Chapter Five: List (Oliver's POV)
I've made a list.
A list of all the ways I could hurt Jake. And make it as creatively painful as possible.
Number One: Lock him in a crate and stick him on a cargo plane headed to the Arctic. Let's see how long his charm will work on the hungry polar bears.
"Hi Oliver," Jake said, sitting down next to me, as I ate a hot dog. "Have you seen Miley?"
"Nope," I replied, shoving some fries in my already-full mouth. Number Two: Glue him inside a gazelle suit and send him to a lion-infested jungle in Kenya. "I haven't seen her since finals ended on Friday." Two very, very long days ago.
"Have you talked to her lately?" Jake asked, glancing around oddly.
"Well, yeah," I answered. What was with all these stupid questions? "She is my best friend, after all."
"What's she been saying?" Jake asked loudly, now staring directly at me. Okay...freak much? "I mean, about me. About us."
"Do I look like Lily?" I snapped, finishing off my hot dog. "We don't talk about that kind of stuff."
"Right," Jake said, calming down. "Of course." He slapped me on the arm and smiled. "I knew you'd be cool."
Number Three: Sic Mikayla on him. God knows she can hold a nasty grudge like the best of them. "Sure," I replied. "So what are you doing here anyway?"
"Just hanging out with my buddy," he replied, that stupid grin still plastered on his face. He slapped me on the arm again.
"Okay then," I said, forcing a smile. You've got to pretend you don't want to break every bone in his body, for Miley's sake, I reminded myself. At least until she realizes what a jerk he is and dumps him. "Aren't you supposed to be meeting Miley somewhere?"
"Nah," Jake said, leaning back in his chair. "She's got a...Hannah thing."
"Right," I replied. Number Four: Cover him in honey and throw him in a beehive.
"Hey guys!" Lily announced, walking up to our table and sitting down next to me. Thank. God. I couldn't take another second of that idiot's bizarre ramblings.
"Where's Miley?" Jake demanded. Ding, dong, Crazy's back. "Have you seen her? How is she?"
"Yeah," Lily replied, throwing me a puzzled look. "She's just changing. She said she'd be coming down soon."
"Oh. Okay. Good," Jake said, nodding frantically, and then pushing his hair with his hand. Number Five: Pluck out his stupid blond hair. One. By. One. "So...did you girls have fun today?"
"Um, yah," Lily replied. "I met Stella Fabioni."
"Sounds great!" Jake replied, his tone freakishly enthusiastic.
"Hey Oliver!" Miley said, running down to our table. As usual, my heart did that stupid flip-flop thing that it does every time she talks to me. Or looks at me. Or is near me. "Hey --- oh. Hi Jake." She looked away. What was up with that?
"Hi Miles," Jake said, grinning awkwardly. How dare that evil little nitwit call her Miles! I call her Miles. Have I mentioned how much I hate Jake Ryan?
I noticed something odd on her arm. "Since when do you wear that cuff bracelet Jackson got you for Christmas last year?" I asked.
"Oh," Miley said, looking at her feet. "I...I thought it would add something special to the outfit. Cool, eh?"
"Um," Lily replied. "If you say so."
"Hey Miley!" Jake said. "You wanna walk with me? Down on the beach?"
"Um," Miley replied, looking nervous. "I guess so." She and Jake got up and went down the beach.
"What was that about?" Lily asked.
"I have no idea," I answered, getting up and walking over to Rico's. "Hey Jackson, pass me another hot dog."
"Jake was acting weird," Lily said matter-of-factly, leaning against the counter as Jackson prepared my hot dog.
"That idiot is always weird," I replied angrily. Jackson laughed as he handed me my hot dog. "What's so funny?"
"You've got it bad, man," Jackson said, shaking his head.
"What?" I asked.
"You are soooo crushing on Miley," Lily replied in a sing-song voice.
"You guys are nuts," I said, slapping a couple of crumpled dollar bills into Jackson's open palm.
"Right," Jackson replied, winking at Lily. "We're the crazy ones."
"Come on, Oliver," Lily said, leaning towards me. "Don't be such a donut. Just admit you have a crush on Miley."
"No," I replied. The truth was, I more than just had a crush on Miley. I couldn't help feel happy when she was around. When she was near me, all I could concentrate on was her. And when she wasn't there, I spent all my time wondering what she was doing, and if maybe she was thinking of me too. According to my---I mean Grandma's soaps, that was way beyond a crush. That was love.
"You can trust us," Jackson said.
