A/N Wow I'm surprised people are still reading this fic after it's been months since I last posted which, btw I am so sorry. I guess I got caught up with everything. Hopefully, now that I'm back in my fanfic writing mood, I'll post a lot faster haha.
Chapter 9
Happy New Year
Oliver, Lilly, Jackson, and Miley hung out at the Stewarts house, collecting whatever they needed before heading to the bonfire at the beach where their families were, waiting for the New Years fireworks to start. Of course Miley was taking a long time to get ready, but Oliver, Jackson, and Lilly were waiting in the living room, watching the New York for the countdown at Times Square.
"Miley, will you hurry up? I don't have a long time!" Jackson shouted from his spot in the middle of the couch, between Oliver and Lilly.
"I'll be down, just wait!" Miley shouted back.
"Gosh, will she ever come down?" Jackson complained and Lilly shook her head.
"She'll take forever; it's always been like that." Oliver replied with a smirk on his face.
Jackson eyes Oliver and rolled his eyes. "Well, you should be talking, wait until midnight when she tries to go for you, and then you'll say sorry." Jackson slipped out and laughed.
"What?" Lilly questioned as she stared at Jackson.
Miley wasn't going to kiss Oliver was she? Lilly questioned herself and started feeling over protective when she shouldn't. She is taken and Oliver was for free, she shouldn't worry about Oliver and Miley hooking up, should she?
"Just wait until midnight." Jackson got up from his seat. "And if I were you Oliver, I'd run and hide." Jackson let out and evil laugh, headed outside and toward the beach, leaving the two alone.
"Okay." Oliver said and leaned back into the couch.
"That's all you're going to say then, okay?" Lilly asked and Oliver shrugged.
"It's not like it matters, who cares if Miley's going to try and kiss me tonight." Oliver side eyed Lilly, hoping to get a reaction out of that, but saw that Lilly suck back down on the couch, as if she didn't care.
"Yeah, whatever, after all, a kiss at midnight is supposed to be special." Lilly said and got up from the couch.
Oliver sighed. "You know, all you have to do is tell me not to kiss Miley and I'll stay away."
Lilly leaned on the arm of the couch with her back faced to Oliver. "And why would I do that?"
Lilly's eyes narrowed to the ground and shook her head. She didn't care, she didn't have to care. It was none of her business. He's single, Miley's single, she's taken by Matt and they were a little awkward at the moment. She shouldn't say anything at all, she shouldn't feel anything at all, but something was telling her to tell him not to kiss Miley tonight.
"Don't you care?" Oliver asked as he stared at her.
He knew she was trying to play hard to get, but this is going too far. He didn't want to kiss Miley, but he wanted to hear from Lilly that she didn't want him to kiss her. That's all she had to do, but it seemed to be going wrong at the moment.
"I don't know…" Lilly sighed.
As Oliver tried to ask another question to get something out from her, Miley ran down the stairs wearing a sparkly red jacket and white winged top and black jeans. Something not so Miley.
"I'm ready! Let's go!" Miley shouted and struck a pose.
Lilly quickly got up from her spot and got to Miley, hooking her arm with Miley and smiled.
"Let's go, I can't wait to see how it's set up." Lilly said and pulled Miley out of the back door.
"Come on Oliver!" Miley shouted behind her as Lilly pulled her outside.
"Coming." Oliver said back and got out with the girls.
They reached the beach a few minutes later and saw their parents sitting around the bonfire and talking. It was about an hour until the fireworks started so it didn't really matter if they were there or not.
"Hey, Oliver, let's sit." Miley said as she let go of Lilly's arm and took Oliver's hand and pulled him to a log near the bonfire.
Lilly rolled her eyes and sat on a log near them, watching the two closely as Miley started talking again.
"So Oliver, have you heard about the New Years kiss tradition?" Miley asked with her eyes wide and bright.
