Here's the next chapter.
"This is so not fair!" Oliver complained as he cleared a space on Miley's bed and sat down. "You guys get to go off on vacation for three weeks while I'm stuck here going to school, doing homework, and sneaking out of the house to meet Kylie!"
"It's not my fault that you got in trouble for coming in past your curfew on Monday," Miley said, holding a shirt up. "Hey, Lilly, do you think I should bring this one or the pink one?"
Lilly glanced over at Miley, tilting her head and turning back to her suitcase as she shrugged. "I don't know, bring them both," she said, folding a pair of jeans and setting them neatly on top of the other clothes she had already packed. "You still have room, don't you? Or did you already pack half your closet?"
"It's always good to be prepared!" Miley said defensively, attempting to stuff the two shirts into her suitcase.
"If you would pack neatly, you would be able to fit all that in," Lilly said, walking over and dumping Miley's whole suitcase on the floor. Miley sighed as Lilly started to fold everything neatly and place it back in the suitcase. Ten minutes later, everything was repacked and there was room to spare for more clothes. "See, I told you," Lilly said with a grin, skipping back to her own suitcase and putting another pair of jeans in.
"Since when did I turn into the messy one and you turn into the neat one?" Miley asked, a puzzled expression on her face as she tried to stuff a pair of heels into her suitcase.
"It happened when I got pregnant," Lilly said, pulling the heels from Miley's hands. "And why do you need these if we're going to Tennessee?"
"You know, it's not all country over there," Miley said defensively, pulling the shoes back out of Lilly's hands, trying to ignore the look Lilly was giving her. "Okay, okay, maybe it's mostly country, but I was planning on going into Nashville for awhile and I wanted to bring something nice to wear."
"Why did you guys even ask me to come over here?" Oliver asked, standing up and throwing his hands up in the air.
"Because you're our best friend and we don't want you to feel left out," Miley said, packing her heels and going back to her closet to pull out a pair of sneakers. "That reminds me, Lilly, we're going to have to get you riding boots, and bring plenty of old jeans and t-shirts cause we're probably going to get a bit dirty."
"Okay, can you grab me a pair of sneakers?" Lilly asked. "And Oliver, you're our best friend, and we wanted you to be there when we got on the plane. We didn't think it would be nice if we just left without saying goodbye. Miley wanted to do that but I said that it would be rude."
"You would have done it two months ago," Miley muttered, grabbing a pair of worn sneakers from the closet and handing them to Lilly.
"Yeah, I'm not the same person I was two months ago," Lilly said, neatly placing the sneakers in her suitcase.
"Oliver, do you mind if I talk to Lilly alone?" Miley asked sweetly, giving him a small smile and gesturing towards the door. He nodded understandingly and left, closing the door behind him. Miley turned to Lilly, who was rummaging through her dresser and pulling out old pairs of jeans and t-shirts. "Lilly, we need to talk," she said, crossing her arms over her chest.
"What about?" Lilly asked.
"You know what we need to talk about," Miley said. "These last couple days, you've been really uptight and difficult, and I haven't said anything about it because you're pregnant, but this is just going too far. You need to stop slamming me every time I say something and then act all innocent. Just because you're in an unpleasant situation doesn't mean that you have to take it out on everyone around you. You've been doing this to me, Oliver, my dad, and even Jackson when he came to visit. We're all trying to help you, Lilly, and this is getting kind of annoying."
Lilly sighed and sat down on the bed, her jeans in her hands as tears started to run down her cheeks. "I'm sorry," she whispered, trying to wipe the tears away quickly. "I know I've been a jerk, but it's just… I'm nervous, okay? I don't want to seem too… stupid or messy or anything when we go and visit your family in Tennessee. I've already got one point against me, I don't need anything else against me."
