Miley, Selena, and Demi were now situated in a dinner located a few minutes out of the normal LA area. It was far enough away that it would take a while for any paparazzi to find them and most of the people at the diner were discrete enough not to call them.

They had first stopped by Miley's house and were now all wearing some assortment of sweatpants and a T-shirt.

To Miley the best feeling in the world was being with your girlfriends. Somehow, when she was with her friends the whole rest of the world seemed to disappear. Haters didn't matter, Nick didn't matter, paparazzi didn't matter, glamor didn't matter, all that mattered was that she was having the time of her life.

The three girls had ordered enough food to feed all of their families combined. This particular dinner specialized in all the good home cooked southern meals the girls were used too. Half eaten mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, fried chicken, and cornbread were only a few of the things that littered their table.

Tomorrow, they would probably regret eating this much and then have to work it off at the gym, but right now all that mattered was some good old girl bonding.

Miley was telling them a funny story about her father and Selena and Demi were in histerics. That was the best part about being with your friends- at some point, the stupidest, unfunniest things turn into the words biggest jokes.

"Oh, my God, that's so funny. 'That's a completely different animal'," Demi quoted, laughing hysterically again.

"He is one crazy guy..." Miley said fondly of her father.

Suddenly their female bonding was interrupted by Miley's phone ringing loudly.

Selena grabbed it before Miley could get to it.

"OOOH, it's Justin," she said teasingly before giving it to Miley. It was a text message and Miley had to smile when she read it.

Thinking about you... was all that it read. It was simple things like that that made Miley smile... it was almost like something that Nick would- no, no, no. She was not going to let her mind go down that path. They were over. completely over.

"Look, she can't stop smiling," Demi said nudging Selena and they both laughed at her in a good-natured way.

"Shut up," Miley said blushing. She was currently the only one of them who had a boyfriend. It was sick in a way, but she almost wished that she was single so that she wouldn't always have Justin holding her back.

"You're so lucky," Selena said sighing, "Nick used to play this like hot and cold game, where he'd text a lot for a week and then leave me in the dark for another week."

Demi nodded her head. She could remember Selena's calls and texts asking what Nick was up to when they were on tour and why he wasn't texting her.

Miley rolled her eyes to show her displeasure, but honestly, she had never experienced that with Nick. In fact, her and Nick were pros at having a long distance relationship, it was when they finally were around each other that they started to fight. Their ideals of what being on tour would be like were just not as good as reality. They picked stupid fights with each other, just because they were tired. It was a new experience for both of them.

"Alright girls, since I'm the one leaving, this meals on me," Selena said getting up with the bill and heading for the register before the other two girls could protest.

Demi sighed, "I wish she wouldn't do that."

"Huh?" Miley asked looking at the girl confused.

"Bring up Nick... it's getting a little old you know?"

Miley shrugged, "I guess..."

"She's my best friend and practically my sister and I love her to death, but watching her hurt over someone who never really loved her breaks my heart, I just wish she'd realize it," Demi said sadly.

Miley stayed silent. She wasn't sure what to say to that.

"Never give up on someone who you love and you know loves you," Demi said wisely, "It's hard to come by people like that." Demi gave Miley a look that seemed to just bore right into her.

Suddenly, Miley knew where she should be and without any rhyme or reason, she got up.

"I gotta go," Miley said quickly to Demi who just nodded and tried not to smile. As Miley left the room quickly she passed a confused looking Selena.

"She totally went to see Justin," Selena said rolling her eyes and smiling. Demi just nodded slowly as if distracted.

At the Disney party, Demi had gone to the bathroom shortly after Miley had gotten up and she had seen two very familiar people on the balcony kissing. Demi had always had a sort of soft spot for the celebrity couple known as 'Niley' and even when her best friend was dating Nick she was always kind of interested in what was going on between the two former lovers.

It didn't take a genius to see that they were far from over, but it seemed as if her best friend be a little behind.

***

After Miley walked away from him, Nick stayed standing on the outdoor patio for a long time. Him and Miley were meant to be, he was sure of that. He didn't know how to convince her of that.

It wasn't just that she was beautiful. She was fun to be around. She always knew how to make him laugh and didn't let him take things too seriously. Her smile and laugh were contagious and when he was around her he felt like he was the person that he wanted to be.

Nick racked his brain trying to think of something, anything, that he could say to her to convince her that they were supposed to be together.

He came up with nothing, and finally, he sighed and walked back into the main room.

The first thing he saw was Joe sitting at their table by himself, already eating. Trust Joe to get food before anyone else. Next, Nick automatically searched the room looking for Miley. There was no sign of her or Selena and Demi.

"Hey, where'd the girls go?" Nick asked as he took his seat next to Joe. Saying 'the girls' made it seem less like he just wanted to know where Miley was.

"Umm," Joe said, "I think I saw them leave a little bit ago... but they didn't say good bye to anyone."

Nick sighed. There was no reason for him to be at this party anymore.

"Listen," Nick said to Joe, "I'm gonna call a taxi and go home... I'm not feeling so good."

"Um, okay, are you going to tell mom and dad?" Joe asked him looking at Nick skeptically. It wasn't like Joe didn't notice that Nick had been gone for quite a long time.

"Yeah, I'll see you later, man," Nick said. He knew that Joe was planning on meeting Camilla later and who knew how long they would stay out together. Nick knew that once he was home he would have lots of time to himself to think about Miley and maybe write a few songs about her. It was probably pathetic, but honestly, at this point who cared?

Nick said Goodbye to his parents before calling a cab to come get him and take him back to his house.

When Nick got home he felt completely exhausted. Maybe it was because he had kissed Miley twice in less than a week and he wasn't used to the natural high that she gave him. Or maybe it was just the fact that while he was only sixteen he still had to wake up early and work late into the night. Maybe the stress was just catching up with him. Either way the second Nick hit the pillow he was fast asleep...

Sometime late in the night Nick suddenly jolted awake. His heart was racing and he looked around wondering what had woken him up. His heart nearly stopped when he saw the figure standing in his room.

"Miley?"

Wow, I've been merciless with the cliffhangers recently, but at least I'm updating super quick! This ones short again, but I think the next one will be longer (I haven't written it yet). K well I'm going to go make cupcakes and stalk people on twitter. You can follow me (smadxx) if you please! i'll follow you back! oh and btw, JB's twitter is a total joke. They are seriously disappointing me... I watched the sneak preview for their show, JONAS, and I wasn't sure I just laughed... and not in a good way. Nick, you are no actor.