"I like it, looks really good on you. The colour totally brings our your cheeks," he said jokingly, trying to provoke laughter in the most foolish manner.
The four best friends giggled childishly at his joke like little 13 year old girls, the time when boys had cooties and crushes was nothing but a little game of puppy love. It was when awkward glances and encounters took over and both the guy and girl were both too shy to do or say anything.
Never had these girls seen such an adorable, nerd-looking boy and more interesting, he was a store clerk at one of the hottest teen stores, Forever 21. How it happened, they didn't care because they were having the time of their lives. He was quirky with his red plaid button up shirt rolled up at the sleeves and pants that looked like he just hit puberty miraculously out of nowhere and grown that you could see his pulled up white socks peeking out. His unique soft brown Jewish looking curls swirled smoothly and gently brushed across his adorable peachy cheeks. To bring it all together, he had a pair of big, honking frame glasses that took up most of his face, but it would still be difficult to cover up that fact that he is the infamous Nick Jonas from the biggest and hottest teen bubblegum pop group, the Jonas Brothers.
"Oh my God, he is SO cute!" the girl standing in front of the mirror turned back and mouthed to her friends.
"You wanna go and change back and I'll check your stuff out for you or do you want to just walk out with this outfit since it looks so good on you ehh," he said smoothly.
"Ohh, how about you help her change back to her clothes," one of her friends said seductively with a wink. The slender girl in the pink blouse that had the honours of being highly complimented by Nick Jonas playfully slapped her friend on her arm, but secretly, she wouldn't mind if he did.
Caught off guard by her friend's suggestive remark, Nick replied coolly, "Whoa, I'm here to sell clothes, not myself".
They continued to giggle uncontrollably at his joke as the girl walked back to her change room with her a huge, sappy smile plastered on her squealing face.
"Are you sure you're not Nick Jonas? Because you really look like him!" one of the girls asked him again curiously.
He groaned at the comment as if he was annoyed at people continuously saying that, "yeah, I get that a lot," he said while chomping on his bubblegum.
"He's AH-MAY-ZING," the girl with the short black locks exclaimed.
"Yeah, we've been to two of his concerts," another girl gushed out.
Nick shrugged, pretending like he didn't care, but inside was gleaming with a pleasant smile inside.
-forever-
The cameras flashed as the click of the bright light snapped right in her ear. The screech of the noise and blinding of the light left her almost to faint along with the millions of people screaming out and trying to reach to her.
Keeping her head down low and covering her face with her bare arm, she pushed her way throw the large crowd that would not stop resisting her.
"MILEY, IS IT TRUE THAT YOU'RE MARRYING LIAM?" she heard a particular reporter scream out to her. Rumours, she thought to herself, when would they ever stop. She was only merely 17 years young with a rocketing career. She wasn't looking to settle anytime soon and she just wished everybody else could see that too.
She continued to plunge her way to the large door as a strong force of hand dragged her through the wild crowd of screamers.
As she finally entered the large room of peace of serenity, she sighed with a breathe of relief. Finally, she was out of there. She looked back and saw the huge crowd continuing to scream through the transparent window that only merely blocked her from her nightmare, to her heaven. She could see the paparazzi continuing to snap their cameras at her and fans screaming out her name and holding up posters with her face on it. She smiled at their dedication and flashed them a smile and her signature peace sign once last time before she turned back.
She grabbed hold of his strong hand and smiled at him sweetly. Aside from the fact that there were about a couple hundred of people staring at her from outside, she was just a girl with her hot Australian boyfriend and at her favourite clothing store, Forever 21, what more did she need? Plus she was indeed Miley Cyrus, teen pop sensation with 4 hit singles and 2 number 1 albums, she was living the dream.
The beautiful brunette with the towering sleek legs scampered over to the circular clothing racks and began to browse through the clothes.
Shuffling through, she picked out a white floral laced tank top from the rack, "ohh, isn't this cute Liam?" she asked her tall, broad boyfriend.
She had to look up to see him smiling sweetly, telling her that he liked whatever he liked. He reached out to help her hold the shirt while she continued looking, like a real gentlemen. It was one of the many things Miley loved about him. He was sweet, caring, kind and he would never do anything to hurt her, she just knew it.
She continued to raffle through the racks in peace. There were not much people in here at the moment because the bodyguards had restricted people from going in, except the people who were already in the store before she had oh so gracefully entered. Of course, she could still here some additional whispers and giggles from customers and cashiers, but she didn't mind, she did love her fans very much, she just wasn't much in love with the craziness.
Suddenly, she was stopped by two adorable and electric fans of her while she was looking at the clothing.
"HI,sorry to bother you but we're SUCH big fans of yours!" they said with a huge smile and eyes bulged out from their excitement.
