Sparkling in the circle of light provided by the street lamp on the side of the road, the small silver hoop with a single pearl dangling from the center was held fast between Lilly's thumb and forefinger. She had been staring at it since they had retrieved Lola's journal from the mechanic's safe, thinking it would give her some sort of clue about its owner.

So far, nothing.

"Maybe it belonged to whoever Lola won the car from," Oliver offered, turning on to a new street and leaving the orange glow of the street light behind.

"Maybe." She eyed it again before tossing it into the unused ash tray. "It could be Lola's though. She's always had a thing for pearls. She thinks they're classy." She waited for Oliver to respond, but he didn't say anything, so she let her eyelids fall shut as she leaned back against the seat.

A few minutes went by before Oliver made the obvious statement. "So, uh, the sun's down."

"Yeah."

"It's getting kind of late."

"Yep."

"Don't you think we should-"

"We're doing this, Oliver. I'm not going home until we find this guy."

He wasn't sure if she was talking about the wannabe film historian or if she was talking about the love of Lola's life, and he was too afraid to ask. Lilly's phone rang, preventing him from trying to come up with a response anyway, so he just kept driving.

Lilly glanced at the screen, made a face, and shoved the phone down into her pocket, turning off the ringer.

"I thought you were gonna let me drive." Her tone was neutral.

"I thought you wanted to drive on the way back," he quipped.

He wanted to ask who called, but since he hadn't offered up that his mom had called several times earlier before he shut his phone back off, he figured it was better not to ask.

Lilly sighed and glanced out the window, seeing nothing but darkness and a neon sign up ahead for a doughnut place. She waited for Oliver to see it, knowing what would be coming.

"You hungry?"

"Somehow I don't think doughnuts are a great idea for dinner." She rolled her eyes as he ignored her thinly veiled protest and turned off the road.

"I thought this was a no-parents trip," Oliver joked.

"I just don't want you going into a sugar coma."

"I'll be fine. The sign says they have breakfast platters. I'll get scrambled eggs."

And he did. While he ate his eggs and bacon, even sipping a glass of orange juice, Lilly chewed on cubes of fruit from a mixed bowl. She took a sip from a cup of ice water, and internally debated the merits of a cup of coffee.

"How many more entries in the journal?" Oliver asked, and edge of crispy meat crunching between his teeth.

"Only a couple." She speared a piece of strawberry, not pulling the notebook from her bag, even though Oliver continued to eye her. "What? I don't want to risk losing it again!"

"Miley Stewart, plant your behind on that couch."

"But, but, I was just picking up my sweater." Miley gestured to the purple loose fitting sweater with big black buttons she had draped over her arm. She had managed to get to her feet moments before Heather entered the living room to see what the loud crash had been.

Heather Truscott simply pointed to the couch with a fierce expression on her face.

"Where is my daughter?"

"I-I d-don't know Mrs. Truscott." Miley shook her head as she stuttered out the words, her eyes wide, but the innocent act didn't fool Heather for a second. Miley wasn't even as convincing as her own daughter tried to be.

"She and Oliver have been gone since this morning and no one seems to know where they are. It's getting late. You are their best friend. I know that you know where they are."

Heather measured the words evenly, but the fury was radiating from her eyes, so Miley gave up, taking a few steps back toward the couch.

Remembering that her best friend had not wanted to tell her mom just what it was they were doing, Miley settled for, "they just, they just uh, needed to get away. Sometimes, you know, you just have to get away for a while. I mean, it's only one day, and right before spring break. It's not like they missed anything. Todd skips it every year to spend the day surfing with his dad." Heather's face was stone, so Miley tried again. "It's just with everything going on, work, school, all of it, they just thought they'd, um, you know, blow off some steam. I'm sure they'll be back soon."

Those were apparently not the best words she could have used because Heather started pacing the living room, her arms thrown in the air as she spoke.

"Oh, my god, she's blowing- oh, god, I can't even think about that right now."

With the shrill voice and the expansive hand gestures, Miley finally saw the real resemblance between mother and daughter.

"No! I didn't mean it like that!"

She tried to explain, but Heather wasn't hearing any of it. She whirled on Miley so quickly that the teenage girl stumbled back, her legs colliding into the arm of the couch, and she froze.

"For all I know my only daughter could be running to Vegas for a wedding at the Elvis chapel right now, and you-" Heather stopped, clearly unable to go on, and she tried to compose herself.

Vegas? Miley sucked in a deep breath. There was no way her two best friends would have just run off to Vegas. Lilly had said they were headed north. Lola's home town was north. Las Vegas was east. Lilly would never, would she? Heather's panic and paranoia was rolling off of her in waves, and Miley's pores were soaking it up.

