A/N: So, you guys know how random lines in episodes spark story ideas for me. This one is due to Lilly's "Oh look at the time, we're gonna be late" and then "we're just late, okay" when she and Oliver leave Miley to figure out if she wants to be with Jake or Jesse. I just feel like she was a little more snippy than usual, especially with Oliver, and a little off her game with some of the remarks she makes in He Could Be The One, and I decided to play with that idea a little bit. The first half of this one shot is a lot of summary, kind if. Sorry about that. I just didn't want to have to go back through the episode for exact dialogue, so this was easier.
***
The day she found out her best friend had decided to date an egotistical movie star was a bad day for Lilly. It wasn't just that she shared Miley's former opinion that Jake Ryan was a big ol' sack of drama. It was also that she had a headache all day, it had taken her four tries to put her contacts in that morning, and her Lola wig was a little too tight. Not to mention her pants. She had gone through six different Lola outfits before finding one she could actually breathe in, so she had been very close to throwing in the towel and telling Miley she wasn't going to the next Hannah rehearsal. Then, Miley insisted on playing songs that had horrible lyrics, compounding the feeling that a hammer was beating away on her brain. It was like Lilly's day couldn't get any worse.
But then, she found out that Jake Ryan, former zombie slayer, and someone she used to have a very big crush on, was in town filming a movie, as well as cozying up to her best friend, and her best friend hadn't told her when it happened. It wasn't like she had feelings for the movie star or anything like that. She was very happy with Oliver, happier than she ever had been, but Jake had a way of making everything in Miley's life go a little crazy. She understood that it was Miley's decision, and she would be supportive until he did something stupid, or Miley did something stupid, or both. She was that kind of friend. But after the Hannah rehearsal that night, Lilly did something she hadn't done since she quit participating in organized sports her freshman year.
She went for a jog on the beach to get her head in order.
And man, she was afraid she was out of shape.
Lilly had always enjoyed the feel of wet sand just giving way beneath her feet, the sound of the waves on the shore, the feel of the air coming in off the water right after the sun went down, the slight taste of salt in the air. But for some reason, it wasn't the way she remembered it. She was breathing hard after only half of what had been her normal route, and her calves were starting to tighten up. She jogged until just passed the part of the beach that ran against Rico's Surf Shack when she felt her stomach lurch.
Maybe she had overdone it.
Or maybe it was that on top of everything else, she could still remember the taste of that catfish eyeball from Miley's big dinner with her dad.
Lilly shuddered and slowed her pace. She was finally forced to stop, hands on her knees, her breath coming in sharp gasps, a stitch in her side preventing her from breathing in deeply. She stretched out her muscles before making the walk up to Rico's for a bottle of water, hoping she got there before he closed up for the night.
"Hey, blondie. You don't look so good." Rico was sitting on the counter, cash box open in front of him while he counted. Another blond girl was behind him, gathering up the garbage.
"Can I get a bottle of water?" Lilly asked, ignoring the comment about her appearance. She knew she didn't look good. Her hair was back in a ponytail, but she could feel the ends of it sticking to her. Sand was stuck to her legs as well, and her tank top was soaked almost completely through from her sweat. She still felt a little sick, so she was pretty sure she was either really pale, or bright red. Either way, she figured it wasn't all that appealing.
"Sorry, we're closed."
"Come on, Rico, it's just a water. All you have to do is add two dollars to your total." She fished the money out of her pocket, knowing he never turned down cash.
"Fine." He grabbed the dollar bills from her hand and leaned over to snag a water from the cooler below the counter.
"Thanks," she snapped at him, taking the water, and turning to walk back the way she came.
"What are you doing out here anyway?"
Sighing, she turned back around. "I just wanted to go for a run, that's all." She opened the bottle, taking a sip of the water, and she instantly felt better as the cold liquid drained down her throat. Not much better, but better than she had a few minutes ago.
"I didn't know you were the running type." Rico thumbed through the stack of bills in his hand.
"I'm not." Lilly shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "I mean, I used to run a lot, but, I haven't been." She didn't know why she was explaining this. "I just had a long day and I needed to clear my head, okay?" Her voice had risen above what was considered a normal decibel level for polite conversation, and the blond girl behind the counter raised her eyebrows and headed out the back.
"Okay, geez. Just trying to make conversation. Next time I'll just ignore you," he said, jumping down from the counter and packing up his money. He shook his head and stalked away. "Girls. They're so moody."