"Is that what you're worried about?" Miley asked, sitting down next to Lilly and putting an arm around her shoulders. "Why didn't you just tell me? I could have cleared this up a long time ago. My family won't care what situation you're in, as long as you're honest, nice, and likable, and trust me, you're all three of those things. Just be yourself. No one will care that you're pregnant, and if they do and you decide to tell them the circumstances, they'll understand or my grandma will beat them over the heat with a broom until they get over themselves."
The blonde giggled and sniffled. "Really?' she whispered. "They won't care?"
"Hey, they love my sister more than she thinks she deserves," Miley said with a small smile. "And according to my dad, she's done a lot worse than you have, and you haven't even done anything. Plus, you're my girlfriend, and since you're sort of related through that relationship, they're obligated to like you, no matter what they think. And that means they can't say anything mean to you until they really get to know you."
"Thanks, Miley," Lilly whispered, leaning her head on Miley's shoulder. "Have I told you how much I love you?"
"Not in the past fifteen minutes," Miley said.
"I love you more than anyone loves anything in the world," Lilly whispered, kissing Miley gently and snuggling into her. There were a few moments of silence in which Miley and Lilly just enjoyed being close to each other. "Do you think we should tell Oliver he can come in now or should we let him wait out there?" Lilly asked after a moment. They looked at each other. "Let's leave him out there awhile," Lilly said quickly and with a grin.
"Okay," Miley said. "But we need to finish packing because we have to leave for the airport in twenty minutes and I don't want Daddy getting mad at us because we're going to be late. He's already upset that we're going off for three weeks to visit grandma."
"Well, I'm almost packed," Lilly said. "I just have to throw in a couple more pairs of jeans and I'm good, how bout you?"
"Pretty much packed," Miley said lazily, laying back and pulling Lilly with her. The blonde giggled and rolled over to hover above the brunette, her hair falling into Miley's face. They stared into each other's eyes, getting lost in each other's gazes. There was a tentative knock on the door and it opened slightly to reveal Oliver peeking in. Miley rolled her eyes and Lilly got off her, turning to face Oliver.
"Miley, your dad said to hurry up and get your stuff out into the living room cause he wants to load it in the truck pretty soon," Oliver said. "I'm sorry if I'm interrupting something, but I thought that you would rather have me interrupt than your dad."
"Thanks, Oliver," Lilly said, getting up and throwing her jeans in her suitcase. She zipped it closed as Miley went over to her closet, grabbed an armload of clothes, and proceeded to stuff as many of them in her suitcase as possible before sitting on it and zipping it up. Lilly just shook her head and sighed as Miley looked at Oliver, indicating that he was going to bring it into the living room. He sighed and grabbed her suitcase, groaning as he lifted it and dropped it to the floor with a loud bang.
"Hey, Miley, can you help your girlfriend out and take my suitcase to the living room?" Lilly asked, sticking her lip out and making puppy dog eyes. Miley sighed and pulled Lilly's suitcase off the bed, letting it hit the floor with a loud thump. Lilly helpfully pointed out the rolling wheels and the handle and they both laughed as they realized Oliver didn't know that the suitcase he was carrying also had wheels.
Lilly and Miley caught hands, walking down the hall together with Lilly's suitcase rolling behind them. When they came to the stairs, they left the suitcase at the top and motioned for Oliver to bring it down, who was sitting at the bottom, sitting on Miley's suitcase and breathing hard. "You know that there're wheels on that, right?" Lilly asked, grinning at his astonished expression.
"This is so not fair!" he yelled as Lilly and Miley walked into the living room. Mr. Stewart looked up, his eyebrows raised as Oliver started to lug Lilly's suitcase down the stairs, the two girls standing at the bottom, pointing out ways that would either make it easier or harder for him. He finally groaned, yelled at both of them to be quiet, pushed the suitcase down the stairs where it landed on its side and bursts open, throwing Lilly's clothes all over the place.
"I'm so sorry," he said quickly, running down the stairs and hurrying to pick all of Lilly's clothes up. "I really didn't mean to do that, Lilly, I really didn't. It was just so heavy, and I didn't want to lug it all the down, so I just pushed it…" Miley clapped a hand over his mouth, pulling him to his feet and pushing him away from the mess while Lilly stared down at the open suitcase, her eyes welling up with tears.
