"Jake, I'm here!" I yell as I enter into my boyfriend's loft apartment. Jake Ryan is my current boyfriend, not that that list is hard to keep count of anymore.

When I graduated high school he came to my ceremony. He told me how much he still loved me and how much he wanted it to work between us. He convinced me to not go to college and keep being Hannah. I could always go to school later if I wanted to. School was always a source of drama for our relationship and would also cause problems with my career. My career was important to me but it always came after school and that was opposite for Jake. But now that I wouldn't have to split my time between school and Hannah I could focus on Hannah and Jake. Jake told me it'd be easy because we were both in the spotlight and we'd both be able to make it work. It sounded hard to have a pop star life and a boyfriend, but it was much easier than being in high school, being a pop star and having a high profile boyfriend like Jake. Then I cancelled my plans for college and got a place in L.A. It broke my heart to tell Lilly that I wasn't going to school with her, but she understood and we're still just as close.

But, back to Jake. Jake and I didn't waste any time telling the press about us. We decided that Jake would date Miley and Hannah would continue being single. Hannah wasn't the real me and I was also afraid dating Jake would ruin Hannah's career in the sense that the relationship would be the only big thing about Hannah, you know what I'm saying? Any song Hannah sang people would think it was about Jake and she would constantly be under scrutiny if she were seen with another guy. Besides wearing that wig out to dinner dates did not sound fun.

So Jake and Miley were now a bonafide Hollywood super couple. Jake would constantly get asked about me and I wouldn't usually get followed by paparazzi unless I was with Jake, but there were a few oddball photographers that wanted to catch me buying McDonalds. Whatever, it was nothing compared to the way they hounded Hannah. Either way we were so excited to start the next part of our lives, together. Now we live together, practically. We spend most nights together either at my place or his. He was the first boy I spent the night with and he was also my first time, you know, doing it. It wasn't sexy the first time, it wasn't even fun. It was awkward and weird. Jake knew what he was doing but I didn't, I basically just played dead. But I've gotten better at it and enjoy it. Actually it's pretty fun now I just needed practice.

But now, I guess you could say our relationship hasn't really gone anywhere since the beginning. At first it was great because it was working so well. We were doing everything together and just living life. It was only hard when we'd have to go to parties and Hannah would have to show up. Jake was dating Miley so some parties he'd have to go solo but he'd always manage to hit on Hannah. Tabloids made assumptions that he was cheating on me but we obviously didn't let that rumor get to us. But now, it's kind of old. And we don't fight, which is kind of good, but we don't even have a playful banter every once in a while. We know each other so well that there's no friction. That was until tonight.

I found Jake in the kitchen "Hey baby". I put down my purse and went next to him.

I kissed him on the cheek and looked down at what he was cooking, "Mmm, spaghetti. It's your best dish, babe."

While we waited for dinner we started talking about how our day went. I had gone to my Dad's private studio to record a few songs with a new band that we'd found through Hannah. Jake had done a few scenes for his show, which was still a big success. They were just minor scenes that need some continuity fixes so he wasn't on set too long.

Once dinner was ready we dished it onto plates and went to the kitchen table and ate. We kept talking about our days and dinner went by quickly.

"You know what next week is?" He asked playfully.

"Like I'd forget, our five year anniversary." Wow, five years. It had flown by. "I'm surprised you remembered. Aren't guys supposed to forget about anniversaries?"

"Not this guy. Where should we go?"

I was a little disappointed. I was hoping he would have something planned. A restaurant, somewhere that was special to us, so that he could I don't know, maybe pop the question. Pop any question. Ask me to move in at least. As much as I wanted to let him know about my disappointment I didn't want to ruin this, so I just smiled and nodded, "How about that new sushi restaurant?" My disappointment must have gotten into my voice because Jake knew something was wrong.

"What's wrong? We don't have to go for sushi, there's lots of other places in L.A."

I let out a sigh, he asked me and I can't lie to him. "Jake, where are we going?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out, Miley."

"Jake, I mean with our future. I love you, you love me, and we've been together for five years, more than that counting the on-again-off-again situation in high school. Everyone calls us the perfect couple. We've committed ourselves to each other in every way possible except tangibly." He still looked baffled. "I have a key to your place, that's about it. We don't live together, we don't have a pet, and I mean we don't even own something together. And, from what I can tell right now you have no intentions of changing any of that."

"Miley, you just said it, we're the perfect couple. Why do you want to change that? What more could you need?" I could tell he was getting mad because his voice wasn't rising in volume it was just a calm monotone.

"Jake, a commitment. A ring, a place together, why is that so much for you?" I was yelling, hoping that would get him to yell back.

Jake shook his head, "Miley, we were doing so great, why do you have to start this?" Before I could say anything Jake continued. "Miley I love you and I'm sorry that isn't that good enough for you." I wanted to interject but Jake wouldn't give me the chance. "I'm not ready to get married. My mom and dad got divorced when I was four. And my dad has had girlfriends come in and out of his life. I learned from his mistakes and commitments mean something to me and I don't want to mess them up. I can't just make a big change like that without thinking it through. Moving in may not seem like a big deal to you, but who knows how much we might change in the next year. What if we move in and that's just the kiss of death on our relationship and then it's over. I want more time."