Lilly rolled her eyes before following her route back to her neighborhood. Rico waited until she was in no mood to talk to try and behave like a normal human being, of course. She had a lot of time to think as she walked along the beach, and she decided that she must have been coming down with something. Miley's stress about the Hannah tour and hiding Jake from her dad had rubbed off on her, weakened her immune system, and now, she was coming down with a cold or something. That's why she was so tired, so cranky, and why everything seemed to be going wrong. That had to be the problem.
Had to be.
***
Curled up under a blanket on the couch, Lilly was over half way through a bowl of popcorn and even further into a cheesy chick flick. It was late in the afternoon the following day, and Lilly had decided running wasn't the best way to make herself feel better. She was just going to take lots of vitamin C, try to stave off the illness that was coming. The couch and a movie seemed like a good place to do just that.
And, yes, she knew she was supposed to go meet Oliver at the beach not too long from now, but the movie was almost over.
With a sniffle, she hit the pause button, threw off the blanket, and scurried into the kitchen. The big scene where the two main characters were reunited after a long separation was coming up and she needed something sweet. No more of the salty popcorn. She would be bawling soon enough, and there would be enough salt from her tears.
Lilly opened the refrigerator door and surveyed the contents. Since she and her brother were both junk food junkies, her mother had been keeping less and less sweet stuff in the house. It was like she was trying to slowly force them into a healthy diet. And it wasn't that Lilly didn't eat healthily or anything. It was just that sometimes, you needed some extra sugar. And right now, it looked like her only option was a small container of store bought butter cream frosting left over from a cake she had made for her dad last week. It would just have to do.
Armed with the frosting and a spoon, Lilly made her way back to the living room and sank into her cocoon of blankets and couch cushions. She pushed the play button and dug into the frosting. She wasn't even sure why she was watching this movie. It was just that after finding out Miley was back with Jake during yesterday's rehearsal, and after her disastrous run on the beach, she seemed to be in the mood for nothing but cry-your-eyes-out chick flicks. It was like the two of them getting back together, even though she didn't wholeheartedly approve, had brought out the romantic in her all over again.
Star crossed lovers always had that effect though, right?
She watched for a full ten minutes, her eyes watering and letting out a few sniffles here and there while she licked frosting off the spoon, but she didn't get to the point of full on crying.
And then, something made her pause.
The woman on screen, one of the secondary characters in the film, and one that Lilly hadn't been paying all that much attention to through the story, was doing something very similar to her. She was sitting on a bed, an afghan covering her, and eating a container of frosting, but hers was chocolate. And it looked like she had gone though a bag of chips and a container of jelly beans as well. Lilly narrowed her eyes at the screen and paid attention to the dialogue. She listened to the woman's friend telling her about how she had been tired, irritable, having cravings for extremely sweet foods, things she normally hated. And then there was a mention of a test she should take. Lilly's eyes went from the screen to the spoon in her hands.
Nah. She had nothing to worry about, right?
But... she had been tired lately. And Oliver kept asking her if she was mad at him, like she had been acting angrier than normal. And the sugar. Well, she had definitely been eating a lot more sugar lately. But she had never hated sweets before or anything like that.
No. It couldn't be.
And she listened to the woman on screen deny the need for any test in much the same way.
I like junk food. I'm on the pill. Please, it's been forever since he and I...
Lilly swallowed the frosting and felt it stick on the way down. The woman on screen promptly ran from the room and there were sounds of her getting sick off camera while her friend gave a wry smile. Lilly now had the urge to run to the bathroom as well, but when she got there it was just dry heaving, nothing would come up. She rinsed her face with a splash of cold water and rushed to her room, forgetting all about the mess she had just left downstairs.
She checked the calendar she kept track of her assignments for school on. But it couldn't be right. So she checked it again. The tiny purple star she always added to the page to keep her on track stayed on the same day though. It never moved. Not once. More than five weeks ago. No. Not possible. She counted the days again. She must have made a mistake. There was no way. But as her finger skimmed the page, assigning a number to each day as she passed the squares, she knew the impossible was entirely possible.
She was eight days late. Eight days.
She was never more than two days late, at the most. Which meant-
No. She didn't want to think about what that meant. She'd give it another 24 hours. Maybe her body was just out of whack because of all the junk food she had been eating lately, and all the stress she had been under. Yeah. That was it. Just as she was contemplating this, her phone buzzed.
Oliver.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Lillypop. I thought you were gonna meet me at Rico's."
