Disclaimer: Characters are owned and produced by The Disney Channel and It's A Laugh Productions. I am just borrowing them for these stories. Original characters are owned by the author of this story.
Author's Note: I know. It's been a week since I've updated. I'm sorry. You're used to two, maybe three days tops between chapters. Well, I'm back and I brought some company with me.
Back to the Future
Chapter 8
The Next Step
Saturday, September 30, 2017 – 5 pm – Mamaw's house – Misty Hollow, Tennessee
In a little more than twelve hours, the gang from California would be headed back to the West Coast following their weeklong stay in the Volunteer state. Miley and Lilly had a ratified contract on the house they saw in Belle Meade and received a relative bargain when the owner accepted their three point five million dollar offer. They had settled on October 30th as their closing date, and November 15th as their move-in date, giving them forty-five days to complete their cross-country move. The last week saw them doing everything from setting up logistics for the move to going on several shopping trips to Knoxville. The two women were bubbling with excitement over what the future had in store for them.
The last week also saw changes in the lives of Robby Ray, Kylie, Luanne and Jennifer. Robby Ray stayed with Tyler for a couple of days during the week in order to be closer to Kylie. The two of them went out every night, hitting old hang outs and new hot spots. They were re-establishing a two decades old link that both felt should have never been broken. And while the two shared nothing physically beyond only the occasional peck on the lips, the feelings that the two of them had for one another continued to grow exponentially with each successful date.
Jennifer and Luanne traveled a path similar to Robby Ray and Kylie. With Luanne and Jennifer alternating driving to and from Knoxville and Misty Hollow to see the other, they too shared no physical intimacy beyond the dressing room kiss and a chaste hug and goodnight peck on the cheek. However, each hug and peck on the cheek was warmer and more tension filled than the one before leading both women to believe that they were nearing the next phase in their relationship.
It was under these conditions that one final big dinner was planned at Mamaw's house. Miley, Lilly, Robby Ray and Jennifer would be joined by Luanne, her parents, Miley's aunts Dolly and Vickie, Kylie along with Jackson and his new friend Tamera, who had visited her grandmother in Knoxville during the week.
Miley and Lilly were standing just inside the back door that led to the backyard. They were watching Jennifer and Luanne talking near the swings under the large oak tree about thirty yards from the house.
"Look at them Miley. If I didn't know better, I'd say they were in love." Lilly said.
"They do look cozy, don't they?" Miley said. "Kinda reminds me of us about two weeks ago."
Lilly smiled. "You know, Luanne's not half as bad as I thought she was."
"I told you that people just needed to give her a chance. She lashes out to draw attention to herself." Miley said. "If you give her the right type of attention, look at what you get."
"Well Jennifer seems to be giving her the right type of attention." Lilly said with a loaded voice.
"They haven't had sex yet." Miley informed her.
"No?" Lilly asked with surprise.
"They haven't even had one of those good knee-bucklin' kisses yet." Miley said.
"Kinda like this?" Lilly asked before leaning over as capturing Miley in a slow, but scorching kiss. When they broke the kiss, all they could do was smile at each other and blush deeply.
"Now that is a baby-makin' kiss right there." The female voice with the pronounced Tennessee mountain accent said.
Miley spun around to look at the source of the comment. "Aunt Vickie!" Miley exclaimed as she threw her arms around her aunt. She then released the hug and held her aunt's hands, looking the older woman up and down. "My God! You look amazing! Mamaw said you lost weight but… Wow!"
"I am living proof that NutriSystem does work!" Vickie said of her eighty pound weight loss.
"Well, you were a head turner before but guys are gonna be breakin' their necks to see you now!" Miley said in amazement.
"Now are you gonna introduce me to the woman that has captured your heart?" Vickie said.
"Of course. Aunt Vickie, this is my fiancée, Lilly Truscott. Lilly, this is my Aunt, Vickie Clark." Miley said.
"Stewart. I dropped your Uncle Dave's name." Vickie said referring to her recent divorce. "And it is a pleasure to meet you. You are more beautiful than I imagined."
