Y'all. We went to the state fair on Saturday. Mitchel was there. We did not actually go see him, because, well, honestly I am not willing to pay 15 dollars to have my hearing permanently damaged by screaming eleven-year-olds. But we did stand around outside the grandstand for the length of two songs, enjoying the diversity and talent of his background dancers (one was blonde and one was brunette! Sometimes they twirled around!) from a distance while trying to figure out what the hell he was wearing (one of my friends thought rhinestones were involved, but I think they were just really shiny metal buttons). Sadly, we were too far away for me to tell if he was wearing those sunglasses that make him look like a bug. At one point, my friend said, "Is he...is he trying to rap?" and that's when we realized it was time to go.

Anyway.

Warning: You guys are going to read this story and go, "Omg, wtf is she on?" Well, I'll tell you. It's crack. Craaaaack.

Rated M for the usual reason. All you slow build-up people are going to hate me. Oh, and Amissverse Miley would kick my ass if she knew I was doing it (you'll see why later), but chapter titles will still be taken from Hannah lyrics.

Disclaimer: We all know they're not mine, but Disney would have to be stupid to sue me over this story. I can think of about five different ways they'd lose.

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Chapter One: A Chance Worth Taking

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When you look back there is always the past
Even when it has vanished
But when you look forward
What can you write
Whatever I have to do has not yet begun

- W.S. Merwin, "It Is March"

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Thanksgiving 2011

Sunlight flashed off the silver surface of the trunk hood, nearly blinding Miley as she slammed it shut. There. Now they were all packed and could get out of here, not a moment too soon since they were facing an eight hour drive to get from Seattle to Angel's place outside of Merrill, Oregon. A couple years ago, Angel had decided that city life was too much for her – way too much – and had wanted to retire somewhere secluded to try and work through the emotional fallout of her decision to buck the system and help Miley, so Miley had purchased some land and a cabin up in the mountains in Oregon. To her thinking, it was a sound investment any way you looked at it, and she would have given Angel a lot more than that, for what she'd done.

Miley could scarcely believe it had been three and a half years since Angel had brought Lilly to her. After Miley had finished rehab and the blowout from her quitting Hannah had, well, blown over, the two of them had gotten a new tutor and buckled down, getting their G.E.D.s last spring only a year later than they would have graduated originally. Now they were getting near the end of their first semester at the University of Washington, which had been Lilly's choice – Miley couldn't have cared less where they went to school, as long as they went together. Miley grinned. Of course, Lilly was having second thoughts now, as the weather turned cold after weeks and weeks of rain. More than once she'd caught Lilly mumbling under her breath that they should have stayed in Malibu and gone to school there, like Jackson had.

This trip would be good for her: a break from the constant drizzle that lately had been mixed with sleet, and a chance for her to hopefully relax a bit from the frantic pace Lilly had set for herself when it came to schoolwork. She was determined to overload and take classes during the summer and graduate in three years, and recently she'd started talking about going straight into law school after that, which added more pressure for her to keep her grades up. Miley was just worried Lilly would burn herself out before she ever got to law school, so she welcomed any pretext that she could use to get Lilly to slow down, and Thanksgiving was the perfect opportunity.

Today was Wednesday, and technically should have been a half day for them since they both had morning classes that were still being held as the university didn't let out for the holiday until noon. But Miley had convinced Lilly that everyone else was skipping them, so it wouldn't hurt if they did, too, and they were getting an early start on the road instead. They'd drive down today and back up on Sunday, and while Miley was looking forward to the trip for Lilly's sake, she was a bit more ambivalent about it for herself.

Not that she didn't want to see Angel again, or Jackson, but her father was coming too, and the past three years had done little to improve their relationship. It hadn't helped that Robby Ray had stayed away for the most part, drifting around the world and only stopping in Malibu occasionally.

