Chapter 10

Screw it, I like you…

"Taylor!" Demi exclaimed happily, "Oh my God it's been such a long time." And of course both girls looked around them to check if there's one of their parents there witnessing the moment so they won't budge them later about how unprofessional and so unlike princess they acted on expressing their excitement.

"I know, right?" she said eagerly, "I didn't expect to see you soon. Not here especially." Taylor joked lowering her voice.

Demi chuckled, "Yeah, I didn't expect me here too."

"I'm just happy to see you again."

"Yeah, me too, how've you been?" Taylor smiled at her then looked back at Joe seeing the conversation will be going longer than he probably thought.

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't introduce you…" she blushed, "Prince Joseph, this is Princess Demitria, and Princess Demitria, and this is Prince Joseph."

"I know who she is." He said and in his head the actual line was intended to be: 'As if I need introduction!' with a roll of the eye.

"Yeah, I bet you do." Taylor mumbled under her breath.

"So, uh, I'll just go catch some talk with Prince Zachary there, I bet you two have some talking too." Joe said trying not to focus his gaze on the brunette Princess and to act professionally at the same time.

"Oh, Okay, I will catch up with you later." Taylor said a little shyly giving him a smile. Demi didn't fail to notice how she talked, it seemed like they were friends or at least have talked for a while; you know the tension between two people who just met? Yeah, that wasn't sensed between Prince Joseph and Princess Taylor.

"So," Taylor smiled widely snapping Demi out of her thoughts to realize Joe is now gone. "How did you end up here?"

Demi chuckled, "They invited us. The Queen did actually; and so, we accepted the invitation." Demi shrugged as they slowly moved to take a table.

"Oh, that is going to be the talk of all population of eight islands that the long-term enemies finally made a sort of connection." Taylor chuckled as Demi followed.

"Oh, you have no idea!" And it was true.

"So, King Robbie is also here? And Queen Tricia?" Taylor asked looking around.

"No, father couldn't make it, but yeah, the Queen is here."

"I didn't see her!" Taylor frowned then looked at her excitedly, "And Destiny?"

Demi laughed, "Don't call her that in her face!" She joked as Taylor laughed knowing Miley dislikes this name strongly, "Which reminds me, I can't find her." She then frowned remembering what she was doing before meeting Taylor as she looked around trying to spot her sister.

"Oh, I can help you look around."

"Thank you," she smiled as they got up and started looking around for Miley; about ten minutes later, they were walking by the balcony and they heard some noise as it seemed empty though.

"What is that?" Taylor frowned as Demi shrugged just as confused but they both entered slowly. Just then both girls gasped at what they saw.

"What's going on?"

"Jeez."

"Demi!" Miley exclaimed.

Demi and Taylor went by Miley's side as Nick stepped away awkwardly. "What happened?" Demi said patting her sister's back who was looking like a total mess.

"She's drunk."

"She's what?" Demi exclaimed.

"Oh, God!" Taylor gasped pulling her arm around Miley's shoulder bringing her closer as she started crying on her shoulder.

"What did you do?" Demi shot daggers towards the curly haired young Prince.

"I did nothing. She just had a few drinks and suddenly she looked so desperate and started crying." Nick explained; he was relieved Demi had come to his rescue as he had no clue on what to do with a desperate drunk Princess.

"Miles, calm down." Demi whispered to Miley and as soon as Miley heard her voice she pushed herself away from Taylor and hugged her older sister tightly crying on her shoulder, "Oh, God." She rubbed her back, "You're going to be fine, baby."

"I love you, Dem." She whispered between her sobs.

"Love you too, little sis." She whispered back and they just stood there with Miley crying on her sister's shoulder until she calmed down while Nick and Taylor just stood there not saying a word witnessing the sisters' lovely moment.

"I'm tired." Miley finally pulled away from Demi and sniffed.

"Then we leave-"

"No, just find me Selena. I'll leave with her." Miley interrupted her sister.

"What? No-"

"Demi, just find me Selena and go enjoy your night. We don't want father to be mad."

"Father wouldn't be."

"Father wouldn't, but, King Robbie would want to know everything about the ball." She stated with an eye roll.

