Here's the next chapter.
"This is the room I use whenever I visit," Miley said, opening a door on the third floor of the house to reveal a large bedroom. She motioned for Lilly to step in and explore, which the blonde eagerly did. A large bed was pressed up against the far wall, the headboard pressed up against the wall next to the window and the foot of the bed closest to the door. There were two nightstands; one on either side and a desk against the wall on the right next to a door that Lilly assumed was the closet. Miley flopped down on the bed, sighing contentedly as she spread out.
"You really love it here, don't you?" Lilly asked, sitting down on the bed next to Miley and tracing the pattern on her shirt over her stomach. Miley giggled slightly at the feeling of Lilly's fingers skating across her cloth-covered skin and sat up quickly, pulling Lilly into a fierce kiss. Lilly responded eagerly, her tongue hesitantly tracing Miley's bottom lip before they jumped apart at a knock on the doorframe.
"I don't want to interrupt, but Grandma said that she needs help making dinner," Aislinn said, her eyes focused on a spot on the floor. "She said Lilly is more than welcome to help if she would like or to rest if she feels that she needs some sleep. But I see that both of you have the energy to come down and help us prepare dinner. And Miley, Grandma said she wants two dozen eggs from the chicken coop for breakfast tomorrow morning. Maybe you can show Lilly around outside." She looked up at the two girls, winking at them and turning to leave.
"Come on, let's go," Miley said eagerly, jumping to her feet and pulling Lilly out the door behind her. "I can show you the barn and the loft… you're going to love it."
"Does this have anything to do with that wink your sister gave you?" Lilly asked.
"Maybe."
Miley led Lilly down two flights of stairs to the first floor, heading out to the yard and cutting across a large vegetable garden to a large barn. She pulled one of the large doors open and motioned for Lilly to follow her inside. It was dark inside the barn and Lilly could hear animals stomping off to her left and right and could faintly see Miley in front of her. Suddenly lights came on; illuminating the barn and Lilly looked around to see rows and rows of stalls filled with horses. She gasped in surprise, her eyes wide as she continued to stare at the horses surrounding her and Miley.
"They're beautiful, aren't they?" Miley asked with a small smile, grabbing Lilly's hand and pulling her closer. "But they can be dangerous, too. You have to be careful around them. Promise me that you won't ever come out here by yourself. And don't ever, ever, ever get into one of the stalls without someone here who knows what they're doing. I don't want you to get hurt."
"Okay," Lilly whispered, still staring around at the horses.
"Do you want to see my horse?" Miley asked eagerly and Lilly nodded, following the brunette as she led her down this particular row of stalls all the way to the end. She stopped in front of a stall containing a white horse and climbed over the stall door, talking to the horse in a quiet, comforting tone. The horse flared its nostrils in surprise and stepped back against the back of the stall, but Miley quickly calmed it down, stroking its forehead gently as she whispered to it. "Lilly, meet my baby girl, Blue Jeans."
"She's beautiful," Lilly whispered.
"We can ride her after dinner," Miley said, giving Blue Jeans one last pat on the head before hopping over the stall door. "But right now, Grandma is going to be wondering where her eggs are and I don't want to be doing extra chores on the first day I get here. Come on, I'll show you how to gather eggs then we can go back into the house and see how dinner's coming along."
After gathering eggs, Miley and Lilly went back into the house, Miley leading Lilly to the kitchen and setting the basket of eggs on the table as she tried to grab a biscuit from the plate on the counter. She hissed in pain as a wooden spoon smacked down on her wrist and pulled her hand back, cradling her hand. "How come you always do that?" she asked indignantly, showing her injured hand to Lilly who looked it over with a concerned expression on her face.
"Because you never ask," Miley's grandmother said, stirring a pot on the stove with the wooden spoon with which she had just smacked Miley. "Now if you had asked, I probably would have let you. But you never learn." She shook her head, continuing to stir the contents of the pot.
"Here, I'll make it better," Lilly whispered, bringing Miley's wrist to her lips and kissing it gently. Miley's eyes fluttered closed at the feel of Lilly's lips against her skin and she bit her lip, keeping any sound from coming out of her mouth.
"I've just sent Aislinn out to get Luanne to help with dinner, so you two shouldn't be needed," Miley's grandmother suddenly said. "We'll be ready in about an hour. You two go explore and come back when I ring the dinner bell."
"Thanks Grandma!" Miley exclaimed as she dragged Lilly back up to their room.
"Miley, I can't run around like this," Lilly gasped, collapsing on the bed as Miley shut the door behind them. "I haven't really been active for a while and I'm not in shape. You have to stop running me around like this."
