Over the next few days Miley and Lilly spent as much time as they could going over the their lines needed for the auditions. They had practiced every aspect except one, which was the part where they had to kiss. While Miley was confidant that she could do just fine kissing Lilly when it came time to do so. She blamed it on Robbie Ray, Jackson and Oliver and the fact that whenever they practiced one or more of the three were present. Oliver was a problem because he was not only Miley's best friend but also Lilly's boyfriend which tended to make them even more self conscious than they already were. Jackson was prone to making snide and crude remarks about the situation. Because Robbie Ray was Miley's dad he was an authority figure plus his alternating between joking and giving disproving looks did not help make it any easier for them.

At least that was the excuse Miley used when she discussed it with Lilly between classes Wednesday afternoon when Oliver wasn't around. She suggested to Lilly that they had to practice alone for a change. Miley explained that they needed to practice not only without the boys helping with the lines, but without anyone else around so they could work things out without being hampered by any discomfort they might feel from the presence of others. Miley had also suggested the possibility getting a room or suite at a hotel for the evening when Lilly mentioned that her mom told her that she would going out on a date and they could have the house to themselves. Miley had taken that suggestion from Lilly as an agreement with what she had suggested.

When Miley got home from school she immediately went to her room and tossed her books on the bed. As soon as she had changed to some more comfortable clothes she went looking for her father. She found him in his office which was the first place she looked. "Daddy, I'm gonna go over to Lilly's house for dinner then practice for Lilly's audition afterwards."

"OK but why don't you guys want to practice over here?"

"We would but every time we try to practice without any disruptions Jackson either makes some kind noise or he making snide remarks about it. In other words he just won't leave us alone when we're here."

"I understand and I'll have a talk with that boy about it."

Miley smiled and said "Thanks daddy."

She went to watch some TV before going over to Lilly's house. As she tried to watch TV her mind raced at the prospect of being alone with Lilly so they could practice the kissing scene for the audition on Saturday. Miley desperately wanted Lilly to get the part so she wouldn't have to do the play with any other girl let alone with Joanie or Ashley. Since she found it impossible to concentrate on what was on TV she gave up on that and went upstairs. She decided to start getting ready to go over to Lilly's early so she'd have plenty of time. She showered, put on some makeup and the perfume that Lilly had said she really liked. After that she went to pick out what to wear. After spending nearly an hour picking out what to wear Miley said out loud to herself "Wait a minute here since when does it take me almost an hour to decide what to wear to Lilly's house?"

Meanwhile when Lilly got home from school the first thing she did was to get started cleaning her room. Even though it was usually neat she wanted to make sure that it was immaculate. After she finished doing that she called her mom and let her know that Miley would be coming over for dinner then practice for her audition. While she was on the phone Mrs. Truscott mentioned that since she wouldn't have time to make dinner she suggested that Lilly should order a pizza or some Chinese take out for dinner. Lilly would've preferred to order Miley's favorite dish but since she didn't know of any place that made catfish stew, she decided that a pepperoni pizza would have to do.

When her mom got home from work she gave Lilly some money for the pizza before getting ready to go out for the evening. While Her mom was getting ready Lilly decided to do the same. After taking a quick shower Lilly far more time deciding what to wear and picked out the fragrance she knew Miley liked.

As she was finishing up putting on her make up her mom came in and said "Here's where I'll be at and the number there just in case I have my cell phone turn...... I thought that it was just Miley coming over, was there a change in plans?"

Lilly put the finishing touch on her lip gloss then answered, "No change mom, it's still just Miley."

"Then why are ….. " Heather Truscott's voice trailed off as she realized what was going on. At that moment all the clues from both of the girls recent behavior clicked and she had a better idea what was happening between Lilly and Miley than they knew. "Oh, well have fun practicing tonight. I'll probably be out late tonight so don't stay up waiting for me."

"OK, thanks mom." Lilly wondered about what her mom had started to say but decided that it probably wasn't important anyway. "You have fun too and I guess I'll see you later."

A few minutes later she heard her mom go out the front door. Shortly after that Lilly looked at the clock and noticed that she better order pizza so it would be delivered in time for dinner.