"But-"

"Just find me Selena, Demi, please."

"I'll find her for you." Taylor smiled offering as she put a hand on Miley's hand.

"Oh, sorry, Taylor you had to just meet me like this." Miley tried to smile.

"It's okay, sweetie, besides, you'll be saying enough of me from now on." She smiled, "I'll go find you Selena now."

Miley watched as Taylor left them and then looked down and sighed, "Mother can't see me like that." She said and sat down on one of the two huge steps on the side of balcony leading to the garden not caring who could walk in and sees her; she has dropped that part long ago since she started drinking with Nick.

"No, she sure can't. Just like she shouldn't know you actually drunk, Miley." Demi sighed.

"You won't tell, will you?" she looked up at her with big eyes.

"No, of course not. Miley, what's wrong?"

"Later." She sighed then looked back at Nick who has been standing awkwardly the whole time and smiled, "Thanks, Nick."

"Uh, for what?"

"For being there with me."

"You're welcome? I guess?"

"Miley?" Selena's voice came as she walked in with Taylor in worry.

"Let's go, Sel." She stood up and hugged her sister, "Enjoy your night. I'll tell you everything when you come back, don't worry about me, okay?" she whispered to her as Demi nodded,

"Just don't worry, whatever is bothering you we'll make it work, that's what we do, right?"

Miley let out a small chuckle and nodded, "Right." She smiled at her and then looked at Taylor and sent her a small wave along with Nick.

"Let me walk your way out of the garden so no one bothers you." Nick offered and went after them; he actually -for the first time- felt bad for the girl.

"What's that all about?" Taylor asked standing behind Demi as they both looked at the three figures walking away.

"I have no idea." Demi said in a state of daze. "Come on, we need to get back inside." She said as Taylor nodded and they went back to join the dancing ball. For the rest of the night, Demi had it all in the corner of her mind; the worry for her sister, even though she knew she should act normal but she couldn't.

XxXx

"Trust me, Miles, we are not letting this happen." Demi assured her sister for what seemed like the thousandth time.

"Demi, I told you I'm fine. I was drunk and overreacting last night." Miley smiled at her sister reassuringly but deep down she knew she wasn't overreacting, she knew that this will always bother her and she'll always worry about her mother deciding her whole future for her. She feared not having it in her guts to say no. But for now, she was only there for her sister, anything else can wait until its time comes.

"No, you're not fine. I can see it."

"Demi, you're about to tell your rival Prince your feelings and you're talking about me?"

"Damn it, the Prince can wait when my sister needs me."

"Well, the Prince has waited long enough, don't you think?" Miley smiled, "Besides, he just entered." She said looking past Demi to the entrance of the inn which became 'their place'.

Sure enough there he was entering with his usual company. Soon enough, Selena was on her feet running towards her boyfriend while Demi suddenly felt nervous again.

"It's going to be just fine, Demi." Miley told her as Demi smiled gratefully at her and nodded then faced Joe.

"Hey,"

"Hi,"

"Um, do you mind having a seat alone? Just you and me?"

"That's what I was going to say."

Joe gave a small smile, "Come on." He said and absentmindedly took her hand in his leading the way, but soon her realized and pulled away a little too fast, "Sorry," he said nervously.

Demi didn't reply and looked at the ground letting her hair cover her reddening cheeks.

Once seated across from each other they knew it was time to talk, but could they skip silly introductions?

"It's been too long."

"Yeah, right?"

"Since the carnival… at my kingdom." Joe started to hint.

"Yeah," Demi nodded wanting to get to the point.

"It was such a good day." Joe said making it sound like a normal remark.

"Yeah, you were pretty good that day when talking to your people."

"Thanks. Also, it the tent, huh? It's a shame it ended so early and at such a moment." He made it clearer.

"I know, right? Liam can be such a moment spoiler."

Joe nodded with a chuckle, "So, you remember what I told you…"

"Of course I do."

"And…?"

"I, uh, you know Joe, we've only met a few times and-" she suddenly stopped not knowing how to continue, "… I mean, I've known you for a short time, but, you…" she stopped again and put her hand over her head, "Let me start this over, please?"