This time I forced my opinion in before he could keep going, "Commitments mean something to me too and that's why I want to share one with you." I reached my hand across the table but Jake pulled away and stood up from the table. He grabbed my plate and headed towards the kitchen. Oh hell no, he better not think this is over just because he walks away. I follow behind him quickly to find him in the kitchen slamming the dishes around in the sink.

"Jake what is the deal? Am I doing something wrong? What is it that's stopping you from making some kind of legitimate commitment to our love?"

Jake had already shut me out. He had finished slamming around the dishes in the sink and turned around to face me but everything was going in one ear and out the other. I recognized the look on his face it was the same one my brother used all the time when I'd try to talk to him.

"Jake! This is serious, I'm 23 years old, I have ambitions and one of those is to eventually start a family. I would've liked to think that I'd be headed in that direction at this age. Not like knocked up but at least living with the person I thought I was going to marry." Jake then started walking away from me again.

"Jake, where are you going? We need to talk. Why are you shutting me out?" I sobbed at him as he walked away. Why won't he talk to me? Why is he leaving? Where is he going?

"Jake! Stop!" I said as he got to the door. He stopped for just a second before grabbing his keys and leaving.

The next two days I stayed at his place all day and night. I cancelled my plans to go back to my dad's to help with the band, telling him that I needed to clear my brain and come back later with a fresh mind, not telling him about Jake. I called Jake's cell phone every half hour the first day and then every hour the next, but he never answered. I left probably about 30 messages until I finally gave up on that tactic. I called his manager who wouldn't tell me anything about where he was or what was going on with his schedule, she only told me that he wasn't at his job so I shouldn't even bother going there. Just to make sure she wasn't lying I called his assistant on the show and she said that he wasn't scheduled to come back until next week. I tried his friends but they said they hadn't heard from him. But his best friend suspiciously didn't answer my calls either. At this point I was no longer sad that he'd shut me out, I was just mad that he'd left me like some dead beat dad.

The second night I finally decided that if he hadn't shown up by now and hadn't even contacted me then maybe he wasn't the guy I thought he was. Maybe he was right, maybe he had changed or was going to change and that would ruin our relationship. So I decided to do what he'd done to me, just leave and never talk to him again. Well, I guess I'd give him another chance even though he didn't deserve it. We'd been together for five years and I guess I could give him a chance to fix this. It wasn't his most mature move but he hadn't really left me with many other options, he was lucky I'd give him a chance to fix this.

I had a few clothes at his place, not much and he had a duffel bag that I knew he had no use for. I packed up all the clothes I could find. Got my toiletries from the bathroom. I did a once over of the bedroom to make sure I got it all. I went around the loft, making sure there wasn't anything else. I thought I had a bunch of stuff here but I didn't really. I started writing a note to Jake telling him to call me when he wasn't being such a baby, but in nicer words. Right as I was about to sign it I heard the lock on the front door turn. I turned about to see Jake walking in, in the same clothes he'd left me in.

I just stared at him waiting for him to say something. But I don't think there was much he could say that would get me to stay right now. Even if he came back with the biggest ring I'd say no. That's not true. I'd probably go all crazy and say yes before he could even get the question out. But who am I kidding I doubt his little escape changed him that much.

"Miley, I'm sorry I left you, I just needed to clear my head." I rolled my eyes. "Miley, don't. I'm really sorry and I'm ready to talk about it."

"Then talk." I say sternly.

"I know that I should've just talked to you about why I'm not ready. And I took the time to figure out what I want to say," I was getting excited, maybe he had finally come to his senses. "But all I have to say is that all I want is you and me to stay where we are. After going through my life with my parents getting divorced, then dating around, bringing people into my life that only left, that changed me. I made a plan to not get married until I was 35 and I'm sticking to that. I don't think I'm ready to move in either. I hung out with my buddy," the friend that didn't answer, I knew he was hiding Jake, "and he was telling how it would totally change things between us and it would just force the marriage thing to happen even sooner and I don't want to put more pressure on that. Like right now, if everything keeps going the way it's going, I will want to marry you when I'm 35, so can't you just wait?"

"Yeah, that's fine Jake, I can wait. But I need something now to show that we'll eventually get there. How am I supposed to know that we'll get married and be fine if you can't even make a commitment now? Even a small one?" I stared at him, hating that I had to tell him that. It took him two days to tell me he wasn't going to get married for a while? But Jake was silent.

"Really Jake? You came back here expecting me to immediately forgive you with that lame excuse? That I have to wait until we're 35 and that's the best you can offer?" I didn't want to talk to him anymore. I grabbed the bag that was at my feet and walked past him.

"Where are you going?" He asked, not even moving a muscle. No, that'd be too much of a commitment to try and physically stop me.

