Short, but kind of an emotional chapter. Hope you enjoy =) And thanks again for the awesome reviews!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

They walked into Miley's house and Miley carefully sat Lilly down on the green couch. "Sit. I'll get you some ice."

After a minute Miley came back and sat down next to Lilly. "Here, let me help you," she said while she carefully held the icepack against the side of Lilly's head. "That was a pretty hard shot you took."

"Yeah, Oliver can be really clumsy sometimes."

"Aren't you mad at him?"

"Well, I don't think so, really. I mean… he didn't smash that ball into my head on purpose. And honestly, I'm tired of being mad at him," Lilly sighed, "I just want us to be good again."

"Oh…," Miley said and she slowly withdrew her hand from Lilly's head. Lilly took over and pressed the icepack against her head again.

Lilly watched Miley, who was furiously trying to avoid eye contact. Lilly didn't know what it was, but there was something about Miley and the way she acted when she was with her. Could it be, she thought, that Miley likes me? As in a more than friendly way? She thought about that for a few seconds, but then quickly banned the thought out of her head when she realized how stupid she sounded. Yeah right, like Miley will ever want to date someone like me when she can have everyone. And besides, are we even friends?

Lilly noticed that they had been quiet for a few minutes now, and quickly broke the awkward silence. "So, uhm, you home alone again?" she asked, although she already knew the answer.

"Yeah," Miley said, finally looking Lilly in the eyes again, "my dad's not home very often."

"Busy job?" Lilly had noticed that the usual twinkle in Miley's eyes wasn't there anymore.

"More like he doesn't want to be home with me," Miley huffed.

"What? Why wouldn't he want to be home with you?"

Miley looked down and Lilly could tell that this was a touchy subject for her. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Lilly said gently.

Miley's head shot up. "No, no, I want to. It's just… only a few people know about this."

"You can trust me."

"I know I can. I just don't know where to start." Miley took a deep breath to calm herself before she continued. "Okay, here it goes: Two years ago, I was in my bedroom making out with my current girlfriend. Only, we had forgotten to lock the door, and… well, my dad came home early and walked in on us."

Miley shuddered when memories of that night flooded into her head. "I'd never seen him so angry, Lilly. He totally flipped and started screaming. He… he even hit me several times," she said softly, trying her best to blink the tears away that were starting to form in her eyes. Lilly on the other hand, already had a tear running down her cheek.

"After a while he regretted what he had done and apologized," Miley softly continued, "but I'll never forget the things he said to me, nor will he ever fully accept me."

"Oh my God, Miley, I'm sorry," Lilly almost whispered.

"It's okay. I'm kinda used to his behaviour now."

"But what about your other family members? I mean, what about your mom? You can't tell me that they accept your dad's behaviour."

"My brother Jackson goes to Tennessee University, so I don't see him very much. And… well…," she hung her head, but not quick enough for Lilly to hide the tears that were now running down her cheeks. "My mom… she died a couple of years ago."

And that was when Lilly lost it. Without thinking, she dropped the icepack and wrapped her arms around Miley's neck, pulling her into her embrace. She was completely saddened by her story and kept thinking how strong Miley actually was by pulling herself through all this.

"I'm sorry I made you relive that," Lilly whispered.

"Don't be. I wanted you to know."

Miley heard Lilly's light sobbing and pulled back slightly so she could look her in the eyes. "Hey, don't cry for me," she whispered while she wiped Lilly's tears away with her thumbs.

Lilly looked into Miley's eyes, astonished by the beauty of her piercing blue/gray eyes orbs. They kept staring at each other, their faces only inches apart. What is she thinking now? Lilly thought.

Miley, who was likewise staring into Lilly's ocean blue eyes, was thinking along the same lines.

They were suddenly startled by the frontdoor opening. They quickly broke apart, Miley pulling her arms back from Lilly's waist and Lilly moving hers from around Miley's neck.

"Wow, uhm, hope I'm not interrupting anything," Gabe smirked. When the two girls didn't respond, he walked over to the couch and handed Lilly her clothes he was carrying. "I just wanted to know how you were doing. And you left your clothes on the beach," he said.

"I'm doing better now," Lilly said, although her head still hurt pretty bad, "And thanks for bringing back my clothes."

"No problem," he said and then turned to Miley, "and no worries, Mikayla's got your clothes."

"Good. Thanks, Gabe."

"Oh, and Oliver's on his way to pick you up, Lilly."

Lilly nodded and stood up from the couch as Miley did the same. Just then, Oliver came through the door.

"Lilly, I'm so sorry. How's your head?" he said while he walked over to her. Miley came standing next to Lilly.

"No worries, Oliver. I took care of her."

Lilly blushed. "Yeah, she did. She fixed me an icepack and everything for my head."

Oliver narrowed his eyes slightly when he looked at his blushing girlfriend with a smirking Miley standing next to her.

"Okay, I'm gonna go. Talk to you later!" Gabe said when he headed for the door.

"Come on, Lilly. Let's go, too," Oliver said, walking towards the door also.

"Yeah, wait, one sec." Lilly turned to Miley and wrapped her in a hug one more time. "Thanks for telling me, Miley," she whispered.

"Hmm, I'm glad I did."

Lilly pulled back and smiled at Miley one last time before she walked out of the door. Oliver, who had watched the exchange between the two carefully, turned to Miley. And when he was sure that Lilly couldn't hear him, he said: "She's off limits for you, Stewart."

Miley returned his glare. "Unless you're going to treat her like your actual girlfriend, there are no limits." And with that, she closed the door in his face.

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