How To Save A Life - Chapter Five
Title: How To Save A Life
Chapter: 5/?
Pairing: Miley/Demi
Rating: R (Mature Content - Not Graphic)
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of these people. Did this happen in real life? Well, is Miley immortal and over 100 years old? Didn’t think so.
Word Count: 2,243
Summary: Demi is a carefree saloon girl whose dreams never included anyone but herself. She didn’t think she would ever love somebody else until she met a strong-willed and reserved cattle rancher who seemed to only live for her family.
Author's Note: This is an AU story that takes place in the 19th Century American Old West. Just a crazy idea I had one day. Although, if you’ve read any of my other stories you know that pretty much all of them are rather… unusual. Anyway, I’ll try to update it weekly. And thanks to biohazardnerd for being such an awesome beta! ILY! <3
Demi woke up three hours before she was supposed to on Sunday. Meaning she never went to sleep after the saloon closed. Her mind was working on overload the whole three hours she laid awake in bed. The girl tossed and turned, looking at the clock every ten minutes, only to realize it’s been merely ten minutes since the last time she’d looked. It was frustrating.
She pleaded with her mind - argued is more like it - to stop playing every possible outcome of her plan on the back of her eyelids and just let her rest for a couple minutes. She lost that battle. When the bells of her alarm clock started ringing, she jumped out of bed, hitting the loud device as she stood up. She unceremoniously lifted her long nightgown and threw it on a chair. Walking over to her closet she made sure to pick her least revealing dress, which was still a little inappropriate for mass, but she didn’t have a choice. A saloon girl like herself just didn’t own church appropriated clothing.
She threw on the fancy teal dress and sat down at her vanity to get started on her hair and makeup.
When Demi stepped outside the saloon, she noticed people she’d never seen before walking down the street towards the small church. ‘Were there always these many kids around?’ the girl wondered as she opened her parasol.
Demi eyed the people carefully, looking for that one girl. The reason she was outside on her way to church, instead of inside her room, lying down on her bed and snuggling her satin sheets. She seemed to be out of luck, since the rancher girl wasn’t anywhere to be found. ‘I’m going to kill Joe if she’s not here,’ she thought as she stepped inside the wooden building.
The church wasn’t much to look at. It was a simple building with one bell tower and a big cross on top of it. There were no stained glass windows or fancy religious motif carvings on the doors. Just plain windows and a simple wooden double door. The inside wasn’t any different. One spacious room with a couple benches on both sides of an aisle, a few oil paintings adorned the walls along with a couple figurines. There was a big wooden cross behind the altar table, an organ, and a small confessional on the left corner. The scent of burned candles was overwhelming inside the building. The church had seen better days.
The first thing Demi saw as she entered the room was her.
Miley was standing next to the altar, talking to a man in priest clothing. Demi, already feeling out of her element, opted for sitting down and going to her after the service. What she didn’t expect was for Miley to look her way. Shock was evident on her face. Their eyes locked and Demi offered her a smile.
Miley was still staring at her, mouth slightly agape. She was brought out of her reverie a moment later, as the priest said her name a couple times. The rancher jumped as he called for her a little louder this time. She seemed to have regained control of her body and turned back to the man with a smile and nodding with fake enthusiasm.
Demi grinned inwardly and made her way to the bench closest to the door. It was empty since most of the people seemed to be sitting on the front. She watched as the priest finished his conversation with Miley and walked to the altar. The girl looked at Demi one more time before taking her seat in the front row.
The saloon girl couldn’t remember the last time she had been inside a church. She knew she’s been to church a couple times as a little kid back home. Her parents weren’t really religious, but they took her and her older sister a few times. She had no memory of ever going with her younger sister though. She remembers asking Dallas why they had stopped going to “that place with the big piano and the old man who spoke funny” once, and her big sister just said that there’s no point in going when you have no faith anymore. Demi never asked about it again. She never realized she missed it until this moment.
Sure, she didn’t know what the priest was talking about most of the time, about books and gospels and psalms. But the bits and pieces she did understand? They were beautiful. The smell of melting candle wax wasn’t even bothering her anymore. That much.
Demi couldn’t follow the prayers because she had never been taught any and she didn’t know the words to any of them hymns, but she still enjoyed the simple melodies being played and sung. They were soothing.
The best part of the hour long service was when she caught Miley stealing a subtle glance back at her during a hymn. The girl looked away quickly, but it was too late. Demi had caught her. How could she not? She had been staring at her for almost the whole hour.
When the service ended, people started to stand up and leave the room. Demi weighted her options in her head. Before she could decide if she should walk over to Miley or wait outside she saw the girl stand up and make her way down the aisle with a young girl by her side and a teenage boy following close behind.
Demi couldn’t help but to notice how beautiful she looked. Her long brown hair, usually tied up in a messy bun, was down this time, perfect waves cascading down her shoulders and reaching her waist. Her dress was a light thulian pink. Beige ruffles from her petticoat showed at the bottom, long brown lace up ridding boots underneath it. A silver necklace with a rose pendant dangled from her neck. Once again, Demi felt overdressed.
