Here's the next chapter. Sorry it took so long to update. Enjoy!
Miley groaned as she looked up from her calculus book, staring across her room at Lilly, who was totally engrossed in her own calculus homework. She smiled at the expression on the blonde's face: her tongue was sticking out of the side of her mouth as she concentrated on one of her problems and a look of satisfaction flashed across her face before she moved onto the next problem.
Sighing, Miley closed her calculus book and slid it aside. She had the rest of the weekend to finish it, and besides, she would probably accomplish a lot more if she started working on her English homework. That was one of the three classes she didn't have with Lilly. The other two were Psychology and Theatre Arts. Lilly was also taking Psychology, but at a different time, and had enrolled in Creative Writing, something that Miley had never known the blonde was interested in.
"Are you going to finish your homework or are you just going to sit there and daydream?" Lilly asked jokingly, snapping Miley back into reality. The brunette gave her a small smile and pulled her book bag towards her, rummaging through it to take out her English binder, her planner where she recorded all of her homework assignments, and her copy of The Grapes of Wrath.
"Have you already finished your calculus homework?" Lilly asked, surprised.
"Uh, no," Miley laughed, shaking her head. "I don't get half of the stuff the teacher says, and I get the homework even less. I don't even know why I took AP Calculus this year. I'm gonna end up failing out."
"No, you won't," Lilly said. "And do you wanna know why? Because you're best friends with the most brilliant math tutor in the whole school. Come on, open your math book back up and show me what you don't get. I'll help you with this." She crawled across the floor and sat down next to Miley, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with the brunette.
"Okay, I got the practice problems here, but I can't get anything past that. I copied all the notes and paid attention during class, but it's like it all went in one ear and out the other. I have no idea…."
"The first thing I want you to do is wipe everything that you think you learned in that class out of your mind and just relax," Lilly instructed. "Close your eyes." Miley's eyes fluttered closed. "Okay, what I want you to do is clear your mind of everything. Focus your mind on a completely empty room, white walls, white floor, white ceiling, no contents, no windows or doors. Do you have it?"
Miley nodded.
"Open your eyes; listen to what I say and watch what I do."
For the next twenty minutes, Lilly explained what needed to be done, doing two sample problems for Miley and letting the brunette walk herself through a problem herself. Finally, Lilly sat back and watched Miley do a problem by herself.
"Lilly, you're a miracle worker!" Miley exclaimed, starting on the next problem. "Wow, this is amazing! I actually understand this!"
"No, it's just a proven technique that I've used many times over," Lilly corrected her smugly. "Now as soon as you finish that, we can get started on our history homework. Are you reading The Grapes of Wrath in English class?"
"Yeah, but Lilly, we have the same English teacher," Miley reminded her, moving quickly from one problem to the next.
"Oh, yeah… I forgot."
The room was quiet with the exception of Miley's pencil scratching against her paper, the occasional turn of a page in Miley's calculus book, and the sound of Lilly and Miley's breathing mixed together.
"Miley?"
"Yeah?"
"I don't get it."
The brunette looked up. "You don't get what?" she questioned.
"Why do you like me?" Lilly asked, her eyes desperate for an answer. "Out of all the people you could like, why me?"
"Do you really want me to answer that?" Miley sighed, setting down her pencil. Lilly nodded. "Because you get up at five o'clock in the morning during the summer to go surfing, but you get grumpy when you have to get up to go to school. Because I could watch you skateboarding for hours even though I have no idea what you're talking about when you get really excited about the way you landed a certain trick. The way your eyes light up when you're excited or happy. How you crinkle your nose when you're disgusted by something.
"I like you because you'll come over whenever I'm upset and you'll sit through hours of cheesy fantasy and science fiction movies even though you absolutely hate them. I like you because even though you have this whole skater look, you're a complete softie when it comes to watching movies that even have a hint of romance in them. Because you start to tear up when a character in a movie gets upset or when a couple that you really like breaks up.
