Here's the next chapter. Enjoy!
Miley watched with hollow eyes as her dad picked out one of the wrist braces off the wall of medical supplies. She had her arm cradled against her body. After three days of ignoring the pain, she had finally broken down and started crying when she had accidentally hit her hand on the table. She hadn't talked to Lilly once in those three days.
"I don't see why you just didn't come to me when this first happened," he sighed as he paid for the wrist brace. He glanced back at Miley. "Miles, honey, is something wrong?"
"I'm fine," she muttered, taking the brace from him and ripping off the packaging. She hissed as she slipped it over her wrist and strapped it on tightly. A few seconds later, her dad was kneeling in front of her and loosening the Velcro straps, making it more comfortable. She blinked back tears.
"Bud, I think that we should take you to a doctor and have your wrist looked at," he said softly. "It looks pretty bad. How did you do this again?"
"Punched a wall," Miley muttered.
He sighed, standing up and running a hand through his hair. "Come on, you aren't going to school today. I'm taking you to the hospital so you can get a cast." He glanced at her and Miley knew that he was expecting her to argue, but she just shrugged and followed him out of the store. Twenty minutes later, she was sitting in the emergency room at the hospital, waiting for her dad to finish filling out the paperwork the receptionist had given him.
Suddenly she was sitting on an exam table and a doctor was gently rotating her wrist, telling her to say when it hurt. He looked at her worriedly when she didn't say anything and said that he was going to have her hand and wrist x-rayed. Two hours later, she was sitting in front of three x-rays of her hand, each one showing that her hand was incredibly broken and she would have to get a cast.
"Are you sure you're okay?"
Miley nodded for the fifth time as she got out of the car and walked into the house. Time seemed to flow ceaselessly, moment to moment, second to hour, hour to day, until her dad was carrying her into her room and tucking her in under her sheets, pressing a soft hand to her forehead, whispering "good night" to her. Then light was streaming in through the windows and she was staring up at the worried face of her father.
"Miles?" he whispered, but he was so far away. Miley just turned over on her side and went back to sleep.
Then someone was shaking her awake, telling her that she had better get her butt out of bed or else. She closed her eyes to go back to sleep, but the blankets were suddenly pulled from her body. Sitting up quickly, she saw Jackson standing at the end of her bed.
"It's time to get up," he said, crossing his arms over his chest.
Shrugging, she stood up and went over to her dresser, pulling out a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt and starting to undress. Jackson was still in the room, but she didn't care, and he obviously didn't care, either, because he didn't leave. When she was finished getting dressed, she dropped her clothes in her hamper and sat back down on her bed, looking at Jackson expectantly.
"What's going on with you, Miles?" he sighed, sitting down next to her. "There's something not right about this whole situation. You're cooperating with me, you haven't yelled at me once in the past five days, and you've been sleeping for the past two. Plus Lilly hasn't been running around here with you, either. Did you guys get into a fight?"
"I'm fine," Miley muttered.
Jackson laughed. "Come on, Miley, don't try and give me that crap," he said, shaking his head. "Sure, you can tell Dad that you're having some 'girl issues,' but the only issue I see right here is you and Lilly. That's not something Dad would avoid talking to you about, and you know that. So you either tell me what's going on between the two of you or I'm going to go tell Dad that you two go into a fight." He waited a few seconds before sighing and getting up and walking to the door. "Fine, if it comes to this…."
"It was my fault."
Her brother paused by the door, his hand on the handle. He didn't turn and the only acknowledgement that he had heard her was the fact that he wasn't leaving the room. Miley knew that he was trying to be as impersonal as possible to make this as easy as possible for her to talk about. He knew that she didn't like to talk much about her feelings to people's faces.
"You see, when Oliver broke up with Lilly and left, I promised myself something," she continued quietly. "I promised myself that no matter what happened, I would be there for her and stick by her all the way, putting her needs in front of my own. If we both ended up falling for the same guy, she could have him, and if he broke her heart, I would break his face. Anything and everything that I did would be for her. Then… something happened."
She took a deep breath and squeezed her eyes shut, forcing her to speak the words that she had been avoiding for the past three days. "I fell in love with her," she whispered. This was the crucial moment, the place in time where she would either lose her brother, or forge a bond with him that would never be broken. She continued without pausing. "You have to understand, Jackson, I didn't mean for it to happen. I mean, if I ever fell in love with anyone, I would never want to fall for my best girl friend! It just… the feelings came and I can't… I can't stop what I'm feeling."
