So, this is my least reviewed story. I was just wondering if there was any particular reason for that? I mean, I realize it's kind of heavy for fanfiction, but I was just wondering what your guys' opinion is on it. Enjoy!

Chapter 11: Mistakes

Nick hardly slept at all that night. He couldn't wait to go see Miley again and set everything right. She loved him, she loved him, she loved him. He felt so stupid for ever thinking anything besides that. He could hardly wait to feel her in his arms again and feel her silky hair all over him, tickling his chest.

He laid in bed too hyper to sleep, but too tired to do anything productive. He watched his clock like a hawk, waiting for it to be a reasonable hour to get up. Finally around six-thirty Nick couldn't stay in bed a moment longer.

He sprang up and immediately headed for the shower. He figured he could go to her private entrance and knock until she woke up. Then they could go back to sleep together. He smiled at the thought of her smooth skin rubbing against his as she snuggled against him.

By the time he finally got his act together enough to make it out of the house, it was nearly seven a.m.. He grabbed his keys and quickly got in the car, humming to himself as he drove down the familiar streets.

Nick parked in front of her house and made his way around back. He could see the thin curtains in the glass door. He quickened his pace, trying his hardest to get there as fast as he could without running. He peered in the glass to get a quick look at his sleeping beauty.

Much to his surprise, she wasn't alone. There she was in bed with a shirtless guy who was unfamiliar to Nick. Then he realized it was Aaron. Miley's friend... But didn't she say yesterday that he was on a date with Alex? But now he was with Miley? Nick's head swam with questions.

It didn't help that Miley's hair covered the thin straps of her pink camisole, making it appear as if she was shirtless as well.

He felt sad, angry, and betrayed. Less than twelve hours after him leaving, she was already with another guy. A guy who was supposed to be with another girl. What had she become?

Nick turned around quickly, not bothering to wait around for an explanation. He got in his car and started digging around for something he knew would be back there for the sole reason that he hadn't taken it out of his car since it was give to him. The school directory. It held all the names and addresses of all the kids who went to his school. He opened it up to the letter R and began to drive.

***

Alex had stayed up almost all night. Her face was tear stained, but she was done. She was over it. If Aaron wanted to choose Miley over her, that was his loss, not hers. Obviously Miley was just a trainwreck if she had already lost Nick and needed Aaron.

She sat on the porch on an old swinging bench that probably hadn't be used since her mother died. Seriously, who sat on their porch anymore? But it was nice outside and for some reason Alex felt herself being called to just sit and watch the world wake up before her eyes.

She was surprised, however, when a familiar shiny car pulled up in front of her house. She did a double take. Someone else must have that car too. But what were the odds of them pulling up in front of her house at this hour? A few days ago, the thought of Nick coming to her house would have excited her, but right now she just felt confused. What was he doing here?

He walked up her short sidewalk and onto the porch. She just stared at him. He was wearing simple shorts and a t-shirt and looked like he hadn't slept all night.

"Hey," he offered lamely, standing a little ways from her.

"Hi?" she said in a questioning tone. She couldn't even form words she was so confused.

"Listen, I think I need to tell you something... but I don't know if you're gonna like it..."

Alex blinked at him. Tell her something? Something she wouldn't like? It was like the words didn't make sense in her head. She continued to look at him blankly.

"This morning I went to see Miley... we, uh, had kind of a fight last night and I went there to apologize. When I got there I saw her in bed... with Aaron," Nick said, shifting uncomfortably. He kind of had this idea in his head where he could go tell Alex and then maybe they could both commiserate. It wasn't that he wanted to get back together with her, but it's not like he wanted to be standing there all alone while Miley already had a new guy.

Alex was surprised that this news didn't hurt her. Truthfully she wasn't surprised. But as the image of them in bed together weaved it's way through her mind she couldn't help but ball her hands into tiny fists.

"They were naked," Nick continued, worried by her lack of reaction. Maybe he was overreacting? Alex seemed so calm. Given what he knew about her, he kind of expected her to scream and shout and throw things.

Guess that proved how little he really knew about her.

"Not surprised," Alex said softly, turning her gaze so that she was no longer looking at Nick, but out into the street, "He's her ex. She only broke up with him to be with you. He left me on our date last night."

"Alex..." Nick said his voice strained. He was surprised to find out that Aaron was her ex, but he didn't let it show, "I'm sorry."

He didn't know what he was apologizing for. For Aaron leaving her? For dumping her for Miley? For leading her on all this time? When did he become that guy?

He sat down on the bench next to her and grabbed her hand and squeezed it softly in what he thought was a comforting gesture, but Alex knew what it really was. He was trying to win her back. Well he should have thought of that before. Alex was smart enough to know that that second Miley was free again he would drop her. She didn't want to be the girl who waited to see which guy Miley would choose. She didn't want to get the leftover guy.