"I have tried calling my daughter four times since I got the first call from the school today. She either turned her phone off or she's ignoring me because my calls keep going straight in to voice mail. You are her best friend, so I know she will call you at some point. You are staying right here until she calls you, and then I am taking your phone so my daughter and I can have a little talk."

Miley plopped down, swallowing hard, looking as though her lunch was going to come back up any minute. She had no idea how this had happened, but she knew her friends were in serious trouble. Okay, so she knew how this happened. She did, after all, have a hand in it. She had several bags of new cosmetics in the car to account for the guilt.

Lilly groaned as Oliver had to turn the car around yet again because he had missed another turn, and she pulled her phone back out. It was like breakfast for dinner had scrambled his brain. At this rate, she was going to be asking Miley to cover for her for the next three days. She had never met anyone with such a horrible sense of direction. Well, that wasn't true. Both of her parents could get lost in parking garages, so she knew her own sense of direction wasn't all that great, but at least she could read a map. She pushed the second selection on her speed dial, since the first was currently in the driver's seat, and waited for the phone to connect. When it did, she started in right away.

"Miley, Oliver just went twenty minutes out of the way for like, the third time, so please, please, please, stall for me for a little longer, then say that I called you and I'm spending the night at your place or something. Please! I will seriously love you forever. Even more than I do already." Lilly laughed a bit when she finished and Oliver shook his head in the driver's seat, sick of having to make U-turns.

"Lillian Truscott, are you okay?" hissed the voice at the other end of the phone. And the voice was most definitely not that of Miley.

"Mom!" Lilly shrieked into the phone, causing Oliver to slam on the breaks and look around the expanse of desert road, thinking he was about to run Heather Truscott over or something. When he realized Lilly was shrieking into her phone and not out the window, Oliver breathed a sigh of relief and continued driving.

"Yes, this is your mother. I confiscated Miley's phone. Did you think you could skip all of your classes and the school wouldn't contact me? Or the Okens?" Heather was pacing in her living room miles and miles away while Miley sat on the couch with a pillow on her lap. "A stomach bug? Really?"

"Mom, it wasn't-" But Heather didn't let her finish.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt or anything?"

"Yes, mom, I'm fine. Really. I just-"

"Because I could just kill you right now! You are sixteen years old. You cannot just take off whenever you want to!" Heather stopped pacing her carpet, standing in front of a picture of Lilly from the fifth grade. "You're just a baby…" she trailed off.

"Mom, I'm not a baby," Lilly protested, trying again to explain, "Oliver and I-"

"That boy! Where are you?"

"On a highway."

"Lilly!"

"Still in California?"

"Is he there?"

"Mom. We're just working on a project for school."

"Right. I'm sure a teacher told you to skip class and run away."

"I didn't run away! I just-"

"Is he with you?" Heather demanded.

"Yeah, of course," Lilly answered, "but-"

"Put him on the phone."

Lilly's eyes were wide and she threw a worried look in Oliver's direction. He was glancing back and forth between her and the road, and she really would rather he be focusing on the road right now. "I don't know if that's a good-"

"Now, Lillian. I want to talk to him." Heather tried to keep her voice even and controlled, but she was in a full blown panic mode. Her daughter, her little girl, was on the open road somewhere with a teenage boy who she was sure would not be able to keep his hormones under control over night with no parental supervision.

Lilly covered the mouthpiece on her cell phone and hissed, "she wants to talk to you."

"What? No!" Oliver whispered, afraid Heather would hear him. Lilly tried to hand him the phone, but he pushed it away with one hand, the other gripping the wheel. She again shoved the phone toward his ear, no longer covering it, and he whispered, "are you crazy?" and batted it away, the car swerving a little over the yellow line down the middle of the lane.

"She can't kill you through the phone. Just take it." And with that Lilly had the phone pressed against his ear.

Oliver's hand settled on it reluctantly, and he mumbled, "hi, Mrs. Truscott."

"Don't you 'hi' me, Oliver. You listen, and you listen good. If anything happens to my daughter, I will find you and I will bury you. Do you understand?" Heather didn't give him a chance to respond, continuing, "I don't know what you two are doing, and I probably don't want to know what you two are doing, but there better not be a hair out of place when she gets back here. There will be no matching tattoos. There will be no bar room brawls. In fact, there better not be any bars at all. No drugs. No drinking. Nothing. There will be no piercing any body parts that she can't show in polite company. There will be no marriage certificates. And under no circumstances will there be any sex, and I mean of any kind. Do I make myself clear?"

On the couch Miley giggled, but Heather silenced her with a glare.

Oliver grit his teeth on the other side of the phone. Did Heather Truscott really think he would do anything to hurt her daughter? Really? Did she know him at all? Okay, so maybe they had been caught in a few compromising positions lately, but still. He forced the words "yes ma'am" from his mouth.

