He's the time taken up, but there's never enough

And he's all that I need to fall into

Emerson

"Okay, but seriously, you'd pick Pamela Anderson over Carmen Electra? Carmen totally has more class."

Oliver smiles at me and chuckles, but I can tell he's still distracted. I sigh. We've been sitting on the beach for at least an hour, chatting about random things. Actually, I've been bringing up random things while Oliver smiles and nods.

"Brody, wait!" I hear someone call, and both mine and Oliver's heads snap around. "Brody!" the voice calls again and as two figures, one (a male) moving a few steps ahead of the other (a female), I slowly begin to see that the female figure belongs to Miley Stewart, another one of Oliver's friends. I don't recognize the boy.

Oliver stands up quickly. "Miley?" he says, brushing the sand off of his pants. His eyes scrunch as he tries to make out the other figure. "Brody?" he says, realization dawning on him. "Brody Truscott?"

I study the fast-approaching boy. Truscott. Lilly's brother. It's obvious just from looking at the blonde-haired, silver-eyed, practically male version of Lilly.

"You asshole," I hear Lilly's brother hiss and before I know it Oliver is lying in the sand, clutching the side of his face and groaning.

"Dude," he moans, "I haven't seen you in, like, two years! What's your problem?"

I'm instantly at Oliver's side and Miley is at Brody's, tugging at his elbow pleadingly. "Oh my god," she mutters, glancing fervently between the two boys. "Brody, can we please go?" She glances at Oliver again, as if weighing her allegiances. "Oliver, are you okay?" she finally lets out.

Oliver groans in reply, stumbling to his feet. I steady him, my arm on his elbow. "I… who… you…" I stammer, looking from person to person. "What's going on, Oliver?"

Oliver moves his quickly swelling jaw a little, wincing in pain. "I have no clue," he says, his brown eyes fixed fiercely and angrily on Brody. "Care to enlighten me?"

Brody lunges at him again, but Miley holds him back. "Stop!" she squeals. "Brody, stop!" Brody seems to calm slightly when he looks at her. He grudgingly takes a step back. "I'm sure that this is all one big misunderstanding," Miley says slowly, her grip never loosening on Brody's arm.

"I'm not sure how I could have misunderstood what's going on," Oliver yells, his breathing heavy, "When I had no clue what was going on in the first place!"

Brody glares at Oliver. "You were supposed to be Lilly's best friend," he says, his voice low and dangerous.

Oliver takes a step back, baffled. "Wha- I… I am her best friend," he says. "If this is about our fight, I told her I was sorry, I-"

"Brody, please," Miley begs again, placing one hand on either of his shoulders and moving to stand in front of him. "Let's just go. She's okay now, that's all that matters."

"Okay now?" Oliver says as I stand by as a spectator, completely unnoticed. "When was she not okay? What happened?"

Brody takes a step toward Oliver, Miley trying with all her might to pull him away. "My sister was almost raped tonight, Oliver," he says quietly, his intense gaze never leaving Oliver. "And that could have been prevented if her best friend had taken the time to answer his phone."

I gasp. Miley's arm drops from Brody's and her head falls. Oliver stumbles backward a few steps. "She… she what?"

"She tried to call you before they left the prom," Miley explains, her eyes never leaving the sand. "Quinn was drunk and acting all disgusting around her, and so she was going to get you to come pick her up." I watch as Oliver presses his eyes together tightly, his head shaking back and forth slowly. "They dropped everyone else off at the after party, but Quinn had the limo driver take them to some deserted area or something. He… you know… and when Lilly wouldn't, he… hit her and just left her on the side of the road." She sighs and looks at Brody. "She finally got in touch with Brody and me and we went and picked her up." Brody finally looks away from Oliver, his jaw clenched tightly. He takes a few steps back. Miley looks at Oliver, whose eyes are wide with horror. "It's not your fault, Oliver," she says soothingly, earning a snort from Brody. "Really, it's not. We shouldn't have come here, Brody," she murmurs, taking his arm. "We're going to go now. I'm sorry. Really sorry."

And just as quickly as they had appeared, they shuffle off along the beach, Miley dragging a reluctant Brody away.

"Oliver," I say quietly, knowing what I have to do. "You need to go and talk to Lilly."

He looks at me and for a moment I think that he's going to refuse, going to deny his feelings again. "You're right," he says finally, his voice shaky. "I do."

"And I was right earlier," I say. "About you loving Lilly."