Oliver shook his head and stared at the flames. He too was looking across and caught Lilly's gaze. He wasn't interested in the story of the New Years kiss; all he wanted to do was talk to Lilly. After they talked last night, it just made everything feel a little insecure. What did she mean with if they did get together? Was she implying that she wanted to be with him too? It confused him.
"How about you Lilly?" Miley glanced at Lilly.
"Nah…" Lilly crossed her arms and stared at her feet.
"Well, a New Years kiss means that if you kiss someone once the clock strikes 12, you'll be with that person for the rest of the year with no problems. I want something like that." Miley smiled shyly and glanced at Oliver and shrugged.
"Is that it?"
"Yeah…" Miley's face fell and Oliver nodded.
"I'll be back; I'm going to see who else is here." Oliver got up from his log and left.
Miley sighed and glanced at Lilly. "Is he always that hard to get?"
Lilly's brows furrowed. "What do you mean?" She asked as if she didn't know what Miley was going to do that night.
"I want to kiss him tonight!" She finally admitted and blushed. "He got hot and I think we connected… is that wrong?"
Lilly forced a laugh. "No, it's not wrong. He did come handsome, but you two were friends since 7th grade, you should know he is kind of… slow…." Lilly got up from her log and moved to sit next to Miley.
"True, I just hope I could find him before the clock strikes 12. It's been my dream to kiss someone on New Years."
Lilly felt a little bad then. She didn't want Miley to kiss Oliver, but it was true, Miley had never kissed anyone on midnight. It was either always too late or early and as for Lilly, she never had a serious boyfriend during New Years and a New Years kiss wasn't special to her.
"I think you'll find him." Lilly replied with an uneasy look on her face. She knew then she couldn't say anything to Oliver about not kissing Miley.
--
A half hour later, Lilly left Miley alone with Sarah and Rico to just be alone. She didn't want to be there when Miley went looking for Oliver and she didn't want to look or watch them kiss when they do eventually kiss. She didn't want to stop Oliver from doing it because he had the right to do it and it wouldn't be fair because she was still with Matt. Stupid commitment.
"Stupid stupid, I need to stop it, stupid me stupid." Lilly grunted as she walked farther from the bonfire and more toward total darkness. It was better watching fireworks in the darkness anyway.
Lilly continued to think about how things would happen if Oliver and Miley did get together, it freaked her out. That would mean she couldn't do anything to Oliver period. He'd be taken and she'd be taken, but that's how it's supposed to be. She's not even supposed to be doing anything with Oliver anyway.
"I wonder how long I-ahh" Lilly started, but then fell flat on her face in the sand.
"Watch out next time Lilly." The thing Lilly tripped on said.
"Who are you?" Lilly said as soon as she got herself up and standing above the figure lying down in the sand.
"Oliver, who else? Sit down if you want." Oliver offered as he blindly patted the place next to him. He took his phone from his pocket and turned on the flash for his camera and showed the spot next to him.
"What makes you think I want to sit down?" Lilly's eyebrows rose and Oliver just shook her head.
"Stop being stubborn and do it."
Lilly shook her head and sat down next to Oliver. She sighed and looked down at Oliver's dark figure as he turned off the flash from his camera.
"Why don't you lie down too? It's nice looking at the stars." Oliver said and Lilly nodded to lie down next to him.
"Doesn't this bring back memories?" Oliver asked and Lilly shrugged.
Memories being ones from Seattle or ones from their past? They used to do this a lot when they were younger, but in Seattle, times like this meant intimate times and why he wasn't making a move on her now made her confused. He was very forward about touching her and kissing her, but now that they're alone and in total darkness he didn't try anything on her at all.
"Why did you leave the group?" he asked then, but Lilly still stayed in silence, looking up at the stars.
"Why aren't you answering me?" He asked again and Lilly sighed loudly.
"Miley should be looking for you soon. It's almost time for the fireworks and I'm sure she wants to watch them with you." Lilly said with a hint of jealousy in her voice.
"Well let her look for me. It's kind of why I'm hiding." Oliver smiled in the darkness.
