Enjoy my longest chapter yet. Kinda dramatic, but I'm sure a little drama won't kill anyone. ;)

Chapter Eight: Olive + Arrow

~ You leave me hoping and praying that my love won't show 'cause I know you'll give me an olive and an arrow. – Nick Jonas ~

"Whatever, I'm fine; I'm not letting it get to me."

"But Miles, honey, you're crying." Demi is seated on my bed, watching me as I furiously sort through the articles of clothing in front of me, separating the different colors into individual groups.

After I left Joes condo, she soon followed me home and ever since she got here, she's been nagging me for the full story behind my dramatic exit from the party. You'd think by now she'd know me well enough to know when I would like to be left alone…

I then realize she hasn't said much for a while. Well played, Demi. This is why she's my best friend. I take a quick glance in her direction and realize she's busied herself with the cosmopolitan magazine on my nightstand. Suddenly all I want to do is vent to her. I know she won't judge me or make any unwanted comments, but sometimes my stubbornness just gets the best of me. As of right now though, I just need to vent.

"He basically said I make his life a living hell and called me a bitch." Oh boy, here come the waterworks again. "I mean, why the hell would he say that? He never insults me."

In no time, Demi's standing in front of me, her arms wrapped around me as she pats my back. "He's just in a crappy mood and he took it out on you, you know Nick, he didn't mean it and Joe's talking to him right now."

"It's not even like he has a reason for being a douche, I didn't do anything to him."

"I know babe but the fact that he's standing outside our house waiting to apologize to you says something about how he feels about you."

"Demi! Why the hell would you let him come over here?"

"Miles, he didn't know you were planning on flying to Australia to possibly rekindle your love with your ex-boyfriend."

"Why are you taking his side?" I step away from her, crossing my arms across my chest.

"I'm not, I'm just saying at least he's trying." She sighs, glancing at my alarm clock on my nightstand. "Look, Miley, I gotta go, but listen to me, hear him out, okay?"

"Yeah, whatever." I head for the laundry room, throwing my clothes in the washer. I notice most of my them consist of flannels I stole from Liam. Ugh. I should really get rid of this habit of sharing clothes with boyfriends because they only disgust me after the break up.

I then notice, I've been tuning out the doorbell for quite some time. Where the hell is Demi anyway? I head for the door, not even caring that I look like a hot mess.

"Can we talk?" There he is, Head Dick himself, standing there, looking like a dumbass, wanting to know if I want to talk to him? There are so many ways I can reject his idiotic request but I decide to take the better alternative and slam the door in his face. It feels so good.

"Miles," He opens the door and follows after me as I head back to my room. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to go off on you like that-"

I stop in my tracks and turn around to face him, crossing my arms across my chest. "Out."

"I'm making an effort here, hun."

"Now."

"Will you just listen to what I have to say?"

"Get out Nick!"

"Will you just listen to me for one second?" He reaches for my arm and I swear I'm two seconds away from slapping him.

"Don't touch me!" I yank my arm out of his grasp, startling him a bit. It annoys the hell out of me that he uses the same strategy every time I'm mad at him to get me to talk to him. Screw that.

"Mil-"

"Get out of my damn house. I think you've forgotten who you're dealing with here."

"Stop taking this up your ass, I'm apologizing."

He saying jerk-ish things like that isn't exactly helping with the nonchalant attitude I'm trying to portray.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean that." He throws his head back, looking at the ceiling and sighs. "What do you want me to say, Miles?"

"I don't want you to say anything you don't want to say, Nick." I say in a voice barely above a whisper then turn around and enter my room, heading straight for my bed. I lay my head on the pillow, looking out the window. We always fight about the stupidest things, but I know with all of my heart that at the end of the day, it's so worth all of my tears and all the profanity we throw at each other; I know it's all worth it because the entire time I'm fighting for him; I'm fighting for us. And whether he feels the same way or not doesn't really matter anymore, as a matter of fact, it has never really mattered. It pisses me off how he can never just say what he's feeling, I always have to force it out of him. That kind of makes me wonder if I've always pressured him into everything. How do I know our entire past hasn't been a lie?
God, I hate him. That's a lie, I could never hate him, but this is the closest I've ever gotten.

I notice it's started sprinkling a little. Rain. God's got jokes. I get up from my bed and head out of my room. For about half a second, I had forgotten about Head Dick out there so imagine my surprise when I open the door from my room and he's seated on the hallway floor, with his back leaning against the wall. I play it cool and proceed to the laundry room.

"Miley, you have to talk to me." He is now behind me. "You can't just leave..."

"What?" I stop walking and face him.