She pulled her hand from his roughly, surprising him. He kind of thought she would like that. He never used to be big on stuff like that and she had always complained about it when they were together.

"My mom died," Alex said suddenly. If her intention was to shock him, she did.

"What?" Nick asked confused, "When?"

"A long time ago," she admitted to him. She wasn't sure why she was telling him this now. Maybe it was to prove that he had never known her even though they dated for a while, "I never told you. We were really close. It was really..." She struggled for the right thing to say, but she couldn't think of it. Saying 'hard' made her sound weak, so she just let herself trail off. A single tear for her mom ran down her cheek.

Nick's forehead furrowed in confusion. How had he not known this? That seemed like such a defining characteristic. He also realized he had never seen her cry before. Why had he never taken the time to know her? There were so many things he had never known. For example, he didn't know that her house looked like this. Small and beat up. He didn't know she lived in this neighborhood. He didn't know anything.

It made him think. How much did he know about the last four years of Miley's life? Nothing. He didn't even know Aaron was her ex-boyfriend and yet there he was still in her life. He didn't know the first thing about her anymore.

***

Aaron woke up to light streaming through the glass doors of Miley's room. It was a new day, a new beginning. Time to go see Alex and beg her to take him back. He smiled at the thought of the pout he knew would grace her lips and how she would resist him at first. But he also had faith that after his apology and explanation she would give him another chance.

It was only seven-fifteen, but Aaron guessed that Alex would be awake. In fact, after the shit he pulled, she probably hadn't slept at all. He got up quietly, trying not to disturb Miley who looked so peaceful laying in her bed asleep.

It was hard to believe that this angel had some very, very dark problems. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to leave her alone in this state, but he was too excited to go see Alex.

After freshening up and changing, Aaron left Miley's house to go to Alex's. He drove down all the right roads and was surprised to see another car parked in front of her house. He looked up at her house to see her and Nick sitting on the porch swing.

Anger burned in his veins. Who did this Nick guy think he was? Dumping girls the second he got bored of them, who did that? He noticed that nothing seemed to be going on between them except that Alex's face was wet with tears. If there was one thing Aaron couldn't stand it was seeing a girl cry.

"Well, look who we have here," Aaron said in a voice that was so unlike his normal gentle tone. Alex's head perked up to see him there. The barest trace of a smile played across her face.

Nick stood up suddenly and faced Aaron, jealousy obvious in his stance.

"Shouldn't you be with Miley?" Nick asked rudely while Alex watched on, nervous about what was going to happen.

"Shouldn't you?" Aaron countered, "You know, you dump Alex to be with Miley, then you dump Miley and here you are with Alex? What kind of game do you think you're playing?"

"Whatever," Nick said with an attitude, who did this guy think he was? "Obviously she has already moved on. I saw you guys together this morning in bed."

Aaron nervously glanced over and Alex whose eyes were darting in between Aaron and Nick.

"Wow, all you do is judge," Aaron said, "Do you ever get the full story? I had to stay with her because she was too fucking weak last night to even hold herself up after you left her. You disgust me. Do me a favor and stay away from Miley. She doesn't need someone like you in her life."

Aaron wasn't the kind of guy who got violent, but if he was he definitely would have beaten Nick to a pulp by now. The vision of Miley, weak and bent over in front of the toilet last night, was still fresh in his mind. No one should ever look that broken and hurt especially over a guy.

Nick just shook his head, secretly feeling awful. He left the porch and got into his car and drove away. He didn't know where he was going. He passed Miley's development and even though every muscle in his body was screaming for him to turn, he knew he needed some time to think. He pulled into his own driveway and went inside the house. His parents had already left for work so he went in search of his brother. Maybe he still had those joints from the other day... Yeah, that sounded good. Getting high. Anything to not think about all the questions about Miley that were swirling in his head.

"Joe!" he called through out the house. He even went in Joe's room, assuming he was still asleep. To his surprise, though, no one was there. Huh. Apparently Joe wasn't home. Nick looked out his window and noticed for the first time his car wasn't there. Weird. Where could Joe be this early?

Nick didn't know so instead he just collapsed on his bed to catch up on the sleep he didn't get last night.

***

Aaron stood on the steps to the porch while Alex continued to use her bare feet to push herself gently back and forth. It was almost as if she was rocking herself back into comfort and security.

"Listen, Alex," Aaron started, looking at her pleadingly. Alex continued to gaze forward into the street.

"Can I sit down?" he asked her gently. She shrugged a shoulder indifferently, but he took a seat next to her anyway, "Please look at me."

Alex turned her face so that she was looking at him. Aaron was surprised by how hollow and empty her eyes looked. Nothing like how they had looked at the beginning of their date last night.