Once Miley was nearing her she stopped and turned to the teenage boy. She told him she’d meet them outside and he nodded, taking the young girl in a puffy yellow dress out with him. Demi stood up and waited for Miley to approach.
“I didn’t take you for someone who goes to church,” the rancher girl said with a doubtful tone to her voice.
“Aside from my… poor life choices, I’m a pretty religious person,” she said defensively. ‘What is wrong with you?! Lying now? Really?’
“Is that so?” Miley crossed her arms and smirked.
‘Crap,’ she thought. “Uh-huh.”
“So you know how to pray the rosary?”
“Psh. Yeah,” Demi said nervously. This is why she hated lying. She was terrible at it.
“And what are your thoughts on the book of Revelation?” Miley asked. “It’s a personal favorite of mine. So joyful and serene, don’t you think?”
“I… I agree,” the saloon girl finally said. “Very joyful. I believe it’s a very, erm, meaningful one too. It gives a lot of insight and hope and makes you think… a lot. And, erm… It’s certainly a favorite of mine too.”
Miley just raised an eyebrow and kept staring at her. Demi felt as if she was under a magnifying glass. She thought maybe that’s why she lied in the first place. She knew from their first encounter that she wasn’t good enough for Miley. The girl made it clear she despised what Demi was. Who she was. She was just a saloon girl. She abandoned her family. She slept with men for money. Demi realized she represented many of the bad things in that book the girl believed so much.
Demi didn’t know how the girl did it, but she managed to turn her world upside down. She felt lost and confused. All she knew is that she needed Miley in her life. She needed to be good enough for her. She needed Miley to like her. That’s why she lied. Because who she was just wasn’t good enough.
Demi blushed under Miley’s judgmental stare.
“You’ve never read the bible, have you?” she asked.
Demi looked down in embarrassment. That lie was just another example of how bad of a person she was. “No,” she said quietly.
Neither girl said anything else. Miley just kept staring and Demi felt worse by the second. She felt small and helpless. Shame.
She thought she had gone crazy when she heard giggling. Her eyes shot up and she couldn’t understand what was happening. She hadn’t gone crazy.
Miley was smiling.
“It’s okay,” Miley explained. “We all had to start from the beginning.” She grinned and turned to walk out of the church.
Demi stood at the entrance and watched her go. Despite her confusion, she couldn’t stop smiling.
“Beautiful morning, isn’t it?” asked a voice beside her. She was so lost in her thoughts she hadn’t noticed someone approaching.
She looked to her side and was surprised to see the priest standing there. He was a kind looking man, probably in his early thirties. His hair was dark and curly with prominent sideburns. He was wearing an ankle-length black robe with a pronounced white collar. A thin white rope was tied around his waist and a small wooden cross dangled from his neck. He had his arms crossed behind his back and was looking straight ahead, smiling softly.
Demi might not know that much about religion, but it didn’t take much to figure out that her lifestyle was frowned upon by the church. That made him a little intimidating. She couldn’t help but think that maybe he was there to tell her to leave and never come back.
“It is,” she replied sheepishly after a while and looked away. There was a lengthy silence after that. Demi was feeling unnerved, she wanted to say something, but didn’t know what to say. When she was about to give some weak excuse and leave, the priest spoke again.
“I haven’t seen you in my church before,” he stated simply.
“I don’t usually go to church,” she explained still looking ahead.
“Hmm…”
“Look, if you want me to go and don’t come back here again just tell me,” she said, exasperated, as she turned to look at him.
“And why do you think I’d say that?” the priest asked curiously.
“Because I’m most certainly not the kind of person you would want around your church people,” Demi said as if it was obvious.
“Why is that?” he said as he finally turn to look at her.
‘Is he trying to piss me off? He must know.’ The saloon girl thought. Even now, as she was dressed in relatively modest clothing, it was still very clear what she was. “You know why.”
He smiled. “It brings the Lord great joy when a lost sheep returns to the flock.”
‘What? Did he just call me a farm animal?’
Noticing Demi’s confused expression, he laughed. “Why don’t you come inside to talk?”
The girl thought about his offer for a moment, but ultimately nodded and followed him back inside the old church.
It turns out she made the right decision.
Father Kevin, as he had told her to call him, was a very nice man. He led her to a small room behind the altar and they spent hours talking over chamomile tea. Demi was pleased he didn’t judge her like she thought he would. He did tell her the Lord condemned her lifestyle, but also that everyone had the ability to change and be forgiven.
She found out that apparently, God was very merciful. He taught her a little about His will and the bible and she told him her story. Father Kevin was a very good listener. She told him about the fading memories of the times her parents took her to church, the reason why she left home, how she ended up working at The White Horse, and her dream.
It was already noon by the time she left the church. Father Kevin had invited her over for tea again after the next week’s service. He promised they’d talk more about the bible and he’d answer her questions about the service.
Demi felt a strange sense of happiness when she left the building. It had been a very good morning.