Chapter Seven

I scanned the crowd of people swarming my living room from the top of the stairs and decided against going passed the first landing. I had been against this party since day 1, so why not make a no show and hide it out in my room? Yeah, because sitting alone with my thoughts was exactly I wanted when all my friends were downstairs having fun.

What if that was precisely what I wanted? What if I wanted to sulk and continue torturing myself with unanswered questions? Questions that could only be answered by a certain long haired brunette who was not coming tonight...

I groaned as I slowly lifted my feet, one after the other, to climb back up the stairs. I wasn't going to impose my sour mood on my brothers and friends... next option was hiding out in my room. But instead of stopping at the second floor, I continued my ascension until I reached the winding stairway leading to the section of the house that had a flat roof. I slid open the glass door and took a step onto the concrete roof until I was standing far enough to see the entire Toluka Lake neighbourhood. My eyes trained on the small portion of the Stewart house I could see through the threes and I sighed deeply.

Why was I so disappointed?

Why was I worried?

Why did I have the overwhelming urge to stick my nose where it didn't belong?

Why was I so desperate to find dirt on this Liam guy?

Because for the first time in a very long time, I was trusting my gut instinct. Or was I just being paranoid?

The unanswered questions floated around in my brain until I set my eyes on the illuminated sky. The stars were shining visibly, like most nights they did in LA, and I was sent back to June 2009...

I wasn't sure how long I sat there, staring out into the night when I heard the sound of the glass window sliding open and footsteps approaching.

"I'm fine." I told them before they could ask.

"That's good to hear."

My eyes widened and I turned abruptly to face the exact same person who had been on my mind for hours at length.

"Miley." I whispered stupidly, almost not believing that she was truly here.

"Hey..." She sunk down beside me and stared out into the night, just like I had been doing. She remained silent as I tried to clear my thoughts and make conversation. But I was left tongue tied. There were so many questions I wanted to ask her, questions I knew I had to hold back from asking.

"I tried to call you." I told her dryly, all emotions drained out of my voice. "You answered once in a whole week's time."

"I know." Her eyes met mine briefly but she quickly averted her gaze. Not that again!

"Why?" I questioned her spontaneously.

"It's just been hard to get away." She answered with a troubled sigh. "I have a lot going on."

"Don't we all?" I raised my eyebrows at her, disbelievingly. "If you're going to lie you're going to have to come up with something a little better than that..." I teased, my tone becoming playful. Her shoulder brushed against mine as she playfully pushed me over and I smiled.

"Wanna tell me why you're being Mr Unsocial? Or am I gonna have to drag it out of you?" I chuckled at her selection of words and shook my head.

"I didn't feel like partying."

"No kidding." She chuckled.

"How come you came?" I changed the subject.

"I wanted to see you." She shrugged her shoulders innocently and I smiled at her honesty. That was Miley for you.

"I'm glad you came." I sent her a sideways smile and we fell into all too comfortable silence.

The best thing about tonight's that we're not fighting
Could it be that we have been this way before
I know you don't think that I am trying
I know you're wearing thin down to the core

"I love this song..." Miley whispered from beside me. I recognised the song as one of Demi's all times favourites; it was not really a surprise to find out Miley liked it as well. The music must have been pretty loud considering we could hear every word from the roof top.

"Come on." She scrambled to her feet and held her hands out to me. I raised my eyebrows questioningly but let her pull me up anyways. She pulled me to her and set my arms on her waist.

"I don't dance." I whined as she circled her arm slowly around my neck.

"Suck it up." She commanded in that playful tone of hers and I couldn't help but co-operate. Who was I to deny the chance to hold her?

But hold your breath
Because tonight will be the night
That I will fall for you
Over again
Don't make me change my mind
Or I won't live to see another day
I swear it's true
Because a girl like you is impossible to find
You're impossible to find

I trailed my hand up her back and settled it on the back of her neck. I pulled her closer to me and her body seemed to mould into mine, relaxing completely in my hold. I pressed my cheek to the side of her head and let myself live in the moment.

This is not what I intended
I always swore to you I'd never fall apart
You always thought that I was stronger
I may have failed but I have loved you from the start

Oh, But hold your breath
Because tonight will be the night
That I will fall for you
Over again
Don't make me change my mind
Or I won't live to see another day
I swear it's true
Because a girl like you is impossible to find
It's impossible

"I'm pretty impressed with your ability to not step on my toes." She teased. Her fast mind never ceased to impress me and I smiled.

"I was only taught by the best." I grinned cheekily and chuckled when her palm hit my chest.

"Somebody had to teach you... and it so happened to be me." She brushed off the compliment.

"You do know that I usually don't dance. With anybody. No exceptions."

"Should I be flattered then?"

"I think you should." I grinned cockily.

"You're an ass." She rolled her eyes at me and I half expected her to pull away but she held fast. If anything, she only brought our bodies closer together as we swayed to the music.

