Miley woke up in good spirits. The sun's rays were orange-pink send offs, the pistol signaling the start of the race, Lilly's 16th birthday. Today was Miley's chance to single-handedly fashion what she greatly hoped would be one of the most memorable events of Lilly's life. She carefully maneuvered out of the blonde's grip and tip-toed upstairs for a session of extended preening, knowing full-well that the other girl would sleep through the process and then some. She wanted to look thoroughly alluring. She showered, exfoliated, and moisturized every inch of her body, applied just the right amount of make up, and styled her hair flawlessly.
Miley, wrapped in a plush white towel, burrowed through her closet in search of the undisclosed outfits she had purchased weeks prior: one to be worn during the hours leading up to Lilly's party, and the other for the event itself. She threw on the first outfit: a playful strapless corset top, and a pair of low-waist skinny jeans that couldn't have been any tighter if they were vacuum sealed. She eyeballed her reflection in the mirror, and gave herself a wink of approval before stepping into the finishing touch, a pair of adorable ballerina flats.
When she finally made her way downstairs, she was surprised to find the blonde seated at the breakfast counter, casually drumming her fingers to the beat of the music video on TV, and finishing up a bowl of cereal. "Good morning, birthday girl, I hope I'm not interrupting your morning feeding frenzy?" called Miley.
Lilly swiveled around in her chair to look at the brunette. When the blonde's eyes connected with Miley's figure, the pre-loaded smartass comeback died at the back of her throat. She swallowed. "Miley, you look…" she trailed off unintelligibly, eyes still raking across Miley's body.
"Hot?" Miley did a twirl, suppressing her excitement over Lilly's apparent reaction. "Stunning?"
Lilly gradually snapped out of her reverie, regaining her tongue's sharp footing, "Decent."
Miley leaned forward and squinted at Lilly, as if spotting something on the girl that she wasn't quite sure of. "Uh, Lils, you've got a little something." She motioned to the corner of her mouth.
Lilly rolled her eyes. "Let's face it, if your ego got any bigger, it would be solely responsible for sucking up the world's entire oxygen supply."
"If that puddle of drool got any bigger, there'd be a state-wide flash flood warning."
Lilly shot her a grumpy face. "Touché."
After another short exchange of words, Lilly excused herself to shower. Miley waited until Lilly's footsteps disappeared before whipping out her cell phone, and dialing Oliver's number.
"Yep?" he answered.
"No formal greeting? Ollie, I'm wounded."
"I've told you once, and I'll tell you again, formal greetings are reserved for acquaintances, authority figures, and romantic interests, capiche?"
"Yeah, yeah. Is Warren with you?" Warren was one of Lilly's skating friends, and today, a simple pawn in her birthday scheme. Miley had arranged for the boy to "spontaneously" show up, and invite Lilly out for a nice long surf, or whatever really. Miley wasn't partial to any activity as long as it got the blonde out of the house, and afforded her enough time to set up the party arrangements.
"He's been here for an hour. Will you give us the go ahead already? He's already eaten a week's worth of Toaster Strudels." Oliver sounded legitimately perturbed.
"I guess you guys could start heading on over. The birthday girl's still getting ready, but I don't think she'll be much longer."
"Thank you," sighed Oliver. "Warren, put it down! Enough with the Toaster Strudels!"
"See you in a bit," she laughed, before hanging up.
Miley waited patiently for the other girl to resurface, anxiously chewing over the party details. She had decided upon a whimsical carnival-esque theme. Miley had really planned to outdo herself, contacting and collaborating efforts between all sorts of crews and services in order to achieve the perfect product. Lighting and sound crews were to set the mood and prepare two dance floors, one at the center of the house, and one on their patch of private beach. A popular DJ, booked months in advance, was to be expected. She had hired circus performers—unicycling clowns, world-class stilt walking jugglers, sword swallowers, fire eaters, gypsies, fortune tellers, the whole freaking gamut, even going so far as to rent a few small-scale carnival rides, game booths, and a beautiful menagerie of exotic animals and their trainer, in the offhanded chance anything were to go wrong. Miley was unsure as to what Lilly's reaction would be, but guessed that it'd go one of two ways: the blonde would either kill her on the spot, or love her that much more for all her hard work. She hoped for the latter.
