Washing the Car…Sort Of

By Jeune Ecrivain

Rating: T

Genre: Romance/Humor (Oliver/Miley)

Summary: Miley, Oliver, and Lily are now 16. When Jackson blackmails Miley into washing his car, Oliver comes to help. As things turn playful, Miley and Oliver prove to be more of a distraction to each other than a help.

A half an hour, Miley and Oliver lay on the living room couch, trying to let all the implications of what had just happened sink in. Having determined that they were both on the same page at least, awkwardness was hardly a problem anymore. Yet they were still somewhat in awe of the dramatic turn their relationship had taken. It was certainly not an unpleasant awe, however. Oliver looked up at the ceiling with a contemplative smile on his face, occasionally looking fondly at Miley, who lay very contentedly with her head and one hand resting on his chest. He stroked her bare shoulder with his hand, and he was somehow soothed by the soft rise and fall of her chest against his torso. After a moment of looking at her with a gentle smile, he let a soft, "Miley?" escape his lips.

"Hmm?" she responded, a small smile of her own tugging at her lips.

"Do you remember when you were trying to snap me out of my crush on Hannah Montana? You said some stuff about one friend liking another friend and I thought you were talking about you and me."

Miley chuckled a little at the memory. "Yeah."

"You said you did love me, but like a brother or a pet fish."

Miley giggled slightly. "Boy, if only the 14-year-old me could see me now!"

"I was just wondering. Do you have any idea what's different now?"

Miley turned her head to look him in the eye thoughtfully. "I'm not sure," she replied. "Maybe it just never occurred to me that a lot of the things that I love about you as a friend can also make you a great boyfriend. I never interpreted anything I like about you in a romantic way…until now. The truth is…some of the stuff Lily and I tease you about…actually make you quite cute when I really think about it."

Oliver grinned. "Yeah?"

Miley smiled at him, amused by the expression on his face. He looked like a proud little boy who'd just been given a long-awaited prize when he was least expecting it. "Yeah," she said softly.

"Thanks," he said. "You know, I never in my life found you unattractive or even mediocre, but it took me a while to figure out that you're downright beautiful!"

Miley blushed crimson. "Oliver…"

"Especially your eyes," he continued. "You're well into your teens, but very often I can still see your inner child dancing in your big brown eyes. Don't ever lose that, Miles."

Miley's jaw dropped. "Is there an Everything Being Sweet Book somewhere that I don't know about?" (A/N: The Everything book series is an extensive collection of self-learning books with a distinctly fun style to them. I taught myself Italian using The Everything Learning Italian Book.)

Oliver grinned. "I guess I just never had anything to say stuff like that about...or rather, I did but I didn't know it."

"Man, if only I'd seen this sweet side of you before!" said Miley. "Don't you dare hold back on me any more!"

"I won't, on one condition."

The undercover teen diva cocked an eyebrow. "What's that?"

"We hold off on telling your Dad about our…new status."

"What! Oliver, what do you have to be afraid of? Dad's known you as long as I have, and he really trusts you."

"Exactly."

Miley blinked. "Huh?"

"I have no way of knowing how much of that trust is because of me and how much of it is just because, as far as he knows, we don't have any more-than-friendly inclinations towards each other. If he figures out that there's something more going on now, he might not let me be alone with you in your room or keep you out past a certain time or…"

"And what, pray tell, do you plan to do with me when we're alone in my room?" Miley asked with raised eyebrows.

Oliver blushed, which amused Miley. "Well, I don't mean,…you know,…THAT,…at least not yet" he fumbled slightly, "but still…I'd like to know we have someplace private so we can make out whenever we want."

Miley made a show of giving the matter its due thought. "Fair enough," she decided. "But we are going to have to tell him eventually."

"Right," Oliver nodded. "How does graduation sound to you?" he quipped.

Miley buried her face in his chest to stifle her lively chuckles. "Oliver…"

"Fine, fine. Senior prom, then."

Miley giggled. "Do you really think we can hide it for that long? I'm used to keeping a big secret WITH my father. I don't have a lot of experience keeping a big secret FROM him."

"I seem to recall a few incidents where you proved yourself quite skilled at keeping your dad snowed."

"Fine," Miley conceded. "But I'm not walking up to my father at graduation and saying, 'Oh, by the way, Oliver and I hooked up a couple years ago, and we've been a couple ever since. Just thought you'd like to know.'"

Oliver stroked her shoulder gently, and Miley resisted the urge to moan softly. "Do you really think we'll be together that long?" he asked somewhat dreamily.

"I think the whole friends-first thing gives us an edge," she replied. "Don't you?"

"I think you're right." He looked into her eyes and silently realized how much he wanted it to be so. Caressing her upper arms gently, he added, "I hope so. I really do."

Miley nuzzled the crook of his neck. "I do too," she whispered before kissing him softly on the lips. She pulled back and gazed into his eyes. He gave her a gentle smile before gently gripping her head along the jawline and bringing her lips to his once more. She responded immediately, marveling at how the kisses she shared with him could be so sweet yet so sensual at the same time. She parted her lips and enclosed them around his upper lip while he did the same to her lower lip. The moan she had successfully restrained moments before escaped as Oliver began stroking the small of her back. She smiled in self-satisfaction against his lips, however, as she arched into him slightly and solicited a similar sound from her male companion. Their mouths interlocked fervently and repeatedly, their lips dancing violently yet gracefully to a tune only their hearts could hear. Their kisses now lacked any trace of platonic shyness, and yet they never became lustful. They remained the orchestrations of lust's truer, more durable, and more sublime cousin: love.