*waves* Hi guys! It has been a long time since I've written any fanfiction (more than 4 years now) but I have been incredibly inspired lately. So I wrote this up, figured I'd share it. If you guys like it, I was thinking I would make a little fanfic song series. So let me know what you think! This fic is based of the song Hello Beautiful. My interpretation of how it was written.

(A.N. I know that Hello Beautiful was written and recorded in 2007, but for plot purposes, it was written in 2008)

I'm not moping. I am not moping.

I'm just, you know, not extremely happy, at this current point in time. And I haven't really had an appetite, and I've been struggling with a couple songs, and I'm really short with the people that have tried to talk to me in the past few days. But I am not moping!

"What's up, grumpy?"

I hate him.

I look up to see Joe coming through the door of the tour bus, walking over to the table where I am currently, "I'm not grumpy."

The lift of his left eyebrow suggests that he doesn't really believe me, "So you're just sitting in here, all alone, looking all broody and 'Nick Jonas-like' and refusing food 'cause your happy?"

"Yeah, one big ray of sunshine, you are!" And that would be Kevin. Seriously, didn't I say I wanted to be left alone?

"Seriously, guys, I am not grumpy, I'm just – hey wait, what do you mean by 'Nick Jonas'?"

Joe chuckles, "You know, when you're in that mood you get where you look like a sad kid who's puppy just got run over."

"Or like the sad puppy that got run over," Kevin adds.

I roll my eyes, "I don't look like that. And I'm not refusing food, I'm just not hungry. And I'm sitting here by myself, or at least I was, because I'm trying to concentrate on this song."

Joe tears a piece from the muffin I didn't see him holding and tosses it at my face. Real mature. "Alright, alright, I got it Frobro, sorry I said anything." He then sits next to me, ruffling my recently trimmed curls. Why do I put up with him?

Kevin steps closer to the table, arms folded in front of him, "You really do need to eat, Nick. You know how Mom gets, she gets all worried and will try to force feed you and constantly check your levels. You have checked your levels, right?" Always the concerned big brother.

"Yes, I have, and I'm fine, really." I look up at him in reply, seeing the concern etched on his face, "And I promise, I'm not grumpy, I'm just trying to concentrate." I say as I look over at Joe, whose eyebrows are furrowed in worried. Its strange, the two of them like to pick on me constantly, but I catch them in these rare moments where I can plainly see how much they do care about me. It's oddly comforting.

"Do you want any help? We could toss around some ideas with you."

"Nah, it's alright. I've got the melody, I just, can't seem to find the words to go with it."

Kevin reaches forward, grabbing one of the many pieces of sheet music strewn around the table, "Well, it's clearly a love song. And you're brooding, or, sorry, concentrating, so there is one option."

Joe waggles his eyebrows my way, a playful grin on his face, "Oh, yeah! There is a certain brunette that always seems to inspire you, why don't you give her a call?!"

I look down, avoiding their piercing gazes, "She's busy. I already tried to call her."

"Oh, so that's why you've been moping!" Joe exclaims.

Kevin rolls his eyes, "Joe, it wasn't that hard to figure out, I could've told you that before we came in here."

Once again, I am not moping; and now these two are starting to piss me off, "Alright, seriously, I need to keep working on this, can you two please leave me-"

"Miley's song? Is this what you've been struggling with?" My ears perk at the name, and I look over to see sheet music with that title scrawled in my chicken scratch across the top.

I jump at Joe, snatching it out of his hand "Joe! Give that back!"

Joe jumps out of my reach, running to the other side of the bus, where the bunks are, giggling the whole way, quoting lines from the paper, "'Hey wonderful, how you doin'?' This how you snatched her up, Nick?"

I chased after him, running into him full force and taking him to the ground, "Seriously Joe! That's not for you!"

"Boy I hope not! I wouldn't fall for that line anyway!"