"I like you because you're the strongest person I know. You've wiped out in the ocean and gotten back on your surfboard only minutes afterwards. You've fallen off your skateboard and gotten scratched up so badly that you've had to be taken to the emergency room, yet you're back at the skate park the next day. You were able to rebound after you broke up with Oliver, even though that was the most serious relationship you had ever been in ever."
She took a deep breath. "There's so much more, I could say," she whispered, meeting Lilly's eyes. "I could go on for hours. But I like you for who you are. You're Lilly Truscott, and that's the reason I fell in love with you."
Lilly blinked in surprise. "I… I don't know what to say, Miley," she confessed quietly. "That was one of the most… beautiful and amazing things that I've ever heard anyone say about me in my entire life."
"So you aren't mad at me?" Miley asked anxiously.
"Why would I be mad at you for loving me?" Lilly asked incredulously. "Miley, I might not return the feelings, but I'm seriously flattered. You're one of the most amazing people in the world. You're strong, and patient, and kind, and there's nothing more I could ask for in a best friend. And I know that this is hard for you, and that just makes you an even better person. Because you could walk out right now and refuse to be my friend anymore because it hurts too much, and I would totally understand. But you're still right here with me."
"Of course, you're my best friend," Miley said simply, shrugging her shoulders. She gave the blonde a small smile and looked back down at her calculus homework, scrunching her eyebrows together in confusion for a moment before smiling and scribbling something down on her paper.
"Miley?"
"Yeah?"
"Would… would you like to sleep over tonight?"
The brunette looked up and her mouth curled up into a smile. "I'd love to."
Miley looked around Lilly's room, comforted by the fact that it was exactly the same as the last time she had been here. It had been a long time, months, since she had slept over at Lilly's house. They always went to Miley's house, which the brunette didn't mind, but it had hurt to not be invited over to her best friend's house for such a long time. She dropped her bag on the navy blue comforter covering Lilly's bed and continued to look around.
Lilly's room was large, bigger than Miley's room. The blonde had painted it a bright red when she was in seventh grade, convinced that red was the coolest color in the world, but had quickly grown tired of it. Because her mom wouldn't let her repaint her room, Lilly had fixed the problem by covering every square inch of her walls with posters. Sitting down on Lilly's bed, she blushed when she realized that there were three Hannah Montana posters on the blonde's walls.
"Hey, do you want something to eat?" Lilly yelled up the stairs.
"Um, no, I'm good!" Miley yelled back.
The blonde yelled something unintelligible, but Miley suspected that it was just an acknowledgement of Miley's answer. She hesitantly sat down on Lilly's bed and laughed at herself for being so nervous in Lilly's house. Only a few months ago, she would have been raiding Lilly's kitchen and crashing on her bed without even worrying about the consequences.
"Hey, I brought you something to eat anyways because, knowing you, you're gonna get hungry when you see me eating," Lilly said, walking into her room with a large bowl full of popcorn. She sat down on her bed next to Miley and thrust the bowl in her hands, pushing back her blankets and tossing Miley's bag on the ground by her headboard. "Come on, don't look so uncomfortable. It's just me."
"I know," Miley murmured, handing the bowl of popcorn back the blonde and taking a handful for herself. Lilly grabbed the remote for her TV from her nightstand and clicked the power button, quickly flipping through the channels until she found a channel that was playing a movie she liked.
Half an hour later, Miley's hand hit the bottom of the bowl and she realized that, between the two of them, they had eaten a whole bowl of popcorn. She pulled her hand back and was suddenly aware of all the greasy butter coating her fingers.
"I'm going to wash my hands," she murmured. Lilly hummed her acknowledgement and Miley got up gently, careful not to jostle Lilly. For some reason she felt like she had to be extra careful around her blonde best friend when she was at her house. She went into the bathroom and closed the door, reaching out for the faucet handles and slowly turning them to calm herself down.