"Good. Because if I find out that you had sex with my daughter during this little road trip, or anything else goes on that I don't approve of, I will kill you. I don't care that your mom is a detective." Heather took a deep breath now that she had all of that out of her system, then added, "Keep an eye on her and make sure she has a good time. I don't want her coming home crying either. And call me if you need bail money. Your mother would have a coronary." Then she hung up the phone, seemingly without another thought on the matter.

Miley watched in stunned silence when Heather set the phone on the coffee table. The normally calm and collected and perfectly presentable women had smeared her eyeliner and mascara all under her eyes, her hair in complete disarray, and she muttered to herself, "I need a drink," as she went to the kitchen, leaving Miley on the couch on her own.

"So... if your mom knows, then my mom probably knows, right?" Oliver asked.

They had finally made it to their destination, only to discover that Oliver's suspicions about the center being closed were right. It was a tiny little building, looked like someone's house, and the sign on the front door said that the building wouldn't reopen until nine o'clock the next morning.

"Right." Lilly said the word softly, not wanting him to freak out on the outside as much as she was freaking out on the inside. If Nancy Oken had any idea where they were, they would be in serious trouble. Visions of flashing lights, handcuffs, and the sound of sirens filtered through her brain.

"Oh my god." Oliver let out a low groan and leaned his head against the steering wheel. He had cut the engine as soon as they pulled into the parking lot, having driven the entire rest of the trip since Heather's phone call in almost complete silence. It was like the phone call had made him too nervous even to speak.

Lilly patted his shoulder awkwardly, then gave a small sigh and climbed out of the car. She balanced on the edge of the curb and surveyed the building in front of her, hoping to find some sort of clue to what she would find inside. Biting her lip, her eyes searched the door, then the small windows. But, blinds were drawn, locks were in place. It was completely nondescript. Nothing said anything to her. She heard the creak of one of the door hinges on the car behind her, and footsteps approached.

"We can't just hang out in the parking lot all night," Oliver remarked, clearing his throat. "We could get in trouble for loitering." He seemed to have recovered rather quickly from the miniature breakdown he had been facing in the car.

Lilly rocked forward on her toes, then spun around to face him. "We're not going home."

"I didn't say we had to go home," he snapped. Her eyes widened at his tone and he winced. "Sorry." He paused, collecting himself before he told her, "there's a hotel where we came into town... unless you want to sleep in the car." She didn't say anything, so he added, "you need to sleep." He swallowed hard and stared at a sprinkling of stars in the sky before looking back in her direction.

"Okay," she said in a small voice.

Their eyes met, and he quickly darted his gaze away. Lilly had heard most of her mother's speech to him, and she knew what he was thinking. Though it hadn't been on Heather's list of don'ts, she was pretty sure them checking into a hotel wasn't Heather-approved. But, she was also sure her mom wouldn't want them wandering around a small town into the wee hours of the morning either. This was what would normally be referred to as a lose-lose situation. Every muscle in her body tensed in trepidation as they got back into the car.

She kept her focus firmly out the window, choosing not to think about the fact that she was going to be spending an unsupervised night with her boyfriend. That was not where her thoughts needed to wander right now. Instead, Lilly eyed buildings, looking for stores that were open, but the only things they passed with lights on were a bowling alley, a Wal-Mart, and a cheap motel that looked like it had seen better days. Everything else was already closed up for the night.

Oliver must have noticed the same thing, because he spoke into the silence. "I guess small towns really do shut down with the sunset, huh?"

"Yeah... guess so." Lilly swallowed uncomfortably, not knowing what else to say, but she was saved a few minutes later when they pulled into the lot of the hotel Oliver had seen earlier.

She climbed out of the car with him for what felt like the millionth time that day and walked across the pavement of yet another parking lot. Shouldering her backpack, she wondered how people could stand long road trips. It had to get kind of monotonous. Not to mention the repeated getting in and out of the car was getting really old.

Maybe Oliver was right. She did need some sleep. She was starting to get cranky.

It was all because of that nagging at the back of her mind that told her that their parents knew they were on the road somewhere. She guessed she had to take a little comfort in the fact that Oliver's phone was off, so his mom couldn't track them. And they weren't in a car either of their family's would know about, so there was no chance of someone putting out any kind of alert for their vehicle either. Those ideas were pretty small kernels of comfort right now though.

At least she could look forward to a night in a nice, clean room, with a bed and sheets, not to mention a shower, and she wasn't going to have to sleep in the uncomfortable backseat of Lola's car.

"I'm sorry, we're all booked up," the woman at the check-in counter told Oliver with a pleasant smile on her face.

"What?" Lilly asked sharply. That was most definitely not what she wanted to hear right now.

"We have no double rooms available. There's a dental conference in the city, and we're all booked up with conference members." She smiled again, her lips stretching thinly across bleached teeth. It was almost painful to look at.

