Disclaimer: I do not own anything but the plot!

Chapter 7

Miley climbed into her car and put her head on the steering wheel. She was still trying to catch her breath and wrap her head around what they had almost done. She didn't understand how she could have lost controlled the way she had. It was so wrong! They wore purity rings and how close had they come to breaking their promise? They had always had self control and were proud of it. But in a blink of an eye everything had been forgotten and they had almost done something irreparable. He was her ex... How could she have let things go out of hand the way they had? She asked herself the same questions over and over and over again letting the feeling of guilt takeover. When she got home, she was thankful to find the house empty. She rushed to her room and threw herself on the bed and cried herself to sleep. She was so confused.

Nick was still lost in his thought when his brothers got home that night.

"What's up bro?" Kevin asked when he passed Nick's room. Nick looked up and Kevin was taken aback to see his little brother's expression. He looked so lost, so confused, so vulnerable. "What happened?" Kevin asked concerned.

"Nothing... I'm just so dumb..." Nick managed to say with great difficulty.

"Aw come on who can be dumber than me?" Joe tried to cheer up his brother.

"Not funny Joe..." Kevin said giving him a look that said 'be serious for once!' "Did something happen with Miley?" Nick hated lying to his brothers but he also couldn't admit how close he had come to giving into temptation.

"Things are just so confusing..." He said simply while running his hands through his curls and tugging on them in frustration.

"Nick what happened?" Joe asked seriously.

"We kissed... and she ran off!" He knew it wasn't exactly the truth but he couldn't bring himself to tell his brothers what had really happened. It was the last thing he needed. He was already upset with himself; he didn't need them adding their disappointment to the mix.

"Whoa..." Joe said while a cheeky grin crept onto his face. Nick glared at him and was about to say something when Kevin spoke up:

"Look man, I don't know what's going on between the both of you... but it's obvious that you need each other... So if I can give you some advice it would be hold on to her. If she wants to be friends, let it be. Don't let her walk out of your life."

"How am I supposed to be friends with the girl I'm totally in love with?" He asked frustrated.

"Nick, take thing slow. Go one step at a time... I promise you it will be worth it in the end." Joe laughed when he heard his older brother's advice. Kevin could be so surprising at times. Nick ignored Joe and nodded in agreement to what Kevin said. Maybe things weren't that bad after all? Hadn't those kisses proved to him that she had missed him? Isn't that what he had wanted to know?

It was 10 am when Tish knocked on Miley's door.

"Miles, are you awake?" She called through the door. When she didn't get an answer she pushed open the door and found her daughter sleeping peacefully. "Wake up honey!" Miley stirred and slowly opened her eyes. "You alright hun? You were sleeping when we got home last night..." Last night... all the memories of the night before came rushing through Miley's mind. She blinked back the tears and groaned.

"I don't feel very good..." Tish put her hand on her forehead and sighed. "Looks like you have a small fever... I'll call the studio and let them know you won't be in today."

"Mom! I'm fine!" She said quickly sitting up. She needed to go to work and keep her mind busy.

"Honey you're sick and tired, I'm not letting you go to work and that's final!" Miley knew she had lost the battle and sunk further in her bed. How could she be feeling so many contradictory feelings at once? She was happy, sad, she felt guilty and confused yet everything seemed to be so clear. This was going to be a long day. She switched her phone off and went back to sleep for most of the day. When she finally pulled herself out of bed she walked downstairs and found her mom sitting on the couch.

"How are you feeling?"

"Ok I guess... I needed to catch up on sleep!" She forced a laugh.

"Oh by the way, Nick called. He said something about your phone being switched off and wanted to know if you were ok." Miley froze but she managed to ask:

"What did you tell him?"

"That you had a fever and were sleeping." All kinds of things were going through her head. She never imagined she could do something so stupid, yet she knew that what she felt was real. And deep down she knew that Nick felt the same way. She felt guilty for coming so close to breaking her promise she had made to herself, to her parents etc. Another part of her told her that she was happy it had happened with Nick and not Justin. At the same time, she felt lost; she didn't know where she stood for Nick. What was she to him? His ex? His best friend with whom he had taken things a little too far? Or what?

