A/N: Holy freakin crap. It has been so long since I've last updated this story and for that I am so terribly sorry! I understand if you want to ram me in the heart with a pitchfork (winces), but please know that I have been ridiculously busy with all sorts of junk, including my movie (WHICH IS DONE AND AWESOME...kinda...) as well as College Applications (omg I sent my first one out last Tuesday and now I'm biting my nails in anticipation of my acceptance/rejection letter. SO FREAKIN NERVOUS!). And, I'm not gonna lie, this chapter was ridiculously hard to write because I had no idea where to go from where I last left off - therefore please don't yell at me if this chapter sucks. I understand this chapter sucks because I wrote the damn chapter. Anyways, I really want to just skip to the juicy juicy part, but if I do, then you won't have any idea how the hell I got there, which would mean confused people, which would mean people yelling at me for being stupid. Therefore, I shall try to keep up with the story as best as I can (I have more time now, so I can hopefully update sooner?).
Ok, so I'm done ranting now (cause I'm a jerkface...) and shall now provide you with...another quiz! Woot! Same rules apply as last time, as does the prize (Updated chapter before anyone else).
What movie did I get part of the dream sequence from? (Both movie and part of dream sequence required)
Alrighty, so have fun with that, and I'll give you all a hint because I'm nice and don't want tomatoes thrown at me.
HINT: It's from a disney movie.
(I really have a tendency to write super-long Author's Notes, don't I?)
The moonlight shined down softly on the two teens, their hands intertwined as they walked down the beach. There was a peaceful silence between them that only the lightly crashing waves disturbed. The boy looked over at the girl and silently watched her, noticing that she wore her glowing pendant. She looked so beautiful right then and there and he knew he had to say something. He'd been keeping it inside for a while and felt the need to let it out; to let her know how exactly how he felt about her. He stopped walking and tugged on her hand, letting her know he wanted to say something. The girl turned to look at him, her eyebrow cocked in confusion. The boy took her other hand and pulled him to her, gently planting a kiss on her lips. She smiled at him and his confidence surged through him.
"Miley, I…" he drifted off, trying to get his lips to say the words. "I…I…" The girl waited, confused.
"Yes?" He tried again, desperately trying to get his throat to open.
"I…um…" She was waiting on bated breath, hoping he was trying to say what she wished he felt.
"Yes?"
He knew she was waiting for him to say something, something that could potentially change their relationship forever. He knew he had to say it, and he had to say it now.
"I…I lo-"
Suddenly, the earth started shaking, causing the lovers to tumble to the ground.
'It must be an earthquake! God, talk about perfect timing…'
The boy reached out for the girl's hand, trying to bring her close to him. The earth's shaking became more powerful, causing their hands to slip farther away from each other. He screamed for her, desperate to keep her safe. She called to him, afraid of nature's wrath. They were bouncing around by now, which seemed a bit strange. Wait a minute, sand wasn't supposed to be bouncy, was it?
The girl reached for him, yelling his name.
"Jake!"
Hold on, why did her voice sound like his sister's…?
Jake's eyes slowly opened and he noticed that he was still bouncing around. Confused, he looked up and saw Carley jumping on his bed and yelling his name.
"Jake," she whined pathetically, "Wake up! It's your birthday! As fun as this is, I don't feel like spending the whole day in your room!"
Jake groaned and shoved his face into the pillow, angry that his dream was just that – a dream. He was ready to tell Miley that he lo – hold on a second. Love? He loves Miley?
'There's no way I love her…it's way to early for that! Besides, Jake Ryan doesn't fall in love – others fall in love with him! It's just a dream – it doesn't mean anything…right?'
Jake was shaken out of his thoughts (literally) when Carley fell onto her knees and started shaking his shoulders. Groaning again, he turned over to face her. His voice still hoarse from sleep, he grunted at her.
"What do you want, midget?" Huffing, Carley crossed her arms and looked away.
"Well, I was trying to wish you a happy birthday, but I guess you won't have one now. In fact, I wish you an awful birthday!"
Jake chuckled at his sister and quickly reached up and pulled a surprised Carley down, wrapping her in a giant hug. She squirmed and laughed as he showered kisses on her face and squealed loudly when he blew a raspberry on her neck. She punched his arm, causing him to let go, and jumped out of his grasp, still giggling. A goofy, lopsided smile was on his face, showing how happy he was that Carley remembered his birthday.
