Chapter 13

Lilly couldn't believe what was happening. Oliver, her best friend, was kissing her. She didn't know what to do. Should she pull away? Should she kiss him back? As much as she couldn't believe it, she wanted to kiss him back. But by the time all these thoughts went through her head, Oliver parted from her.

He wouldn't look her in the eye.

"Oliver, I--" Lilly stuttered.

"I'm sorry." Oliver blurted before jumping up and running down the beach.

Lilly's mouth was stuck in the open position. She didn't know what to do.

"Oliver… wait I--" She tried to say, before he was gone.

She mentally slapped herself. Why hadn't she done anything? Oliver obviously liked her as more than a friend and she liked him back. She hadn't noticed until that very moment how much she cared about him. He was always there for her and he cared about her more than anyone.

She just sat there in the sand. She was kind of in shock. Why did Oliver just kiss her and leave? That wasn't how things worked. It was a rule. Sure it wasn't exactly down on paper in some fancy dating rulebook, but it was a rule.

She stood up. Where would he have gone? She began to walk down the beach to where the raft and the fire were. Naners was nowhere to be found. Lilly began to get discouraged.

'I have to find Oliver.' She thought. 'What if he thinks I don't like him? That's probably why he left.'

Lilly sighed and blew her dirt-covered hair out of her face. She put her hands on her hips and began to walk through the trees in hopes of finding Oliver.

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Oliver sighed. He was sitting on a rock watching water gush over the rocks below. It was the place where they had gone swimming the day they arrived there.

'What have I done?' he thought, mentally slapping himself. 'You just couldn't control yourself, Oken. You just had to kiss her. Now she probably hates you. Things will never be the same between you too again. You just lost your best friend. Just threw her away like a used napkin! That's what you get for showing your feelings! She obviously doesn't like you back. She just sat there when you kissed her.'

Oliver had only realized how much he liked Lilly as more than a friend for a couple of months, but he had always loved her, as a friend of course. But all that had changed. He like-liked her now. He continued to sit there. Wondering how he'd ever be able to face her again.

He heard something from behind him and jumped. It was Naners. Oliver cringed. Why wouldn't that thing just get away from him?

Naners approached him and sat down on the rock. Oliver rolled his eyes. Naners looked up at him and smiled. Oliver made a face. Monkeys weren't so great. Why did everyone love them so much? They were everywhere! Like Aeropostale and that one brand of erasers or something called Foohy. There were more but he didn't care to remember them. Stupid monkeys.

Oliver glanced over at Naners again. He was still smiling. He looked up at Oliver with those beady eyes. Oliver stared at those beady eyes, those evil, beady eyes, and found that they almost looked—cute!

'Ugh, I'm becoming a monkey-obsessed teenage girl!' Oliver thought to himself. 'It's the end of the world as I know it. And I do not feel fine.'

Suddenly he heard rustling nearby. His eyes widened. Maybe it was Lilly. He couldn't face her. He quickly got up and ran in the opposite direction.

Lilly arrived on the scene and saw Naners sitting on a rock. She sighed. She thought Oliver would be there. She frowned and sat on the rock beside Naners. Naners was smiling. Lilly couldn't help but smile back. She looked out at the water gushing over the rocks and frowned again. She didn't know what she'd say to Oliver when she found him--if she found him. She knew how much she cared about him, but she wasn't sure how to put it into words.

'If only Miley were here.' She thought.

Naners pulled at her shirt. Lilly didn't seem to pay any attention. Again, Naners pulled at her shirt. Lilly wouldn't stop daydreaming. Naners then climbed up Lilly's back and jumped on her head.

"Ouch!" she yelled, as the beady-eyed monkey pulled her hair. "What do you want?"

Naners jumped down and headed toward where Oliver had run off. Yes, he definitely was smarter than he was given credit for.

Lilly sighed again and followed him through the trees, as vines and leaves hit her in the face as she walked passed them.

Before she knew it, they came across Oliver sitting on the ground, out in the open. Lilly's face brightened. She grabbed Naners, hugged him, then practically threw him down as she walked towards Oliver. She wanted to walk faster, but she didn't want him to hear her coming and run away again.

She quietly came up to Oliver and sat down next to him.

"So, how's it goin'?" she asked, rather nervously.

Oliver's eyes widened.