His voice was relaxed and he didn't sound too upset, so she figured she couldn't be that late. She checked the clock by her bed and her eyes widened. Twenty minutes? How long had she been panicking and checking the calendar?
"Yeah, I'm sorry, I lost track of time," Lilly explained, grabbing a pair of shoes and heading down the stairs. "I'm on my way. Did you and Todd already go surfing?"
"No, we were just about to head out."
She reached the bottom of the stairs and grabbed the car keys from a side table, then dropped her shoes on the floor to slip them on. "I'll meet you on the beach, okay? Just have fun. I'll see you soon." She didn't give him a chance to respond, just hung up the phone and considered if she was going to be able to keep this information to herself for the next day. She made a half-hearted attempt to clean up her mess in the living room, jogging to put the frosting back in the fridge and throw the spoon in the sink. Gripping the keys in her hand so hard they cut into her palm, she took a deep breath and left the house.
One day. That was all she needed. She would take a test... or maybe just tell him, tomorrow.
But one day turned into two.
And the second day was full of Miley drama, just like the majority of Lilly's life. She was so busy listening to Miley and her dad not talking that she wasn't thinking about herself at all. Of course, even if she wasn't thinking about it, it was obviously somewhere at the back of her mind because every time Oliver got right up next to her, she tensed for apparently no reason at all. Once, he even held out his hand to help her down the steps from the stage at rehearsal, but she just kept walking. Normally, she would appreciate a gesture like that, but now, well, every time he touched her, appreciation was the last thing on her mind.
Standing behind the curtain that acted as a doorway separating the rehearsal space from one of the hallways, Oliver leaned in close and asked if she was alright.
"I'm fine, Mike," she hissed as one of the Hannah Montana tour's crew members walked by. "I just want to see if my plan works." She edged a bit away from him, closer to the fabric of the curtain, and the synthetic strands on her Lola wig scraped against it.
Oliver glanced around, making sure there was no one near by before he tried again, "are you sure, Lils? Cause you seem a little... mad."
He reached out to touch her arm, and she froze. "Um, yeah, I'm fine. I'm just," she swallowed uncertainly, "tired."
His finger tips traveled down her arm to loop around her wrist and he whispered, "I know a guy who can get Hannah's driver to take us home if you want." He tugged gently on her arm, shaking it until she smiled.
"I'd really like that. But first, let's see how Mr. Stewart takes the Jesse news."
Oliver smiled too. He always got bored at rehearsals. And Lilly really looked like she needed a break. Their eyes locked when they leaned their heads just against the curtain, trying to hear what was going on in the hall.
"I can't really hear anything," he whispered.
"That's because you keep talking," Lilly shot back in a low tone. She rolled her eyes, but she was still smiling. He was such a dork.
Oliver glanced around the room again quickly, and seeing that no one was paying attention to the two of them, leaned forward and kissed her before she could pull away. To her surprise, Lilly pushed everything else out of her mind and kissed him back, only to have the curtain move, and be forced to separate from him before everybody on the other end of the curtain came face to face with them. When the angry face of Jesse appeared, passing them, and then Miley and Mr. Stewart's not exactly surprised expressions, Lilly and Oliver tried to play it down, assuring them that they were, under no circumstances, eavesdropping. Except that the other people obviously didn't believe that.
"We were just... filling ourselves in ahead of time, to save you the trouble later."
There was a moment where everyone looked at one another and Oliver wiped his hand along his mouth uncertainly, checking to make sure he wasn't wearing any lip gloss or anything. He didn't really want to get yelled at by Mr. Stewart. Although, Mr. Stewart didn't really yell...
"We'll see you at home," Lilly said in a rush, dragging Oliver off with her before anyone could ask them any questions.
They spent the ride back to the beach house in almost complete silence, Lilly combing through her hair nervously, the Lola wig sitting on her lap. Every time she wore one of the brightly colored wigs now, she felt like all the circulation to her brain was being cut off. She loved the perks of knowing a pop star, but she was so tired of having to layer on the Lola look. It was like she had an extra job or something.
Oliver had been going to less and less Hannah events lately, so she was sure he felt the same way. He peeled off his adhesive beard and winced. "You sure everything's okay?" he asked when the car pulled into the Stewart's driveway, his eyes raking over her.
"Yeah," Lilly sighed, looking out the window. "It's just been a long couple of days, you know?"
Just another day. She just needed one more. She needed Miley's life to be calm and controlled before she laid the news on her and asked for help.
