So, in case you didn't notice, I changed my penname :)

Only 2 more chapters after this one, and then a short epilogue. I've kind of been playing around with some ideas for a sequel, but I'm not sure about it yet.

Chapter 10: Broken

Nick drove down the road barely watching traffic lights or street signs. His mind was racing almost as fast as his car was. It was a miracle that he made it home in one piece.

He was so angry. At first he was angry at Miley for sleeping with Joe, but now he was angry at Joe for seducing her. He still believed that Miley was perfect deep down and Joe must have somehow convinced her to have sex with him. Why did Joe always have to get everything? It had always been that way in Nick's mind. It wasn't fair. Joe just took anything he wanted, regardless of the consequences.

Miley deserved someone who loved her, who would cherish her. Someone like Nick. But instead Joe had gotten to her first.

Nick tried to calm down before he left the car and entered the house, he really did. But all he could do was imagine Joe and Miley in bed together. Joe seeing and touching what Nick had tonight. Joe getting to her before him. Joe's tongue in Miley's mouth, not to mention other things in Miley.

He couldn't stop picturing Joe's big hands all over Miley's body. Joe hearing Miley moan as he touched her. It was literally making him sick to his stomach.

Nick bolted out of the car and made it to the bushes just in time to heave the contents of his stomach into them.

"Fuck!" he yelled and then spit angrily at the ground.

Next Nick stormed into the house slamming the door loudly. He ran up the stairs and flung open Joe's bedroom door without knocking.

"Um, hello," Joe said confused from his desk chair where he was sitting on the computer. Why would Nick just barge into his room like that? And why did he look like hell?

Nick didn't say a word. He was too angry to even make coherent sentences. It was all just boiling up inside of him, but he was about to let it out. Nick grabbed Joe's chair and flung it (and Joe) to the ground.

"What the hell?" Joe screamed as he scrambled to get up. What the hell was going on? Nick was not the kind of person who got physical. In fact, Nick wasn't even the kind of person who like confrontation.

"I can't believe you!" Nick roared, "You asshole!"

"What are you talking about?" Joe began to ask but before he could finish Nick tackled him to the ground and began to punch Joe's face.

"Dude! What the hell?" Joe asked again. He had no idea what was going on except his little brother was attacking him. Joe tried to defend himself from his brother's blows by covering his face with his hands, but Nick's blows were coming fast and hard. His pent up agression was evident in his punches.

"You fucked her!" Nick yelled, "You took her from me! I'll never have that back now! You knew I was in love with her, but you did it anyway!"

Miley. Of course this was about Miley. What else did Nick feel so strongly about? Joe was angry too though. Nick had no right to be hitting him right now. So what, Joe had slept with her? Nick hadn't been there. Maybe if he had concentrated on getting her at the moment instead of in the future, he would have been home instead of at nerd camp.

"Jesus, Nick" Joe yelled still covering his face, "She loves you and only you! Why isn't that enough?"

"She doesn't love me," Nick insisted loudly. Tears were now pouring down his face and his punches were becoming less accurate and less hard as Nick let his sadness and hurt take him over completely.

Joe had never felt as bad for someone as he did in that moment. His little brother looked so passionate, yet so vulnerable and upset. He was crying as he continued to try and punish Joe.

"Nick," Joe said quietly and he grabbed Nick's wrists and pushed him off gently, "Nick, I'm so so so sorry."

Nick continued to sob like a baby. The girl he loved had turned out to be completely different than he thought she was. He had always imagined him and Miley being each others firsts. They would always have a special place in their hearts for each other, but apparently Miley's heart was already taken.

Joe pulled Nick into a brotherly hug as Nick continued to cry. Joe rocked his brother back and forth as if they were kids again and Nick had gotten hurt on the play ground.

"I loved her so much, Joe," Nick said between his tears.

"I know man," Joe said. This wasn't something that Joe and Nick were used to doing. Pouring out their emotions and letting each other provide comfort and security. But somehow in this moment, it didn't seem awkward at all, it seemed completely natural.

"She loved you too," Joe continued, "That day... Nick, she was looking for you, not me."

Nick nodded and Joe let go of his little brother and they both sat leaning their backs against Joe's bed.

"She, uh," Joe said, already embarrassed, "When she, um, you know..."

Nick looked at him questioningly, trying to figure out what he was saying.

"When she... yeah, well. She said your name," Joe finally admitted, completely embarrassed. But he figured it was worth it for his brother's heart.

Nick looked at Joe and smirked at little, "Really?" he said hopefully.

"Yup... She's a great girl, Nick, don't let her go," Joe advised, "She begged me not to tell you, you know. She really didn't want to hurt you. But she's a good person, she couldn't just lie to you. We both got out of hand that day, I'm sorry."

"Yeah, I know," Nick said thinking, "Just stay away from her, okay?"