As we roll around on the floor, fighting for possession of the page, Kevin leans against the table, crossing his arms and gives a big sigh, "'Be in a band with your brothers', Dad says. 'It'll be fun', he says."

I am finally able to wrestle the paper from Joe's hand, running back to the table with it in my possession and essentially hiding behind Kevin.

"You know, it needs work, but that does sound like the beginnings of a good song, Nick." Kevin comments, while Joe stomps over, huffing and puffing.

"Hey, you cheated! You know I'm ticklish in my ankles."

"it's not cheating, it's called leverage. And, besides, it's my song." I retort, returning to my seat and trying to smooth out the now crumpled lyrics against the table.

It's quiet in the bus for a moment, an extremely rare occurrence when the three of us are together. I can feel the two of them watching me, but don't dare to look up. There are two of the three people that know me best in this world, and as much as I would like to think that I'm good at hiding my emotions, I'm really not.

The silence is once again broken by Joe, this time his voice takes on a soft tone, "It's hard on you, isn't it? Not being able to be with her, and trying to keep your relationship a secret at the same time."

Kevin adds, "We know you miss her, it's been a few months. And with her being so busy with her show…"

"And with her pretending to be with that Justin kid—"

"It's fine, okay? I'm fine!" I interrupt, involuntarily exploding. "We're fine, we have to keep the relationship a secret cause of the media and everything, and the only reason she's still "with' himis to keep everyone's nose out of her business!"

"But it upsets you still, doesn't it?" Despite my raised voice and angry tone, Joe keeps his calm, "Even though they're not technically dating anymore, they were when you guys broke up the first time. That's gotta sting."

"Have you thought about getting your own pretend girlfriend, making things a little easier?"

"No, okay?!" I don't know when I stood up, but I'm now on my feet, pacing back and forth in the small space, arms moving around frantically, "Look, we both agreed that we were gonna make this work, and we both agreed that her pretending to still be with him we help us hide things, and she suggested I do the same, but I just…I can't." I stop mid-step, looking towards two sets of browns identical to mine, "every girl I'm with, or I try to be with, I can't stop thinking about her. I mean, that's the reason I tried to win her back in the first place. And I thought I was fine with the whole 'Justin' thing, and I guess I am, but just knowing that he gets to hold her hand and hear her laugh and watch her smile every day and I only get to once every few months…"

I feel a hand on my shoulder, looking up to find Kevin with a slight smile on his face, "We get that it's hard Nick. We do. But….you have to know that the girl loves you just as much as you love her."

"You really think so?"

Joe chuckles slightly, "Would youput up with you if you felt otherwise?"

That brings a smile to my face, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"We'll leave you to it." Kevin gives my shoulder another squeeze before heading for the door.

Joe gives me a pat on the back, "Just promise us you'll eat something, please?"

I grin, "Yeah, I'll head out in a little bit. Save me some of those sugar-free blueberry muffins, will ya?"

Joe looks back, a scowl on his face and his nose turned up, "Dude those things are nasty. They're all yours!" He shouts over his shoulder, the door closing behind him.

Silence, once again.

Okay, I am totally moping. It's just-you'd be grumpy too if the girl you loved were on the other side of the country and pretending to be in love with some older, hairy version of you. And there's the fact that she hasn't answered any of my calls in the past few days. I mean, I get that Hannah takes up most of her time, but is really that hard to -

The 7 things I like about you!

Your hair, your eyes, your old Levi's

I look over to see my phone lighting up on my bunk on the other side of the room. Yeah, it might be weird that my ringtone for my girlfriend is the hate song she wrote for me, but I find it romantically ironic. Although, it does make things kind of obvious. Maybe I should change that.

"Hello?" I answer, slightly out of breath.

I'm answered by her giggling, and suddenly, the world seems brighter, "Were you running a marathon or something?"

"No! I mean, no, I just, was on the other side of the room and didn't wanna miss you." I don't just mean her call.

