Yes, it's taken me a bit of time to write this chapter. Sorry. I had intended to have it up yesterday, but that didn't happen. Volleyball and wprk just take up so much time, and i start school on Monday...Goodness. Read and Review please!

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I slammed the car door shut, angry that I'd been suckered into coming here. Oliver had begged and begged, so I'd had no choice but to give in, or put up with his whining for the rest of the night. So, there I was, outside of Matt's house, waiting for Oliver to finish straightening himself up. We walked in together, but we kept our distance from each other. He was hoping to get lucky tonight, but I didn't expect as much. I'd had enough random hookups to last me a lifetime, tonight I wasn't looking for anything.

As soon as we were inside different people yelled to us. "Hey, Oaken!" "Truscott, how's it going!?" Just the meaningless banter that comes with going to high school.

A girl walked up to Oliver. "Hey," Joanie said, in what was probably supposed to be a seductive voice. "I was hoping you'd come tonight."

Oliver got a dopey look on his face. "I told you I'd be here."

She looked at me. "Truscott." She said shortly.

"Loser." I answered in the same tone.

"Look who's talking." She turned back to Oliver. "Anyways, I was wondering if you wanted to party with just me. You know." She put her hand on his chest.

"Hey Lilly?" He asked, his eyes completely glued to her. "Can you chill by yourself for a while?"

"Well…"

"Thanks Lilly. I'll find you later." She pulled him up the stairs. I scoffed. Dragged to a party for no reason. He should have come by himself. I looked around, seeing lots of familiar faces dancing and drinking. Pushing my way through the crowd I wandered to the backyard where no one was. It was already dark out, so I sat on the deck steps, listening to the muffled music from inside. I was itching to smoke a cigarette; I should have taken one from Oliver before he went upstairs. Parties always made me uncomfortable.

"Do you mind if I join you?" A soft voice with a Southern accent asked. I turned to see who it was, and, surely enough, Miley was standing at the top of the steps, waiting for me to answer her. She looked beautiful, as always.

"Only if you can keep your hands off me." I said smoothly. She laughed an infectious laugh and sat down next to me.

"I'll try." It was quiet for a moment. "So what are you doing out here? Shouldn't you be inside dancing with a cute boy, or something?"

"Shouldn't you?" I retorted.

"Touché."

"I know." I smiled. I suddenly didn't want a cigarette anymore. I leaned back against the house, and she leaned against the railing on the other side. Her leg touched mine, sending a jolt through me. She didn't move away, and neither did I. "So…" I said shakily. "What are you doing out here?"

"I asked you first."

"I don't like parties."

"Well I don't like being surrounded by people I don't know or like. Amber and Ashley have all these people that worship the ground the walk on, and me too. I can't stand it."

"It comes with being popular. At the rate you're going, you might want to get over it."

"I don't like the rate I'm going."

"Well, the more you hang with Amber and Ashley, the more you'll go that way."

"Ugh." She turned, laying back across the stairs. My leg was suddenly cold where hers had been. "I miss Nashville."

"I'm sorry. Don't you like it here?"

"Sure I do, but I was there a long time. I had friends."

"You have friends here."

"Yeah. Great. Amber and Ashley."

"No, me. I'm your friend."

"Are you?"

"Well I thought so. But if you don't want me to be, then I won't."

"No I do, I do. Be my friend."

"Well you know, now that you're begging." I smirked at her.

"Oh shut up!" She smacked my shoulder. "You're absolutely ridiculous." She left her hand on my shoulder for a moment. Then, the door behind us opened, and she jerked her hand away.

"I knew you were out here Miley. What are you doing with her?" Amber said 'her' as if I was something disgusting stuck to the bottom of my shoe.

"We're just talking."

"Well how about you go talk to someone else? Like us? We don't talk to people like her."

"I'm, right here you know." I said, annoyed.

"Yea, we know." Ashley snapped at me.

"We're going inside Miley. Come on." Amber said. Miley stood up like she was going to follow her, and then stopped.

"No." She said simply.

"What?" Amber and Ashley said together.

"No. I'm not going to go with you guys. I don't even like you."

"So that's it? You're choosing the losers over us?"

"No. I'm choosing Lilly over the losers. Goodbye." She turned around, pretending they weren't there.

"You're going to regret this!" Amber shrilled, stomping off with Ashley on her heels.

No sooner were they gone then Jake stepped out. "Wow. That was hot. You wanna go out with me Miley?"

She looked at him like he was crazy. "No."

