It's chapter five! Yay! Not much to say in these author's notes. Thanks for the reviews/favorites/story alerts! They mean a lot to me, so thanks! Anyway thanks again and I hope you like the chapter!
Disclaimer: Still don't own.
JLJLJLJLJL
Chapter 5
"Let's go! Let's go!" Oliver cried excitedly to Miley and Lilly as they walked out of their guesthouse (Oliver was running, actually). It was a few days after Lilly had first started rehearsing with Joe; there was supposed to be rehearsal that day, but Kenny felt really sick and decided to give everyone a day off. So instead of using the day to rehearse on their own and work on some scenes, they decided to do something fun. So Miley, Lilly and Oliver were on their way to the main house to meet the Jonas boys and Olivia to walk down to the lake for a swim.
"Oliver!" Miley shouted in annoyance as she and Lilly followed him more slowly. "Calm the heck down. We need to make sure we have all our stuff." She looked around, mentally checking things off a list in her head. She was holding a blanket; Lilly had a large bag containing three towels, a bottle of sunscreen, sunglasses and a camera; Miley saw that Oliver was holding another blanket as he stopped, turned to look at the two girls and was about to snap at Miley.
A voice stalled the brewing argument. "Now ya'll behave," Robby Ray called out, standing in the doorframe and watching the trio head off. The three kids turned to look at him. "Did ya bring towels?"
Lilly held up a bag. "Check."
"Sunscreen?"
"Yes, we put some on in the house and there's a bottle in the bag," Miley replied in exasperation.
"Last thing…snacks and water bottles?" Robby Ray questioned. "It's hotter than a potbellied pig at a luau out here and I don't want you getting dehydrated."
"We're getting food and drinks at the main house, Mr. Stewart," Oliver answered impatiently. "And we're late!"
Robby Ray held his hands up defensively. "Just wanted to make sure ya got everything you need. Ya'll have fun!"
With a wave, the three teens rushed off towards the main house and their friends, the girls trailing after a very eager Oliver.
"You'd think the boy's never gone swimming before," Miley muttered sourly.
Lilly rolled her eyes. "Yeah, it's not like we don't live right next to the ocean or anything."
Not bothering to turning to face them, Oliver called out, "I can hear you, you know!"
Lilly quickened her steps to at least try to catch up with him. "We didn't think you couldn't. Now slow down! They're not going to leave without us!"
When they arrived at the main house, everyone was already outside on the veranda waiting for them. The Jonas boys were each carrying a small cooler and another blanket was folded and draped over Olivia's arms. Nick's guitar case lay at his feet. It looked like Joe was just as anxious as Oliver to get going.
"It's about time you guys got here! We've been waiting forever!" he whined, jumping off the porch and rushing towards the three teens.
"Try 10 minutes, Joseph." Kevin said with a smirk, walking off the veranda at a more sedate pace.
Joe glared at his older brother. "Well it felt like forever. Are we going now?"
"Do we have snacks and water?" Lilly asked.
Nick lifted up his little cooler. "Yep. The kitchen staff was nice enough to pack us some lunch. Mostly cold sandwiches and fruit. They also packed some drinks for us, too."
"Hey Lilly!" A voice called out. The group looked around at each other, confused, then Lilly stepped back, looked up and smiled brightly.
She waved to the boy leaning out of one of the windows on the second floor. "Hey, Carl!"
He smiled back. "What's up?"
"Not much! We're actually—"
Lilly's sentence was interrupted by Joe practically charging away from the house, grabbing her elbow in the process. Without turning back to the window, he yelled, "We're actually leaving right now. So sorry we can't stop to chat. See you around!"
"See you later, Carl!" Lilly called over her shoulder as she let herself get dragged off. The rest of the group followed quickly behind Lilly and Joe.
"What are you doing?" Lilly hissed as soon as they were out of earshot of Carl and into the woods. The trail to the lake went through a very forest-y area, which was fine by Lilly since the trees provided shade.