"It's okay," Miley replied kindly and sincerely. She loved to meet fans and the least she could do was sign a few things and take a photo for all the support that they had given her. With them, she wouldn't be here.
She went on and signed one of the girl's IPod and the other's shoe and made friendly conversation. That was one of Miley's trick to getting close to fans; you don't treat them like fans, you treat them like their you're friends.
"You guys want a picture?" Miley asked them, making them even more excited than before.
A girl handed the infamous Cyrus her phone with beaming light and the three girls stood there, with Miley in the middle, holding up the phone to take a photo of them all.
"THANK YOU SO MUCH," the girls said still trying to get it through that they just met Miley Cyrus.
She smiled as she watched them run off excitedly, knowing she just made 2 people's day and turned around back to her boyfriend, but realized he had left. She shifted her head around the large, empty-like store in search for him, when suddenly she was brought to an instant screeching stop.
Her heart dropped faster than she could drop down to the cold, marble floor, behind the clothing rack. She gasped in horror at the sweetest, but most deadly sight. This couldn't be happening, she thought to herself as her heart continued to speed up to what felt like 200 kilometers per hour. What kind of coincidence would it be that they would both be at the same Forever 21 at the same exact time? They really haven't actually seen each other since 5 months ago exactly and a lot can change in five months. She began to wonder about the possibility that maybe she saw wrong and the guy just looked a lot like her ex-boyfriend, Nick Jonas.
She slowly raised herself from behind the racks and slightly peered through it and gasped. Why was he dressed like that? Why was he checking out clothes for those girls? Why was he even here in the first place? These questions and emotions scattered around Miley's head. She quickly emerged back into the racks and sighed at the sight in realization that it was, no doubt him. Nobody had hair like him, eyes like him and definitely not a smile like his.
She buried her face into her hand, trying to recollect herself as she noticed that people were staring at her and and whispering. She could already imagine the headlines for tomorrow's gossip websites, "Miley Cyrus Hiding From Her Love".
She pulled everything inside of her and pulled herself up, knowing that she couldn't hide forever. With her heart still beating rapidly, she stood up and brushed herself off, pretending like she had accidentally fell on the ground...twice. Trying to make it seem like she never saw Nick standing there, she subtly began to look at the clothes again, but she couldn't help it inside, she had to look.
Slowly, Miley shifted her eyes to the left at the cashier counter where he was. She stared at the wrenching sight of Nick tightly hugging some girl. Suddenly, it hit her and she realized that while she got up from the ground, her broken heart that she thought had been mended, decided not to get up from the floor with her. She felt completely disturbed and upset and jealous all at the same time, but also confused and gulity of having these emotions when her boyfriend, who was still nowhere to be seen, was probably somewhere in this store, wandering near by.
Without even knowing, Miley was continuing to stare at him, until suddenly, Nick adverted his eyes up and gasped almost simultaneously as Miley. His heart flipped at the most beautiful sight he hadn't seen in so long. He noticed the change of her hair and how she had finally taken off those long extensions and kept her natural, gorgeous hair, not that she wasn't beautiful before. She was simply stunning in a pair of tight skinny jeans and a pair of white tee shirt on. It was as if she didn't even need to try at all to look so desirable to Nick.
All of a sudden, they were back to when they were 13 and in love. It wasn't puppy love, it was real love. They both stared at each other in lust, like there was nobody else in the room; Liam had disappeared and the girl Nick was hugging had vanished along with everybody else around. Their hearts were intertwined and one again even by just a look in their deep, longing eyes.
When Miley realized what was happened, she quickly shut her eyes and looked away. She knew inside she shouldn't be doing this and feeling this, but she could not help it, she felt like she was 13 all over again. Not only that, but it felt so right to her and she hadn't felt this way in a very long time.
Nick was left with an exasperated breathe of pain as he watched her walk away and disappear into the back of the store, away from him once again.
Miley wandered throughout the store and swerved her way around the clothing racks, trying to find Liam. All she wanted to do was leave, she couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't bear looking at him or even knowing that they were both in the same room. It pained her as much as it pained Nick to be so close to somebody you love, but at the same time, feel so far inside.
"Liam!" Miley whispered loudly at him when she finally found him rampaging through the male clothing.
She walked over to him quickly and grabbed his hand. She crooked her head up to lock her eyes onto his and stood closely to him. She wanted to feel him and be in his arms again, to remind herself about how much she loves Liam, the person she is meant to be with, so maybe, she'd forget all about Nick.
"Where were you?" Miley asked him while leaning her head on his chest with his warm arms wrapped around her tightly.
"I just went to look around Miles," he answered her softly.
