I'm so sorry about the delay in updates. I was out of town for the weekend and then I had writer's block and then…meh. But chapter 12 brings you conversation, confusion and the return of the voices in Lilly's head…So here it is and I hope you guys enjoy it!

As usual, thanks so much for all the reviews/favorites/alerts! They mean so much to me!

The disclaimer is still the same. And it still makes me sad.

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Chapter 12

The kiss was soft and tentative as Joe gently moved his lips on Lilly's, not quite daring to believe this was happening. But then he felt her fingers playing with the hair at the nape of his neck and he tangled his own hands in her hair, and he couldn't help but think that this is what heaven felt like.

After a moment, they both pulled away, breathing heavily and holding on to one another like they needed to stay rooted to the earth. And maybe they did, because Joe, at least, felt like he was floating. And by the look in her eyes, Lilly did, too. Just the sight of her flushed cheeks and half-closed eyes was heady and intoxicating. Tenderly, he kissed her again, more fervently this time and Lilly participated wholeheartedly.

However, a few moments later, she abruptly pulled away a semi-horrified look on her face. Joe looked at her in confusion.

"I—" she started, but she couldn't finish. She looked away, blushing and biting her lip.

When she didn't say anything more, Joe got a little nervous. The atmosphere had gone from one of pure bliss to awkward in a matter of seconds, and Joe didn't know what had happened or what to do.

"I—did I do something wrong?" he asked tentatively. Maybe he had rushed her. Maybe when she had kissed him, she was telling him that she wanted to set the limits rather than having him take control. Maybe—

"You didn't do anything wrong—it's just—I can't—I don't—" Lilly groaned and scooted away from Joe on the rock. "I just—I can't think when I'm this close to you."

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Joe finally spoke again. "Do you want to tell me what's wrong?"

"I don't know if I can do this," Lilly said quietly. Joe's heart sank. Maybe she didn't like him as much as he thought she had? But then, why would she kiss him? Lilly wasn't the type of girl to play those kinds of games. "Miley likes you and she's my best friend, so I'm not supposed to like you."

"But you do." Joe stated uncertainly, focusing on the last part of what she was saying.

"I do," Lilly agreed, which made him breathe a sigh of relief. "A lot. But so does Miley."

He shook his head. "Well, she's nice and a good friend, but I like you, not her."

Lilly looked up at him and smiled shyly. "I know. But that doesn't matter. She kind of…staked her claim, I guess…a long time ago."

Joe was confused again. Oh, girls and the way their minds worked… "Staked her claim? But how does that matter if I'm not interested in her like that?"

"It's a loyalty thing," Lilly explained sheepishly. "Even though I never explicitly stated it, it's understood that I'm not going to go after you."

A frown marred Joe's brow. "But I don't get it. I don't like her like that. Wouldn't that negate her claim?" He shook his head in puzzlement. Girls were just so hard to understand…

She sighed. "I know. But let's put it this way… how would you feel if you told Nick that you liked me and then he made a move on me anyway?" Lilly demanded.

Joe looked offended on his brother's behalf. "Nick wouldn't do that to me! We're broth—oh. I see what you mean." He paused. "Nick…never made a move on you, did he?"

Lilly let out a choked laugh. "No! And you see where I'm coming from on this, right?"

With a sigh, Joe lay back on the rock, crossing his arms behind his head. "So what does it mean? Do you want to end it before we even begin?"

Lilly smirked down at him. "I think we already began it." Lying down next to him, Lilly rested her head on his shoulder and placed a hand on his chest. "And I don't know. I want to be with you, but then there's Miley..."

"What about Miley?"

Rolling her eyes, Lilly smacked Joe lightly on the chest. "Didn't we just go over this? She likes you, Joe! I just don't want to ruin our friendship."

Joe hushed her by placing a placating finger over her lips. "Miley has nothing to do with the way I feel about you, or the way you feel about me. To borrow from your earlier example, if Nick did make a move on you and you genuinely liked him and he genuinely liked you, I'd like to think that I'd be happy for you and I wouldn't stand in your way. And she's your best friend. She should be happy for you, too."

"I don't know…I mean, I know she'd want us to be happy, but at the same time, she really, really likes you."

"Let's try it this way…if Miley's feelings weren't a factor, would you want to be with me?" Joe grabbed that hand that Lilly was resting on his chest and played with her fingers absentmindedly.

