I know it's been a little while, but here's chapter 13! Yay! It's been delayed a little by the Olympics/A Little Bit Longer (which is amazing)/life, bur I hope you enjoy the chapter! And review replies are forthcoming, I promise.

But thank you all for all the reviews/alerts/favorites! I really really appreciate them, so thank you so much!

The disclaimer goes here.

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Chapter13

Lilly paced in her trailer nervously, waiting for Miley to show up. It was one of the few moments she had to herself since the whole stalking thing started (although there was a guard posted outside the door), and she was using the time to muster up the courage to tell Miley that she was dating the guy she like. Great.

This time, I'm doing it, she told herself. It had been a little more than a week since she and Joe had become a couple, but due to both busy schedules and cowardice, she had yet to actually tell Miley, and the guilt, while not overwhelming, kept niggling at her. And since she hadn't told Miley that meant that Joe and Lilly couldn't be open about their relationship, which also meant that no one else knew. Not that they were officially dating, anyway.

But it wasn't like Lilly and Joe had all that much time to do anything couple-y, anyway (not that it excused her for not telling Miley). Between hair and makeup, wardrobe, filming, rehearsing (because of the revised script), filming, onset interview, etc., they had barely had time to breathe, let alone find time for the two of them to be together. They did have some free time, but they were always surrounded by their friends. It was nice, but she really just wanted to be able to be alone with him, to talk with him and kiss him…

Since Joe was still acting the part of protective boyfriend on set (though with Peter still gawking at her and the creepy gifts, it didn't seem to be working…), they could hold hands and be affectionate in public. But with more reporters and photographers on set, they were careful not to be too cuddly when they were out in the open, as they didn't want to be tabloid fodder. But both of them did want their friends to know, which brought them back to why Lilly was pacing a hole in the ground waiting for Miley to arrive.

Miley came rushing into the trailer then, pulling Lilly out of her thoughts.

"Hey, Lil," the brunette said breathlessly.

"Miley!" Lilly exclaimed. "Can we talk?"

"Sorry, no time," Miley answered, rummaging through one of her bags for a magazine. "Apparently one of my hair style for the final scene isn't going to work out, and so they want to experiment on my hair. They told me to come get something to amuse myself."

"It'll only be a minute, I promise," Lilly pleaded. Truthfully, she was a little grateful that Miley wouldn't be bale to stick around to yell at her after she told her best friend the news. Right now, Lilly just wanted to get it over with. "It's important."

Miley nodded and sat down on the couch. "Alright, but we need to hurry."

Lilly took a deep breath and clasped her hands in front of her, electing to stand rather than sit next to her friend. It was now or never, right? "You know that you and Oliver are my best friends in the entire world, right?"

"Right…"

Taking a deep breath, Lilly continued. "And you know I would never intentionally do anything to hurt you."

Miley smiled. "I know. I couldn't ask for a better friend than you."

Oh, there was that guilt again… Lilly turned away and took a deep breath. "I really wish you hadn't said that."

"But it's true," Miley said sincerely. "Without you, I don't think I could have made it through the past few years. Your loyalty and friendship have meant so much to me."

Great, Lilly thought. She just had to pull the loyalty card. The guilt intensified and she found it hard to difficult to open her mouth again.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" Miley asked cheerfully.

Lilly internally groaned and opened her mouth. "I—you see—I didn't mean—it's—" Well, this was going well…

Miley looked at her in confusion, then looked at her watch. "What is it Lil? I really gotta go soon."

The blonde took a deep breath. "I know, I know. It's just…this is kind of important. So—"

Oliver burst through the door, cutting off Lilly's sentence and she made a sound of frustration. "UGHH!" she growled, running her fingers through her hair.

The boy gave her wide berth as he addressed Miley. "Hey, I ran into Natasha from hair and makeup and she wanted me to tell you to—ahem—and I quote—'hurry her ass up.'"

Miley looked at Lilly apologetically. "Sorry, Lil. We'll talk later, okay?"

Nodding, Lilly sighed and plopped on the couch as soon as Miley left. She looked at Oliver, who was still regarding her with some caution. "Why can't I just tell her? I know she'll be upset about it, but she needs to know and—ugh!"

Oliver tensed and ran his hands through his hair agitatedly. "You know, don't you?"

"What don't I know?" Lilly asked curiously. Oliver didn't usually do too well with secrets, but right now she honestly didn't know what he was talking about. And at the moment he looked like a cornered animal, eyes wide and panicky.