And on the next day, when she was making the commitment to be the best girlfriend ever, trying to make up for the last couple of days, just as she was combing a knot out of Oliver's hair and listening to him babble on about whether a swim cap while surfing would make him look like a dork or not, her phone rang. She had been hoping, after seemingly helping Miley solve her dilemma with getting Mr. Stewart to at least tolerate Jake again, she would be able to have a little girl talk at some point with Miley about her own problem.
But no.
The phone call alerted Lilly to a code red, Lilly and Miley's term for a major boy emergency, and Lilly found herself absorbed in the drama of Miley world yet again, complete with Mr. Stewart creating his own code phrase for steering clear of his daughter's drama.
The walrus sings at midnight.
Who had ever heard of something so ridiculous?
And really, Miley was completely incapable of controlling herself when she imagined Jesse as a cookie jar. How was she going to handle the real thing? Lilly thought she should maybe mention the consequences of a lack of self control, but her own stomach tightened at the very thought, so she let it go for another day.
***
But the next day was no better. Miley's plan to avoid the bad boy who made her knees weak was a flop, just like Lilly told her it would be, and being confronted by Jake had just confused her even more. Lilly thought it would be better to give Miley some time alone with her thoughts; besides Lilly wanted some time alone with Oliver. She had every intention of having a serious conversation with her boyfriend, without Miley's advice now that it was clearly getting to be too much of a hassle for that, but apparently, that was too much to ask, because almost as soon as she climbed into the car with him, she got a phone call from Miley. One that, as a best friend, demanded attention. She couldn't leave her hanging. And Oliver, as her boyfriend, and Miley's other best friend, was going to have to come along for the ride, whether he wanted to or not.
"Oliver, she said code red. Do you not understand the point of the code red?" Lilly tapped her foot impatiently from the passenger seat.
"Come on, I'm going through the drive through, okay? It'll be quick. Besides, didn't you just say you were starving?" He eased the car into the lane for the ice cream place he had picked. It was one of those quick places where you could get a cheap milk shake or a chocolate dipped ice cream cone, neither of which Lilly really wanted. She had been overloading on the sweet stuff for the last week.
"I'm fine," she said crossly, tugging on the seatbelt and rearranging herself in the seat. She couldn't get comfortable. It was like the car felt too small, or the air was pushing up against her or something.
"Suit yourself," Oliver answered, shaking his head. He ordered a large French vanilla frozen yogurt, knowing that Lilly was going to want some once it was in the car and within reach.
Once he had the cup in his hand and was ready to drive off, she narrowed her eyes and snapped, "just how do you plan on eating that? You're supposed to be driving."
"Oh, right." He looked blankly at the cup in his hand for a second before he turned out of the lot using his other on the steering wheel. He waited until the car was stopped at the next intersection before taking a bite. "Mmm... you sure you don't want some?"
Lilly sighed from her seat. She could practically smell the frozen yogurt. Did it even have a smell? Maybe it was the vanilla. Or maybe she was just hungry. She wasn't going to eat any though.
No.
"Maybe just one bite. It's not like you're going to be able to eat it all before it turns to yogurt soup anyway."
He handed her the cup easily, then with both hands on the wheel, headed for Miley's house, trying to hide his amused smile. She couldn't deny she had a sweet tooth. And she never turned down dessert of any kind. Maybe this would put her in a better mood.
But it didn't.
If anything, Lilly was even more agitated by the time they got to Miley's. She was well aware that she had just eaten more than half of a frozen yogurt she hadn't even wanted, and her stomach was now tying itself in knots. Oliver was still trying to figure out why she kept giving him annoyed looks. They sat themselves down on Miley's bed, and Lilly wasn't all that surprised to see her best friend had the headshots of the two guys currently vying for her affections. Miley might have claimed to be such a good southern girl at heart, but she was becoming more and more Hollywood everyday. And even though they were supposed to be helping her out, Lilly's sniping put Oliver in a testy mood as well. Sure, he might have offered up that foot massage, and sure, she might have made the remark that she loved him and that she was a one guy kind of girl, but the bickering was starting to get out of control. Miley, too preoccupied with trying to choose between two cute guys, didn't really notice anything out of the ordinary.
But Lilly saw Miley's frustration growing as the comments about being faithful to one guy spewed from her mouth of their own accord. She didn't know what was wrong with her. Well, she did, but she was trying to be there for her best friend, not worry about her own issues, and apparently that was making her over compensate in this relationship dialogue. She tried to explain that she wouldn't pass any sort of judgment on someone who had feelings for two guys, but it was easy to see that Miley's patience was wearing thin. Lilly couldn't take it anymore. Miley's patience may have been lacking, but Lilly's was downright shot. She quickly shoved up her sleeve, looking for a watch, but there wasn't one there. Right. She had taken it off earlier and left it, forgotten, on her nightstand.