"Here, we can unpack now so we don't have to do anything later," Miley said, pulling her suitcase up onto the bed and unzipping it. "This way, when my grandma asks if we've unpacked, she'll be impressed with us and give us more free time to just hang out instead of having us clean the whole house to teach us the importance of cleanliness." She pulled a dresser drawer open and carefully started to place her t-shirts inside.
"I'm guessing that you've been taught this lesson multiple times," Lilly laughed, unzipping her own suitcase and unpacking a pile of jeans. Miley rolled her eyes and sighed, closing the drawer and moving on to the next one. Five minutes later, she was completely unpacked and she had slid her suitcase underneath the bed. She helped Lilly put her clothes away and slid her suitcase under the bed, as well.
"Now what do we do?" Lilly asked, sitting down on the bed, tracing the pattern on the quilt that covered the large bed. "I mean, we have less than an hour, so it isn't like we could do much, is it?"
"We could play a card game," Miley said, pulling a deck of cards out of the nightstand on the right side of the bed. "What games do you know?"
"War, blackjack, and go fish," Lilly said.
"That's it?" Miley asked.
"Hey, I spend most of my time at the beach, the skate park, the basketball courts and soccer fields, and the gym," Lilly defended, a hurt expression on her face. "I've never really had any reason to learn how to play card games. You could always teach me."
"Nah, I'll teach you later when we play with Grandma and Aislinn," Miley said, shuffling the deck of cards and dealing it out in two piles. "We can play blackjack for now. Grandma'll have fun teaching you how to play poker. She loves that game. Just don't bet her anything, she only takes time doing chores and she bets high. She's really good at that game, let me tell you."
Half an hour later, after a large amount of slapping, throwing cards, and playful putting, Aislinn came up to their bedroom door and told them that they should pick up the cards scattered across the room and come down to dinner. Laughing, Lilly and Miley picked the cards up, running downstairs to see that dinner was already laid out on the table and Miley's grandma, Aislinn, and Luanne were already seated.
"This looks really good, thank you for making dinner and letting me and Miley get settled in," Lilly said as she sat down in the chair Miley pointed out to her.
"You're most certainly very welcome," her grandma said generously. "Now, let's pray before we eat and we can hear all about what's been going on over in California and your trip over here."
Miley grasped Lilly's hand and Aislinn reached out, grabbing Lilly's other hand. She looked at Miley with a confused expression on her face and the brunette just made a point of closing her eyes and bowing her head, taking her grandmother's hand in her own as Aislinn and her grandmother caught hands with Luanne.
"Our Heavenly Father," her grandma said reverently. "We gather at this table to thank you for the many things you have blessed us with. We thank you for bringing Miley and Lilly to us safely and letting them find a love in each other that is pure and true. We thank you for giving us the means to live in a comfortable home and be able to provide ourselves with more food than we can eat. And we ask that you would put your shield of protection around those we love and even those we may not love. Please bless this food to our bodies. Amen."
"Amen," everyone murmured, letting go of each other's hands and looking around eagerly at the food set on the table. Miley squeezed Lilly's hand once very lightly and then let it go, immediately grabbing for the mashed potatoes in the middle of the table. Lilly looked around hesitantly and, seeing everyone else already serving their food, started to server herself vegetables.
"Here, do you want potatoes?" Miley asked, holding the bowl out. Lilly nodded and Miley plopped a generous amount of the potatoes on her plate, passing it to her grandmother on her other side. Once everyone was served with some sort of arrangement of potatoes, chicken, vegetables, and biscuits, they started eating.
"So what's going on with all the big movie stars over there in Hollywood?" Miley's grandma asked just as Miley took a big bite of chicken. She started to speak with her mouth full, but Lilly quickly answered for her.
"Jesse McCartney asked Hannah Montana out five times in one week," Lilly said, glaring at Miley to be quiet. "Don't talk with your mouth full, Miley, how many times have I told you that? He's actually getting kind of stalkerish. It's getting annoying. Whenever we ride home from a concert, we have to switch out of the limos at least three times, if not more, so he doesn't follow us back to Miley's house."
"He's kind of cute, actually," Miley said, swallowing her mouth full of food and taking a drink of water. "He sent Hannah flowers the other day. Assorted roses, they were pretty. I kind of wish he would get the hint, though. I've talked to my dad and he doesn't think the label would let me announce that Hannah is dating Lola, although I'm thinking I might let something slip during an interview or something."