"Oh don't play dumb with me! You're too good at it!" Oliver snapped.

Lilly angled her head to the right and scrutinized him curiously. "Did you just quote the movie?"

"No! Yes! No! I mean, you know what I mean! I know you know!"

"Know what?"

"Oh, I get it. You know that I know that you know, so now you're pretending that you don't know!" Oliver practically shouted.

"Ollie, I don't know what you're talking about," Lilly said, trying to calm him down. He was panicky and he wasn't making much sense.

"Yes, you do," he insisted.

"No, I don't."

"Yes."

"No," she argued.

"Yes." Oliver's expression was intense as he stood over her, his eyes boring into hers.

"No."

"Yes." Okay, this was really getting old…

"NO!" she finally shouted. That finally got him to shut up…

It looked like Oliver didn't understand. His expression was blank and he was staring uncomprehendingly at Lilly. "Wait…I thought you said something about telling Miley something that would make her upset…" Then it dawned on him. "You don't know, do you?"

Lilly rolled her eyes. "I'm pretty sure that's what I've been telling you. But now I'm curious. What is it?"

He scratched his head sheepishly. "Oh…um…well, it's not important…" Oliver backed up, trying to make his way surreptitiously towards the door, but Lilly leaped to her feet and blocked the door.

"Oh no you don't! Spill it!"

Oliver laughed nervously. "Haha, you know my mom hates it when I make a mess…"

"What is it that you're not telling me?" Lilly demanded.

"Nothing."

Lilly crossed her arms and leaned against the door. "Oliver," she said sternly. "What are you hiding?"

He backed away from his friend and the door. "You'll never get it out of me."

"Ha! Remember how easily Jackson broke you when Miley went to Vitolo's about the whole baseball thing?"

"Please, that was two years ago. I'm stronger now. And you don't have Jackson's closet to threaten me with!"

Lilly laughed maniacally. "There are other means of torture, my friend." Oliver closed his mouth and glared at her. In her normal voice, she said, "Come on Ollie, it can't be that bad…"

"No, I'm pretty sure you guys aren't going to like it, so just drop it, okay? I'll tell you when I'm ready." Something dawned on Oliver. "Or…I'll tell you when you tell me what you wanted to tell Miley." That shut Lilly up. She snapped her mouth shut and moved away from the door and he smirked. "I thought so."

When he didn't say anything further, Lilly asked, "Aren't you going to ask me about it?"

He shook his head. "Nah…you've got your secrets, I've got mine. Now why don't we go skateboarding? We haven't done it in a while, and our boards are here…"

Lilly bit her lip, resisting the urge to ask one more time what Oliver's secret was. "Okay. But I have to be in hair and makeup in an hour."

"Sweet!" Oliver exclaimed. "Let's go!" Lilly changed really quickly and grabbed her skateboard, and soon she forgot all about secrets and drama as she lost herself in the feel of wheels on pavement.

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Joe was doing some pacing himself, in the gym, waiting for Lilly so they could start filming. They hadn't seen each other all day, and he just really wanted to see her. It was kind of pathetic, Joe knew, but lately he'd been counting down the minutes til he could see her, touch her, kiss her again…Had he ever been this lovesick?

Maybe it was because they hadn't had any time to themselves at all, and he just really wanted to revel in being with her. He really hoped that she'd tell Miley soon…Although he did maintain that Miley liked Nick, not him.

He looked around the gym, at all the people setting up lights and cameras and gymnastic mats, scurrying to and fro, hoping that maybe Lilly had arrived and he had just missed her. Man, was he pathetic.

The main doors to the gym opened and Joe held his breath. It wasn't Lilly, but Olivia, and she came skipping over to him. "Hey Joe, you ready?"

"Yep," he replied cheerfully. "Wait. Which scene are we filming? I didn't think you were in this one…"

Olivia giggled. "Oh, don't worry. I'm not. I just wanted to watch. Kevin's coming, too. He's never seen Lilly do any of the cheerleading stuff and he's pretty excited about it."

"By the way, have you seen Lilly?" Joe asked, trying to be nonchalant. "She's not alone, is she?" There hadn't been any more stalker incidents (yet), but Joe was worried about her. Although she had been really shaken by the whole bracelet thing, he was still afraid that she wasn't taking this as seriously as she should have been.

"Relax, Joe, Oliver's with her," Olivia reassured him. "I saw them skateboarding around the school earlier."

