The first of two Tampa shows was over. Nick's vocals had been great, and the dancers had, over the progression of the tour, perfected their routines so much that it was like an instinct to them.
Nick pulled Miley's hand and dragged her in to his dressing room, kicking the door shut behind them and locking it.
Miley giggled and let go of his hand. "Why did you pull me in here?" she asked. "Don't tell me you're going to have your way with me."
Nick smirked and pulled her close to him by her hips. "I make no promises," he joked, nuzzling his face in her neck. "You looked so sexy tonight. I just wanted to grab you and take you back to my dressing room there and then."
"Now now, Nicholas, you know how I feel about sex and relationships," she teased.
Nick groaned and pulled her against him. "Don't get me wrong, I respect your views, but seriously, Mi, can you stop being so sexy? You're driving me insane with all your hip shaking and short skirts and –" He glanced down at her low cut top and looked away again. "Everything else."
"I'm sorry, I'll try to be less 'sexy'," she replied with a smile and a kiss on the cheek. "I just feel really strongly about that kind of thing."
"I respect that," Nick replied. He smiled and intertwined their fingers once more. "You know, you really looked beautiful tonight. I'm not just saying that because I want to get you into bed. I really mean it." He hesitated, trying to gather his words. "You just looked so passionate, like you loved every second you were dancing."
"I do," Miley replied simply. "Dancing is my life. It has been since I was a kid, and it always will be. I love what I do."
"Passion really makes a woman beautiful."
"Passion can make anybody look beautiful, so long as they really do love what they do enough."
Nick flopped down on the couch and pulled Miley down on to his lap. "So are you saying I look beautiful when I sing?" he teased.
"Who says you're really passionate?" she countered. "For all I know, you just pretend to be passionate about music so that women will fall all over you."
"Babe, with this face, I don't need passion to make women fall all over me."
Miley smacked him playfully on the chest. "Oh my gosh, you are so vein!" She laughed and rested her hand on his shoulder. "We should do dinner some time this weekend. We haven't really gone out together. I think it would be nice for us to spend some time away from the crew and the other dancers for a while."
"Just say the word and I'll take you wherever you want to go," he said.
"Anywhere, huh?"
"Of course," he replied.
Miley grinned and jumped to her feet. "I have a pretty awesome idea. I'm going to go and freshen up. Meet me in about an hour. I'll text you the address." She then raced out of the room as fast as she could.
Nick leaned his head against the back of the couch and smiled. He had really been lucky when he got Miley …
Joe knocked on the door and peered in to the room. "Hey man, you have an interview with E! tomorrow morning, so don't stay out too late tonight, okay? I want you to actually show up on time."
"I'll be there at ten."
"The interview is at nine."
"Can't you push it back until ten?"
Joe rolled his eyes. "I'll see what I can do." He stepped in to the room and glanced at Nick's face. "Why are you so smiley tonight? You were awesome, but you're always awesome out there."
Nick grinned up at his friend. "Have you ever been with a girl and realized that you are possibly the luckiest guy in the world?"
"I've never met a girl that special, if I'm honest," admitted Joe. "Why? I know Miley's a special girl, but I doubt that you're the luckiest guy in the world."
"Dude, think about it. I do what I love every single day. I'm dating possibly the most beautiful woman in this entire business. I make my mom proud. I have a pretty awesome guy like you on my team to keep me straight. There haven't been any bad rumors since I started dating Miley."
Joe glanced at Nick and nodded. "So there haven't been any rumors. You do what you love because other people love it too. Your life is just like any other celebrity's life, Nick."
"Joe, my life has completely changed since Miley came in to it. Don't you see that?" Nick asked.
Joe shook his head. "I wouldn't really have a chance to, seeing as we haven't really hung out much since you got with Miley."
Nick glanced at Joe. "Man, all you have to do is say something and we can chill."
Joe shrugged and backed away towards the door. "It doesn't matter really," he mumbled. "I didn't mean anything by it." He sighed and put his hand on the doorknob. "Give me a call if you need anything tonight. I'll see you tomorrow. I'm meeting my roommate from college at a bar downtown."