"Hey, hey, Miles, its okay," Jackson soothed, sitting down next to her and putting an arm around her shoulders. "I'm not gonna condemn you because you fell in love with someone. That would be incredibly stupid of me. Yeah, you get on my nerves sometimes, and I know I get on yours, but I would never disown you because of your… sexual preference. I love you, Miles, and there's nothing you can do to change that."
Miley leaned into her brother's embrace, resting her head on his shoulder. "Thank you," she murmured. "But I don't know what to do. I haven't talked to Lilly in six days, and now that I've admitted it to myself… I don't know if it's going to be so easy to hide. And Daddy! What am I gonna say to Daddy?"
"One thing at a time, Miles, one thing at a time," Jackson said, rubbing her arm comfortingly. "I would suggest talking to Dad about this, first. And before you go off on a rant about how he'll never accept you, think about who we're talking about. This is the guy who didn't blink an eye when you dropped fifteen hundred dollars on a pair of shoes when you went shopping with Aunt Dolly. Of course, that might have been the fact that it was Aunt Dolly, but still. He loves you, Miley, and while it might take a little time for him to process it, he's not gonna kick you out of the house or hate you. He's always gonna love you. And some little voice in the back of your mind is telling you that right now."
"What about Lilly?" Miley asked. "I can't lose her, Jackson, I just can't. I would rather have her just as a friend than not have her at all. Yeah, it hurts when I see her and know that she'll never want to be with me like she wanted to be with Oliver, but… I can stand that. The thought of not having her in my life at all… that's something I can't live with. These last six days have been torture."
"Tell me about it," Jackson laughed. "Really, Miley, you're worried about Lilly not accepting you? Even if she doesn't like you back, she's still gonna be your best friend. Did you know that she's been over here at least every six hours, if not more often, to see if you were feeling better? There's a pile of your schoolwork down on the kitchen table. She really wants to see you."
"Wait, she's not mad at me?" Miley whispered, pulling away from Jackson and looking at him uncertainly. "I thought… but she hasn't called…."
"Dad took your phone," Jackson explained with a guilty grin. "It's been ringing so much that he took the battery out. He said that he wouldn't doubt that Lilly would find a way to make it ring even if the phone was turned off."
The brunette laughed. "There's the Miles I know," Jackson smiled. "Now how about you get yourself cleaned up and dressed so you can come down and have some breakfast. You've been in bed for three days and you've barely got any food or water in your stomach. Dad's making waffles."
Miley mumbled something. "What was that?" Jackson asked.
"I said that I need help taking a shower," Miley mumbled a little louder, her face blushing a bright red. "And I don't want you or Daddy to help me because that would just be embarrassing."
"Well… Lilly's downstairs," Jackson suggested, and Miley's eyes widened. He hurried to finish as she opened her mouth. "You could get into one of your swimming suits and she could help you wash your hair, then you could finish washing your body yourself. I'm not suggesting anything else."
"Fine," Miley sighed. "You can tell her to come up, but I'm changing first."
"Okay," Jackson said, walking over to her bedroom door. He opened it and walked out, starting to close it behind him.
"Oh, and Jackson?" Miley called after him.
He paused. "Yeah?"
She gave him a small smile. "Thanks."
"No problem, this is what big brothers are for," he replied softly. "Now go ahead and get changed so I can send Lilly up."
He shut the door behind him and Miley rummaged through her dresser as quickly as she could with one hand for a bathing suit, finally choosing one of her more modest bikinis… not that there really was ever a modest bikini in the first place. She pulled a t-shirt and shorts on with difficulty and sat on her bed waiting for Lilly. A few minutes later, there was a tentative knock on the door.
"Come in," Miley called, and the door creaked open slowly to reveal a hesitant Lilly. "Oh my God," Miley whispered.
There was a large scar running diagonally across Lilly's face from her left temple to the right side of her jaw. She stood up and stepped towards the blonde, reaching her hand out to touch the scar and quickly letting it fall back to her side when she realized what she was doing.
"It's pretty awesome, isn't it," Lilly chirped cheerfully, and suddenly all the worry that Miley had been feeling fled from her mind. Why was she so anxious? It was just Lilly. She laughed and shook her head.
"Of course you would say that," she murmured, looking down at her feet. She was starting to feel anxious again.
"Jackson said that you needed help," Lilly offered after a moment of silence.
"Yeah, um, I… could you… the cast…" Miley stuttered.
"Shower?" Lilly suggested, and Miley nodded, blushing. "Hey, it's not anything to be embarrassed about. Remember when I broke my arm and they ran out of the waterproof stuff they use for waterproof casts? I had to ask you to help me with a shower and you helped me. It was no big deal."
Miley nodded and swallowed nervously. Lilly tilted her head and looked at her carefully. "Is there something going on?" she asked softly.
"No, I… I'm just…" Miley stuttered.
