"Let's just get this over with, shall we?"
I looked up and saw Liam towering over me. I got to my feet and took his hand, pulling him to the edge of the celebratory party. I looked up at him and bit my lip. I knew that the minutes that followed weren't going to be pretty. "What are you talking about?"
"I know that you want to end this," he said sadly.
"You've known that since you got here, Liam."
"But I thought that we would at least have one more good night together. You know, tomorrow. At that dance. You made such a big deal about it that I guess that I figured we would get to spend that time together," Liam admitted. He glanced back at the party and sighed.
"In case you haven't noticed, we haven't had one good night together since you arrived," I said. "We either spend the night in silence or we avoid talking about our issues. This week hasn't worked the way you wanted it to, Liam. This has to end tonight. That may sound kind of harsh to you, but there isn't much point in prolonging this thing much longer, is there?"
He looked over his shoulder again. I saw his eyes follow Nick as he got up and went to refill his cup with beer. "It's him, isn't it? Demi's brother. He's your somebody else, isn't he?"
I hesitated. It would have been easier to say that there was nothing there between Nick and I; that we were both happier when we weren't around each other and that there was absolutely know chemistry between us. However, Liam deserved better than a blatant lie. He deserved to know the truth.
"You could say that."
"It's a yes or no question, Miley."
"Then yes, I guess he's my somebody else," I said reluctantly. "Liam, I never meant to hurt you. Things just spiralled downwards between us, didn't they?"
He smiled dejectedly and shook his head. "I deserve all of this," he admitted. "I've hurt you over and over again since you moved here. I don't know how I didn't realize that you would move on because of it."
"I didn't move on just because of the way you've been acting," I admitted. "It was more than that. I think that you and I both know that being down here has changed me. I'm not that girl anymore. I'm not willing to put up with a crappy long distance relationship and I'm not willing to put you through that either. We both deserve so much more than that, Liam."
"Does he make you happy?"
I laughed. "He makes me angry."
He smiled again. "That was another one of my yes or no questions," he teased.
I thought about it. Nick infuriated me to no end. He made me want to rip my hair out sometimes. He made me want to curl up into a ball and scream into a pillow. He made me want to punch him and yell at him about how mad he made me. But he also made me want to melt into a puddle every time he touched me. He made my heart flutter and my knees go weak. He made my stomach flip every morning when I watched him go off on his run or get into the pool for a swim.
"I honestly don't know," I said thoughtfully.
"You deserve to be happy, Miley," Liam said quietly. "Maybe I didn't make it happen, but it's what you deserve. I mean that. If he's what makes you happy … Go for it."
"Thank you."
Liam stuck his hands in his pockets and looked at the ground. "So, this is it, huh? After all this time, we're finished, and this is how it ends? In a field with a bunch of hicks in Texas?"
I smiled. Even as we were breaking up, Liam found a way to insult my new life. "I guess so," I replied. "I really do care about you, Liam. It just isn't the same as it used to be. Not anymore."
"I kind of figured that," he admitted. "Once I stopped calling you back and you stopped picking up, I think I gathered that this wasn't working." He smiled and engulfed me in a hug. "I love you, Miley. We may not be the way that we were before, but I do love you and I want you to be happy." He pulled back. "But like I said ... If he's what makes you happy, go for it."
I smiled and touched his arm. "You know, you're a lot nicer when you aren't in a relationship with me," I joked.
Liam laughed. "I guess you stressed me out." He glanced at the time on his phone and looked at me. "Seeing as I have no dance to wait around for, I better get back to the motel and pack my things. I'll be out of town tomorrow."
"Take care."
"You too, Miles."
I watched Liam as he walked away from me for the final time. He didn't look back. I suppose he knew that it was finally time to let me go, and he was finally accepting it.
I looked around the huge field and saw Nick looking at me. I looked away quickly. I really wasn't in the mood for his drama. He regretted the kiss and that was fine, but I didn't need to be reminded of my humiliation.
"Liam's gone?"
I looked over my shoulder and saw that Demi had returned to my side. She was smiling at me gently, like she knew exactly what I was thinking – with Liam gone, I had no excuses for not talking to Nick.
"Looks like it," I replied.
"And things are over between you?"
"Yeah."
"For good?"
"Of course."
Demi let out a relieved breath and grinned. "Finally. You've been miserable since he arrived, and everybody's noticing the tension between you and Nick whenever Liam's around," she said. "Even my mom asked me what was going on between you."
"Oh gosh, please don't tell your mom about this," I pleaded. I didn't want Denise to think badly of me. After all, I had been leaving her son hanging and making the dinner table a very awkward place to be.
"Don't worry, I didn't tell her," she reassured me. "I just told her that he's had a lot on his mind lately and he's been taking it on you." She smiled slightly. "I thought that my idea was far simpler, seeing as it isn't necessarily a lie."
"I should talk to Nick, huh?"
"Yep," Demi replied, popping the 'p'.
I took a step in the direction of fallen tree that had been dragged over to serve as a bench over where Nick was sitting, but I found my path blocked by someone taller than me.
I looked up from the ground and found myself face-to-face with Jake.
"Hey," he said with a grin. "How are you? I've been trying to find you all night. We haven't talked since the drive-in movie."
