Chapter 248: Neighbors

The next day, I was at Robby's house returning the bowls he had taken the night before (though honestly, I just wanted to see their reactions).

"How come you got scrambled eggs, and I got a 'make yourself'?" Jackson grumbled to me. He was still clueless about forgetting his dad's birthday.

I just shrugged at him.

A moment later, Miley came downstairs yawning, automatically heading to the table. Like in a sitcom, she sat down, grabbed her fork, and brought it to her mouth, only realizing on the second bite that there was no food on her plate.

"Why isn’t there any eggs on my fork?" she complained to Jackson.

"Grow up, you have two hands, make your own breakfast," he retorted.

"Why are you so cranky?" She looked at him weirdly.

"Because nobody made my breakfast," Jackson replied sadly, eating cereal straight from the box.

"But it’s Saturday, Dad always makes my eggs," Miley said.

"And he does it well," I complimented.

"Jake?" Her eyes widened. "What are you doing here?"

I looked unfazed at her, then at my watch. 

I tossed a ten-dollar bill to Jackson. "You were right, it took two minutes for her to notice I was here."

Miley glared at me and Jackson, then at my plate. "Why are you having eggs?"

"I'm your dad's favorite," I smirked at her.

"Like hell you are," she muttered sullenly.

Then Robby appeared in the kitchen, and Miley immediately went over to him. "Hey, Daddy, are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine," Robby said curtly.

"Well, then get the cooking done, my eggs aren’t going to scramble themselves," she teased, mimicking cooking at the stove.

"No, they’re not. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a jog to do," Robby replied dryly, walking toward the door.

Miley made a funny "rwa" sound, imitating a cat scratching.

Jackson walked up to them. "What’s the matter, Dad? Did your blow dryer stop working?" he joked, mimicking with his hair.

"Oh no, I know what it is," Miley said, hugging her father. "You dreamed I was the only child, and then you woke up with that" She pulled a face at her brother.

"No, sadly, I woke up with both of you," Robby retorted and left the room.

"Whoa, he’s really upset," Miley said under her breath.

Miley and Jackson, almost as if rehearsed, shouted at the same time,

""What did you do?""

""ME?""

""Yes you!""

""Stop that!""

I gave a good laugh, "Man, you two are funny. Ever thought about making a sitcom about yourselves?"

They slowly turned their heads toward me 

"I'm just saying," I raised my hands.

Miley quickly cooked some scrambled eggs and placed them on her plate.

"Hey, where are my eggs?" Jackson complained, staring at his empty plate.

"Oh right," Miley smiled, walked to the counter, grabbed an egg, and cracked it onto Jackson’s plate. "Enjoy it," she grinned.

"Oh Miles, that’s what I love about you. You’re not just pretty. You’re pretty and funny," he said, looking at her expectantly.

"Thanks, Jackson!" Miley exclaimed. "Maybe I’ll make you some eggs." She pretended to stand up but stopped halfway. "Oh wait, that would make me pretty, funny, and stupid!"

"Well, you did get a few D’s in biology," I muttered out of the corner of my mouth.

Her face snapped toward me.

"Okay kiddos, that was good entertainment, but I have more things to do. Enjoy trying to figure out why your dad is angry at you two," I said, standing up.

"Hey, you’re younger than both of us," Jackson retorted.

"Wait a minute, Jake," Miley grabbed my shoulder, "it seems like you know the reason."

"I sure do," I agreed.

Both of them stared, waiting for an answer, but I headed toward the door.

"Wait, tell us, please!" Miley pleaded.

I crossed my arms. "What do I get? Because besides revealing the reason, I can also help with the excuses."

The two exchanged glances and whispered to each other (or at least tried to, since I could hear everything).

"We can’t give him money, he’s richer than Rico," Miley whispered. "Besides, we don’t have any..."

"And I can’t introduce girls. He’s with one of the most beautiful girls I’ve ever seen," Jackson whispered back.

The two kept going until they felt defeated.

"Jake," Miley came up to me. "I know you’re not much of a fan," she gritted through her teeth, "and you can even make her go to your parties. But I have special tickets to the Hannah Montana show." 

I raised my eyebrows. "Huh." But looking at their faces, I decided to help. "Okay, I accept your offer. But I’m going to give the tickets to people I know.

And I expect this special ticket to include access to meet her in person."

"It does!" Miley nodded

"Great! It will be two boys, one 10 and the other 11, Luke and Manny. Hannah will know how to entertain the kiddos," I laughed. Jackson did the same.

I’ll also give one to Phil, since he’s a fan (Haley admitted in embarrassment that her dad danced Hannah’s choreography).

"Now your turn," Miley continued, baring her teeth at me.

"It’s very simple. You two forgot it was your dad’s 40th birthday yesterday," I revealed.

Both of them widened their eyes and repeated the earlier scene, shouting at each other:

""I can’t belive you forget""

""ME?""

""Yes you!""

""Stop that!""

---

I asked Regina to help with the "surprise party." Since Robby is a nice guy, it was easy to invite the neighbors and a few of his friends.

Miley used her credit card to buy a very nice gift.

"I don’t know if you’re a genuinely nice guy, or just someone who wants an excuse for a party next to your Malibu house," Scarlett smirked at me.

"Of course it’s the first one," I affirmed, pulling her in for a kiss.