"Thanks for the birthday wish, Squirt, though I do wish you tried waking me up differently." She grinned at him, but quickly put on a mask of nonchalance.
"No problem. Hey, you think I can borrow five dollars?" Still in a good mood, Jake shrugged.
"Sure, why not. It's on the dresser." He watched as Carley made her way over to the dresser and pick up the money. "Why do you need it anyway?" Carley came back over and deposited the money in his hand.
"Happy birthday, Jake! Here's five dollars!"
She laughed at the look of shock on his face and bolted out the door when she saw him scrambling out of bed. When she reached the bottom step, Jake grabbed her and began tickling her until she couldn't breathe. After a while, the two broke down into laughter and made their way into the kitchen, where Mrs. Ryan was making breakfast. She noticed them and quickly enveloped Jake into a hug.
"Happy birthday, sweetheart! I can't believe you're sixteen! My little boy is all grown up!" Jake rolled his eyes as she continued gushing and prayed for some kind of saving grace.
"Dear, let the poor boy go – you're embarrassing him." Mr. Ryan entered the room and dropped the morning paper on the table. "He's sixteen, not twelve."
Mrs. Ryan reluctantly let go of a grateful Jake and let him sit down. Mr. Ryan gave him a heavy pat on the back, causing him to slightly lurch forward.
"Happy birthday, Son. You're finally a man now." Jake smiled at his father as his mother placed a hearty meal in front of him, still gushing about her baby boy.
"Here's a nice birthday breakfast made just for you, Mr. Man."
The entire table groaned at Mrs. Ryan's embarrassing pet name and nearly slammed their heads into the table in anguish. Mrs. Ryan huffed at her family and went back into the kitchen to put away the left-over ingredients. Mr. Ryan opened his newspaper and began to read the day's headlines. Jake merely picked at his food, more interested in analyzing his dream. Carley noticed him zoning out and couldn't help making a jab at her brother.
"Why aren't you eating? Finally realized you're too fat?" Jake glanced up at his sister and sneered.
"What happened to being nice?" He cocked an eyebrow at Carley's bewildered face.
"You actually thought I was going to do that for the whole day?" she scoffed, "You must be stupider than I thought."
Jake rolled his eyes as Carley took her clean plate to the sink and waltzed upstairs. He too took his near-full plate to the counter and instead walked into the garden. He sat down on a nearby bench and watched the birds and bees flying from flower to flower, his toes playing with the soft grass by his feet. For some reason, his dream wouldn't stop invading his mind and it was irking him to no end. He didn't understand how he could be developing those kinds of feelings for Miley when they had only been dating for three months. That wasn't normal, was it?
The benched creaked as another body sat next to him, knocking him out of his thoughts. He looked over to see Mr. Ryan staring calmly back at him.
"Something on your mind, Jake? Usually you scarf down your breakfast in a matter of minutes – you barely touched your food this time. Want to talk about it?" Jake looked down at his toes, not sure if he was ready for this conversation with his dad.
"Dad…how did you…how did you know when mom was…you know…the one?" He glanced up to see Mr. Ryan's surprised face.
"What? Jake, you're sixteen – surely you don't think Miley's 'the one' for you yet?" Jake looked down at his feet again, embarrassed.
"Well, maybe that's not what I meant. What I meant to say was, how did you know you were in l-…lo-…" Mr. Ryan's face softened as he watched his son struggle to express his feelings properly.
"Love? How did I know when I was in love with your mom?" He smiled as he saw Jake's cheeks turn pink and his head nod in confirmation. "Well, I always wanted to be with her – every minute of every day I wanted to hold her. My heart would race whenever I was near her. I could talk to her about anything and not be ashamed. Everyone's beauty paled in comparison to hers, both inside and out. And most of all, I knew I loved her when I knew I could tell her so. Stuttering means there is still some doubt in the back of your mind. When you love someone, you'll know right away." Jake looked up at his father in awe before allowing a small smile to grace his lips.
"Thanks Dad."
He silently stood up and walked back inside, not noticing the knowing smile on his father's face.
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The day passed by quickly and before long it was time for the traditional Ryan family birthday dinner. The Ryan's didn't bother having extravagant celebrity parties for Jake's birthday after he became famous because they didn't want so much publicity during what was to them a special family time. They also didn't want Jake to start hanging out with many of the older celebrities who were used to drugs and alcohol during celebrity parties.