Joe nodded. He'd just feel a lot better when she got there. As if on cue, the gym doors opened and Lilly came in. She was wearing a plain white t-shirt and blue athletic shorts. There wasn't much hair or makeup to be done, considering she was going to be doing a lot of physical activity so a ponytail sufficed. Her outfit was plain and simple, but she looked gorgeous.

"Hey, you," she said with a smile, coming up to Joe and giving him a hug.

Joe couldn't help the huge grin he felt spreading across his face. It just felt so nice to hold her again. "Hey, yourself." He noticed Olivia looking back and forth between the two of them appraisingly and he carefully pulled away from Lilly. Kevin came in and Olivia made her way over to them as Kenny came up to talk to Lilly and Joe about the scene.

"You guys ready?" Kenny asked cheerfully. This was the first of the new scenes they were filming and he was pretty excited about it. Both teens nodded. "Alright then, let's get to work!"

As Kenny made his way to sit behind the main camera, Lilly sat on the ground and did a quick stretch and Joe walked out of the gym with one of the cameramen and the assistant director.

They were filming one of the new scenes, in which Marcus and Roz got closer and started to realize that they were attracted to each other. It took place after Marcus and Rosalind's discussion by her locker, and in the scene, Roz was alone in the gym practicing tumbling passes when Marcus came in and surprised her.

Lilly watched Joe walk out of the gym door and she took a deep breath. Kenny called action and upon Lilly's nod, the music started. She and Sherry, the cheerleading coach, had choreographed a tumbling routine of sorts to music so that it would be easier for her to remember. As the sound of Estelle's "American Boy" filled the gym, Sherry gave her a thumbs up from next to Kenny and Lilly began the routine she had been working on so intensely for the past week.

As soon as her feet hit the mat after completing the first tumbling pass, the adrenaline really kicked in and she lost herself to the rush feel of her feet hitting the cool, blue mat and the sensation of practically flying through the air as she tumbled across the floor. Her routine was a combination of dance and a gymnastics floor routine and it was actually a lot of fun. She thought that during the routine, she'd be able to tell when Joe came into the gym. After all, there were a few tumbling passes where she was directly facing the doors. But she never even sensed his presence until she stuck her last landing and she heard him clapping.

She was so startled that when she whirled around to face him, she turned too fast, stumbled and fell. "Ow…" she muttered. That was definitely not scripted, but since Kenny didn't stop them, they kept going. Joe chuckled as he sauntered over to her.

"Nice landing," he called out.

Lilly glared. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Oh, long enough. Very impressive," he remarked, looking down at her. "If all cheerleading is this awesome, I might have to rethink my stance on boycotting pep rallies and football games."

Lilly glared at him. "Funny."

"I'm serious! That was absolutely ridiculous!" When Lilly looked affronted, Joe rolled his eyes. "That's a good thing."

"Oh." Joe reached out and helped her to her feet and she looked at the clock in confusion. "Were we supposed to meet today?"

Joe shook his head. "Nah. I was walking by and I heard someone in here, so I decided to check it out. So this is what you do after school?"

"Sometimes. Cheerleading practice was cancelled, and I just like to do the whole tumbling thing whenever I get the chance to." She leaned in to whisper conspiratorially. "I'm not technically supposed to practice on my own. You know, in case I break my neck or something. So I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone."

Joe crossed his heart and she had to suppress a smile. "Your secret is safe with. For now…So what, are you a closet gymnast or something? Did you grow up on a balance beam?"

Lilly looked at him in confusion. "What?"

"I'm trying to figure out how you're so good at this stuff," he explained and he sounded genuinely impressed.

She blushed shyly. "Thanks. And I'm definitely not a gymnast. It's from skateboarding." Kenny had decided to put a little bit of Lilly's history into the script.

"Nuh-uh," Joe said with a disbelieving chuckle.

"Yep. For my tryouts, I just did all of my skateboarding moves sans skateboard, and poof. On the team. Apparently I have a natural ability to flip and stuff. "

He looked skeptical. "You were a skateboarder?"

She nodded. "Before high school, I was skateboarder," she told him as she headed over to the edge of the mat to grab a towel and a bottle of water. "I competed in competitions and everything. I even won a few."

Joe followed closely behind her. "I don't believe it."

"Why not? You've seen the skateboard in my locker."

"Yeah, but—you just don't look like—"

Lilly turned around and looked him in the eye, raising an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"Nothing," he said quickly, averting her eyes. Lilly smirked. "So…skateboarding, huh? I skateboard a little. Does that mean I can do what you do?"