So breathe in so deep
Breathe me in
I'm yours to keep
And hold on to your words
Cause talk is cheap
And remember me tonight
When you're asleep

Because tonight will be the night
That I will fall for you
Over again
Don't make me change my mind
Or I won't live to see another day
I swear it's true
Because a girl like you is impossible to find

Even though the song had ended neither of us made a move to let go... She threw her head back so she could look at me.

"I should go," she managed to say, disentangling herself from me. I held her tight, not letting her move.

"I'm going to call you." I said to her. "And I want you to pick up." I was not giving her a way out of this. She was not going to avoid my calls this time. I received a nod from her before I finally let her go.

"Can I convince you to come down and socialise a little? Demi would kill us if she found out we hid away during the whole party." I groaned but let her pull me by the hand anyway. I followed her down the winding stairway and down the next two flights of stairs until we reached the living room.

Joe raised his eyebrows at me when he noticed Miley standing by my side and I rolled my eyes at his imagination.

"What was that?" He questioned me moments later as I approached him to get a drink. Miley had gone off to find Demi.

"What was what?" I took a sip of coke while he smirked at me.

"You and Miley were upstairs? Alone?"

"Shut up, Joe."

"Come on, man! You never tell me anything." He whined.

"We were just talking." I shrugged my shoulders as I scanned the crowd for her, almost subconsciously. I found her in the far corner of the living room laughing with her cast mates and Demi.

My eyes trailed up and down her body and I wasn't going to lie... I couldn't keep my eyes off of her.

Her hair was longer when straightened and her auburn coloured hair had been highlighted with lighter, blondish streaks. The white, knee length, halter dress exposed the tanned skin of her cleavage.

"Dude." Joe nudged me and I turned to him.

"Huh?"

"You spaced out on me."

"Sorry." I rubbed my forehead warily.

"I'm gonna get the story behind your fight one day." He warned me as he left me to my thoughts. Great, my brother was on a mission...

The rest of the night was a blur of polite greetings, lively conversations and crazy dancing on Joe, Demi, Chelsea and Mitchell's part. I had been surprised to see Miley standing aside during the 'show', we all knew her to always be 'centre stage'. But I hadn't complained, seeing as she stayed beside me a lot of the time. Her presence alone soothed me and her smile literally picked up my mood.

Just like I had promised, I called her, that same night or more like that morning seeing as it was three am when the house was finally evacuated.

"You called," she said, not even bothering to ask who it was.

"You answered," I responded mockingly.

"When you said you were going to call I thought you meant at a decent hour like the rest of the world." Despite her words, there was no malice in her voice; she was happy that I had called her.

"I tried calling during normal hours and you never answered." I said, referring to her previous weeks avoidance. We were easily falling back into our usual banter, something I knew I would never get tired of.

"I'm a busy person, Nicholas. It's not my fault you always call at the most unfortunate times! Maybe one day, if you are as successful as I am or have as many friends as I do, you'll know what I mean." I decided to ignore her snide remark and I leaned back in bed, sinking into the pillows and put my cell on speaker.

"Where are you?" It had always been a tradition for us to question each other on our geographical locations when on the phone so we could imagine the other, wherever they were.

"On my bed. You?"

"Couch." She stifled a laugh. "Not all of us like to talk to our ex boyfriends while lying in bed." Her voice was teasing and just the slightest bit suggestive.

"You know you like it." My inner teenager made himself known with the amount of sexual innuendo coming out of my mouth.

"I know but I like being kept in the dark." She countered.

"Good, I don't like it with the lights on either." I heard her sputter and cough on the other end of the line and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Damn it, Nick, I just got red bull all down the front of me." I heard her muttering about ruining the dress she liked and I realized she hadn't changed into her pyjamas.

"Are you still wearing your dress from tonight?" I asked, remembering the white halter dress. "Yes!" she said angrily. "And now it's ruined."

"I'll buy you a new one," I told her. "Who walks around their house in a dress anyways?"

"You called me soon after I got in. I didn't get the chance to change. Aren't you still in your 'party clothes'?" The end of the sentence was muffled and I could hear the rustling of clothes and I realized that she was getting undressed. It was hard to keep my voice even but I somehow managed to speak and make sense.

"Actually, I'm in my boxers." I told her unabashedly. There was a long stunned pause and I couldn't help but grin at the effect I was having on her.

"I'm going to bed." She stifled a yawn.

"I'll be calling you and you better be answering or I'll have to resort to other, drastic kind of methods." I could imagine her rolling her eyes at me and smiled when she whispered a kind, sleepy "Goodnight, Nick" into the phone.

"Goodnight, Miley."

So uhm... I don't really like this chapter. There will be more Niley in the next chapter and you will probably soon (by soon I mean 2, 3 chapters) find out what's up with Miley and Liam. In the meantime I would love to hear your guesses about that as well ;)

I'd love you have your opinion, good, bad, all of it :)