"Yes, but—"

"Let's just leave it at yes. If the problem is Miley's feelings, why don't we just eliminate the problem?"

Lilly looked at him, alarmed. "Joe! We're not killing my best friend!"

Joe rolled his eyes and shook his head at his—well, what was she exactly? His girlfriend? His friend? His kind-of girlfriend—well, "No, you weirdo. I mean we should convince her that she doesn't like me."

Lilly giggled. "Gee, there's an idea. You have obviously never been a teenage girl."

"Well, thank you for noticing," he quipped, pressing his lips to her temple.

"Joe, I'm being serious! She can't just…change her mind about liking you any more than I could."

Joe's fingers intertwined with hers. "So what do you want to do? I don't want to get between you guys, but I do want to be with you."

Lilly remained quiet for a few moments. "I want to be with you, too. I just don't know if I can be."

Joe's heart sank. "So what does this mean? What are we?"

"I honestly don't know."

"I don't either. But I do know that this—you and me—feels right."

Lilly sighed. "I know. I—let's just not tell anyone that you're my boyfriend until I can tell Miley, okay? Not even your brothers."

It took Joe a moment to realize what Lilly was saying, and a smile lit up his face. "I promise." She looked up and kissed his chin. "You know, Miley aside, we still have some things to discuss."

"Like what?" she asked.

"Oh, I don't know…there's that little matter of your stalker," Joe drawled.

Lilly tightened her hand in his. "Oh right. Thanks for reminding me."

"Speaking of which, we should probably get back before Oliver sends out a search party. We've been gone for a while." Joe helped her to her feet and hand in hand they walked back to the house.

At one point, during their walk home Joe broke the silence between them. "I think you're wrong about Miley."

"What?"

"I don't think she likes me. I think she likes Nick."

Lilly stopped, clearly surprised. "What? She hasn't mentioned anything about that! And she's my best friend. She'd tell me."

"Like you told her you liked me?" Joe returned, raising an eyebrow. "I think she does like my brother, though. I just don't know if she knows it yet."

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When they got back to Lilly's guesthouse, Kenny was there waiting for them, as was Robby Ray. Oliver and the rest of the kids were nowhere to be found.

"Um, hi…" Lilly greeted them awkwardly, resisting the urge to drop Joe's hand. They had always acted this way for the past week, and changing it now would be suspicious. And silly.

Kenny smiled tightly. "Hi, Lilly. We wanted to discuss your…situation."

Lilly's heart dropped. She didn't want to think about that now. She would have preferred to lay down in her room and think about what had just happened with Joe. And about the repercussions of what just happened…on second thought, she'd rather talk about this now. "You mean…the gifts?"

"Yes. Joe told me a little bit about it, but I'd like to hear it from you."

Lilly nodded and bit her lip. She and Joe sat down on the couch, hands still intertwined.

"It all started a week ago…" She explained the entire thing, from getting the envelope with the pictures to Joe assigning people to look after her to the probable break-in and the bracelet. "And that's everything. There's a possibility that we're making a big deal over a stupid prank, but I don't think so anymore."

"Thank God," Joe muttered under his breath. Lilly glared at him.

"I'm glad you're taking this seriously," Kenny said solemnly. "Now do you have any theories on who might be doing this?"

"I don't know—" "Peter. The producer's son," Lilly and Joe answered simultaneously.

"Joe, we have no proof," Lilly scolded.

"Lil, he was asking for theories, not evidence," he countered.

"And why do you think that it's Peter?" Kenny asked.

Joe smirked at her. "Ever since Lilly was cast as Rosalind, he's been just staring at her. Like, really, really intently, and it's everywhere she goes. It makes her uneasy. And it makes me uneasy, too."

"There are tons of other people who could have done it," Lilly reasoned. "Yes, he creeps me out, but other than staring, he hasn't done anything inappropriate."

"Okay, then. Do you have any better ideas?" Joe demanded, but Lilly remained stubbornly silent.

Kenny nodded, his jaw set and his eyes angry. He turned to Lilly. "As viable as Peter sounds as a suspect, is there anyone else? Maybe anyone else who's shown any undue interest in you? Or is there anyone who might be angry with you and is doing this to scare you? Or maybe someone who's angry with Joe?"

Joe looked startled. "What? Why would someone angry at me target Lilly?"

"Well, it's obvious that you and Lilly are…really close. So maybe someone would want to hurt you through her," Kenny explained. Joe's hand tightened in hers.

