Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!
Lilly's eyes fluttered open as light streamed in the window, hitting her right in the face. She moaned, flinging an arm over her head as she turned over. There was another moan and she opened her eyes to see that she had accidently hit Miley in the face. The brunette's eyes opened and she glared at Lilly, pulling the covers off of her and leaving her shivering in the cold morning air.
"Hey, give those back!" Lilly whispered.
"That's what you get for hitting me in the face and waking me up this early in the morning," Miley said, her words muffled by the blankets.
"Well, it isn't my fault that someone forgot to pull the shades down last night," Lilly said, pulling some of the covers off Miley and back over herself. "If that hadn't happened, then I wouldn't have woken up, which would have resulted in you not waking up. So, technically, it's your fault."
"Oh, it's my fault is it?" Miley asked, pulling Lilly close and kissing her temple. "Well, then I'm just going to have to make that up to you, aren't I?"
"And how are you going to do that?" Lilly asked.
"Well, my grandma was telling me about this bonfire party Friday night, and I was wondering if a certain blonde wanted to go with me," Miley said.
"Maybe," Lilly said elusively. "As long as there's food."
"I can guarantee that there will be food," Miley said.
"I'll consider," Lilly said playfully, then she pushed Miley off the bed, taking all the covers and wrapping herself up in them. There was a loud bump as Miley hit the floor and Lilly rolled over to the other side to make sure that the brunette hadn't been hurt. "Are you okay?"
Miley looked up at her, a pout on her face as she sat up and crossed her arms over her chest. "I can't believe you just did that," she said. "Now I'm going to have to go down to breakfast without you."
"Awww, come on, you know I didn't mean it," Lilly said, sticking her lip out and untangling herself from the covers. She crawled down off the bed and sat down in front of Miley. "Please don't leave me up here all by myself."
"Fine," Miley relented, smiling slightly. "But really, do you want to go to that bonfire Friday night? You don't have to if you don't want to. I mean, I would like to go so I can introduce you to all my friends, but if you really don't want…"
"Of course I'll go," Lilly said. "Now come on, I'm hungry, and I think I smell breakfast." She stood up, reaching down and helping Miley stand up afterwards. Miley grabbed two hoodies from the dresser, tossing one to Lilly and putting one on herself before she took Lilly's hand in her own and led her out of the room and down to the kitchen.
"Good morning, sleepyheads," Miley's grandma said as they walked into the kitchen. "Did you sleep well last night?"
"Yeah," Lilly said, sitting down in the chair Miley offered.
"That's good," Miley's grandma said. "Miley, honey, the family is coming in this afternoon for a little while. I just wanted to make sure that you knew. And Lilly, dear, I was wondering if you would help me in the kitchen today. I know that it's your first day here and you're excited to explore and all, but I have to cook a big dinner because my family is filled with pigs and they're going to eat me out of house and home if I don't cook something for them."
"Of course," Lilly said. "What's Miley going to do?"
"I'm going to let her have some fun this morning and take the horses out for a run," Miley's grandma said, smiling slightly as Miley cheered silently. "That'll probably take all morning, so you two won't be together all day. I'm sorry about that."
"It's okay," Miley said, smiling reassuringly at Lilly. "Will I be able to introduce Lilly to the family as my girlfriend or do you think that that wouldn't be the wisest choice right now?"
Miley's grandma looked thoughtful as she set two plates full of food down on the table in front of Lilly and Miley. "I think that should be alright," she said slowly. "I mean, yes, there will be some people who object, but if they say anything that can be taken as insulting, I'll pull them aside and have a word with them. I don't want the two of you to have to hide your relationship around your own family. That would be just disgraceful."
"Good morning, Grandma." Lilly turned to see Luanne walk into the kitchen, already dressed in jeans and a t-shirt and straw sticking out of her hair every which way. Miley just rolled her eyes and started eating her breakfast, motioning for Lilly to do the same. "Do you want me to help with breakfast or would it be alright if I just go ahead and eat and get to work out in pastures?"
"What are you doing this morning?" Miley's grandma asked, handing Luanne a plate heaping full of eggs, bacon, toast, and fruit.
"Well, Ted mentioned yesterday that some of the fences are broken in the far pasture, so I was gonna ride out there with Spot and fix them up before we move the cows out there tomorrow," Luanne said, sitting down across from Miley and starting to eat her breakfast. "It can always late until later today, but the family's coming in this afternoon and I don't know if you want me here to help out or out in the pastures."