Twenty minutes later Miley was knocking on the front door of Lilly's home. Normally she would have just gone in without knocking but she was so nervous that she wanted the little bit of extra time it gave her to try to settle her nerves. While waiting she was hit by the thought that Lilly would answer the door dressed in everyday clothes making her seem overdressed. This wasn't first time she been over for dinner and she had never needed to get dressed up like she had this time. She also worried if being this dressed up would put Lilly off or something. Before she could come up with any more worries the door opened revealing Lilly who was just as dressed up as she was in a gorgeous dress that Miley had never seen before. She had on a red dress with a hem line that barely reached mid thigh and a slim black belt with a dainty silver and gold pattern. The belt not only accentuated her figure it also complemented the subtle gold edging on the plunging v-neck collar and the short sleeves that barley covered her shoulders. As she went inside Miley noticed the smell of the perfume that she had mentioned that she liked almost a year ago.

Lilly was so relieved that it felt like a tremendous weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She so pleased to see that Miley had gone to just as much effort in getting ready as she had done. Miley was wearing one her best outfits. She had on a white short sleeve satin blouse which had an intricate pattern of lace on the wide collar with mother of pearl buttons that was obviously from one of Hannah's designer outfits. She also had on a simple yet luxurious short sky blue pleated skirt that flattered her svelte figure and showed off her beautiful long legs. It was obvious that Miley had taken great efforts on getting her makeup just right. It was almost just as good as when the makeup artists got her ready for a concert, TV show or some other public appearance as Hannah Montana. Lilly also notice that Miley was wearing the perfume that she said she really liked, which surprised her since Miley didn't really like it.

Both girls were so relieved at the fact they weren't over or under-dressed that it led to a more relaxed atmosphere for their dinner. Until that moment they had been more than a little nervous about the whole purpose of the practice session they had planned, but the obvious effort each of them had put into making themselves look their best helped to settle their nerves. On the surface they were oblivious to the fact that they had each put in just as much effort getting ready for a simple dinner with their best friend as they did a big date with their boyfriends. But deep down, on a subconscious level, questions were raised feelings were stirred.

About an hour later after they had finished dinner Miley was reading a magazine while relaxing on Lilly's bed when there was a knock on the door. "Come in" she said as she laid the magazine down next to her.

The door opened and Lilly came in then said "Julie I have something to talk to you about."

Miley moved so that she was now sitting up on the edge of the bed. She patted next to her on the bed as she said "Come here Rachel and tell me about it."

Lilly sat next to her then when she hesitated to speak Miley said "Well what is it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

Lilly wrung her hands nervously as she said "I don't know how to start."

Miley looked her friend in the eyes and said "Well then just spit it out Rachel, you know you can tell me anything."

Lilly hesitated for a second or two then suddenly she leaned in towards Miley and gave her a quick kiss on the lips then said "I love you Julie. I...." Lilly didn't get a chance to finish thew rest of her line before she was suddenly interrupted.

"What am I, chicken feed?" Miley said so loudly that it startled Lilly. "That wasn't a kiss it was more like a chicken pecking at feed."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to but it seems so weird." Lilly looked as nervous as her character Rachel was supposed to be. "It just that I've never kissed a girl like that before."

"Neither have I," Miley snapped back at her, "but come Saturday you'll only have to kiss me, while I'm gonna have to kiss you, Joanie, Ashley and any other girls who audition for the part."

Lilly looked hurt as she replied "I know that Miley but it doesn't make this any easier." As Lilly spoke there was a storm of mixed feelings raging with in her and she hoped that Miley wouldn't notice.

"I'm sorry I said it like that Lilly." Miley looked truly sorry as she said that. "I guess I'm a lot more nervous about this than I thought I was." Miley was too busy sorting out her own feelings to really notice what was going on with Lilly. As brief as the contact of Lilly's lips with her own lips had been, it had stirred up feelings in Miley that she had not been prepared for. Little did Miley realize was that Lilly was going through pretty much the same thing.

Both girls sat in silence for almost a minute sorting things out. Miley was the first to break the silence. "Look Lilly we've both got our lines down pat. We know them by heart so that's not the problem. The problem is that we're not comfortable with the kissing part and we need to be if you're going to get the part."