"Well, darn, I was hoping your phone was attached to your ear, eagerly awaiting my call."

I rub the back of my neck, even though she can't see me, "Yeah, well, a guy can only wait so long for his girlfriend to call him back before other necessities take over, like sleeping and the bathroom."

"Yeah, about that. I'm so sorry I haven't called you back in the last few days, but Hannah's been crazy, and then my parents took my phone away cause I was out with Justin til like 12:30, and then—"

"What were you doing out with Justin until after midnight?" I interrupted, feeling myself getting angry.

"Well, I was…."

"What, making out in his car until all hours of the night?!" I shout, my blood starting to boil.

"Nick, before you get too upset—"

I interrupt once more, "Oh, gee, why on Earth would that make me upset?"

There are a few moments of silence on the other end, then, "Nick, I'm not going to argue with you. I can call you back later once you've calmed down."

"No wait!" Who knows when either of us will get time again? "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have jumped like that," the anger gone from my voice and my tone softer, "Please. Go ahead."

"He took me out to dinner and a movie, and we got caught up by some paparazzi, which made us later. And, yes, in the spirit of honesty, we kissed a little in his car, but what was I supposed to do? I barely let the guy near me, especially when we're alone, but for one thing, the paparazzi was right there, and for another thing, the guy is sacrificing a lot to help me, it was the least I could do. I'm really sorry, you have no idea, by what choice did I have?"

I keep quiet, holding the bridge of my nose with two fingers and closing my eyes. As difficult as this all is for me, I always forget how much worse it is for her. I'm on tour, so the media doesn't really have time to hound me. But her? They know where she is, exactly where and exactly what time every day of the week. It's impossible to avoid them. And she isdating the guy, at least to the rest of the world. It makes perfect sense to kiss your boyfriend in his car after a date. She's just playing her part. And the guys she's actually dating is getting pissed at her for it. Wow, some boyfriend I am.

"Princess, I'm so sorry. I just…it drives me nuts, you and him together, but I know that you have to, that we agreed on it, and it's not right of me to yell at you. Especially since we haven't talked in a while. I'm just struggling with these last few songs for the new record and they're not coming together, not that that's an excuse, and I…I'm sorry."

"…have I ever told you how much I like it when you call me Princess?" I can hear her smile through the phone, which paints an even bigger one on my face.

"Really, Miles? That's what you got from all that?"

"You're also really cute when you rant."

I laugh, "You know I hate it when you call me cute."

"Well, you are! Does sexy suit better?" Her voice takes on a teasing tone.

I feel my face getting red, "Alright, we're changing the subject."

Her giggle fills my ear once more, "I can totally see you blushing."

I smile, "How is it back there in Cali?"

"You're not here, so it sucks."

"Yeah, the rest of America is cool and all, but it's kinda dull without those blue eyes of yours to look into."

Now I can hear her blushing, "Was that a sentimental line that Nick Jonas said? My Nicholas? And it wasn't part of a song? Well, it must be my lucky day!"

"Ha ha, you know I can be sweet when I wanna be!"

"And you are, to me, always." I can't help the smile that stretches across my face. "Hey I gotta go, have some interview to do, and I can't exactly say I was late because I was too busy talking on the phone with my incredible handsome boyfriend."

I let out another laugh, even though I'm sad she has to go, "Well, then your incredibly handsome boyfriend will let you go."

"Call me when you're done with the show tonight?"

"Always. I love you beautiful."

"Love you too Nicky." And then she's gone.

And just like that, my day is the best I've had in weeks. Amazing what hearing that girl's can do to me. But what I wouldn't give to see her eyes and her smile again. Huh. I look down at the crumpled paper with her name on it, and I'm suddenly struck with an idea.

I erase my previous words, scratching in Hello Beautiful, How's it goin'? in their place.

Joe was right. Calling that beautiful brunette was inspiring. I'm definitely not moping now.