Lilly came bounding downstairs just as Warren ding-donged. Miley, doing her best to contain her enthusiasm and failing miserably, practically ran to the door. "Warren," she said loudly, hoping her fake surprise was believable. "What are you doing here? Look, Lilly, it's Warren. How shocking!"
Beneath his overgrown bangs, Warren's eyes had bugged out at the sight of Miley. The girl was feverish! "Hey, Miley," he grinned, lop-sided. "You're looking good today." He turned his head inward, to a befuddled Lilly, "Lilly! How's it hanging, birthday girl? I thought we could catch a couple waves or something to celebrate today's, like, totally momentous occasion."
Lilly cocked her head to the side. "Nah. Try again." She walked up to the boy, and initiated their patented hand shake. Miley thought it was a goofy-looking testament of their immaturity.
"We could check out the skate park, and terrorize the noobs. I heard there's a lame bunch of youngins trying to claim the turf as their own. Lame as in hard-up on any skills, even the basic slides and grinds, can you believe that ish? Probably just a bunch of pretty boys grounded off Myspace for a couple weeks," he laughed.
"As disturbing as that breaking news is, I'm not in the mood for skating, or anything that requires more than minimal effort. We'll tear the pretty boys new assholes on Monday."
Warren nodded, partly dejected and partly nerve-wracked, knowing that Miley's plans banked on his success at distracting Lilly. "Alright, well, I've got a couple new PS3 pre-releases. My Uncle Ky hooked it up. Remember him? He's one of Sony's, like, highest ranking video game designers now. It's pretty sweet."
Before Lilly could answer, Miley shoved them both out the front door. "Lilly, for Pete's sake, go on and enjoy yourself! I'll be here when you get back. I know you love me, girl, but dang it, quit being such a parasite. Have fun!"
Lilly began to protest, "But-"
Miley quickly cut her off. "Ah, ah, ah! Not another word out of you, Lillian. Scram. Beat it. Vamoosh! Remove yourselves from my property before I contact law enforcement, I'm that serious, got it?"
Lilly frowned, but stalked off with Warren in tow. Miley could hear irritation in Lilly's voice as she grumbled, "What's her problem?"
As soon as they had retreated a safe distance away, a nearby bush rustled, and Oliver's hushed voice followed, "Pssst, Miley! Is the coast clear?"
"Yep."
"Could you, uh, help me out of these thorns then? My shirt and pants kind of got snagged in a hundred different places."
Miley rolled her eyes. "Smokin' Oken!"
Lilly and Warren approached their destination in considerably good timing. The house was a couple streets away, not everyone's idea of walking distance, but nothing painful either. There was a red Miata on the driveway, one that Lilly hadn't seen in two years. "Is that Lexi's car?" she asked.
"Oh, yeah! Dude, I'm sorry, I totally blanked, and forgot to tell you," he laughed, nervously palming the back of his neck, "Lexi's home for the summer."
Lilly stood still, contemplative. "That was unexpected."
"Is it going to be cool?" asked Warren, no stranger to the two's history. "I could run in, grab the games, and then we could boogie over to Zach's. He's determined to spend the summer playing video games anyway."
"No, it's totally alright. I'm just a little shocked is all." She shrugged her shoulders, and pinched his cheek before darting off. "Come on, Weenie Warren!"
He howled and bolted after her, spurred by his loathed 5th grade nickname. As they reached the front door, gasping and giggling, he took it upon himself to announce his victory in their pinching war, getting a solid one in over Lilly's four point score. "I'm really off my game," she grumbled. "Can you believe Miley actually clobbered the lukewarm crap out of me at a pillow fight?"
