Miley awoke the next
morning, hating that her bed had been moved across from a window. The sun was
too bright for the morning.
She raised her arms, feeling the curve of wood behind her.
She gasped a little, not remembering it from her parent's house.
Miley's eyes slowly opened, and she saw the vanity across from the closet. The
closet that had always been shoved full of clothes. She turned to her right,
looking at the dresser underneath a couple of UNC posters.
There were still a few more UNC or movie posters on the
walls. There were the cross stitches their grandmothers had made that proclaimed
birthdates and their wedding date. To her left, the faded blue rocking chair and
matching rocking ottoman sat n the corner by a bookshelf. She felt all the jokes
they had made about fitting that chair into the room, and how close it was to
the bed. She smiled a little, looking over all the
things on the wall.
"Did you finally decide to wake up?" Justin asked. He was
leaning up against the doorframe of the bedroom, holding a coffee mug.
"What happened last night?' Miley asked.
"You kissed me." Justin replied.
"Besides that. You kissing me seem to be the last thing I
remember." Miley said, sitting up. She looked down and noticed she was still
wearing her t-shirt but from somewhere had gained a pair of mesh shorts.
"See, you must have confused yourself because you kissed me."
Justin said. He came and sat on the sleigh bed in front of her. "If I had kissed
you, it would have been differently." He added, smiling. He then leaned in and
softly kissed her.
"I take it I kiss differently?" Miley asked, once Justin had
pulled away. She watched him smile, and she felt it in her toes. She raised and
eyebrow at him, a little worried about why he was smiling so big.
Then, in the blink of an eye, his arm snaked out and pulled
her to him. The kiss was soft, yet full of passion. The electricity jumped from
one to the other and back. And, for a moment, it sent Miley back in time.
***************************************************************************************************************
"You guys did what?!?" Miley was rather surprised that Lance
was able to get his bass voice so high. Chris sounded that high normally and JC
could make sounds like that when he was joking around. Hell, she'd expect sounds
like that from any of the guys besides Lance.
"We got married." Justin said, picking at the lunch on his
tray. The sign had proclaimed it was meatloaf, but the group was starting to
think it was something different. Or, they had until Miley went to grab
something off Justin's tray.
"Are we on candid camera?" Joey asked, as the four guys- JC,
Chris, Lance and Joey- looked around the cafeteria.
"No, we honestly did get married." Miley replied.
"You're only 18. Miley, you're 17!" JC said, his voice
starting to sound squeaky too.
"But, with parental permission, I'm allowed to get married at
17. And, my parents were there as were Lynn and Paul." Miley replied.
"Guys, when have we ever done something irrational or stupid?' She asked
honestly, as the four guys laughed.
"You do realize that Sheriff Kildeer has a wanted poster of
you up already? He blames you for the cows in the hallway last week, the
sprinkles during the Homecoming football game seven years ago, his cop car being
put on the roof last year, and his cat being afraid of fireworks?" Chris asked.
"Three-fourths of those aren't me!" Miley replied.
"That they can prove." Justin added.
"I can't move a whole cow by myself." Miley said, sticking
her tongue out at him. The two then smiled at each other.
"You guys do realize that you are two 18 year olds who have
been dating for most of your lives? You haven't really ever had to save money;
you guys still have college to think about. Have you guys really thought about
everything?' Lance asked.
"Lance, we’re in love. We've known that since we were kids. I
mean, we've started talking it over. Like how we're going to keep using Justin's
truck because it's paid off." Miley said, as she stopped playing with the peas
on her tray. "I know this seems rushed and everything, but it's what we wanted
to do." Miley said, as Justin took her hand in his. He ran a finger over the
plain gold band on her ring finger.
"We just want out best friends to be happy with us, and to
celebrate with us." Justin said. 'I know when we said we were engaged, everyone
was expecting a long engagement. But at Prom, it just felt like something was
right. It just felt like we didn't need a long engagement."
The four exchanged looks. "If that's how you guys feel, we'll
support it." Chris said.
"It's just going to take some getting used to." Joey said.
"Especially calling you Mrs. Timberlake." JC added.
"Get used to it. I don't plan on changing it back." Miley
replied.
"And I don't plan on letting her change it. I don't think
Justin Hart has the same ring as Miley Timberlake." Justin said.
"That just sounds so weird." Lance said.
***************************************************************************************************************
Justin pulled away from the kiss, leaving Miley surprised.
"That was how the kiss was last night." He replied.
"You shouldn't have done that." Miley said, slowly opening
her eyes. She tossed back the comforter and walked out of the room.
She saw that her car was at the house. That most likely meant
that she had come home with Justin in the truck and her Mustang was still at
Heath's.
She grabbed Justin's car keys off the hooks by the door. She
then tossed open the front door and didn't even bother closing it behind her.
She knew Justin was either following her now, or he would start once he heard
his truck roar to life.
Miley stopped for a second, looking at the keys on the key
ring. She couldn't remember which key was what. She decided that if he left the
truck unlocked, she was going to debate it in the truck.
Miley opened the blue painted door and pulled herself onto
the grey bench seat. She fumbled with the keychain, dropping it when she felt
the door open suddenly.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Justin asked
sharply as he scooped his keys off the floorboard.
"I shouldn't have come here. I should have just stayed home.
I have to get out of here. I can't stay here." Miley said. She was fighting
tears again, and she knew her voice was sounding like it.
"Not in my truck, you're not." Justin replied.
"I have to! I have to get out of here, right now! The longer
I stay here, the harder it all gets." Miley said.
"The harder what gets?" Justin asked, his arms resting on the
seat next to Miley.
"Leaving." Miley softly replied.
"Baby, you aren't leaving. The only reason you left the first
time was because I wasn't here to stop you." Justin said, as the clouds rumbled
in the distance. Justin set his arms on her arms, holding her in place. "Miles,
I love you. I always have and I always will."
"Justin...' Miley started.
"I found my soul mate when I was a kid. I fell in love with
that soul mate. I even married her while we were still in high school. And if my
soul mate’s name is Mindy, Miley, Melinda, I don't care." Justin said, pulling
her closer to him. "I just want my wife back."