Usually, it was just the four Ryans who took part in their family celebration, but this year Jake wanted to include Lily and Oliver since they were his close friends. Miley would have been invited too, if only she weren't away on her Hannah Montana tour.
Jake slumped onto his bed and stared at the ceiling, his heart clenching at the thought of Miley. During his talk with his father, he realized that he was starting to fall for her much harder than he anticipated. Although he wasn't completely there yet, the thought of him becoming so attached to one person was, quite frankly, incredibly frightening. Jake wasn't used to becoming attached to people, since he was usually moving all over the place to film movies or fending off 'friends' who only wanted to use him to become famous.
To start having such strong feelings for one person was something completely new to him, and thus very scary. To make matters worse, he didn't know whether Miley felt the same way he did, and he sure as hell didn't want to look like a fool if he spilt his heart out to her and she didn't reciprocate his feelings. Everything was so complicated now that his heart started going all mushy on him.
But then he remembered the way she looked at him, the way she smiled at him, the way she kissed him, and his feelings for her didn't seem so bad anymore. He hadn't seen her in two months and he was starting to really feel the heartache that came with loneliness. Sure, he still hung out with his friends and had a good time, but things weren't quite the same without Miley there. He wished he could see her again; hold her again; kiss her again. He wished he could talk to her for more than the five minutes she could spare between concerts and autographs. He wished she could celebrate his birthday with him in Malibu, instead of pleasing thousands of fans at her concert in Philly.
But he knew it wouldn't happen. There was no way she could come back for one night and spend it with him – she was happy when singing at her concerts and he refused to take that away from her. He knew she would never steal him from his acting career; why should he steal her from her own?
The shrill of the doorbell signaled Lily and Oliver's arrival, causing him to drag himself off the bed and down the stairs. Lily snagged him in a hug, crushing his lungs until he could barely breathe, and handed him a brightly wrapped package when she let him go. Almost as if she had read his mind about Miley, she gave him a soft, sympathetic smile, telling him that she wished Miley was with them as well. Oliver was next with a low five and a small package wrapped in plain brown paper. When Lily saw the gift, she gave Oliver a disapproving look, to which Oliver held his hands up in surrender.
"Hey, it's a guy thing, Lily. Us men don't give presents like that," he looked pointedly at the obscenely shocking-colored present in Jake's other hand.
Lily narrowed her eyes but didn't say a word, instead walking into the kitchen to offer Mrs. Ryan help. Jake laughed and ushered Oliver to the dinner table where most of the food was already laid out. He quickly dropped his two new packages onto the couch, where the rest of his gifts sat quietly. As he re-entered the dining area, he sat down in his usual seat, next to where Oliver would be sitting; where Miley sat during that dinner long ago. Memories of that night flooded back, causing a sharp pain of misery to briefly enter his mind as he thought about kissing Miley in the garden. It quickly dissipated when Lily sat down across from him and asked him about his birthday so far.
After a few minutes of talking, Jake was curious about where Oliver went. When he asked, Lily told him that he was in the bathroom upstairs getting ready for dinner. Just as Jake was about to ask what was taking him so long, a loud scream echoed down the stairs, followed by a painful moan. Carley immediately came running down the stairs and hid behind her father, scared beyond belief and rambling incoherently.
"Daddy! Strange boy…upstairs…bathroom! Help me!"
Jake and Lily looked at each other with wide eyes, knowing that the boy Carley was talking about was Oliver. Seconds later, a bleeding Oliver stumbled down the stairs, slightly disoriented from his encounter with Carley. Shocked, Lily asked him what exactly happened in the bathroom.
"I was just washing my hands when Jake's sister came in and freaked out. I tried telling her who I was, but she hit me in the nose with a shampoo bottle before I could explain!" Oliver's voice was steadily becoming more nasally as his nose quickly swelled. "Can I get a bit of help here, please?"
At this point, Lily couldn't hold back her laughter and let loose a series of unladylike snorts, resulting in a doubled over Jake and a giggling Mrs. Ryan. Jake, trying to subdue his laughter, turned to Carley.
"Carley, this is my friend Oliver. You didn't have to hit him in the face," Jake's laughter returned full force, "with a shampoo bottle!"