Joe confusedly nodded,

"What I meant is…" she took a deep breath, "Even though we've known each other for a long time, but through this time, you've managed to make me change my mind about you a lot." She finally pulled out a solid sentence, "Starting from the moment we've met actually." She turned a bit shade of crimson.

"Is that a good thing or…?"

"Oh, no, no, I mean, yeah."

Joe just looked at her confused with his mouth slightly opened,

"Yes, Joe, I like you. A lot."

"Oh, God!" Joe let out a huge breath he didn't know he was holding and followed it by a chuckle as he leaned his back on the seat looking her in the eyes with a huge smile. He then leaned forward again and took her hands in between his. "I like you so much, Princess Demitria. You may think -or know- I'm a player and all, but I swear I've never felt this way about any girl."

She blushed, "I believe you."

"You have no idea how much this means to me."

He's been waiting for this for a long, long while. He was so nervous and afraid about her respond. He kept wondering wither she like him or not, and if she does, will she even let him know? Does she think he's being serious? Does she even believe him? And hearing that she does just made his day… just made his year… no, no, still not enough; it just made his life.

Demi too, she's been planning and thinking and making up a speech, and hearing her sister's advices and how she shouldn't just let it out like that for him, and how she's supposed to make him want her even more, but then, when it was time, she was like 'screw all this, I like the guy, so, I tell him.' A part of her knew Miley had a point, but she just couldn't hold it back and not say it.

She had on a huge shy smile and her cheeks were just burning there, "Oh, it's getting ht in here." She said pulling her hands from between his instantly missing the connection as she fanned them in front of her face.

He chuckled, "Want to take a walk?"

"Won't somebody see us?"

"No, we'll not go away, around here, nobody cares about this. If anything they'll be happy."

"Alright then," and with that they both stood up happily and left the inn, both not forgetting to send happy excited smiles towards their friends/siblings.

"Seems like it went well." Nick commented as Miley closed the book she had in her hands sending her sister a small and thumbs up.

"Yeah, they look so happy." Miley said almost as much happy.

Nick looked at the walking away and sighed shaking his head, "So, are you alright?"

"Um, yeah, I'm so sorry by the way." She looked down at the cover of her book.

"For what?"

"You know, for doing this in front of you. I'm sure you didn't like being engulfed in that."

He sighed, "It's okay." He told her, "What was wrong, though?"

She looked up at him and sent him a nervous chuckle, "Funny,"

"What is?"

"I mean, if you didn't know better, I would have thought you cared." She looked down again sadly.

"Well, I might just do."

She looked up at him with a hint of brightness in her eyes that soon faded away, "No, you don't." she smiled and shrugged.

"I'm still a human, you know."

She chuckled, "Right… It was nothing to worry about. I'm fine." She finally answered, "Demi helped me a lot."

And suddenly he was more into the conversation, "Seems like Demi has got a great character, hasn't she?"

"She has." Miley nodded, "Demi is like my… role model. She's just everything to me."

"Role model? Wow, that's great." Nick smiled absentmindedly.

"She's just that great. You know, even though she's got Prince Joseph to worry about, she still made sure I'm perfectly fine." She kept complementing her sister.

"Seems like something a good Princess would do."

"And what a Princess! She basically did nothing her entire life but get ready to be a Queen, she's taking it very seriously, and I just can't imagine how good of a Queen she's going to be. Even better than father."

Nick just smiled and nodded, and then smirked at her, "Did you just clarify you're disagreeing with your father about something?"

She laughed, "Well, I must admit that father was never supposed to be a King. It's just not really his place. He may have gotten better with the experience, but he definitely isn't the perfect leader."

"And Demi is?"

She nodded seriously, "Demi already made it clear that she is going to take a whole different passage than father… which he don't quiet like thinking she's going to screw up, but, he can't really say anything; it's her life."

"And what is she going to do better than your father?"

"A lot of things, for an example, she's going to visit the village more often and make sure everybody is satisfied and to hear each one's complaint."

"Justice is her thing, then?"

"Yeah," Miley nodded proudly then she looked at him closely and smirked, "Why does it seems to me that you're collecting information about our kingdom, Prince Nicolas Adam Gray?"