"Oh, look at the time, we're late," she said anyway, hoping Miley didn't notice the lack of a time piece. She didn't care that they had been there for Miley's emergency "code red" for less than five minutes. If she stayed there any longer, she might burst out with her own problems instead of attempting to help her best friend. She hopped off the bed, hoping to put some distance between herself and her friend.
"Late for what?" Oliver asked with a small chuckle from where he was seated. "We just got here."
Gosh, sometimes he was so clueless. Or maybe he was under the impression that dealing with Miley's problems was going to act like a buffer, keeping Lilly from fighting with him.
"We're just late, okay," she snapped, wanting to emphasize the word late, but not wanting to at the same time. She had to keep it together.
"Okay," he muttered quickly, getting up and grabbing his cup of almost gone frozen yogurt to meet her in the doorway. He started to head out, but Lilly remained behind.
Feeling badly about how she was reacting, she tried to offer Miley a little bit of a pep talk. "You know, whatever choice you make is gonna be okay. Let's face it," she said, holding on to the doorknob, "they're both gorgeous."
"What?" Oliver's voice came back to her from the end of the hallway. Apparently, her sarcasm and bad mood had really rubbed off on him. His insecurities were starting to come out, always a sign that he wasn't in the best of moods either.
"In a way that is totally unattractive to me personally," Lilly added quickly, not wanting to cause any more friction between the two of them when she knew she had to bring up a delicate piece of conversation soon, "because to me, it's not about the looks." There was a little bit of panic in her voice and she knew that might not have been the best way to go, so her eyes widened and she held her breath for a second.
"Excuse me," he asked, coming back into the bedroom, his eyes narrowed in response.
"Which is why your rugged good looks are just icing on the cake," she continued again, bringing one of her hands up to his cheek for good measure and trying to give him a small smile.
"You're darn right they are," he agreed flatly, looking her up and down before turning to leave again.
"Yeah." Lilly shot Miley a look of exasperation and hurried to follow Oliver down the stairs, shutting Miley's door behind her. She was sure Miley would be wanting a little privacy. And she didn't want to bother Miley if she and Oliver started arguing on the way out either.
She stopped to say goodbye to Mr. Stewart before leaving, and to warn him that Miley was having a hard time upstairs with her pictures. By the time Lilly was out on the driveway and getting in the car, Oliver had already buckled himself in and finished his frozen yogurt. At least he hadn't driven off without her. She slumped in her seat, wringing her hands.
Maybe she shouldn't tell him. She should find out for sure first. Then worry about telling him if it turned out to be true. If everything was fine, he never needed to know anything.
"So, where to, since we're apparently late for something I know nothing about?" Oliver asked, turning the key in the ignition.
"Can you just take me home?" Lilly whispered.
"Fine." He checked the mirror as he backed the car up. "That's probably a good idea anyway," he grumbled under his breath, but not low enough that Lilly didn't hear him.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"I think you know what I mean," he shot back, and she did. Snapping back at him was just a habit. He waited a few minutes before asking her another question. "What's really going on?"
"The walrus sings at midnight," she mumbled, remembering that Mr. Stewart had said he wanted to be warned of incoming teenage girl problems. Maybe Oliver would appreciate the warning.
"What?"
Right, he hadn't been there for that discussion. "Nothing. I just... don't want to talk about it right now."
She pursed her lips together and stared out the window before slipping the elastics from the ends of both of the braided strips of her hair. She needed something to do with her hands. She needed something to focus on, so she methodically began to unwind the strands of hair from around one another. She could feel Oliver looking at her each time the car stopped at an intersection, but she didn't return the glances, just kept on staring out the window and slowly moving her hands around her hair.
"Did I do something?"
"What?" Lilly stopped her work, leaving one side of her hair still in its plait, and watched him as he clenched and unclenched his hands around the steering wheal.
"You say you love me, then you can't stand to be around me, then you're all nice again, and now you want me to take you home, and you keep snapping at me, so if I did something to make you mad, you can tell me."
"I'm not mad at you. You didn't do... anything wrong." Lilly cleared her throat and then gestured ahead of them. "You know what? Turn left here." She kept giving him directions until the car was in the parking lot of a drug store that she never shopped at. One where she was pretty sure she wouldn't know anybody if she went in. She sat there and unwound the other braid in the midst of the silence, trying to gather the courage to either say something or go in.