He reaches out and holds onto my upper arms. "I mean, I can't let you go off to Australia like this, just please, let me apologize first."

I shrug his hands off of me and place my hand on his chest, shoving him backwards. "I told you not to touch me." I say through my teeth.

"Miley, please realize, at this point, I'm not even sure why you're angry with me anymore." I can't help but feel a feeling of satisfaction settle in as I spot panic in his eyes. He's actually beginning to worry now. Good.

"I'm not even angry at you anymore; I just want you to leave me alone."

"Is that really what you want?"

"Yes!" I exclaim a little louder than I intended. "That's what I want."

"Okay, I'll be outside if you want to talk."

I sigh and open my mouth to protest, but figure he'll eventually get tired and just leave. Boy am I wrong.


About two hours later, I open the front door a bit and notice Nick is now seated on a plastic chair on my front porch, his hood is pulled over his head considering it's now pouring out, it is also dark already, and yet he's still here. What a trooper. He's bent over with his elbows rested on his thighs and his hands playing with a small branch. He appears to be lost in his thoughts since he obviously doesn't hear me open the door.

I lean on the door and just watch him for a bit, not really sure of what I should do now. He looks so sad and helpless out here. I want so bad to just take him inside, dry him off and comfort him, but I won't let myself. I can't do that to myself. I love him so much, I would seriously kill for that boy but the uncertainty I feel with him kinda outweigh everything else.

"Nick, if you love me please get out of the rain and go home...please."

"The sound of my voice startles him out his trance and in what seems like half a second, he's standing right in front of me, grasping onto my arms. "Miles, please listen to me, I'm so sorry."

"You know, this is what's pissing me off so much," I yank my arms out of his grasp and turn around, walking back into the house. I can hear him follow me. "What are you even apologizing for?"

"Everything, just please don't leave so mad at me." He circles around me so that I am now forced to face him.

"You're an idiotic asshole, you know that?"

"What the hell did I do to make you so angry with me."

"You're being a dumbass that's what! Damn Nick, just get the hell out." I say harshly, pointing to the door.

"Miley, you know I lo-"

"Don't say that!" I yell smacking his chest. "Don't you dare say that to me, Nick."

"Dammit, Miley, what the hell is wrong with you?"

"What the hell is wrong with me? How dare you? I tell you I'm flying to Australia to see my ex-boyfriend and all you have to say is you hope I don't leave so mad at you? Screw you." I'm finally fed up and start to push him out the house but he, being much stronger than me, manages to hold me in place by grasping my arms once again.

"You really think I don't want to ask you to stay here with me because you mean more to me? Because I need you? Because I love you more than he ever will? Do you honestly think I don't want to sabotage your flight schedule right now?"

I turn away from him partially because I don't want him to see the tears forming in my eyes but mostly because I'd rather just ignore him right now and pretend he doesn't exist, pretend I can't hear what he's saying because I know it's starting to get to me and that's not part of the plan.

I hear him sigh from behind me, and I know he knows at this point there's no getting through to me. "The silent treatment? Really Miley?"

"You're leaving soon, Miles, I'm trying to leave things on a good note, but that won't happen if you don't talk to me." I have now returned to my task of folding the pile of clothes on my living room couch and placing them in a laundry basket.

"Miley? Mi, I'm asking you to stay here with me because I need you. Hun? Don't go to Australia, okay? Is that what you want me to say?" It's becoming extremely difficult not to punch him in the face, by the way. I think he's forgotten that this has lasted more than a week before.

"Miley, please, I'll do anything you want, okay? Talk to me, please, I'm begging." He tries to go around me so I'm forced to face him again, but I grant him no access this time.

"Miley, I love you. I love you so much; I don't think you're aware of that." He says in a much softer voice, almost as if he's giving up. What else is new? "I'll stay here all night if I have to. Yell at me if you want, you can even punch me, as many times as you want...Princess, I love you."

"Nicholas! I swear if you don't stop-" I stop mid-sentence, not really sure how to react to what I see and I'm not even really sure if my eyes are deceiving me or not. "You're crying, Nick."

"Just tell me what I did and I'll fix it, I swear on my life I will fix it for you."

I move closer to him and take his face in my palms. "You're crying, Nicky." I rub my thumb under one of his eyes. "Why are you crying?" I ask softly, I seriously feel like if I'm not careful he might break.

"Don't leave, Miles, I need you here with me." He tightly wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me into a hug.

