Stay Beautiful.

By Katie

Pairing: Jilly/Lake!

Rating: Somewhat based off of the song "Stay Beautiful" by Taylor Swift. But not really. Set after "That's What Friends Are For?". Oh, and has anybody else noticed the lack of Jake&Lilly stories in this section? SERIOUSLY! There are NO good JL stories.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hannah Montana or anything else the masterminds at Disney have created.

X

"Lilly, just shut up." Jake Ryan said, exasperated.

"Er, sorry. I have a bit of a problem with rambling in awkward situations." Lilly Truscott replied. Her cheeks were bright red as she pulled her beanie cap a little lower on her head.

Sitting, drinking coffee, chatting, and eating a bagel with your best friend's ex whom you used to be obsessed with. Didn't get much more awkward than that.

"Really? You hide it so well." Jake smirked, sipping at his cup of black coffee.

"Oh, whatever. At least I'm not trying to be the epitome of sophistication with a cup of black coffee and an unbuttered bagel. How can you eat a bagel without butter?" Lilly glared, taking a large bite our of her (buttered) cinnamon-swirl bagel.

"What? You know, Lilly, you remind me of someone I know."

"Really? Whoa?! Somebody famous? Oooooh, is it-"

"No. Nobody you're thinking of. You remind me of my older sister, Emily." Jake said, sipping at his coffee again.

"Sister? I didn't know you had a sister."

"Nobody really does. Well, except for you and me and my family." Jake laughed.

"That's not very many people. Don't you, like, live with her or something?" Lilly raised a curious eyebrow.

"Nah. Em lives in New York. I don't really get to see her very often. But she acts just like you anyway." he replied, twirling around his stir-stick.

"I'm sorry, Jake. I wish I could meet your sister...then again, she might annoy me slightly. I don't really like neurotic people such as myself."

Jake laughed again, one of those real, full laughs that warms your whole body and starts you laughing too.

So there they were, laughing in a quiet little coffee shop. Everybody was staring at them, either amused or annoying.

When Jake noticed the stares of the other people, his laughing died in his throat, as did Lilly's.

"Ahem, we should go." Jake coughed.

Lilly nodded, picking up her belongings from the booth.

The two hurried out of the coffee shop, both blushing madly.

"Aha, well, that was interesting." Jake smirked.

"I'm not sure they liked us very much." she replied smally.

Jake's eyes glinted with mischief as they walked down the sidewalk.

Lilly felt awkward again. A good kind of awkward.

"So, Jake...Miley told me you guys made some kind of just friends pact." Lilly said, swinging her arms waywardly.

"Oh. Yeah. I mean, like, I still have feelings for Miley, but...it's like they're...uh, dormant?" Jake replied, running his hands through his blond locks.

"...Okay..."

"It's just-" Jake began. And then he stopped and just looked at Lilly. Lilly blushed, looking down shyly. When she looked up again, Jake was still looking.

His green eyes sparkled with an emotion Lilly didn't think she'd ever seen on Jake. Well, maybe when he'd looked at Miley-

Wait, when he looked at Miley?!

Lilly's eyes widened. When Jake looked at Miley, he always look...lovey-dovey or something.

"Um, Jake?" Lilly waved her hand in front of Jake's face.

"Sorry, it's just...you have really beautiful eyes, you know?"

Lilly blushed. It felt kind of good to know that somebody thought she had nice eyes. In a sort of screwed up, my BFF'S ex way.

"J-Jake, I think m-maybe I s-should go." Lilly stuttered.

"No! No, sorry, that was weird of me to say. Anyway, what was I saying?" Jake shook his head.

"Um, your feelings for M-Miley..." Lilly bit her lip, staring down at her shoes.

"Ruh-uh-right, right. I dunno, I guess maybe Miley and I still like each other, but it's different than it was before." he ran a hand through his hair, sighing.

Lilly didn't really hear anything he had just said.

Her was sort of pre-occupied. I mean, Jake Ryan thought she had beautiful eyes! Jake freaking Ryan! Miley's Jake Ryan! Hollywood's Jake Ryan!

"Lilly?"

"Huh?"

"Uh, it just looked like you spaced for a second." Jake said.

"Oh, yeah, sorry." she bit her lip, her cheeks coloring.

And then awkward silence.

Jake's arm accidentally brushed Lilly's cheek when he went to stretch his arms. She covered her cheeks with her hands, pretending to scratch them.

'Scratching your cheeks? Lilly, you need help. You're a walking humiliation target!', Lilly thought to herself.

"This is awkward, isn't it?" Jake sighed, kicking a pebble.

"Just a little." Lilly said quickly.

"Right...well, I'll see you tomorrow maybe. You're welcome to visit the set again." Jake coughed.

"Sure! O-okay." she smiled, before saying her goodbyes and bounding off...