Nick watched as Joe closed the door after him. In the time that he had spent with Miley, he had never even realized that he was neglecting his best friend, the one person who had been there for him in the good times and the bad.
Nick stripped out of his clothes and stood in the middle of the dressing room, wearing nothing but his boxer briefs. Just as he went to go to the bathroom for a shower, the door burst open.
Nick turned around and saw Demi staring at him, wide-eyed.
"Nick!" she said shocked. "I'm so sorry. I was looking for Miley. I thought she'd be in here." Her eyes drifted down to his boxer briefs before quickly dropping to the floor. "I didn't mean to burst in. I'll just look for her somewhere else."
"She's gone to freshen up."
"What?"
Nick smiled. "Miley. She's gone to freshen up. We're going out in a little bit and she wanted to shower and stuff before we left."
"Oh," Demi said. "Right. Uh, thanks, I guess." She quickly left the room, her eyes glued to the floor.
Nick sighed and threw his head back, watching the door slam behind him. The only good thing in his life was Miley. Every other dancer thought he was just trying to get Miley in to bed. Joe was pissed at him for spending more time with Miley. He hadn't seen his mom in months. In a matter of moments, he had gone from being on top of the world to thinking that everything in his life was just so screwed up.
Nick walked into the bathroom and slipped out of his underwear. He stepped inside the shower and turned it on. The hot water felt amazing as it pelted down '
Within fifteen minutes, Nick was out of the shower and dressed in jeans and a plaid button-down shirt. He slipped on his white Converse and walked out in to the hallway.
Everybody else was either in their dressing rooms or on their buses. He walked down the hall and slipped his phone out of his pocket.
'I'm ready. Where do you want to meet?' His fingers clicked the tiny little buttons of his BlackBerry, gliding across the keypad quickly.
Within moments, his phone vibrated with Miley's response.
He glanced at the address and headed out in to the back parking lot of the arena for staff. He slipped around the side and grabbed the first cab he saw. He muttered the address to the driver and leaned back in his seat.
"Hey, you're Nick Gray!" the driver exclaimed.
"That's me," sighed Nick. "Do you want an autograph or something?"
The driver hesitated before slipping an unused paper napkin and a pen into the back seat. "I hate to ask, but my daughter is a huge fan, and she would kill me if she knew that I had you in my car and didn't ask for your autograph." He chuckled to himself and shook his head. "Hell, she'll probably sit in that seat now for the rest of her life."
Nick faked a smile and nodded. "Who should I make it out to?"
"Cassie. Her name is Cassie."
Nick scrawled a quick message on the napkin – Hey Cassie. You're awesome. Love Nick Gray x – and handed the napkin back in to the driver.
"There you go," he said.
The driver grinned at Nick in his rear view mirror. "Thanks, man. She's a huge fan. She was so disappointed she couldn't get tickets to see you while you're in town."
Nick pulled out his wallet and handed the driver two passes he always kept in his wallet in case his mother decided to come. "Those are backstage passes. Come by the back entrance tomorrow night, show them to security and they'll let you guys on through," he instructed.
The driver pulled up outside the address Nick had given him and turned to face Nick in shock. "Dude, that's really nice of you. I can't accept these."
Nick shook his head. "Keep them," he insisted. "I have nobody else to give them to." He smiled weakly and handed the driver a twenty dollar bill. "That should cover the journey, right?"
The driver nodded silently, staring at the passes in his hand. "I can't take your money and your backstage passes."
"Like I said, I have nobody else to give them to." Nick climbed out of the car and waved in. "Thanks for the ride, man. Tell Cassie to have a good time at the show tomorrow night."
The driver waved, his eyes wide with shock, as Nick turned around and walked down the narrow alley that Miley had told him to go down.
"Hey!" Miley called out. She was leaning against a brick wall, her foot resting against the hard surface behind her. She smiled at the sight of Nick and pushed herself off the wall. "Are you ready to get going?"
