Disclaimer: I own everything! In my imagination; in reality…I don't.

Warning: In this chapter? Language, Liley, drugs.

A/N: I finally finished this darn chapter! So here you go, enjoy! And don't forget to leave me a review!

Curing Addictions

Chapter 6:

Priorities

Along with the chirping of birds and the roar of engines, laughter filled the air of Malibu on this morning.

"I cannot believe we pulled that off." Miley said trying to calm her laughter. They were now walking down the sidewalk towards their school, away from parental ear-shot.

"Yeah me neither." Lily replied with a proud grin on her face.

These two girls were the ones responsible for the joy of this dawn. You see, they just completed a mission that used to be called "Escape without been noticed, quick!" but now is called "Magnificent escape!" since it was a success. Now, the pirouettes they had to go through for this triumph were actually what had them, and will keep them, laughing the whole day.

Begin Flashback

"Lily! Are you awake already?" Said a mature feminine voice as a manicured pale fist hit the door several times.

Yet, the two beings resting within did not even stir.

"Lily! Wake up! I made breakfast." The woman persisted without relinquishing the knocks that were getting louder and louder with each un-answered second.

A movement was made inside the room, but in the wrong direction. Instead of up and out of bed, Lily moved to her left and over her friend, hugging her closer to her herself.

"Lillian Truscott, if you don't get up from that bed right now I'm going to ignore your right to privacy and remove this door so we won't have this problem ever again!" She yelled. Clearly, the waiting blond was loosing her patience.

At that scream the skater finally regain her consciousness, to some extent.

"Lillian!" Another scream accompanied by a threatening tremble of the doorknob.

With a gasp, Lily shot from her position and in her startle pressed her hands on Miley's stomach, painfully waking the girl.

"Uh…Lily…" Miley grunted, trying to get the girls hands off her midsection, but failing at it.

Lily looked from the closed door Miley wondering if she realized the big problem they were in now. What she found was a girl who could hardy breath. She frowned questioningly, not understanding the obvious reason for such the condition, until she felt Miley's hands on her wrist and realized all of her weight was resting on her.

"Sorry!" – Lily kind of whispered yelled while Miley just concentrated on breathing. – "I'm coming mom!" She then screamed, hoping to lessen her mothers' anger.

"Open this door right now Lillian!" Lily winced at hearing her whole name. That clearly stated she had not eased her mother at all.

"Miley we 'gotta' get you out of here! – Lily said panicking and causing Miley to panic as well. – "Give me a second! I'm coming!" She tried to gain some time.

"Uh, Okay, alright, how do I get out then?" Miley asked sitting on the bed and looking around for a possible escape.

"I don't know! I don't even have my own bathroom here for you to hide in!" Lily stated the obvious in her fright. She was freaking out, she couldn't even think straight! Why didn't that fucking alarm go off? Wait, did she even put it on? No matter, she had to think of something, and fast! She could not afford for her mother to find Miley in her room like this. God knows she couldn't stand her mothers' One Million Questions and lectures.

"And if you had listened to me we wouldn't be in this predicament! I told you to ask her for one for your birthday months ago!" Miley yelled as best she could without revealing herself.

"And I remember telling you that I tried!" Lily retorted.

"Not enough apparently." Miley said.

"Whatever! Just…hide under my bed!" Lily said, getting fed up with this useless discussion. Couldn't Miley see they were in a big predicament here?

"What? But that hasn't been clean in months!" Miley whined, but Lily ignored her and with a frown, pushed her of the edge of the bed. The singer fell with a yelp and landed with a rather loud "Ow!"

"Lily what was that?" Lily's mother asked through the door.

"Uh, nothing, um I fell! But I'm fine!" Lily screamed while looking down at the mass of a girl, trying her best to hold in her laughter.

"Yeah, you are." Miley grunted, glaring at Lily as she rubbed her left arm.

"Sorry." – The skater kind of apologized, although she was still smiling. – "Now be a good girl and get under the bed, and make a run for it as soon as you get a chance…but, silently."

This time Miley only groaned and crawled her way beneath Lily's bed. As soon as the brunette was completely hidden, Lily made a dash for the door. Opening it, she gave her mom the biggest, innocent grin she could muster.

"Heeeeey mom!"

"Don't you start your "hey moms' with me! What took you so long?" The taller woman asked taking a look around the room.

"Uh, nothing! I mean you know how hard it is for me to get out of bed!" The blond girl said, standing on the tip of her feet while moving her head around hoping to block her mother's vision in a not-so-discreet fashion; her mother didn't notice though.

"Not this hard." The woman commented looking down at her daughter.

"Well, I had a bad nightmare last night." – Lily lied. – "It involved a huge spider I saw last night…here…in the bathroom… of our house…over there!" The blond pointed to the end of the hallway were the bathroom was. She quickly pushed her mother in that direction.

"What are you talking about? I was just there a few minutes ago, there's nothing." Her mother tried to assure her, but of course, the skater was having none of this.

"Are you sure? Because I can almost swear I saw a big, hairy, creepy spider in the tub! Let's check again to be certain. I really don't want to go in there alone!" The teenager explained while she kept shoving the woman down the hall way.

