A/N: Thanks for the great response, all! I really appreciate it. This fandom is obviously very active. And here's a no-shame plug of Ryan Cabrera, because I think "True" is just the greatest song ever. Plus "I Will Remember You" is also fab.
Typing Lilly's IMs is near impossible for me, because I IM just like Oliver does in this story.
I'm sorry this chapter took so long, I had to pick up textbooks, and I'm in the process of restoring an '86 Schwinn Sprint, so I have to do research for that.
ChristyLoisGilmore14: funny, I'd never even thought about Lilly/Jackson until I read some fics, but yeah, it is a great ship!
lil Cwick: thanks! I'm a girl and I have no idea how guys' minds work (does anyone?), so I'm doing my best, and I'm glad it's good!
AsWeFly: YAY! I feel so accomplished. Thanks!
sandylover: yeah, I always thought Oliver had a crush on Miley, and I think he acts more like the crusher in the show, like when he goes to her concert and starts singing when she can't remember the words. Thanks for reading!
Luvs-Mitchel-Musso: of course :-D
BethanyKatherine: thanks, this is definitely the most popular story out of the others I've written (okay, maybe not, but I'd like to think that's just because it's not over yet)
StepInTime: wow, thanks a ton!
Ikari Dare: I like desperate, you are the people who force me to keep writing!
Me: I'm glad you heart it :)
falloutboyLOVER28327: so do I lol :-P
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Day Six4:21 AM
I can't sleep.
I keep thinking about her. Miley, I mean. I have an exam in four hours and I keep thinking about her.
I have my iPod headphones stuffed in my ears. I'm playing the CD Miley gave me for my birthday two weeks ago; it has all of her favorite songs on it, and right now Ryan Cabrera's crooning "True" in my wide-awake ear. And not one of the songs is a Hannah song; now that's just such a Miley thing. Never tooting her own horn—I'm not even sure she has a horn.
I've got my Spanish book open on my lap but I'm not even pretending to study. Tomato, tomate, whatever. I've gotten Bs all semester, which is more than I can say for anyone else in my class. My teacher suggested moving up and taking Spanish III my sophomore year but I don't want the extra pressure of class with juniors. I've never gotten on well with the older kids, except the ones who can't open their lockers. They kind of regard me as their personal savior.
I keep wondering why, when I found out that she was Hannah Montana, and she asked me if I liked her or just Hannah, I didn't say yes. It would've decomplicated things so much. But I distinctly remember her saying "good" when I said no, so maybe not. Or she was just lying.
But I really do not want to get my hopes up, and talking to Lilly didn't help any. I keep thinking about her "um." I didn't know that two letters could be so important.
Except for N and O, which together form the word that's causing me so much teenagey angst. Not the word "on." The word "no." The one word that I am most afraid of when it comes to revealing my feelings to Miley.
If I ever get that far.
I haven't figured anything else out since the conversation with Lilly, except that I'm harboring this gnawing dread of the 27th.
What else is new?
12:02 PM
Well, despite my current unfocused situation, I think I did fantastically on the exams. No more Spanish or History for two and a half months!
I've got my iPod on again, and this time Jesse McCartney is asking me why I'm not kissing her. It's almost like the whole world knows.
Except Miley.
Lilly texted me at 11:47. She finished her French exam early, it seems, and wants to meet me at The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. Yum.
But what does she want?
12:14 PM
I parked my bike and got here. Lilly's watching me chicken-scratching into this notebook. I tell her that I'm recording all of the events leading up to the end of the Earth, and she just looks at me like I'm insane. I'll record our conversation for future reference.
Lilly: So, Oliver.
Oliver: So, Lilly. (I take a sip of my Black Forest)
L: I think we both know why we're here.
O: Not a clue.
L: (rolls eyes) As if.
O: Fine. I assume to talk about Miley?
L: Yup.
O: What about her?
L: Face it. You love her.
O: (with gusto) The word, nay, the very concept of "love" does not exist in Teenagerdom.
L: Oh really?
O: Yes! Look at Rex and Belinda. They went out for three months until he said he loved her, and they broke up.
L: One couple, Oliver. One.
O: One too many, Lilly.
L: What's in that notebook, exactly?
O: (I look down) Uh, just thoughts, and stuff.
L: (looks down, pensively stirs chai latte) Can I… read it?
O: Sure, whatever (hands over notebook, Lilly reads, gives back).
L: That proves it. You definitely love her.
O: (with less gusto than before) I do not.
L: You do.
O: Fine, whatever.
L: Yay! So, when're you gonna kiss her?
O: What!
L: You heard me. (slowly, with embarrassing gestures) When are you going to kiss her?
O: I'm… not.
L: Why the hell not?
O: Because what if she doesn't, you know, love me back?
L: Well, so she leaves for tour for three months and constantly remembers you kissing her as a bad memory that will forever stain your friendship. Ooh, bad idea then.
O: Uh, yeah.
L: What are we going to do?
O: Me, Lilly. You're not part of this.
L: Excuzay-mwah (I don't know how to spell it)? I am both of you guys' best friend.