"You didn't have the decency to tell me where you went why should I tell you? But I will tell you one thing don't call me. Don't visit me. Just leave me alone for, for a while. I'll call you if or when I want to talk to you again. But don't expect that to be anytime soon." I left, slamming the door behind me. God, what did I just do? What we had wasn't that bad. NO. You can't turn back, I told myself, he's not giving you what you need.

I ran to the elevator feeling the tears fall down my face. I mashed the button for the parking level. The entire ride back to my apartment I felt like nothing. This boy had been my life for the past five years. Yeah I had a life outside of him, but he was my boyfriend, he'd find his way into anything I did and I would usually want him there. I knew that if I stayed in L.A. I'd just miss him. I'd want to take him back and accept that that was my life, waiting for him to be ready. I knew what I had to do.

Once I got to my apartment I threw the bag on the ground and pulled out my phone, I went to speed dial and called Lilly. Lilly was still in school, going after a master's degree in teaching and she was even teaching a little.

"Hey Miley! What's up girl?" She said in her always-cheerful voice.

"Not so good, Lil. I broke up with Jake." God I sound pathetic. My voice sounds terrible from the crying I'd been doing.

"Oh, girlie. Do you need me to come?"

"No, I know you have classes to go to and school to teach, but I was wondering if I could come to you. Maybe for a week? I can't be in L.A. I'll come in tonight and leave next Sunday. Then we can party and we can have a girls weekend out."

I could hear Lilly's smile as she spoke, "Of course girl. I'll be here, same apartment as always."

We exchanged goodbyes and I started packing immediately. I also threw all of Jake's stuff from my place into the duffel bag. Anything that had his face or smell on it went in the duffel bag. Once I'd stuffed my usual carry on bag and his duffel bag I headed out the door. I got to my car, threw my bag in the trunk and threw Jake's duffel bag into the dumpster. Lilly had gone to a Northern California college so it was a short 6-hour drive. Six hours seems like nothing compared to the flight I would've had to take had she gone to New York. I got to Lilly's college town and she comforted me the whole first night. Then the rest of the week we went out to all the clubs in the area, ignoring all boys and just enjoying our time. We didn't party too hard on weeknights when Lilly had classes, but on the weekends we'd usually stay out all night. We didn't go near the internet or magazines. I didn't even think about how Jake and I were going to break it too the world. Whatever, he can deal with it. Jake had publicists, Miley didn't. But being with Lilly definitely made the first 72 hours without Jake easy, but it was still hard to wake up in the morning knowing that I'd just given up on the five year relationship I had with Jake. Knowing that his warm body would never be next to me again. Anytime I got like this I started talking to Lilly and she would stop those thoughts from turning into me calling Jake, which they would if I didn't stop thinking about him.

"Are you sure you're ready to go back to L.A.? You're not gonna go back to Jake, right?" Lilly was interrogating me as I packed like I was a drug addict heading back into the 'bad part of town'.

"Yes, Lilly. I'm fine. You fulfilled your best friend duties. You made me forget all about, him, and made me realize that I'm too good for him." Lilly helped me see that I had every right to be mad at him. Jake had left me for two days with no idea where he was or when he'd be back. And other than that, he wasn't willing to make changes for me. It was really sinking in that it was over. I couldn't even stand to say his name out loud. "As much as I'd love to stay here and pretend I had gone to college and flirt with a ton of other guys I can't, I have to go back. I have that duet to do with the Jonas Brothers for their Goodbye Tour."

"I can't believe you're doing a song with them, again. Just as much as I can't believe that they're breaking up."

Yes the boys were breaking up. Hannah had known the boys for a while, they were pretty good friends. They weren't super close but they held a few events together back in the day when "We Got the Party" was pretty popular.

They weren't breaking up because they disagreed or got in fights. No, no, no. They were just ready for the next part of their lives. Kevin had been holding off starting his family for the band. But he and Dani were ready to start a family and Joe and Nick couldn't hold them back anymore. Kevin said that Joe and Nick could invite Frankie to join the band but they talked to Frankie about it and they all agreed that it wouldn't be right. But it was fine because Joe wanted to try acting and Nick wanted to do more music including his own CD and producing new artists.

The boys had personally called Hannah and told her the news before it was released to the press. They asked Hannah to do one last song with them and maybe even make a few appearances on their tour. Hannah agreed immediately, she couldn't say no to them. Especially Nick. Nothing had happened with her and Nick, but boy had he tried to make something happen and boy had she wanted too make something happen. During one of their bigger charity events Nick and Hannah had gotten very close. Nick had even tried asking Hannah out, but Jake had stopped her. Well, sort of. While Hannah has almost always been single, Miley had just starting dating Jake for the first time. Nick tried for quite some time after that though. Whenever Hannah and Nick would run into each other at events he'd ask her out every time and every time Hannah wanted to say yes, but Jake was Miley's boyfriend and she was perfectly happy with it, at the time.

"I know it's hard to believe Lilly, but everyone grows up. You don't think I'm going to be Hannah forever, do you?"