Miley who was still under the bed crawled her way out of it as soon as she saw the two pair of legs disappear. She stood up and tiptoed her way to the doorframe. Standing there she waited until she couldn't hear neither Lily's nor her mother's voice before taking a cautious peek down the hallway; upon inspection she found it deserted. She smiled and taking this as her opportunity to get the hell out of there, as she would have thought, sprinted to the stairs. She took the steps two at a time, unfortunately she also took the liberty to look back and check if the owner of the house was coming, and this combined with her hurried pace helped her to stumble down the last three steps she had left.

The loud smack caused by Miley's body as it hit the tiled floor was heard throughout the entire house, frightening the two women in it.

"What the hell was that?" Lily's mother screamed in her shock. Without giving a second to Lily to invent some lame excuse, she darted out of the bathroom and down the stairs. Lily's eyes widened before she ran after her mother convinced that they were now busted for sure. When she arrived at the first floor, she was mentally smacking herself for not having a false explanation for Miley's presence in her house already. It was not until her mother spoke her confusion that she realized her friend was not in the room.

The older woman looked around with a frown; she was not crazy. She definitely heard something down here.

"You did hear that too right Lily? It was as if something really big had fallen here." She said, yet as she gazed around her living room not a thing seemed to be out of place.

'Did she just call me fat?' Miley wondered, a frown on her face with her right eye slightly twitching.

Lily was breaking her head thinking of a way to answer her mothers' question. If she said that she had heard something her mother would look for its source with more fervor. But if she said that she hadn't heard a thing, her mother would still look anyways and she would be stared at as if she was crazy, after all such a deafening sound couldn't be denied so easily. Not to mention that when her mother did find something, if she did which she hoped not, there would be no way of talking their way around it, she would surely know they were behind it all.

Miley was in a heck of a predicament now too. She was laying on the floor between the long couch and the small table. Her muscles were tight and she was biting her lower lip, hoping to not make a sound and praying to God that she wouldn't get caught. She turned her head to her right trying to see where the other occupants of this room were, but she couldn't see either of them. Therefore, slowly she wriggled to the rim of the couch. With a gulp she carefully looked over it and almost smiled when she only saw Lily and not Ms. Truscott. But Lily hasn't seen her. What a problem, if Lily didn't know she was there, she couldn't aid her in getting her mother out of the living room. The singer stared at Lily, a bead of sweat running down the side of her head. It was a good thing sometimes people can feel when you are intently staring at them or that Lily was looking at everything wishing for an answer out of each thing, either way the blond girl finally saw her friend laying there behind the couch.

With widened eyes Lily looked from Miley to her mother who was gradually walking to the dinning table and back again. She tactfully mouthed 'When I count to three' with three fingers raised, receiving a nod from Miley. The skater girl returned her vision to her mother, who was searching under the tables' drape, and with her and down started to count. One finger out….two…three.

"Mom! I don't think they are here, but let's check outside!" Lily said running to her mother and taking her hand.

As the girl dragged her mother to the front door Miley made certain movements. She got on her knees and hands and readied herself to scuttle her way out of that house. When she lifted her gaze, she found a very unsupportive counter was blocking her way. Damn it! She thought. She had forgotten that the counter was placed sideways – not like in her house – diving the living room and dining room from the kitchen. The brunette gave one last look at the door that was now open and showed the two blonds standing in the porch. She returned her eyes to her task at hand and hurriedly scampered to the counter, around it, and towards the back door. Once there, she realized God had a purpose for everything since that now counter was serving as her refuge, as she had to kneel for cover at finding the door closed. Vigilantly, Miley rose her right hand and unlocked the door, then proceeded to turn the knob and open it. At last, she stepped through it, and just as cautiously closed the door once again.

The secret pop star exhaled a breath of relief at finally getting out of that place. Now she only needed to get to her own house, but how to do that? Walking to the sidewalk wasn't an option, Lily and Ms. Truscott could still be in the entrance and all this work would be for nothing if she got caught for been careless. So, her only other option was right in front of her. It was in moments like this that it was good to be from Tennessee. She took a step back before running the short distance to the verge. Locating her hands on the wood to sustain her weight she leapt over it and landed perfectly on the other side, a proud smile covering her face. That is until she heard something barking. The girl looked to her left were a small, yet very angry and scary looking dog was growling at her. The fear stroked teenager gulped, sound that was soon followed by a high yelp as the dog lunged for her.

Miley ran for her life, all the while screaming into the beautiful morning. There was a reason why she didn't have a dog, and this was it! Miley ran behind the house and to the other side of the yard but the verge was too tall over there forcing her to make a u-turn. She had to wait for the dog to be somewhat close before she ran over some bricks that rested against the wooden fence. Doing this she managed to evade the dog for a second, but the little diabolical thing twisted abruptly catching on to her heels soon. Thus Miley had only one alternative, to go back from where she came from. She sped up and, just like before, jumped over the hedge into the Truscott's backyard barely missing the sharp teeth of the little evil dog. Unluckily, she didn't land so gracefully this time. She had jumped on a farther side of the Truscott property, away from the house and into a rather big puddle. Apparently, it had rained last night; no wonder the sky was of such a bright blue; ironic. She almost felt like glaring up at it as she raised her face from the little pool and picked herself up, but she was too tired for it.

Nevertheless, she knew her journey wasn't done, the thought nearly brought tears to her eyes; if last night hadn't been so wonderful she would have been bawling right now. Taking slow steps and wondering how things could get worst the girl walked to the sidewalk and began her saunter to her house forgetting something incredibly important; she knew she shouldn't have wondered.