Lilly knew where Miley was headed with what she had said. Undoubtedly Miley was going to say that they were going to have to get comfortable with kissing each other, which didn't surprise her since she had already come to the same conclusion before they had arranged for this practice session. So Lilly decided to finish saying what Miley had started. "You're right Miley, we need to be comfortable kissing each other in order to pull it off, and the only way we going to do that is to practice kissing." The look on Miley's face told Lilly that she had been correct.

After that had been said both girls sat there silently for several minutes before Miley said "I guess there's no easy way to start this except for to.." Miley suddenly leaned in and kissed Lilly, then finished what she had been saying ".. get started."

While that brief kiss had lasted only a couple of seconds, it had surprised both girls considerably. Miley knew right then that getting used to kissing Lilly was going to be a lot easier than she had thought it would. Lilly had been surprised that being kissed by Miley was not the least bit repulsive like she had expected it to be.

"See that wasn't so bad was it Lilly?" After a couple seconds Miley took Lilly's silence as agreeing with her. "Why don't you give it a try this time."

Lilly nodded her head slightly as she said "OK." She took a couple of slow deep breaths then she kissed Miley much more gently and a little longer than she had the previous time. "How was that?"

"Better, a lot better. I didn't feel like I was being peck at by a chicken this time but...." Miley paused to think of a nice way to say that still needed more work.

Before Miley could continue Lilly finished it for her "...but it needs work, a lot of work."

"Lilly, I've got an idea."

"What is it?"

"Well first of all can we go some place else, I'm not very comfortable sitting here on your bed." It wasn't sitting on the bed that made Miley uncomfortable but she hoped that Lilly would know what she really meant.

Lilly let out a sigh of relief then said as she stood up "Sure we can. To tell the truth I'm not comfortable either." Lilly gave Miley a look that let her know that she understood what she had meant.

On their way downstairs Miley presented her idea. "I think we might be going about this the wrong way Lilly."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Lilly do you know why are our characters kissing?"

"That's easy, because they're in love with each other."

"Right, so it should be easy enough for us to act the same way."

"Huh, how do you get that?"

"It's simple Lilly. Even though we aren't in love with each other we are close friends and we are in love with our boyfriends. Am I right?

"Yeah but how does that help."

"Do you remember how you felt when you and Oliver first kissed?"

"Of course I do."

"I want you to think about how you felt then. While you do that I'll do the same."

"OK I'll do that"

Miley waited about a minute then said "Now while you continue thinking about that I want you to pretend that I'm Oliver and kiss me. Close your eyes if you need to, but pretend that you're kissing Oliver."

After a few seconds Miley, felt Lilly kiss her ever so gently. Before she realized what was happening Miley found herself responding to the kiss. By then as far as Miley was concerned she was reliving her first real kiss with Jake. When the illusion faded Miley opened her eyes as she realized that not only were they kissing but that it no longer felt awkward to her. A part of her didn't want the kiss to end but even though she knew it had to end.

When the kiss finally ended Miley was surprised to find that while the kiss had seemed to have lasted a lot longer it had only been a few seconds long. As soon as she recovered from her surprise she said, "Now that's more like it Lilly. We just need to be able to do that at the audition but without having go through the warm up. So we to work on that"

A smile crossed Lilly's face then she said in a joking tone "Now I get it, all this is just an excuse for you to make out with me."

Miley was momentarily surprised but when Lilly started giggling she knew it was a joke. "Yeah that's right, I set up the whole play thing just so I could make out with you ." Miley barely managed to say that before breaking out in laughter.

After having a good laugh about the situation both of them felt considerably better about it. Now that they had finished laughing Lilly said "Maybe we shouldn't waste any more time get started then."

"OK" Miley agreed. "Let's work on Julies response next." Even though they were already sitting close together Miley moved even closer to Lilly until there was almost no space between them then she waited about 30 seconds to give them time to get in the proper frame of mind then she kissed Lilly even more passionately that before. They spent next three hours practicing like this before they decided to quit.

A/N: Sorry it took so long but in the middle of writing this chapter I came up with an idea for another story which immediately wrote down the outline so I wouldn't forget it. I promise to finish this story before I do any more on that other one which will be a drama and a Hannah Montana/Lizzie McGuire crossover. Oh yeah don't forget to click on the review button.