"Deal," Joe said and he hugged his brother one last time.

"I don't know what to do now," Nick admitted looking down. He had walked out on her. She probably hated him so much right now. She probably never wanted to see her again. Why couldn't he just had stopped and listened to her instead of freaking out?

"Beats me," Joe said shrugging, figuring stuff out with girls was so not his thing, "It's kind of late though. Maybe you should just call it a night."

"Yeah, that sounds good... then tomorrow I'll go apologize," Nick got up smiling, "Later man."

"Later," Joe said as Nick left the room. Joe sighed. This Miley drama was definitely more than Joe had bargained for.

***

Nothing in Miley's life had ever made her feel as shitty as Nick leaving her did. Nothing.

Sure, she figured he would be mad, but she didn't think he'd just leave her there. If there was one thing Miley was scared of it was being left behind and now Nick had just done it to her. She felt awful, like the scum that gets stuck in the drain.

Miley swung off the bed and practically ripped off Nick's shirt. Next she grabbed the the first thing she could find to put on instead- a pink camisole and a pair of pink girly boxers.

Tears were running down her face as she padded barefoot to her parent's wine celler. They weren't home. They wouldn't give a fuck if she took one, in fact they probably wouldn't even notice. Obviously no one cared for her, she was so disgusting even her own parents didn't want to be around her.

She pulled out the first bottle of wine she saw not caring if it was cheap or expensive or what kind it was. Miley quickly brought it up to the kitchen and pulled out the cork with a corkscrew.

The warm red liquid was a taste of heaven. She could almost feel the blissful forget sliding around her mind and cusioning her self-hatred,

How could she be such a slut? No wonder no one wanted her. Sleeping with Joe was such a terrible idea. Why was she so stupid?

She gulped the wine down fast and was quickly intoxicated. Next she went to the fridge to find something, anything to stuff her face with. After all, same old Miley, that's how she deals with stress. She pulled out a giant piece of fudge cake, it was so big it was probably supposed to be two pieces, but that didn't stop her. She attacked it agressively with the fork and shoved mouthful after mouthful down her throat, barely even stopping to take a break. She probably looked so disgusting right now. Like a big fat pig who couldn't control herself.

She felt sick to her stomach and kind of dizzy at the same time. She spotted her cellphone on the counter where she left it before. Still sobbing the entire time, she speed dialed the one guy who was there for her.

"Hello?" Aaron said concerned. All Miley could do was cry into the phone and blubber out things that didn't make sense. ""Hello? Sweetie, what's wrong? Please answer me. You're scaring me," Aaron said concerned. It make Miley start crying even harder. At least she had Aaron, right?

"Aaron," Miley finally cried out, "Can you come home soon?"

"Yeah, babe, I'll be right there," he said quickly before hanging up the phone.

Miley put her cell down and leaned her head against the cool granite counter tops. It was already pounding and her stomach was churning like crazy.

But that didn't stop her. Either way, she was going to throw it all up, so what did it matter what else she forced into her body?

Miley grabbed a can of beer from the fridge and chugged that down as well then she pulled out a bottle of Grey Goose and took a swig of that as well. Beer before liquor, never sicker.

Miley rifled through the cabinets looking for anything to each. She pulled out a box of Ritz crackers tearing open the package. She was already disgusting, why not add a few pounds? She shoved the crackers into her mouth chewing through her tears.

Now, not only was she completely wasted, but she was also sick to her stomach. Her body reacted before she even had time to think about what was going to happen.

Her hand flew over her mouth and she ran to the bathroom, praying that she would make it.

Her stomach contracted and heaved and she emptied her stomach into the toilet. She didn't know how long she was laying there, pathetically with her head rested against the edge of the bowl before she felt cool hands pulling her hair back, just in time for her to throw up again.

"Shh..." Aaron whispered while rubbing her back in small circles, trying to soothe the hysterically girl.

Miley didn't know how much long she knelt there throwing up over and over, but eventually she stopped. It was ironic, really. She was planning on making herself throw up after all the shit she had eaten, but now it was like even her body wanted it out of her. Ugh. Even her body thought she could lose a few pounds. If only she was thinner, prettier, more sexy maybe Nick wouldn't have walked out on her. Needless to say, she was not thinking rationally anymore.

Aaron wiped her face off with a cool cloth and offered her a tall glass of water. She gulped it down thankfull, throwing up multiple times especially after drinking tends to dehydrate a girl.

"Whoa," he said, "Small sips, okay?"

Miley nodded and began to take small sips so that she wouldn't throw up again. She then grabbed her tooth brush and began to clean her mouth from the nasty taste that had developed in there.

"You wanna talk about it?" Aaron asked, sliding down onto the floor to sit next to her. Both of them had their backs against the tile of her raised bathtub.

She shook her head no.