He laughed getting snapped out of his thoughts, "Yeah, you might want to be careful, we're enemies after all, huh?"

She groaned at his attempt of joking, "No, we're not."

"Excuse me?"

"We're not enemies; not with that strong hatful meaning anyway…"

He smiled, "How is that?"

"Enemies don't sit around and exchange laughters in a good conversation." She shrugged.

He nodded in agreement, "Then what are we?"

"What do you think we are?" she smiled leaning forward on the table as she smiled at him resting her elbows on the table with her face above them taking a slight angel.

He thought for a while with a frown before looking at her, "Friends? Or heading that way?"

She kept her smile even though it dropped a little before she slowly leaned back again in her seat, "Right."

"Princess Destiny and Prince Nicolas. Exclusive." A cold witty voice suddenly said sending shivers down her spine and Nick looked up at him with a straight face. "Your father will be so glad to see your walk in the woods is taking a delightful turn and you're even making new friendships."

"Liam." Nick said coldly as he stood up to face the man.

"Nicolas."

"Prince Nicolas."

"You're in no position to correct me, Nicolas."

"Are you by any means threatening me?" Nick narrowed his eyes at him and got closer to him throwing fire with his looks.

"Relax, ol' pal. I dare not. But, what I'm saying is, you need me to shut my mouth, so don't go around being your demanding cocky self."

"Don't ever cross your lines, Wright."

"I never did, you're the one being a little rude to your old friends. And let's not forget the part where you need me. Right, Princess Destiny?" He turned to look at the terrified girl still sitting frozen in her seat. He saw the look on her face and laughed out loud.

"What do you want right now, Wright?" Nick growled as almost everyone in the inn stopped whatever they were doing and looked towards the threesome, that's when a gasp was loudly heard and Selena rushed towards the unrevealing scene.

"Me? I want nothing." Liam shrugged innocently.

"Who are you fooling here?"

Liam laughed, "Now, you remember you know me?"

Nick closed his eyes, clenched his teeth, balled his fists and took a deep breath, "Just get right to your freaking point." He said through his teeth.

"Still having short temper, do you?" He noted and turned to Miley, "If I were you, I would not get him angry," He leaned forward to whisper to her, "He gets a little crazy."

Nick angrily pulled him back up to face him, "Don't play games here, Liam, and just be direct for once. What. Do. You. Want?"

"Pull yourself together, Nick." Jacob whispered.

"See? That's what I'm talking about." He exclaimed and laughed. "I told you I want nothing, ol' pal." He turned serious, "But, later on, we will need to talk. You, me, Prince Joseph, and of course Jacob dear here."

"Talk? With you? Ha, you wish."

"Funny, it seems like you want to be kicked out of the whole island."

Nick gritted his teeth but didn't reply to the obvious threat.

Liam then turned to Miley, "Enjoy, your treble date here for now. But once you get back, I believe we also need to talk in the presence of our precious up-coming Queen. Don't worry, King Robbie Ray will know nothing right now. Oh, hello, Ms. Russo, nice to meet you outside of the castle, don't forget to say hello to your mother for me."

Liam smirked proudly and turned around to leave just when Demi and Joe were re-entering the inn laughing together at something Joe said, "Oh, how cute. Princess Demitria, I'm happy to see you enjoying yourself like that. I just had a delightful talk with Miley over there. Nice to see you, Joseph." Liam smiled his annoying fake smile and left them just as fazed as everyone else.

Demi was frozen in her place as she watched him riding his horse and speeding away. She then looked towards her sister to see her, Nick, Selena and Jacob all looking just as overwhelmed and lost.

What just happened?

A/N: Ta-da. Taylor is there and is staying for a while. Miley's running from her problems. Demi told Joe she likes him. Nick and Miley had a WEIRD conversation ;) Liam knows. LIAM KNOWS. A lot happened in this chapter, right?

I've been dropping a lot of hints about A LOT of things. Anyone caught anything? ;)

So, tell me your opinion? What do you think will happen? What about Liam? :) Aaaah, I'm so excited for this story :)