Selena walked out onto the top deck of the cruiser she was on. It was Disney's Summer Party on a Boat! And Selena wanted to be anywhere but where she was. She loved to see her friends of course, seeing Demi again was great, she wished she could say the same for a few others. She looked down onto the deck below her and saw Joe and Demi, cuddling up together as the wind whipped their hair. She smiled, it was great to see Demi so happy, especially how Trace had messed her around. To Selena, it was obvious from the start that he was a bad boy, but Miley had sung his praises so much that it all seemed oblivious to Demi. Once again she'd had her heart broke and for a while Selena was scared she was going to start cutting again. But thank God for Joe Jonas, he pulled her out of her state and tried to help her to see sense, Demi wasn't back to her full self, but Selena knew that she would be in no time.

Her grin grew wider as she heard Demi's thick chesty laugh, at least she was happy.

"They look happy, don't they?" someone echoed her thoughts and she turned around to see the silhouette of Nick Jonas walking towards her. Months ago, that would have done a lot for her, now, nothing. She'd been trying to avoid his gaze all night, not because it affected her, but because she knew that if she even gave him a hint of interest he'd be at her feet like a lap dog, and she wasn't being big headed. Selena breathed and remembered to be civil without screaming the list of things he was doing wrong in his life at him.

"Yeah, they're happy," Selena turned back to watching the pair of them laugh and tackle each other, like kids in love.

"I like seeing my brother happy," Nick came and stood next to her and he folded his arm on the barrier, letting his hands hang limp, like he does, "Are you happy, Sel?"

"Don't call me that," she interjected, slightly more hostile than she had originally planned, "Please," she added, trying to save herself from sounding like a complete bitch, "Selena is fine,"

"I know you can't stand nicknames but I thought seeing as were past even first name terms -,"

"Selena is fine," she reminded him, wanting to keep his eyes off the prize.

"I know," he mouthed after a few stunned seconds, "But seeing as a few months ago I was 'baby'?"

"Stop it," she could feel the heat rising through her body.

"Sweetheart?" He teased her more.

"Stop it, Nick,"

"Honey?"

"Nick -,"

"Gorgeous," he breathed.

"Stop it!" Selena wasn't aware that she had raised her voice but it was just enough for Demi to hear her.

Demi turned in Joe's arms, her head still resting on his bicep. She looked up and saw Selena staring intently into Nick's eyes and she breathed in sharply. Joe noticed her stillness and looking down, and then up, following her gaze.

"What?" he asked, nuzzling her ear.

"Selena and Nick, look,"

Joe looked up again to where Selena was saying something but neither of them could decipher exactly what.

"Seriously, Nick, will you just drop it? You and me were months ago, you have Miley now, we split up for a reason, Nick -,"

"I'm only with her until you take me back," Nick replied honestly and there was a large moment of tension between the two, where all that could be heard was the howling wind.

"Nick," another voice came over from the opposite side of the deck. The pair looked around and saw Miley standing at the top of the stairs.

"See you later," Nick muttered into Selena's eyes and walked quickly towards Miley, who cradled her boyfriend, winding her fingers possessively through his curls.

"Hey Sel," she smiled deviously, her raspy breath cutting Selena like a knife. Selena's nostrils flared but she dared herself not to say anything, it wasn't worth spoiling the day and getting into a fight over it. Selena smiled sweetly with hints of hostility and turned on her heels and walked away, down the side of the deck, towards the back of the boat.

On her way she passed Kevin and a girl she had never met before. She sat down on a sun lounger opposite them, hoping she hadn't interrupted anything.

"Hey Selena," he smiled, swinging his legs around to give her his full attention, "Are you okay?"

Selena sighed, "Fine," said finally, pursing her lips, they both knew she was lying and Kevin knew to change the subject. If Selena wanted to talk she would have come straight out with it.

"This is Nicole; I don't think you've met,"

"No, I don't think we have," Nicole smiled sweetly, "I'm a JONAS co-star,"

"Nice to meet you," Selena smiled, shaking her hand.

"I'm gonna go find Chelsea," Nicole announced, thinking at least Selena would be able to talk if she wasn't there, "I'll be back," She winked at Kevin, brushing her hand across his shoulders and down his back as she left.

"Was I interrupting something?" She asked, grinning slyly.

"Kind of," Kevin looked sheepishly at her, twisting his mouth and shrugging, before giggly coyly.

"N'aww," Selena grinned, "What happened to Danielle?" She asked, hoping it wasn't a sore subject.

"She got bored waiting around for me, I don't blame her, and she was getting on my nerves anyway, calling all the time,"

"But you're not hung up on her I see," Selena teased him.