Warm water ran over her hands and she squirted some soap onto her fingers, bringing them to her nose to inhale the scent. Strawberries. That made sense. Lilly was a fruity type of person. If she looked at all of Lilly's shampoos, she would probably see an assortment of fruit-scented soaps. Sighing, she shut off the water and turned to dry her hands.
For some reason, being in Lilly's house, in Lilly's room, made Miley nervous. She didn't know why since she had been in Lilly's room hundreds of other times. But something about this time was different. Maybe it was because she hadn't really been in Lilly's room since before Miley came out to her best friend, but she had to find some way to get around it. She didn't know if she could survive a whole night of discomfort around Lilly.
Miley went back into Lilly's room to find that the blonde had taken care of the popcorn bowl and washed her hands while Miley was gone. The brunette sat down on the bed next to Lilly, who immediately shifted forward.
"Could you braid my hair?" the blonde asked, handing a brush and a comb back to Miley. The brunette nodded, taking the brush and comb in her hands and gently running the brush through Lilly's long blonde locks. Using the comb, she started to French braid Lilly's hair, enjoying the feeling of doing something for Lilly that was so intimate.
When she was finished, she leaned back against the pillows by the headboard and Lilly sat next to her, their shoulders touching. Gradually, Lilly got closer and closer until her head was resting on Miley's chest and their legs tangled together. The brunette looked down to see that the blonde had fallen asleep against her and smiled to herself. She smoothed down a wisp of hair and pressed a kiss to the top of Lilly's head before reaching across the bed for the remote and turning the TV off.
Suddenly Miley realized the gravity of the situation she was in. Lilly had fallen asleep on her, and while she didn't want to wake her best friend up, she also didn't want the blonde to wake up later and think that Miley had taken advantage of her while she was asleep. Shifting slowly, she started to move Lilly off her, but the blonde mumbled something in her sleep and wrapped an arm around Miley's waist.
"Lilly?" Miley whispered. "Lilly, you have to get off me."
"No," Lilly mumbled into Miley's shoulder. "Just stay here."
Miley gulped. "Lilly, I don't know if you realize this, but this could be a really awkward position for us to fall asleep in," she murmured. "I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable and freak you out."
"Then just go to sleep," the blonde groaned. "And shut up, I can't fall back asleep with you chattering away like that. I was having a really good dream."
Sighing, Miley leaned her head back on the pillows. "Fine," she mumbled. "But don't say that I didn't warn you."
"Shut up!"
"Ugh, what time is it?"
Miley groaned as Lilly moved and she turned her head to look at the clock on Lilly's nightstand. "It's eleven o'clock at night," she grunted. "Go back to sleep."
"No, I'm not sleepy."
Opening her eyes all the way, Miley looked at Lilly to see that the blonde still had an arm wrapped around her waist and her chin was resting on Miley's shoulder as she stared intensely at the brunette's face. Sighing, the brunette sat up a little, leaning back on her propped-up elbow.
"Okay, Lilly, I'm awake," she rasped tiredly.
"Miley, can I… can I try something?" the blonde asked hesitantly.
"Yeah, sure," Miley answered tiredly.
Suddenly Lilly's face was extremely close and Miley was definitely awake. Lilly was staring into her eyes and leaning closer and closer until Miley's eyes fluttered shut and the brunette felt her best friend's lips on her own. She sighed into the kiss and allowed herself to enjoy it until she remember just who she was kissing and in what situation she was in. Miley ripped herself away from Lilly.
"What the hell was that?" she asked angrily, her eyes flashing.
Lilly looked at her with wide eyes, bottom lip quivering, tears pooling in her big, blue eyes. The brunette instantly regretted yelling at her best friend, but she didn't need Lilly to mess with her heart any more than she had already unknowingly messed with it.
"I… I'm sorry," Lilly murmured, tears starting to stream down her face. She hurried to get up, but Miley caught her gently by the arm, pulling her back to a sitting position on her bed.
