Chapter 7

For the rest of the school day, Miley continued to think about Jake. He was unlike any guy she had seen before. He was gorgeous. There were a few cute guys in Tennessee, but none that matched Jake. In fact, none of the men in Tennessee could hold a candle to Jake. And the way he smiled…it made her heart flutter. She literally felt it flutter.

It was nice…but Miley knew that's as far as it would go. She knew he would never go out with her. Jake Ryan, on a date with "Quasimodo?" The Stewart Family winning the lottery would be more likely. But…it couldn't hurt to fantasize could it?

While Miley was off in her own little world, imagining her and Jake on a blanket on the beach, feeding strawberries to one another…Lilly was seething with rage.

She had put herself out there more than once, and Jake swept all of it away with one toothy grin. Oh, how she hated that boy. It was no matter though. Lilly was confident in her staying power.

Jake was like a shiny new toy. Once the novelty wore off, it was back to the old worn out toy you always played with.

She just hoped in Miley's case, the novelty would wear off fast.

School ended and the girls chatted while they walked to Miley's house. They talked about homework, and the fact that Mrs. Kunkle had 'man hands' as Oliver delicately put it. Lilly even went as far as to imitate the frightening, no-nonsense woman, making Miley laugh.

When the laughter died down, Miley looked at Lilly, smiling.

A little anxious under the heat of the stare, Lilly had to ask. "What? Do I have something on my face?"

Miley slightly shook her head. "When are you going to show me how you skate?"

"Huh?"

Miley shook her head more vigorously this time, looking away. "It's nothing…never mind."

"No." Lilly said, grabbing Miley's arm. "What do you mean?"

"Well…" Miley sighed, "Oliver was telling me about how good you are, and he asked if you took me to the skate park yet…and I was just wondering if you were going to, that's all."

Lilly smiled brightly. "Of course I'll take you. You wanna go?"

"Sure." Miley shrugged. "I never been to a skate park before."

"Then it's about time you went. We'll go later, after dinner. It'll be awesome!" Lilly felt her heart skipping. Miley was going to watch her skate. And she was going to skate her hardest.

Maybe if she did, Miley would forget that stupid Neanderthal Ryan and…dream on Truscott.

"…okay?" Miley interrupted Lilly's thoughts.

"Hmmm?" Lilly said, looking at Miley, who looked nervous.

"Are you okay? You don't look so…happy. You don't want me to come?"

Lilly shook her head. "No, no, of course I do. I-I-I…" She frantically searched her brain for a reasonable excuse. "I was just thinking about how embarrassing it would be if I fell…which is probably going to happen more than once."

Miley laughed. "Well, I wouldn't laugh at you, if that's what you think."

"You're laughing at me now!" Lilly argued playfully.

"Fair enough." Miley giggled, "but I won't tonight…I promise."

Lilly grinned, looking at Miley in love-struck wonderment. You have absolutely no idea how beautiful you are…do you? Especially when you smile. "I believe you."

Why does she keep looking at me like that? Miley wondered, hoping that her discomfort wasn't showing. The way Lilly stared sometimes really made Miley…uncomfortable. That was the only way to describe it. And the way she smiled softly…it made Miley want to fade away…to just disappear. To where, she didn't know. Most of all, it made her insides go all gooey, and that scared her to no end. "Ah-uh…so…will you be joining us for dinner tonight?" Miley said louder than she meant to.

It worked, snapping Lilly from her blissful reverie. "Ah-oh…no. I can't. I haven't eaten with my mother in three days. She said yesterday, no matter what, we were going to eat together…if that meant her setting the table over at the park…which is the very last place I want her to be." Lilly took a second to breathe and continued. "My mother has a freakishly high threshold for embarrassment…almost nothing humiliates her, no matter what I tell her."

"She sounds…fun." Miley sighed, suddenly remembering how much she missed her mother. Sometimes, it hurt so much…just missing her.

Lilly realized she may have struck a very sensitive nerve. "I'm sorry." She said quickly, but Miley waved it off.

"Don't worry about it. It was a long time ago."

"But that doesn't make the pain go away." Lilly continued, and Miley looked at her. "I'm not going to pretend I know how you feel…but…" She stopped walking to think about what she was saying. "…when my grandma died, it was just about the worst thing I ever went through. I loved her. And it's not like a mother, and I didn't get to see her a lot, but it was close…you know?"

Miley nodded. "Yeah, I know." Then, Miley did something she almost never did, she hugged Lilly.

Lilly felt her knees weaken, and hoped to God they wouldn't give out. Oh, I can't take this. The close proximity was killing her. And Miley smelt so good. Like…berries. It was faint, but it was there…and it was filling Lilly's nose, invading her thoughts and emotions, making her eyes inadvertently water. God…you smell so good…you feel so good…I'm in such deep shit here. Lilly squeezed her eyes, hoping that would keep the tears at bay. It succeeded in cutting the rest off, but the initial ones made their way down her cheeks. Shit, that's not going to be easy to explain.

When Miley pulled back, Lilly looked away, wiping at her face. Is…is she crying? She doesn't want me to see… Miley decided to change the subject. Looking at her watch, she exhaled. "Oh…Jesus…we better get home before my Daddy thinks we got lost."

Regaining back some of her senses, and some self control, Lilly nodded. "Yeah."

They walked the rest of the way in comfortable silence, each girls' thoughts racing a mile a minute.