Until a few months ago, that was. Things between him and Jackson were good, and once Miley and Lilly had moved to Seattle to start school, he'd come back to stay at the house in Malibu with her brother. While Miley had tacitly approved that decision through Jackson – she didn't think her dad would have stayed if she hadn't – it still hurt that he'd essentially waited for her to leave town before returning. Miley contended that it was because he was still angry with her for precipitating his divorce, even if Candice had been a gold-digging bitch, but Lilly maintained that it was because he still felt guilty for not having been there for her when she'd needed him. But then, Lilly was always convinced that Miley was taking too much blame on her own shoulders.

And now, not only would she have to share a cabin in the middle of nowhere with him for three days, but he and Jackson had planned a camping trip for just the three of them the day after Thanksgiving. Lilly had high hopes that would help their relationship; Miley was, to say the least, a bit more pessimistic.

"Lilly, let's go!" Miley yelled at the half-open front door, not wanting to dwell on thoughts of the upcoming trip anymore. She tossed her hair, now restored to its natural color, over her shoulder in impatience. It really was her natural color, too, instead of the dye she'd planned on using while she went through the painfully slow process of growing out the length that had been blonde. A few months after she'd "retired" Hannah, the morning after she told Angel about the cabin, she'd woken up to find herself a brunette again. A thank-you present, Angel said.

A large drop in the number of times she got recognized accompanied the change, much bigger than it should have been considering the outcome of her attempt to use a brown wig as a disguise years earlier. She hadn't asked, but she was pretty sure that was part of the present. She was able to live a mostly normal life now: no paparazzi, no fans. No music.

The ugly yellow-green door swung the rest of the way open and Lilly appeared in the doorway. They really needed to repaint that, Miley thought absently. "Hang on, we just forgot one thing," Lilly called.

"No, we didn't," Miley said. "I got your suitcase, and mine, and the laptop, and the backpack for the camping trip – "

"And this," Lilly said, brandishing a guitar case in her hand.

Dammit. Miley brought a hand up to rub at her temples. The guitar had been a gift from Lilly a year ago on her birthday, another one of Lilly's not-so-subtle hints that she thought Miley should start singing and playing again, despite Miley's repeated assertions that she wasn't ready yet and didn't know if she ever would be. It was one of the few bones of contention between them. "Lilly – "

"Just bring it," Lilly pleaded. She ran lightly down the porch stairs and stopped in front of Miley. "You don't have to play it, and I promise I won't even bring it up once when we get up there, but bring it with you."

"I don't know, Lilly..."

"Please?" Lilly begged. She took a step closer and batted her eyelashes at Miley. "Bring it for me?"

Miley was not about to miss an opportunity like that. She stepped forward, closing the distance between them to a bare inch. "What's in it for me if I do?" she drawled suggestively.

Miley heard Lilly swallow, and the other girl couldn't seem to tear her eyes away from Miley's lips, and for a second Miley was sure that Lilly was going to kiss her. Then Lilly stumbled backwards, red flushing her cheeks. "Uh, my undying gratitude?" she offered, not looking at Miley.

Miley almost groaned in frustration. This had been going on for weeks now, and it was an infuriating dance that involved a lot of one-step-forward-two-steps-back, interspersed with some one-step-forward-one-step-back and the ever so rare one-step-forward-no-steps-back.

It was just so frustrating, and Miley restrained the urge to kiss Lilly and force the issue right then and there. Instead, she took the guitar from Lilly's hand and put it in the backseat of the car without a word. As much as inaction galled her – she was not now and hadn't ever been a patient person – she had to be careful when it came to Lilly. She never wanted to do anything to upset or scare her – too much was at stake if that happened – but for the life of her Miley couldn't figure out how the other girl felt. Mixed signals didn't begin to describe it.

They had always been close, and the past three years had only made them closer, especially since cramming to finish high school and Miley's newfound dislike of large groups of people hadn't exactly led to them having swinging social lives. Sometimes Miley felt so close to Lilly she could look at her and see every thought she had written plainly across her face, but when it came to this, Miley had no idea what Lilly was thinking. The pervading feeling of unease that turned Miley's stomach when she thought about upsetting Lilly meant that she might not ever have taken the first step towards admitting how she felt, but it had been drowned out by the persistent and growing fear that Lilly would meet someone here at school and Miley would lose her.