"Look, Lilly, I'm sorry I snapped at you," Miley apologized. "But… you can't just kiss me because I like you. It's like… it's like you going up to Jackson and kissing him. He would gladly go out with you, but you're way too good for him, so he would never have the chance to go out with him. You'd be torturing him, and that's what you're doing to me. So please don't kiss me unless you really mean it and you're seriously considering having a relationship with me."
"Miley, I'm sorry, I just… I kept thinking about it, and I can't get the idea out of my head," Lilly started babbling. "I just can't get the idea of you and me being together out of my head, and it scares me because it's so… it's not something I'm familiar with. I would never, ever try to hurt you. You have to believe me, but when I started thinking about it, something started fluttering in my chest and I felt like there was a mouse running on one of those squeaky wheels in my stomach, and sometimes I can't think when I'm around you because I'm too busy looking at you, and… and… and I'm scared."
The brunette sighed and looked down at her lap. "I honestly don't know what to say," she murmured. "As much as I want to say that I know exactly what to do, I'm just as scared as you are, because I could get hurt during this, as well." She looked up and caught Lilly's eyes with her own. "But you're my best friend and I'm going to help you get through this no matter what."
"What… what if I want to be in a relationship with you?" Lilly asked quietly.
Miley hesitated. "Then we can try it out," she finally answered. "But we have to take it slow, considering the situation. I don't want to lose you as a friend, because I think that would be even worse than not trying to have a romantic relationship between the two of us. There have to be rules, and we have to be able to talk to each other about things and not hide anything, and I mean anything, from each other."
"Okay," Lilly agreed slowly. "What are your… requirements?"
"First of all, I'm not going to push you to do anything in public," Miley said, giving an encouraging smile to the blonde. "What happens between the two of us is between us and only us. There is no pressure to come out to anyone at school, or your mom, or my dad. You call the shots on that one, okay?"
Lilly nodded.
"As for our… physical relationship, we won't do anything that either of us is not comfortable with," she said, stumbling through the beginning awkwardly. "We'll take that part really slow because I don't want to do anything that you aren't comfortable with. And, to be quite honest, there are some things that I'm not comfortable doing."
"That's reasonable," Lilly agreed.
"And finally, this relationship has two people in it, not just one," Miley said seriously. "We both have needs, and we both need to feel needed up to a certain point. And we have to feel comfortable communicating with each other. If something's going wrong, or if we're not satisfied with a part of our relationship, we need to be able to talk about it, not stew about it for weeks on end before finally blowing up at each other."
"Okay," Lilly whispered.
"I really want to make this work," Miley murmured, reaching over to Lilly and taking her hand in her own. The blonde smiled up at her and Miley couldn't help but smile back. "I really like you, Lilly."
Lilly gave her a radiant smile. "I really like you, too, Miley."
I'm sorry I took so long with this chapter, and I'm not completely satisfied with it, but I don't think I could write it any better without making some MAJOR changes to the rest of the story. I'll try to get the next chapter up within the next week.
Are there any Glee fans out there reading this story? Just wondering because I have officially discovered Glee, and I have to say, I'm officially hooked and quite possibly obsessed. Sorry, just had to get that out of my system and I promise the rest of the comments will be purely Hannah Montana oriented.
In regards to my other unfinished stories, "Forgiving and Forgetting," "Remembering Miley," and "Miley Says Goodbye?": I am working on these stories; please believe me. I just have serious cases of writer's block. I promise I WILL finish them. It might not be within the next couple weeks, or even within the next couple months, but I do finish what I start, and I promise that I'll get those finished.
As for the reviewers for the last chapter, my thanks go out to: AlvinFan07, zzCharmedzz1, joske432, XxuntouchablexX, HannahMiley1fan, TheBoredOne85, 20kels, Azula's Falme 1415, Breyton2009, LuisaHUAH, dcjp, karleen3863, makurutenoh, Whurmy, Freudian Slips Cause Problems, and Satan's Camaro. Once again, many thanks and all the credit goes to Freudian Slips Cause Problems for the story idea.
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