"You can go ahead and eat your breakfast and get out there to fix the fences," Miley's grandma said. "I don't want anyone asking where you are and finding out that the fences needed fixed because I don't want some of those sons of mine insisting that they know how to do it, doing in the wrong way, then the cows getting out. Rounding up those animals is not the most fun in the world."
"M'kay," Luanne said through a mouthful of food. "Should I bring a lunch or do you want me to come back in?"
"Go ahead and bring a lunch out with you, then you can come back in if your finished by noon," Miley's grandma said, starting to bustle around the kitchen and gathering items of food for Luanne. "Take a whistle just in case you need help and remember to be careful. If you see anything dangerous, drop what you're doing and come right in. I don't want anyone getting hurt."
"Thanks Grandma," Luanne said, getting up and putting her dishes in the sink. "I should be back by two o'clock and if I'm not back by then, you can just send someone out to bring me in cause chances are that if I'm not done by then, it's a bigger job than I reckoned it would be." She grabbed the food her grandma had laid out for her and headed out of the kitchen. Miley made a face as they heard the front door open and close.
"You don't have to be so mean to her," Miley's grandma said.
"She pushed me down a well when I was ten," Miley said.
"Then she ran for help," Miley's grandma said as if that made everything fine.
"I still broke my leg," Miley grumbled as she served herself more toast and bacon. "I don't think it's fair that she didn't get into any trouble and I was on crutches for three months. She should have been at least talked to."
"And she was, trust me, if your uncle didn't talk to her about it, then I did," her grandma said sternly. "Now I really wish that you would let that go. You're seventeen years old, you should be mature enough that you aren't holding on to grudges that are seven years old. I mean, really, Miley, it was a long time ago."
"It really was," Lilly said quietly, and Miley glared at her.
"Well, I see how this is," Miley said angrily, standing up abruptly. "You two are going to side with her. Soon enough, Lilly, you're going to break up with me so you can start going out with Luanne. Now I know why you came here with me." She stalked out of the room and Lilly winced as the door slammed, standing up to go after her. Miley's grandma held her back.
"Just let her cool off," she said gently. "She'll come to her senses after she takes a few of the horses out for their run. She's just grumpy because she woke up early this morning and because of the time difference."
"Wait, she woke up early?" Lilly asked, confused.
"You don't remember?" Miley's grandma asked, raising her eyebrows. "Around four o'clock this morning, you woke up screaming and yelling. I thought that someone had gotten into the house and was attacking you or something. But Miley just calmed you down and sung you back to sleep. After an hour or so, she came down here and told me that she couldn't sleep because she was afraid you would wake up again or have a nightmare or something. Don't pay any attention to what she just said, she's just afraid that she isn't good enough for you and that she'll lose you."
"But that's stupid!" Lilly exclaimed.
"I know, it's an irrational fear, especially after I've seen how you two interact, but don't you have fears?" Miley's grandma asked gently. "What you need to do is tell her that you know that she's afraid that she'll lose you, reassure her that you won't leave her, and just take this one step at a time with her, the same as she does with you and your fears."
"Where is she?" Lilly asked. "She isn't going to do anything stupid, is she?"
"What do you mean?" Miley's grandma asked.
"Like, when I was upset…that was when I threw myself of the bridge in Malibu. I don't want her to do something stupid and throw herself off a cliff or something. I can't go through this without her," Lilly said, starting to cry.
"She'll be fine, she'll just run off her anger," Miley's grandma said. "If it'll make you feel better, I'll send Aislinn after her to make sure that she doesn't do anything she shouldn't be doing, okay?"
"That'd be great," Lilly whispered, sitting back down and wiping her eyes on her sleeve. "I…I just wish that I could talk to her."
"I know, but that wouldn't be the best idea right now," Miley's grandma said, sitting down next to her and putting an arm around her shoulders. "You might be able to calm her down a lot better than anyone else, but she's still very angry right now and she's going to say things that will hurt you and, once she remembers, things that will ultimately hurt her. I know that you would never want to put her in a situation where she would unwittingly hurt herself. I'm not just thinking about the wellbeing of my granddaughter, but of my future granddaughter."
"Future granddaughter?" Lilly sniffled.
"You," Miley's grandma said gently, smiling slightly and wiping a tear away with the tip of a finger. "I have no doubt that the two of you love each other more than some couples who have been married for twenty years love each other. I think that the years you've spent as best friends has greatly improved the chances of your relationship succeeding. Now why don't we busy ourselves so we don't focus on this. You can tell me all about you."
