Lilly knew this was the perfect time to tell Miley what her mom had asked her to tell Miley. "Miley you know that you can talk to my mom about this if you want to. She really does understand what we're going through. She even asked me to tell you that you can always talk to her about anything, anytime."

"I thought she was just saying that to be nice when she told me that almost four years ago. There have been times, like now, when I needed to talk to my mom about stuff I just couldn't talk to my dad about. I was really tempted to take your mom up on her offer but it just seemed too weird. Why would she want to help me like that, it's not like I'm her daughter or anything."

"That's just it Miley, she does think of you as family. In fact she's told me several times that you're like another daughter to her."

Miley smiled at hearing Lilly say that. "Really, that's fantastic. You know my dad says the same thing about you. Why do you think he gave you a key to our house?"

Now it was Lilly's turn to be pleasantly surprised. There was an awkward silence while they both thought about what the other had said. Lilly had not realized that Miley's dad felt that way about her at all. While she liked Robbie Ray more than the average adult male, to her he'd always seemed to just be a typical hillbilly who wasn't quite as rough around the edges as your average hillbilly. She figured that he tolerated her because she was Miley's best friend. She wondered how he'd feel about her if he knew that she was becoming attracted to his daughter in a way that wasn't normal.

After thinking along those lines for a minute or so Lilly snapped out of it and realized that several minutes had passed. She was about to apologize for her inattention when she noticed that Miley had that far way look in her eyes that she got when fantasizing about something. Over the past couple years what Miley usually fantasized about were really cute boys so she figured that it was either Jake or some other hot guy such as Gabe Lamottie. The number of those fantasies had dropped off when Miley had started going out with Jake Ryan again. Recently Lilly had put together a number of subtle clues that led her to believe that Miley was still crushing on some other hottie but she hadn't figured out who it was yet.

After another minute Lilly started calling Miley's name repeatedly, louder each time until she snapped back to reality. Judging from the embarrassed and slightly fearful look on Miley's face Lilly figured that she'd been having a very personal fantasy about some hottie.

"Miley, what's going on? You looked like you were fantasizing about a really hot guy."

"I was, kinda."

"What do you mean by kinda?"

"I was thinking about the play and what Jake might think of it if he saw us in it?"

Even though she'd been curious about lesbians herself Lilly rolled her eyes in mock irritation as she said "Tell me about it. Ever since he read the play Oliver has been bugging me to let him watch us practice the more intimate scenes. I bet when he learns about the deal with Jenny I bet he's gonna be even worse about it." Lily sighed the went on to say "What's with the fascination boys have with watching girls kissing or lesbian love scenes?"

"I don't know. It's not like us girls have the same fascination about guys kissing and stuff." Miley replied in relief that Lilly seemed to have bought her explanation about her fantasy. She didn't understand why she fantasized about Lilly that way or why she'd found it so pleasing. On some level she knew why boys were so fascinated by lesbians, but how do you tell your best friend that. The answer is, you don't. So she went on like she always did when this subject came up."I don't know about you but I'm not interested in watching two guys make out," Miley said, shuddering at the last part.

Lilly shuddered as she said "Me too." She quickly added "I mean I'm OK with gay's and all that, but I just don't want to watch it." Lilly was a little uncomfortable with the direction the conversation so in an effort to change the subject she said. "Miley are you serious what you said earlier about your dad saying that I was like a member of your family?"

Miley was relieved that Lilly had changed the subject. "Yep, he sure did and it was even his idea to give you a key to our house."

"I had no idea that your dad trusted me that much."

"He has for a long time. Believe it or not Lilly he suggested for me to tell you that I was Hannah Montana quite a few times before I finally did. That's how long he's trusted you."

"Wow. So I guess he wasn't testing me when he left that money on his nightstand when I was working as your housekeeper." This knowledge shed a whole new light on what she thought of Robbie Ray Stewart.

Miley pulled out her phone and checked the time then said "Hey Lilly, it's still early enough for us to call Mr. Terry to tell him your decision, stop at my house and pick up my copy of the script and still have plenty of time to start going over the script at your house."

Lilly check the time before replying "Yeah, with all the work we have ahead of us I guess we should get started as soon as we can."

When Miley had called Mr. Terry to tell him that Lilly had agreed to his idea she also mentioned her idea of her, Lilly and Jenny going over the script. Mr. Terry had liked that idea and suggested that they make notes of any questions or suggestions they might have then they could go over them with him at the civic center Wednesday night. Before hanging up Miley had asked him to give Jenny her cell phone number and have her call them so they could make arrangements. They didn't have to wait long before getting a call from Jenny. It turned out that Jenny wasn't be able to meet with them that evening but she had no problems with meeting with them the next evening. At first Jenny had suggested that they meet over at her house but but Lilly and Miley felt it would be better to meet at Lilly's house.