"I know I can," I replied. "The truth is...I only think of Miley as a friend. Nothing else." My left eye twitched. God, I hate when it does that. It's a good thing nobody knows it means I'm lying.
"You leave us no choice, then," Lily said, shaking her head. "We're going to have to force it out of you." She leaned over and began poking me viciously in the ribs.
"Admit it, admit it!" Lily chanted between each painful jab. I tried to fight her off, but man, is that girl strong. And Jackson pinning me down to the counter didn't help much either.
I could feel the bruises forming but I refused to give in to their demands. No one could know about my feelings for Miley. Especially while Jake was still around.
Number Six: Have Lily poke him till his body is nothing but one huge bruise.
I mustered all my strength and finally managed to free myself from Lily and Jackson. "Stop the madness!" I yelled, falling off my seat. I hit the ground with a loud thud.
That's gonna hurt in the morning.
I got up, rubbing my backside, and turned my back on Lily and Jackson.
"Where are you going?" Lily asked.
"Away from you two psychos," I replied, and started to walk up the beach.
"Hey Oliver!" Jackson yelled from behind me. "For what it's worth, I'd rather you be with Miley than Jake Ryan any day of the week."
As I walked away, I knew what it was worth. It was worth so much. Too much. It meant that I could have her. And yet, I didn't.
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Number Seven: Wrap him in salami and throw him in a pit cage of starving pit bulls.
Ok wow. That last one sounded pretty cruel.
For the pit bulls.
"Are you going to be like this all summer?" Lily asked, searching through the clothes rack. I must really love Miley enough to go shopping with her and Lily.
"Be like what?" I said robotically.
"Mopey," Lily replied, pulling a blue sweater from the rack. "What do you think?"
"Isn't it kinda big for you?" I said, looking at the large sweater she was holding up.
"It's for you, donut," Lily said. "You're not going to win Miley's heart dressed like that!"
I rolled my eyes and grabbed the shirt from her. "For the seven hundredth time," I said, going into the changing room. "I am not in love with her."
"You don't have to admit it for it to be true," Lily said through the door.
"You're delusional," I said, thrusting off my shirt and shoving the blue sweater over my head. "I thought you liked Jake anyway?"
"I do," Lily said as I emerged from the changing room. "But I'd much rather you be with her than Jake. And this shirt is definitely working for you! Am I good or what?"
I looked down at my shirt. "I doubt very much all it will take is a good-looking shirt to win her over."
"Win who over?" Miley said, appearing next to Lily.
"My mom!" I said a little too loudly, spitting out the first person that came to mind. Well, second. Miley's always the first person on my mind. "I'm trying to get her to raise my allowance."
"Knowing your mom, that's not going to happen," Miley said. "But that is a nice shirt." She smiled. And my heart flip-flopped. I should really have a doctor look at that. "You guys haven't done that much shopping, have you?"
"No," Lily said. "We got here like ten minutes before you did."
"Yeah," I replied. "So should I get the shirt?" I pointed at the sweater.
"Definitely," Miley said, smiling. Flip. Flop.
I went back into the changing room and put my own shirt back on.
"So where's Jake today?" Lily asked. Great. Let's ruin my perfectly wonderful day by bringing up that jackass.
"I don't know," Miley answered. " I wanted to hang out with my two best friends today."
As I paid for my shirt, I couldn't help but grin. Me. Miley. The whole day. Just the two of us. Well, Lily was with us too. But as annoying as she can be, she wasn't nearly as annoying as Jake. She was annoying in a little-sister way; she drives you insane sometimes but you love her anyways. Jake, on the other hand...He was annoying in a wanting-to-cause-him-bodily-harm way.
"What are you smilin' 'bout, Oliver?" Miley asked as we walked out of the store and into the next.
"Nothing," I replied. "It's just..."
"What?" Miley asked. "Come on, you can tell me."
"I...I'm just glad we're together," I said, looking away. "I mean...you, me and Lily. It's nice that we're hanging out."
"Yeah," Miley said, nodding in agreement. "We haven't been doing of that lately. What do you think of this scarf?" She picked up a shiny blue one off a rack of scarves nearby.
"It's...nice," I replied. It matched her eyes. "We haven't spent much time with each other."
"You're right," Miley said, pulling another scarf, a silky silver one, off of the pile. "We've all been so busy, with finals, and Hannah stuff, and summer vacation starting, and me getting back together with---"
"Hey guys!" Jake said, waving at us, as he walked from the front of the store towards Miley and I.