"Let something slip?" Luanne asked, raising an eyebrow. "Haven't you done that already? You made the front page of the paper, even all the way back here in the middle of nowhere. Hannah's the talk of the town."
"What do you mean by that?" Miley asked defensively.
"Apparently paparazzi were around and you didn't realize it," Luanne said, getting up and grabbing a newspaper off the kitchen counter. She handed it to Miley and Lilly dropped her fork on her plate to look over her shoulder and see what Luanne was talking about. Right there on the front page was a large picture of Hannah Montana clearly kissing her best friend, Lola Luftnagle. Lilly's eyes widened at the title at the top of the paper. 'HANNAH MONTANA CAUGHT KISSING BEST FRIEND?'
"A week ago, Hannah Montana, sixteen-year-old teen pop sensation and role model to hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of young girls around the world, was caught kissing her best friend, Lola Luftnagle, after her concert Tuesday night," Miley read from the newspaper. "But should we be surprised? It's been clear for… one minute, the article is continued on the next page," she muttered, flipping through the paper.
"It's been clear for a long time, ever since her fleeting romance with Jake Ryan, international movie star and teen heartthrob, that she hasn't been interested in boys. Jesse McCartney, music sensation and longtime admirer of Hannah Montana, said that he has 'expressed his love for her several times, but has been rejected ever time. [Hannah] said that she loved someone else.' Jesse said that he was not surprised when he heard that Hannah and Lola are seemingly more than friends.
"But the big question is: what impact will this have on Miss Montana's career. With so many kids all around the world looking up to her as a role model, will this be acceptable behavior? Will parents continue to allow their children to be exposed to Hannah Montana when she so obviously rebels against society?
"One parent with a thirteen-year-old girl who has been a Hannah Montana fan since the pop sensation first appeared almost four years ago says that she has put away all Hannah Montana paraphernalia and forbid her daughter to listen to any of her music. The concerned mother fears that the rebellious attitude of Miss Montana will rub off on her child and drive her out of control.
"But another mother says that she encourages her child to expose herself to figures such as Hannah Montana who are courageous enough to be honest about themselves and expose themselves in the public light. 'We need more people like her around,' the woman said confidently. 'I admire her for coming out in such a condemning and finger-pointing world and I support her wholeheartedly.'
"Several efforts have been made to get a statement from Hannah Montana and Lola Luftnagle, but they can not be reached at the time. Hannah is said to be taking a few weeks off from concerts, interviews, and fundraisers to spend some time with her family in friends, one of them coincidentally being Lola Luftnagle herself…"
"Stop," Lilly said, snatching the paper from Miley's hands, folding it up, and sitting on it. She could see that Miley was getting angrier and angrier as the article went on and it continued for two more pages. "There's no need to get upset over this. I'm not upset about this, you obviously didn't purposely tell someone about it to get this out to the public without consulting me. We've talked about this before and we aren't going to worry about it right now. We're here to have a good time with your family and we're not going to let some stupid newspaper article ruin it for us."
Miley stared straight ahead. "That's my whole career," she whispered. "I didn't even get to tell them… my whole career has been put in danger because our relationship is being shown in the wrong light. I have to call my dad."
"No, you don't," Lilly said firmly, surprising everyone at the table. "I told you, Miley, we're not going to worry about this now and let this ruin this dinner that your family has worked on for us. This is exactly what the media wants to happen. They want you to respond to them and give them statement after statement about our relationship when in reality we should just wait a while and see how this turns out. Who knows, maybe this is good."
There was a moment of tension-filled silence. "You're right," Miley sighed, and Lilly nodded contentedly. "I'm sorry for freaking out. If I need to deal with this then I'll do it later when we aren't spending time together as a family." Aislinn's mouth had dropped open and Miley's grandmother's eyebrows were raised. Luanne was focused on the food in front of her on her plate, almost as if she wasn't part of the family and nothing that was happening had any effect on her.
"Since when was anyone able to calm Miley down that quickly?" Aislinn asked after a moment of surprised silence.
"She's almost always listened to me when she's been angry," Lilly said, further surprising Aislinn and Miley's grandmother. "What, did she usually blow up when she was here with you guys? I've seen her blow up before, and let me tell you, it isn't a pretty sight."
Everyone laughed, with the exception of Luanne, and the tension at the table eased considerably. They all started eating again, joking with each other and telling stories about what had happened while Miley was in Malibu. Lilly was told some embarrassing stories about Miley, like the time she was caught kissing the son of one of the men her grandmother had hired for the summer behind the chicken coop. Miley blushed at this, looking away from Lilly.