"I'm just really excited about going to the lake?" Joe responded hesitantly, as if willing Lilly to accept his explanation.
"Yeah, but I was going to ask Carl to come with us!" Lilly exclaimed.
"I know," Joe mumbled churlishly, then he seemed to catch himself. "I mean—if you invited him to come, it would've taken him forever to change and come down anyway and I didn't want to wait."
Lilly sighed. "You're really excited about this, aren't you? Next time, let's just invite him ahead of time, okay?"
Joe forced a smile. "Yeah, sure. Sounds like a plan."
An arm looped with Lilly's and she looked up to see Olivia had caught up with them. "That's Carl? You were not kidding when you said he was cute!" the older girl whispered. The two hurried ahead, whispering and giggling, leaving Joe fuming behind them.
"Hey Joe," Miley said cheerfully as she came up beside him.
"Oh, hey Miley," Joe responded with a tight smile.
"You excited about the lake?"
"Yeah, yeah sure," he responded absentmindedly, looking at the two girls ahead of them and trying to hear what they were talking about. A brief moment of silence passed between them.
"It's not too far away. Kenny told us it's a 15 minute walk," Miley commented, trying to keep the conversation alive.
Joe looked at her and smiled. "That doesn't sound too bad. I can't wait to get into the water."
"Me neither!" Miley exclaimed excitedly. "I live right next to the beach, but for the life of me I can't remember the last time I went swimming."
Just then, loud laughter from Olivia and Lilly attracted Joe's attention and he hastily excused himself. "Sorry, Miles, I just remembered a question that I had to ask L—Olivia. I'll talk to you later!"
Miley sighed as she watched Joe run to catch up to the other two girls. She walked alone for a few minutes, watching the trio in front of her and wondering what she could do to attract Joe's attention before Nick barged in on her thoughts.
"Hey you," she greeted softly when she noticed him.
He nudged her with his shoulder as he fell into step with her. "Hey yourself. It's nice to have a break isn't it?"
"Definitely," Miley agreed with a nod. "It seems like it's been rehearsals and cheerleading and more rehearsals nonstop."
Nick nodded. "You're telling me. Except, without the whole cheerleading thing."
"But you do have to learn a couple of songs, and you have music rehearsal," Miley pointed out. "Speaking of which, why'd you bring the guitar along?"
Chuckling, Nick shrugged. "You never know when you're going to want to have a jam session. And with everyone here, it'd be really fun!"
"Not everyone's here," she mentioned quietly. "Mikayla isn't."
"Well we didn't exactly invite her."
"I know. But maybe next time we should."
"Um, she's not exactly the most fun person to be around. And she's not very nice to you."
"But we should try to make her feel included," she suggested. "Maybe if we do, we'll all get along better. I mean, we used to be friends…sort of. Before, when Miley and Hannah were separate people. She was mostly nice, lonely sometimes, and I think she liked having a friend."
"Do you ever wish you still were?" Nick asked abruptly. "Separate, I mean. When you had a normal life apart from your famous one."
A moment of silence passed before Miley answered. "Yeah, sometimes I do. It was a lot simpler then, really. I knew who my friends were. I had Oliver and Lilly, and that's all I really needed. But now that people at school know I'm famous, everybody wants to be my friend. They're all nice…and fake. I don't know if they like the famous side of me, or the real me, you know? There are times when I wish it was all back to normal, and that the world didn't know Miley Stewart."
"For what it's worth," Nick said softly, stopping and reaching out to touch her hand. "While Hannah was pretty cool and all, I think Miley is a pretty awesome person."
A pleasant flush crept up Miley's cheeks and there was a tingling sensation that she didn't quite understand where Nick's hand touched hers. "Thanks." She shook her head and started walking again. "Now how'd the conversation get so serious?" Changing the subject to something lighter, they chatted about songwriting and it wasn't until the trees cleared and they reached the lake that Miley realized that she was so caught up in Nick that she hadn't thought about Joe that entire time. She didn't know if that meant anything, but it was definitely something to think about later.