"We don't need a double room," Lilly snapped, making sure she didn't look at Oliver as she said it.

She knew he had been trying to do the right thing, asking for two beds, but really, it was ridiculous. It wasn't like they hadn't slept in the same bed before. They could manage to do that without mauling each other. Probably.

"Oh, I'm afraid you've misunderstood. It's not that we're out of just the double rooms. We are at maximum occupancy." That thin smile was still on her face, but now there was a frown in her eyes to answer Lilly's glare.

Oliver reached out, placing a calming hand on Lilly's elbow and cleared his throat. He was beginning to think he might be catching a cold or something. "Are there any other hotels nearby?"

"Nothing in town. And definitely nothing in the surrounding towns that would have any rooms available. Like I said, there's a convention. You really should have called ahead." The smile was starting to slip, wrinkles appearing on the woman's forehead.

"Yeah, I'll remember that the next time I decide to go on a hunt for family secrets," Lilly muttered under her breath, the expression on her face becoming more and more hostile, patience wearing thin.

"There is, however, the Starlight Motel just a few minutes down the road. They have a pool." There was a slight sneer to her face as she turned and began helping a guest of the hotel who must have called ahead because Lilly couldn't imagine anyone working in Dentistry who would let their teeth become quite that yellow or chipped.

Oliver led her by the crook of the arm before she could make any rude retorts, and they were back in the car, driving back the way they came.

The Starlight Motel didn't even deserve to be referred to as a motel. Motel was a kind word for dilapidated dump. Half of the check-in desk had fallen away, wallpaper was peeling from the walls, the carpet was threadbare, even the potted plants looked as though they were reaching for the doorway to escape.

Lilly wrinkled her nose in distaste as she surveyed the lobby, wishing for tiled floors and housekeeping staff that used lemon scented cleaning products. She'd even be okay with snooty employees if it meant the room didn't smell like moldy cheese.

"Need a room?" The woman at the desk was doing a crossword puzzle, bright purple lipstick smeared across her mouth, frizzy hair shooting out from the edges of a wide cloth headband, and she didn't even look up when they walked inside.

"Uh, yes. Please. We'd like-"

She cut Oliver off with, "the honeymoon suite's available. It's the best room in the place, at a steal of only thirty-five bucks a night. It includes free cable and wireless internet."

Lilly didn't even wait for Oliver to think it over. If it was supposed to be the best room in the place, it should at least be the cleanest, right? "We'll take it."

"Here's the keys." She plucked an envelope containing electronic key cards from under the desk, still without looking, gaze glued to her crossword puzzle. "There's only two of them. Don't lose them. The room's the last one on the second floor. Checkout's at eleven in the morning. You pay when you leave. If you can't pay, I'll call the cops. Enjoy your stay."

Oliver gingerly picked up the keys and exited the lobby to find the stairs. He didn't bother thanking the woman. There didn't seem to be a point to that. She didn't look like she particularly cared anyway.

Just around the corner of the outer wall of the lobby were the stairs. They were metal, winding up and around the small kidney shaped pool that was covered in leaves. He walked down the open corridor of the second story to find this suite the woman had told them about, Lilly trailing cautiously behind him, trying not to notice that the metal railing along the edge was almost completely rusted through in some parts. This place was a death trap.

The last door in the row of rooms didn't look any bigger than the other rooms from the outside. It had the same square window next to the same green door. Oliver inserted a key card into the slot above the door handle, doubting the ability for a place like this to use electronic locks, and was surprised to see a green light flash, granting him entrance.

He pushed the door open slowly, partly because he wasn't sure what he would find, partly because the bottom of the door seemed to be catching on the carpet, and thought better of blindly searching for a light. Instead, he held the door open for Lilly, allowing the light from the lamps in the parking lot behind them to fill the room. It barely had enough space for the table, two chairs, queen sized bed, television, and lamp inside. And the "honeymoon" of the small room was demonstrated in its bright red bedspread and a complimentary bowl of condoms on the night stand.

After turning the lamp on, Lilly said loudly and without preamble, "if I have to sleep here, we're going shopping." She paused, her eyes jumping from the night stand to Oliver. "For disinfectant and new sheets."

"Done," he agreed, moving to let her back out through the door.

A/N: I have no idea why it took me so long to write this chapter. (Although, to be fair here, I only post new chapters/stories when I'm at the library, and I haven't been to the library in a few days.) You don't really learn anything new about Lola, and I had parts of it written for a while now. I just couldn't sit still to write for a long stretch of time to fit it all together. So, I apologize if this one seems a little disjointed. But hey, day one of this little trip is almost over now (even though it took about five chapters to get through it). You'll get to meet Walter next time and see what (if anything) he knows about Lola and the people on her list. Also, Nancy Oken might pop up in some form. Ha.