"Thank you Aunt Vickie." Lilly said as she embraced Vickie.
"You mean you didn't see us on the news?" Miley asked.
"Every time I saw it get ready to come on, I turned the station. When Momma told me about what happened with the cameras in that restaurant, I wanted to scream. The media makes me sick sometimes." Vickie said.
"I second that emotion!" Just then, the petite figure that uttered those words came around the corner.
"Aunt Dolly!" Miley cried out as she bear-hugged the buxom, diminutive woman.
"Hi Baby!" Dolly said as she hugged Miley. "Just make sure you leave some hug for Lilly." Dolly smiled brightly as she released Miley. "Come here Cutie!" Dolly said to Lilly who stepped forward to embrace her. "I missed you two!"
"We missed you Dolly." Lilly said before breaking the embrace. Dolly smiled before her eye caught the two figures sitting on the swings under the tree.
"Is that… Luanne sitting on the swings? Laughing? And is that… that Mikayla girl?" Dolly asked incredulously. Seconds later, she witnessed Luanne and Jennifer slowly lean forward at kiss each other softly. "What in tarnation did I miss around here?"
"Pretty much that." Miley said matter-of-factly. "And Daddy fallin' in love with Kylie… again."
"Kylie? Kylie Westmoreland? From twenty years ago?" Dolly asked. "Well is Jackson getting married?"
"No. But he's bringing his girlfriend with him tonight." Miley said.
"Jackson finally has a girlfriend and not a flavor of the week?" Dolly asked sarcastically.
"It's only been a week but he told me he's hit it off with her better than any body he's ever dated." Miley said.
"They've gone out twice!" Lilly said.
"How many times did we go out before we knew we were for each other?" Miley asked.
"But we've know each other for years! He met her a week ago!" Lilly scoffed.
"Now hold on Lilly." Vickie said. "I know it might sound funny, but it can happen. My oldest son married a girl he only knew for two months. It's been six years and they are as happy as two pigs in a mess of slop."
"I've got to learn all these colorful analogies y'all use down here." Lilly said.
Miley leaned over and whispered into Lilly's ear. "First thing I'll teach you is how to come with a twang." Miley said, causing Lilly to grin from ear to ear. At that moment, Luanne and Jennifer walked in through the back door.
"You two are so nasty." Jennifer said with a playful eye roll as she witnessed Lilly's grin.
"Leave 'em alone. They're in lust, I mean, love." Luanne said causing both she and Jennifer to giggle.
"Hi Luanne." Vickie said.
"Hi Aunt Vickie! How are you?" Luanne said with a pleasant demeanor that shocked both Vickie and Dolly.
"I'm… fine, sweetheart." Vickie said incredulously before breaking the embrace.
"Hi Aunt Dolly!" Luanne stepped forward to embrace her aunt who was still in shock over the transformation of her previously sinister niece. As Luanne broke the embrace, she put her finger up in remembrance of something. "Oh! Here." She reached in her pocket and pulled out some folded bills. "Here's everything I owe you; five hundred dollars. Thank you. It really came in handy." She handed the bills to Dolly who at this point was nearly catatonic. Luanne was notorious for borrowing money and never repaying it.
"You're… welcome, sugar." Dolly eked out.
"Aunt Dolly, Aunt Vickie, I want you to meet my friend, Jennifer." Luanne said.
"It's nice to finally meet you both. Miley and Luanne have told me so much about you two." Jennifer said.
"It's nice to meet you too." Dolly said as she looked down at the crisp hundred dollar bills in her hand, flipping them over several times. "I wish I could say that Luanne told me about you, but this is the first time I've seen her in two months."
"I'm hopin' I can change that." Luanne said with a smile. Moments later, Ruthie poked her head around the corner.
"Vickie, Dolly, can you give me a hand in the kitchen?" Ruthie said.
"We'll help you Mamaw!" Luanne piped up. "You two talk and relax. Let us young'uns take care of it."