The lake was absolutely breathtaking. It was all green and lush and grassy, a few trees around the lake. A rope hung from a sturdy branch on one of the trees. A very large, high, smooth rock (which looked easy to climb) jutted out over the water, serving as a kind of pier. The water looked clear and refreshing.
Upon seeing the rock, Joe's eyes widened in awe. "I want to jump off that."
Olivia eyed the rock skeptically as Joe handed off his cooler to Lilly, stripped off his shirt, kicked off his flip-flops and went running towards the rock. "Wait!" Olivia cried, watching Joe hurry off. "You should probably check how deep it is before you –" A splash interrupted her sentence. "Jump in…" she finished with a wince. With a sigh of relief, she watched Joe disappear into the water and emerge safely a moment later.
"That was awesome!" he shouted, treading water. "Come on, everybody! Jump in!"
The other boys followed Joe's lead, dumping off their coolers and their other stuff with the girls before jumping into the water. The girls laughed and rolled their eyes at them.
"Go on ahead, boys," Miley called out sarcastically, watching the boys splash about in the water. "Don't worry about the stuff. We'll take care of it."
Transporting the coolers, shirts, blankets, flip-flops and Nick's guitar to a spot closer to the lake, the girls set up camp, spreading out the blankets to form one big seating area for them and placing all the towels at the edges. They moved the coolers into the shade of a nearby tree and sat down.
"I'll be right back," Olivia stated, jumping to her and looking at the boys in the water. "I'm just going to make sure that Joe didn't break anything and that the boys are alright."
Miley grinned. "Ha! Good luck."
She and Lilly talked for a couple of minutes, then Miley stood and took off her cover-up dress; Lilly let out a low whistle. "Now I know your daddy doesn't know you have that."
Blushing, Miley looked down at herself. "Is it too much, do you think? Should I run back and change?" She had on a triangle top string bikini that was black with pink flowers and it was a bit on the revealing side.
Lilly snorted. "Please, I didn't say I didn't like it. I was just saying that your dad wouldn't. It's pretty, but I don't remember buying it with you."
"You didn't. I bought it that day your mom made you stay home and clean your room, right before we left."
"Oooh. Well, very hot."
"Do you think Joe will notice?" Miley whispered insecurely.
With a dismissive wave, Lilly grinned. "He'd be blind not to." Olivia returned then, and took off her sarong, revealing her sparkly gold bikini.
"That's so pretty!" Miley squealed when she saw Olivia's swimsuit. "It looks like the one you wore in Kill it Before it Dies."
Leaning in, Olivia whispered conspiratorially, "It is. I convinced wardrobe to let me keep it."
"I'm more interested in how you tied that sarong! I've tried a million times, but I can never do it," Lilly remarked. "That's why I always have to wear dress cover-ups or shorts or something." She played with the hem of her yellow terrycloth dress.
"Aren't you gonna take it off?" Miley asked.
Laughing nervously, Lilly didn't look up and continued to fiddle with the hem of her dress. "Maybe later."
Miley placed her hands on her hips. "Don't tell me you're still feeling insecure over your swimsuit."
"No!" Lilly denied vehemently. "It's just…I'm not ready to take it off yet. It's…it's too cold." Miley and Olivia shot her incredulous looks. "Fine, maybe I am still a little embarrassed. I can't believe you talked me into buying it!"
"Come on, Lil, it's cute!" Miley declared.
"But I feel stupid in it! I never show this much skin!" Lilly whined, hugging her knees to her chest.
Olivia reached out and pulled Lilly to her feet. "It can't be that bad. Let's see it."
Reluctantly, Lilly took off the cover-up, which Miley then took from her.
Olivia whistled. "Wow."