"Okay." Lilly sighed. She was being rude again and Oliver was being nice, why did she always have to be like that? "Oliver, do you hate me?" She asked and Oliver choked back a laugh.
"What makes you think that?" he turned his body to face her.
"Because I keep being a bitch to you. If I were you I'd hate me." Lilly said and Oliver laughed and put a hand on her arm.
"I know, but I could never hate you, I care for you."
"Okay." Lilly said and they went back into complete silence.
It bothered Oliver with how quiet Lilly wanted to be but he didn't do anything about it. He didn't want to hurt or bother her and he didn't want to say anything stupid. He guessed that at the moment he guessed that he'll just wait for her to ask or say anything at all.
After a few minutes of being quiet. Oliver finally broke the silence. He wanted to talk to her but she wasn't opening up. She opened up the night before but something was definitely wrong.
"Are you mad at me?" He asked and she shook her head.
"Nope." She replied. An answer so short and simple it just annoyed him even more.
"Then why aren't you talking to me? Do you want me to leave to look for Miley or not?" She asked and Lilly rolled her eyes.
"It's not my choice if you want to make out with her or not. She's our friend and she likes you. Plus she wants you to be her kiss tonight… she really wants this." Lilly told him with a little regret.
It ached to say that but he had the right to know. They were friends and will only be… maybe.
"Oh." Oliver sounded a little shock.
He didn't know Miley liked him that much, but he didn't like her like that. It made everything else more complicated considering he was still in love with Lilly. Or like, he didn't know anymore. Lilly holding back made him confused with his feelings because back in Seattle he didn't have that problem.
"You know, if you want to kiss her you can." Lilly quietly said but Oliver shook his head.
"Do you want me to?" He asked once again. He wanted to know if she did.
"Why do you keep asking me?" Lilly whined, getting quite annoyed by this question already.
"It's because you're holding back." He said firmly.
"Holding back from what?" She asked, sounding confused.
He didn't know what she was feeling; all he knew was that she was being mean to him, not the things she was hiding from everyone. Or she thought he didn't know.
Oliver smiled. "From the truth and how you feel. I don't think you want to cheat on Matt is why you keep refusing to hook up with me."
Lilly nodded and sighed. So he knew she didn't want to do anything with him because she's with Matt. It must be why he keeps tempting her, but it still won't help. She didn't want to be a slut or something.
"I think you're afraid to just try something with me while Matt's gone. You call me when you and Matt fight, we always go out, but fight sometimes and we always make up. We're friends, sure, but it shouldn't hold you back from what you really want, if that makes sense." Oliver concluded and stayed quiet for a bit.
It made Lilly think, what if she were to do something totally unexpected? What if she just let her guard down and said and do things the way she wants to do it? What if she just does whatever she wants and has fun the way she wants it to? She would have fewer problems if she did it that way.
She bit her lip. She was thinking of something to do to catch Oliver off guard, but was it worth it? She loved Matt, but she just needed to do this; not for Oliver, but for herself.
"Hey, look, the fireworks are starting. That only means in a few minutes, the year will end and a new year will start." Oliver said as he watched the fireworks go off in the sky.
"Okay." Lilly replied and looked up at the sky as flashes of blue, yellow, red, and purple sparked in the air.
Lilly nibbled on her lower lip and glanced at Oliver and back at the sky. It was her one chance and she wanted to find out then if it was real or not.
"10... 9... 8..." A count down could be heard from far away and Oliver was chanting with them.
"I don't know." Lilly said under her breath and glanced at the sky. She could see Oliver's face now with the fireworks going off in the sky.
"5...4..." Oliver counted and glanced at Lilly and noticed how afraid and confused Lilly looked so he covered her hand with his and looked up at the sky once again.
"3... 2..."
"…1" Lilly whispered and turned her head toward Oliver and inched her face toward him, surprising him with what she had to give him for the sake of her curiosity.
A/N Whoo! What do you think about this chapter? Bad? Good? I need to know! Lol jk jk hope you liked this chapter.