"I won't hun, I promise." I glide my fingers through the hair on the back of his head and massage his scalp to calm him. I can feel his racing heart pounding against his chest at an alarming pace and I swear I feel myself tearing up a bit as well. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, okay? I wasn't even all that mad, I just wanted you to prove yourself to me, you were being so mean to me all of a sudden and I just wanted you feel how it felt...I was just so confused. I'm so sorry Nick, the last thing I want is to hurt you and I'm sorry I let it get this far..." I ramble on and on and I doubt he's even really listening to what I'm saying but I can't help it, I just feel like the biggest bitch in the world.

As his rapid heart rate begins to slow down, I can't help but feel overwhelmed by this moment. Anyone who knows Nick like I do would understand the intensity of what just happened. I've only ever seen Nick cry one other time; when we broke up. I never really count concerts considering those tears are merely for past recollections. I want to just kiss it and make it better for him but I'm not really sure how to take everything in myself. Just a few minutes ago I was standing here ready to fly to Australia soon. Now what? But I know something like this can't be taken lightly.

I stand on my toes and softly kiss his forehead, making my way down to his eye lids then to his nose. I look up into his glossy eyes and I wonder how I missed all the love filled in them (all for me?) before. His eyes fall from mine to my lips for a brief second then back to my eyes again; it's unbelievable how easy it's become for me to read him. I know he just wants to forget everything and just enjoy the rest of the night like nothing ever happened. Typical Nick, but I do owe him that much. "Um, you have something I could change into? My clothes are a little damp."

"Uh, yeah, follow me." I lead him into the walk-in closet in my bedroom. "I think I still have some of your old stuff somewhere in here." I give him a pair of red basketball shorts, which he appears to have outgrown, and a black hoodie. After he's dressed, I offer to put his clothes in the dryer.

I return in the closet and find him seated on the floor, leaning against the wall with a box placed in his lap. He looks up at me holding a CD in his hand. "I can't believe you still have this."

"What? Would you have preferred if I had gotten rid of it?" I sit cross-legged in front of him. "Besides, I kept everything you gave me, hence, the box."

"Do you still listen to it?"

"Yeah, usually on days like this too." I take the CD from his hand, walk over to my bed and grab my laptop, taking it back to the closet with me and returning to my previous position. "It goes well with the rain, don't you think?" I smirk at him knowingly as Maroon 5s 'Won't Go Home Without You' starts playing.

"Of course." He answers sarcastically and starts going through more stuff in the box.

"All these songs are sad breakup songs, did I ever thank you for that?" I ask, my sarcasm more than evident.

"I beg to differ," he quickly retorts, "what about Falling Slowly, Little Moments, Butterfly? And did we forget about Lost Without You?" I blush at the thoughts triggered by the mere mention of the song. "Besides, we were broken up at the time, remember?"

"And you, being the charmer you are, manipulated me with music, my weakness."

He chuckles at that. "It worked."

I'm a little startled when the slightly sensual music to 'Lost Without You' Begins to play and I swear my face is borderline blue. Nick, being Nick, starts singing along to it. Jerk. He knows what he's doing to me.

"Tell me how you love me more and how you think I'm sexy baby..." He reaches over for my arm and pulls me toward him to sit in between his legs with my back to him. Shutting my eyes, I lean my head against his chest as he loosely wraps his arms around my waist and rests his chin on my shoulder. It's a lot easier to calm down without having to face him. "You wanna touch yourself when you see me, tell me how you love my body..." The trail of hot breath he's leaving around my ear is making it difficult for me to maintain a steady heart pace and yet I couldn't be anymore content.

"Baby you're the perfect shape, baby you're the perfect weight. Treat me like my birthday..." I place my hands on top of his on my stomach and he kisses my shoulder.

"I'm lost without you, can't help myself, how does it feel, to know that I love you, baby?" He suddenly stops singing and I wonder if he actually wants me to answer that. Knowing him, he probably does.

We stay in that position for God knows how long just listening to basically the soundtrack of us. I kinda wish time would just stop and keep us in this moment forever. It's times like this that remind me why I fell for Nick so many years ago, and as he sings along to the last song, I know with all of my heart that he'll always be in my life. No matter the circumstances. "Cause my heart will wait, my heart's gonna wait for you, always... I know it's not easy, it's not meant to be easy."


I realize this story might be confusing for some of you, but I really want you guys to try to figure out what you can on your own and if you're still confused, just let me know and I'll explain. Also, there is a reason why none of Nick's American friends know about Lucie and that has something to do with his personality, I hinted at it in earlier chapters, but evidently, a lot of you missed it. You can either try to figure it out now or wait until his big realization. What I'm trying to say is, it's okay if you haven't figured it out. It's supposed to be a mystery, even to him.

Also, I said this once and I'll say it again, The first chapter is about five years into the future.

As usual, thank you for reading/commenting. You are all amazing. :)

Twitter: Hortenceee