"Miley? Is that you? What happened to you?" Miley froze when she heard that voice. She looked up to see its' owner, Ms. Truscott and Lily behind her with a hand on her forehead as if she had just slapped it.

Miley sighed sadly, her shoulders slumping a little. She just couldn't pull it off huh? She recovered herself soon though since Ms. Truscott was still watching, and with a fake smile she spoke.

"Uh! Hello Ms. Truscott, um… just came over to pick Lily up this time, since she's always waiting for me, but um, I kind of fell on my way here. So I'll be going home now, I'll wait for you at home Lily bye!" Miley rambled, seeing the nod Lily gave her but not the worry in her eyes, before running away.

Ms. Truscott blinked a few times, baffled.

"I always knew that girl was a little odd, but she sure has taken weird to a whole new level these days." She comments, crossing her arms over her chest.

Lily chuckled nervously. "Well, at least she's weird in a good way."

To that her mother smiles.. "Yeah, she is a pretty nice girl, strange, but nice."

Meanwhile, Miley is still running to her house. As she gets there, she tries her hardest to not make a sound. Crossing the grass she stops when she reaches the crystal door, peeking around it, she sees her brother is not up yet but she hears her father in the kitchen. It's a good thing his there that way he can't see her as she hurries her way around the house to her window. Escalating the rope stair she climbs into her bedroom.

Now is time to get rid of the evidence. First, the proof of her escape, turning around she pulls the rope into the room before throwing it into her big Hannah closet. Second, her clothes, she starts to pull her shirt off when someone knocks on her door. 'Oh for Gods' sake!' She screams within her head, leaving her shirt on. Quickly, she takes her pajamas from the floor and dries her face with the shirt before slightly opening the door.

"Dad I'm changing, what is it?" She asks through the small crevice, hoping her father won't notice her dirty hair.

"Oh sorry bud, I thought you were still asleep so I came to wake you, but I'm glad to see you are learning to be an early riser, unlike your brother." He points with his thumb behind him and Miley hears a grunt before she can see a slumping Jackson making his way to the bathroom.

"Okay, I'll be out soon daddy." Miley smiles sweetly at him.

"Alright but- hey what's that on your hair, it looks like...rocks?" Sweet Nibblets! The man had to ask!

"Uh, it's a new shampoo, made just for girls. It's made of sand and stuff; you know to keep my hair smooth and shiny. Like yours!" The singer exclaims.

"Oh alright! But hurry up or your food will get cold." Robbie Ray says before walking way.

Miley nods with another cute smile and closes the door. She then leans her back against it, and sighs. Finally, that exhausting scheme was over and done with. With an ironic smile, Miley makes her way to the bathroom. At least she did have her own personal bathroom.

End Flashback

"Hey who's that?" Lily asked finally calming her laughter down. She's eying some guy that is standing on the school's gate. She would have ignored the dude like she did with almost everyone else, but he was looking in their direction, staring intently at Miley to be exact.

"Huh?" – Miley asked wiping her eyes from mirth tears as she looked over to where Lily was suggesting. She saw a white, dark brown haired boy. He was slim and tall and she was sure she had seen him before. – "I'm not sure."

The girls kept walking and as they near the school the boy took a few hesitant steps towards them. Miley and Lily stopped when he stood in their way, wondering what he wanted.

"Uh, morning." His voice was deep but held an amount of humbleness to it.

"Morning." Lily and Miley said at the same time. They also shared the same weird look they were giving the boy. But who could blame them? It was not every day a fellow student who you can't even remember comes to you and politely greets you.

The boy frowned softly and opened his mouth to speak but ended up closing it again. The action granted him a confused looked from Miley and an arched eyebrow from the unknown blond girl besides her. This was bad, he thought looking at the floor. Things were definitely not going how he had planned them last night. He needed to buy himself some time.

"Hey um, not to be rude or anything, but what is it? The bell is going to ring soon." The boy looked up to see Miley speaking. It was then he noticed something unusual about her appearance.

"Hey what happened to your forehead?" He asked reaching up to touch the protuberance on her head. To his misfortune Lily was faster than him and also very overprotective, something she just realized.

"What are you talking about?" The blond growled taking Miley's chin in her fingers and turning it quickly yet softly to the right, preventing the boy from touching her.

"I just fell." – Miley explained, wincing a little when Lily grazed her fingers over the bump. – "Ow." The brunette whined, but she didn't think to step out of Lily's grasp. What was a little pain when her caresses were involved?

"Sorry." – Lily apologized suddenly feeling guilty for Miley's injury; even though she wasn't sure if it had been her fault. – "Come on let's get some ice for that." The blond suggested, pulling her friend by her wrist. If they hurried up maybe they could lower that bulge a little bit. Also, they could get away from this weirdo.

"Wait!" Darn it, what now? Lily screamed in her head. She turned around when Miley stopped walking, to find that this guy was holding her left hand. The blond glared daggers at him, and Miley would have laughed at her expression if only the girl didn't look so serious.

The boy on the other hand was not finding it funny in the least. What was up with this girl? He didn't know but didn't care much either, deciding it was best to ignore her.

"Miley, I have been meaning to talk to you for a while. Do you think you could spare me a few minutes during your free hour today?" He asked, not letting go of her arm.

Miley looked from a fuming Lily to the almost begging boy and back a few times before she finally spoke.

"Ah, sure my free hour is at 9:30." She said quickly, the atmosphere was too heavy to stay in it any longer, and how could she say no after he had asked so politely.