"Well I don't know. I thought you said you were going to be done with Hannah once you got out of high school, but that didn't happen."

"That was my plan, but he changed my mind. Maybe after this I'll quit too." We were silent as I finished packing up the last of my stuff.

"Well, buddy, I have got to go. It was great seeing you, and thank you for everything." I said as I went to hug Lilly.

"No problem, girlie. I'm here whenever. Just call me if Jake starts giving you trouble, I get some of my buff college guys to go beat him up."

I just smiled and pulled away from the hug. Lilly walked me to my car and the drive back was nice. It was a beautiful sunny drive and I opened the sunroof the entire way. Life would go on and thank God I had Lilly to help me get over Jake. But now I was worried about being back in L.A. Even though I could call Lilly there would be no one to physically stop me from doing something stupid with Jake. I was still pretty vulnerable and I know that if I did something with him I'd regret it, but in the moment I probably wouldn't realize it. So the plan was to avoid Jake and the subject of Jake, that'd be easy, right?

I drove straight to my apartment and quickly changed to Hannah. I picked an outfit that was simple, but it was Hannah simple meaning to any normal person it was way too much. It was a purple sequin mini skirt, a purple screen tee, a black leather jacket, knee high boots, and way too many accessories. I raced to get to the studio in time. The receptionist told me how to get to the recording room the boys and I would be using. I got there to find that they were already there. They each turned to look at me.

"Hannah!" Joe screamed in his loud obnoxious voice as he got up to give me a hug, but it was more like a let's-see-how-sick-we-can-make-the-pop-star hug. Joe picked me up and spun me around so many times that I actually thought the walls were spinning.

"Hi Joe." He then put me down, "I can't say that I've missed those hugs. Okay, actually I have." I admitted.

Joe just laughed, "Hey Kev," I said to Kevin as he got up to give me a normal person hug. Kevin and Joe both went back to sitting in front of the soundboard and I looked to my right to see Nick sitting on one of the sofas that was meant for guests. He smiled at me and got up to give me a hug. They had all changed a lot since I first met them. Just physically though, I only noticed when Nick hugged me and I could feel his muscles around my body.

"Hey Hannah," Nick said coolly and I could feel the hair on my arms stand up and I felt the biggest smile come across my face. "Hey" was all I could get out. But it sounded so dumb, it was at whispering level and I kind of stumbled to get it out.

Before I let myself get embarrassed more, I moved away from Nick over to Kevin and Joe, "So did you guys get started without me?" I then felt Nick come up next to me, but I didn't look.

"Well, we really only got the beat, we figured we should do another pop, dance song. So now we're just working on the lyrics." Kevin said.

We spent the next hour or so thinking of lyrics. We all had little lines that we'd thought of over the past few months that we hadn't used in other songs and that was the most work we did. Avoiding Jake was hard because I knew the boys liked to put real emotion into their songs, but I had no real love feelings at the moment. All that came to mind was Jake. Other than that we spent the time talking about life, I made sure we avoided my love life, I couldn't even talk about it genuinely either. Miley got dumped while Hannah had been single. The other time we didn't spend talking, we spent goofing off. Joe brought four marshmallow guns, bigger and better ones than last time. It turned into a full on war and it felt like it was 2007 again and we had just met. When we were finally out of ammo I suggested we go out for lunch together.

"Hey guys I'd love to go with you but I promised I'd go meet Dani for a bit and eat with her." Kevin said.

"Yeah, and I told Demi I'd meet up with her before she leaves for her family vacation." Joe added. I didn't fight them because they each had legitimate excuses for bailing on us. Besides Demi had become a friend, not a best friend, but a close enough friend that I knew she was going on her annual Cabo family vacation for a week and a half.

Nick and I decided to go to my favorite sushi restaurant. Unfortunately there were paparazzi. They of course immediately asked if we were dating but Nick and I just ignored their questions and we made our way through the crowd to the entrance. We were seated immediately in a back booth.

We were handed menus but I already knew what I wanted. I could probably recite the menu because I knew it like the back of my hand. Nick noticed that I didn't touch the menu.

"Not eating?" He asked raising an eyebrow.

"No, I just know what I want." Nick was still looking at me funny, I guess I didn't tell him that I at eat here at least once a week. "What, I come here a lot." Trying to play it off cool that I practically live off sushi.

"Well if you know this place so well, why don't you order for me?" Nick put down his menu.

The waiter must have been watching us like a hawk because once Nick put down his menu the waiter was there in three seconds ready to take our order. I ordered Nick a California roll and myself a salmon roll. The waiter quickly scribbled it down and was gone again.

"I'm trusting you Hannah, if this goes wrong you could ruin sushi for me forever."

I rolled my eyes, "Well, you can trust me on this. I only eat the highest quality sushi."

Nick eyes just kind of glazed over, "Yeah, I bet."

