A/N: This one is courtesy of Lady Tru, who challenged me to write something about a bet. This is the result. Hope it lives up. Oh, and 'Bits' is about to become my most worded story. /grins/
Dedication: For bunchesofoats18 and Jaymes x.
Betting
By Melissa
"What is exciting is not for one person to be stronger than the other, but for two people to have met their match and yet are equally stubborn, as passionate, and as crazy as the other."
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Lilly and Oliver had had their fare share of bets over the years. They were best friends, how could they not?
One time, in sixth grade, Lilly won a bet and Oliver had to wear makeup for an entire school day. She sometimes thinks he still hasn't forgiven her for that. And in 4th grade, Oliver won a bet and took possession of Lilly's favorite transformer. He still had it in its place of honor on a shelf in his room.
As they got older, the bets became a little more outrageous. Not what had to be done necessarily, but what could be claimed as the winner. And, sometimes, it could get a little out of hand. Like the time Oliver almost drowned because Lilly bet him he couldn't take on a thirteen foot wave. Or when Lilly got her skull fractured, taking a hard elbow to the temple when the two of them trying to see who could wrestle who to the ground.
When Miley joined them, she wasn't much of the betting type. She would sit and watch from the sideline, often with the first aid kit just in case things got out of hand. The deep cut on Oliver's palm and Lilly's severely sprained ankle comes to mind.
To say the brunette boy and blonde girl were competitive was an understatement.
Miley shook her head. Those two would be the death of one another.
---
"Come on, Truscott! Don't be such a baby!"
The steps were long and steep. The most recent bet was to ride the railing down the middle of the steps, with their skateboards and make it all the way to the bottom.
"Shut up, Oken!!" she called back.
He smiled from his spot at the top of the steps. "Whoever makes it to the bottom, wins. Or, barring that, whoever rides the longest. That's the parameters of the bet."
Miley watched her two friends, warily. "I bet you two are asking for it." She paused for a moment. "What do you get if you win?"
"Oh, that's always determined later. Pretty much, the winner can ask for whatever they want."
A dark eyebrow went up. Lilly just shrugged.
"It makes it more interesting."
The pop singer sighed and made her way down to the bottom of the steps, where a white box with a red cross is sitting already.
Oliver and Lilly stood at the top, looking down.
"It's not too late to back out, you know."
"Dream on, Ollie."
"Okay then. Ladies first."
"Pffft. Age before beauty."
Oliver shrugged. He fastened his helmet and checked his pads. He skated back several feet to get a good start. He rolled swiftly towards the rail before jumping up and riding down it.
It worked well, until about half way.
He lost his balance and hit the steps. Luckily the helmet and pads saved him from any serious injury.
Lilly, still at the top, was laughing hysterically. Miley checked on Oliver and helped him down the rest of the steps. She marked the railing with a piece of chalk when he stayed on until he fell.
The young blonde girl then took her run. She got good speed and jumped on the railing. She had been going down with good balance, until about the same point as Oliver. She too, lost her balance and hit the steps kind of hard.
Oliver returned the favor by laughing at his friend's wipe out. Miley jogged worriedly to Lilly's side.
"You okay?"
"Yeah. I just bruised my pride. Just tell me I beat Oliver and it will be all better."
Miley sadly shook her head, and the Ollie Trolley crowed in victory.
"Sorry Oliver, you didn't win either."
"Huh?"
"Both of you guys tied."
"No way! Come on!!" This was said by both contestants at the same time.
"Sorry, guys. But you both made it to the exact same spot."
Lilly rubbed her sore arm. "Ah well. I guess the bet's a wash."
"Not necessarily."
The blonde girl and brunette boy watched their best friend with curiosity.
"Technically," she began, "since I am at the bottom of the steps. I win."
The two skaters looked at Miley incredulously.
"I believe whoever ended up at the bottom won."
"But…!" the two whined loudly.
Miley smirked, impressed with her own logic.
"Fine," Oliver grumbled, standing up. He was going to have to remember to word the bets more carefully from now on. "What do you want?"
"Ollie, you can carry my books for a month." He made a sour face. "Hey, I could make you carry my books while wearing a dress…" His eyes grew big and he vigorously shook his head.
"What about me?" Lilly asked.
Miley pretended to think about it. "I'll let you know tonight, when you come over."
Lilly gulped visibly.
[Later On]
Miley sat on her bed, while Lilly stood nervously a few feet in front of her.
"Come on, Miles. Put me out of my misery and tell me what it is you want."
The singer was smiling at her friend squirming. It was slightly amusing to see the normally confident blonde so unsure.
"Okay. I will tell you what I want."
Lilly nodded, waiting for the axe to fall.
"I want you to kiss me, but only if it is okay with you. If not, then don't worry about it. I won't ask you to do anything else."
The skater stood stock still, not sure if she had heard right. She then turned her head to look behind her, to see if Miley was possibly speaking to someone else. No one was there though.
"You want me to kiss you? That's what you want for the bet?"
She nodded. "But only if it is all right."
Outwardly, Lilly was the picture of calm. Inwardly, her heart was jack hammering against her ribs in a wild pattern. She had always dreamed of kissing Miley. This wasn't quite how she thought it would come about though.
Taking a deep breath, she stepped forward into her best friend's personal space. She searched Miley's eyes to see if she was misreading anything.
Nope. No misunderstanding at all.
The blonde girl leaned in and pressed her lips against the brunette's. It was soft and sweet, and Lilly found herself leaning in more and more as the seconds passed.
The taller girl wrapped her arms around the trim waste of her friend. It was good that she did, because Lilly felt her knees go weak.
No one could be sure who pulled away first. Lilly kept her eyes closed a few moments longer before finally opening them.
The pop star smiled. "Let it never be said Lilly Truscott welches on a bet."
Lilly let out the breath she hadn't been aware she had been holding.
"I'm losing every bet to you from now on."
