Hey guys, sorry it's been so long, I've been super busy with school and blah, blah blah, you know the deal...so I totally didn't even proof read this but, whatever. Although it didn't win the competition, I ADORE this story, it's honestly my baby :) Hope you like it!

Slow Dancing In A Burning Room

It's not a silly little moment
It's not the storm before the calm
This is the deep and dying breath of
This love we've been working on...

""I miss you." The blue-eyed brunette confessed to the image of her perfect Beau appearing from her laptop screen. His beauty intimidated her at times, specifically times such as that very moment, in her most vulnerable state. Although it was late at night and he was tired from whatever it was him and his brothers had been up to that day, it didn't show on his flawless face. His hair, a bit tousled, exactly the way she liked it, his white v-neck underneath one of his signature plaid shirts, which was now unbuttoned as he shrugged it off his shoulders. Since she could not see below his waist, she assumed he had on a pair of some form fitting basketball shorts. Ugh, could the day drag on any longer? She needed him. Bad.

"Baby, don't do that; I don't wanna see you like that." She noticed how his eyebrows knitted together in concern at her saddened expression. She hadn't been aware of her facial expressions as she became mesmerized by the view before her.

"I'm sorry, it's just been so long..." she pouted. "Tomorrow, Mi." He reminded her, "Just remember, we're pros at this." He was then rewarded with her loud, obnoxious laugh, that made him love her that much more every time.

"It's sad though, isn't it?" She added, after calming herself, "our relationship is at its best when we're apart and the minute we reunite, we bicker so much it's almost as if we can't handle our own feelings for each other, almost as if our love is way bigger than us." She stopped and looked at him for a while and she could tell he was analyzing her words, trying to come up with some counterarguments, but he knew very well that she was right. "We've cried wolf so many times, Nick, I'm scared for what may happen once you're here and the arguing and yelling starts again."

"We'll make it work Miles, we always do." He assured her, sounding a bit too sure for her liking.

"Promise?"

"I promise."

S. D. I. A. B. R.

We're going down
And you can see it too
We're going down
And you know that we're doomed
My dear, we're slow dancing in a burning room...

"Nick!" Miley charged for the boy approaching her temporary Georgia home, in which she had just entered a while earlier for a much needed glass of water after a long afternoon of jet skiing and swimming with family, friends and costars.

"Miles." He breathed in her ear as she wrapped her arms around his neck, bathing suit and all, and pressed her face in it. He lifted her off the ground, spinning her around and around and he could have sworn they were the only two left in the world. He tightened his arms around her lower back, pressing her mostly bare body closer to his. He was brought back to reality once he felt warm tears on his neck. He stopped spinning her and placed her back on her feet. "I missed you." He smiled down at her as he wiped the tears from her face. He didn't waste any more time as he connected his lips with hers. The kiss, which started out as a slow, sweet, innocent kiss, quickly turned into a much more urgent, passionate yet needy and somewhat demanding kiss. They were subconsciously communicating through the much needed intimate moment; they had both seen this coming, it was inevitable. They were mutual on how the problem ought to be repaired, however they were both
stubborn souls ready to fight fate, knowing very well, they had no chance and their tear-stained faces only confirmed this fact.

"I love you," After pulling away, Miley looked deep into his dark brown orbs, making sure her message was properly received, "I love you SO much, Nick."

"I love you too, please don't ever forget that Mi." He said caressing her cheek with the pad of his thumb. "Promise me you won't ever forget no matter where we end up in life."

"Nick..."

"Please Miley, just promise me." He waited for her response feeling mixtures of all kinds of emotions: anxious, worried, content, love, sad, confused, peaceful, scared...it made no sense to him and looking into Miley's eyes he knew her heart was in a contradictory state as well.

"I won't. I promise I'll never forget."

S. D. I. A. B. R.

I'll make the most of all the sadness
You'll be a ** because you can
You try to hit me just to hurt me
So you leave me feeling dirty
Because you can't understand...

"What did I do Nick? Just tell me what I did!"

"I'm not gonna stand here and watch you throw yourself all over that guy Miley! It's already hard enough watching you two suck face while filming..." Nick had tried to refrain himself from blowing up on her, but she wasn't exactly cooperating with him and that just made him so much more frustrated.

