Chapter 11, in which the cast gets a new script, Miley is confused and Joe gets angry. Woot woot! Haha, I'm entirely too excited right now…I just wanted to say again thank you thank you thank you so much for the reviews and the alerts and the favorites and everything! You're all awesome! Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter!
The disclaimer goes here. It hasn't changed.
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Chapter 11
"You wanted to see us?" Lilly asked, as Kenny came in. The main cast was assembled in the living room of the big house where the director had called them together. She was sitting between Miley and Olivia on the couch, while Joe and Kevin sat in armchairs. Nick settled himself on the floor. Kenny handed each of them a sheaf of papers.
"What's this?" Joe asked in confusion, flipping through his. "It looks like a script."
Kenny nodded. "It is. Jim Baker and I met last night, and we rewrote a few scenes."
They all looked up in surprise. He held up his hands defensively. "Don't worry, it isn't a lot. Just…we noticed something yesterday and we believe that it will help improve the movie."
Everyone was flipping through the script when Miley suddenly shrieked, "What? When she noticed everyone looking at her, she blushed. "Sorry, I was just…surprised."
"Don't worry Miley. You and Nick have the least amount of changes in your scenes," Kenny reassured her.
She nodded absently, still staring at the page open in front of her. Concerned, Lilly looked over Miley's shoulder and looked at what she was gaping at. She turned to the page Miley was on, read through it, and gasped.
"Kenny, what is this?" she asked, uncomprehendingly.
"Well, my daughters thought that Roz and Marcus had much better chemistry than Roz and Tyler, and the producer and I agreed. So Jim and I went back and rewrote a few scenes. Don't worry, though. It won't be too much extra work."
Lilly shook her head, still not understanding. "But—it says here that we kiss in the middle of the movie. In the old script, Tyler and Roz don't kiss til the end."
"Jim and I thought that it would be better to move the romance up. And instead of a secondary romance, you and Joe will be another primary story line."
Lilly looked up and her eyes locked with Joe's. They both blushingly looked away. Lilly was secretly excited inside. She couldn't be with Joe, but at least she was going to get to find out what it would feel like to kiss him.
"We feel like our audience will find this new storyline very compelling," Kenny continued. "You and Joe have such undeniable romantic chemistry."
That made Miley really uneasy. She was already uncomfortable with all the time Lilly and Joe spent together and them playing girlfriend and boyfriend because of Creepy. And now there was this…they'd be kissing. She already knew that Joe had a crush on Lilly. Now she was worried that Lilly would fall for him back.
After the meeting, Miley held Lilly back.
"Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?"
The blonde cocked her head and smiled. "Sure. What's up?"
"It's about the kiss. Do you think you could get Kenny to change it?"
"What?" Lilly's jaw dropped. Out of everything Lilly had been expecting, that wasn't it.
"Can you get Kenny to change the kiss?" Miley repeated. "Like, just tell him you're uncomfortable with it."
Lilly laughed. "Miley, you're being silly! It's just a movie kiss. It's not like it means anything."
"But—" Miley began, but Lilly cut her off.
"Gotta go. Kenny wants Joe and me to rehearse one of the revised scenes while you guys are filming. I'll talk to you later, okay? Ugh! That kid needs to stop staring already!" She was referring to Creepy, who was at the doorway, staring at her again. "Joe, wait up!" she called, and she ran off, leaving Miley there, thinking about kisses and the changes to the script.
She knew from experience that a movie kiss wasn't just a movie kiss. At least, not with a Jonas. She thought about her kiss with Nick. Before she kissed him, she hadn't felt anything for him, had she? She knew that she liked talking to him and spending time with him, but he didn't make her nervous or unsure like Joe did. When she was with Nick, she felt comfortable, like she could be herself. She didn't feel the need to impress him at all. When you had a crush on someone, you didn't feel that way, right?
But after the kiss, it was like everything changed. Like every time he touched her, it was electric and she didn't quite know what to make of it. It was all because of that stupid kiss. It made her…feel things, and she was worried that's what was going to happen with Lilly and Joe.
As if thinking about him had drawn him up, Nick reappeared by her side. "You okay?" he asked, putting an arm around her shoulder.
Miley felt a flush of warmth flood into her face and shivered a bit. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why do you ask?"
"You just didn't look too happy about the whole Lilly and Joe kissing thing," he replied.
"Oh. That. It just surprised me, is all," Miley told him with a thin smile. She looked up at him and had this insane urge to bring his head down to hers. Of course she resisted, but it was still weird.
Nick rubbed her shoulder and started to lead her out of the house. "Kenny wanted me to come get you. We're filming that scene in the woods in a few minutes."
"Ooh, the one where you sing 'Check Yes, Juliet' for me?" Miley asked, excited. She loved when he sang that song.
"Yep," Nick answered. "And I've got my script with me. I think it'd be a good idea to go over the scene before we actually do it."
Miley nodded and the two of them walked out of the house, Nick's arm still around her. And Miley couldn't help but think about how nice it felt.