He seemed stunned for a moment, but recovered quick. "Oh, I get it. Playing hard to get. I'll see you soon." He strutted away.

We were silent for a while. "What just happened?" I asked, somewhat surprised.

"Nothing much." She sat back down as if nothing had really happened. "Ugh. I spent enough time with them to get that they were some of the worst people the good lord ever put on this planet."

"I was never friends with them. They used to dump my milk and throw my cookies on the floor in kindergarten. Everyone else thought they were funny, so they laughed. Then I beat them both up. Ever since, we've been enemies."

She laughed. "Kids are so cruel."

"Yeah they are. As cruel as the idea of me having to be at this party."

"Same. I think I'm gonna head home. Wanna come?"

I balked. "Home with you?" My heart pounded out of my chest.

"Well I mean if you really want, then sure. But I was actually asking if you'd like a ride home." She smirked at me

I leaned back. "You know, I think I'd rather go home with you." My mom was away on a business trip, and I was going to have the house to myself the whole weekend.

Her smile faltered for a bit. Then it came right back. "Ok. Let's go." She stood up, and I just looked at her. "Come on!" She reached out for my hand and pulled me up, dragging me behind her. My heart pounded and my breath caught. It wasn't until she let go of my hand at her car that I could breathe again. I resisted the urge to run my hand through her hair before she walked around and unlocked the doors. We both got in. As soon as the car started it began playing the last song she'd played. It was a song I recognized, that was halfway over.

I believe
That the road that people lead
Helps you find the one you need
You're much better
Yeah

"So what are we going to do tonight?" I asked Miley, nervously.


I wanna fly with (you)
Tear up the sky with (you)
You're much better
You're much better, girl
I wanna fight with (you)
Make up tonight with (you)
You're much better
Ooo!
Yeah!

"Whatever you want." She replied. Then she started singing along. I tried to ignore the frenzy that had been thrown up in my mind at those words.

I wanna fly with (you)
Tear up the sky with you
(Oh! )
You're much better
I wanna fight with you
Make up tonight with you

(Oh! )
You're much better
You're much better girl!
Oooo ooo oo!
Yeah!
I wanna fly with youuu!
Ohhh
You're much better
You're much better girl!
You're much better

The song ended just as Miley pulled into her garage. She shut the door behind us and we slammed the doors. She checked her cell phone. "Shit. It's eleven thirty." She slowly opened the door. "Try to be quiet, at least until we get up to my room." We creeped slowly up the stairs. What am I doing here? Was all that ran through my mind.

We were almost in her room when the door across the hall opened. "Miles?" A sleepy voice said.

"What is it?" Another, softer voice said from behind him. Miley and I both looked in time to see Jackson shirtless in his doorway with a half dressed girl behind him.

"Jackson what are you doing!? You're not supposed to have girls in your room."

"So?" He looked at the girl behind him. "Dad got called away for one of his clients, so he won't be back till Sunday. I figured I ought to, you know, enjoy myself. Look's like that's what you're doing." He leered at me.

"Jackson, there is a big difference between me having a girl in my room and you having one."

"Jackson," The girl said, "Can we just go back to bed?" She pulled on his arm.

"Sarah?" I asked.

"Hey Lilly." She was perfectly calm about the whole situation. She wrapped her arm around Jackson's torso, which was surprisingly muscular.

"Well, I'll see you two in the morning. You know, if Lilly's a morning-after kind of girl." He shut the door, still laughing at his joke.

"That boy," Miley said, "Is dumber than a dog playing in traffic."

Is he? I thought to myself. Is he really? Miley led me into her room, as I remembered that I never had been a morning-after kind of girl. After I've committed a dirty deed, I always sneak off in the middle of the night to avoid everything that follows sex. I was awed once I stepped into her room. She had drawings on the walls, drawings that amazed me.

On the one wall was her name, in large swirling letters. On the others were various things she must have seen, or created. Some of it was graffiti, others were cartoon characters, some were life-like animals. "You draw?" I asked, feeling like the biggest idiot in the world.

"Yep."

"Me too!" I was so excited for a moment, I forgot to play it cool. "I never knew you were an artist. I used to draw all the time before…"

"Before what?"

Before things changed. "Before senior year. I just got too busy. Wanna see?"

"Yeah. The chalk is in that dresser drawer." I walked over, pulling open the drawer she had indicated. I looked inside, and saw a collection of different colored chalks. I pulled out the chalk container, and saw it was sitting on top of a book that looked suspiciously like a journal. I was dying to pick it up and have a look, but couldn't have done so without Miley seeing. When I turned around Miley was lying back on her bed, propped up on her elbows. My breath caught. I turned to her wall, trying to cover up my awkward moment. I looked at the blank wall around Miley's name.