"Hey, it's going to be okay, I'll pack it up the exact same way it was before," Miley said, bending down and starting to fold Lilly's clothes, placing them neatly back in the suitcase. She signaled to her father to take Oliver out of the room before Lilly's sorrow turned to anger that would be unleashed on the unsuspecting teenage boy. "Lilly, are you okay? It's fine, it's going to be okay, I'm putting it all back," Miley said quickly, packing everything neatly, zipping up the suitcase, and setting it neatly on its wheels.
Tears started to trickle slowly down Lilly's cheeks as she stared at the place where her clothes had previously been spread out. Miley stood up and wrapped her arms around the blonde, who leaned into her, still staring at the same spot on the floor. "I don't know why I'm so upset," she finally whispered. "It's the most stupid thing to be upset about. And I'm not even mad at Oliver, it was just an accident. It just made me… really sad."
"Mood swings come with pregnancy, honey," Miley said quietly, kissing Lilly's hair. "It's okay, it's expected. As long as you don't try to hide it from me. Just tell me if you're feeling like crap and we'll try to figure something out to fix whatever's wrong, okay? You're not going through this alone, remember that."
"Thanks," Lilly whispered, leaning her head against Miley's shoulder. "Have I told you how much I love you?"
"Not in the past ten minutes," Miley whispered, smiling slightly as Lilly kissed her lightly. Fifteen minutes later, they were all in the car heading towards the airport, Mr. Stewart driving with Oliver in the passenger's seat and the girls in the back. They giggled with each other and snuck kisses when Oliver and Mr. Stewart weren't looking, simply holding hands and trying to look innocent whenever they looked into the backseat.
Arriving at the airport, Mr. Stewart and Oliver pulled the suitcases out of the trunk and pulled them towards the entrance, Lilly and Miley catching hands and following them. It took them forty-five minutes to go through the lines and to get to security. At this point, Lilly was feeling more and more nervous about going to Tennessee to meet Miley's family and Miley was getting more and more excited. "Hey, it's going to be fine," Miley whispered in Lilly's ear when she noticed that Lilly was tapping her foot nervously as she waited for Oliver to come out of the bathroom.
"What if they don't like me?" Lilly asked.
"Then they're idiots and they're obviously not related to me because anyone related to me has to see how amazingly beautiful and amazing you are," Miley whispered, kissing Lilly gently. "I don't care what they think because I love you and you love me and that's all that matters. If they say something mean, just come to me and I'll take care of it, okay? And if you don't want to stay, we can always get an early flight back to Malibu."
"I don't want to do that…" Lilly whispered.
"But I don't want you to be upset because then I'll be upset," Miley said. "I'd rather be back here having fun with you than over in Tennessee upset because my family was stupid. And if Luanne says anything, and I mean anything, that could be taken as rude or intended to be mean, come to me and I'll definitely take care of that."
"Miley…" Lilly started.
"Girls, you should get to your plane now," Mr. Stewart said, and they both stood up from the bench they had been sitting on. He gave Lilly a hug, then pulled Miley into his arms, rocking her back and forth, whispering in her ear. Lilly went over to Oliver and he hesitantly put his arms around her, a look of surprise appearing on his face when she pulled him into a tight hug, burying her face in his shoulder.
"I'm gonna miss you," she whispered, and he awkwardly patted her on the back.
"Yeah, I'm gonna miss you, too," he said, finally pulling her close. "And, hey, if you ever need to talk to me, just call me and I'll drop what I'm doing, no matter what it is. Especially if it's in the middle of school."
"Hey," Lilly said, pulling away and slapping him on the arm playfully as she laughed. "I know where this is going. The only reason you want me to call you is so you can get out of school. I'm going to make sure that I either call before or after school, now."