He stares at me for a long time. "I… I think you were," he says quietly.

"You and Lilly, you were meant for each other," I say, feeling tears stinging the back of my eyes, a large lump forming in my throat. "And I can't stand in the way of that, no matter how much I like you."

He wraps his arms around my shoulders tightly. "Thank you, Emerson," he murmurs, "Thank you."


Lilly

"Hey."

My eyes snap open and instantly find Oliver's, who is standing over me. I sit up slowly, my eyes never leaving his, but not saying anything.

He scratches the back of his neck nervously. "Can I sit down?" he asks quietly.

I nod and he breathes a sigh of relief, sinking into the sand next to me. There is a long silence between us. I pull my knees toward my chest, hugging them closely to me. Tears are threatening to fall again, but I bite my lip so hard that I draw blood, trying my hardest to hold them back. Finally, I get the nerve up to speak. "Aren't you going to say it?" I hiccup, a tear escaping against my will.

He turns to me, his eyebrows knitted. "Say what?" he asks slowly.

I try to will myself not to look at him, to continue staring at the ocean, but slowly, I feel my head turn toward his. The instant my eyes hit his face all the tears that have been threatening to fall do just that. "I told you so," I whisper.

I collapse onto his shoulder and Oliver's arms are instantly around me. "Shh…" he soothes, rubbing my back slowly. "Lilly, please," he begs, "I would never say something like that to you. You have to believe me. I'm so sorry for everything."

I shake my head, my arms linked tightly around his neck. "Oliver, I should have listened to you. You warned me plain and clear." I sniff. "I feel so stupid. I really believed that he liked me, actually liked me."

"Lilly," he says, "You deserve so much better than that."

"Apparently," I say, "I don't. There was Matt. Then there was Lucas. And now Quinn."

"Lilly, someone's going to come along who loves you… a lot. And who would never do anything to hurt you purposely," Oliver says quietly, tucking my fallen curls behind my ear.

I study him carefully. "I doubt it," I say. "Just promise me that we won't fight like that again. If I'm going to have more jerk boyfriends, I need to know that I have a good friend."

"You'll always have me, Lilly Lou," he says. "No matter what happens. I'm just sorry I was such a jackass tonight."

"Oliver, really," I say. "It's not your fault. Besides you have… other things… I'm sure." By other things, of course I was referring to Emerson, but I'm hoping he didn't catch that.

"Emerson and I broke up," he says quickly and I'm guessing that means he did catch what I meant.

"Wha- Why?" I ask, genuinely surprised. Two days ago Oliver couldn't shut up about the girl and now she's history?

"I…" he gets this look on his face that I can't quite read, like a mixture of nervousness and relief. "I like, no, am in love with someone else."

I stare blankly at him. Could this night get any worse? He is in love with someone new? "Oh," I say softly. "Well… I'm happy for-" I stop. I'm about to lie to him… again, to tell him that I don't care what the hell he does. Oliver's promised to be my best friend no matter what happens, I might as well tell him how I feel and see what happens. Quickly, before I can change my mind, I say, "No. I can't pretend to be happy for you anymore, O."

He scrunches his eyebrows and stares at me. "What? What do you mean?"

"Oliver," I say slowly, heat rushing to my cheeks. I look down at the ground, suddenly feeling like I'm making the biggest mistake of my life.

He takes my hands in his, lightly rubbing his thumb over my knuckles. "What is it?" he murmurs.

"I love you," I say, so quietly that it's barely audible. I look up and see his eyes growing wide. "I love you, Oliver. So much. And I can't pretend that I don't anymore. I dated Quinn because I thought he would help me forget about you and it didn't even work." I smile sadly at him. "Maybe I shouldn't have told you, but I… it just seemed right."

It happens so quickly that I almost don't believe that it's happened. But it is happening. Oliver's lips are on mine, one of his hands on the back of my neck, the other resting on my hips. As soon as it registers in my mind that my dreams are coming true, I'm kissing him back.

He pulls away and smiles at me. "You're the other girl, Lilly," he says.

I grin and lean in for one more kiss. "I love you, O," I say quietly, my forehead resting against his.

"I love you, too, Lilly Lou. I love you, too."

A/N: Aw, it's over! It's kind of sad, I really liked this story and I think all of you did, too! A huge thanks to all of my reviewers, you make me happy! And I think I'll be posting a new Lilly/Oliver story fairly soon so be sure to check for it. Much love and thanks so much, sweetcaroline