X

Lilly tossed and turned in her bed, unable to find a comfortable position. The whole Jake thing had been dominating her thoughts. 'Beautiful eyes...psh! Beautiful is probably code for ugly...dumb Jake. Seriously, he's Miley's kinda-sorta-not-really crush! I got over him!', she though, inwardly battling herself.

Cold sweat began to form on her forehead.

"You know what-!" Lilly cried, storming out of her bedroom.

Heather Truscott had left for a business trip the week before, leaving Lilly alone.

It felt cold and empty inside the house.

Lilly ventured into the kitchen and pulled a coffee mug out of a cabinet. Milk was poured into the mug, as well has chocolate syrup.

The mixture was placed inside the microwave.

One minuted later, a steaming cup of hot cocoa had been prepared.

Lilly smiled lazily, tossing a few marshmallows into the cup.

Sure, it wasn't Mr. Stewart's Loco Hot Cocoa, but it was enough for Lilly.

She stirred the cocoa slightly before glancing at the clock.

11:30 PM.

"I must be crazy." Lilly laughed a little.

A sudden knock resounded on her front door.

'Ah! Some creepy stalker slash rapist slash clown slash ax murderer found out I'm alone! Omigod, omigod, omigod!', her mind raced.

She tiptoed out of the kitchen and toward the front door, peering through the peephole cautiously.

Jake Ryan was standing on her front steps, wearing blue basketball shorts and a white t-shirt.

Lilly gaped slightly, opening the door.

He didn't look like Jake.

Well, he did, but he had lost his whole Jake Ryan aura. No Hollywood glow. No cocky, overbearing personality.

He looked almost...like a normal person.

Except his name was still Jake Ryan, which took away from the whole "normal" thing.

"J-Jake?"

"Lilly. Hey." he sighed.

"Um, it's 11:30..."

"I know, I know. I just...just..."

"Just?" Lilly raised a curious eyebrow.

Jake opened his mouth, then closed it again. He ran a hand through his hair, looked down, then up. His green eyes looked desperate, searching Lilly's for something, anything.

"Jake? I-is something wrong?" she bit her lip.

And suddenly, in one fluid motion, his hands had flown to her face, and his eyes were glued to hers.

Their lips met quickly; Lilly didn't even realize what had happened.

Lilly did happen to notice that their lips fit together well, and his hands felt warm and soft against her cheeks.

"Lilly..." he whispered when they broke apart.

"That was a mistake." she replied, tears stinging the corners of her eyes.

"A-are you crying?"

"I'm sorry...I...and Miley...and Mickaya...and..." she sniffed, childishly rubbing her eyes with her hands.

In even less time then the kiss had happened, a hug occurred, Jake enveloping her close to him.

Lilly cried in his shoulder, disappointed in herself.

"You didn't do anything. It's my fault." Jake said.

"This. Is so. Weird." Lilly laughed a little bitterly.

Jake laughed too, but didn't say anything. Silence seemed more appropriate at a moment like this. An awkward-in-a-good-way moment.

Lilly broke away from Jake, rubbing her eyes again; "Um, want some cocoa?"

"Cocoa? Hot chocolate? God, I haven't had that in forever." Jake smiled.

"WHAT?!" came the reply.

"No, really. My dad's allergic to chocolate and my mom's lactose intolerant."

"You poor, deprived child. Come on, I'll make you some." Lilly said.

"That'd be awesome."

X

"I can't believe you've never eaten Ben & Jerry's!" Lilly cried.

"I told you, my mom's lactose intolerant!"

"Psh. Excuses, excuses." she rolled her eyes.

Jake laughed, taking a huge bite of mint chocolate chip ice cream.

Lilly took a quick glance at the clock.

1:44 AM

"AH! It's almost 2 AM!"

"Mmm, it's cool." he said though a mouthful of ice cream.

"Um, won't your mom and dad be worried?"

"I doubt it. They're in Hawaii on their 'second honeymoon'." Jake replied, shoveling in another bit.

Lilly mumbled something in reply, but her mouth was full of ice cream.

Jake laughed; "Lilly...you have a little..." he pointed to her lips.

"Kiss it off for me." she sarcastically stated.

He smirked before leaning over and kissing her gently on the lips.

"Sarcasm, Jake, sarcasm." Lilly whispered against his lips.

"I know."

They broke apart. Lilly didn't feel so bad about this kiss. Maybe it was the sugar in the ice cream, or the fact that she just decided to throw caution to the wind and let loose.

"Lilly, before I go, promise me something." Jake said softly, staring into her eyes.

"Anything." Lilly nodded.

"Stay beautiful." he smiled, kissing her cheek.

X

BAM! That's how Jake&Lilly work.

If anybody reviews with "so cuteeeee!" or "i loved it!", somebody is getting a very mean glare. I'm sick of people reviewing my stories with "so cute" and stuff like that, so please, DON'T!

This took me FOREVER AND A DAY, so please tell me something other then you loved it.