"Mine too. Great, I'll see you then." He smiled, finally letting go of her wrist before walking into the school, not without giving a sideways glare to Lily though.

Lily too kept mentally killing him as he walked away. Miley was amused, she allowed herself to feel that way now that no imminent harm could be done. Besides, it was nice to see Lily all jealous, despite the fact that it was only friendly. She grabbed the hand Lily was still holding her with and moved it up her arm.

"Lily…" She tried to get the girls' attention.

"What does he want?" Lily murmured, using the word 'he' as if it were an insult as she fumed in her own angry world.

"I guess we'll know later on. Let's go now." Miley answered the question she wasn't really supposed to hear and gave a hard tug to Lily's arm trying to bring her back to this world as they entered the school.

"I'm sorry." Lily said looking over at her friend.

Free hour had finally arrived, and Miley thought it was the perfect time to help Lily memorize all the parts of the eye along with other organs that would be in the upcoming science exam for sure. The blond had been reluctant at first, why did she have to her relaxation hour for studying when she could do it at home? Of course, Miley killed that complaint with reminding her that free hour was for studying and that she, as a good friend that she was, wanted to make sure the girl knew at least half the parts; moreover she could revise them at the same time. In the end Lily had accepted, not like Miley was going to give her any choice anyhow.

Thus, that's exactly what they were doing now. They were sited in a little stone table that took place on the side of the school below some tall trees. Lily had been repeating the names on the list Miley had done for her: Ciliary body, optic disk, choroids, posterior cavity, etc. She went over them for a while for a while, but listening to Miley every few seconds wincing "silently" as the pack of ice touched her forehead was breaking her concentration, as well as making her awfully remorseful.

"What, you can't get it right? Why don't you try to imagine them as you say their names?" Miley suggested, taking the ice pack from her forehead. The lunch ladies had been really nice for giving her some ice and an icepack – apparently a lot of people got injured like this, who knew! – but that lump either had gotten too big or too hard during the two periods of class they took. Whichever it was getting extremely painful to pressure it.

"No, I'm talking about your other head." Lily said with a smirk.

"Ha, ha, very funny." – She laughed dryly. So that's how big it was, how nice! She tried to frown at her friend, but it hurt, so she opted to frown at her later. Lily laughed softly at Miley's futile effort to look mad. – "It's not your fault anyway, I'm just a klutz."

"It wasn't when I pushed you out of bed?" The skater tilted her head to the left.

"You have a very short memory, you know that?"

"I thought my attempt at trying to memorize this crap had already confirmed that." Lily said, picking up the pack of papers and dropping it back on the table.

"We'll keep working on that. But don't you remember the loud crash on your house? I think the whole neighborhood heard that." Miley tried to remind her.

"Ooh that! I thought you had dropped something."

"Yeah, my body down the stairs." Miley commented, and Lily started laughing only to stop a few seconds later.

"Wait, are you alright? Besides that bump I mean." Lily asked concerned.

"Yeah I'm fine, a few bruises and this second head, nothing more." Miley shrugged it off.

"Okay, I can laugh then!" – And she proceeded to do so. Miley had no other choice but to smile as well. Hey who better to laugh at you than yourself? In all honesty, she knew that if she had seen someone else go through all she did, she would be laughing her head off too. – "So let me see your knew war scars."

"My what?" Miley asked thoroughly confused.

"Your war scars. You know the scars you show off so everyone thinks you are courageous." She explained.

"Riight. They are not big. Besides I can't show you here, they are on my side." The brunette explained, hoping her friend would drop the subject already. She knew Lily tended to overreact a lot, and she didn't want to go to the infirmary for something that would cure itself with time.

"So? Come on there's no one here, let me see!" Lily insisted eagerly. There really wasn't much people around, and the ones who were there were rather far away from them.

"Why are you obsessed with war scars?"

"Just show me!"

"Fine!" Miley exclaimed exasperated. She looked around to make sure no one was looking and lifted her shirt on her left side.

"Miley that's huge!" Lily gasped. There was a vast bruise that covered half her side and the girl was saying it was nothing big, was she blind!

"Okay, it may be a little bigger than I said, but it's not that big of a deal so don't exaggerate." The singer warned.

"How many steps did you feel from?"

"Um…like two or three, but I feel of your fence too." Miley said, sheepishly. That was so embarrassing to say.

"That's how you got wet?" Lily wondered.

"Yeap." She answered, lowering her shirt.

"Maybe we should go to the infirmary." The blond suggested, eyeing the hidden spot where the bruise was located.

"No. Just forget it, it doesn't hurt or anything anymore. It'll heal on its own."

"You sure?" Lily wondered as she took the icepack from her friends' hand. She then placed it carefully on the girls' bump. Man, they really needed to think things through next time. She didn't want Miley getting physically abused every time they did something secret.

"Yeah." Miley said, closing her eyes at the burning sensation the cold bag brought her.

As Miley tried to endure the waning discomfort, Lily stared at her. Her eyes went from the bump that amused her, to her shut eyes and knit eyebrows, down her cute noise to her lips. Her lips that were slightly parted showing her pearly white teeth. She could almost taste the sweetness they held, their soothing softness, if only she could kiss them.

'What?' She thought with a frown. Had she really desired to do that out of pure innocent pleasure? It was not like she was in need of Miley's carnal favors right now. Considering her position, which was leaning towards Miley, it seemed she really did desire to kiss her. Scowling even more she leaned back, just as Miley was opening her eyes.