"Um, I er- just was- uh, I'm sorry I have to--" Oliver stuttered, while trying to get up to leave.

He was cut off by Lilly grabbing his face and kissing him.

"You donut." She said smiling. "Don't you know better than to kiss someone and then run off, leading them on a wild goose chase?"

Oliver just stared not knowing what to say.

"Oliver, say something." Lilly said, staring back at him.

"I—I'm sorry Lilly." Oliver said. "I just—I mean, I didn't know how to tell you that-- I love you."

"I love you too." Lilly replied, smiling.

"You do?" Oliver asked, his face brightening.

"Of course I do. I just kissed you, didn't I? I can't believe I didn't realize it sooner. I feel like such an idiot." Lilly then said.

"You're not an idiot, Lilly. You're wonderful and I can't believe I didn't realize just how wonderful you were the moment we met, because I should have, the moment we looked into each other's eyes, it should have been love at first sight."

"Oliver, that has to be the sappiest thing I've ever heard!" Lilly said, laughing. "What do you think this is? Some romance novel?"

Oliver laughed.

"I just can't believe it took us getting stranded on an island to make us realize that." Oliver then said, smiling.

"Well, you know, we are pretty strange. Considering our past, I don't really find it hard to believe." Lilly said, laughing.

"Yeah."

"So now what?" Lilly then asked.

"I don't know. Let's go back to the beach." Oliver said, before grabbing Lilly's hand.

Lilly smiled and kissed Oliver again. Everything felt right. Well, maybe not everything. They were still trapped on an island in the middle of nowhere with a mysterious man lurking around and a banana-eating chimp, but hey, what do you want?

They arrived back at the beach. The wind blew trees as they walked over to the fire and sat down.

"Oliver, do you think a plane could have come while we were gone?" Lilly asked, looking at Oliver.

"I don't know, Lils." Oliver said. "I sure hope not."

"Oliver," Lilly started. "Um, we're together."

"Yeah, I know." Oliver replied. "What about it?"

"I don't know. It just sort of--happened. Like without any warning." Lilly then said.

Oliver laughed.

"Yeah, it did. But so what? We're together and that's all that really matters."

"Yeah, I guess so." Lilly said. "And you know what else?"

"What?"

"I think Naners has been trying to get us together this whole time."

"Lilly, that's ridiculous."

"Whatever. I think he's a lot smarter than you give him credit for. And he likes you, Oliver. You think he's evil, but he's like the opposite of evil."

"Yeah right." He said, sarcastically.

"Oliver, if you really cared about me, you'd make friends with the monkey."

"Lilly that's not fair."

"Yes it is. This is important to me and if you love me it's important to you too." Lilly said.

"Man, you make me feel so guilty. Ok, I'll make friends with, with--Naners." Oliver mumbled.

"You called him Naners!" Lilly exclaimed.

Oliver sighed.

"Hello there." he said, holding out his hand to the monkey. "Nice to meet you."

Naners took his hand and shook it.

"Huh. He seems nice enough, but that's how he does it. He acts all inocent. Then, once he earns your trust, that's when he gets ya!" Oliver said.

"Oliver..." Lilly whined.

"Ok ok. Welcome to our life." Oliver said.

Lilly laughed.

"Thank you." she said. "I know that was hard for you."

"You're welcome." Oliver said, sighing.

They talked and laughed for the rest of the day. They ate the last of the bananas and promised to go get more the next day. Finally, it began to get dark.

Lilly curled up next to Oliver in the raft and closed her eyes.

Oliver smiled. If you had told him a day ago that Lilly would be his girlfriend he would have said you were crazy.

"Oliver?"

"Yeah?"

"Um, I think I'm ready to go to that man's house again tomorrow." Lilly said quietly. "You've done a lot for me and I need to return the favor."

"Really?"

"Yeah, whatever happens as long as we're together it doesn't matter. Even if we get chopped up into little pieces."

Oliver laughed.

"Thanks Lilly. We'll go tomorrow. But don't worry. I'm not gonna let anything happen to you."

Lilly smiled. Maybe things weren't so bad after all.

A/N: Ok, i know that was the sappiest thing in the entire universe but i had total writer's block. sigh. idk, we'll see. review please. i think there will be maybe 3 more chapters. idk, we'll see. thanks for reading this pathetic thing. i'm losing faith in it.

xoxo

Andrea