"I know it was so stupid of me to leave you last night," Aaron began, "It's just that... Miley and I have been through a lot and she was the first girl who I really loved."

Hurt flickered for a moment in Alex's dark eyes and Aaron quickly began speaking again.

"I feel this... this need to protect her. I thought that was love, but now I see I love her... But not in that way," Aaron said struggling for the right words. Aaron reached out for Alex's hand and held it gently and she didn't pull away.

"Last night she had a rough night... some, uh, stuff happened between her and Nick. I thought that they were done and so we kissed..." Aaron noticed Alex tried to tug her hand away, but he held on, "But I didn't feel anything. No sparks nothing... nothing like how I felt when we kissed."

Alex looked up at him with tears sparkling in her eyes and Aaron thought he would never see anything as tragically beautiful as her crying.

"I'm sorry," he quickly apologized, making a move to get up.

Suddenly her arms flew around him and her silent tears turned into sobs.

"No one... has ever... said something... like that... to me," Alex said in between happy sobs. Aaron smiled and wrapped his strong arms around Alex, pulling her close.

"Well, you deserve it," Aaron said kissing her on the temple gently.

Alex snuggled close to him, enjoying the way he smelled and how it felt to have someone say such nice things about her.

"So am I forgiven?" he asked with a little grin that made any grudge Alex might have been holding melt away.

"Hmm..." Alex said pretending to think, "I think a kiss would make up for it."

"Done," Aaron said with a smile before holding her face softly in her hands and connecting their lips.

***

Joe walked around the perimeter of the semi-familiar house, trying to find a window or something. After knocking several times unsuccessfully he had decided to try and find another way in.

Joe had heard Nick wake up early and leave the house. Probably because Joe himself couldn't sleep either. All he could think about was Miley.

He didn't know why he was having all these new thoughts about her when he hadn't thought about her that much in such a long time. Maybe it was because she was right there now. And maybe it was because she had grown up A LOT since the last time Joe was with her.

He had casually decided to drive by Miley's house to see if Nick was there. Much to Joe's surprise, there were no cars in the driveway except Miley's black sedan.

He walked down one side until he found a sliding glass door and he peered in. He could see Miley alone sitting on the edge of her bed scantily clad in what he assumed were her pajamas. And was she... crying?

Joe felt the sudden urge to cradle her in his arms and make her feel better. It was so weird. He had never felt this way about any girl. He rapped gently on the glass, making Miley look up.

"Joe?" she asked when she got to the door. She wrapped her thin arms around herself and looked at him confused. He saw her look at his obviously bruised face. Nick had given him one black eye and a cut lip. It looked a lot worse than it actually was.

"Hey," he breathed out, looking her up and down, "I, uh, heard about last night and I just thought I'd come check on you."

Miley's lips twitched as if she was trying to smile, but couldn't. Instead she stepped aside and gestured for him to enter her room.

"Nice pad," he said with a small grin.

"Thanks," she said dully, going over to her walk in closet and pulling out some clothes. She didn't bother to close the door and Joe caught a glimpse of her bare back as she put on a bra and shirt and pulled on a pair of sweatpants. His breath caught in his throat.

"So I'm guessing this was Nick's doing," she said running her finger tips over his lips and around his eye gently. It felt wonderful to Joe. Better than ice or a raw steak would have felt.

"Yeah, but, uh, I don't really blame him," Joe said gently. He didn't know why he had come here. Now that he was in her room he was unsure of what to do. He knew that Nick had asked him to stay away, but he probably just meant in that way, not that he could never see her again, right?

"Do you want something to drink?" Miley asked, her polite side kicking in. No matter how awful she felt she couldn't help it that she was a charming girl.

And boy, did she feel awful. First of all, she felt hungover although she was pretty sure she had thrown up most of the alcohol she had consumed shortly after drinking it, then she felt shitty about Nick leaving her, and then she had woken up to discover that Aaron had left her too. Was it too much to just wake her up and say goodbye? Basically, she felt like the scum that gets stuck in the drain and no one wants to clean out.

"Um, sure," Joe said following her into the kitchen. Something seemed different about her. She didn't seem bubbly and full of life and flirty like he remembered her. It kind of scared him.

"Isn't it kind of early for that?" he asked her eyes widening as she poured herself some juice with a splash of vodka.

"What do you want?" she asked him, ignoring his question. He asked her for a water and she went and got it before giving it to him.

"You got anything to smoke?" she asked him after he had taken a sip of water. He was surprised. She didn't seem like the kind of girl who smoked pot. Maybe cigarettes.

"Uh, you mean like cigs?" he asked confused. Although this was his normal lifestyle, it felt weird seeing Miley like this.