"Darn, I knew I shouldn't've said anything," Oliver said, smiling. The smile faded. "But really, if you ever need to talk to me, I'm always open, okay? You're my best friend and I'm not going to bail on you."
"Thanks Oliver, I always knew I could count on you," Lilly whispered. Miley walked up behind her, wrapping an arm around her waist and kissing her on the top of the head. Lilly smiled and leaned back into Miley as the brunette mouthed 'thank you' to Oliver. He smiled and nodded, gesturing towards the line leading to the security they had to go through before getting on their plane. "I'll keep in touch," Miley said, leading Lilly towards the security, grabbing both of their bags and getting in line.
Once they were through security, they found their gate and boarded their plane, taking their seats and sitting down. They argued for five minutes about who was going to get the window seat and Lilly finally won, promising that she would let Miley sit by the window on the flight back to Malibu. Halfway through the flight, Lilly fell asleep on Miley's shoulder, snoring softly as Miley gently placed her chin on top of her head, stroking her hair softly.
When the plane got there, Miley gently woke Lilly up, grabbing their bags from the overhead compartment and leading her out of the plane, keeping a hold on her hand the whole time. Lilly followed her sleepily, rubbing the exhaustion from her eyes and gradually waking up as she realized she was in Tennessee.
"Here, we exit here and go get our luggage," Miley said, leading Lilly to the baggage claim and searching the conveyor belt for their suitcases. Lilly spotted Miley's suitcase and pointed it out to the brunette, faltering when she saw a young woman take it off and head towards them.
"Aislinn!" Miley squealed, running towards the girl and throwing her arms around her neck. Lilly followed hesitantly, spotting her suitcase on the conveyor belt and pulling it off to lug it back towards Miley and her sister. They were both talking quickly, gesturing wildly with their hands and hugging repeatedly. "And this is Lilly Truscott," Miley said, pulling the blonde forward to stand in front of Aislinn.
"So you're the best friend I've been hearing about for years," Aislinn said with a small smile. She had the same wavy hair as Miley, but a much lighter color, and her eyes were a soft brown instead of Miley's sea green. "It's nice to meet you, Lilly."
"Nice to meet you, too," Lilly said quietly, stiffening as Aislinn embraced her. She stepped back immediately after Miley's sister let go of her and cast her eyes to the ground, digging the toe of her shoe into the floor. Miley put a gentle hand on Lilly's shoulder and the blonde looked up to see a confused expression on Aislinn's face.
"We'll explain to you when we get back home," Miley said, swinging her and Lilly's book bags over her shoulder and grabbing Lilly's suitcase as Aislinn grabbed Miley's. "Really, we'll explain everything," Miley said when Aislinn gave Lilly an odd look for not grabbing anything to carry. "It's all going to make sense, trust me."
"Okay," Aislinn said quietly. Miley caught hands with Lilly, following Aislinn out of the airport to the parking lot and an old, beat-up pickup truck. Aislinn threw Miley's suitcase in the back and Miley mimicked her with Lilly's suitcase and the book bags. She opened the door for Lilly and got in after her, managing to squeeze the both of them into the front seat.
Miley did most of the talking, explaining everything that had happened since she had last seen Aislinn the summer before, with the exception of what had happened to Lilly in the last two months. Aislinn nodded the whole time, keeping her eyes on the road but obviously listening. Lilly just sat beside Miley, trying not to doze off against the door. Ten minutes passed before she nodded off, leaning against the window and snoring softly. Miley smiled slightly when she saw Lilly was asleep and put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close and starting to comb her fingers through her long, blonde hair.
After a two-hour car ride, Miley woke Lilly up as they bumped down an old dirt driveway. Lilly leaned her head on Miley's shoulder tiredly and closed her eyes, not caring that they would be getting out of the car soon. The truck came to a stop and Miley unbuckled them, opening the door and gently lifting Lilly out. She carried her into the house, setting her on the couch, whispering something in her ear before heading back outside. A few minutes later, Lilly opened her eyes and looked around the room she was in with interest.
