Wow, where to start. She could worry about her career first, who knew how the fans would react? Or she could move on to the fact Lilly was now seen as a dirty two timer. Or she could get an early start on worrying about what her dad would say. Any one of those was pretty appropriate at the moment. Miley Stewart couldn't think of a better way to turn her world upside down. As if she needed any more of that going on.
She'd driven home as quickly as possible muttering curses under her breath. She ignored the pointing fingers and jaw dropping (she forgot to take the wig off). Lilly knew that while Miley was in this mood it was dangerous to say anything to her. She'd only snap a sharp reply anyway and she didn't want to take her frustration out on Lilly. The second she came through the door she tore the wig off and flipped onto the couch. She screamed into the cushions as loud as she could. To her surprise that helped more than she thought it would.
Breathless now, she rolled onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. Her thoughts raced through her mind, a million each second. She kept replying what happened and coming up with possible reactions people would have. She imagined her fans exchanging their signs and T-shirts for pitch forks and torches, coming to hunt her down like a witch to be burned at the stake. Okay…that one was a little blown out of proportion.
Lilly's hand came out of nowhere and wrapped itself around Miley's. She turned to see Lilly half hiding behind the couch. Maybe for protection in case Miley attacked. She relaxed a little at those soft eyes and warm sympathetic smile on that adorable face. She shrugged and shook her head anxiously. "What am I gonna do Lilly?"
The blonde wished she had better advice but she just shrugged her shoulders. "I dunno Miles; I screwed things up pretty bad…"
"It's not your fault." She replied quickly. She didn't want Lilly to feel guilty one bit.
"But if I hadn't forced you to take me-," Lilly tried to argue.
"No way, you can't blame yourself." Miley insisted. She rubbed her forehead. "I'm the one who should've been more careful. What am I supposed to tell my dad?" she turned to Lilly. "Do you think he'll hate me?"
Lilly looked back sadly. "If he does he'll have me to deal with." The blonde leaned over and kissed Miley's forehead. Somehow those magical lips worked a miracle and Miley was able to settle down. As long as she had Lilly with her, she'd be able to get through. She held Lilly's arm hostage and hugged it tightly. She closed her eyes and let her mind go blank for a moment.
"What in the world is going on Miles?" Robbie Ray hollered as he fought his way through the door. He was carrying an arm full of groceries. Miley sat up and tossed Lilly her arm back. Both of them stood up painfully straight with panic. "I let you do one show by yourself and the whole country is in upheaval. I got trampled by a mob of 12 year olds trying to recruit me for either team Hannah or team Miley. Did somebody decide to spill the secret without me knowing?"
She watched him make his way towards the kitchen. He didn't seem too upset or even too focus. He began emptying the bags. She took in a deep breath. Either this was gonna go okay or horribly, horribly bad. She tried to gather up all the courage she could muster. Even her hands were beginning to tremble and her voice went squeaky.
"No, daddy," Miley sighed. She was about to spill the beans when her mind processed his words one more time. "But-," she shook her head quickly and watched him put the food away. "Wait you didn't see the show at all?"
"No, I decided to do some much needed shoppin'." He did that cheesy grin he did as he shook a jar of peanut butter. Miley and Lilly both sighed with relief that their secret hadn't reached Robbie Ray yet. "So you gonna explain to me what's going on?"
"Yeeeeaaahhhh…" Miley chewed her lip and glanced around the room. "You see we made up this whole joke on the show. It's complicated but that's why everyone's trying to pick sides." She gave him a thumps up. Her father froze in place and eyed with her blank look.
"And you expect me to believe that?" he questioned.
"Uh-huh!" she smiled widely.
"Miley maybe you just tell him." Lilly said seriously. The blonde stood there with her arms crossed. "I mean he's gonna find out the truth anyway." The girl whispered off to the side. Miley shook her head quickly and made a cutting gesture towards her neck.
"Would you excuse us for a minute?" Miley said sweetly to her dad before tugging Lilly outside. She made sure the door was shut tight so her dad couldn't hear them talking. "What do you mean tell him? We have no idea how he'll react!"
"Well, better now than later right? Won't he be angrier if he finds out you neglected to tell him we're together now?" Lilly pointed out. "I've seen how protective he is and frankly I don't wanna wake up in the middle of the night with him holding a bat to kick me out of your room."
"He is not gonna kick you out with a bat Lil, come on, how many times have you slept in my room before?" Miley shook her head like the girl was being ridiculous.
"That was before he knew we might doing something more than giggling under the sheets." Lilly muttered to herself but Miley managed to hear.
"You're trying to tell me something…?" A wide mischievous grin formed on her face and she moved her eyebrows up and down in a suggestive way.
"SO off subjective!" Lilly said and Miley snapped out of it. "So you'll never tell him at all?" Miley frowned and let her shoulders drop. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were ashamed to be with me," The blonde said quietly. Miley grabbed her shoulders gently. Lilly only lowered her head.
"I'm not ashamed to be with you. You're best thing that's ever happened to me," She replied but Lilly didn't look up.
"I just…I want to be someone you're proud to be with not hide away and pretend nothing ever happened." The blonde said as she twisted her foot around on the ground.
"Hannah wouldn't hide you away Lilly! She showed you off in front of national TV! Pick Hannah!" A wild kid ran out from behind a bush waving a sign around. Quickly, the rest of the kid's buddies came out of hiding and waved their team Hannah signs around as well.
"Come on!" Miley complained before grabbing Lilly's arm and took off running from the kids.
"Why settle for ordinary Lilly when you can have extraordinary!" they hollered as they tried to keep up with the teenagers. The mob wouldn't give up the chase. They followed them all the way down to the beach. The only way they were able to be set free was from a group of team Miley fans who battered them off.