So for weeks now Miley had been gently and not-so-gently hinting that she wanted to move their relationship in a different direction, but she still didn't know for sure how Lilly felt. Sometimes Lilly would act like she didn't notice or understand the remarks Miley made. Sometimes – like just now – she'd start to respond and then backpedal. And sometimes – the times Miley lived for – she'd flirt back, and Miley would think maybe this wasn't so hopeless after all.

But in the end, all Miley really knew was that this was starting to drive her crazy. She didn't think she could take much more of this, and she decided right then, closing the car door and watching while Lilly locked the front door of the little house, that one way or the other, by the end of this trip she'd end this torment. After all, she and Lilly were sharing a room and a bed up at the cabin. It shouldn't be too hard to make it perfectly clear what she wanted.

Suddenly feeling more hopeful about the trip, Miley walked around the car and got into the driver's seat, cranking the car on and whistling a happy little nonsense tune, smiling at Lilly when she climbed in next to her.

———————————————

The engine strained as Miley guided the car up the last bit of dirt road to get to the driveway to Angel's cabin. Their Lexus wasn't really built for off-roading, but they'd made this trip before a few times, so Lilly wasn't worried. Miley turned off into the driveway and soon they could see the small wooden cabin set on a rise in front of them. The cabin was painted a dark brown, with white shutters and a roofed but not screened-in porch out front.

Miley pulled up close to the side of the cabin, making sure to leave enough room for another car on their other side. Lilly bounced out of her seat and outside the car before Miley had even killed the engine. She couldn't wait to see Angel, and she had the next four days with no classes, and in all honesty she was a guiltily glad that she wasn't going to have to go home for Thanksgiving and listen to her mother make veiled insults about Miley.

Although, staying honest, she was a little nervous about this trip as well, and her nerves all centered around the girl climbing out of the driver's seat. The past few weeks, things between her and Miley had been...different. Ever since Miley had started, well, flirting with her, for lack of a better word. And Lilly really, really wanted to find a better word.

At first, Lilly had just tried to ignore it, to push down her reactions, and she still tried to do that now. But it was getting harder, and sometimes her body betrayed her or she reacted without thinking, and then there would be that triumphant, hopeful gleam in Miley's eyes that Lilly hated watching dim when she remembered herself and pulled back. In the beginning, she'd hoped that by ignoring it, it would go away, this thing between them that Lilly didn't know if she yearned for or resented, and she wouldn't have to try and sort out the tangled snarl of her emotions. That hadn't happened.

And from the way that gleam had stayed in Miley's eyes the whole drive up here, Lilly didn't think it was going to.

Shaking her head to dislodge her worries, Lilly opened the back door and grabbed the guitar, then moved to the trunk that Miley had already popped open so she could get her suitcase.

"There's my girls!" a voice called from above them, and Miley and Lilly both looked up to see Angel standing at the corner of the porch, one hand on the railing and the other waving to them.

"Hi, Angel," they chorused.

"Y'all get up here so I can give you some hugs!" she instructed them, and, laughing, they complied, with Miley bringing the laptop and her own suitcase. Once Angel had hugged them to her satisfaction they retired to the cabin, much to Lilly's relief since it was even colder here in the mountains than it was in Seattle. At least it wasn't raining.

The front door to the little cabin opened directly a large open area. Immediately to the left of the door was an island with bar stools and beyond that the small kitchen, which was open to the living room and dining room. They weren't actually separate rooms, just different sections of the main room, and were only marked by the large table on the left side of the cabin, the couch, loveseat, and easy chair clustered around an old television to the right, and the tile floor and appliances in the kitchen. There were three doors in the back wall of the cabin that led to Angel's room, the spare bedroom, and the bathroom.