"So that's what this is about? You're jealous!" She crossed her arms across her chest, shaking her head in disappointment. "You know what Nick; you need to grow the hell up."

He stared at her, bewildered, "Are you kidding me right now! Screw you Miley, I'm done." He put his hands up in front of him in defeat as he backed out of the room.

"This is exactly what I mean when I say you need to grow up, be a man and face your damn problems!"

Now that had to be the last straw; Nick stopped in his tracks before taking long and fast strides back to her again. He placed his hands on each side of her face, making sure he had her undivided attention. "No Miley, the problem isn't that I need to grow up, you've just changed, you're not the same girl I fell in love with." He said in a harsh, loud whisper. "That girl would NEVER tell anyone to grow up, you know why? Because she was the biggest kid around; one of the many reasons I loved her so much." Although she tried to fight against it, her bottom lip began to quiver and at the moment, what he wanted most was to see her break down and release the tears threatening to escape her eyes. All he wanted was his vulnerable, carefree, spontaneous, fun, somewhat immature, girlfriend back; even if just for a minute. But it was apparent she would not be returning any time soon, if at all.

"You're not Ronnie, Mi, she's a fictional character." He said in barely a whisper, "I just want my girl back."

"I'm still here Nick, I've just grown up. That happens, its life."

He slowly shook his head and rested his forehead against hers. He had no more energy in him to prevent the tears from trickling down his cheeks. His lips formed a weak smile as tears began flowing from her own eyes and that was all it took for him to feel content. Somewhere behind the hideous disguise was his beautiful best friend. She was still there.

"Yes I am." She insisted, a little out of breath. She inched closer to his face and pressed her lips firmly on his. She put all the passion she had in that kiss wanting so badly for him to understand just how much she loved him. She felt that he was beginning to doubt her; he was beginning to think the feeling wasn't mutual anymore. She felt offended at his accusations of changing and basically not caring anymore; how he could possibly think that when she was so crazy about him was beyond her understanding.

I was the one you always dreamed of
You were the one I tried to draw
How dare you say it's nothing to me
Baby, you're the only light I ever saw...

"I love you." she mumbled against his lips.

"Love you too, boo." He said with a smile, trying to lighten up the mood. His stomach was doing all kinds of fancy little flips as she granted him his wish with her radiant 'Miley smile.' Not the one that she had been wearing recently, no. It was that same smile that sealed the deal on that sunny June afternoon back in 2006. That smile that he thought about every night before he fell asleep and first thing in the morning.

"Always."

"I know."

S. D. I. A. B. R.

The infatuated pair walked into the welcoming, air conditioned stunning Tybee home in comfortable silence, pinkies loosely intertwined as the boy affectionately hummed their song. He didn't necessarily think she needed the reminder, she knew very well that she was '[his] girl' but it was always nice to point out the obvious just because he knew it made her smile.

"Wanna take a shower first, Mi?" He asked as they entered her room after a fun, memorable, long day at the beach.

"No, I want you to go in with me." She batted her eyelashes innocently at him.

He raised an eyebrow at her, "You want to take a shower together."

"Yeah." She said, using her baby voice that she knew he found utterly adorable.

He shook his head, "Destiny Hope, you will be the death of me."

"Oh, come on, you know you want to." She wiggled her curvy little hips, covered only by her tiny hot pink bikini bottom, for emphasis.

"Don't start what you can't finish babe." He plopped down on the armchair near the window, rested his head back on the wall and closed his eyes. He heard her laughing decrease in volume as she exited the bedroom and entered the bathroom.

Opening his eyes, they immediately landed on Noah's little purple water gun across the room on the floor in front of the bedroom door. A smirk quickly made its way on his face as he hopped off the chair, walked over to the gun, picked it up and quietly ran behind the wall of the bathroom entrance. He peeked inside and saw Miley in the process of removing her bathing suit top.

"Drop the top and nobody gets hurt." He threatened, now standing about ten feet away from her holding the gun up in front of him and ready to squirt at any second.