"I guess you told him."

She nodded and closed her eyes as tears ran down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry," Aaron said and he picked her up and carried her into her bedroom. He placed her gently on the ground and supported her weight while pulling down the sheets. Then he picked her up again and laid her down before tucking the sheets in around her.

"Don't leave me," she said sounding very small and needy.

It broke his heart to hear her sounding like that. Most of the time she had this 'I'm so big, no one can touch me' act going on, but Aaron knew the truth. She was actually one of the most emotionally fragile people he had ever met.

Aaron's roommate had finally convinced him to go out to a party instead of studying. He had never been a big partier, it was just how he was raised. He was always a gentleman, he didn't get high and he rarely drank, so parties weren't exactly fun for him.

However, midterms were finally over, so Aaron didn't have a good excuse to stay in and had agreed to go out. It was his junior year of high school and it seemed like nothing could stop him from getting into his dream school, so why not let loose a little bit?

He walked into the house where the party was at. It was located a bit off campus in an old house that one of the student's parent's owned for when they came to visit their kid. Only at a rich boarding school would you find someone who actually had another house just for their kid.

The music was playing loud and the lights were turned down. Girls in fabulous designer dresses were smiling and laughing and dancing. It was almost unreal how beautiful they all were. But one girl in particular caught his eye.

She was thin, so thin Aaron thought she might snap any second. But, wow, was she beautiful. Her hair was shiny and perfect and she had the most amazing smile. It seemed like she was radiating something Aaron couldn't explain. But he wanted to be close to her.

"Hey, I'm Aaron," he said smoothly as he slid next to her on the dance floor. Just because he didn't party didn't mean he wasn't smooth. Nope, he was about as smooth as they came, always charming and polite, making all the girls swoon.

"Miley," she had said, slurring slightly. It was then Aaron realized she was drunk. He thought that this would turn him off from her, make him like her less, think less of her, but somehow he didn't.

He suddenly became nervous and protective of this girl. He had stayed with her all night, glaring at any guys who looked her way and then getting her home saftely by the end of the night. Being drunk, she had rambled to him about her parents who were always fighting and the constant pressure to be perfect for them. He was mesmerized. He couldn't stop the urge to help her, to make her feel better, to maybe even fix her. He was in love. Because that had to be love, right?

"Okay," he said and pulled his shirt off and kicked off his shoes before climbing into bed with her.

She snuggled against his chest and he wrapped an arm around her. This was how things were supposed to be, right? Aaron loved her and always treated her well, he deserved her and she was all he ever wanted.

Miley looked up at him with her beautiful blue eyes which were finally dry from all the crying she had done. She looked so broken all Aaron wanted to do was hold her take away all her pain and fix her. He wanted her to know that she was beautiful and that she was a wonderful girl who had just made a mistake.

"I love you," he whispered into her ear, but it felt funny in his mouth as he said it.

She leaned up and kissed him and his heart leaped, thinking that maybe she was over Nick and they could finally be together.

But something felt wrong about the kiss, there was no pounding of the heart or a need to pull her closer. There were no sparks and no racing breath. Aaron felt completely confused and disoriented. What had changed?

Miley pulled away and bit her lip.

"That was weird," he said.

"It was," Miley agreed looking confused.

"I think..." Aaron said thoughtfully, "We don't love each other in the same way anymore."

"Maybe," Miley said, thinking about it. Maybe he was right. She had thought she loved him, then she thought she loved Nick, then Nick hurt her, but now she didn't feel like she loved Aaron anymore. She didn't get that same feeling around Aaron as she did around Nick. Maybe she never really did love Aaron, but he was more of a filler. Or maybe more like a brother. She had never had a brother.

Aaron was thinking along the same lines. He thought Miley was all he had ever wanted it a girl. She was smart, funny, she came from a good family, his parents loved her. But maybe he was wrong. Ideally, Miley was the kind of girl any guy would want to fall in love with. But slowly Aaron realized who was making his heart race these days, even if he was a little slow to realize it. Alex.

"Shit," Aaron muttered as he thought about he had basically just run away from her on their date.

"What?" Miley asked from her comfortable, brotherly spot under his arm.

"I completely ditched Alex to be here. I totally messed up."

"Oh! I'm sorry," Miley said regretfully. She truly didn't mean to do anything of that nature, she had just called Aaron because she needed someone and she knew he would be there, "You should go see her first thing in the morning," Miley suggested.

"Yeah, I will," Aaron said with a smile on his face just thinking about it, "You've had a rough night. You should sleep."

"Yeah," Miley said yawning and then she snuggled up against Aaron again and drifted into dreamland.

Hmm... what will happen when Nick goes to see Miley? What will Alex say to Aaron? Will Joe really stay away from Miley like he promised?

I guess you'll have to wait and see ;) review, please.