Miley and Lilly had laid claim to the spare bedroom, which Lilly felt a little guilty about, but Miley had just shrugged and said, hey, no one else had shelled out the money to buy this place. There was a little half-loft over the dining room portion of the main room that had a twin mattress, and Miley's dad would be sleeping up there. Jackson and his girlfriend were going to be stuck sleeping on the pull-out couch.

Jackson was dating Sarah, a fact that still continued to amuse Miley and Lilly even though they'd been together for two years now. The first time he'd brought her home, Miley and Lilly had looked at each other and just broken out laughing, not able to stop for a good five minutes. That had been a little difficult to explain away to Jackson and Sarah, and hadn't been helped by Jackson meeting her at a Save the Dolphins rally, which just made the whole thing even funnier. And a year after they'd started dating, she'd managed to get him to go vegan, something Miley still never let him hear the end of.

They dumped their stuff in the spare bedroom, Lilly making sure to prop the guitar against the back wall where it would be seen every time they walked in the room, which earned her a look from Miley that she blithely ignored.

The cabin smelled like apples and pumpkin and sugar, courtesy of the pies cooling on the kitchen counter. The three of them gathered in the kitchen, Miley and Lilly perching on barstools at the island as they filled Angel in on their classes.

The whole time, Miley wouldn't stop touching Lilly.

They'd always touched, but not like this: this was a hand, warm on her shoulder, or lingering a few beats too long on her arm, so that Lilly was glad her long sleeves hid the goosebumps. This was fingers stroking over the back of Lilly's hand or tucking a strand of hair behind Lilly's ear, not-so-accidentally brushing the side of Lilly's neck as Miley pulled her hand away. This was that same hand resting at the small of her back, and Miley leaning into her too close and too often for her intentions to be mistaken. This was torture.

Torture that quickly had arousal buzzing through Lilly's blood, making it hard to think. She wanted to tell Miley to stop, she wanted to tell Miley to never stop, she wanted to rip Miley's clothes off, push her up on the counter, and eat apple pie off her stomach.

She didn't know what she wanted, but Miley was making it clear she'd have to decide. Soon.

A temporary reprieve came when Robby Ray arrived with Jackson and Sarah. It was late by the time they got there; they'd had a longer drive than Lilly and Miley and didn't make the cabin until well after dark.

They came through the door loaded down with luggage and groceries – it was kind of hard to find tofurkey up in the mountains of Oregon – and everyone crowded together, saying hello and embracing. Or almost everyone.

Only Lilly saw the flash of hurt cross Robby Ray's face when Miley avoided his one-armed attempt to hug her and took the cloth grocery bag from him instead, busying herself by taking them into the kitchen and putting them away. Lilly's heart sank. They had been so close, once, and now without her dad's support it was like a part of Miley was missing. Lilly really hoped the camping trip on Friday would help, because she couldn't stand to see them like this.

Everyone retired to the living room, even though Lilly almost would have rather just gone straight to bed. She sat on the couch, sandwiched between Miley and Angel while Jackson and Sarah shared the loveseat and Robby Ray settled in the armchair. It had been a long day, and Lilly felt herself start to zone out a little, letting the conversation wash over her like low tide lapping at the shore but not taking part. Then Miley put her hand on Lilly's thigh.

Foolishly, she hadn't been expecting it. Miley had been doing things like that for weeks, yes, but – a look here, a touch there. Plenty of time in between for Lilly to build her defenses back up. Never anything like tonight. And never with an audience.

Lilly started, then glanced around surreptitiously to see if anyone had noticed. "I told her to shorten her last name," Robby Ray was saying. "And the rest is history." Jackson groaned and Sarah laughed. None of them had seen. Lilly looked to her left, saw Angel looking back expectantly. Her eyes flickered from Lilly's down to Miley's hand, still on Lilly's thigh, and back up, an eyebrow edging upwards. Lilly felt the beginnings of a blush stain her cheeks and she crossed her legs to dislodge Miley's hand.