O: I just… I don't want you making it worse.
L: (raises right hand) I swear, it pains me not to see you two together, but I promise, I will not make things worse.
O: (sigh) Okay, fine. Meddle away.
L: Yay!
Oh my God, Miley just walked in.
12:57 PM
Miley walked in and just sat herself down at the table. Lilly and I tried to act nonchalant, but let's face it, we suck. And I don't mean that we sucked our drinks super-fast up our straws and hauled butt out of there, although that did happen. I mean we suck at pretending that the only reason that we were even in there was to celebrate the end of historical/foreign-language torture.
Miley looked even more… Milish than usual.
Miley (MY-lee). n. 1. Personal quality of self-confidence, slight humbleness, and beauty of character. 2. A super nice, pretty girl who happens to be my best friend and the only road that my one-track mind has on its Magellan. ex. That girl has such Miley Oth. forms. Milish, adj.; Milify, v.; Milishly, adv.
And I felt horrible just to get up and leave. But I couldn't help it, plus Lilly and I decided to talk on IM once we got home.
Which we did. IM conversation printing right now.
Sk8rgrrl: i cant believe she just showed up like that
Smoken6: I know. I wasn't expecting that at all.
Sk8rgrrl: we never figured out what ur gonna do
Smoken6: nothing. I am going to do nothing.
Sk8rgrrl: u cant do nothing, u have to do sumthing!
Smoken6: I'm more of a passive person.
Sk8rgrrl: plz. ur 1 of the least passive people i no
Smoken6: fine, you got me. but be that as it may, I am not going to make a move on Miley.
Sk8rgrrl: whtevr, ur choice
Sk8rgrrl: though i do think u should do sumthing
Smoken6: why do you keep saying that? did Miley say something?
Sk8rgrrl: we should talk a/b wat ur gonna do
Smoken6: fine, whatever
Sk8rgrrl: mall at 8? meet in Niemans, u no miley won't set foot in there
Smoken6: fine, mall at 8.
Sk8rgrrl: c u then
Smoken6: bye
Message could not be sent; user Sk8rgrrl is offline.
Considering that I've got both my Biology exam and my Algebra exam tomorrow, I have to get on the ball to study before I go meet Lilly.
9:45 PM
Lilly and I successfully met up in Niemans, and Miley didn't show up, thank goodness. We had a conversation that went, well, pretty much like our other conversations on this oh-so-delicate topic have. I decided to invest at a voice recorder at the Sony store, so I recorded our conversation and then transcribed it on the computer to prevent hand cramp, which I end up getting anyway just from my writings during the day. But whatever. Writing out conversations is just really hard, okay? And this way I can add inflections and commentary, when I don't have time for that in my normal stenography.
"So, why are we here again?" I ask, standing in the clearance dresses section.
"To discuss Miley, same reason we met up the other time," Lilly says, rolling her eyes.
I shake my head. "No, I mean in the clearance dress section. If Miley comes here for some reason, won't she probably come into this very section?"
"I'm looking around," Lilly says in a wounded voice, "and besides, I told you, she'll never set foot in here."
I shrug. "Okay, if you say so."
"So, we have to figure out what you're going to do," Lilly says, holding a poofy green dress up to herself and looking down at it.
"We already discussed it!" I yell, and then lower my voice. "I told you, nothing. And why is it that every time I ask you if Miley said something, you ignore it?"
"Do you think this color looks good on me?" she asks, obviously ignoring my question.
Finally accepting that there is no way in h-e-double-toothpicks that she's going to answer that question, I shake my head. "Color, yes. Style, no." She gives me a Look. "My aunt critiques my mom's clothes all the time."
Offended, she puts the dress back on the rack and looks at me. "Look, I just think it would be, I dunno, best if you and Miley got together now."
"So do I," I sit down on the carpeted floor and look up at Lilly for the first time ever. "But I really don't want to risk ruining…"
"…What you already have," she finishes my sentence. "They use that line in every sitcom. Get over yourself. What would you do if I told you she liked you back?"
My heart starts beating and I flush red. "She… she does?"
"I'm not saying that, I'm just asking what you'd do if I did," Lilly says in a tone that was invented to be used almost exclusively with the word duh and sentences that imply it.
"Probably ask her out," I say truthfully. "Tomorrow."
Lilly picks a red gown from the rack and looks down at me while inspecting the dress. "So pretend I did tell you that. And act on it."
"I can't do that!" I say indignantly. "You were saying that you didn't say it!"
"But if you pretend that I did say what you're saying that I said that I didn't say, then maybe you can say what you know you need to say," she says in one breath.
"Huh?"
Lilly rolls her eyes again. "Do it anyway."
"No. But that dress looks nice."
She looks at the price tag. "Nope, it's ugly."
And there ends our significant conversation. After that I just got out of there as quickly as possible.
I've noticed a trend in our conversations. She tells me to ask Miley out, I say no, she tries to convince me to, and I say no. This has to move.
I don't know. Should I ask her out? Or should I just… not?
We'll see. She and Lilly and I are meeting up at the beach tomorrow.