"Well, I hate to point out the obvious, but it seems like Mikayla would be the one who'd be really angry with Lilly," Robby Ray pointed out. "Lilly did take her place and Mikayla is still in town somewhere."

"And there are a couple of guys who have shown a lot more interested in her lately, but nothing as bad as Peter," Joe added.

"We'll look into it," Kenny promised. Joe nodded and part of him was relieved that Kenny was going to look into it, but Joe wasn't going to let it go. He was still going to have a talk with Peter and anyone else who looked at Lilly the wrong way.

"This could also be a crazy fanatic who saw Lilly in a magazine or paper or something. There was a lot of coverage of her when she replaced Mikayla," Robby Ray continued.

Lilly groaned. "So basically, it could be anyone."

Kenny nodded grimly. "Pretty much. So until then, make sure that you're with someone you trust at all times, alright?"

Lilly squeezed Joe's hand tightly, but she nodded. A few minutes later, Kenny and Robby Ray left, leaving Lilly and Joe alone in the living room.

"It's like a week has passed in a day," Lilly sighed as Joe pulled her into his arms. "There's been the script rewrite, the bracelet, you…"

"Well I hope that I was your favorite part," he said cajolingly.

Lilly laughed, and he kissed her forehead. "You were. I promise. Now we just need to find a way to deal with the rest of it…"

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­Lilly lay wide-awake in her bed that night, wondering she had made the right choice with Joe. It all seemed so easy when she was with him at the lake, but now, waiting for Miley to come into the room so that she could talk to her about Joe, Lilly wasn't so sure. She felt sick to her stomach about betraying her friend, but she tried to justify it by telling herself that Joe didn't want Miley. He wanted her. Now she just had to keep telling her conscience that.

But her conscience was having a hard time listening. That stupid feeling of guilt kept popping up, marring any happiness she felt at being with him. She knew she probably should have put up more of a fight this afternoon, that she shouldn't have agreed to be his girlfriend and she should definitely not have kissed him. But she was just so drawn to him, and he was just making so much sense. But as much as she liked Joe—and she really, really, really liked Joe—could she do this to her friend?

"So are you sure you're okay?" Miley asked as she came into their room, toweling off her hair.

"Yeah," Lilly answered absentmindedly, trying to think of how to tell Miley that her crush was now Lilly's boyfriend.

"I still can't believe that he was here, in our room!" Miley went on, sitting down on her own bed. "That's so…freaky." She shuddered in fright.

"Yeah," Lilly repeated. "Hey, Miles, I've got something to tell you."

"What is it Lil?"

"It's about Joe—" Lilly began.

Miley's eyes lit up at the mention of him. "It was so sweet of him to stay with you today, wasn't it? That's part of what I love about him. He's just so sweet."

Lilly nodded in agreement even as she groaned internally. Love? "He is, but—"

"And he's so fun to be with." The guilt began gnawing away at Lilly anew.

"I know."

Miley sighed and a goofy smile wreathed her face. "I just feel so alive around him, you know? I get so nervous and I can't think straight and…I don't know if I've ever felt this way about anyone before. Certainly not about Jake. I think I really, really like Joe."

Lilly forced a laugh. "So you like him a lot, then?"

After a moment's hesitation that Lilly was sure she imagined, Miley nodded. "I really do."

Lilly turned on her side, agitated. She couldn't do this. She couldn't tell her now. She just couldn't.

"So what did you want to tell me about Joe?" Miley asked brightly.

Lilly laughed nervously. "Uh, just that he's a really great guy," she answered lamely.

If it was even possible, Miley's smile grew. "I know."

I'll tell her later, she told herself. Now's not really the right time.

Chicken, the voice in her head whispered.

Shut up.

You're going to have to tell her sooner or later.

I pick later.

Why?

It's not the right time.

News flash: It'll never be the right time.

Seriously, do you ever go away?

I'm in your head. Of course I don't.

With a groan, Lilly shoved a pillow over her head and tried to go to sleep, despite her guilty conscience and the voice in her head.

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So there it was. Chapter 12, yay! Hopefully the next chapter of "Nowhere to Hide" will be up soon, and I'm sorry again about the delay.

I'd love it if you guys left reviews to let me know what you thought, if you liked it or if you didn't, and any suggestions you have for me to improve my writing. Constructive criticism is amazing!

Thanks for reading!
-v