"Thank you Luanne!" Ruthie said with surprised enthusiasm. She then looked at Dolly and Vickie who looked as if they were watching an episode of the Twilight Zone.
"Tori, I'm just gonna go wash my hands." Jennifer said in a half-whisper.
"I'll go with you." Luanne said. "We'll be right there Mamaw." Luanne and Jennifer then walked to the bathroom down the hall.
"Tori?" Dolly asked rhetorically. "Ruthie! Is she for real?"
"Dolly, I'm telling you, that Jennifer is the best thing that has ever happened to that girl. She's like a totally different person with her." Ruthie said.
"Did you two have anything to do with that?" Dolly asked.
"No ma'am!" Miley said. "Those two came together on their own. I swear."
"Well, whatever Jennifer's doing, she needs to keep doing it." Vickie said moments before Jennifer and Luanne returned.
"Ready Mamaw." Luanne said before smiling and leading Jennifer by the hand toward the kitchen. Jennifer turned and flashed Miley and Lilly an almost giddy smile before turning and heading toward Ruthie's magical culinary wonderland.
"Show of hands if you thought you'd ever see Mikayla and Luanne together… and giddy." Lilly deadpanned. Five seconds went by with no one raising their hands. "I didn't think so."
About twenty minutes later, dinner began without a hitch. Everyone was there for the start of dinner except for Jackson and Tamera who were driving down from Knoxville.
"Where's Jackson?" Lilly said. "I want to meet the woman that took pity on him and mortgaged her future."
"Now Lilly, my son can still be a bit of a lugnut but he has grown up." Robby Ray said. "He told me that she's a wonderful young lady. College educated; graduated from Howard."
"Where's Howard? I've never heard of it." Vickie said.
"Howard University, Aunt Vickie. It's in Washington, D.C." Miley said. "It's a historically black college." Vickie nodded her head in acknowledgment.
"I hope Old Man Peterson doesn't see her." Ruthie said, referring to the neighbor on the eastern edge of her property.
"Why?" Lilly asked.
"He's one of the Ku Klux Klan holdovers." Bobby Ray said. "He still believes in segregation."
"He wouldn't try to do anything, would he?" Lilly asked.
"No. But he's crotchety enough to yell nasty things." Ruthie said. "Vickie, remember when that substitute UPS driver came to the house a couple of weeks ago?"
"I don't even want to think about the things he said to him." Vickie said.
"It still gets to me that there are people in this world that are so narrow-minded and obtuse." Miley said. Just then Robby Ray hurriedly picked up his knife and clinked it against his glass seconds before Bobby Ray.
"Ten dollar word!" Robby Ray exclaimed. "Cough it up, brother!"
"Dang flabbit!" Bobby Ray said before reaching in his pocket, pulling out ten dollars and reluctantly handing it to Robby Ray.
"Are they like this all the time?" Kylie asked Noel, Bobby Ray's wife.
"Every time they're in the same room." Noel said.
"Kylie, it's so good to see you again. You haven't changed one bit. Still as pretty as ever." Dolly said.
"I have a few wrinkle lines and there's a little more… junk in my trunk, but thank you. That's sweet of you to say." Kylie responded.
"You like junky trunks, Rob, don't cha?" Bobby Ray said in a low whisper causing his brother to drop his head and chuckle.
"Bobby!" Noel chided him. "Mind your manners!"
"I was just…"
"Being inappropriate in front of guests." Noel shot back.
"That's okay. I grew up with six male cousins. I'm like one of the guys." Kylie said.
"No guy I've ever seen." Bobby Ray said chuckling in that same whisper to his brother. Noel's response was to punch Bobby Ray in the arm. "Oww! Woman! You know you're heavy handed!"
"You'll think about that next time you open you fix that forked tongue of yours to speak." Noel said with playful sternness.
"Have I told you how much I like your family?" Lilly said to Miley with a smile. Seconds later, the doorbell rang.