"I feel ridiculous," Lilly muttered, trying to cover herself with her hands. It wasn't that the suit wasn't cute; it just wasn't what Lilly was comfortable in. It was a yellow and black plaid halter bikini top paired with matching board shorts and it showed a lot more than Lilly was used to showing.
"You look gorgeous!" Miley proclaimed firmly. She noticed Nick and Joe sitting at the water's edge, looking at the girls and she decided to use them to prove her point. Grabbing Lilly and pushing her into the boys' line of sight, Miley called out, "Doesn't Lilly look gorgeous, Nick? Joe?"
Nick nodded. "Yeah," he yelled back. "You look nice." Lilly felt her cheeks turn red as she noticed Joe glare at his brother.
"Of course she looks gorgeous," Joe said, answering Miley's question, still glaring at Nick. Lilly smiled in thanks, then all three girls sat down in a circle on the blanket. "Aren't you girls getting into the water?"
"Yeah," Oliver chimed in, swimming towards Nick and Joe. "We don't have all day."
""We're coming in. Eventually. We're having girl talk," Miley answered haughtily, tossing her hair. She turned back to Olivia and Lilly and shook her head. "Boys. So impatient."
"I know!" Olivia exclaimed in commiseration. "So what do you want to talk about?"
The three girls looked around at each other. "Boys!" they answered in unison, giggling.
"We can talk about Carl," Miley teased. "He's a cutie."
Lilly felt another blush creep over her face. "He's just a friend! And he's not interested in me that way!"
"Mmhmm," Olivia taunted, waggling her eyebrows playfully. "I believe you."
Lilly punched Olivia in the arm. "Haha. Not funny." She was glad, though, that they weren't talking about Joe. After that almost kiss thing or whatever the first time she rehearsed with him, she really wasn't sure what to think about him and so she wasn't ready to discuss him, especially not with her best friend who had a crush on him.
The other two girls continued to tease her mercilessly about Carl. After about five more minutes of teasing, Lilly decided she needed a break and jumped to her feet. "I'm getting some water."
Olivia laughed. "Chicken!"
Looking over her shoulder as she made her way to the coolers, Lilly shouted back, "So?" She was reaching down to grab a bottle of water when suddenly she found herself swept off her feet. Literally.
Joe had run over from the water's edge and scooped her up in his arms. "Joe! What are you doing?" As she struggled to break free, he started running.
"You guys were taking too long," he explained. "We decided it'd be faster if we brought you over to the water."
"Well, let me go and I'll walk there!" she shouted, pounding on his chest and shoulders in an effort to make him let go. Lilly saw Miley and Olivia jump to their feet, yelling at Joe and running to the waters edge.
"Nope. Too late." It was then that Lilly realized that Joe was carrying her up the big rock and running for the edge. Lilly wrapped her arms around Joe's neck, ducked her head, and screamed as Joe jumped off the rock and into the water with her.
Olivia and Miley stood at the edge of the lake and watched Joe and Lilly disappear under water, unsure whether to scream or laugh. When Joe popped back up and Lilly resurfaced a few seconds later, they decided on the latter option.
In fact, Miley was practically in tears, she was laughing so hard. "Did—did you see the look on her face when she realized he was jumping in?"
"That was hilarious!" Olivia agreed, holding her stomach from laughing so hard. "And than when she scre—AHHH!" Olivia let out a fair scream of her own as she felt a pair of hands push at her back. She attempted to keep her balance, but to no avail as she fell face first into the water. A splash a few seconds later told her that Miley had also been pushed in. Olivia was just thankful the lake wasn't too shallow and that she didn't get a face full of mud.
As she came up for air, she glared at the two Jonas boys who were leaning forward, grinning at the two girls. Just as Olivia was about to open her mouth to yell at them, Nick and Kevin straightened and jumped in, splashing the girls again.
Joe came swimming up to them, as Miley and Olivia yelled at Kevin and Nick, clearly enjoying his moment of triumph over Lilly. "Dude, am I awesome or what?" he bragged,
A smirk tugged at Olivia's lips as she looked behind Joe. "Or what," she answered, just as Lilly pounced on Joe's shoulders, dunking him under water.