"Do you like tigers?" I asked.

"Yes."

"I'm gonna draw you one." I took an orange chalk, beginning with the outline of the body. I slowly progressed, moving on to the face, then the eyes, then the body details. It took almost an hour, but Miley sat there patiently, watching me without a word.

"That's amazing." I took a few steps back, sitting next to Miley on the bed. She put a hand on my shoulder. My heart fluttered. "Honestly, this is the best drawing I've ever seen." We both sat back and looked at it. The tiger was lazing on top of Miley's name, with one of it's legs hanging off the side of her name, and it's tail in the air.

"Thanks. I really miss drawing. It's nice to see I can still do it."

"It looks like you never stopped." I looked at her, and she was smiling warmly. "So what do you want to do now? Or do you intend to spend all night drawing on my walls?"

I laughed at her. "What do you want to do?"

"Wanna watch a movie?"

"Depends. Which movie?"

"Seventeen Again?" I laughed.

"I haven't seen it."

"Then we are definitely going to watch it." She jumped off the bed, grabbing a DVD off of her bedside table. She put it into the DVD player under the large TV on her dresser. "This movie is so good." She shut off the lights just as the movie started, and jumped into the bed, landing right on me. "Oh, Lilly!" She exclaimed. "I'm sorry! I thought you were on the other side!" I didn't know what she was talking about, but I didn't mind. She tried to get off of me, but kept losing her footing and eventually flopped down on top of me. "Sorry." She rolled over off of me onto the other side of the bed.

"It's-it's no problem." I focused my attention to the TV. Well, pretended to. I couldn't get over the feel of Miley on me. Of her face so close to mine. I couldn't take that she was so, so close to me. I could feel just the lightest touch from her arm on mine, and the vibration every time she shifted on the bed. After the movie ended I could feel Miley's eyes on me. I turned my head to look at her. She stared at me intently, with that burning blue gaze of hers. I tried to look away, but it didn't do anything. I knew she was still looking at me, and I started to get hot under the collar. I wanted to move my arm away from her, but I couldn't. She got up from the bed to turn off the TV and turn on the light, and I could breathe freely again.

"Wanna go to bed now?" She glanced at the alarm clock. "It's 2:30."

"Yea." I covered my face.

"Is it okay if I snuggle close to you?" She asked timidly.

"What?" I panicked.

"Well, my best friend used to always let me sleep really close to her. I mean, if you think that's weird then I completely understand."

"No," I paused. I should say no, but for some strange reason, I really, really wanted to say yes. "It's not weird."

She sighed. "Ok." She flipped off the light, leaving me in complete darkness. I felt the bed sink a bit under her weight when she got on it. The covers shifted as she pulled them up, and I tensed up, waiting. She slid her hand across my stomach, wrapping her fingers up in the fabric at the hem of my t-shirt. The fingers that in my t-shirt were touching my bare stomach, and I couldn't relax my muscles. My breath came in short rasps. "Will you relax? You'd think I was about to rape you or something." My mind was suddenly ravaged by vivid images of Miley's hands traveling up my shirt, her face moving closer to mine, her lips… "Lilly. Calm down. If you're not okay with this I'll move." She lifted her head, and I knew she was looking at me in the darkness.

I took a few calming breaths, pushing the thoughts out of my mind. "Okay with this? This isn't anything. Of course I'm ok with it."

"Good." She laid her head down on my shoulder, snuggling close. I heard her yawn at the same time I did. That infectious laugh rang out in the darkness, from somewhere below my chin. I shifted my arm a bit, so that it was behind her. I wondered if putting my arm around her was too much, and she seemed to read my mind. She pushed her back out a bit until it was touching my arm. I put it around her, gingerly touching her waist. She sighed in contentment. "Sleep sweet."

I definitely will. "Good night." It wasn't long before she had fallen asleep. Her breathing had slowed, and her hand on my hip had relaxed. My heart kept beating double-time, and I couldn't figure out why. It wasn't as if I liked her or something. She was just another girl from school. Except, she was different. She wasn't stuck up. She listened when I spoke as if she cared what I had to say. She wasn't stalking me to get to Oliver. She was nice, and could be my best friend. I looked down at her, and could see a vague outline of her face. She looked so peaceful. I resisted the urge to touch her, and just laid my head on top of hers, settling in for a good night. A good, good night.

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