"No, like weed," Miley said bluntly, "I just... I feel really nauseous and I don't want to think right now."

"I-" Joe started. He was unsure if this was a good idea or not. But suddenly she was giving him a little pout and he knew he was going to give in.

"Please, Joe," she said begging, "I'll do whatever you want..." she added seductively. After all, what did she have to lose? She already lost Nick. Maybe Joe would make it feel better.

"Umm..." Joe said clearing his throat while she continued to make eyes at him. Now that he was here, her actions seemed kind of desperate. Joe realized quickly that she just wanted to use him to get over Nick. No way was that happening again. He pulled a joint and a lighter out of his pocket and lit it for her before giving it to her.

"Thank you," she said and leaned over to give him a kiss on the cheek. Joe turned bright red. Seriously, what did he think coming here was going to accomplish? Miley randomly getting over his younger brother after like a million years and deciding she was in love with him? Yeah, right.

"Mmm," Miley said after taking a few drags and letting the feeling of being high surround her until she no longer felt anything. Joe watched as her eyes hazed over and it looked like thought had left her mind. Did he look like that when he was high too? Jeez. He felt bad leaving her there in such a state so he decided to hang around for a while. What could be the harm in that?

Hours later, Joe was still stuck at Miley's house, watching her do one stupid thing after the other. Joe almost wished he was trashed too just so that he could at least find some of the things she was doing funny.

"Are you mad at me, Joey?" she asked giggling and going to sit on his lap. They had moved from the kitchen back into her bed room and he was sitting in her desk chair.

"No," Joe said squirming slightly underneath her. Even wasted she was so beyond beautiful. Watching her actions though and listening to the way she sounded, slurring and giggling over everything made him never want to get high or drunk again.

Suddenly Miley's lips were covering his and her tongue was pushing its way into his mouth. He opened his eyes wider and tried to push her off of him. This was wrong. This was definitely definitely wrong. Nick would not be happy about this. The image of his brother broken down and crying in his arms last night came to Joe. He pushed her off using a little more force and she fell onto the round.

"What the fuck?" Miley said, suddenly turning angry.

"Listen, Nick still loves you. I don't know what happened, but he was going to come and apologize. I can't do this to him," Joe explained standing up and holding up his hands as if to show his innocence.

"So what exactly did you expect when you came here, Joe?" Miley asked him angrily, "Don't lie and give me some bullshit that you 'just wanted to check up on me' because we both know that you came here for one reason. Sex. And now here I am throwing you at myself and you're rejecting me because of how your brother feels?"

Joe stood there, letting her yell at him. Her face was turning red and he could have sworn she was going to burst into tears any second.

"You sure didn't give a fuck how he felt when you fucked me when I was only fifteen years old. Wow, Joe, that's classy."

Joe flinched at her accusations, feeling terrible. Miley continued to scream at him and he just stood there taking it. Everything she was saying was right she was so, so right.

"I can't even believe that- oh," her rant was suddenly cut off by a small squeak from her and the next thing Joe knew she was falling to the floor unconscious.

"Miley!" he yelled, kneeling to the ground to hold her head in his lap, "Miley!" he repeated slapping her face lightly. Her eyes fluttered open slowly. "Miley," he said one last time, relieved, "What happened?"

"I don't know," she said wincing as he helped her up, "My head is killing me."

"Do you want me to get you some Advil or something?" Joe asked her concerned. He didn't know what to make of her passing out, but if she was awake now she had to be fine right? It's not like she blacked out from drinking or anything because she wouldn't have gotten up that quickly.

"Yeah," she said going over to lay down on her bed, "It's in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom."

Joe rifled through the cabinet until he found the orange and white bottle and spilled out the right amount for her. He brought it over to her bedside table and offered her the bottle of water he had never finished. She gulped the pills and the water down gratefully.

"I'm sorry, Joe," Miley said quietly as she buried herself into the sheets, "I'm just upset over the Nick thing. I shouldn't have taken it out on you."

"No," Joe contradicted her, "It was my fault. I'm sorry about... everything."

Miley yawned. She was feeling extremely drowsy which was weird considering it was barely past five.

"Thanks for coming over... even if you didn't have good intentions, I'm glad someone was here for me," Miley said with her eyes closed, she was slowly drifting into a deep, deep sleep.

"Goodnight," Joe whispered, giving her a quick peck on the cheek before slowly backing out of the room. He contemplated what to do before deciding to leave and then call her later to see how she was doing. She was crazy, Joe thought to himself. She was a wreck waiting to happen. But he didn't know what to do, so he didn't do anything.

Uh-oh what's wrong with Miley? Hint: Next chapter is called "Hospital Visits"

Soo one more chapter and an epilogue. I didn't really plan on doing a sequel but if enough people seem interested, I do have ideas for one.