Warren laughed as he unlocked the door. "No way."
"Way."
"I've gotta admit though, that girl is fire! Did you see her back there? Instant schwiiing factor! I might ask her on a date, what do you think?"
Lilly winced at his words. Although that particular language was a common occurrence between them, the fact that the comments were directed at Miley nonplussed her to no end. "Down, boy," she snapped. "I'd strongly advise you against it. I mean, unless you like getting shot down. Some people are into humiliation, and you might be one of those lucky few."
"Hardy har, Lilly," he sighed. "You're probably right. Ah well, at least I've got my good eyesight, dexterous right hand, and apt memory to keep me warm on those cold, lonely nights."
"You're sick. Really." She spoke dryly, feathers entirely ruffled.
They shouldered past the doorway, and immediately jogged up the steps and into Warren's room. "Ew. What is that raunchy smell?" teased Lilly, poking at Warren's hot button issue. Ever since his mom had found a moldy pizza slice under his bed, and announced it at his 12th birthday party, he was sensitive about any topic regarding weird smells and his bedroom.
"Cut it out, Lilly," he warned, sticking his chin out indignantly.
"Alright, alright," she cleared off a section of his bed, and plopped down while he set up the game, and handed her a wireless remote.
"Kung Fu Assassinator?" she asked as the title sequence popped up.
"Yeah, don't let the stupid name put you off. It's pretty gnarly. You can actually decapitate people via karate chop, nun chuck, ninja star, or sword. I give it 6 out of 10 stars. The plot's kind of wack, I must admit. Basically, Gio, the main character, was rejected by the local dojo as a kid for being a butterball so he vows to exact vengeance on every one of his childhood tormentors, and that's where the game takes off."
Lilly scoffed at the plot details. They played for one whole uninterrupted hour before a light knock arrived at the door. "Come in," yelled Warren, slicing a head off with his character's bare fist. "Yes! That's talent, Truscott. That combo takes some wicked finger skills! Just call me super thumbs, wait, no, make that… thumbs of steel!" He bounced a little as he spoke.
The door creaked open. "If my memory serves me right, Lilly's got wicked finger skills," spoke the intruder, a mischievous lilt in each word.
Lilly's skin prickled at the voice. It was still sexy as hell, feminine with a touch of static-y husk. Despite the sudden urge to whip her head around, she kept her eyes trained to the screen, and her agile thumbs jabbing at the controller.
"Ew! Gross," grunted Warren. "You made me lose a life point!" He sighed, and turned towards his sister. "What do you want?"
Lilly paused the game, and twisted her top half towards the girl at the doorway. "Hey, Lexi," she spoke, a sly smile on her lips before she could register and detain it. Her eyes ate up the older girl. Long brown hair, hazel eyes, impossibly long legs... She was as beautiful as ever.
"Hey, Lil," she rasped, face illuminated by her toothy smile. "Look at you, all grown up. I like it."
"Thanks. You, uh, don't look so bad yourself. College life must be treating you well," Lilly mentally cursed herself for being such a lame spazoid. There was something intimidating about Lexi that had never failed to render her stupid or at a major loss for words.
Warren rolled his eyes, and threw his hands up in defeat. Not again, he thought. "I give up. I'm gonna go downstairs and bake some brownies. Just don't do it on my bed, alright? That's all I ask!" He pouted all the way out of his room.
Lexi stalked towards Lilly, and claimed the vacant spot beside her, scooching in close so that their knees touched. "Happy birthday," she greeted, dragging a well-manicured finger up and down Lilly's leg, circling the kneecap before moving back up. "You didn't think I'd forget, did you?" She giggled a little.