"Okay," Lilly said, standing up. After they cleared everything up from breakfast, Miley's grandma instructed her on her particular way of peeling potatoes and set her to peeling around one hundred potatoes.
"We have a big family full of pigs," Miley's grandma explained when she told her exactly how many potatoes she was going to be peeling.
By the time lunch rolled around, they had gotten everything in the oven that needed to be cooked and almost everything was prepared and in the fridge that didn't need to be cooked. Lilly sat down wearily, wiping her hands on her pants and taking a sip from her glass of water on the table.
"Why don't you take a break?" Miley's grandma, or Ruthie as she insisted Lilly calling her, asked. She held out a basket to Lilly. "Here, I made a lunch for two. Do you remember your way out to the barn? Miley should be calmed down now and is probably cooling down one of the horses in the corral. Go ahead and take this to her and try to work things out. If she threatens not to eat, tell her that I put some cookies in there."
"But why…?" Lilly asked.
"Just go," Ruthie said with a small smile, pushing Lilly gently towards the door.
Lilly slipped her shoes on and headed outside towards the barn where she could see someone riding a horse around in the corral in front of the barn. As she got closer, Lilly could tell that it was Miley because the rider wasn't wearing a helmet and long, brown hair was streaming out behind her. She set the basket she was holding down on the ground and leaned against the fence, watching in admiration as Miley commanded the powerful horse beneath her to do what she wanted.
Suddenly Miley caught sight of Lilly and the horse, sensing that she wasn't completely focused on what she was doing, threw her off. Lilly screamed as Miley hit the ground, starting to climb up the fence, but someone pulled her down. She turned to see Luanne climb over the fence and run towards the horse. When she got about ten feet away, she started to speak in a soft, soothing tone, calming the horse down and taking the reins. She led it to the opposite side of the corral, tying it to the fence so it wouldn't spook and run all over.
Lilly was already over the fence when Luanne started to tie the horse to the fence. She ran to Miley's side, tears streaming down her face as she tried to determine whether or not the brunette was going to be okay. Miley groaned, starting to sit up, but suddenly Luanne was there, pushing her back down on the ground.
"Don't move," she said seriously. "Now, I know you don't like me, but if you're seriously hurt, then you shouldn't be moving around very much, okay? Lilly, please, believe me when I say that she can't move at all. I'm going to go get Aislinn, she can help more than I can. Lilly, make sure she doesn't move while I'm gone, and whatever happens, make sure she doesn't go to sleep."
"Why would I want to go to sleep?" Miley asked in an irritated voice, trying to sit up again.
Luanne pushed her back down. "Please, Miley, as a favor to Lilly?"
"Fine," she grumbled, and Luanne stood up, running towards the fence and climbing over it quickly before running towards the house.
"Are you okay?" Lilly whispered, gently moving a lock of hair out of Miley's face. "This is all my fault. If I hadn't come here then you wouldn't have been distracted and your horse wouldn't have thrown you off."
"No, this isn't your fault, and don't you even start to think that," Miley said, starting to sit up. Lilly went to keep her down, but Miley just pushed her arm away and pulled the blonde into a hug. "I'm going to be fine, Luanne is just overreacting, and this is in no way your fault."
"What's going on?"
Both girls turned to see Aislinn and Luanne climbing over the fence and running towards them.
"Why wasn't the horse put in its stall?" Aislinn asked, kneeling next to Miley. "Luanne, go do that right now. You know that it's dangerous to leave a spooked horse in a corral with an injured person, no matter how uninjured she pretends to be. Now, Miley, honestly tell me how you're feeling."
"I'm fine," Miley insisted. She winced as Aislinn gently pressed her fingertips against the back of her head and lightly traced her fingers up her back.
"Just what I thought," Aislinn said with a grim look on her face. "You probably have a very small concussion and some minor bruising. It shouldn't keep you from doing day to day activities, but you should be careful today. No more riding, for sure, and I would try to rest as much as possible. Lilly, keep an eye on her to make sure she isn't doing anything that she isn't supposed to."
"You said that you were fine," Lilly said accusingly.
"Hey, Lilly, it's not her fault," Aislinn said quickly. "Miley has very high pain tolerance. What hurts most people, she'll barely feel. The only reason she felt that when I touched the back of her head was because it was an actual concussion, not a bad one, mind you, but a concussion all the same. Just make sure that she doesn't jump right back up on the horse right away. And next time, wear a helmet, Miley. It's a lot safer that way."
"It's no fun," Miley grumbled as Aislinn and Lilly helped her stand up. "You can't feel the wind in your hair and it's not as free."