"Are you sick or something?" Oliver had cut the engine and was waiting for her to explain what they were doing there. He shook his hair out of his eyes nervously.
"Not exactly." She unbuckled her seat belt and brought her feet up in the seat with her. It was kind of awkward to sit this way in the front seat of the car, but the lotus position always helped her find her center. Well, almost always. Taking a breath, she looked him right in the eye and told him, "I'm late."
His eyes widened for a second, but he recovered quickly to say, "yeah, you said that earlier, but you didn't tell me what we're late for. And now, we're sitting in the middle of a parking lot, not exactly going anywhere."
"We aren't late, you donut, I am." She waited for him to connect the dots, but he just stared at her with a blank expression. A very carefully blank expression. Lilly groaned, covering her face with her hands and mumbled into her palms, "I skipped a period."
"What does punctuation have to do with this?"
She slowly lowered her hands, her eyes narrowed. There was no way he was that stupid. When her eyes met his, she knew he was teasing. Although, the teasing did seem a little inappropriate right now. Oliver nudged her knee with his elbow and gave her a small smile.
"You are such a jerk sometimes."
"I know, I'm sorry, I've just always wanted to make that joke." He grabbed one of her hands and brought it up to kiss her palm. "How late are we talking?"
"Almost two weeks."
He let out a rush of air and the grip on her hand increased tenfold. "Two weeks? Seriously?"
Lilly nodded and tried to swallow, but her mouth was completely dry. She didn't know what else to say, and she was pretty sure nothing else was going to make Oliver feel better right now anyway.
"Okay," he cleared his throat, his eyes still locked on her, and took a deep breath, "But you don't know for sure if you're," he used his free hand to gesture to her abdomen, "you know."
"No, I didn't, um, check or anything." She chewed on the inside of her cheek and looked away from him. "I was too scared."
"Well then, let's go." He gently let go of her hand and got out of the car, but Lilly didn't move, only watched him in confusion, so he walked around to the passenger side, opened the door, and said, "Come on, Lils," and held his hand back out to her.
He was taking this surprisingly well. Way too well actually. Which only served to make Lilly even more nervous, and suspicious.
"You haven't had to do this before, have you?" she questioned when she latched on to not only his hand, but wrapped her other fingers around his arm as well.
"Ha. No, this would definitely be a first for me." Oliver laughed nervously and then caught himself. "Not that that was funny."
Lilly smiled and hugged his arm, following him into the fluorescent lights and automatic doors.
"Okay," Oliver said, his tone hushed, "if I were a pregnancy test, where would I be?"
"Right across from the condoms," Lilly deadpanned, trying to appear calm, but she was rocking back on her heels while they were standing in place, her fingernails starting to dig into her boyfriend's skin.
"Of course they are. What better way to warn people about having sex, right?" he joked, pulling her along the aisles of the drug store.
"Yeah, right," she responded distantly. It felt like the cashier's eyes were following them. It could have just been Lilly's imagination, but there weren't that many people in the store, so maybe she was just trying to keep an eye on the customers.
"Lilly, everything is going to be fine," Oliver tried to reassure her, giving her hand another squeeze.
"God, how can you act like this?" They walked down an aisle full of cold medicines and cough drops.
"Act like what?" He kept his voice low, his tone smooth, trying to make it seem like everything was fine.
"Like this!" She let go of his arm with one of her hands and tried to walk away, but Oliver held her fingers fast in his own. "You're so calm!" Her voice had jumped up an octave.
"Well, one of us has to be, and I know, I'm usually the one who freaks out, but I think you've earned this one... I mean, you're the one who's gonna have to pee on a stick." She was still trying to pull away from him, but he wouldn't let go, and soon, she was pressed right up against his side again. "How long have you been worrying about this? You could have told me."
"A couple of days." Lilly let him lead her around a display of vitamins, and found herself pulled to a stop in the aisle that housed the contraceptives. She turned and faced the dozens of boxes of plastic sticks, pictures of different colored lines and various symbols staring back at her.
"Lils, you should have told me."
"I know. I just... was worried about Miley..." She trailed off at the look of disbelief on Oliver's face. "I know that's a dumb excuse." She sighed, reached out with her free hand and turned around a box to read the label. Shoving the box back in place, she moved on to another one. And then repeated that action with a few more boxes.