"I'll get it!" Miley hopped up. "That's probably Jack… son!" She said in sing-songy fashion. When she reached the door, she could see Jackson and his friend standing on the other side. Miley opened the door. "JERKSON!"
"Hanny Montany!" Jackson said as he embraced his sister. "How ya doing girl?"
"Fine, big brother." Miley said. She then whispered, "She's gorgeous."
"Was there any doubt?" Jackson whispered.
"Yes." Miley shot back as she broke the hug. Jackson smirked and shook his head.
"Miley, this is my friend, Tamera Carson. Tammy, THIS is my sister, international country sensation, Miley Stewart." Jackson said.
"Not yet, but we're gonna get there." Miley said. "Hi Tamera. It's nice to meet you. You're more beautiful than Jackson described."
"Thank you and please, call me Tammy." Tamera said, extending that rare privilege to Miley. "Television and pictures don't do you justice."
"Aww, thank you." Miley said.
"Uhh, excuse me Miles but you already have a girlfriend. This one's mine." Jackson joked.
"I have a fiancée, thank you very much!" Miley said with her infamous "girlfriend" neck roll. "Oh yeah! I went there! And I bought property." Jackson and Tamera laughed. "Come on. Everybody's at the table eating. With Lilly and Jenn at the table, we better hurry if we want some food."
"Jenn is greedy?" Jackson asked.
"She's as bad as Lilly." Miley deadpanned.
"Sweet niblets!" Jackson uttered one of the Stewart family catchphrases in front of Tammy for the first time. Tammy smirked out of the corner of her mouth, thinking to herself how cute Jackson is before following the siblings down the hall toward the dining room.
"Look who I found!" Miley exclaimed. A chorus of hey's, hi's and Jackson's rang around the table in greeting Robby Ray's eldest child. Jackson walked around the table hugging and kissing all of his kinfolk.
"Everybody, I'd like you to meet my friend, Tamera Carson. Tammy, that's my Mamaw, my dad, my uncle Bobby Ray, my aunts Noel, Vickie and Dolly, my soon-to-be sister-in-law, Lilly, my cousin Luanne and Miley and Lilly's friend Jennifer."
"My friend Jennifer, Cousin!" Luanne corrected Jackson. He looked at Miley who nodded with a toothless smile.
"Sweet niblets!" Jackson uttered again. "Go out of town for one week…"
"And bring back a beautiful young woman with you." Robby Ray interjected. "Offer her a seat, son."
"Of course!" Jackson said as he pulled out a chair for Tamera.
"Thank you for welcoming me into your home, Mrs. Stewart." Tamera said.
"Call me Mamaw or Miss Ruthie and you're welcome sweetheart." Ruthie said.
"So is my baby girl's concert gonna be out of this world?" Robby Ray asked.
"Dad! Come on. We're off the clock." Jackson said.
"It's okay." Tamera said. "Your daughter's concert is gonna be the biggest event to ever hit the Nissan Pavilion. She might even be a rock star." Tamera added, throwing in the title of one of Miley's Hannah Montana hits.
"That's what I like to hear." Robby Ray said with a smile.
"So Miley tells us that your grandmother lives in Knoxville." Ruthie said.
"Yes ma'am. She's lived there all her life." Tamera said. "Miss Effie's still going strong."
"Miss Effie?" Luanne said. "She's not the Miss Effie that lives near Neyland Stadium, is she?"
"The one and only." Tamera said. "You went UT?"
"I lived about six doors down from Miss Effie in college. She makes THE BEST oatmeal raisin cookie I've ever eaten!" Luanne said.
"You should try her peanut butter cookies!" Tamera said.
"Shut up!" Luanne came back laughing.
Jackson looked quizzically at Tamera. "My grandmother would always make batches of homemade cookies for the college kids that lived in her neighborhood."
"This world just gets smaller and smaller." Vickie said.
"Luanne brought us some of those cookies once." Bobby Ray said. "Can you make cookies as well as your grandma?"
"Not quite, but I do all right." Tamera said.
"I didn't get any cookies when I picked you up!" Jackson said.