"Well, do you remember what happened when you decided to ride Blue Jeans without a saddle or bridle?" Aislinn asked, making Miley look away in embarrassment. "You insisted that it was the way people were supposed to ride horses because that's how the Indians rode them, then you slipped off and Jeans kicked you in the arm, breaking it clean in two. You weren't allowed to ride for two months."
"That's different," Miley mumbled.
"No it isn't, and you know it," Aislinn said, heading towards the gate. "Everyone is going to start arriving around two or three o'clock, so I recommend that you two get your time together in now before they get here. It looks like Grandma packed you two a basket of food, so go ahead and have some alone time now before it gets too crowded to even have a reasonable amount of personal space."
Miley laughed, catching hands with Lilly as they made their way out of the corral and towards the place where Lilly had left the picnic basket Miley's grandmother had prepared for them. "She's just mad because last year, one of our cousins friends came and was hitting on her for a week straight," she said, leaning down to pick up the basket. Lilly saw a look of pain flash across her face and quickly stooped to pick it up herself. Miley glared at her.
"Look, Miley, I…we need to talk," Lilly said seriously. "Do you know where we can go so we won't be interrupted even if your family comes early and comes looking for us?"
The brunette looked thoughtful. "Yeah, I know just the place," she said, pulling on Lilly's hand as she headed towards the barn. She climbed up a ladder leading to the loft, motioning for Lilly to wait at the bottom, and threw down a rope when she disappeared at the top. "Here, tie that around the handles of the basket so I can pull it up. I don't want you falling because you're trying to climb and not spill the basket at the same time."
Lilly did as Miley instructed and climbed up the ladder as Miley slowly pulled the basket up. When Lilly got up, Miley started to pull the ladder up, laying it flat on the floor so no one would be able to climb up to get them. She grabbed the basket and stood up, indicating that Lilly should follow her.
"This is amazing," Lilly whispered as Miley led her around a stack of hay bales to a small area that was secluded and private, completely cut away from the rest of the loft. Miley pulled out a blanket and set it out, starting to unpack the food.
"No, Miley, we should talk before we eat," Lilly said, resting a hand gently on top of Miley's. "I don't think it would be good if we started throwing food at each other or anything."
"Okay," Miley said, slowly retracting her hand. "What did you want to talk about?"
"You freaking out this morning," Lilly said carefully.
Miley looked away. "What did you want to talk about?" she whispered.
"Why did you react like that?" she asked. "I mean, you completely freaked out at me and told me that I was going to break up with you and start dating Luanne, and you know that that isn't going to happen."
"It's just…you're amazing, Lilly, and I…I'm afraid that I'm not good enough for you," Miley whispered. "I mean…I'm afraid that one day you're going to say that I can't do much for you and that you're going to find someone who can and you're just going to leave me for him…or her. And I don't think I would be able to do that. Sure, I'd still be your best friend and be there for you no matter what happens, but…I love you, Lilly, and I don't think I would be able to really live if I wasn't with you. I would just survive."
"Where would you ever get the idea that I would want to leave you?" Lilly asked softly. "I mean, I think there's more of a chance of you leaving me because I have so many problems…"
"But that doesn't matter!" Miley exclaimed. "Lilly, you…you're perfect. Everything that I'm not. You're smart and athletic and talented. Every single guy in the school wants to date you, and I'm sure that more than a few girls would drop their boyfriends to go out with you. You could have anyone in the school, and you chose me. I don't even know why, I mean, I was the one who had a crush on you, not the other way around. And you accepted me for who I am and now you're going out with me. I don't deserve half the things you do for me."
"And you don't think that those things are true for you?" Lilly asked. "I mean, really, Miley, don't try to fool yourself. You're the most gorgeous girl in the school, and you know it. And you're freaking Hannah Montana! Don't tell me that you aren't talented and that I'm better than you. I would never, ever leave you, Miley, because you're the only person who's really cared about me. Yeah, there's Oliver, but then again, he's Oliver."
"You already dated him," Miley mumbled, looking away.
"Is that what this is about?" Lilly asked. "Oliver? You know that we're just friends, right?"
"I'm just afraid that you'll leave me," Miley whispered, looking at her with tears in her eyes. "I love you so much. I don't think I could live without you."
"And I could never live without you, either, so we have that problem solved, don't we?" Lilly asked gently, reaching out her hand to lace Miley's fingers together with her own. "Are we okay, now? Is there anything else we need to talk about right now?"
