Chapter 5: A Beautiful Terrible Disaster
Miley came home from school that day ready to hit someone, probably herself. She couldn't believe that she told Jake she was free! The "Hannah" side of Miley wished she hadn't told him so he would wallow in self pity, but the "Miley" side of her was happy she was able to go on a date with Jake. Over all, she didn't know which side to agree with.
As Miley sat at her windowsill, looking out at the beach, there was a knock on her door.
"May I come in?" a familiar voice said. Miley's eyes opened wide. It was Matt.
"Um…..yeah!" she said, scrambling up out of the window chair and went to greet him. He stepped inside and gave Miley a big hug.
"I didn't see you all day!" he told her. "It kind of seemed like you were ignoring me."
Miley shook her head quickly. "Nothing like that!" she exclaimed. "I was just, you know, busy. With other stuff. Yeah." Matt looked at her funny.
"Well, I did see you coming down the hallway talking to that Jake Ryan dude, and you guys looked like you were awfully close," Matt said unhappily. Uh oh, Miley thought. He'll figure out that I'm two-timing him!
"Well, he's like a brother to me," Miley began, hoping to get him off her case about Jake. "We met in 8th grade when he went here for a while, and it's just great to see him again." Matt nodded slowly.
"Riiiiight…." he said. "So. What do you want to do tonight? I heard there's really good Italian restaurant they just built downtown called 'Manatoni's'. I made reservations already at 7:00, just in case you said you wanted to go. So, you wanna check it out?" Miley thought for a minute. Then she remembered she agreed to go on a date with Jake that night. They weren't sure where yet, but he said he would call her to tell her.
"Well….I um…..maybe….let me think…..ummmm….." Finally she came up with a plan. "Sure! You can pick me up at, like, 6:45 or so!" she agreed.
Matt smiled. "Will do, mademoiselle!" Miley smiled back.
"That's French, Matt, not Italian," she informed him sweetly.
"Oh," he said cluelessly. "Sorry."
"It's okay," Miley assured. "I think it's cute when you talk French. It makes me feel special." Matt smiled.
"Anything for you," he told her coming closer. As their lips were about to meet, Miley's cell phone rang. She sighed.
"Hold on 1 sec," she told him. She flipped open her pink phone. "Hello?" she answered.
"Hey, it's Jake!" Miley gasped.
"What?" Matt asked.
"What?" asked Jake from the other end of the line.
"Um…." Miley paused. She looked at Matt. "I need to take this outside. It's my grammy!" she lied.
"Oh okay," Matt agreed. "I'll be waiting!" Miley smiled. She ran downstairs and walked outside to her patio.
"Hey Jake!" she said. "What's up?"
"Well, I figured out the perfect place we can go on our date tonight!"
"Great!" Miley exclaimed. "Where were you thinking?"
"Well, there's this really great Italian restaurant they just built downtown, and I thought we might check it out!" Miley's smile turned upside down.
"Say what?" she said in monotone.
"It's called 'Manatoni's'. I heard it's the best!" he said excitedly. "I already made reservations and everything."
Miley swallowed nervously. "Um…what time are the reservations?" Please don't said 7, please don't say 7, please don't say 7.
"At 7:00. They said there was only 2 openings left when I called a few minutes ago. I wonder if the other spot is taken yet?" I think I can answer that, Miley thought painfully.
"Um…well, I kinda have a stomach ache, so I might run off a lot during our date tonight," Miley told him, hoping that it would fool him.
"That's cool," Jake assured. "I don't mind." Miley breathed a sigh of relief.
"Well," Miley began. "I kinda have to go. I have a….um….friend over."
"Okay," Jake said. "I'll see you tonight." Miley hung up her phone.
"SWEET NIBLETS," she cried. "What am I going to DO?!?!?!"