I faked a smile. "I know, Jake, and I really want to catch up, but there's somebody I was just on my way to talk to right now."
"Was that your boyfriend?" he asked, completely ignoring everything I had said.
"Ex-boyfriend," I automatically corrected, immediately regretting it.
"You're single?"
"Just about."
Jake's face lit up, and I felt awful. I was completely leading him on. He thought that he had a chance now that Liam was out of the picture, but really, with Liam gone, the only one I wanted a chance with was Nick.
"Well, now that you're single, maybe we could go out to dinner sometime?"
I bit my lip. "Jake …" I trailed off, trying to find a way to put him down gently. "I broke up with Liam like five minutes. I think it would be a little insensitive towards him if I immediately started dating someone else, you know?"
I closed my eyes, realizing how true my words were. It was completely insensitive of me to move on so fast, whether it was with Jake or with Nick. Either way, Liam had hardly even left and I had already been making plans to hook up with somebody else.
"Oh," Jake said in a deflated voice. "I get that." He hesitated slightly. "Call me if you change your mind, okay?"
I smiled softly at him and nodded. I then realized that I had to tell Nick the same thing as I told Jake. It wasn't fair to Liam to move on to someone else so fast, never mind the fact that it was someone that Liam didn't even like. Even though Liam had told her to go for it, she couldn't shake the guilt of breaking up with him for someone else, someone that she didn't even know if she had a future with.
"I will," I said half-heartedly. "I better go and talk to that person now. I'll catch up with you later." I touched Jake's arm, gave him a warm smile, and then made my way towards the makeshift bench.
Nick looked up from his beer as soon as he saw me approaching. He smiled slightly, and I couldn't help the butterflies in my stomach as I looked at him in that light, his face brightened by the flames.
I stood behind him and leaned down close to his ear. "Can we talk?" I whispered.
Nick nodded. He stood up, walked around the fallen tree and stopped beside me. He motioned for me to follow him and led me through the crowds of people. He eventually stopped at the edge of the field, in a spot long after the crowd had started to thin out at the edges. We were in the shadows made by the tall bushes and shrubs. I knew what he was doing – he was trying to make sure that Selena didn't see him with me.
"What is it?" he asked.
"I broke up with Liam."
He smiled slightly. "You did?" he asked softly.
I nodded. "But that's not the important thing here is." I hesitated and shook my head. "Whatever this … thing between us is, it's screwing up my head. I can't think about anything else. One minute you're telling me about how I'm all you can think about, then you're saying it's a mistake, then you're trying to talk to me about it all, then you want me to spend time with Liam! What the hell is this, Nick? Because I honestly cannot keep going on this way."
"Miley …"
"Just tell me what you want from me."
"You know what I want." He sighed frustratedly and ran his hand through his hair. "This is all so messed up," he murmured. "I've never screwed up a game because of a girl before, and then you come along and I'm all over the place!"
"This isn't about a stupid football game, Nick. This is about way more than that."
"Don't you think I know that?" he hissed. Nick looked up at me in the shadows and sighed. "What do you want, Miley? Because all we ever seem to talk about is what I want, but how am I supposed to know what you want me to say whenever I don't know what you want?"
"You shouldn't have to say what I want you to say. You should be able to do that without meaning to," I said quietly.
"You know I want to be with you," he whispered. He reached for my hand, but I pulled it back quickly.
"I can't be with you," I said.
"Why not?"
"That's what we need to talk about," I explained. "Whatever this is isn't good for us. I think that, before we do anything about these feelings we're having, we need to take some time and make sure that this is what we really want." I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. "I should show some respect to Liam. He left this bonfire not even twenty minutes ago, and I've already been talking to someone about moving on from him. I owe it to him to give it time."
Nick stayed quiet for a moment. He looked up at me and, even though I saw the sadness in his eyes, I knew that he understood why I wanted to do what I was doing.
"If that's what you need," he said softly.
"It is."
"How much time do you need?"
"I'll let you know when I know myself," I said with a soft smile.
Nick nodded and watched as I turned around and began to walk out of the shadows. I headed back to the party, holding in tears as I felt his gaze burning holes in the back of my head.
As I approached the edge of the crowd, I found Demi and Selena standing near the back. Demi was talking animatedly to a group, making them laugh as only Demi could, but Selena's eyes were glued to me, and I could tell at once that she sure as hell wasn't happy.
I know that it's been longer than I expected since I updated. I'm sorry for that. School started this week and things are piling up already. I should stop using school as an excuse, but I promise that I will try my best to update as quickly as I can. This year is my GCSE year, so it's pretty big for me, meaning that updates will be less frequent, but like I said, I'll try.
Thank you all for the reviews. They went down a little bit, but 18 is still fantastic. Thanks to niley4eva2012, LetItRainx3, When I'm Afraid, SillyyPandaaGirll, xnickslightning, .Awesome, nileyfan0314, wateen, lifesaclimb11, nickmileyclub, YouSaidForever, IWantNiley3.0, jonasluver4ever21, NileyFreak, ijustneedyounow, Simar, NickJisoffmychain2828 and MissQueenyB. Reviews, as always, were much appreciated.