"Hey, are they going to catch us kissing behind the chicken coop?" Lilly whispered in her ear, and Miley's face turned completely red.
"How about we stop embarrassing Miley?" Aislinn said, laughing. "She might permanently turn red. Can you imagine how much cover-up it would take for her to look even halfway normal?" This only made everyone laugh harder and Miley clench her jaw angrily. Lilly put a hand on her leg, calming her down considerably.
"You know what, if everyone's finishing up, how about I start cleaning up?" Lilly asked, standing up and placing her napkin neatly on the table. "I feel bad for not helping make dinner and I feel like I need to make that up to you."
"Oh, no, it's okay, you don't know where anything is," Miley's grandmother said, starting to stand up herself.
"Miley can help me," Lilly said, smiling down at the brunette, who smiled up at her and nodded. "See, you guys can take a break and relax while Miley and I clean up. We'll have plenty of time to hang out later."
"As long as you feel that way," Miley's grandmother said carefully, slowly sitting back down. "If you need help, don't hesitate to ask."
"Okay," Lilly said cheerfully as everyone stood up and left the table. Miley's grandmother stood in the doorway leading to the living room, watching Lilly and Miley carefully. Lilly started to clean the plates up and Miley demonstrated how she should rinse all the plates off before putting them in the dishwasher. They quickly cleaned the table, laughing with each other and sneaking kisses in whenever they could. Miley's grandmother just shook her head, smiling as she left the room.
"We're finished," Miley said, wiping her hands on her jeans an hour later. She pulled Lilly in for a gentle kiss and grabbed her hand, pulling her into the living room with everyone else. "Hey, do you guys mind if we head out to the barn and take a quick ride on Blue Jeans? We'll try to be quick."
"Take your time, this is your vacation," Miley's grandmother said, looking up from her knitting in front of the fire. Aislinn and Luanne were nowhere to be seen. "Luanne went out to the barn and I'm assuming that she took Red out for a ride down by the creek, and Aislinn is probably up in her room working on homework for her online classes. Just make sure you take a phone with you, and don't forget the whistles. Watch for storms and come in if you see anything dangerous, do you understand me?"
"Yes, Grandma," Miley said, and she pulled Lilly out of the living room and out to the barn. She grabbed a saddle and carried it down to her horse's stall, hanging it over the wall and opening the door. Taking a brush from a shelf in the stall next to the one she was standing in, she quickly brushed Blue Jeans, saddling her up and turning to Lilly. "I'm going to mount first," she said. "And you can mount behind me. Don't worry about falling or anything, I'll help you."
She led Blue Jeans out of the stall and outside to a mounting block. She swung up onto the horse's back without the aid of the block and softly tapped her heels to the horse's sides, making it move up next to the block. "Just climb up on the block and I'll help you through the rest," Miley said encouragingly. Lilly nodded and gulped, climbing onto to the block and looking at Miley with fear in her eyes.
"Here, take my hand," Miley said, reaching down and taking Lilly's hand. "Now put your right foot in the stirrup and lift yourself up. That's it, now swing your leg over and sit down right behind me." Lilly did as Miley said, sitting behind the brunette and wrapping her arms tightly around her middle. "Hey, you don't have to squeeze so hard," Miley laughed.
"Tell me when it's over," Lilly whispered, squeezing her eyes shut.
"Hey, hey, don't talk like that," Miley said, turning slightly in the saddle so she was looking at Lilly. "Here, open your eyes." Lilly opened her eyes. "This isn't that bad at all. It's fun. We'll start out slow and we won't go any faster if you aren't comfortable with it, okay? Just hold onto me and tell me if you want to stop, okay?"
"Okay," Lilly whispered, and Miley kissed her softly.
"It's gonna be fun. I promise that you'll like it," she whispered. She turned around again and took a hold of the reins, clicking her tongue and tapping her heels to the horse's side. Lilly squeezed Miley nervously as the horse started forward slowly. Miley directed it around in a small circle to let Lilly get used to the motions of the horse, gradually widening the circle with each pass. "Are you ready to go a bit faster now?" she asked.
"Yeah, I guess so," Lilly said.
"We don't have to do this if you don't want to," Miley said gently. "We can stop right now and find something else to do."
"No, go ahead," Lilly said firmly. "I want to do this. I'll never forgive myself if I let this pass."
"If you're sure," Miley said, and she tapped her heels on the horse's sides again. Blue Jeans started to go faster and Miley looked back at Lilly to see a determined expression on her face. The brunette laughed and tapped the reins once, signaling Blue Jeans to head out and away from the barn.