"I don't think so."

"Aww, come on. Here, I'll do a handstand."

"Marcus, no."

"Aww, come on. It'll be fun."

Lilly shook her head. "No, it'll be dangerous."

"Dangerously fun." Lilly shook her head. "Please?"

"If you want to be stupid, then go ahead," she informed him, crossing her arms.

Joe clapped eagerly. "Yes!" He moved to the middle of the mat, and attempted a handstand. Although Lilly knew that he could do it, she still held her breath nervously as he wobbled dangerously, but eventually did it. "Ha!" he shouted, looking at her triumphantly and still upside down. "I did it! I told you I could! I told you—AHH!"

Lilly giggled as Joe fell backwards landing on his back. He sat up, looking cranky. "Gee Roz, thanks for catching me. I thought we were friends."

With a smug smile, Lilly walked up to stand over him. "We are. And as your friend, I tried to stop you from doing something stupid. And, also as your friend, I decided to let you learn a very valuable lesson."

"Well thanks. Now help me up, will you?" Lilly rolled her eyes and pulled him to his feet.

"So I guess this is the part where I tell you that I told you so?"

"Shut up."

"I told you so, I told you so, I told you so," Lilly said in a singsong voice.

"If you're so good, you do it then," he said bitterly, pouting.

"Um, you did see what I was doing when you came into the gym, right?" Lilly asked incredulously. "I'm pretty sure we both know that I can do a handstand."

"Oh, I get it. You're a chicken," Joe taunted.

"I am not!"

"Chicken, chicken, chicken, chicken," he repeated, mimicking the way Lilly had been talking to him earlier.

"I'm not going to—"

"Chicken, chicken, chicken."

"Ugh, fine." Quickly and easily, Lilly was upside down, her entire body weight supported on her hands. She looked at Joe. "Happy?"

"Immensely," Joe said with a smirk. And then she saw him come closer and felt his arms pulling her legs down.

She started shrieking. "Marcus! No! Stop! No! AHHH!" With a thud, she hit the ground. He came to stand over her and grinned down at her. "You suck," she snapped. That really did kind of hurt…

"Now we're even."

Lilly glared, reached over to grab Joe's leg and tugged strongly. She felt a surge of satisfaction as she heard him hit the ground. Turning to look at him, she saw that he was now lying on the ground beside her. "Ha! Now we're even."

"That hurt," he whined.

"You started it," she shot back, rolling on her side to face him; he did the same. They glared at each other for a moment, until Lilly started laughing. She didn't even have to fake it. It was that pouty, little-boy-who-didn't-get-his-way look that did it for her, and soon Joe was cracking up with her.

Their eyes met and suddenly the laughter died between them. Even if it hadn't been in the script, Lilly still would have felt the magnetic pull of that look in Joe's eyes…They both leaned in and were just about to kiss when the gym doors burst open. It was an extra, the janitor, and there was no need to fake how startled they both were as they sat up to look at him.

"What are you kids doing in here?" he yelled. "The gym closes at five-thirty!"

"Sorry, Mr. Harford. We're leaving now," Lilly replied, scrambling to her feet. She ran to grab her stuff and she and Joe exited, giving Mr. Harford polite nods as they left. There was a camera in the hallway, where they would finish the scene.

As soon as the doors closed, Joe and Lilly stopped to look at each other. "So…" she said awkwardly.

"So…" he echoed. There was a silence as they stared at each other awkwardly.

"I gotta go," Lilly said quickly.

"Me, too."

"Alright, see you later." They simultaneously walked away. A few seconds later, they turned around and crossed paths again. "My car's that way," she said, pointing as she passed him.

"Yeah, gotta go to my locker."

"And cut!" the assistant director called from behind the cameraman. "Kenny wants to do the middle section one more time."

They did the scene a couple of more times, and then they were done.

Olivia and Kevin had wanted to corner them after the scene was over to tell them how great they were, but they were nowhere to be found.

"I wonder where they could have gone," Kevin mused aloud.

Olivia shrugged. "Maybe they went back to the trailers? We can go look for them."

The two of them headed over to the trailers, hoping to find them there. On the way over, Olivia looked pensive. "Is there something going on between Joe and Lilly?" she asked finally. "I mean, do they like each other?"

Kevin looked over at her. "What makes you think that?"

