The candlelight made shadows flicker across the wall, giving the room a warm, cozy feeling. Miley sat, watching the dancing shadows. She sighed. She should be happy. No, she should be extremely happy, but she wasn't. She was sad. Yes, her family was put back together; no longer broken fragments of what was once a beautiful mosaic but she still wasn't happy. Glancing around the room, she walked outside, into the night, getting into her car and drove to the beach.
The beach always calmed her. She didn't know why. The rolling waves crashing onto shore was like the calm before the storm. A tear rolled down her cheek at the words. Before the storm. She missed him. She missed them.
She walked slowly, letting her toes grip the sand as the waves collapsed around her. A slight breeze picked up, swirling her long, brown hair into swirls, writing words into the air. An unopened bottle of wine lay nearby, probably forgotten by lovers earlier in the day.
Thoughts swirled in her mind. Was he happy? What did he think of her after everything that had happened? She knew she had made some bad decisions, and normally, what people said didn't effect her, except for him. His opinion always mattered to her. He was the one person that knew how to get through to her. She needed him to break down her walls, but she knew that was a hopeless dream. Dreams. The only place she saw him anymore. Of course she checked up on him, she always had. She read the interviews, saw the performance of the Concert of Hope online, but in her dreams, they were together. They were young and in love, without a care in the world. Her blue dress swayed in the breeze. It wasn't cold though. Instead, it was peaceful, almost as if he was holding her in her arms.
"Shit!" She spun around. Who in their right mind would come to the beach at 3 in the morning? She scrambled, grabbing her shoes that she had kicked off earlier and ran up to the pavement. She saw the silhouette of a car, but she didn't see anyone. Miley did the only reasonable thing that one would do at 3 in the morning at the beach: she ran.
"Ugh!" she cried before she fell. She was lying on top of someone.
"I'm so sorry! Are you all right?" the voice of the mysterious stranger asked her.
She squinted. "Nick? Is that you?" she inquired as she slowly got up. Her dress, her beautiful blue dress, was torn.
Nick gasped. "Miley? What are you doing here?"
"Same thing as you apparently," she giggled. How crazy was that? She had just been thinking of him and then he suddenly appeared. Almost like magic…
"My car won't start. Why are you here?" he asked. This was insane, he had just been thinking about her, and then wished on a star…
"I always come here when I can't sleep. There's something about it, like the-"
"Calm before the storm," he finished for her. "I remember you telling me about that once. I do the same thing. It reminds me of you," he added shyly. "So why couldn't you sleep?"
"Just a lot on my mind, I guess. Everything's so crazy right now. I just needed a place to escape. Get my mind off of stuff and relax for once in my life. It's the one place…" she trailed off.
"It's the one place what?" she looked away. But he wasn't giving up that easily. "Where people can't judge you? Or where you can't judge yourself?"
And just like that, she broke down. She had been broken for a while now, he knew, but she wouldn't let anyone help her. Wouldn't let anyone see the pain. That's the kind of person she is, always putting others before herself.
She cried into his shoulder, gasping for air every once in a while. Taking her hand, he led her back to the beach. He led her to a rock, big enough for the two of them to sit on. Beside the rock was a heart shaped balloon, floating, as if waiting for them to come.
Fate seemed to have destined this meeting. After not seeing each other since September, they had slowly lost contact again. He kept tabs on her, and she did the same for him. He saw the video. He knew about her family. He knew everything, but he wouldn't pressure her to talk. She would talk when she was ready. She always did.
"I'm sorry," she whispered softly, speaking more to the night than to him. "I'm so sorry. For everything," she buried her face in his neck.
He smoothed her hair out and gently caressed her face. "I know, I know baby. It's gonna be okay," he soothed.
She looked up, wide eyed and a little shocked. "You called me—"
"Baby," he cut her off. "I realize that. You're mine. You can go free, but I will always be yours and I hope you want to be mine as well," he told her before he tenderly kissed her nose.
"Oh, Nicky. I will always be your baby. It may not be the right time. I may not be the right one, but there is something about us. We always find our way back to each other. You're my home. And you always find your way back home," she looked up, grinning slightly.
"You are the right one. There is never a right time for us, but we make our time. Our time is now. While 2010 was the Year of No Fear, 2011 is the year for new opportunities. This is our opportunity, Mi. It's ours; this life is ours," he smiled, his full smile, not the little half smile he gave to the public when things were falling apart.
The young couple fell into a comfortable silence, holding each other in the moonlight. Her blue dress swayed in the wind. Afraid to ruin the moment, but knowing he had to speak up, the young man, no longer a boy, spoke up, slowly but surely. "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked, keeping the subject as vague as possible. He knew she knew what he meant.
The girl shook her head. "Not now. Maybe someday, in the future. Maybe tomorrow, the next day, a month from now, a year from now. I'm not ready yet, but I will be, and I'll tell you everything. But what I can say, is that I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt anybody, and I hope you and they realize that."
"We do, Mi. I promise you that."
The teenager lifted her head. "You called me Mi. You haven't called me that…" her voice slowly trailed off.
"For a long time. And it's time I start again. I love you Mi," he breathed.
"I love you too Nicky, but…" she stopped quickly.
"But what? What's going to stop us now?"
"Nothi-, I, I don't know. I'm just scared. I can't lose you again," she shivered as tears poured from her eyes.
"You won't lose me. I promise," he croaked, wiping away her tears.
They swayed back and forth together in the breeze, not quite dancing, but they were rocking each other gently, holding each other so neither would leave.
"Mi?" he whispered gently into her ear.
"Yes, Nicky?" she giggled, putting her head into his shoulder. They fit. Their hearts were intertwined, always destined to be together. They were the missing piece of the other's puzzle.
"Do you wanna dance my Barefoot Cinderella?" he laughed.
She chuckled, seeing where this was going. When she wrote that song, it had always been a dream of hers, but didn't realize he'd actually ask her, but he was her Prince Charming. Any wish would be granted with him. "I don't slippers or a party dress, my dress is torn, Nick."
"You don't need any of that, in fact, the way you're looking right now is how I like the best, Cinderella," he smirked.
"Take a chance, stay with me forever," she snickered.
"No one will ever be more beautiful, my Barefoot Cinderella," he gazed lovingly into her eyes.
"I can't believe you remembered all of this, let alone heard the song. How did you know?"
"Because I love you," he answered right before she gave me a soft kiss on the lips.
"Dance with me?" he asked again.
"I'd be delighted," she laughed. And her laugh carried throughout the waves, encircling them both in a warm hug.
"I'm so glad my car didn't start," he said as he pulled her close.
"Me too," she breathed. "Wait," she said as she pulled away. "We don't have any music."
"The ocean is our music," he smiled as they began to dance.
And so they danced with the ocean serving as the music of their hearts; swelling and falling with the tides; while the sound of the ocean played over and over in their minds until nothing felt real anymore.