Lily and Jake once again began laughing at Oliver's expense. Oliver crossed his arms and pouted like a six-year-old child who didn't get what they wanted for Christmas, waiting for his two friends to finally stop laughing. Mrs. Ryan led him to the kitchen to get cleaned up while Mr. Ryan calmed everyone down and began carving the roast.
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After the wonderful meal full of jokes and stories, the small group of party-goers crowded around Jake's seat to watch him blow out his birthday candles. They told him to wish wisely, for his wish could come true, and he wished as hard as he could that Miley would be standing next to him when he opened his eyes. Although he knew it wasn't possible, he couldn't help but feel disappointed when he opened his eyes and saw no one with long, dark hair in sight. Sighing, he quickly put on a smile and began to cut the cake, making sure to serve everyone a large piece.
When cake was finished, they crowded into the living room to watch Jake open his presents. He got a nice wig to use as a disguise from Lily, as well as a set of premium baseball cards from Oliver. Lily once again glared at Oliver, wondering why the boy gave such a useless gift. He argued that the cards were a collection item that could eventually be worth millions. Jake rolled his eyes as the two got into another one of their famous spats and nearly jumped off the couch when his phone vibrated in his pocket. Looking at his caller ID, a huge smile broke out onto his face and he quickly flipped open the phone.
"Hello?" A lovely, soft, feminine voice spoke into the other line.
"Hey Jake, it's Hannah," Jake knew he had to stay in character when Miley was Hannah Montana for fear of people overhearing their conversation.
"Hannah! It's so nice to hear from you! What's up?" Miley's voice turned into a whisper as he heard stage hands calling for her to make her way on stage.
"I need you to turn on HBO and find my concert. Do it now! I have a surprise for you and I don't want you to miss it! Got to go, see you!"
She quickly hung up, leaving Jake dumbfounded for a few seconds. He then quickly scrambled over the coffee table, much to the shock of his parents, and turned on the TV, switching it to Hannah Montana's concert. He watched as Hannah made her way on stage and motioned for the screaming audience to quiet down. Confused as to why they were watching this, Mrs. Ryan began reciting her thoughts to her son, who quickly shushed her. Offended, she was about to retort, when she heard Hannah begin speaking.
"Hey everyone!" The crowd roared, then quickly simmered down as Hannah motioned again for them to be quiet. "Today is a very special day, 'cause today is my very good friend, Jake Ryan's sixteenth birthday." The crowd went crazy when they heard the famous Zombie Slayer's name slip through her lips. This time they quieted on their own, eagerly waiting to hear Hannah speak. "Because it is such a special birthday, I was wondering if you all could accompany me in singing him Happy Birthday."
The fans went wild. Their deafening screams could be heard three blocks down from the venue. Girls were crying in happiness. Boys were jumping up and down. Jake and the members of his party had their jaws on the floor, not knowing how to process this shocking announcement. Jake quickly snapped out of his daze when he saw Hannah turn toward the nearest camera.
"Jake Ryan, this is for you. Happy sixteenth,"
With that, she hushed the crowd and held up three fingers, signaling that she was going to start singing when she reached the count of one. Slowly she brought her fingers down one by one until she reached the last one. The entire concert hall began to sing to Jake, bringing small pricks of tears to his eyes. Never before had anything like this ever happened to him. The closest he got was a standing ovation at the Oscars for his very convincing supporting role in 'Blue River', but nothing could be compared to having thousands upon thousands of fans wishing him happy birthday. And for the whole thing to be orchestrated by his girlfriend, on the fly, was absolutely spectacular.
Jake stared at the screen, transfixed by his beautiful Miley. He couldn't believe that she went through all that trouble, just to give him a birthday to remember, when a call from her would have been more than enough. He watched as she finished singing, completely out of breath and sweating from the hot stage lights. She told her audience to wave to the cameras and say 'happy birthday', following her own directions and waving at him through the television screen. The camera soon cut to various shots of fans frantically waving at him, screaming out phrases like, "Happy birthday!" and "We love you, Jake!" Jake had never felt so loved as he did in that moment, and the feeling increased when his friends and family enveloped him in a large group hug, whispering similar words in his ears.
He looked back at the screen one last time to see Miley waving at him, before shutting off the TV. It was at that moment that he knew he was falling hopelessly in love with Miley Stewart.
His birthday had never been better.