"Stop it," he giggled like a little boy, "It's no big deal,"

"It seems like a big deal, you're blushing like crazy,"

"Am not," Kevin replied.

"I'm glad you're happy," she smiled, "It just seems like everyone's getting together, you and Nicole, Demi and Joe, about time by the way, and Nick and Miley –,"

"Stop there -," Kevin butted in, "Are you jealous?"

"No, Nick's been nothing but a pain in the butt," Selena replied honestly, "I've been trying to get him off my back all day,"

"That's fair," Kevin shrugged.

"I know he's your brother but –,"

"Why exactly did you break up?" Kevin asked and Selena searched for an answer, trying to phrase it in the best possible light.

"Because he didn't have anything to offer me, the company was nice and he was a good guy. But I did it because I knew he didn't need me, he's Miley's, he just hasn't figured it out yet,"

"I see," Kevin breathed.

"No matter how much they break up and get back together, they'll always have each other; they'll always belong to each other. Call me selfish but I couldn't deal with the baggage, I can hardly cope with my own,"

"What baggage could you possibly have?" Kevin asked.

"Oh you have no idea," Selena got up and walked towards the barrier of the boat.

"No seriously, what have you got in your life that's so bad," Kevin got up and followed her, "Seriously, I'm interested,"

Selena took a breath and knew she could trust Kevin, "When I saw Demi in the hospital after she tried to take an overdose I promised myself that I would never let her get into that state ever again. I know now she never will, not while she's got Joe. But, if she ever got that bad again and ever tried to kill herself I'd never forgive myself, for not opening her eyes and letting her see the world, see how good she has it. How easy her life could be if she just stopped making things harder for herself, and if I can't do it then I know Joe can,"

Kevin didn't realised he was breathing so heavily, "Wow," he muttered

"She's more than a friend, more than a sister; her baggage is my baggage,"

"I guess you're right," Kevin agreed, "I have that times three though," he giggled and so did Selena, then her giggle turned into a laugh and she reminded herself that this was the first time she'd laughed in a long time.

"I guess you're right," she smiled after finally regaining composure.

"Are you okay?" he asked again.

"Yes thank you," Selena replied, still smiling a bit.

"I'm gonna go find my brother, make sure he's not getting up to no good," Kevin smiled, "Will you be alright?"

"Yep, I'll be fine thanks, I presume Demi would have heard about Nick confronting me, she'll come find me in a sec,"

"Really?" Kevin asked

"Yeah, it's like a friend-radar, we've got going on," Selena stuck out her tongue playfully.

"That's pretty cool, I got to get me one of those," Kevin joked, walking away in the direction of the stairs.

Just as Selena had predicted, Demi walked quickly into her direction with Joe following in tow.

"Are you okay?" Demi asked, sitting on the end of the lounger, hugging Selena tightly.

"I'm great," Selena smiled, "I've been talking to Kevin," she looked up at Joe, squinting in the sun slightly.

"I saw Nick come over, what happened?" Demi asked.

"He wanted to talk but I didn't want to," Selena simplified it because she knew that if she got into a rant about Nick, it would affect Joe.

"Okay," Demi nodded and understood her actions.

Suddenly there was a beep that the pair of them ignored as they embraced in a hug.

"I love you," Demi whispered.

"I love you too," Selena whispered back.

"Guys," Joe muttered, breaking them apart and turning to look at him, "Mitchel is gonna perform soon, we better get to lower deck," he said, looking at his phone, obviously texting back.

"Let's go," Demi smiled and took Selena's hand.

The three of them walked to the bottom deck where a group was already gathering. They made their way to the front of the stage where Mitchel was getting ready to perform. Miley, Nick, Kevin and Nicole were already at the front. Selena looked to her left and got a sly smile from Miley, who had her arms wrapped around Nick and was whispering something in his ear. She rolled her eyes and looked to her right where Nicole smiled and waved genuinely. Selena smiled and waved back before paying attention to Mitchel who was about to take the mic.

"Hey guys!" he called out and the crowd erupted in screams, "I wanna start out with an old song, but I think it applies to a friend and something she's going through, so this is for you," Then he directly looked in Selena's direction and winked at her before counting in the band and beginning to sing, "Hey you, when will you realize you're about to lose the green eyes? You take her for granted now she's tired of the chains,"

Selena picked up the beat and began to wiggle her hips to the music. It was enough that Mitchel was making an attempt to make her feel better, and she did, at least for now. She knew there were going to be many problems along the way but as long as she had these kinds of people around her, she knew she'd be okay.