"She ran out of ingredients." Tamera said. "She needs to go grocery shopping."
"I'd have taken her. You just needed to ask." Jackson said.
"Really?" Tamera asked.
"Absolutely." Jackson said.
"If it has to do with food, he is right there." Lilly deadpanned.
"Thank you Lilly." Jackson said through gritted teeth.
"So… Jackson said you two bought a house." Tamera said to Miley.
"Yeah. It's in Belle Meade and it… is… gorgeous! Especially that huge Jacuzzi!" Miley said.
"And the guest house is almost as big as my parent's house!" Lilly said.
"That's awesome!" Jackson said. "So do you two have anything else you want to share with us like, I don't know, a wedding date?"
"Jackson!" Ruthie exclaimed.
"That's okay Mamaw." Miley said. "Actually, he brought up a good point Lil. We really should set a date before we move in."
"Actually Miles, we should get married before we move in." Lilly said.
"That leaves us less than two months to plan." Miley said.
"Well it's a good thing my lady here does event planning on the side." Jackson said.
Miley looked at Lilly and then back at Jackson and Tamera. "If we gave you a generous budget, could you pull something together in two months?" Miley asked.
"Where would you have the ceremony and the reception?" Tamera asked.
Miley and Lilly locked eyes again, sharing the same thought. Miley then looked at her father as she spoke. "That little white chapel up on the hill."
Robby Ray's mouth fell open. Ruthie felt the sting of tears come upon her suddenly. Bobby Ray and Vickie smiled. "That's where your mother and I got married." Robby Ray said.
"Do you want me to choose someplace else?" Miley asked.
Robby Ray paused for a moment as he felt the onset of tears. "No. Not at all." He paused. "Your mother and I always dreamed of you getting married there. She'd… have loved it. And so do I."
"I told you it would be perfect." Lilly said warmly.
Miley smiled and then turned to Tamera. "Well?"
"I have always wanted to plan the little white chapel wedding. You've got yourself a wedding planner." Tamera said to the cheers of everyone in the room. "Now you just need a date.
"Well, our move-in date is November 15th… how about the 11th?" Miley said.
"Can you two coordinate a wedding and a move at the same time?" Robby Ray asked.
"I'll help them!" Jennifer said. "And I know Renee would help."
"And I'm sure some of my friends from my old school would help too!" Lilly said.
"Oh my god! Lilly, we just set a wedding date!" Miley said.
"We just set a wedding date! Yay!" Lilly bounced like a teenager as she hugged Miley.
"I guess we got some tuxedos to rent, Brother." Bobby Ray said.
"We sure do." Robby Ray said.
"Do you… have a date for the wedding?" Luanne asked Jennifer.
"Funny. I was gonna ask you the same thing." Jennifer said with a smile.
"I know you've got a knockout dress in your closet." Robby Ray said to Kylie.
"Is that your way of asking me to be your date to the wedding?" Kylie asked.
"If it was, would it have worked?" Robby Ray asked.
"Yes." Kylie said with a smile.
"Then yes it was." Robby Ray said with a smile as he hugged and rocked the giggling Kylie.
"Thank you for doing this for her." Jackson said. "That's incredibly nice of you."
Tamera smiled. "You know, I will require full payment from you." She whispered in a tone of voice that Jackson thought he recognized but was still unsure.
"How much are we talking?" Jackson asked.
Tamera put her lips to Jackson's ear. "Let's just say that weddings always make me feel warm and tingly inside." She paused and then added. "Payment… in… full." Jackson simply dropped his head and blushed. "See. I knew I could make you blush."
"When we get back to Malibu, we've got to call everybody!" Miley said.
"Why wait? Let's call 'em tonight!" Lilly said.
"We're getting married!" Miley said.
"We're getting married!" Lilly echoed before tightly embracing Miley once more.
Eight chapters down and I don't know how many to go. Now what I need you to do is to go into your closets or to the store, find a nice dress, tuxedo or suit and come back for chapter nine. A Liley wedding is next. PLEASE REVIEW.