"Miles, are you ok?" Tish's voice brought her back to reality. She snapped out of it:

"Huh?"

"You became all silent when I mentioned Nick... what's wrong?"

"Nothing mom... things are just... complicated!" She sighed.

"Baby, it's obvious you guys aren't over each other... so what's so complicated?"

"How do you know that?" Miley asked confused but curious.

"Trust me darling... I've seen the both of you... Why don't you call him back? He sounded worried about you..." Miley shook her head. She was far from ready to face Nick.

Miley was lying in her bed listening to her favourite songs when her phone started ringing. She grabbed it and her heart froze when she saw the name flashing across the screen: NICK. She fingered the call button before pressing ignore. She repeated the action as he called again. He finally gave up and texted her.

"Miley please answer me... we need to talk"

"What do you want from me Nick? How could we let thing go that far? Do you realise how close we came to breaking our promises?" She couldn't help but blame him. She knew it wasn't his fault, she knew she was completely responsible for her actions but blaming him seemed a lot easier to her.

"Look I'm sorry I let things go that far... Just please talk to me... we need to talk."

"I dunno Nick... I dunno what to say!"

"Just be honest with me..."

"Good night Nick." She replied before switching off her phone. Nick's heart sunk as he realised how guilty she was feeling. He was angry with himself for letting things get out of hand. Breaking his promise was his problem... but making her break hers was selfish and inconsiderate. He could never ask her to do that. Yet they had come so close...

Miley was feeling better after another long night of sleep. Her fever had gone down a little bit but she was coughing a lot and wasn't up for work. She decided to freshen up a bit before sinking into the couch and watching TV. Tish said bye to her daughter and walked to her car. She smiled as she saw a car pulling up in the driveway and saw Nick climbing out.

"Hey Nick! How are you?" She asked before pulling the boy into a hug.

"Hey Tish! I'm good thanks..." He smiled back at the smiling middle aged woman before him.

"Go right in... Miley's in the living room." She told him encouragingly.

"Thanks..."

"Everything ok?" She asked concerned. Nick frowned a little bit.

"Not really..." Tish gave him a sympathetic smile and patted his back.

"I don't know what happened with you and Miley... But I'm sure everything will work out, don't worry!" Nick gulped. Thank god she didn't know what had happened, he thought. As for everything would work out... he wasn't so sure...

"Thanks again" He said before knocking on the front door and walking in.

"Who is it?" Miley yelled from the living room.

"It's me..." He said softly. Miley turned around and was shocked to see him standing in her living room.

"Before you say anything... I know I'm the last person you want to see right now... Just please hear me out!" He begged. He was scared of her reaction. He was hurting and he didn't want to hurt any longer. But he also knew that he could come out of this hurting a lot more.

"Nick..." Her voice was shaky again. Why did he have this effect on her? Why was she so out of control when she was around him? She gulped as he sat down next to her. The proximity was unbearable.

"Can we please talk this out Miles? I can't take you shutting me out after what happened..."

"It was a mistake Nick... something we took too far... I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't pulled away when you did..." She said with difficulty.

"Kissing me was a mistake?" He asked hurt leaking in his voice. Miley remained silent. She couldn't admit that she had loved kissing him... but she also couldn't lie and hurt him anymore.

"You kissed me back Miley... It wasn't just me... I don't remember forcing you into anything!" He said frustrated. He was hurting and he wanted her to tell him he wasn't the only one who had felt something during their kiss.

"I know that Nick... I take full responsibility for what I did... Can we just forget it and stop talking about it?" She spoke softly at first but her voice became desperate as she added the last sentence. Her eyes shifted; she didn't want to see the hurt in his eyes.

"So let me get this straight... you're telling me that what happened didn't mean anything to you? That all the love I felt was not real? How do you expect me to believe that?"

"Just go Nick..." She said softly. She couldn't bear to hurt him... but she also wasn't ready to put her heart on the line. When she finally looked up she saw tears glistening in Nick's eyes.