Lilly's chest tightened. The two girls had shared a fling during her freshman year. The only people aware of the scorching affair had been Warren, Oliver, and a couple of Lexi's old pals. Lilly had been too chickshit to clue in Miley. The inferno had always been there, even as everything came to an abrupt end due to Lexi's college bound departure. They agreed keeping in touch would have been an unnecessary agony, and cut their ties entirely, with the open ended possibility of a reunion in mind.
"I've missed you," sighed Lexi, batting her hazel eyes. She leaned in and nuzzled her face against Lilly's neck, letting her lips kiss and suck at the tender skin. "Do you want to go to my room?"
The blonde's stomach fell. A well-known desire settled in its place, and she stood up, gently tugging at the older girl's hand. Despite Lilly's growth spurt over the past two years, Lexi still stood taller than her. Lilly lead them across the hall, into the room she had spent many restless days and nights in. It had been a place of comfort, among other things…
As soon as the door clicked shut, Lexi gripped Lilly's wrists, and pinned her tightly against the wall. She captured the blonde's lips with a moan of relief, as if she'd been itching to kiss those very lips every second of their two years apart. Lilly ripped her hands free and ran them up and down Lexi's sides, before tangling them in her long brown hair. She tugged at her tresses a little roughly, soliciting a pained groan, and dropped her hands back to the older girl's waist, looping her fingers along the top of her skirt. Lexi hissed, and pulled away, growling, "God, Lilly, you still drive me crazy, you know that?" Her breathing was ragged as Lilly slipped her hand up her short skirt, firmly cupping the swollen heat between her legs.
Warren made his way back upstairs an hour later, a plate loaded with brownies and a tall glass of milk in either hand. He could hear the muffled moans, and other noises, the dirty whispers, the thuds against the walls, and the telling squeaks of the mattress. He grimaced, and locked himself inside his bedroom, beelining towards his stereo, intent on using the music to choke them out. He only hoped they'd be satiated and presentable when Miley called them back to her place. His sister had always been such a whore for his blonde haired friend. How embarrassing would it be to walk into your surprise birthday party disheveled and smelling of sex? He giggled, shook his head, and resumed his game of Kung Fu Assassinator.
Back at the Stewart household, everything had rapidly come together in the hours following Lilly's exit. The sun was already starting to dip down, and nearly all the party guests had arrived, some with kegs or bottles of alcohol, which Miley had grudgingly allowed, hoping no one made a sloppy drunk fool out of themselves for their own sake. If it got too rowdy she'd have no choice but to enforce the hired bouncer's brute strength.
The brunette was in her bedroom, slipping into outfit number 2. It consisted of a gorgeous satin babydoll dress which showcased her long, supple legs, and a flattering pair of sexy heels. Underneath it all, to kind of tie the whole grown and sexy theme together or so Miley had reasoned, lay a drool-inspiring lingerie set. She eyeballed herself in the mirror, twirling slowly to inspect her reflection at all angles. "Dang, girl," she hissed.
She sat on her bed and phoned Warren. "Hey," she greeted. "How's Lilly holding up?"
"Uh, fine, I guess—"
"You guess? She's been with you the whole day!"
"Well, actually, she was with me for like an hour before my sister snatched her away…"
Miley's face fell, a brooding jealousy prevailing above all other feelings. "Lexi?"
"The one and only," he chided.
"When did she get back?" The venom oozed through the phone line and into Warren's ear canal, making the skater boy shudder.
"Like last night. She's not technically back, just on summer break."
Miley had always felt an unexplainable envy towards his sister. The year Lexi had been a senior at Seaview High, Miley was obligated to accept their friendship and the fact that the older girl was rightfully entitled to scrimping her out of at least 50 percent of Lilly's coveted attention. Ever since Lexi left for college, Lilly had been solely hers, and she wanted to keep it that way. "Well, whatever. Can you just get Lilly back over here, please? Everything's ready."
"Will do, Capitan.
"And Warren?"
"Hm?"
"Thanks."
"Any time, Miley."