"There are so many," Oliver remarked after watching her. He picked up a box himself, squinting at the writing on the back.
"How the hell am I supposed to know which one to pick?" Lilly groaned. The store might as well have been wall to wall pregnancy tests.
"Well, here, how about this one. It says it's easy to read." He showed her the box. "See? A plus sign means you are, a minus sign means you aren't, and it only takes... three minutes? That's pretty quick, right?"
"Okay, fine, let's get that one and get out of here." She grabbed the box from him, and started dragging him down the aisle, back up to the register in the front of the store.
Except there were two people in line ahead of them, so there was more waiting to be done. Lilly was so tired of waiting. She started rocking on her heels again as the woman at the front of the line began arguing about the price of her toothpaste. Apparently, it was supposed to be on sale. Lilly sighed, getting agitated, and Oliver let go of her hand. Her head swiveled at the loss of contact, but Oliver smiled before he put his arm around her waist and pulled her back against him.
"It's gonna be okay, I promise," he whispered in her ear.
"You don't know that," she hissed back, wanting to be mad at him, but she leaned her back into his chest anyway.
"Yes, I do."
"How?" She twisted her neck around to look at him.
"Because I'm awesome, and I know these things." He shrugged.
Lilly rolled her eyes, but she felt another smile crop up, unbidden. This time though, she saw Oliver look away from her and take his own very deep breath, running his other hand shakily through his hair. He was just as scared as she was.
"You're the best boyfriend ever." She stood up to her full height and kissed him on the cheek.
Oliver shot her a weak smile, and the woman arguing about her toothpaste price finally left, apparently satisfied. The guy in front of them placed a bottle of antacid tablets and another of hand sanitizer on the counter. He exchanged pleasantries with the cashier while Lilly cradled the card board box to her chest. Oliver's hand shifted, but his hold on her remained steady, fingers splaying across her stomach. Feeling his hand there, she panicked. Instead of waiting patiently in line, she pivoted on her heels, crushing her chest against his, the arm holding her test hanging uselessly at her side.
"I don't know if I can do this."
"Lils, all we're doing is buying the test."
"But what if-"
"All we're doing is buying the test," he repeated, his breathing quick against her forehead. "One thing at a time okay?" His grandfather had always told him that in moments of crisis, it was best to break the problem down into manageable parts. Focus on one piece of the problem at a time. He'd never had a real crisis before, not one that demanded he actually use the advice anyway.
Lilly nodded her head, burying her face in his shoulder. "Okay." Her voice was muffled, and there was a sniffle after she spoke.
Oliver swallowed as the guy ahead of them took his bag and left. He reached out, plucked the box from Lilly's hand and took a few small steps forward to place it in front of the cashier, one arm still wrapped around Lilly, holding her in place.
The cashier smiled at him, not really paying any attention to the fact that he had a blond girl freaking out in his arms and asked him how his night was going.
"Peachy," Oliver told her sarcastically.
She looked like she was probably close to his mom's age, and her eyes widened when she looked down to scan the item. She didn't say a word though, just ran the bar code across the scanner and hit the total button. Heat rose in Oliver's cheeks, and he pulled his wallet out of his back pocket. He wondered what she was thinking. Did she know they were both only in high school? Did she think they were irresponsible? Or was she feeling sorry for them because he looked terrified and Lilly was trying not to cry?
"I can get it," Lilly said, clearing her throat. She wiped underneath one of her eyes, but Oliver just shook his head and handed over some money. "Oliver, I said I can-"
"I know you can, Lilly. Just let me, okay?"
His eyes were pleading with her, so she nodded her head, letting him. The cashier pulled a plastic bag from her tray, but Oliver shook his head at her, taking the box from the counter, then his change. Lilly slipped the receipt from his hand and pocketed it. You never knew when you might need it. She detached herself from him and made her decision, pulling the box from his hands.
"Excuse me, but where's your restroom?"
The cashier directed her to an alcove just behind the photo counter, still not saying a word, and Lilly walked away. Oliver followed, practically at her heels.
"You don't have to do this right now, you know. We could go home first."
"And what? Let your parents see me walking around with a pregnancy test? I don't think so." She stopped at the door to the women's bathroom and added, "I want to get it over with. I don't want to keep thinking about it. I want to know."
"Alright, well, uh, do you want me to come-"
"Oliver, you are not coming in the bathroom with me."