"Why are you doing this? Why are you pushing me away as hard and as far as you can? I made mistakes and I paid for them! I'm only human!" He said desperately.

"Nick, I'm just trying to be realistic here...."

"By denying that there's something going on between us? By denying that we never got over each other? How is that being realistic?"

"The combination you/me doesn't work! We've been there! Don't you remember how that turned out?" She yelled while tears ran down her cheeks.

"It was over a year ago... we were 14! We were immature and stupid..." His voice was full of emotion. He didn't bother to hide how much he was hurting and how much he loved her. Miley remained silent for a few seconds before asking softly, as if defeated:

"What do you want from me, Nick?"

"I want to know if I mean anything to you... I want to know if what happened between us last night meant something to you the way it meant something to me..." Miley closed her eyes and blinked back the tears that were threatening to fall again.

"You mean a lot to me... you know that..."

"Then what happened last night?"

"It was in the moment... something we took too far..." She said with difficulty. Her voice was shaking again.

"I thought you never kissed someone unless you meant it... isn't that what you told me, once? What changed?" There was a tremor in his voice from his heart breaking.

"Nick stop... Please just stop!"

"Why? Why should I?"

"Because I can't do this anymore..." She whispered before getting up and making her way to the kitchen. She poured herself a glass of water and drank it slowly. Her throat was hurting and she started coughing. He looked at her, concerned but didn't give up nonetheless.

"Did it mean anything to you?" She asked out of the blue, referring to their passionate 'moment'.

"Are you seriously asking that?" He asked bewildered. He walked over to her and stepped as close as he dared. "You know the answer to that..." He said softly while their eyes locked. Miley quickly shifter her gaze away from his and shook her head.

"I don't know anything anymore..." Her voice was cracking.

"In that case... yes it meant a lot to me... and somehow I don't even feel guilty for almost breaking my promise. Because it felt so right. And it's killing me to see you feel so guilty..."

"Don't do this Nick... Don't make this any harder than it is!" Her voice was shaking again and tears were pouring down her cheeks all over again.

"What's so hard Miley? I love you! I never stopped loving you... and the past year has been such a blur without you... I need you! What's so hard to understand?"

Her heart was racing from Nick's confession. She longed to hold him and tell him she felt the same way. But she was stubborn and she wasn't going to let herself go down that road again. She thought it would be too painful... But again... What if it worked out? No... To her, the chances were so slim, she couldn't let it happen. So she did what she had to do to protect her heart.

"No Nick... You just missed having me around as a friend... not girlfriend. You're just confused!" Nick shook his head.

"I'm not confused... I know what I want!"

"I can't go down that road again..." She whispered. Nick took a step closer to her and Miley's breath automatically quickened.

"N-Nick w-what are you d-doing?" She asked trying to resist the temptation to kiss him right then and there. He brought his hands to her face and cupped her face in them. She noticed that his eyes were watery, she quickly shut her eyes and gulped.

"Please don't do this... Don't push me away..." His voice was soft but desperate. "I love you so much Miley..."

"Don't say that..."

"I'm sorry..." He let go of her. He thought she didn't want to be with him and he admitted defeat. His heart was breaking, the pain was unbearable but he couldn't force her into something she didn't want. Miley looked at him confused.

"Why are you sorry?"

"For everything that happened... I'm sorry I misread what you were feeling..." Her heart melted. She couldn't bear hurting this boy any longer. She loved him so much, her heart was about to explode in her chest.

"Nick..."

"Bye Miley" And with that he turned around and walked towards the front door. Miley's heart broke. She realised that in her attempt to protect herself she may have lost him forever. But maybe it was for the better? She didn't really know. She hated herself for hurting him when deep down she knew she wouldn't ever stop loving him. Why couldn't she just admit her true feelings instead of hiding behind her protective shell? He had hurt her, yes, but he regretted it. What was stopping her from taking him back?

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I feel sorry for Nick :'(

LOL

xoxo