Chapter 9

Miley
I looked up at Liam in confusion walking out. He told me a lot of things on our way here, but there were only three things that he went out of his way to make crystal clear. One, we were just friends. Two, absolutely no kissing. And three, if he ran into Nick, he would make sure that he understood we were just friends. He completely backed me up in there and kissed me. I didn't understand.

"I thought you didn't want to fake it," I leaned up on my tiptoes, whispering in his ear.

He kept a straight face. "In the car."

I didn't say anything. What had happened? I really thought it was all going to go downhill – that he would find out I had been bluffing all along and win. But if anything, I just gave him the best payback I could. I proved to him that I had moved on.

"Why did you do that?" I asked the question again, looking him over while I put on my seatbelt.

He sighed, beginning to pull out. "Changed my mind."

"Liam!"

"I was just sitting there, then suddenly I thought about how fun it would be to get this Disney hotshot jealous, and, well, that's all the motive I needed," he smirked, winking at me. "Guess my amazing plan worked, huh?"

"I'm serious!" Yet I couldn't help laughing. I looked out the window. "I was so sure I was screwed and then you just showed up. I don't understand why you would help when you warned me so many times."

I glanced back at Liam as he bit his lip. He was thinking over something, but he couldn't find a way to say it. I watched buildings pass by until we finally pulled into my driveway.

He shuffled, turning to me. "He's an ass, Mi."

I sighed. Somehow, I got this a lot, but coming from Liam – a guy who had never before met Nick in his life – the comment reached a whole new level. He wasn't a bad guy... he just wasn't too happy with me right now. The same way I really, really was not too happy with him. "No he's n-"

"He is!" he protested, getting out of the car. I followed him out, walking down the driveway with him. "He is. And I think you're the only one who doesn't see it."

"Selena doesn't."

"Selena's clueless," he rolled his eyes. "After all, according to you she went back to a guy who only used her the first time, right?"

I ran my hand through my hair, not able to face him. "I'm sure he charmed her."

"Well she's old enough to know that when someone breaks your heart that badly, you don't travel back to them like a lost puppy."

I put a hand on my hip, stopping. "And why not?"

"You and Nick are different. I mean, he broke your heart, and you made him prove every ounce of love in his body for you was still there. I mean, really, when the poor kid came up this summer he still looked terrified you'd turn him away from just being friends. You must've made him go through the Amazing fucking Race."

I laughed, throwing my entire head back. Oh, the things he went through to prove that the fact he wanted to be friends again wasn't a scam. For example, I wanted him to go to the Hannah movie premiere. Now, that wouldn't be that hard, but, of course I didn't want anyone to see him. Him sneaking into the premiere? Not so easy.

Then, there was the time he first called the day before the Inaugural to tell me how he'd love to be friends. I told him to make that statement publicly. I didn't think he would do it at all, nevermind the next day.

Of course, the best times were the days when I would randomly decide that I wanted him to get me something or simply come visit me at one in the morning. I would call him completely giddy and hyper while he answered half asleep. Then, every time I would tell him about how if he really loved me or really wanted to be my best friend again that he would do anything for me. If only he knew that if he ever would've put his foot down and stopped, I would've been okay with it.

He never once turned me down, though. Not even when he had those early morning interviews or he had to run because his parents would hear a car. Sometimes he muttered small phrases under his breath, but the point was that he actually did them.

I smiled a little remembering it. "He went through a lot those first six months," I admitted. I caught his eye again. "He really can be a sweet guy."

Liam let out a deep breath, his face turning hard. "Still. It doesn't give him any right to say some of the things he did. How can you just stand there and let him call you a slut, or give you this bullshit about sleeping with guys?"

After I was silent for awhile he continued. "He shouldn't be able to say that."

"He's mad at me," I shrugged. "It's just what we do when we're mad. I call him a dick, and an ass, and a cheating man-whore while he throws it all right back at me."

"Still, you're a girl."

"It doesn't matter." I paused. No one ever understood us before, I didn't expect them to now. "We put each other through hell. It's what we do."

"You deserve more. You both do," he told me honestly, walking back to his car. "I'm not trying to tell you to do anything, Miley. But, what I am telling you, is to watch out. Because one of you is going to end up hurt in the end. And this cycle won't stop alone."

I paused, not wanting to admit to myself that he was right. We both deserved more than this. I watched him pull out of the driveway in a daze, just sitting on the grass looking at the clouds.

The cycle of day and night started somewhere, too. That never stopped, so why should our cycle? We weren't anything special. I sat up, picking some of the grass. The stars and clouds have taken turns coming out for billions of years now, and it would continue billions more in the future. It was natural. The cycle has been going on forever – ever since the two of them met.