"No, of course not." He shook his head quickly. "I just, you know, if you need me, I'm... I'll just wait right here." He leaned back against the wall directly across from the door, his arms crossed over his chest. "Take your time." His eyes flicked to her, then to the floor.
"Thank you." She crossed the few squares of tile on the floor to wrap her arms around him quickly, and before he could unfold his own arms to hug her back, she had already let go and gone through the door.
"You're welcome," Oliver said to the empty hallway.
He smiled at first, but then the thought of why Lilly was thanking him occurred and the smile fell. He sucked in a breath, held it for a few seconds, then let it out out slowly. Closing his eyes, Oliver leaned his head back further, the base of his skull hitting the wall behind him, and he stayed like that for, well, he wasn't sure how long. It felt like forever. He was startled by a yell from behind the bathroom door in front of him and pushed away from the wall, eyes open wide, unable to decide if he should go in, make sure Lilly was okay, or if he should just wait until she came through the door. His feet made the decision for him, moving forward to the door, but his mind overruled, and he made himself take a step back. Repeating the process a few more times, he rolled his eyes at his own actions, then walked back up to the door, rapping on it with his knuckles, preparing to call out to Lilly, but the door opened in front of him and Lilly burst through it, pulling the receipt from her pocket.
"Is everything alright?" he asked her, but she didn't answer, just walked straight up to the cash register. "Lilly?"
"I'd like to return this," Lilly told the woman, placing the box and Oliver's receipt down on the counter.
"Well, we don't usually take returns on items like this," she started to say, but at the expression on Lilly's face, she changed her tack, asking, "did you use it?"
"Nope, didn't even open it, see?" Lilly gestured to the ends of the box, both of which were still sealed. "Didn't have to."
Oliver leaned around her and saw she was smiling. He put his hands in his pockets, and he started to smile, but then decided he should hold off. Maybe this was just another freak out, and Lilly was masking it with a smile. Maybe she just wanted him to think everything was alright when it wasn't.
The return was processed in a matter of minutes, and the cashier handed Lilly the cash back, and she, in turn, handed it to Oliver as she made for the entrance way. Instead of pulling out his wallet though, he shoved the money down into one of his front pants pockets, and hurried after Lilly, not replying to the cashier's call of "have a good night," when they reached the door.
"Lilly," he yelled after her when she got outside. She was practically running to the car, but she turned around at the front bumper, the smile still on her face.
"Yes?"
"You want to tell me what that was all about?"
Hands on her hips, Lilly surveyed him shrewdly before countering with, "what do you think that was all about?" Oliver just raised his eyebrows at her, and she decided this was probably not a good time to keep him in suspense. "I'm not pregnant!" She bounced excitedly on her toes, taking a few steps closer to him, so that she was back on the sidewalk right in front of him, but he held up a hand before she got any closer.
"Would happy dancing be inappropriate here?"
"Hmmm... I thought guys like you didn't happy dance." Lilly cocked her head to one side, unable to shake the smile.
"Guys like me only happy dance with girls like you," Oliver informed her before sweeping her up in a hug and spinning her around.
Lilly giggled, giving him a quick kiss before he set her down. "I don't know if I've ever been so relieved to put change in a tampon dispenser in my life." She sighed, keeping her arms around his neck. "And I'm still starving."
"Well, we were supposed to be having dinner," he reminded her with a smile. His brow furrowed as a thought crossed his mind though.
"What?"
"We're never having sex again, are we?"
Sliding her hands down to his shoulders, Lilly patted him reassuringly and said, "not anytime in the near future, no."
"I didn't think so." He kept his eyes on hers, and asked, "but, say there's a giant asteroid heading straight for the earth or something..." His hands ran up and down her sides as he spoke.
"You watched 'Armageddon' last night, didn't you?" Lilly removed her hands from his shoulders and tried to take a step back, but he was still holding on to her.
"What? It's a quality disaster movie!" Oliver protested.
She rolled her eyes as a car pulled into the lot next to them. "Okay," she agreed before he began listing all of the reasons 'Armageddon' was supposedly such a great disaster movie, "if the world is going to end, I promise there will be sex."
The guy getting out of the car next to them gave a low whistle, causing Lilly's face to color.
"She didn't mean with you," Oliver informed him with narrowed eyes before leading Lilly back to the passenger side of the car so they could finally go have dinner.
Of course, another week later Lilly was back in a bad mood again when she did, in fact, develop a stomach bug, and she gave it to Oliver. She felt it was only fair that he be sick as well, especially since the world wasn't ending, but she had still spent an apocalypse worthy night with him.
***