It was obviously the living room with a large fireplace being the focal point of the room. Three long couches were arranged in a U in front of the fireplace, Lilly lying on the one directly facing it. A flat screen TV stood on a stand in one of the corners, several rocking chairs with baskets on them in another. In the third corner were bookshelves filled with books and magazines, and a large dog bed occupied the fourth corner. Quilts hung on the walls and were draped over the couches and Lilly found the door to be directly behind the couch she was lying on. The floors were genuine wood and there were woven rugs covering it, laying in an uneven pattern across the floor.
"You know the rules, Miley Rae," a woman was saying in the other room. "If she wants to eat and sleep here, she has to work, and part of that work includes bringing her own suitcase and book bag in from the truck. I assume you're going to tell her this…"
"Grandma, I told you that I would explain," Miley said quickly and there was a loud thump as she set something, probably a book bag, down on the ground. "These are special circumstances, and she'll be happy to help, I'm sure. She'll probably insist on helping. She's great in the kitchen, you know. It's just… she can't lift heavy things, okay? It's complicated. Just… welcome her, please?"
"She isn't that happy with you," someone said, and Lilly whirled around to see a girl almost identical to Miley standing in front of the couch she was lying on. Immediately recognizing her as Luanne, she became wary of what she was going to say. "Look, I'm not going to bite you or anything, okay? I'm sorry for what I did when we met, but I've changed."
Lilly looked at her closely and realized that she looked different from Miley. Her eyes were a dark green, her hair was cut short and straightened, and her face was shaped differently. She sighed in relief, knowing that she could tell Miley apart from Luanne if Miley's cousin ever tried to pull a prank on them.
"Luanne, so you've met Lilly?" Aislinn said, walking into the room, a grin on her face. "I'm sure the two of you will get along just fine, then."
"Not exactly," Lilly murmured.
"What did you do last time, Luanne?" Aislinn asked, sighing.
"Tried to reveal that Miley was Hannah Montana by switching places with her," Luanne mumbled by sticking her hands in the pocket of her hoodie.
"Luanne," Aislinn sighed, running a hand through her hair. "You know, I won't tell Grandma about this one, okay? But if anything like this ever happens again, I'm going to, do you understand? Miley is my little sister and I'm not going to let you hurt her."
"Yeah, I know," Luanne said. "I tried to apologize several times, but Miley always hung up on me. Not that I blame her, really. I've done so much horrible stuff to her. I wouldn't blame her if she never spoke to me again."
"She will speak to you," Aislinn said with conviction. "It isn't right for family members not to speak with each other." Lilly winced and looked down at her lap, remembering what Miley had told her about the relationship between her father and Aislinn. Obviously Aislinn took communication within the family very serious because of that.
"I was just saying…" Luanne mumbled as Miley and an older woman walked into the room. Luanne immediately stiffened when she saw Miley and darted from the room using the door next to the fireplace that Lilly hadn't noticed before. Miley's eyes narrowed, but she didn't say anything about Luanne as she went to sit down next to Lilly.
"You can explain now," the older woman said, putting her hands on her hips.
"First of all, can I introduce you?" Miley asked. "You may know who Lilly is, but she doesn't know you."
"I'm Miley's grandmother," the woman said to Lilly. "Now explain, Miss Stewart. And it had better be good."
Miley sighed. "First of all, you should know that Lilly and I are dating," she said bluntly, surprising everyone in the room. Lilly stared at her with her mouth hanging open, astonished that Miley would be so open about her relationship when she was with her family. Aislinn raised her eyebrows, her mouth slightly open as she fell back to sit on the couch to the right of Miley and Lilly's. And Miley's grandmother folded her arms across her chest, tapping her foot impatiently, the only sign of surprise being the curiosity barely showing in her eyes.
"Keep going," she said impatiently. "I want to know why your friend can't bring in her own luggage."