It didn't work. Miley's hand stayed where it was, inching a bit higher, and Miley leaned against Lilly's shoulder to keep her arm from being awkwardly stretched out, and everyone saw that.

There was a hitch in the conversation before Jackson mercifully filled the silence. "So Sarah and I are starting a petition against prop. seventeen," he said, but Lilly could hardly hear him over the blood rushing through her ears. She waited for Robby Ray and Angel to turn their interest to Jackson and Sarah's explanation of the evils of proposition seventeen and then she took Miley's hand, lacing their fingers together, and firmly moved it off her leg and onto the couch between them.

But Miley wouldn't let go, and kept their joined hands moving until they were resting squarely in Miley's lap. Sarah stumbled over the word environment and all the blood roaring in Lilly's ears rushed down to lodge in her face. As soon as she got Miley alone, Lilly was going to kill her.

Anger made her tense, and Lilly tugged on her hand lightly, trying to free it without making even more of a scene, but Miley still wouldn't let go, rubbing her thumb over Lilly's knuckles to soothe her. And it worked, her body relaxing almost against her will, reacting to Miley's intentions the way it always did, even as Lilly mentally cursed it and the girl next to her.

The conversation had turned into a debate about the effectiveness of recycling programs, and Miley squeezed Lilly's hand before she jumped into the fray, smiling at her as though nothing out of the ordinary had just happened, nothing at all.

If Miley kept this up, Lilly didn't know if she'd survive the weekend.

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The night was far from restful. It wasn't that Lilly had never slept in the same bed as Miley before – far from it, in fact, that had been at least a weekly occurrence between the ages of twelve and fourteen – but not like this.

Miley hadn't wasted any time. Twenty minutes after they'd crawled into bed, exhausted from the drive and seeing everyone, Miley had turned over, ostensibly in her sleep, and thrown and arm and a leg over Lilly. Lilly had poked at her and hissed Miley's name a few times. No response. But the strategic placement of Miley's limbs and the fact that every time she breathed, her breasts brushed against Lilly's upper arm ever so lightly made Lilly doubt that Miley was truly asleep.

She should have moved Miley. Just picked up her arm and pushed her back over on her other side. Instead, she'd laid on her back, mentally debating with herself over what to do until Miley's breath on her neck – the feel of which was making tingles spread from the spot in concentric circles across Lilly's body – slowed and deepened and Lilly knew she was really asleep. Then she turned to face Miley. One of her knees slid between Miley's and she draped an arm over Miley's waist, peering at her face even though it was mostly blanketed with impenetrable shadows.

Miley, Miley, Lilly'd thought. What am I going to do with you? She'd watched Miley sleep for hours without coming any closer to an answer.

Things seemed clearer in the bright light of day. They'd ended up spooned back-to-front sometime during the night, after Lilly had finally fallen asleep. Resolute, Lilly pulled herself from Miley's embrace and out of bed. Thanksgiving, and Lilly was thankful she'd woken up first. She crossed to the window and yanked open the curtains. Sunlight poured in and shone directly in Miley's face. That'll teach her to fall asleep on me, Lilly thought in satisfaction, and then, when Miley started to stir and blinked sleepy blue-gray eyes at her, god, but she looks cute in the morning.

Digging through her suitcase for a bathrobe and her shower bag distracted her from that last thought.

"Hey," Miley said, voice husky with sleep. "Did you just get up?"

"Yeah. And you'd better get up, too. You're gonna have to start cooking if we're going to eat any time today." Miley grimaced but sat up in bed. Her long, dark hair tangled around her head and fell halfway down the pink and white polka dot pajama top she had on.

No one had taken a vote, but Miley had still been unofficially elected the cook of the cabin. There was a Tennessee game on today, which meant Robby Ray and Jackson would both be glued to the couch. Lilly could burn water, which was the reason Miley had learned to cook in the first place, so she was out. Miley would have Angel and Sarah to help her, though Sarah's main role would likely be vetting the food to make sure everything was vegan.