I knew what was happening. I'd seen Nick give me that look before. Nick saw this song we were doing as another opportunity to date me. I could just tell that he had gotten his brothers to ditch us for lunch, don't ask me how I knew I just knew it. Now that Miley's free, Hannah could date. But I didn't feel right dating Nick right after breaking it off with Jake so soon. We had chemistry and before I've always wanted to say yes to Nick but this time didn't feel right. What if Nick just becomes a rebound and it goes horribly wrong? I didn't want to ruin anything with Nick just because I was still broken up about him. Nick's just too special. I just need more time to heal and then I'll be ready to date Nick.

"So, what are Kevin and Joe really doing?" I asked, trying to take advantage of his dazed state.

But Nick was obviously too smart for that game, "Eating with Dani and Demi. Why?"

I smiled, "Oh no, that totally makes sense, they ditched their brother so that he could eat lunch with a girl he's been crushing on ever since he met her."

"Hey, that's not entirely true. I've had a thing for you before I met you." I blushed when he said it, I didn't expect him to own up to it with such confidence.

"Nick, I," I started but he cut me off.

"Hannah, you can't keep turning me down. You're not even dating anyone and you haven't been. Why won't you just go on one date with me, just one."

"Nick, I just, I don't know," I wanted to say no. My immediate reaction was no, you're not ready. But I always got butterflies the millions of other times he'd asked me out. Why should I say no now when he was still giving me butterflies and I'm single?

"Hannah, all I'm asking for is one date, after that we can see where it goes from there and if you still don't feel anything then I'll give up and I'll just deal with the fact that it's not going to happen. But I can't spend the rest of my life not even trying."

"Okay. But just because when I turned you down before didn't mean I wasn't feeling anything." Because I was definitely feeling something before, it was just that a certain ex was always the problem. "When?"

"Tomorrow." He quipped back with. "I was counting on you to say yes so all the plans are made."

I smiled, "I guess 56th time's the charm." The rest of lunch went fine, we chatted about whatever, even talking about the song a little bit. But not much changed, we just decided to have the song be a sort of love song. It took us an hour to decide that the song would be a love song. We are not very productive songwriters.

We headed back to the studio after Nick insisted that he pay for lunch. The paparazzi were still there, still asking the same questions, when they asked if we were dating I just smiled and rolled my eyes. The drive back was silent except for the radio. We got back to the studio and Kevin and Joe were waiting for us.

"So how was lunch? Come up with anything?" Joe asked coyly.

Nick and I just shook our heads, "Not really, we just figured it'd be cool to do a love song." I said and then saw the boys look at their brother. "I know you're just dying to know what happened at lunch so I'll just tell you myself. Yes, he did ask me out and I did say yes, finally." I walked over to the couch while Kevin and Joe gave their brother high fives.

"But we really need to figure this out," I said. The rest of the day we buckled down and worked on the song. We got the chorus down and we figured the rest would just happen, but it didn't and I wasn't much help. As excited as I was to finally going on a date with Nick, I still wasn't feeling very in love. If anything I'd rather write a song about how all guys with names that start with Jake and end in Ryan suck. But I still tried, tried to remember before Jake turned into an asshole.

"Hannah, sing back what we have." Joe asked.

"Let's go all the way tonight.

No regrets, just love.

We can dance until we die.

You and I, We'll be young forever.

You make me feel like I'm living a teenage dream." It wasn't much but we all really liked it. Kevin was the one who suggested the teenage dream because we were all teens when we met and Dani made him feel young. Sometimes the way he talked about Dani was so cute it was sickening. It was probably the same way I talked about Jake before he went and ruined everything. Or did I? I heard Lilly's voice in my head correcting me and reminding me that Jake was the idiot. But it was still hard not to wonder. Maybe I was the one in the wrong? Lilly had a biased opinion. No, focus I thought. The thoughts stopped but I knew once I was alone they'd come back.

I looked at the clock and it was already 5pm. We were having serious writer's block after writing the chorus. I knew the boys could usually crank out a song in 15 minutes. I guess it didn't help that I wasn't giving anything. I wasn't dead silent but I would only agree and disagree, I wasn't bringing anything to the table. The things the boys suggested would remind me of Jake and then I would start doubting my decision to break up with him again. Maybe that was the wrong thing to do. I had to get out of here.

"You guys, I don't think we're gonna get much further, I'm so tired. I think we should sleep on it and then meet up again tomorrow and hopefully we'll have something?"

"Yeah, I agree with Hannah." Joe said.

"Okay, meet back here tomorrow at 10?" Kevin asked and we all nodded in agreement.

I practically ran out of the studio. Writing about love was harder than I thought it was going to be. It wasn't so much that the song reminded me of Jake but just reminded me of everything I had with Jake. Sure we weren't going to get married anytime soon or whatever but so what? I had him and that was all that mattered right? And we were together and that wasn't going to change. Once I got home I pulled the wig off and changed into cropped sweats and a white wife beater, my hair looked terrible because it'd been tied in that tight bun all day. I pulled it out only for a moment so that I could put into a looser bun that didn't feel like it was pulling out my hair. I grabbed my cell phone from my purse and went to the kitchen. I scrolled through my contacts to Jake Ryan.