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Lilly and Joe headed back to her guesthouse, where they were going to rehearse. Lilly had started complaining about it being too hot to walk, so Joe had decided to give her a piggyback ride. The new scripts were in Joe's backpack, which Lilly was currently wearing while Joe was carrying her around. He the entire way to the house, periodically pretending to drop her or to trip, and while Lilly's laughing shrieks of protest filled the air.
"So, what do you think of the new changes?" Lilly asked giggling, her arms wrapped tightly around him, her head resting against the back of his, as they got to the front porch.
"I like them," Joe answered softly as he put her down. The tone of his voice made her heart beat a little faster. He turned around and looked at her with this inscrutable expression, but his eyes were really intense. With those three words, the air around them had suddenly become electrically charged and she could feel tension rise up between them. But it was a good kind of tension.
"Me, too," she whispered. His lips curved and he put his arms around her waist. He was going to kiss her. She just knew it, and although part of her told her that she should push him away, she didn't want to. His face was inching closer to hers. He was just about to close the distance when the door opened.
"Lilly, is that you?" It was Oliver. Joe and Lilly leaped apart and tried to act nonchalant.
Lilly felt her face burning but she tried to be casual. "Yeah. It's me. What's up?"
Oliver would have been amused if the situation hadn't been so serious. He held out an envelope to her. "I found this on the porch this morning. It's for you."
Lilly took it, and opened the envelope and took out a bracelet. She ignored that for now and took out the note. It was in the same handwriting as the other note, and it said:
You belong to me.
Lilly paled and handed the note to Joe. She examined the bracelet. It looked and felt familiar and when she saw the back she knew why. It belonged t her. The back was inscribed with, Lilly. It was her lucky bracelet.
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"Are you sure that it's yours?" Joe asked for probably the seventh time. They were trying to talk through the situation. He had wanted to talk to Robby Ray about the whole stalker thing, but he wasn't at home, so they were trying to figure it out themselves.
Lilly looked up in exasperation. She was sitting down on a couch in the living room, and Joe was sitting beside her, his arm around her. Leaning into him, she couldn't quite believe that this was happening. "Yes, I'm sure. I've had it forever and I wore it everyday before I got cast. I just don't understand how he got it. I don't remember losing it."
"You didn't," Oliver said quietly.
Lilly didn't like the implications of that sentence and she shook her head violently. "I must have. There's no way—"
"There's no way you could have lost it," Oliver insisted. "Because the night you got cast and Kenny told you that you couldn't wear it for filming, you put it in the bottom of one of your drawers and you showed me and Miley so that you wouldn't forget."
"Well maybe it isn't my bracelet, then. Maybe it's still in the bottom of my drawer. In fact, maybe we're making big deal over nothing. I'll go get it now." Lilly jumped to her feet and ran upstairs. Oliver and Joe followed her.
When they got upstairs, Lilly was frantically digging through her drawers, throwing things around desperately searching for her bracelet. "It has to be here."
"It isn't, Lilly," Joe said gently.
"No! Because that means he's been in my room and he's touched my clothes and I refuse to believe it!"
Oliver shook his head. "Lilly, it's true. And we have to tell Kenny."
"We're not telling him," she snapped.
"We have to. He has to know about Peter—"
She cut Joe off. "But we don't know that it was Peter. We don't know anything."
Joe sighed. "Fine, we may not know for sure, but at least he can assign some security to watch the house and to look after you—"
"Oh great, as if having one of you tail me all the time isn't enough, I won't get to have any breathing room."
"I'm sorry, but we are telling him," Joe said firmly.
She didn't say anything, just turned her back to them.
"Lilly—"
"Just go," she said, her voice tinged with fear and scorn.
Oliver grabbed Joe's arm and led him out of the girls' room. "Don't mind her. She's just scared."
Joe nodded. "And defiant. I could hear it in her voice."
"Regardless," Oliver stated. "We have to tell Kenny. She might not like it, but we have to keep her safe."
Joe shivered at the idea of her being in danger. When he had seen her face when she noticed the bracelet belonged to her, he was practically shaking with rage. He didn't like seeing that look on her face at all.
"Who do you think it is? That creepy guy who keeps staring at her?" Oliver asked as Joe pulled out his cell phone.
"I don't know," Joe sighed. "He's the most likely person. I haven't noticed anyone else who has shown any unusual amount of interest in Lilly. Her picture was in a few magazines and online articles when she replaced Mikayla, so there's always the possibility of a crazy new fan. It seems unlikely, though." Joe dialed Kenny's number and explained the situation to him.
Kenny seemed just as upset about it as Joe and Oliver were and promised he'd send someone to watch over the house. Joe didn't mention his suspicions about Creepy, because he didn't have any evidence to back him up. He decided he'd investigate that himself.
Joe hung up and he and Oliver continued to discuss the possibilities about who Lilly's stalker was. And Joe was positive that he was a stalker. Following her around, breaking into her room…that was scary. The two boys fell silent as they heard a thud on top of the roof.