"Is this a place where no one will hear us?" Miley asked, glancing at the door that Luanne had just gone through.
"Your cousin is most likely out in the barn," her grandmother said. "She doesn't like to stay in the house much when we have company, and she likes to stay in the house even less when you're hear because she thinks you're still mad at her. I expect you to fix that as soon as you're finished explaining your friend's special situation to me. Other than the fact that she's your girlfriend, I mean."
"Not even a congratulations," Miley muttered, making Lilly smile slightly. Miley glanced at Lilly uncertainly, asking permission to tell what she had withheld from her sister. Lilly nodded and looked down at her lap again, playing with her fingers nervously.
"Okay, you should probably sit down, grandma," Miley said quietly. Her tone of voice evoked a curious look from her grandmother and she sat down next to Aislinn. "About two months ago, Lilly and I got into a fight over an annual sleepover we've had every year since we met. I told her that I couldn't do it that weekend because I had a Hannah concert when in reality, it was because of the anniversary of the death of my mother." She paused for a moment.
"Lilly got upset because I didn't tell her it was the anniversary. She ran off before school, going into the city by herself. While she was there, she… she was raped," Miley whispered. She paused again, putting an arm around Lilly's waist and whispering in her ear, eliciting a nod from the blonde. Lilly looked up to see a sympathetic look on Aislinn's face and an expression of astonishment and sorrow on Miley's grandmother's face.
"She was really upset and I had to come and get her," Miley whispered. "A week later, we went to the doctor's and found out that Lilly was pregnant. That she is pregnant. Later, I got upset with her and I… I told her to go away. So she… she went and jumped off a bridge. She had some extensive bruising on her spine and the doctor said that she was lucky that she wasn't paralyzed and that she didn't lose the baby." Miley was speaking in a rush now. "We told Oliver about the baby. When we told Lilly's mom about the baby, she was pretty much fine with it, but when we told her that we're dating, she kicked Lilly out of the house."
"You c-can tell them th-the other thing, t-too," Lilly stuttered, trying to keep the tears in her eyes from running down her face.
"I think you should tell them," Miley whispered.
"Wait, there's more?" Aislinn asked.
Lilly looked up. "My father raped me when I was little."
There was a long moment of silence. Lilly started to cry and Miley pulled her into her arms, kissing her hair gently and murmuring in her ear. Aislinn just stared at the both of them, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open while Miley's grandmother blinked rapidly, shaking her head as she licked her lips anxiously. "I'm sorry," she finally said. "I shouldn't have been rude before about you bringing in your luggage. I should have known that any friend of Miley's would be polite enough to try to help around the house except for under special circumstances like these."
"You're keeping the baby?" Aislinn whispered, looking at Miley and Lilly with tears in her eyes. "Right? You're keeping the baby?"
"Yes," Miley confirmed. "We're going through all of this together and Lilly's decided that she doesn't want an abortion and she doesn't want to give the baby away."
"Good," Aislinn said decisively. "I… I think I'm going to start making dinner. Please excuse me." She got up and left the room, surprising Lilly who had momentarily stopped crying to hear Miley's family's reactions to what she and the brunette had just told them.
"She's just a little shaky when that particular subject comes up," Miley's grandmother explained. "And I really am sorry about what I said before. I really had no idea that you had gone through all that. I'm usually not that mean, but sometimes people get on my nerves and I take it out on those who don't deserve it."
"Was it the man at the farmers' market again?" Miley asked with a small laugh.
"He has it out for me!" her grandmother exclaimed, standing up.
That was when Lilly knew that she would be welcomed in Miley's grandmother's house. Miley smiled down at her, kissing her gently and playfully lifting her, running through the doorway as they both laughed. Right now, it seemed like Lilly was on top of the world, and there was nothing and no one who could knock her down.
Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter: Truscott, JustAnotherSlowGoodbye, and AshleyAlien1408. Please REVIEW and I'll get the next chapter up as soon as possible.
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