Lilly would be so upset with me once she found out what I did. But maybe Jake realized that I need more and maybe he changed his mind. Maybe I just need to give him another chance. He deserved that right? He had given five years of his life to me. I clicked the call button and it started to ring. But then all I could think of was Lilly and how upset she'd be, and then Nick. I'd just told him I'd finally go on a date with him? What would I say if Jake and I did get back together? 'Sorry, I didn't want to date you so badly that I went back to my commitment phobic ex.' I immediately hung up before Jake had answered. What am I doing? Do I or don't I want Jake?

Before I could let myself think long enough there was a knock on my door. I stood still, not sure if it was real or just my imagination. No one I knew was visiting, no had called or texted. I heard another knock. I didn't want to answer but maybe it's just the landlord or something. Or maybe Lilly just knew that I was thinking about going back to Jake and was here to stop me. I went to the door quietly so that the person wouldn't know that I was standing there. I looked through the peephole and saw a head full of curly brown hair. Nick.

What is he doing here? How does he know I live here? Isn't our date tomorrow? He brought flowers? As I was watching him I saw him knock again and I felt the door shake.

I decided that I'd just wait until he left, he couldn't wait there all night, I mean he'd have to go to the bathroom eventually or something. Nick knocked one more time and right after he did I heard my phone ring, it was "He Could Be the One", a ringtone I'd assigned to only Jake when he called. Why'd he have to call me back? Didn't he hear me say I didn't want to talk to him? Oh right, I called him. I ran over to the phone and ignored the call just so it would stop being so loud. Nick must've heard that, I guess I'll have to at least give him a chance to explain why he's at my doorstep. I walked back to the door and looked over to the mirror that was adjacent to the door. Crap, the wig. Maybe I can make a quick run for it.

"Hannah?" Nick said through the door. Shit.

"Hey," I tried to say like we weren't talking with a door in between us.

"You want to let me in?"

"Uh, I can't, I'm uhh- I'm indecent."

"You can go change, just let me in when you're ready. Please?" Why'd he have to be so nice about it? I'm right in the middle of being torn about going back to Jake and then he comes along and makes it that much harder.

I ran back to my room and pulled my hair back into the obnoxious bun it was in before and pulled on the Hannah wig so it was nice and snug. Sometimes I really hate this thing. I think I can feel my brain spilling out my ears some days. I looked in the mirror to make sure there weren't any stray hairs hanging out. This wig really doesn't match this outfit but it'll have to do.

I ran back to the door and opened it. Nick held out the flowers, "Here, I know that I kind of dropped by but I figured these might make up for that?" They were purple sweet peas. I took them and smelled them.

"I guess they help a little bit." I stood back so Nick could walk in. I shut the door behind him and went to the kitchen to put them in a vase. I already had some flowers out that Jake had given to me. I replaced them throwing away the old ones and turned to Nick who had followed me into the kitchen.

"So, what are you doing here Nick? You're like 24 hours early for out date." I said teasingly.

"Today was fun, but it seemed like you were holding back. I was hoping you'd let it out when we started writing but that didn't seem to happen. I don't know if it was because of me or because my brothers were there, but I just wanted to know, maybe we could talk about it and make it part of the song or another song. That's what I do when I have stuff on my mind. So I followed you home." I was about to mention how creepy that was but Nick put his hand up to stop me, "I know that's as low as what paparazzi do. But I realized that once I got here so then I went to go grab some flowers to make up for that and surprising you."

I stared at the floor then let out a sigh, "Yeah, I was kind of holding back Nick." I wanted to tell him about Jake, Hannah, how my heart was feeling, I just wanted to let him in but he's just a date. A date that I'd been waiting for a while now.

Nick seemed to understand that my lips were sealed and he didn't push any further. "So this is where the ultra fabulous Hannah Montana lives?"

I giggled, "Yeah, not quite as fabulous. My closet is where most of the money got spent. This is just a regular kitchen attached to a regular eating area next to a regular TV room."

"Hmm," Was all Nick said as he started walking around, leaving the kitchen heading towards the TV room. I followed behind him as he looked around. When we got to the TV room I plopped down on the couch, letting Nick look at everything and touch anything. He looked over the couch, coffee table and the contents on top of it, which were mainly just magazines, the bookcases, and then the mantle of the fireplace that was right underneath the TV that was hanging on the wall across from the couch.

Nick turned around holding a picture frame, "Who's this girl?" He asked holding a picture of Lilly and me on graduation day.

"Oh that's my best friend Lilly."

"No, I mean the other girl, the brunette. She's in most of these pictures. And where are the pictures of you with your friends?"

This is why Hannah never has house parties. This is why Hannah didn't tell Nick where she lived. I knew there was no way to explain this and this is why I spilled my secret with one more person.

"Nick, I've known you for a while, I trust you, we're going on a date tomorrow. Please don't let me regret telling you what I'm about to tell you." Nick put the picture back down as I stood up off the couch and he was all ears.

