White Houses

Chapter 4

beer through the nose on an inside joke

and I'm so excited I haven't spoken

"Oliver."

Oliver groaned and pushed the figure away, rolling over. He felt a hand slide down his chest and pinch his side.

"Oliverrrrrr."

"Go 'way," he murmured, slapping the hand away (though it had felt quite nice.) It was a sacrifice he was willing so that he could sleep for a few more minutes.

"Oliver!"

The hand slapped his back and he shot up. "Ow," he whined, rubbing the sore spot. "Lil-ly, what is your problem?" He propped himself up on his elbows and laughed at his friend's expression.

Lilly was sitting Indian style, her arms crossed tightly across her chest. Her eyebrows were creased and her lips were pursed tightly. "You," she seethed, "Are a big, fat, jerkface, Oliver Oscar Oken."

"Oh, she's pulling out the full name card," Oliver laughed with a yawn. He glanced at the angry girl's face and sighed. "What could I have done this early in the morning, Lilly?"

"Sleeping outside was a terrible idea!" she squealed, scooting away from the boy.

Oliver rubbed his eyes and sat up. "Come on, you know it was fun!"

"No! It wasn't!" Lilly protested. "First of all, you snore… a lot. It has gotten incredibly worse since we were kids."

Oliver snorted and pulled his knees up to his chest. "Is that all?"

Lilly stuck her tongue out. "No! Sleeping on sand is really uncomfortable and the sunlight woke me up at five o'clock – by the way, it's only like six right now – and you promised me I wouldn't be cold and I definitely was."

Oliver sighed and scooted over close to her, placing his arm around her shoulder and pulling her tightly to him. She reluctantly let her head fall onto his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Lilly," he sighed. "I really thought it would be fun."

Lilly slid her arms around his middle and hugged him tightly. "I guess… it was kind of, maybe, a very little bit of fun," she muttered, burying her head into his chest so that he could not see her smile. "Sleeping under the stars, and all."

Oliver laughed and kissed the top of her head gently. "You're cute, Lilly."

"This is the life," Miley drawled slowly, her big brown eyes hidden behind her massive Chanel sunglasses.

Lilly giggled from the chair next to her friend. "Hold on tight," she sang, slightly off-key.

"Ugh, so not the time, Lilly," Miley groaned, rolling over on her towel so that she was lying on her stomach. "Hannah is on hiatus this summer. We are not bringing her up."

"You can't kill her, Miley. It's kind of like The Land Before Time movies, right when you want them to go away, Land Before Time 37 comes out." She took a long sip of Diet Coke and opened her magazine to a picture of "Hannah," waving it at her friend.

Miley rolled her eyes and grabbed the magazine, tossing it down the beach.

"Mil-ey!" Lilly whined, swatting at her friend's arm. "I was just about to read about Jake Ryan and Hilary Duff's super secret rendezvous!" She wiggled her eyebrows up and down suggestively.

"All the more reason to throw it away." Miley huffed at the mention of Jake's name linked with another girl's.

Lilly rolled her eyes and pushed her sunglasses up the bridge of her nose, letting her head fall back on the chair.

"Um, excuse me?"

Both Lilly and Miley shot up at the unfamiliar, male voice.

Miley pulled her sunglasses off as she glanced at the tall, tan, surfer boy in front of them. She raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Why, hello there," she said slowly.

The boy smiled. "Hey, I'm Adam," he said. "Is this magazine yours?"

Lilly and Miley exchanged glances. "Yeah, thank you!" Lilly said quickly, reaching out to take the magazine from Adam's hands.

"You two live here?" he asked, gesturing toward the house.

Miley shrugged. "It's our friend Jake's house, we're staying here with some friends for the summer."

"Awesome, I'm just down the beach with some of my friends." He ran a hand through his blonde hair. "Listen, there's this huge party tonight. You guys should definitely come. And bring your friends, definitely."

Miley nodded enthusiastically. "Oh, we would so love that!"

Adam grinned. It was lopsided, similar to Oliver's, but Lilly noted, not half as cute. "Great," he said, shaking the hair out of his face. (That was also cuter when Oliver did it.) "I'll see you then. Nine o'clock."

Miley turned to Lilly as he walked away. "Gawd, he was hot."

"Try not to drool too much," Lilly rolled her eyes. "I guess he was okay looking." But not as cute as Oliver.

"But not as cute as Oliver," Miley laughed, reading her friend's thoughts. Lilly's eyes went wide as she turned to face Miley, and Miley laughed. "Oh, boo, don't give me that look," she said. "It's not like you're discreet."

"Lil," Oliver whined, falling backward onto her bed. "Why do we have to go to this?"

Lilly, who was sitting on the stool in front of the mirror, curling iron in her hair, sighed and glanced at her friend in the mirror. "Oliver, I don't want to go either, but I promised Miley that I would."

"Promises were meant for breaking," Oliver muttered, grabbing a pillow and pushing it on his face.

Lilly rolled her eyes. "Good to know that these words of wisdom are coming from my best friend, whom I trust the most."

Oliver stood up behind Lilly, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. "Okay, I don't break the promises I make to you. I looooooove you." He pressed a sloppy kiss to her cheek, making a loud smacking noise.

Lilly grimaced and put the curling iron down, wiping her cheek disgustedly. "You're sick, Oliver," she muttered.

"You're sick," Lilly muttered under her breath at some guy (he introduced himself as "the man of your dreams") who's hands had trying to find their way under her baby blue linen tank top since they had met about fifteen minutes earlier.

"God, you are so… hot," the guy muttered drunkenly, stumbling toward her.

Lilly groaned and tried to shove the guy away, looking around desperately for one of her friends, who had all been pulled in different directions as soon as they had reached the party. "I'm actually kind of… with someone," Lilly said lamely, in a desperate last attempt.

"Yeah, well he's not here," the guy said, wrapping his arms tightly around Lilly's waist and pulling her close. She gagged as the smelled the alcohol on his breath.

"Actually," a voice said from behind, placing a hand firmly on Lilly's shoulder, "He is here. And he would appreciate it if you would take your hands off of his girlfriend."

Lilly sighed with the relief when the guy put his hands up in surrender and stumbled away. She fell backward into Oliver's chest and he wrapped his arms around her stomach. "You okay?" he asked gently.

Lilly nodded. "I'm fine," she said. "Let's just go."

Oliver laced his fingers with hers and pulled her back toward the direction of the Ryan's house. "Sorry I didn't get there sooner," he said softly as the pulsating rap music fell further and further into the distance.

Lilly squeezed his hand and let her head fall onto his shoulder. "It doesn't matter, Oliver, you got there. That's all that matters. Really, I'm fine."

He sighed. "I know," he said. He stopped walking and turned her so that she was facing him, placing a hand under her chin. "I know this sounds cheesy and stupid, Lilly, but I just want you to be safe all the time. And I want you to know that I will always be there when you need me."

Lilly smiled. "That's not cheesy at all," she whispered. "It's exactly what I wanted to hear."

And before she could convince herself that it was a bad idea, her arms had snaked around his neck, she was standing on her tiptoes, and her lips were pressed against his.