When Joe finally came sputtering back to the surface, Lilly smirked at him and splashed him in the face. "You don't want to mess with me, Jonas," she challenged.
"Oh, I think I do, Truscott." Joe emphasized his pronouncement by splashing Lilly back.
"It's on," Lilly cried, and it escalated into a full-out water fight between everybody. Thirty minutes later, when the splashing died down, Lilly declared herself the winner. This, of course, led to more challenges. Not just water fights, but swimming races, competitions to see who could hold their breath longer, diving contests…
A couple of hours later, all seven of them stumbled out of the lake and onto the blankets to rest, as well as get some refreshment. Rather than get beck into the water afterwards, Nick pulled out his guitar and they sat around and sang a few songs before jumping back into the lake once again.
After another few hours of swimming, Olivia noticed that the sun was starting to set and made them pack everything up to head back. They were so tired that they didn't even bother putting shirts or cover-ups back on (except for Miley because she didn't want her dad to have a fit).
Joe sidled up to Lilly as they walked back, a towel around his shoulders. "So how does second place feel?" he teased.
Lilly smirked at him. "I don't know. You tell me."
"Excuse me, but I totally owned you out there!" Joe protested.
"It's okay, Joe. Being second best isn't that bad. You'll get used to it."
"Haha." Joe draped an arm around her shoulders "You think you're cute, don't you."
"I know I am."
"You're right," he muttered. And there was that stupid fluttering feeling that Lilly couldn't seem to get rid of again…
Miley watched the two banter with an uneasy feeling of her own. "Lilly, can I talk to you for a sec?" she asked, grabbing her friend's arm. Without bothering to give Lilly time to respond, she dragged her to a stop behind the group.
"What's up, Miles?"
"Do you like him?" she whispered.
"I—uh—huh?" was Lilly's response. Her mind completely blanked and she wasn't quite sure of what to say.
"Do you like Joe?" Miley repeated. "Honestly, you can tell me."
"I—come on. I know you like him. I wouldn't do that to you," Lilly replied defensively.
Miley nodded. "Good. I mean, good because I don't want it to be awkward or anything or—well, you know what I mean."
The only thing Lilly could think of to say was, "I understand, Miles. Don't worry." She didn't know what else there was to say. They walked the rest of the way back to the house in silence, trailing behind the rest of the group.
When they got back to their guesthouse, there was a single red rose laying in front of the door. Lilly picked it up. "Oooh, this is pretty. Looks like you have a fan running around here." She smiled as she sniffed it, then handed it to Miley.
"Do you think Joe left it?" Miley asked hopefully.
"He was with us all day," Oliver pointed out.
Miley looked disappointed. "Oh. Right. Oh well, it's still pretty."
The three teens ate a quick dinner, showered and went to bed. As Miley laid the rose on her nightstand and turned off the light, Lilly was tossing and turning in her bed, thinking of Miley's question from earlier. She realized that she hadn't actually answered it. She knew she was somehow drawn to Joe, and then there were those…moments between them, like the incident on the porch and the almost kiss in the theater. But that didn't mean she liked him, did it? She certainly hoped not. They were friends. Just friends.
But that stupid fluttery feeling was telling her a different story.
"Go away," Lilly whispered as she fell asleep, referring both to the butterflies in her stomach and the thoughts of Joe swirling through her head. "I don't want to like you."
JLJLJLJLJL
So there's chapter 5. I just wanted to write a fun little interlude so yay for the swimming trip! Miley starts to think something's up, Joe's increasingly sure that he really likes Lilly, but Lilly is still trying to tell herself that she doesn't like Joe. Exciting!
I'd love it if you guys reviewed to tell me what you thought of this chapter! What you liked, what you didn't like, questions, comments, constructive criticism…Reviews make me ridiculously happy!
Thanks for reading!
-v