"Nick!" She shrieked, holding her top close to her chest with its strings hanging loosely behind her.

"You heard me, drop it." He smirked at her bewildered expression, and then squirted some water at her, getting a cute little squeal from her in return.

"Nick, quit it!" She giggled, tying the strings of her bathing suit back together. "Give me that- ah!" She charged for him reaching for the toy that he now had behind his back.

"Why hello there, is it suddenly hot in here or is it just...you." He dropped the water gun behind him and kicked it behind so that it was far out of reach and pulled her closer so that she was pressed tighter against his body. He let his lips explore her face before finally settling on her plum lips for a long, slow and quite sensual kiss that left them in need of oxygen.

Pulling away, Miley held on to his bottom lip with her teeth in desperation almost and smiled cutely up at him as a child caught in wrongdoing would, he couldn't help but let out a chuckle. "The shower offer of yours still stands, right?"

"I don't know, I don't really feel like-" She was cut off by his hot breath tickling her ear, "May I remind you, I leave tomorrow; you won't see me again anytime soon...if you catch my drift."

"But then again, one quick shower together couldn't possibly hurt." She smirked as she took his hand slowly backing toward the shower.

S. D. I. A. B. R.

Go cry about it, why don't you?
My dear, we're slow dancing in a burning room
Don't you think we ought to know by now…

"Miles, please talk to me." Nick knelt in front of his girlfriend, who had been crying for an abnormally long time just for a movie, that she had seen a record-breaking amount of times. He placed his hands on her knees, looking her straight in the eyes. "Tell me what's wrong baby...it has nothing to do with 'The Notebook', does it?" She slowly nodded her head. "It does?" Once again, she nodded. "It's something else too, right?" She nodded again, this time letting out a small whimper. "Is it me?" She nodded her head furiously as a fountain of tears cascaded down her face.

"I can't do this anymore Nicky." She stuttered, trying to calm her sobbing.

"Do what Mi...?" He asked in a whisper and he knew very well where she was headed. How to stop her from going any further was another story; it couldn't be time yet, he wasn't ready. He hadn't emotionally prepared himself yet. Just one more night, he pleaded with God. He was beginning to become angry; why did he have to compromise? He was sure about her, why should he wait? Why not someone else? Someone who had yet to find their soul mate...

"I can't, I just can't..." She repeated over and over, not even bothering to wipe the fluids dominating her face.

"No, no, no." He exclaimed, pulling her down into his lap on the carpeted floor. "Don't say that, we'll make it work, we have to...we always do."

"Nick...please." She sniffled, struggling to maintain her composure.

"No Miley!" He pulled her head to his chest, so that the side of her face was pressed against his panicking heart, producing all the more tears from her blood shot eyes. "No. Don't; please don't." He pleaded, gently stroking her hair.

After much anticipated protest from Nick, Miley somehow managed to pull herself out of his grasp, up off his lap and onto her feet. "Please try to understand Nicky." She whispered softly.

"Understand what, huh?!" He got up furiously, now his anger taking over, "Understand that the girl who supposedly loves me SOO much wants to move on to bigger, better things?!"

"You know it's not that, I just can't handle this constant fighting, its taking way too much out of me and I'm sick of it!"

"Bull!" He stepped closer to her, we fight; that's who we are, but that doesn't mean we don't love each other...or so I thought.

"Shut up! You know I love you but you and I both know this," she said, gesturing to Nick and her, "is nowhere near healthy!"

"Okay, fine then, we won't fight." It was obvious that he was trying to keep from breaking down. He was now overcome with anger, disappointment and sadness; why was he not warned about this? He didn't know what to do to fix it. It was too late. "We'll make it work, I promise, just please..." he said taking her hand as tears clouded his eyes.

"No Nick, stop it! Okay?" She yanked her hand away from his, "Stop making promises you can't keep, I'm sick and tired of hearing that same line over and over again!"

He stood there staring at her for a while trying to find any signs of doubt in her eyes but to his dismay she was definitely done; there was obviously no doubt in her mind that this was the right thing to do. She had reached her limit and there was nothing he could do to convince her otherwise. "Just tell me one thing Mi," he noticed how she cringed at his pet name for her and he couldn't help but feel a little bit of hope.