"You know you can tell me anything, right?" Lilly asked gently, taking Miley's good hand in both of hers. Miley's hand tingled at the skin-on-skin contact, those tingles running up her arm and down her spine to the pit of her stomach. "Miley?"
"Yeah, I…" Miley breathed, her eyes wide as she stared at Lilly's perfectly-formed lips.
"Miles, are you sure you're okay?" Lilly asked, snapping her back into reality. Miley blushed when she realized that she had been staring and quickly looked down at her feet. "Come on, Miley, please tell me what's wrong. Is it something I did? I'm sorry, okay? If I…."
"No," Miley said quickly, taking Lilly by surprise. She pulled her hand out of Lilly's and rubbed her leg nervously. "It's not you. You didn't do anything wrong. It's… it's me, okay? There's some stuff going on and… I'm trying to deal with it right now?"
"Girl issues?" Lilly asked, crossing her arms over her chest and arching an eyebrow. She winced in obvious pain and Miley felt a twinge of pain somewhere deep in her chest because Lilly was hurting.
"Where did you hear that?" Miley asked defensively, trying to cross her arms, as well, but failing because of the cast. She ended up hugging herself with her good arm, making her look vulnerable.
"Your dad said that you've been holed up in here for the last three days because you said you were having 'girl problems,'" Lilly said, using air quotes. Her face softened. "Miley, I really want to know if something's wrong. I'm your best friend and I only want to help you, okay? If you want me to keep something a secret, I'll keep it a secret. Are… you aren't… you aren't, um, pregnant, are you?"
"No!" Miley yelled, her eyes widening as she took a step back from Lilly. "Where would you get an idea like that?"
Lilly physically relaxed. "I don't know," she shrugged. "You've been acting… weird lately. Almost motherly towards me. I thought maybe… well, ever since Oliver… left…. Oh my God, this is all because of Oliver, isn't it?"
Miley shook her head quickly. "No," she protested weakly.
"Yes, it is," Lilly insisted, taking a step forward. "I don't know how, but this has something to do with Oliver…."
"I'm gay, okay?" Miley burst out. "Are you happy?"
The blonde stared at her, her eyes as wide as saucers. She licked her lips and her eyebrows met in the middle of her forehead. "That's… that's what this is about?" she asked, confused.
"Yes," Miley whispered, looking anywhere except at Lilly. "I… I was afraid, okay? I was scared that you wouldn't want to be my friend anymore, and I've only just realized it myself, my dad doesn't even know, and Jackson said that both of you would be okay with it…."
"Wait, you told Jackson before you told me?" Lilly asked, clearly insulted.
"I told him just before you came in here," Miley defended.
"And when were you planning on telling me?" Lilly demanded in an accusatory tone. "After you told your dad and Jake Ryan, then called Oliver up on the phone and told him, too?"
"Are we really going to get in a fight because I told Jackson before I told you?" Miley asked in disbelief. "Because if that's all this is going to be about, then I really don't want to deal with this right now. I still have to tell my dad and I'm not sure if he's going to accept and I don't think you understand how… how worrying and horrible it is to just… wake up one morning and realize all of a sudden that Hey! I'm gay!"
Lilly looked away uncomfortably. "You're right," she whispered. "I have no idea what it's like. And I'm sorry if it seems like I'm getting upset over something stupid, but… I feel like we've been drifting apart, Miley. I don't want to lose you as a friend and I feel like that's what's going to happen."
"You… you don't care that I'm gay?" Miley asked cautiously.
"No, I'm not going to stop being your friend just because you like girls," Lilly said, shaking her head and laughing softly. "You could be a leprechaun and I would still be your friend. And trust me, if you were a leprechaun, that would be just a little weird for me."
Miley laughed, a large smile spreading across her face. "I don't know why I was ever worried about telling you," she said. "You're my best friend. Nothing is ever going to change that."
"Never," Lilly promised. "Now how about I help you with your shower and then we can go downstairs and eat breakfast. I'm starving."
The tingles returned as Lilly took her hand again, leading her into the bathroom. Miley quickly shed her t-shirt and shorts to reveal her bikini and blushed, but Lilly didn't seem to notice. She was already turning on the water in the shower. Lilly helped Miley wrapped her cast in towels and plastic bags before she quickly helped her wash her hair and most of her body.
Pleasant sensations ran through Miley's body as Lilly's fingers massaged her scalp and gently rinsed the soap from her hair. Gentle fingers ran a washcloth over sensitive skin and Miley shivered. Lilly didn't notice as she helped wash the suds from Miley's exposed skin. The brunette is still wearing her bikini.