"Let me have the shower first?" Miley asked. "That way I can start cooking right after and not have to stop."

The corner of Miley's pale pink bathrobe was sticking out of her suitcase. Lilly tugged the garment out and tossed it on the bed. "Sure."

"I forgot to pack shampoo. And conditioner."

Lilly raised an eyebrow. "You didn't forget," she accused. "You were just lazy and you knew I'd pack some and you figured you could bum off of me."

Miley grinned at her but didn't answer. Sighing, Lilly lobbed the bathroom bag so that it landed on the bed next to Miley's robe. "Don't hog all the hot water."

The day went pretty much according to plan. Miley, Angel, and Sarah all clustered in the kitchen, Angel breaking down bread in the blender for stuffing while Miley and Sarah tried to work out the logistics behind cooking a tofurkey. Lilly offered to help repeatedly – it was purely coincidence that these offers occurred every time the Vols scored and Lilly was forced to do another Tennessee Touchdown Stomp – and was repeatedly rebuffed. At least until Miley realized they were in dire need of another set of hands.

"Jackson, we need your help," Miley hollered across the open space between the little kitchen and the couch in the living room.

"Miles, we've got possession," Jackson said, not taking his eyes off the television.

"It's fourth down, Mile," her dad added. "Can it wait a minute?"

The Vols were ten yards away from another touchdown. "I'll help," Lilly said eagerly, jumping up.

Miley eyed her skeptically but gave in, which meant she must really need help. "All right. Here – " She put a cutting board down on the kitchen island and gave Lilly an onion and a knife. "All you have to do is chop up the onion, okay? You don't have to get anywhere near the stove."

"Oh, come on, Miley, I'm not that bad," Lilly protested.

Miley held up her hands in surrender. "I didn't say you were. Just...stay away from the stove."

Lilly chopped the onion neatly in half. She picked up one half and started peeling off the papery skin. She'd show Miley. She'd chop that onion better than even Miley could. And she did – right up until the knife slipped and sliced into her index finger. "Ow," Lilly whimpered quietly. Blood started to well up along the length of the small cut.

Miley stopped stirring the simmering pot of cranberries for the cranberry sauce and trotted over the few steps to Lilly. "What happened? Let me see."

The finger was held aloft for inspection. Angel and Sarah looked up from where they were peeling sweet potatoes and snapping green beans, respectively. Green beans, Lilly thought. In retrospect, that was clearly the job she should have been given.

Miley grabbed Lilly's finger and brought it closer to her face. "It doesn't look too bad," she pronounced. Then she stuck Lilly's finger in her mouth.

Lilly froze as every single particle in her body suddenly came to attention and focused on the sensation on Miley's mouth closed around her fingertip. Miley's hot, wet mouth, gently sucking...oh, god, licking her fingertip. The feel of Miley's tongue rasping along the pad of her finger shot a bolt of lightening straight through her. Lilly bit down hard on her tongue to stop a groan from escaping. The sharp stab of pain brought her back to herself enough to pull her finger out of Miley's mouth. It made a slick popping sound when it came free that sent a shudder through Lilly's body.

"How's that?" Miley asked blandly. Her eyes twinkled knowingly. "Better?"

It was taking Lilly several moments to remember how to breathe, and Miley was enjoying this. Turning her head, Lilly saw surprise and amusement playing across Angel and Sarah's faces. She knew her own was firetruck red. "I'm, uh...I'm going to get a band aid," she stammered out.

Then she fled to the bathroom.

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For the next few hours after Lilly emerged from the bathroom with a mostly unnecessary bandage on her finger, she kept to the living room, enduring the Touchdown Stomps. They were better than the alternative: going back into the kitchen and facing Angel and Sarah. Not to mention there was no telling what Miley might do.

At least the Vols were winning.