She sighed as they stood there for a few silent moments, just holding each other, like they never wanted to let go. Miley convinced herself that this was right, but she knew deep inside already, that this wasn't what she wanted.
She lifted her head up, "let's just go," she said to him.
"What? Why? You usually spend hours here, whats wrong?" he asked her confused. He knew that Miley loved Forever 21 and whenever she came, she'd practically buy the whole store.
"I just, don't feel like shopping today," she answered him nervously.
She was literally holding his hand and attempting to drag him out of the store now that she saw Nick folding clothes from behind Liam. She had to get out of here before they saw each other, well at least before Liam saw Nick.
Obviously, Miley was no match against the strong, broad Liam and knowing that there was something was wrong, he was about to turn around to see what Miley was so nervously staring at, but she stopped him.
"Liam, let's just go," she said again, but this time, she was serious, without an ounce of sweetness.
He resisted her and Miley knew it was over. He turned back to see Nick standing there folding clothes like he worked at the store. "Liam..."she said softly with her head down knowing that it was her fault that this all happened. She felt embarrassed and guilty for doing this to Liam and still caring so much about her ex-boyfriend, whom she publically announced she loved several times.
He coiffed aggressively at her, "aren't you going to introduce me to your ex-love, hmm?" he said to her, trying to play it off as some joke, but Miley knew exactly what he meant.
This time, it was Liam who was dragging Miley. He tried his best to have a friendly look on his face, but it was clear that he was steaming with anger inside. With his strong force, he took her hand and pulled her over to Nick who was standing there silently.
As they approached closer, Nick looked up from the racks and saw Miley and Liam together, holding hands. He knew that they were dating because he was the only other guy whom Miley had ever publicly admitted to dating and it hurt him to see them. But something wasn't right, he noticed that her sweet smile that went with her eccentric and bubbly personality was distant and was replaced with a frown.
"Hey, Nick Jonas right? Good to meet you," he said to him with a fake smile while extending out the arm that he wasn't using to hold Miley's hand.
Nick not knowing what to say, he stood there, paralyzed for a moment, until suddenly, he heard loud screams coming from his small ear piece.
"SHAKE HIS HAND AND CONTINUE ON WITH YOUR CHARACTER!" the loud, excited voices said. While the producers of the show hit jackpot, Nick had hit a dead end, but decided to follow the instructions knowing that he did in fact sign a contract.
"Actually, I'm Bradley Cooper," he said, shaking Liam's hand back.
A confused look began to appear on both Miley and Liam's faces as they wondered who this Bradley Cooper was. It was obviously Nick Jonas, why would he be pretending to be somebody else?
"Come on, I know you're Nick Jonas," Liam said again, not convinced at all.
He pulled himself together inside to let the rock star guy go and re-emerge himself back fully into his screen character. "Yeah, I totally get that a lot. I'm a total fan of you guys. The Last Song, loved it, totally saw so much chemistry," Nick said coolly while continuing to chew on that same piece of gum loudly.
They all stood there awkwardly at Nick's comment. Miley and Liam were left dazed and confused and the air was tense with fog. What were they suppose to say to Nick's compliment, if it even was one. He just agreed to the fact that he thought his ex-girlfriend was great with her current boyfriend, how wouldn't that be strange?
"So, you guys wanna try on some clothes?" Nick, better known as Bradley Cooper now, asked, trying to keep things flowing.
Miley and Liam both still completely confused by all this continued to stand there in silence, but suddenly, Liam shockingly enthusiastically said, "sure, she needs some clothes".
Now Miley was even more confused. Why would Liam say yes and want to spend time with her ex-boyfriend? What she didn't know was that inside, Liam was scheming up a plan. A plan to trample on Nick's heart even more. He wanted to make him suffer and make him see what he can't have.
"Cool, well let's go," Nick said.
He began to make his way through the store as Liam and Miley, still holding hands, followed behind him.
Even if it was Miley whom they were shopping for clothes, she wasn't the one picking the clothes out. She's a girl, she loves shopping, but at this moment now, she felt no desire what so ever to want to go shopping, especially when she was with her boyfriend and ex-boyfriend at the same time.
Liam and Nick began to go through the racks of clothing in the store, picking out a couple for her to try on as Miley stood behind quietly with her head dropped down.
"I'd like to see you in this," Liam suddenly said to Miley seductively with a wink with his hot, steamy breath under her shivering ear. He had particularly pulled out a sexy black tube top that was short enough to show her whole stomach and also her cleavage with the slit at the middle.
