And then he saw her, standing there across the room. With him. Right in his face. She was hanging on him like a dog, and it made Nick wonder if she just did it to make him jealous, because their relationship never went that public. And if her plan was to make him jealous, it worked.
"Joe!" Miley yelled a bit later, when she had gotten through the whole room of people and then reached the wall the Jonas Brothers were standing at.
Joe hugged Miley tightly. Then she moved on to Kevin, her hair getting in his face. Kevin just smiled and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Then, when they pulled away, she looked at Nick. She smiled.
"Hey ... Miles." Nick said.
"Nick," she said and her smile grew wider.
"How's the movie coming?" he asked, not really caring, just needing something to break the ice with.
"Good," she said and nodded. "It's so much fun! I've really missed being in Nashville!"
Then they just stood there in awkward silence, looking around the other celebrities mingling. Joe and Kevin had disappeared somewhere when they hadn't noticed.
He looked at her again, this time his face looking completely serious. She turned her look back at him, too, her face also having no sign of happiness left on it.
"Can we just ..." he said and looked up the ceiling for a second, then back at her. "Can we just get real here? I mean ..."
"Nick..." she began.
"No, Miley..." he said and looked down this time, smiling to himself in irony. "You don't get it."
"Look, maybe I don't. But really, what does it matter anyway?"
"Everything!" he said, a bit too loud.
She looked at him with a begging expression.
"I'm with Justin..."
"I get that, okay? I get it. But you know how I feel! You knew how I felt, and still, you ..."
"I get it! But what do you expect me to do about it?"
"At least care for it!"
"Don't...!" she said with a harsh look on her face, tears starting to form in her eyes. "Don't say, that I didn't care. I tried everything! I made him wait for me, just because you couldn't make your fucking decision! But guess what, Nick. You lost."
"I know." Nick whispered. "You know how much I want to take it back."
"You had it – you had the opportunity! Don't say that I was the one screwing it up, 'cause I wasn't and you know that."
"What the hell do you want me to do! Say that I was the one fucking it up all along! Fine! It was me, I'm the jerk, is that what you want me to say in the next interview?"
"Don't say anything." Miley said, and Nick wondered how she could keep the tears in her eyes from falling, sliding down her made up cheeks. "just ... don't."
"How do you do it?" he said and shook his head.
"Do what, Nick?" she said in an annoyed tone and rolled her eyes slightly.
"Keep being so fake to everyone." he said in a disgusted tone. "The media, your fans, Justin, us..."
"Shut up!" she said. "Just shut up, you don't know what it's like, Nick!"
"Then tell me."
"You left me! December, Nick. Remember December? Leaving your heart out in the rain."
"I know that song, I freaking wrote it Miles!"
"Then how can you not remember?"