"Huh? Are you alright?" Miley asked, noticing the grimace her friend was sporting.

"Uh, yeah sure." – She said returning the icepack to her. – "Why don't we get back to this?"

"Okay." The brunette agreed. She was confused by Lily's sudden change, but decided to let it go.

The girls spent the next fifteen minutes going over the names of the parts of the eye, ear, heart and nervous system. They were doing pretty well, two down and two to go. Miley had the papers in her hands, asking Lily about random parts and Lily was getting really excited whenever she got them right, which was starting to be pretty often. It was when they were about to start on the nervous system that the boy from before reappeared and Lily's mood suddenly had an instant downfall.

"Excuse me, Miley?" Miley turned around wondering who was calling her.

"Oh hey there Michael." She smiled.

"I thought you didn't know him?" Lily said with some attitude.

"Uh, I didn't remember him before, but he's in my Spanish class." Miley explained, somewhat bewildered. Lily's question sounded an awful lot like a reclamation.

"Oh." Lily said feeling a bit ashamed. Yet, she turned to frown at the boy.

"Right. So can I have that word with you now?" He asked her.

"Uh, sure what is it?"

"I was hoping it could be in private." And for that comment, he received a death glare from Lily. He was really starting to dislike that girl. Lily was a little ahead of him on that. She had already disliked him since she first saw him, now she was entering the hate zone. After all, who did he think he was to take Miley away like that? She had her first. If he wanted to talk to her, he should wait until she's not around or say it right there in front of her.

"I don't think I can unless you are willing to wait until later, because now I'm helping Lily here and the bell is about to ring." Miley said, looking down to the papers she was holding and then back at him.

"Its fine, I'll ask you here then." – He said and Lily raised an eyebrow. – "W-well you see, this new café is opening today. It's at the end of this street and it's mainly for high school students, it has games and music and all that stuff. Actually today they are going to have live music since it's the opening and all and I was wondering if you would like to go with me, as in, in a date."

Miley blinked a few times, not really knowing how to answer that. Well, he was good looking and all, and seemed pretty nice, also very polite, but…

"She'll love to!" Miley's head did a sharp turned to the right, to find Lily with a big smile speaking for her. 'What the hell?' Was all she could think. The guy was of a similar thinking, although he's line of thought was more along the line of 'Is she bipolar? Or maybe she has Alzheimer and forgot who I am'. – "Right Miles?" The blond dared asked.

"Really?" Miley turned to see a very eager boy, a smile tugging at his lips.

"Uh…" – As Miley stuttered her answer Lily was trying as hard as she could to keep her smile on. She could not be messing with Miley's love life. The two of them didn't have anything besides friendship, they were not girlfriends! She was the first to say she didn't want their sexual actions to mean anything. So she had to get a grip on whatever false emotions she was feeling and exonerate them. – "Sure." Miley finally agreed.

"Great! Then, I'll see you when school ends by the gate." He said with a smile, receiving another one from the brunette before he walked, almost ran, away. Miley sighed, the boy looked so happy, how could she say no to him. Man, this probably was his first date too, considering his level of excitement; she was going to break an innocent heart.

"Why you did that for? I could have let him down easy, with no pain." The secret pop-star whined.

"What? You don't want to date him? But his hot! I would have totally dated him." Lily said. It was true, Michael was rather hot, spotless white skin, shiny brown hair, deep black eyes and a nice pearly white smile. Miley's type for sure, the lie there was that she wouldn't date him, weirdly enough.

"Whatever. Lets' go to the classroom before the bell rings." She said standing up and picking her backpack from the table.

"It's just a date Mils, so go, have fun and fall in love!" Her blond companion kind of sang as she walked pass her.

"Maybe…" Miley murmured to herself. However, Lily heard it, and the possibility stabbed her heart.

"Look, there's your date." Lily said, signalizing afore them. Her tone similar to one you take when you want to withdraw relevance.

Miley looked ahead and just like Lily had said, Michael was there, leaning against the school's front gate; waiting for her. Apparently, she was indeed going to this date, she couldn't keep ignoring it now.

"I'll see you later then!" Lily shouted, not even looking back to her friend as she ran by Michael.

"What? Lily!" Miley called as she reached her date. Sadly, the girl didn't spare her a glance as she turned the corner.

Miley scowled worriedly, what was wrong with her? It couldn't be that she was mad at her for accepting this date. After all, Lily didn't care about her in that way. The possibility that the blond might be upset because they weren't expending their afternoon together was discarded as well; it was she who pushed her into this mess for a date. So if it wasn't one thing or the other, what could be troubling the cute skater?

"Shall we go?" Michael said, interrupting Miley's musing.

"Uh, right." She smiled at him before following his lead.

Perhaps if Miley ceased to force blindness on herself she would be able to see the obvious truth that was right in front of her. Furthermore, if Lily stopped denying and avoiding her reality the whole situation would be considerably simpler. However, none of these events seemed likely to happen soon. For this reason, Lily was walking towards her house alone, with stomps that wanted to break the sidewalk and a glared that could dig holes through it.

She was moving on auto-pilot. Her intention was to go home but she wasn't sure if she was taking the correct path. Her mind was not in the mood to consider that right now. The only thing it could pour effort into, although Lily wasn't really trying, was thinking about Miley; Miley and that insolent boy.