Nick looked over to the right where Liam and Miley were and saw the outfit he had pulled. Miley watched as he quickly looked away and ventured off, leaving her embarrassed by his supposed gentleman like boyfriend.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
With her hair light like a summer's day and her long sleek legs stretched out smoothly, the stunning, eye-popping brunette with the architecture of curves all in the right place, groggily walked out of her change room, wearing the sexy tube top Liam had pulled out. Her breasts pushed up, leaving much eye-candy for her boyfriend and also her ex as well.
Nick gulped as he watched her walk out the change room with his eyes bulged out. It had been so long since he'd seen Miley all sexed up and usually she'd had a smile painted on her face, but this time, it was nothing a frown and emptiness.
Knowing that Nick was watching, Liam walked up to Miley and wrapped his arms around her thin waist and whispered sexily into her ears, "I love this on you, but I would love it so much better if it was off". He began to rub his hands up her all over her bare waist, making Miley shiver, not in a good way. Nick was disgusted by all this, noticing how disrespectful he was being to her. Miley was clearly uncomfortable and not enjoying it, but Liam continued on and started to softly kiss the crook of her neck and that was when Nick snapped.
"Whoa, this is a change room, not a bedroom," Nick said, getting in between them.
Liam instantly shot Nick a look as Miley ran off to her changing room. He stared at him in heaping anger, as if he was about to punch Nick out. His eyes were locked on his as his face broadened, but all Nick did was just stand there, emotionless, not fighting back.
Finally, Liam backed down and attempted to recover himself, "yeah, it's just so great to have such a prized girl that you're in love with and it's also not so bad in the bedroom you know," he said winking at him coolly.
While Miley was in the change room, she could hear every single word that Liam said. She never even went into bed with Liam! Tears began to fall from her eyes as she ripped off the shirt that made her gag and she tried so hard not to make any noise by covering her mouth with her hand. Suddenly, everything had become clear to her and Liam was nothing but a lying jerk that was playing his career of acting the whole time.
Slowly, Miley brought herself back together and fixed herself up with some makeup to cover up her puffy red eyes. She took a deep breathe and smiled the best fake smile she could do.
She walked out the door and Nick could instantly see through the makeup that she was crying in the change room. A sharp pain hit his chest as he saw Miley make her way over to the two boys. He knew that she was unhappy and he decided that she needed to talk to her and comfort her as simply, a good friend. He was about to make up an excuse to subtly pull her aside when suddenly, Nick was given the cue. He sighed and hoped that Miley would forgive him for this.
"I'm ready, thanks for the help...Bradley Cooper right?" Miley said with a smile, trying to go along with Nick's play.
"Actually," he began,"I'm Nick Jonas, that's a hidden camera behind you and you guys are on I Get That A Lot".
Cameras began to emerge out of nowhere, capturing the huge smile on Liam's face who was shocked, but also ecstatic that he was going to be on television and everybody was going to see how adorable and serious his relationship with Miley was.
To Nick's surprise, a smile also appeared on Miley's face. While Liam was excited for everybody to see this "it" couple, Miley actually was too. She was excited to let everybody see what a lying jerk and pig Liam really was. She could already see it, the now latest upcoming headlines on all the hottest gossip websites, "Miley Breaks It With Liam".
She laughed and looked at Nick who let out a sigh of relief knowing that she wasn't mad.
"I totally didn't know it was you Nick," she said jokingly to him.
Nick smiled and hugged her and she melted in his arms. What felt like forever was actually 3 seconds all packed into the hug. Trying not to hold each other too tightly and too long to avoid suspicions, they quickly let go reluctantly and shyly looked away.
What started off as a terrible day for both Nick and Miley turned out to be one that was worth the three second hug that brought them back to when they were thirteen and in love. It assured them both instantly that love like that doesn't fade and that the fireworks are still very much sparking even through all that time.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Nick watched the girl of his dreams that was once his at one point, walking away into the crowded streets of the wild screams and leaving him bare once again. Even worse, she was leaving him with some malicious Australian guy that was holding her tightly, but Nick knew Miley too well. He trusted that she would make the right decision in the end, especially after the way Liam treated her today.
With Miley still holding on to Liam's filthy hand, she turned around for split second to pleasantly see Nick standing there, smiling at her and without consent, butterflies had entered her stomach, making her soft cheeks turn a light shade of pink. She quickly smiled shyly at him and turned back around, hoping that Nick wouldn't notice how nervous he made her feel, but she knew she couldn't, Nick was the only person who could see right through her.
Liam opened the large solid doors that cascaded up to the ceiling and they both disappeared into the crowd for the last time, together as a couple.
Once again they were both in their separate worlds, hoping to collide again very soon like they had years ago and parting from the store just left sparks continuing to fly between them. They both knew very well that they couldn't be thirteen forever though, but they could be 17 and in love forever.