I can't. I can't be with Nick. As much as I really do love him, there are multiple reasons why we can't be together. One is that I dated his brother (what a huge waste of time that turned out to be), and I just don't want to hurt their relationship. Another is that my best friend, Miley, is still in love with him (although she constantly denies it, even when I don't even ask). I love Miley, she's like my sister, but I also love Nick. You have no idea how many times a day I have to remind myself about the Miley/ Joe situation to keep myself from giving in to Nick.

It's no secret to Nick that I love him as much as he loves me. We wrote a song together about it called "Stop the World". If friends ask it's about "Miley and Joe", but we know the truth. Have I kissed him? Actually, no. Mostly because the paparazzi are EVERYWHERE, but also because we know that once we do, there's no going back. Yes, it's just a kiss, but after waiting for about 3 years, we wouldn't be able to hide it.

"Dem- Dem! Are you comin'?" A sweet, low voice bellows through my apartment. Nick.

"Yup I'll be right there Nick!" I yell down to him from my room. I grab my silver jacket and skip down the stairs. I get to the living room and see him standing by the door. He sees me and smiles.

"Hey!" he says pulling me into a hug, and I wrap my arms around his waist. "There's my girl."

"Nick..." I groan. "You know we can't be like that. You know what'll happen. And I don't think-"

"Dem they're just words," he says with a chuckle. "And so are these..."

He leans in and whispers in my ear, "I love you."

I shiver and pull back, still holding his hands and mouth the words: Love you too and smile at him. We stand there for a second until I say "We should go."

He sighs and nods. We both laugh as we get into the elevator. Now you see what I mean about him knowing I love him. I didn't plan it, he wasn't supposed to know, and to be perfectly honest, it was easier when he didn't. Now that he does, it's constant questions about why we can't be together. He knows why, but he's just so cute and sweet that it's hard to say no to him. Especially when he looks at me with those warm, brown eyes... and his sweet smile and soft pink lips that I just want to kiss so badly... Wait, no. I can't. Why can't I again? Oh yeah. Miley and Joe. Dammit. Ugh I hate this.

"Hey there you guys are!" Joe yells when we get to rehearsal.

"Hi Joe," I say awkwardly. He doesn't seem to notice and he smiles that smile that I used to find so irresistible. Pfft. Now he just looks like a big idiot to me. I can understand Taylor's anger now. I should call her. Maybe she has some advice on my situation with Nick. Maybe she wrote a song about it... Actually, I can't. Things have been weird with Taylor since she and Selena started hanging out. There's proof of that on YouTube. A fan asked how Selena was while I was signing autographs, and i sorta snapped and said "Ask Taylor". I let my guard down for that little second and the next day, it's all over the Internet. I knew my friendship with Selena was gone, but seeing it plastered all over magazines and gossip sites killed me. God I hate all of this complication. I can't talk to Taylor because of Selena. I can't date Nick because of Joe and Miley. I love performing and entertaining people, but sometimes I wish I could just go back Texas and start all over. With Nick...

"Okay we're gonna do "Stop the World". Demi! Nick! Let's go!" the directer yells. I sigh and head towards the stage. Here we go. I walk up the stairs to the stage and pass Nick tuning his guitar. He smiles at me and I smile back.

He starts playing our song and I wait for my entrance.

I don't know why, I don't know why I'm so afraid

I don't know how, I don't know how to fix the pain

We're livin' a lie, livin' a lie this needs to change

We're out of time, we're out of time and it's still the same

I feel the truth in the words, it's a wonder how we keep this thing a secret.

We can't stop the world, but there's so much more that we could do

You can't stop this girl from fallin' more in love with you

It's true. What are we doing? I love him, he loves me. Our feelings aren't changing anytime soon. Why can't we just give this a try?

You said "nobody has to know"

Give us time to grow, and take it slow

But I'd stop the world, if it'd finally let us be alone

Let us be alone

That's true too. We'd need to be alone to be together. As in no Miley, no Joe, no paparazzi, not even the rest of the Jonas family. No one.

We finish the song and I come away from it feeling worse than I did before. I'm feeling pretty upset, and then my phone rings. My best friend in the world, miss Miley Cyrus.

"Hey girlie!" she says. "You busy tonight? I was thinkin' we could go to dinner. That new little restaurant on Rodeo?"

"Sure!" I say. I need this. A good GNO should make me feel a lot better.

"Cool! Meet you there?"

"Sounds good."

"'Kay. Bye Dem!"

"Bye Mi." I hang up and all of a sudden strong arms close in around my waist and pull me up in the air. I scream and he puts me down. "Hi beautiful," he whispers in my ear. Nick.

"Nick, someone's gonna see us!" I giggle as I relax into the hug.

"No one's here. They all went to lunch, but that's not what I wanted to talk to you about. I wanted to say how absolutely gorgeous you and your voice were up there." he says.

"Aw, thanks hun!" I say. He's just SO SWEET.

"Anytime, Dem- Dem." he uses his nickname for me. "So dinner tonight? We could just hang out and watch a movie, maybe order Chinese food?"

"Sorry, I can't. I'm going to dinner with Miley." I say, a little disappointed.

"Oh," his smile fades. I hate it when his smile goes away.

"But maybe after you can come over and we can hang out," I say hopefully.

"Sounds great." his smile comes back. That smile that I love. My knees give out a little. So tonight, I'm having dinner with Miley who's still in love with Nick, and then later I'm having a secret sort of "date" with him. Ugh what the hell am I doing?