It was confusing; the entire day had been confusing. Well no, the bewilderment had appeared since last night, when Miley held her hand, stroking it softly with her tantalizing fingertips. It had been so strange, never in the past had they done something analogous. She had not even consider it before it took place, yet she couldn't take her mind of that moment, she couldn't vanish the slightly electrifying feeling of Miley's tender fingers on her skin, and more than that she couldn't believe that a repeat of that occasion would not offend her. In the contrary it would flatter her, along with the excitation of her heart instead of her body which was odd but not unwelcome.

All that in itself had been baffling to the blond, but today had been more than she could take. While last night could represent the deep care they had for each other, for they had been friends for years, the emotions she felt today were not something normal friends should feel, at least not to this extent.

The degree of overprotection for her friend, the antipathy for a guy she didn't even know, the jealousy the possibilities brought her. They were not things she should be feeling and in reality she was not, she told herself. If you are not supposed to feel something, if you do not believe in what you are feeling, then it only takes the desire of banishment to extinguish the thoughts from your mind. In other words a more than blatant, fuck it all.

That last sentence is exactly on what Lily Truscott believes, and it is also the mantra she keeps repeating as she enters her house and walks up the stairs into her room. And she drops on the bed resting on her back while she realizes that the house is as empty as her bedroom and she can feel the solitude. That excruciating solitude you feel when everyone's around yet nobody really is. Once, in what seems like a really long time ago, Lily had not minded the isolation, but that was history. Today, the loneliness was killing her spirit.

Miley looked around the establishment. Wooden floors, wooden chairs, wooden tables, a wooden counter and behind it a wooden kitchen by the end of the first room, where all the aforementioned objects were located. There was also a wooden platform by the far west, where at the moment a new rock band who called themselves "Electric Penguins" were playing. Their music consisted of low voices screaming their lungs out and normal male vocals. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't the best she had heard either; and she could say without bragging that Hannah Montana was much better. Another band came before the "Electric Penguins", that one a more soft rock, and there were probably a few more in their way as well; apparently the party was for long. But for those who didn't like to sit still in a chair and listen to music, there was this game-room by the back, to the right of the kitchen. Fighting games, pinball, pool, DDR, and other arcade games occupied the space. Most guys were in that section, but the ones who were in dates like Miley and Michael were in the first room. Sited in a table by the middle where they could see well enough but not to close as to endanger their eardrums. Other couples were around, along with the few groups of friends that had gotten tired of playing games. The place was rather packed you would say it was a big success just by how bustling it appeared, but then again, this was the opening day and everything was at half price for that motive.

Miley and Michael were currently sharing a big serving of fries with cheese and bacon; she wasn't that hungry so Michael thought this would be good enough. She was drinking a soda while he was drinking a cappuccino; Miley didn't like coffee but she did remember that Lily loved fries with cheese as she inserted one into her mouth. She would have to come back with her blond friend soon and buy her some, they were really good. She bet Lily would love the café's atmosphere too, it was kind of her style, not fancy but not plain either.

"So how do you like the cafe?" Michael asked.

"It's pretty nice." Miley replied smiling. She actually liked the place. It was almost relaxing to be in it, giving you a sense of maturity without restraining your inner child.

"I'm glad you like it." He smiled, before returning his eyes to the band. Miley looked at him for a second more before staring at the band as well. The awkward silence between them began to grow even with the music as distraction. The fact that the boy kept glancing at her every few seconds without saying anything wasn't helping either.

"So, what's the name of this place again?" Miley said, trying to ease his nervousness.

"Uh, Chillaxtation." He answered.

"How…appropriate." She said with a laugh, thinking how that didn't seem like a Café's name at all.

However, something seemed to be off. Perhaps it was the boy who couldn't make a good extended conversation for his life, or Miley whose mind wasn't in this place, moment, or even person, or the fact that their chemistry – if they could ever have one – was been obstructed by a previous more powerful one. Whichever the cause it was clearly to both of them that this wasn't working, in spite of this the boy was not giving up.

"Well, Miley why don't you tell me a bit about yourself?"

"Um, what do you want to know?" She never could answer that kind of question, it was so vague.

"How about your hobbies?" He probed.

"I don't have much. I mean, I like writing, mostly lyrics, singing, playing piano and guitar, um… hanging out with my friends doing whatever. Stuff like that." She said not going into much detail.

"Nice. I see you are talented in music." He praised her.

"Some, some." If there was something that she tried to always keep was her modesty. Daddy always said that those who inflate their head get it blown up.

"Well, I'm more of a sports guy. I do alpinism, surfing, snowboarding and skating for the moment, but I'm planning on adding to that list next summer." Michael said with a proud smile. Apparently, all girls fell when he brought up the daring sports list. Unfortunately for him, she wasn't one of those girls. Besides, if it was a fearless sports person she was looking for, Lily had already beaten him at that.

"Really? My friend Lily does surfing, snowboarding and skating too and roller skating. She wants to do alpinism one day she says, and bungee jumping, not to mention skydiving. She goes crazy when she talks about that stuff." Miley commented, daring him to top that if he could. Of course her challenge was not shown in her expression.

"W-wow. She's a real daredevil!" He said and Miley laughed.