And win they did, finally, 44-27, ten minutes before dinner was ready. Spread out on the table was so much food it looked like the table legs might give way at any moment. A white lace tablecloth had been draped over the table and Sarah had gathered some of the bright red, orange, and yellow leaves from outside and strewn them down the center. The small silver platter with the tofurkeys on it was in the middle of the table, surrounded by serving dishes filled with mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, cranberry sauce, sweet potato pie, rolls, a spinach salad, and stuffing, because Miley claimed hers was better than the kind the tofurkeys came stuffed with.

Robby Ray, Lilly, and Jackson surveyed the bounty with wide eyes. "Geez, Miles, there's no way we'll ever be able to eat all of this," said Jackson.

"Yeah, you three have outdone yourselves," Robby Ray put in. "I don't think we could eat all this if we had a whole week."

"Speak for yourselves, boys," Lilly said, pulling out her chair and taking a seat. "Personally, I think I could eat about half of this tonight myself." She picked up the burgundy cloth napkin by her plate and snapped it open, placing it in her lap. Looking up, she saw everyone staring at her in amusement. "Well," she demanded. "Are we going to eat, or just stand around looking?"

"Oh, we're eating," Angel assured her, which was the cue for everyone else to seat themselves. Robby Ray sat at one end, with Jackson and Sarah to his left, Lilly and Miley to his right, and Angel at the other end. After a short blessing by Angel, everyone attacked the food and the only speech heard for the next thirty minutes was comments mumbled around mouthfuls about how good the food was. Privately, Lilly was amazed; she hadn't really been expecting the vegan version of mashed potatoes to taste like, well, mashed potatoes, or the vegan version of anything to taste like the normal version, but they did. Except the tofurkey, which still tasted mostly like tofu, but Lilly wasn't a southern California girl for nothing, and she enjoyed it. Probably more than the Tennessee trio did, judging by the looks on their faces.

After half an hour, even Lilly had to concede defeat. She stuffed one last bite of sweet potatoes in her mouth and then slumped back in her chair, pushing her plate away from her slightly. Around the table, everyone else was slouched in similar positions. Glazed eyes gazed off at nothing and breathing was uniformly shallow. "Too full," Jackson complained. "Can't move." Everyone groaned softly in agreement.

"You know," Angel said. "I made three different kinds of pie yesterday before y'all got here." The groans were much louder this time. If anyone had had the strength, Angel probably would have gotten five rolls chucked at her head.

"I think we're gonna have to wait on that," Robby Ray managed. He struggled into a more upright position and started to stand.

Across the table, Sarah elbowed Jackson and he straightened up. "Uh, everybody? Before we all kinda scatter and find somewhere to lie down until we can move again, Sarah and I have an announcement to make." Lilly snuck a look at Miley out of the corner of her eye, but the other girl just shrugged a little. She didn't have any idea what this was about either. "We're, uh, we're – "

"We're getting married," Sarah broke in.

There was a moment of shocked quiet that was quickly broken by loud exclamations of congratulations. Seats emptied as everyone gathered around the happy couple to thump Jackson on the back and hug Sarah.

"That's my boy," Robby Ray crowed.

"When did this happen?" Lilly asked, just as Angel said, "Have you set a date?" Miley, grinning from ear-to-ear, opened her mouth to add another question to the mix.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Jackson held up his hands. "One question at a time, please. We just got engaged last week, and – "

"We haven't set a date yet," Sarah said. "We want to wait – "

"Until Sarah gets out of school," Jackson finished.

"You're not even married yet and you're already finishing each others' sentences." Miley shook her head, but she was still smiling. "Not a good sign."

