Chapter 11: Trade Off
That was a very long wait and I apologize to all, life has been getting in the way.
Lilly woke up to find Miley was not in her bed. She glanced at the clock, which read eleven AM on the nose. She pulled herself out of bed and made her way to the bathroom; she combed her hair and brushed her teeth then after splashing some water on her face, walked downstairs.
Robby was the only other one on the first floor, Lilly looked at him apologetically. Instead of a good morning greeting Robby began with "Lilly have you seen Miley? She hasn't been around all day."
The blond was now a little concerned. "Um, no I haven't, she wasn't here earlier this morning?"
"No she wasn't, I found myself eating breakfast alone. No idea where she is?"
Lilly shook her head. "Let me give her a call" she pulled out her cell phone only to find it had no service. "You guys normally have no service in the house?"
"No, we get excellent reception in here, why you don't have any bars?"
"No, that's we-" She stopped herself, remembering why she no longer had any cell phone service, the person paying the bill, her mother, was dead. "I need to um… Get a new phone…" She whispered.
That was when Miley walked in the front door looking as if she had just witnessed a murder. "Miles?" Robby asked.
Instantly the brunette perked up to her normal self. "Hi daddy! Sorry I missed breakfast, Oliver um… Gave me a call and needed some help with… A thing at his house" she rambled walking further into the house and towards the stairs, passing Lilly and subtly putting a note into the blond's pocket.
Robby looked a little confused. "I um… Probably don't want to know…"
Lilly pulled the note out of her pocket after he turned back around. "UPSTAIRS NOW!" was what it said.
The pregnant girl put the note back in her pocket then did what it told her to do. She entered Miley's bedroom to find the younger girl in the fetal position, one hand on her groin and whimpering heavily though trying to keep sounds to a minimum so as not to attract attention.
"Miley? What happened?!" Lilly whispered.
"I uh…" She cried quietly. "Rico, I… let him…" She pointed to her privates with her nose "So he'd… Drop the lawsuit…"
It took Lilly a moment to put two and two together, but once she figured it out her eyes went wide and her mouth went agape. She tried to speak but the words couldn't come out. She shook her head to clear it but even that didn't do the full job. "You… You let him…" She had trouble finishing her sentence. "… Do things to you?"
Miley nodded.
Lilly once again lost her ability to speak.
Robby answered the knock at the door to find a man he did not recognize. "May I help you?" He asked.
"Is Lillian Truscott present?" The man said.
"Who's asking?"
"She has a message from a Mister…" The man looked at the letter he had in his hand. "Rico."
"Lord all mighty what the hell does he want now? Lilly!"
Lilly heard her name being called and it snapped her back to reality. "Oh shit, I'll be right back" she said to Miley before exiting.
The blond got to the bottom of the stairs and said "Yes Mister Stewart?"
"The plaintiff has another message for you" Robby said walking back into the kitchen, obviosly pissed off.
Lilly, confused, approached the man, who handed her the letter. "You've been served" he said before he turned and left.
She opened the letter, it was a short one. "all charges dropped. Mwahahahahahahahahahahahah" was all it said.
"What's he suing us for now?" Robby asked.
A part of Lilly was relieved. "He's um… dropping the charges."
"What? Seriously?" Robby asked, getting up and rushing towards the girl. He took the paper from her hand and read it. He took a few seconds to comprehend it but them said "Huh… I wonder why he did that."
"I could tell you why" Lilly said to herself. "Well, the uh… Reason isn't too important to me; at least we don't have to worry about the lawsuit anymore."
Robby paused for a moment before saying "Well maybe, but that was just blind luck, you've still got a big responsibility on your hands and that's not going to go away."
Lilly lowered her head, silently admitting he was right and that she understood. She stood there for a handful of seconds and then went back upstairs to be there for her friend.
The blond returned to Miley's room and found it to be empty, so she decided to try the bathroom. The door was ajar, but barely, she could hear water running but not from the shower, it sounded more like the sink. Figuring Miley was trying to wash up, she let herself in…
…To find Miley nude from the waist down. She was furiously scrubbing at her nether regions. At first Lily wanted to look away but then put her innocence aside, Miley needed a friend right now and she seems to have thrown shame to the wind. "Miley?" Lilly said quietly.
Miley turned, her face was beat red, she dropped the sponge she was using and stared at the other girl, trauma in her eyes. Lilly closed the bathroom door and Miley walked over to her, without dressing herself, and collapsed into the blond's embrace, crying her heart out.
Lilly sunk to her butt and leaned on the wall behind her in a sitting position, Miley followed and the crying continued. The brunette had made a huge sacrifice for her friend, but the price may been too high.
Yet another dark turn for this story. Once again I appologize for the long wait for this update.