"Before they started filming, Joe was asking about her. And then when she came in, it was like they only had eyes for each other. She headed straight for him and it was like they forgot I existed for a second."

"They do tend to do that," Kevin agreed with a chuckle.

"And then he's so protective of her! I mean, I know they're friends, but even Oliver isn't that protective and he's been her best friend forever, you know?" Olivia went on. "Then there's the way they are with each other…those little glances and secret smiles. It's like they're hiding something. Not to mention how much chemistry they have! Watching their scenes is just…electric."

Kevin nodded. "I know what you mean. And you also forgot to mention the whole jealousy thing."

"I know that they're pretending to be dating because of this whole stalker business." The thought made her shudder. "But I don't know…they just seem so comfortable with it."

"I'm pretty sure Joe likes her," Kevin admitted. "He hasn't admitted it to anybody, but I think that it's pretty obvious. Lilly's harder to read, though. I don't really think she treats him any differently than she treats me, Nick or Oliver, but she does spend a lot of time with Joe. And she's always next to him."

"I think she likes him, too," Olivia said decisively. "I just think she's just a little different around him then she is around everyone else. I think they'd be a really cute couple. Although it must be really awkward since Miley likes Joe, too…I don't even think Miley knows Lilly likes him."

"I don't think so, either" Kevin and Olivia reached the trailers, but Joe and Lilly weren't in the Jonas trailer or in the trailer Lilly shared with Miley. They weren't in hair and makeup or wardrobe, nor were they watching Nick film a scene. They checked the school's theater and they weren't there, either. Finally, Kevin and Olivia just gave up and figured they went off set for lunch or something.

Since Kevin had to film a scene with Miley in an hour, Olivia left him at the hair/makeup trailer and went to her trailer. It had been a while since she'd had any breathing room or alone time, and since she didn't have to film again for another few hours, she decided that now was as good a time as any to get some reading done.

She tried to read in her trailer for a little while, but it was too quiet. Since it was too hot to read outside, she went into the school to find somewhere quiet. Since most of the filming was done on the first floor, that's where most people hung out so she opted to head up to the second floor.

There's got to be a lounge here somewhere, she thought to herself as she wandered through the second floor hallways.

Her cellphone rang. It was Kevin. "I'm bored."

Olivia rolled her eyes. He always insisted on being at hair/makeup and wardrobe early, and he always finished early, and it was inevitable that he got bored. So naturally, he called her to entertain him.

"That's new," she remarked sarcastically as she peered through the windows of classrooms, trying to find one with a couch.

"That hurts, Liv. I come to you in my hour of need, and you just blow me off."

"Well, you wouldn't have an hour of need if you got ready later," Olivia reminded him. "It'd just be…half an hour."

He chuckled. "Right, and the one time I go later is the one time everything will go wrong. Thanks, but no thanks."

"Stop being so paranoid. I'm trying to find somewhere to read." She peeked into another classroom. Nope. Why did this school have so many science labs? And more importantly, why couldn't any of them have couches.

"Are you sure you don't want to come back here and hang out?" he cajoled.

She peered into another room. Again, a bust. "Sorry, no can do. But maybe you can find Joe and Lilly? I'm sure they'll keep you company."

"They still haven't reappeared," Kevin said wryly. Olivia grinned as she could practically see his pout. As she was passing a door she caught a glimpse of something brown and fluffy. She stopped. A couch! Victory!

As she opened the door, she told him, "Well I'm sure someone will play with you. Found a room with a couch! I'll talk to you—"

As she fully entered the room, she stopped in her tracks at the sight before her. Joe. Lilly. Kissing. A lot. What? When had this happened? This was—well, it wasn't completely unexpected, but at the same time, totally surprising. How? When? What?

"Oh. My. God," she gasped.

Well, at least she had found them...

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So there's chapter 13! There's a reference to the Hannah Montana episode, "Bye, Bye Ball" and I think that's the only note I have to give…Oh! As I mentioned in my other story, "Nowhere to Hide," updates are going to start slowing down significantly (not that they haven't already), but I'll try my best to update once a week!

Also, I am totally in love with A Little Bit Longer. I love all the songs, but my faves are Lovebug, One Man Show, Shelf and Can't Have You. But the entire album is amazing. I love it.

Anyway, I'd totally love it if you guys reviewed to tell me what you thought of this chapter! What you liked, what you didn't like, constructive criticism…It would be amazing if you guys reviewed!

Thanks so much for reading!
-v