"Oh, please," Jackson scoffed. "Like you and Lilly haven't been finishing each other's sentences for years now." An awkward silence fell. Lilly didn't dare look at Miley. "I mean," Jackson temporized, realizing what he'd said. "Not that you two...I mean – "

"We know what you meant," Lilly said quickly. God, this was excruciating. Did whatever it was that was or wasn't happening between her and Miley have to be so obvious? Did Miley have to make it so obvious? A small ribbon of anger wormed its way through Lilly's gut. They'd been here less that twenty-four hours and already everyone knew something was going on, when Lilly herself didn't even know what that something was. Or what she wanted it to be. "Anyway, congratulations, you guys. I – I think I'm going to take a nap now."

She retreated to the bedroom, relieved when no one said anything to stop her, and glad Miley didn't follow.

———————————————

Water swirled down the drain, and Lilly spit and then rinsed her mouth out, spitting again. She ran the toothbrush under the water and stuck it back in the upright travel holder, twisting the water off. She felt keyed up, nervous. Restless. Possibly eating three slices of pie for dinner hadn't been the brightest idea. But it wasn't Lilly's fault that she hadn't been able to face leftovers so soon after gorging herself that afternoon, nor that each of the apple, pumpkin, and pecan pies had looked too good to pass up. The apple had almost been good enough to make her stop missing the butterscotch pie with whipped topping her mother always made at Thanksgiving.

Flipping the light off, Lilly opened the door and made her way through the living room to the bedroom she was sharing with Miley, moving slowly so that she wouldn't run into the pull-out sofabed Jackson and Sarah were sleeping on. They'd still been up when she went into the bathroom, so she didn't think they'd had time to fall asleep already, but the light was off now and she didn't want to bang her shins in the dark.

Please let Miley be sleeping, she prayed as she cracked open the door to their bedroom. Or at least pretending to be asleep, that would work too.

No such luck. Miley was perched on the side of the bed, obviously waiting for Lilly. Lilly didn't look at her straight on, instead taking quick little sideways glances at her as she crossed to the other side of the room and dropped to her knees, digging through her suitcase. Not that she really needed anything in her suitcase, but it was something to do. Something that kept a safe amount of distance between her and Miley.

"I love you."

The words dropped like stones into the quiet, and Lilly felt her heart seize up and then restart. Her hands trembled. She grabbed a shirt and squeezed it, hard, holding it down in the suitcase so Miley wouldn't see. "I love you, too," she said lightly, trying to deflect the conversation she knew was coming.

"Don't," Miley said, voice scalpel-sharp. "Don't pretend like you don't understand what I'm saying. It's hard enough to say as it is."

Shame flushed Lilly's cheeks red. Miley was right. Of course she was. Lilly let go of the shirt and turned, sat back on her heels. Met Miley's eyes. "All right."

"I don't think this is a surprise," Miley said. Her mouth twisted down into a frown. "I've been...pretty clear, I think, about how I feel. But I wanted – I needed to tell you. To say it. So there isn't any misunderstanding, so you don't think, I don't know, that this is some game, or phase, or experiment, or something."

Lilly didn't think that. She'd never thought that. She might be confused about a lot of things, but not that. "Miley – "

"I love you," Miley cut her off. "I'm in love with you."

Lilly said again, helplessly, "Miley..."

Miley turned her head, breaking their gaze. "I don't expect anything from you, obviously. I just – I just wanted you to know."

Part of Lilly wanted more than anything to run across the room and grab Miley and never let go. But she couldn't. Not when – well. Not when there was so much she didn't know. "Miley, I...I just need some time. To think about things. This. I just need some time."

Miley nodded once, her head jerking up and back down like it was only loosely attached to her neck. She didn't look back at Lilly. The room felt too small suddenly. Lilly didn't know what to think, what to do, how her life had suddenly become such a complicated mess. Though it didn't surprise her that Miley was at the root of it. There was something to be said for consistency.

Lilly scrambled to her feet. "I'm going to get some air," she mumbled. "Don't wait up." And for the third time that day, Lilly ran away.

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Wow, that's a horrible place to stop. Sorry. Had to be done. I think I'm going to go with the Monday/Friday posting schedule again for this one, so chapter two will be up on Friday. We'll find out what's going on inside Lilly's head then.