why had she wanted one from Lily all day?

Lily looked at her unsure. She decided to make a silent vow to herself. She would reward Miley's kindness by satisfying this need for affection she had. Yes, if Miley liked this affection whatnot, then Lily would give it.

"Yeah."

They came together. Miley wrapped her arms tightly around the girl, not around her neck, around her waist. She leaned into her completely. Sparks flew through her as she felt every part of herself pressed against the other girl. From her shoulders to…well …the front of her pants. Oh boy, this was close. This was REEEAAALLLY close.

Lily threw her arms back around Miley. Damn this girl liked to touch. Jesus was there any part of her that wasn't being crushed into Miley? Hmm…maybe hugs aren't that bad. It felt like forever since they'd hugged.

After they broke, Miley had a gigantic smile on her face.

"What's got you so happy?"

"I didn't think you'd hug me."

"Why not?"

"Guess I thought you were still mad at me."

"I was never mad at you Miley. Just mad in general, then I took it out on you. I apologize."

Miley nodded and smiled. She called into a pizza place, not really feeling like cooking.

After Lily had playfully and successfully fought Miley until she let her pay the bill, and after they had snuggled on the couch and watched a Lord of the Rings marathon, it was around 11 pm. Lily was admittedly uncomfortable with snuggling. But she would stay true to her vow. And after a while, it was kind of nice having Miley playing absentmindedly with her fingers, running her hands up and down her arms. She was getting more comfortable with her scars, Miley's fingers caressing them, making them okay. But Lily would never tell her that. She still couldn't believe how touchy feely this girl was, how affectionate she could be after yesterday. But what the hell?

It was time for bed. Miley offered the guest room, and Lily took it. It was the right thing to do. After they had both showered and brushed their teeth, Miley walked nonchalantly into said room. Lily was sitting on the bed distractedly.

"Hey Lil uhh where'd you go last night?"

"Oliver's." Lily spoke without thinking, instantly regretting it. She saw the upsettance in Miley's eyes; she had ditched her for drugs.

"Okay then Lily. Get some rest." She figured she wouldn't start a fight.

She walked over to Lily slowly. She sat on the edge of the bed near her and snatched up her hand.

"Lily please trust me. Give me a chance before you push me away." She looked deeply into Lily's eyes. They were confused, clouded over, thinking. But they were touched. She was touched.

"Good night Lil. If you feel like you need drugs, talk to me please. Talk to me about your problems."

Before she thought about, and before Lily could process it, Miley quickly kissed her on the cheek.

"G-Good night Miles." She touched her cheek. Miley smiled and bit her lip before turning off the light and walking out.

Was that a Goddamn kiss on the cheek? Jesus Miley.