Miley found an empty spot on the beach and flopped onto the sand exhausted from the running. Lilly fell down beside her and rested her head on Miley's back. "Who knew outrunning your fans was so difficult." Lilly panted. "Maybe I shouldn't have forced you to take me to that show."
"No." Miley grunted as she forced herself to roll over. "We're together now and I'm gonna take you everywhere I go. I don't care what everybody says, I don't want you to ever think that I'm not proud to be with you. 'Cause I really am." Lilly smiled warmly back at Miley, happy to hear that. She turned to the mob of fans off in the distance fighting each other. They could faintly hear the argument going off.
"They're childhood sweethearts no amount of superstardom can tear apart true love!"
"Who'd want that frumpy bimbo when you could have Hannah Montana! She sung in front of thousands to win Lilly's heart! All her songs are about her! That's totally destiny calling! I've got the screenshots to prove their passionate love!"
"Hey!" Miley's jaw dropped. "I'm not frumpy…" Lilly couldn't help but chuckle as she watched Miley poke her sides. The blonde pushed Miley's hands away.
"You're totally cute Miles." Lilly said sincerely.
"Well…maybe just a little bit." Miley said getting too confident.
"Second only to muah of course." Lilly tossed her hair back and let it blow in the gentle breeze as she fanned herself with her hand.
"Ohhhh nononononono-," Miley said grabbing Lilly's cheeks and shaking her head side to side.
"Ohhh yesyesyesyesyesyes." Lilly nodded.
Miley giggled sweetly and leaned in close. "Remember I know you're tickle spots."
Lilly gasped appalled. "You wouldn't!"
"I would." Miley grinned and lunged forward. Lilly rolled out the way so Miley face planted into the sand. Squealing like a little girl Lilly got up and took off running. "Ha! Too bad you can't run in the sand!" Miley chased Lilly, slowly gaining up on her. Lilly's last resort was to do zigzags but Miley snagged her with her longer arms.
She gripped Lilly tightly, tickling her as she stepped into the chilly ocean water. Lilly jerked roughly to try and get free. They ended up toppling over into the water. Laughing, Miley tried to get the bitter salt taste out of her mouth.
"Come here Lil, I'll give you your first salty kiss!" she teased.
"I'm good!" Lilly laughed and placed her hands on Miley's face to hold her back. The brunette managed to squeeze her tongue through Lilly's fingers and wiggled it around. "Ew Miley!" Lilly struggled to say she was laughing so hard. She let go of the brunette's face and doubled over to try and stop laughing. Miley hugged Lilly from behind and kissed her cheek, unknowingly protecting the girl from a large wave that smacked Miley's backside.
"HO THAT'S COLD!" Miley squeaked and walked out of the water looking like a kid with a sagging diaper on. Lilly pulled her long sleeve shirt off (luckily having a tank top under it) and used it as a towel to dry Miley off.
"Yeah you see this right here, instant karma." Lilly grinned. Miley just rolled her eyes and weaved her fingers between Lilly's. They strolled down the beach slowly; enjoying the display of the sunset's many colors.
Eventually long after the sun had gone down, they ended up in front of Miley's house. Neither wanted to separate just yet even though they'd had to continuously dodge cameras and fighting fans.
"You'll call me as soon as you get home right?" Miley said just to double check. Lilly wanted to groan but held it back.
"I promise." She nodded.
Miley tucked Lilly's hair behind her ear. "Okay. Be safe, you know I hate it when you head home this late."
"I'll be fine." Lilly insisted. She gave Miley a hug and small kiss goodnight before heading down the sidewalk. Miley waved even though Lilly couldn't see. She crossed her arms as the cool night air nipped at her bare skin. Once Lilly was out of sight turned to head into the house but froze as she saw Robbie Ray standing by the door like some creepy stalker.
"Daddy!" Miley smiled uneasily. He had a serious look on his face. He lifted his head and pointed with his finger for her to come in. Oh great, this was just what she needed.
She came in and sat down on the couch. Her father just stood there with his arms crossed. His face was blank. He kept opening his mouth to say something but only shook his head and fell quiet again. Miley tapped her feet nervously on the floor.
"I've only had two rules when it came to dating Bud," he shook his head in confusion. Miley nodded her head she knew the rules by heart. "Rule number one, no dating boys. Number two…no dating boys." He shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't actually mean for you to take that literally."
"Daddy, this has nothing to do with your rules. As a matter a fact, nothing you did made me…this way." She tried to explain.
"I'm only a poor old man Miles, I'm not…equipped to deal with situations like this." He said uncomfortably almost like a hurt little puppy if it could talk. "None of the same rules apply do they? I mean I can't tell you no Lilly in your room 'cause she's your best friend and that's what little girlie friends do. There's no real reason to tell you no kissing 'cause you can't get pregnant…hey wait a minute." Robbie Ray froze before nodding his head. "Oh ho ho ho, no boys-no baby daddy." He swept across the room faster than rednecks chasing after free tickets to Nascar. He hugged Miley tightly. "You're the best daughter a man could ask for."
"Uhh yeah?" Miley said confused. Robbie Ray let go and danced his way up stairs.
"No boys no problems for me to worry about!" he hollered excitedly as he went upstairs.
"So, you're okay with this?" Miley wondered. Robbie Ray poked his head out from the stairwell, grinning as if he won the lottery.
"Heck Bud, if this takes care of me not having to worry about another boy, Lilly can have your grandmother's ring for all I care!" he cheered before disappearing again. "Wooo doggie!"