"In a way, I guess. I have to keep an eye out for her at times but it always proves to be fun, so I'm not complaining." – Miley said, remembering some of the times she had spent with the girl in the skater park. However there was this one time in which the blond gave her a pretty bad scare thanks to her games; she was sure God had heard her screamed prayers that day. – "Well, when she doesn't get injured I mean. Because there was this occasion when Lily decided to prove her skills by jumping on a very high rail, she did half the trick right but at the end she landed on her right arm and head instead. I got the fright of my life when I saw her unconscious body on the floor and her head bleeding. Amazingly enough she came out of that with only a dislocated shoulder and a concussion."

"I have broken a few bones too, but it's all part of the game." He shrugged.

"What a heck of a game! It seems more like masochism to me!" The brunette said jokingly, although she did think that way. Michael just laughed.

"Then perhaps I shouldn't tell you about my experiences." He wondered. He didn't want to scare her way after all.

"No go ahead tell me!" She insisted, anything to get this date going and keep the slow awkward silence away.

And so he began to tell her all about his broken bones since he started skateboarding when he was like ten, which was something she did not understand. What parent in their right mind would let a ten year old ride a skateboard and do all of those dangerous tricks?

He was talking about other things he and his friends used to do as children, when her right hip began to vibrate. Looking down, she retrieved her small pink cell phone from her pocket, as Michael continued to talk. But just as she was about to turn it to see who was calling, it stopped. Opening the lid, Miley read the words 'One missed call' on the little screen. She pressed the 'See' button and frowned at the name that appeared: Lily.

Now she was concerned, why would Lily call her and hang up so suddenly?

'Oh fuck!' Lily thought as she threw her dark blue cell phone into her pillow by the head of the bed. How weak had she been?

She was not sure why she was even calling her. She had nothing to tell her, well nothing in specific; except that grade in English class. She had been so eager to tell her about it as soon as today's classes ended but then she saw him there waiting for her, and instantly forgot all about it. Until now that is, still the news weren't a matter of life or death. It could wait.

So then, why had she called? This was stupid, she knew why. She wanted to know how Miley's date was going. If she was enjoying it or not, if she needed to get there and invent some plan to help Miley out of the predicament she had put her into because the guy was just so horrible. Like most cute guys were, and he was rather cute. She was only trying to return the favor.

However, it seemed Miley was in no need of rescue. The girl had not answered her phone, and yes she was aware that she only let it ring twice, but if Miley had wanted to get out of there she would have picked it up in an instant. So, all this lead Lily to believe that Miley was enjoying her date with that Michael guy.

Which was fine, it was totally great, because this is what she wanted and what Miley needed, a boy to intervene so none of them could entertain thoughts that were untrue. So their friendship could preserve.

And even with all this said and re-said she still didn't know why that put her so down. Why did the thought of Miley been with someone else irritate her? Whoever that person may be, that part was irrelevant. What truly mattered was that if Miley found a real lover she would not spend as much time together as they do now. Then it came the detail that she would no longer be allowed to kiss her or touch her because that would be cheating, and so Lily would have to go back to pot or find a different addiction. But could she? Did she even want to? All this thoughts brought a knot to her throat annoyingly confusing her even more.

The phone surprised Lily as it began to ring to the song of 'Right Here', telling her who was the caller. The chorus repeated itself over three times, but the skater didn't make a move to answer it. She just looked at it from the foot of her bed with a slight frown on her face, wondering if she should pick it up. She didn't have to respond for the telephone did it for her as it stopped ringing.

The blond found herself to be slightly disappointed. She would have liked it if Miley had insisted a little more, even if she didn't responded. It would have showed how much her friend wanted to talk to her, but apparently she was having too much fun.

At that moment, as a contradiction perhaps, the phone rang again. Disconcerted, Lily crawled her way to the head of the bed and retrieved her phone. Still, she didn't open it, not yet, she was hesitating.

It was hard to comprehend how she could be so selfish when Miley had always been there to help her. And she would like to blame everything on friendly jealousy, fear of losing their friendship, or in Miley been now her addiction, but she knew that there was something more than just that; even if she didn't want to consciously acknowledge it.

And so, she lifted the lid of her phone and finally answered the caller.

"Hello?"

"Lily? Are you alright?" She heard Miley's concerned voice, almost making her smile.

"Uh, yeah I'm fine." She lied.

"Sure?"

"Yeap. What is it?" Lily asked, as if she didn't know.

"Well, you called me so…" But she was interrupted.

"Oh sorry, I did not mean to interrupt your date. It was a mistake. I was trying to call my mom, to see if she would bring me some food, my bad." Her voice falsely sheepish.

"Oh." – Miley said relieved to know Lily was alright, yet a bit sadden at knowing she wasn't even thinking about her; Lily didn't catch that in her voice. – "It's alright, don't worry about it. Um, did your mother answer you already?"

"Ah, no not yet, but she will soon so just go on with your date. I'll talk to you later so you can tell me all about it. Okay?" Lily said. She definitely didn't want to hear anything that had to do with it, but if that got Miley off the phone sooner, then so be it. She'll try for the conversation to be by phone, that way she could zone out more easily.

"Uh, okay. I'll call you later then." Miley agreed, reluctantly; she could feel something was amiss with Lily.

"Okay bye!"

"Bye." Miley said and Lily disconnecting the call.