"Do you think that's him?" Joe asked quietly.
Oliver sighed and shook his head. "She always did have thing for climbing out of windows. It's Lilly."
Joe cursed softly under his breath. "Does she have absolutely no common sense?"
"I'll get her," Oliver offered, standing up. Joe stopped, a stony look in his eyes, his mouth set in a grim line.
"No. I will."
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Lilly jumped the last few feet from the trellis to the ground. She straightened and looked around, relieved that she had gotten away without either Oliver or Joe coming out to her. This really was probably a bad idea, but she just needed to get out and clear her head.
Watching to see if anyone was following her, Lilly decided to make her way to the lake. After about maybe four steps, someone grabbed her arm. Screaming, Lilly turned around struggling to get free.
"Do you have a death wish or are you just plain stupid?" Joe practically roared at her. Her eyes widened in fear and she tried to pull away, but Joe only tightened his hold.
"Let go of me," she shouted.
Joe ignored her. "What the hell are you doing out here? He could be watching you right now, waiting to get you alone. Do you realize how dangerous that is?"
"He wants to date me, not kill me," Lilly retorted.
"Yeah, and he was willing to sneak into your room to get to you. Don't you get it? You know, there are other things that he could do to you that don't involve death. You might not give a damn about your own welfare, but I do."
He glared at her, breathing hard from either fear or rage. "We don't know who this guy is, or what he wants from you. You can't sneak off alone like that!"
The two of them stared at each other, both glaring hard at each other until Lilly's expression softened suddenly. He really did care about her.
"Joe—"
"Just—just be quiet a minute, will you?" he ordered, then pulled her roughly into his arms. She stayed in his embrace for a few moments reveling in the feel of his arms. "What were you doing out here?" he whispered into her hair.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm sorry. I just—I just needed to get away and think and I couldn't do it in there."
Joe was silent for a moment, then said, "Where do you want to go?"
"The lake?"
He nodded and pulled out his cell phone. He called Oliver's number, and, when the other boy picked up, told him, "Hey Oliver, we're heading to the lake right now…mmhmm….okay. Just give us a call if you need us."
Joe took Lilly's hand and they walked in silence. When they got there, Lilly led him over to the large rock and they sat with their legs dangling over the water.
"So who do you think--?" Joe started, but was cut off by Lilly shaking her head.
"I don't want to talk about that."
"Alright. Let's play truth. What was the most embarrassing thing you've ever done?" he asked, trying to lighten the mood.
It worked, because Lilly giggled and rested her head against his shoulder, and Joe moved so that his arm was around her waist. "Ha! My entire life is an embarrassing moment. But I guess it would be the time that I entered a talent show, thinking I could sing, and when I realized I couldn't, lip-synched to Miley's voice. Needless to say, everything went horribly wrong and I embarrassed myself in front of everyone. Your turn…what is the most awkward gift you and your brothers have ever received?"
Joe thought for a moment, then grinned. "Aside from undergarments of the female variety, I would have to say a platinum engagement ring. From a fifty year-old man."
That made Lilly laugh even harder. They went on like that for a while, the answers getting sillier until Joe asked, "What is it that you like about the new script?"
Lilly answered seriously. "I like that it makes so much more sense than Roz and Tyler ever did. I mean, Roz and Marcus force each other to grow and to be better than they were, and to some extent Roz did that for Tyler, but he didn't really give her anything. Plus—"
"I like the fact that I get to kiss you," Joe interrupted suddenly. Lilly's heart leaped into her throat.
"I—it's not your turn," Lilly said softly, turning to look into his eyes. They were serious, smoldering even, and they seemed to sear right through her. She didn't know when the conversation took this sudden turn, but it felt just like it did earlier on the porch, before Oliver interrupted them.
"I don't care. I like you. A lot," he whispered. She gasped as he gently brushed his lips against her cheek and whispered in her ear. "Truth, Lilly. Do you like me?"
"Yes, but—" Joe pulled away and silenced her with a finger to her lips. He leaned in again and brushed his lips against her other cheek.
"Do you want me to kiss you?"
"I shouldn't—"
He pulled away again. "Shh. That's not the question. Do you want me to kiss you?" Lilly's breath caught as he brushed his lips just to the right of her mouth. She knew she should have pulled away, that she should have said no, but she couldn't.
Instead, she turned her head ever so slightly to the left and whispered, "Yes," before she pressed her lips to his.
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Dun dun duuuuuuuun! Yay for stalkers, almost kisses and actual ones! I think I had some notes earlier, but I forgot what they were. Oh, in case you don't know, the song that Miley mentions in her conversation with Nick is "Check Yes Juliet" by We the Kings. If you haven't heard it, you're missing out. It's an excellent song. Oh! And the lucky bracelet that the stalker took from her room is the one mentioned in "Lilly, Do You Want To Know a Secret?"
I'd love it if you guys left reviews to let me know what you thought, if you liked it or if you didn't, and any suggestions you have for me to improve my writing. Constructive criticism is amazing!
Thanks for reading!
-v