"Because you owe me that much." She nodded and he proceeded, "Do you have feelings for Liam?"

"Nick, you know this has nothing to do with him."

"Damn it Miley, just tell me! Because if you don't and weeks from now I see pictures of you two together...I swear to you Miley, from then on, you're dead to me."

"Okay fine, maybe I like him a little, but that doesn't dismiss-"

"That's all I wanted to hear." He interrupted her then headed for the door.

"That doesn't mean I love you any less Nick!" she cried out to him. "I still love you with everything in me and nothing will ever change that!"

"Cut the crap Miley! I could care less if you love me anymore." And with that, he exited the room, slamming the door behind him leaving her completely awestruck.

S. D. I. A. B. R.

"I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing, we both knew..." She sighed and looked at the boy standing in front of her. How she wished he knew what he did to her; how could one person cause her to feel so many different emotions at the same time? It scared the crap out of her.

"I'm gonna miss you boo." Nick smiled, wanting to leave on a happy note rather than dwell on the negative, which was what they had been doing all day.

She laughed that beautiful, melodic laugh of hers and threw her arms around him. "Imma miss you too, boo." she mumbled into his shirt. "Keep in touch, 'okay?"

"Oh I will, I'm gonna make sure you get sick of me." He assured her, stroking her hair.

"Not possible." She looked up at him and their eyes locked, communicating the way they knew best; no words were needed to spoil the moment. They needed each other's reassurance that everything would be all right, that after all was said and done; their love only grew stronger day after day. "I love you." She felt it necessary for her to make the first move considering his insecurity about possibly another guy in the picture.

"I love you too." He placed a chaste kiss on her now trembling lips. "Aw, Mi, don't cry, I'm leaving, I want to see a smile on that gorgeous face of yours."

She smiled as tears started trickling down her face. "I really do love you Nick."

"I know baby." They were both startled by a loud female voice reminding them of his departure.

"This is it, huh?" She twirled a lock of her hair around her finger.

He opened his arms wide, inviting her in for a hug and she obliged, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck. He lifted her off her feet and she buried her face in his neck, placing light pecks on it. "I love you." he whispered in her ear and placed her back on her feet as he pulled away.

"Ditto." She smiled weakly holding on to his hand as he slowly walked away toward his terminal. She reluctantly released his fingers when he got farther away.

Soon enough, he was out her view; gone. Would he ever return? That, she was not so sure of.

Throughout the entire plane ride, Nick's head was consumed with thoughts of Miley. Everything from her eyes to the way she would chew on her bottom lip whenever she was nervous or embarrassed. Her laugh, her smile, her lips, her skin against his. He let himself fantasize as long as he was still up in the clouds, it only made sense, because as soon as he landed and he was back on solid ground, he would have to put all thoughts of her aside and move on with his life for the time being. It's what she wanted. And as long as she was happy, he was happy. He just hopes and prays that his distractions would be productive enough to fill the space the way he needed them to.

As he descended down the escalator, he was greeted with a bright smile from a figure at the bottom. He grinned back at the figure. Although she was standing far enough from him to where he could barely make out her face, he couldn't mistake that face of hers. He was immediately overcome with happiness, all signs of sorrow drained from his face. As soon as he got close enough, he took advantage of the opportunity and pulled her into a tight hug. "What are you doing here?"

He asked the grin never leaving his face.

"What? Suddenly you don't want me here." she replied, flashing her radiant smile. "Did you forget that you practically begged me to be here last night?"

"You said you wouldn't."

"Well I changed my mind, besides, I had nothing better to do so..." she smirked, enjoying their little teasing game.

"Well thanks Sel, I really appreciate it." He flung his arm around her shoulder and pressed his lips on top of her head, taking in her pleasant strawberry scented shampoo.

"It's my pleasure; she wrapped her arm around his waist as they began to walk toward the exit. You still up for that lunch date?"

"Wouldn't miss it for anything." Well, maybe ONE thing...

Don't you think we ought to know by now?
Don't you think we should have learned somehow?...

S. D. I. A. B. R.

Bleh, comment if you like, I could care less anymore :)