As they were nearing Lilly's house Miley was struck by how much things were going like they had in her fantasy. She was becoming nervous about the situation it presented her with. She couldn't help wondering if she could be so bold in real life and would Lilly really react that way. When they pulled into the driveway Miley was relieved to see Mrs. Truscott's car in the driveway. Now she wouldn't be tempted to live out that fantasy.

Over the next couple hours they both poured over the script carefully. At first they started making notes in the margins but after the first few pages they switched to using a couple of Mrs. Truscott's legal note pads instead. In the process both girls found that they many of the same questions and ideas about the script. By that time they both had almost a half dozen pages of notes each and they had only gone over the first two acts and about halfway through the third act..

When they finally stopped for the night Lilly commented "I'm glad we did that cause when I read it the first time I missed a lot of it."

"Me too." Miley drained last of what was left of her can of Coke, grimacing at the bitter taste of the warm and flat soda. "They ought to put a warning label on these things saying do not drink when warm and flat."

"I know, it tastes like poison or some kind of acid when it's like that." Lilly shook her can and could hear the last little bit swirling in the bottom of the can. She took the empty can from Miley as she said "Do you want another one to wash out the taste?"

"Sure do." Miley looked over her notes while Lilly was out of the room. Then when she returned she took the cold can and took a drink before saying "Thanks I needed that. Well as I was going to say, the first time I read it I thought only a couple weeks went by between the first scene and the one about the homecoming dance when it was over a month. That gives them plenty of time to become best friends. I also missed the bit about Rachel's brother saying that someone ought to beat the crap out of the gay boys who got caught making out."

"That explains what he does later in the play. You know Miles when I first read the script I thought it was just another typical romance story, all fluffy and nice but between two girls instead of a boy and girl. Now after reading it again it seems a lot more realistic."

"That's exactly what I thought of the original Romeo and Juliet when I first read it in high school" Mrs. Truscott said from behind, surprising them both. Lilly had been so surprised that she almost spilled her drink.

Mom!" Lilly said a little louder than normal. "You almost made me spill my Coke."

"I'm sorry honey. I didn't mean to startle you two." Mrs. Truscott said in pleasant tone. "So how is it going in here?"

Lilly replied saying "We're done for tonight but we'll be doing it again tomorrow night with another girl, named Jenny Park."

"That's nice. Well I'll probably be busy working for most of the evening tomorrow like I did tonight so if you need me I'll be in the office." She start heading to the kitchen then stopped and turned to add "I'm on my way to get a snack do you girls want one?"

"No thanks," Lilly said politely. "We had a snack not too long ago."

After Mrs Truscott went into the kitchen Miley said "Well I guess I better go now." She gathered up her copy of the script and her notes into a neat stack then began cleaning up the rest of her mess.

As Miley started cleaning up after herself Lilly said "Don't worry about that, I'll take care of it later." When she walked Miley to the door and said good night on the front porch she felt an urge to kiss her friend goodnight just as she had earlier that evening. She was sorely tempted to give in but, even after all that had been said during dinner, she resisted the urge and hugged her instead.

Miley had intended to resist the urge to kiss her best friend and just say goodnight but when Lilly hugged her all that changed. As she felt Lilly's warm body pressing against hers the urge changed into a wild fire of desire. Before she could change her mind Miley kissed Lilly and she was engulfed in a passionate embrace of the likes she had never before experienced with any of her boyfriends.

As soon as Miley's lips touched Lilly gave in to her desires and returned the kiss with just as much passion as she had during the audition. Without realizing it Lilly had snuggled closer as Miley wrapped her arms about her. Their kiss deepened and lasted an endless time as they both gave in to the feelings they ad for each other that their involvement in the play had brought to their attention. Lilly felt like she was being wrapped in a warm fuzzy blanket of love while Miley was heating her from within by the intense passion from her kiss and she never wanted it to end.

Neither one of the girls knew how long the had been kissing when they finally stopped and Miley left to go home. They had been totally unaware that Lilly's mom had walked up on them then, once she noticed what they were doing, had quietly left them alone. Nor did they notice the figure in the shadows heading towards the front door from the street. The shadowy figure had stopped for a minute just outside the reach of the porch light then left.