"You know that you should lock
that from door." Miley said, walking into the living room as Justin entered the
house.
"I usually do." Justin replied, an eyebrow raised.
"And hide the spare key somewhere else. I do know to look
under the front door mat." Miley added.
'I'll have to remember that when you leave." Justin said,
peering out the front window.
"Oh really?" Miley asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'm leaving?"
She asked.
Justin smiled as the sheriff's car pulled up behind the truck
and Mustang. "Yes, you are." He replied, turning back to face her with a smile
on his face.
Miley looked out the window and jumped up to her feet. "You
called Kildeer! He's hated me since birth!" She exclaimed.
"You know, now that you mention that, I believe I remember
that." Justin replied. "And, it will probably be hard to hide considering you
said you weren't leaving."
"Once Kildeer leaves, I'm going to kill you." Miley replied,
hopping over and hiding behind the couch.
"You're pretty brave Timberlake. Walking into you house when
someone's breaking into it." A voice said. She heard the front door open and
close as the sentence continued, and she heard Justin chuckle. Miley knew that
the voice didn't belong to Kildeer, and she knew that the voice was someone she
knew.
"Chris. Chris Kirkpatrick!" Miley said, popping up from
behind the couch.
"Smiley Miley!" Chris replied, laughing at her.
"I'm so glad everyone remembers that nickname." Miley replied
sarcastically.
"She broke into my house." Justin pointed out.
"Do not let him fool you! I used the spare key that he's kept
hidden in the same place since forever." Miley added.
"Robbers do that too." Justin replied.
"What brings you to town? I figured since you left without
warning, we'd never see you." Chris asked.
"Justin's got some paperwork for me that he needs to finish."
Miley replied.
"I thought you sent it back." Chris said, looking at Justin
with a raised eyebrow.
"I did send it back. I just didn't know that the envelope
said return to sender if I hadn't signed it." Justin replied.
"You didn't sign them?" Chris asked.
"Hence why I’m back in town." Miley added.
"If you didn't sign the papers, then you two are still
legally married." Chris informed them. "This is just a little domestic fight and
I'm going to head out."
"She broke in." Justin said.
"You two are still married. That means it’s still her house
too. I have no grounds to arrest her on." Chris replied.
"What if I was to tell you that she was the one who shot your
mother's parakeet while you guys were on vacation?" Justin suggested.
Miley laughed. "Like I know how to load a BB gun." She
replied.
"Isn't there still a warrant or something for whoever wrote
on the water tower two years ago?" Justin asked.
"He was with us on that one short bus." Miley replied.
"Pretty much everything I did was with you guys."
"Doesn't she still technically have community service from
that indecent exposure charge?" Justin asked.
"Like you weren't there on the football field with your pants
around your ankles, and weren't the one who..." Miley started, until Chris held
up a hand.
"I hope you don't finish that sentence because I don't need
to know about your guy's kinky relationship.' Chris said.
"What about the cow, senior year? You'll have to arrest me
for that too, though. But here's a great idea. Stick us in the same cell. She'll
confess to anything else just to get rid of me." Justin suggested, watching
Chris shake his head.
"I'm leaving. Kildeer is going to kill me because I came to
arrest a guy's wife because she broke into her own house." Chris said, laughing
as he stepped out the front door. "Good day to the both of you."
Miley waited until Chris had returned to his car before she
turned to Justin, and for the first time, realizing that he was still shirtless.
“One minute you're welcoming me in and then the next, you're trying to get me
arrested?" Miley asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
Justin shook it off and ran a hand through his curly brown
hair. "I have a lot of work to do, so if the notion that I'm going to sign those
papers is all that's keeping you here, I'd leave" He said.
"But..." Miley started.
"Miles, I've got work to do.' He said, and then left the
house.
***************************************************************************************************************
Miley wasn't quite sure what to make of Justin's reaction.
She had never seen him go from hot to cold so fast before. At least, not when it
came to her.
But, she knew someone who she could talk to. It was the same
guy she had gone to before proposing to Justin at the Spring Fling dance. It was
the same guy she had a paragraph of thank you for in her book, after a paragraph
for Justin.
Miley parked her Mustang behind the Toyota 4 Runner and
marched up to the oak front door. She started beating on the door fast and
yelling out the guy's name.
"Who the hell can pull of such a..." She heard him ask rather
upset as he threw open the door. "Miley Grace!" He said, rather surprised.
"Lance Bass." She replied.
"What brings you back into town?:" He asked, ushering her
into his house.
"Divorce." Miley replied, rather frankly.
"But let me guess, Justin won't sign." Lance said, watching
Miley nod. "Good."
Her mouth dropped open. "Why is it a good thing?" She asked.
"I traveled all the way to this hick spot on the map and went to see him. I
fought with Chris to keep my ass out of jail, while my "husband"...” She said,
even making air quotes as she said husband.
"If he hasn't signed those stupid papers, you two are still
legally husband and wife. So, don't do air quotes." Lance interrupted.
"While the boy you think is smart for not divorcing me did
his hardest work to try and throw me in the big house." Miley said. "And why
does everyone love to point out that we're still legally married? We've been
apart for over a year, and I don't wear my ring."
"He still wears his every day. Any girl who hits on him at a
bar gets turned away because he tells them that he's married." Lance replied.
"Just because you stopped acting like you were married doesn't mean he has."
"Don’t make him sound all high and mighty. He's not the only
one whose been living the life of a priest." Miler replied.
"So then why do you want a divorce? If there's no one else in
the picture, it makes no sense." Lance asked.
"Because when you get married to have sex, you start running
out of reasons to stay married." Miley replied.
"You guys didn't get married to have sex. You were ready to
give up your abstinence stand once he asked. You two were that much in love."
Lance replied.
"We got married a few weeks before we all graduated from high
school. We were 18! Hell, I was actually 17! I had to have parental permission.
And I got two copies of my diploma, because they weren't sure if it had all been
a joke or not." Miley said.
"So what? People marry high school sweethearts all the time.
They have great relationships. You and Justin had been dating for years before
you two were married." Lance said. He took a deep breath. "I know that the
miscarriage zapped you two of your strength there for a bit but you two were
strong and still in love."
"How the hell do you know about that?" Miley asked, her teeth
gritted together. That had been their secret, and they had sworn that they would
never tell.
"You think you can go from all glowing to depressed and not
have us wonder? Besides, when you left, we asked what had been going on and he
told us." Lance explained. "You guys didn't have to deal with that on your own."
"There are a lot of things I had to deal with on my own. I
mean, Justin works a farm. He's still driving that same old truck from high
school. The house still has the furniture we were given after word got around
that we had gotten married. The guy sings in the shower and sounds amazing but
is content to grow corn and wheat for the rest of his life when he can do so
much more." Miley said.
Lance took another deep breath, a sign that Miley knew all
too well. She watched his rub the back of his neck and then look at her. "He
will kill me for this later, but it will be worth it. Meet us at Heath's. There
will be a special table reserved for us but we won't be there till a little
later. We won't be there until about, about 7. I'll tell Heath its okay for you
to sit there; you just have to be there by 7." Lance said.
"What is it?' Miley asked, as Lance pushed her to the door.
"Be there by 7!" Lance added once more.