As soon as the phone was shut, so was her smile and enthusiasm. Lily stood up from the bed as she dropped her phone on it, then proceeded to walk to her closet. Opening it, she knelt down before all her shoes, and extended her arms to lift three boxes out of four that were on the left side of the closet. She located them on top of her shoes, ignoring them for they did not hold what she seeks. She then took the last shoe box before standing up. Closing the closet door, she made her way back to the bed but instead of sitting on it she set beside it with the box between herself and the bed. She took the top off and there within it lay her basic utensils: Paper, a pipe and a bag of weed.

She looked down at it, and kept staring for a while. She was alone in the house, it didn't seemed like her mother was going to arrive anytime soon, Miley was out on a date and she didn't feel like been with Oliver or anyone else. She didn't even want to go out of the house, but that did not mean she wanted to be in it either.

Miley closed the phone and walked back inside the café. She walked over to Michael who was patiently waiting for her.

"Is everything alright?" He asked looking up at her, since she hadn't still sat down.

She stood before him as she spoke. "Actually, I don't know. I'm going to buy something and then I'm going to have to leave."

"What? Why?" He asked, standing from the chair and walking after her towards the counter.

"Something came up." She simply said as she stood in line. At least there was only one more person before her.

"Something came up? Like what?" Michael asked.

"Next!" – The young woman behind the counter said, smiling courteously. – "Good evening, what is your order?"

"One big order of those fries with cheese ad bacon, and…a grape soda, to go please" She told the woman, while Michael was still standing behind her.

"Would that be all?" She asked, listing everything in the computer before her.

"Yes." Miley answered, taking money out of her wallet.

"That would be six with fifty." The woman said and shortly afterwards received a ten dollar bill from Miley. She opened the cashier and taking the change out handed it back to the brunette, who moved to the side as she waited for her food.

"Something came up and you are buying food?" He asked, everything seemed a little odd to him, and he hoped to get an explanation before the girl walk away.

"Look, I'm sorry, but I have to go check on someone important for me." She explained turning to him.

"Miss, your food." Said one of the workers getting the brunettes' attention. Miley said thank you and took the bag before walking towards the exit. Michael followed her until they were outside, not wanting to let everyone in the café know he was been ditched.

"Miley!" – He called, holding her shoulder halting her. – "I understand that this person, whoever it is, is very important to you and you want to make sure they are okay. But tell me, will I get another chance like this?"

Miley turned around to face him fully, and sighed before she spoke. "Michael, you are a very nice guy and I truly enjoyed today, but I'm just not interested in you that way. Sorry." And with that she turned around and walked away.

It was sad, because he was such a kind guy and handsome to boot. Had she met him in a different circumstance perhaps they could have fallen in love. But things weren't like that, and she wouldn't change Lily for anyone, even if her love wasn't reciprocated.

It was still there, looking at her, waiting for her to take it and give it purpose. It knew she wanted it and she knew it too. Nonetheless, she was wavering. Her eyes linger in its contents wishing to take hold of it and get it done with. She knew she would feel good afterwards. All stupid and confusing emotions, all the loneliness would be gone and she would be happy, ecstatic even if for just a little while. Yet the pipe, the paper and the weed remained there, unmoving, participating into this unconventional stare contest.

She raised her right hand nearing it towards the box, but stopped allowing it to hover over its occupants. Perhaps minutes died before the hand started to close, longing for Lily's will to run from her entire being into her hand. Nonetheless, the strength to do what she thought she wanted never came, and as her fingers met her palm forming a fist the doorbell rang.

Unwillingly, Lily stood from the floor and kicked the pot filled box under the bed making a mental note to hide it later, before she walked downstairs. She felt pathetic, whether it was from the thought of almost falling into old habits or the fact that she couldn't do it, was unknown. But she felt utterly pathetic, and miserable.

The doorbell rang again and she almost shouted that she was coming but didn't, she was close to it anyway. She took a look into the peephole and frowned at seeing that was Miley. What was she doing here? She wondered as she opened the door.

"Miley what are you doing here?" The blond spoke her confusion.

"Well, I decided to cut the date short." She said. Did she really have to explain what was so obvious?

"Why?" Lily asked. Evidently the singer would have to make it crystal clear.

"I only went to that date because you practically forced me to, I didn't want to go. I prefer to be here with you." – The brunette explained, staring into Lily's light blue eyes as she said that last sentence. – "I brought grape soda, your favorite because last time I was here you were whining because there was none. I also have fries with cheese and bacon!" The brunette added lifting the bag she had on her right hand. She had on a big smile on, eager to get one out of her friend as well.

Lily did not disappoint. Her beam wasn't as large or as goofy as Mileys' but she had a genuine moved smile painted on her face. She walked forwards and circled the girls' waist in a tight embrace, her chin resting on Miley's shoulder. Miley was somewhat taken aback, but it wore off rather quickly.

"I should bring food more often." She joked, raising her left arm and throwing it over the blonds' shoulders, trying to bring her as close as she could. Lily laughed holding tight onto the singer.

While the secret pop star felt relieved to know everything was alright, Lily was just content with been the one in Miley's warm embrace. No matter what that meant.

--

To Be Continued…

A/N: My fricking God! This is the longest chapter yet! This was one heck of a hassle to check for errors too, so I probably still have a few (if not a lot) around here. I'll edit them eventually.

Well, um what can I say, I really wasn't expecting this length, but the escape scene was fun to write. Now I have some questions. How was that escape scene? Did you understand everything? How do you think I did with the change of scenes? Do you think I could have done better with this chapter? Where and how?

And of course, don't forget to tell me what you think about the story.