Number Eight: Strangle him with the silky silver scarf in Miley's hand.
"Um, hi Jake," Miley said, glancing sideways at me. "What are you doing here?"
"I went by your house and your dad said that you were at the mall with Lily and Oliver," Jake replied. "So here I am!"
"But..." Miley said.
"Is something wrong?" Jake asked, crossing his arms and frowning. What the heck was his problem?
"Well..." Miley said awkwardly. "I kinda wanted it to be just us." She pointed at me.
"Just you and Oliver?" Jake asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Lily too," I added, pointing over to where Lily was looking at hats.
"But you're my girlfriend," Jake said, glaring at Miley. "And Lily and Oliver are my friends too. So I don't see a problem."
"Yeah," Miley said, stepping towards me. "But...we just wanted to hang out. You know, just the three of us."
"Can you just come over here with me, Miles?" Jake said politely. "There's something I need to talk to you about."
Miley gave that nervous look again as she walked away with Jake towards the children's department.
"What the heck was that about?" Lily asked, coming up behind me, holding a dress in her hand.
"Dunno," I replied, still confused about what just happened.
"So what do you think," Lily asked, trying to pull my attention away from Miley and onto the dress she was now holding up against herself.
"It's fine," I said, looking at the short pink dress. "But it's really not your style. Why are you getting a dress anyway?"
"I..I thought I'd wear it to the party at Miley's next Saturday," Lily replied, looking at her sneakers.
"You mean Jackson's birthday party?" I said, raising an eyebrow. "You don't...like him, do you?"
"What?" Lily said loudly, dropping the dress. "I...of course not! That's just...pff...You know, there'll be all Jackson's friends at the party...and they'll be seniors in the fall..."
"Right," I replied, nodding. Looks like I wasn't the only in denial.
"So what do you think is up with Jake and Miley?" Lily asked. Nice. Let's change the subject by talking about them. Always a pleasure.
"I don't know," I said, looking over at a little kid who was holding his mother's hand by the sales rack.
I remember when I was that age. Cute, innocent, not in the care in the world. No beautiful amazing girls that take up every inch of your brain; no annoyingly accurate friends that try to poke the truth out of you; and certainly no idiotic blond actors who steal the girl of your dreams and treat her all wrong. Three times. Now I'm still cute, but not so innocent. And I know I care about more than I should.
"Oliver?" Lily said, waving her hand in front of my face. "Earth to donut!"
"What?" I said, shaking off my train of thought.
"I said, shouldn't we go find Miley?" Lily said. "It's been 15 minutes."
"I'll go," I volunteered. "You keep looking for an outfit for Jackson."
Lily blushed and frowned. "I mean Jackson's party." I added, grinning.
I turned towards to the children's section and walked off to where Miley and Jake had gone.
"You said," Miley was saying angrily. "You promised it wouldn't happen again!"
I hid behind a rack of shorts as I listened to their fight. I knew it was wrong, but it made me happy to see her mad at him like that.
"I know, I know," Jake said softly, stepping towards Miley. I clenched my teeth and tightened my fists. Happy moment over. "But nothing happened."
"What?!" Miley screeched. "You just----"
"I know what you think happened, Miles," he whispered, taking a step towards her. I swear, if he takes one more step...
Number Nine: Beat him over the head with a pair of Tiny Tots shoes.
"But I know how stressed you've been lately," Jake continued. "With finals two weeks ago, and Hannah's new album, and now you're waiting for your finals results...Life's been crazy for you, huh? Maybe you're just exaggerating what you think happened. You know how much I care about you, right?"
"I...," Miley said, calming down. She had turned around and I could see the dried tears streaking her beautiful face. I had to muster every ounce of control my body possessed in order to remain still. "Maybe you're right."
"I know," Jake said, pulling her into his arms.
"I...I must be exaggerating," Miley said, sounding unsure. "I'm sorry for accusing you like that."
"It's all right," Jake said, letting her go and smiling tenderly at her. "I know how it's been for you lately. Let's go find Oliver and Lily."
Jake took her by the hand and they walked right past where I was hiding; they made their way towards Lily.
I was shaking with anger as I emerged from behind the rack of tiny shorts and made my way back to Lily, Miley and Jake.
Number Ten: Beat his face in with my bare hands. 'Cause that's really the best way to go.
Okay, wow.
Oliver was seriously angry in this chapter.
And I loved it.
Well, I know it was a little OOC, but I thought it worked out well with my story.
Lemme know what you guys think!