And now... I wasn't sure if I wanted to see the clouds and stars the rest of my life. I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep the same cycle for the rest of my life. I wasn't sure if I could even deal with this cycle for the rest of my life.

Which meant – if I couldn't deal with the cycle – I wasn't sure if I wanted to wait for Nick to change for the rest of my life.

Nick.
I threw the tennis ball up in the air again, trying to catch it as it hit me straight in the mouth again. I sat up, cursing. I could catch a ball – I knew that. I just couldn't catch the damn thing with her running through my head like this. We weren't dating, we weren't friends, and we were supposed to hate each other. So why the hell was I thinking about her like this?

I still felt it, though. My heart was still slowly breaking each time I played the memory through my head. Her clinging onto Liam. She seemed so happy with him. As if she never expected him to hold her like that, and he was hero for coming over and sucking her face off. I threw the ball at my wall, letting it bounce off and fall to the floor.

Glancing at my phone I grabbed it, checking for text messages but there were none. Or at least none I cared about. None from her. Then again, I was pretty sure she knew that she completely won that round. My plan to get her pissed backfired, and instead I was the one sitting alone in my room on a Sunday night, thinking about my ex-girlfriend. While I had a girlfriend who I was supposed to be on a date with.

Of course I wasn't though. Why? Because I ditched her to sit in my room alone and think about Miley, the girl who probably hated me most right now and just slapped me a few weeks ago at my own concert. Of course.

Because that made perfect sense.

I picked up the phone, calling Dani. She was one person who I knew would know exactly what Miley was thinking and tell me the truth. She wouldn't sugarcoat anything. No matter how much I would want for her to lie, she wouldn't.

I decided to call their house phone since they were both practically obsessing over it. It was the first time either of them had one of their own, therefore, they felt like the most grown up people in the world.

"Hello?"

Nick sighed, half out of relief someone answered and half out of stress. "Kev, is Danielle there?"

"Yeah, hold on."

"Told you it was for me!" she gloated. I could hear her smile in the background. "Yes, Nick?"

"Are you busy? I need girl advice."

"Oh boy," she took a deep breath as I heard shuffling. "What's going on?"

I didn't want to tell her all at once. I wanted to gradually lead into it, acting as if it was all no big deal. I had practiced the speech in my head, even. But now, with her on the other line it all poured out faster than I could control. Everything from what I was really trying to do with Selena to the fact that I was still in love with Miley. Completely in love.

"Then why are you doing this?" she asked after I was done. "If you love her that much, why are you making things so hard?"

"It's just how we are," I tried to say. It still sounded so stupid, though. Maybe because it shouldn't be the way we were. We shouldn't be fighting like this. We should be best-friends – maybe even more.

"Well, I know Miley loves you."

"But?"

She sighed, and I could picture her trying to figure out if she should be honest. "But the fact is, every girl will wait... but no girl can wait forever. Just remember that, okay?"

"Miley isn't waiting," I protested. We were fighting, and it takes two to fight.

"Yeah, but you aren't there holding her either."

I thought about it. I couldn't say anything back, though. There wasn't anything I could say that would make me look or feel any better about the situation.

"So, you're saying not to make things worse," I resolved.

"Maybe you should just quit. I mean, we both know you're being as public as you can with Selena," she told me, and for the first time I thought I heard a hint of bitterness in her voice. As if she was restraining from yelling at me.

"I will," I promised. "But..."

She groaned. "Did you do something that's gonna screw you guys up even more?"

"No, I just – Selena was mentioning that The Last Song looks good and-"

"Please tell me you didn't, Nick," she plead.

"I invited her to go with me to the premiere."

"Nick," she almost spat my name. "Nick, Nick. My God, Nicholas!" she bursted, finally raising her voice. I looked down, knowing that this was wrong. "Did it ever cross your mind how Miley would feel about that? I mean, how can you stoop as low as to ruin her movie premiere 'cause you guys are fighting."

"It was right after she slapped me, okay? I didn't care much about her feelings when she was icing my cheek."

"I can't help you," she confessed. "Honestly, I have no idea how you're supposed to handle that. But don't expect Miley to understand."

"I know," I sighed. This phone call didn't help at all. If anything, it only made things worse. How was I supposed to fix anything if everything was about to get a lot worse?

It wasn't fair. Nothing could be simple with the two of us.

But one thing I knew for sure, was that Miley didn't give up. She wouldn't be quitting the game anytime soon. She wouldn't give up on us.

i cant wait to postt again. haha, seriously. i know exactly where these next few chapters are going. im excited :D tell me how YOU think it is? how do you want or think the story to go? :)