"Yeah, um, that Hannah Montana article," Miley said quietly.
"Miley, I…" Lilly started, thinking that she was going to start talking about Hannah Montana business.
"No, Lilly, I'm not talking about Hannah, really. Well, sort of, but not really. I wanted to ask your permission to reveal that Hannah is in a romantic relationship with Lola," she said seriously, pulling Lilly closer to her. "You see, I don't think it's good to hide our relationship on any level, especially if we were caught kissing. People are going to be looking for the two of us acting as more than best friends and it's going to be difficult to hide the fact that we love each other. Besides, I don't want to have to hide our relationship like that."
"Did you even have to ask me?" Lilly asked, kissing Miley gently.
"I just wanted to double check," Miley whispered. "And there's…something else." She paused and Lilly looked at her suspiciously. "It's not bad," she said quickly. "It's just…listen with an open mind, and you can think this over if you want to. I'm not going to do anything without making sure that it's okay with you, Oliver, my family here, and my dad."
"What is it?" Lilly asked curiously.
"You see, I've been thinking recently and I want to end Hannah Montana's career," Miley said, making Lilly's eyes go wide. "Wait for it, Lilly, that isn't it. I wanted to…to reveal that I'm Hannah Montana and start my own career as a singer. I feel like I'm hiding part of my life both as Hannah and Miley and I don't want that to happen anymore. And I don't want you to go through anything more than you have to, either, with everything that's happening."
Lilly was gaping at her, her mouth hanging open loosely and her eyes wide. After a couple seconds, her mouth opened and closed several times, although no sound came. Finally, she got her voice back. "I…it…what? But, I thought…isn't that why there's a famous Hannah Montana instead of a famous Miley Stewart? So you could live two lives? I mean, I thought that that was what you wanted."
"Yeah, it was," Miley said quietly. "Before, I didn't know that I would have to split up my life like this. I mean, my agent was trying to get me to do a few concerts in the area while I'm here and I had to threaten to call off my goodbye tour this summer in order to get her to shut up…"
"Goodbye tour?" Lilly asked, eyes widening even more, if that was even possible.
"The details still need to be worked out, but I know that I'm going abroad for the summer," Miley said. "I was actually going to ask you if you wanted to come with me earlier, but this vacation sort of got in the way, you know? It's going to be three months long and all I know about the concert locations is that the last concert is going to be in New York City. I want to end somewhere away from home because I think security might be a little lax and I don't want anyone following me home."
"Yeah, I understand," Lilly said.
"But anyways, I didn't know that my life would be so hectic," Miley said. "Sometimes I come in at two o'clock in the morning and I still have to do homework. It would be so much easier for me to just me Miley and not have to worry about keeping my identity a secret all the time. It would save tons of time getting ready and going to the concert because I wouldn't have to change limos about five times just to get there."
"Why does this concern me?" Lilly asked.
"Because everyone at school knows that you're my girlfriend and once everyone found out that I'm Hannah Montana, they would most likely realize that you're Lola Luftnagle," Miley said. "Plus, you'd get swarmed for being Miley Stewart and Hannah Montana's girlfriend. You probably wouldn't be able to go out in public without someone recognizing you."
"Oh, yeah, there'd be that," Lilly whispered, looking down at her lap. "I don't know, Miley. I mean, I'm pregnant. It's bad enough that the whole school is going to know that I'm pregnant, let alone millions and millions of people around the world. I don't really want my whole life broadcasted. Just…let me think about it."
"Of course," Miley said gently. "I completely understand. I would never, ever make this decision without your approval. And I still have to talk to everyone else, too. I just want you to know that."
"Thank you for asking me," Lilly said, snuggling into Miley. They stayed like that for a moment, Miley's arms wrapped around Lilly's waste, her cheek resting on the top of her head and Lilly leaning into Miley.
"Hey, can we eat now?"
Miley just laughed.
Funny story. I was looking through some stories on fanfiction and I came across a story that I thought looked really interesting. Clicking on the title, I started to read it and then I realized that it was my own story! Wow, sometimes I really do wonder how I even tie my shoes. :) Well, anyways…I hope you liked the chapter and I'll get the next one up as soon as possible. And I have to say, when I see that people REVIEW, I tend to want to update faster. While we're on the subject of reviews, thank you to AshleyAlien1408. YOU ARE MY HERO!!! THANK YOU FOR REVIEWING!!! If I could, I'd give you a million dollars, but considering that I am currently short on cash, I can't do anything about that. Thank you once again!!!
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