"Nick I just got out of a relationship, one I've been in and out of ever since I've known you. And yes Hannah hasn't been dating anyone publicly but," I then pulled off my wig and dropped it on the couch. I reached up and pulled out the tight bun and let my hair fall down on my shoulders. "But Miley Stewart has been."

Nick's eyes had followed the wig and he slowly dragged them back over to me. "Wait, Miley Stewart, I know that name."

"Miley Stewart is only famous because she's dating- was dating Jake Ryan."

"Was? They broke up?" He asked still staring at my hair.

"Yes, we broke up. That's why I was holding back today. I wanted to write a love song but I'm in the middle of deciding if I'm done with Jake forever or just a week or what. And then there's you and you're not making this any easier. I like you, but I don't want to rebound, but I don't want to turn you down anymore. I like you a lot and Jake has always stopped me but now I'm available and I'm still thinking about him. I know I shouldn't let him back in, but it's hard to turn him down after so long." I stopped my rambling, seeing if Nick wasn't saying anything because he was so freaked out of if it was because I didn't give him a chance to speak.

He was silent for a moment before speaking, "I- I think I have more questions and doubts about you and Hannah then you and Jake. I mean, as long as Hannah and Miley are basically the same person then I'm still your friend and still want to take you out. I know Jake had been dating Miley- uh, you for a while but I'll do whatever it takes to prove to you that I deserve to date you. I'm just as good as him probably better." I laugh at his cockiness as he moved close to me. "So Miley will go on a date with me too?"

"Miley will definitely go on a date with you." I say smiling at him. He's so close I can smell his cologne mixed with his own body aroma.

"Dang that means I have to cancel on Hannah. That should make it awkward in the studio." He jokes, "Kevin and Joe are gonna flip, Joe always thought there was something mysterious about you."

"Uh, let's keep this between us for a while. Even Jake's 'people' didn't know about this, most of Hannah's 'people' don't know about this."

Nick laughed and nodded. We were just staring at each other for a bit before Nick turned away. He grabbed the wig and went to the mirror that was by the front door.

"Uh, what are you doing?" I asked trailing behind him.

"I want to see something." Nick flipped his head over and the tugged the wig onto his head. He flipped back up and he was now Hannah Montana. I couldn't control the giggles that spewed from my mouth.

"How do I look?" He said giving me a model face that was trying to hard.

"You look ridiculous!" I screeched.

"You're just jealous that I can pull this off better than you." He said as he turned to face the mirror making the Hannah hair twirl.

"Nick! You have to get out of that before it stretches out!" Nick just turned to face me, and I knew Nick wanted to make some kind of sexual joke. Even though he could be adorably sweet, he was still a guy. "Don't say it. Here, take that one off and I'll let you try on some other wigs, okay drag queen?" I teased.

He just laughed and took off the wig, "No, I don't need to try anymore on. But I am kind of curious, where do you hide these other Hannah wigs?"

I smiled and grabbed his hand and I felt shivers run through my body. He was so warm and his palms were even a little clammy, glad to know I wasn't the only one getting nervous. I lead him to my bedroom and then to the closet that was just two sliding doors.

"You keep all your clothes in there? I'm gonna be honest Miley, even my closet is bigger than that." I smiled and looked back at him.

"Wait." I let go of his hand with some resistance on my part and his part. I opened one of the sliding doors and pushed back my clothes to one side. This revealed another door with the Hannah logo, "I've done this to every place I've ever lived in. I always build in a secret closet." I pulled Nick into the closet as I opened the second door and then pulled him through revealing a room-sized closet of clothes, shoes, purses, accessories, a vanity, the whole works.

Nick just stood there and laughed. "You're telling me you're wasting a whole room worth of space to keep your clothes?"

"Hannah can't be seen in the same outfit twice. She also gets sent a lot of stuff. My clothes are kept out there in the smaller closet and dresser, Hannah just has a lot of crap. You wouldn't get it, you're a guy."

"Joe would get it. He has so many clothes and shoes he'd love this." Nick said walking around, touching as much stuff as possible. Then he found a few pictures, "So this is where you were hiding all the Hannah pictures?" He looked through them all, they were mainly of Hannah and other celebrities even one or two with the Jonas Brothers.

"Well sometimes I have guests over, I don't want them thinking I just stalk Hannah."

"Why do you refer to Hannah as another person? Isn't she you just with a wig?"

"It's more than that. Yes, she is me, but she's this whole other side of me. I don't always like wearing bright neon colors with sparkles. I created Hannah when I was 13 so that I could live out my dream to sing and still be normal when I wanted too. When I just wanted to go out with friends I wouldn't have to worry about being followed by paparazzi. But that changed when I started dating Jake. He was the one that convinced me to keep being Hannah after I graduated high school, but it didn't matter because I was being followed around anyway because I was dating Jake. God, he really screwed me over in some ways."

"How?" Nick asked. Wow, he was still paying attention.