"Where are we going?" Lilly asked as Miley urged Blue Jeans to go a little faster.
"You'll see," Miley said.
Lilly laughed as the wind blew through her hair, making it stream out behind her. Miley grinned, laughing as well. The sun was setting in front of them and Miley urged the horse to go faster and faster until they were galloping. Lilly felt exhilaration rush through her as she took in everything around her. She was sitting astride a horse, holding her girlfriend around the waist, and riding through some of the most beautiful scenery she had ever seen before. They rode through fields of swaying grass, woods full of changing autumn leaves, and past a shining lake.
They finally started to slow down and Miley dismounted when Blue Jeans came to a stop. She helped Lilly down, wrapping her arms around her and twirling her around. "I love you so much," she whispered to the blonde.
"I love you, too," Lilly whispered back, kissing her gently.
"Come on, you're gonna miss it," Miley said.
"What…" Lilly started, but Miley grabbed her hand, jerking her out of the woods they had stopped in and to the edge of a cliff. She pointed into the distance where the sun was starting to set. Rays of red, orange, pink, and yellow stretched across the sky, receding as the darkness crowded around the edges. Lilly leaned into Miley, who put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.
"We should be going now," Miley whispered as the last rays of the sun disappeared over the horizon and stars started to blink to life in the sky. She took Lilly by the hand and led her over to Blue Jeans, mounting quickly and pulling the blonde up after her. They galloped through the night, and Lilly felt like they were the only ones in the world at that moment. It was just her, Miley, and the horse beneath them. She rested her head against Miley's back, closing her eyes and starting to drift off to sleep, the steady pattern of the horse's hooves beating against the ground lulling her to sleep.
Suddenly someone was lifting her down off the horse, steadying her as her feet touched the ground. There was a hushed argument and then Miley's familiar and gentle arms were once again wrapping around her, then lifting her, and she was being carried across uneven ground, up and up, into the house, up stairs, and then being set down on a bed. Someone was gently taking her shoes off, then her coat…
"No!" she yelled, sitting up quickly and seeing only a surprised Miley jumping back, her hands in the air. When she realized that it was just Miley and that no one was going to hurt her, she collapsed back on the bed, curling up into a ball and starting to cry. There was a creaking of bedsprings as Miley sat down behind her, putting a hesitant hand on her arm.
"Are you okay?" Miley asked quietly, worriedly.
"It's not fair," Lilly cried. "It's like…just when I'm starting to think that I'm going to be okay, when I think that I'm going to finally have something go my way, it all comes back to me. The memories of those men, of my father, and I think…I think it's happening to me again. No matter how hard I try to focus on other things, they keep coming back."
Miley wrapped her arms around Lilly, pulling her close as she kissed her tears away and then kissed her forehead. "It's only to be expected," she whispered, cradling Lilly in her arms. "You went through a traumatic experience, and you aren't going to recover from that immediately. It's going to take time, and I understand that. But I'm going to help you through it, and so is everyone here while we're visiting, and Oliver and my dad at home. We'll take his one step at a time."
"I feel like I owe you so much," Lilly whispered.
"No, you don't," Miley said, pulling back so Lilly had to look at her. "Listen to me, Lilly, we're best friends. Just because we're dating doesn't mean that that has to change. You're the person I trust the most and I hope that you trust me the same way. I'd do this for you if we hadn't seen each other for years, and I'm sure you'd do the same for me."
Lilly kissed Miley softly on the cheek and Miley blushed. "Aw, you still blush when I kiss you," Lilly joked. Her expression grew more serious. "But thank you for everything you've done for me. I can't tell you how much I love you."
"I love you, too," Miley whispered, comfortingly rubbing Lilly's shoulder. "Now how about we both get ready for bed and try to sleep. I don't know if my grandma is going to wake us up early tomorrow and I don't want you to be tired all day because I kept you up. Come on, we can snuggle once we get into bed."
They both quickly changed and went across the hall to the bathroom to brush their teeth. Lilly climbed into the bed first, Miley following her, pulling the covers over them and wrapping her arms around Lilly's waist. She softly sang in the Lilly's ear until they both fell asleep.
Okay, I'm sorry, no excuses for not updating, just reasons. I was busy. I should have kept up with this story. I apologize. You're all freaking amazing, though, because you're still following my story and I love you all. Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter: AshleyAlien1408, Truscott, and JustAnotherSlowGoodbye. You guys are amazing, as is everyone else who has ever reviewed my stories. I promise that I'll be working on the next chapter, but I can't give you the exact date of when I'm going to post it. Once again, thank you all, and REVIEW!!! :)
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