After Lilly helped Miley unwrap her cast and make sure it didn't get wet, she went into the other room so the brunette could change out of her bikini into her shorts and t-shirt. She came out a few minutes later with a brush and hair tie in her hand. "I… could you brush and braid my hair?" she asked shyly.
"Yeah, of course," Lilly answered, sitting down on Miley's bed and patting the spot in front of her. Miley handed the brush and hair tie to Lilly and sat down cross-legged in front of her, squeezing her eyes shut as she waited for the blonde to tear the snarls out of her hair.
She was surprised when Lilly gently ran the brush through her hair, working out the tangles gently, her fingers gently brushing at the base of her neck before she ran the brush through her hair. Finally, when all the snarls and tangles were out of her hair, Lilly started braiding Miley's hair, her fingers brushing against sensitive skin every so often and finally pulling the braid tight and tying it with the hair tie.
"There, is that okay?" she asked. Miley nodded. "Okay, then, we're ready to go downstairs and eat breakfast. Those waffles smell really good."
They went downstairs and sat down at the kitchen table. Miley's dad placed two plates piled with waffles on the table, one in front of each of them, and they dug in. The brunette had difficulty eating her since she couldn't use her left hand, which was her dominant hand, and ended up having her dad cut them up for her so she could eat them with a fork.
"You're awfully quiet, Miles," her dad remarked. "I mean, I know that Lilly is quiet when she's eating, but you're usually all gab and go."
Miley glanced at Lilly, who gave her an encouraging nod. "Daddy, there's something I have to tell you," she whispered, and he turned away from the waffle makers to give her his attention. "You've always said that no matter what we do, who we turn out to be, or… or who we fall in love with, you'll always love us, right?"
"Yes," he answered slowly. "Is this about that Jake Ryan boy again? He isn't back in town, is he? Haven't I taught him that breaking my little girl's heart isn't acceptable?"
"No, Daddy, Jake isn't back in town and it isn't about him," Miley sighed. "I…I don't like boys. I like girls." She held her breath as she waited for his reaction.
"You like girls," he repeated slowly, staring at her. "But… you liked Leo six months ago, and Gabe LaMotte before that, then there was Jake Ryan, and…."
"Yes, Daddy, but I don't like boys," Miley interrupted softly. "I don't think I ever have, really. The only reason I liked those boys is because everyone else did and I thought it was the right thing to do. Sure, they were all good-looking, but I was never attracted to them. I think I've always been attracted to…." She stopped.
"To who?" Lilly asked eagerly.
"No one," Miley muttered, putting her head in her hands.
"Bud, if you think that I'm going to be upset with you because you like girls instead of boys, then you're wrong," her dad said slowly. "Like I've said so many times before, I love you and I'm always gonna love you. I just… it's going to be hard for me to get used to the fact that you aren't going to be running around here talking about boys anymore. It's not something that I've ever considered. Give me a little time, Bud. Just give me a little time."
"M'kay, thanks, Daddy," Miley whispered.
"Why don't you two go upstairs to your room and rest for a bit?" her dad said, putting a hand on her forehead worriedly. "You look a little peaked and I don't want you getting sick. Lilly, can you grab her laptop off the coffee table in the living room? You two can watch movies up on her bed."
Miley stood up slowly and watched as Lilly went into the living room and picked up her laptop on the coffee table. She followed the blonde up to her room and they sat down on Miley's bed, facing each other.
"Who is it you like?" Lilly asked suddenly.
"I… why does it matter?" Miley countered.
"If you don't want to tell me, all you have to do is say so," Lilly muttered, clearly hurt.
"No, Lilly, it's not that," Miley said quickly. "It's just…."
"I told you that you don't have to," Lilly snapped.
"It's you!"
They were both quiet as Miley slapped a hand over her mouth and Lilly stared at her with a shocked expression on her face. Miley slowly began to shake her head at tears leaked out of the corners of her eyes.
"Oh my God, Lilly, I'm so sorry," she whispered as she dropped her hand from her mouth and reached out to the blonde. Lilly flinched away at Miley's touch and the brunette bit her lip and retracted her hand, hurt.
"I… I have to go," Lilly whispered, standing quickly and going to Miley's door. "I'll see you later."
Miley watched Lilly leave and, when she heard the front door close, signaling that Lilly wasn't coming back, she collapsed in tears. She had just driven away her best friend.
I feel really bad for abandoning you guys for so long, so I'm going to go ahead and post this a little earlier than I normally would. Thank you to Anti-Gravity111, Freudian Slips Cause Problems, AlvinFan07, and XxuntouchablexX for reviewing the last chapter. You guys are awesome. And once again, all of my thanks goes to Freudian Slips Cause Problems for the story idea.
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