"Well, first he convinced me not to go to college. He convinced me that college would still be around if I ever wanted to go. If I left Hannah now it'd have to be for good. So I've kept up this Hannah charade for way longer than I've wanted too. I had a plan to be done with it by high school graduation. I mean just so that I'd reevaluate and pick Hannah or college. But instead what happened was that I just kept the wig. By then I wanted to either dye my hair blonde or have Hannah disappear. And then he dragged me along for five long years." I crashed down on the floor feeling the tears stroll down my face and Nick was immediately by my side. I was finally letting out what I hadn't let out with Lilly. "He was just keeping me around because I was good company. And then ten years from now he'd decide if he really wanted me. I don't get why he couldn't just give me something, anything to show that that's where he wanted me. With him." I was sobbing now and I'm sure my words were practically beyond comprehension. Saying this all out loud helped. But poor Nick, I'd just unleashed this weight I'd been carrying around. "Nick, I, I, I'm sorry, I just dumped this on you."

Nick put an arm around me, "Miley this is what I wanted. To know what was wrong. I want to help." I put my hand on his chest and leaned my face in and cried in his arms for a minute.

"No," I said as I pulled away Nick looked at me puzzled. "This is exactly what I didn't want. To rebound on you. Here I am crying on your shoulder a day before our date. I don't want you to pity me and then feel like I have to date you because you've been so good to me." I stood up, wiping the tears from my eyes and as I was about to leave the closet Nick grabbed my hand and stopped me.

"Miley, I don't pity you. Yeah I feel bad that you're going through this but you've always been my friend even if it was as Hannah and I wanna be there for you. We all have bad break ups and hard times in our lives and your just going through one of them now. Maybe this will ruin our date and if by helping you get through this means you'll always see me as the guy you can cry on, then oh well. But I think I'm willing to risk that if it's what gets you through this."

I had stopped crying and could barely look him in the eye. God he was so sweet. I really didn't want to see him as that friend, he was a great guy and I wouldn't let myself blow my first opportunity to date Nick. I'd wanted to date him since I met him. Nothing was going to stop me from what I did next. I looked up at him and grabbed his face and kissed him, pressing our lips together softly but I kept it short and sweet. I pulled back dropping my hands from his face.

"So, I guess I'm not gonna be that guy?" Nick asked with a goofy smile on his face. I couldn't really tease him about it because I'm sure I had the same look on my face.

I replied by shaking my head. I grabbed his hand and took him out of the Hannah closet and back out from my bedroom to the TV room.

"I should probably get going." Nick said as he turned to get his keys.

"Hey Nick. You wanna watch a movie?" I didn't want him to leave I felt so much better with him around. I was also afraid that if he left I'd just want to call Jake.

"Uh yeah sure, what are we gonna watch?" He asked. I could tell by his tone he didn't know what to think. I was asking him to stay the night before we even went on a date, of course he was confused.

"There's a whole bunch of DVDs underneath the coffee table, you go pick one and I'll go make popcorn." I said cheerily pretending like I hadn't just been sobbing two minutes ago. I headed into the kitchen and grabbed a microwave bag of popcorn and got it started and then went back into the TV room.

"Find anything you wanna watch?" I asked.

"You have a lot of chick flicks which shouldn't surprise me. But I think I found something." Nick pulled out Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. "I can't believe you have this but I haven't seen it in a while."

"Oh my gosh, can we not?" I asked, "My brother gave me that as a joke. When we were younger we saw it on TV at like one in the morning and it scared the crap out of me. My brother teased me about it to no end."

"Aw, come on Miley," He had become accustomed to my real name pretty fast. "I love this movie, it's such a classic. Besides I'm here so nothing bad can happen."

I just smiled at him, "Fine. Put it in I'll go check on the popcorn." The popcorn was done in a couple of minutes. I grabbed the bag and went back to the TV room, turned off the lights, and joined Nick on the couch. We both knew what was supposed to happen next, Nick was supposed to put his arm over my shoulders. We watched the movie begin and I felt Nick's closest arm lift up and then drop lightly on my shoulder blades. I looked over at him with a tight smile. He looked at me and then I whipped my head back around to the TV. Even though I knew he was gonna do it, it still made my heart rate go crazy.

As the movie went on I could feel my eyelids getting tired and my head getting heavy. I rested it on his chest and I could hear his heart rate go fast. Once again I was glad I wasn't the only one. As hard as I tried to fight sleep it didn't work. I was quickly asleep before we were even an hour into it. Then I woke up a later, I didn't know how much later, but the movie was over and the TV was off but I still felt Nick's chest under my head. I looked up to see he was out cold. I got out from his arm and helped move his body vertically on the couch. I grabbed a blanket and put it over him. He looked so cute I couldn't help but kiss him on the cheek quickly. I went to bed thinking there'd be no way I could sleep knowing Nick was only a few steps away.

The song that they come up with is a song by Katy Perry called "Teenage Dream". This story got changed about five million times. I'm going to aim to have the chapters be long and beefy, like 8000-10,000 words each. Yeah I know, that's intense. So don't expect this to be updated a whole lot. But when it is I'll make sure it's good.