Nick looked at her, confused. "What do you mean 'get going'? I thought I'd just arrived."
She smiled. "You arrived at the starting point." She slipped her hand in to his and bit her lip. "Get ready for a crazy night, Nick."
"Miley, I can't afford to have a crazy night right now."
Miley kissed his cheek and shook her head. "Not that kind of wild night. I'm going to take you on a journey, that's all."
Nick followed Miley further down the alley until they came to a dead end. Miley pushed a door open and pulled him inside a building. She dragged him towards a flight of stairs, a happy smile on her face.
"Are you sure we aren't trespassing here?" he asked.
"It's cool, I've been up her dozens of times before. My family used to come here in the summer, back when my grandma lived here," she explained, leading him higher and higher up the stairs.
"And there isn't going to be some kind of crazy party once we get to the top? Because if there is, I'm heading right back down those stairs," he warned.
"Will you relax? It's fine."
About ten minutes later, they reached the top of the many flights of stairs they had climbed. Miley smiled and blocked the final door.
"I apologize in advance if this place is underwhelming. It's just that my daddy used to take me up here at night when we came here, and I wanted to share it with you," she said quietly.
Nick smiled and squeezed her hand. "If it's important to you, I doubt that I'll find it underwhelming."
Miley pushed the door open and led Nick out on to a roof top. She stopped at the edge and looked out over the city.
"Well, here we are," she said.
He looked out over the twinkling lights of the city below. He smiled softly to himself and nodded. "This definitely isn't underwhelming, Mi," he whispered. "It's beautiful."
"My dad used to tell my sister and I that the view reminded him of us. He said that it was understated, yet still beautiful in its own special way," she said with a gentle smile.
Nick wrapped his arms around Miley from behind and nodded. "I can definitely see what he means." He planted a soft kiss on her neck and rested his chin on her shoulder. "I appreciate you showing me this place. It clearly means a lot to you and your family."
Miley turned her face to look at him. "As do you."
He smiled. "What?"
"You mean as much as this place to me, if not more," she said quietly.
Nick shook his head and stared at the lights below once more. "You are the corniest person I know," he said with a teasing smile.
Miley nudged his stomach. "Shut up. I mean it, Nick. This place is basically the highlight of my childhood. You mean just as much as it does," she admitted. "And I know that it sounds completely corny, but you know that I speak nothing but the truth."
"I'm going to sound like a complete goofball right now."
She laughed. "Why?"
Nick bit his lip. "You're going to get scared."
"When have I ever been scared of you?"
He laughed softly. "I can name a few times, actually."
"Just tell me," she whispered.
Miley heard Nick sigh. He pulled her closer to his chest and turned his head so that his mouth was right beside her ear.
"I think I'm falling in love with you," he whispered.
Miley stayed silent for a moment. She felt him breathe a sigh of relief. She focused on the city ahead of them and took a deep breath.
"That's really good," she said.
Nick loosened his grip on her. "Oh."
Miley turned around and smiled. "I think you misunderstand what I'm about to say," she whispered. "It's good news because I think I'm falling in love with you too."
He grinned. "You really mean that?"
"It's not something I tend to lie about," she replied.
Nick moved closer to his lips. "What would you do if I kissed you, right here, right now?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper."
"I think you might just tip me over the edge if you don't."
He leaned in closer until his lips were almost touching hers. "You've been driving me insane since this tour started," he whispered.
"Shut up and kiss me," Miley whispered, her eyes watching his lips with a look of desire.
Nick kissed her sweetly. Soon, the kiss turned passionate, desperate. His hands rested on her lower back on her lower back, pulling her closer to him, while hers ran through his hair.
Miley pulled away and smiled. "Okay, we should calm down, don't you think?"
"I'm pretty good with the way we were," Nick replied, a smirk playing on his lips.
Miley bit her lip and looked away. "Come on, I have somewhere else to take you before we have to get back."
Nick allowed Miley to lead him back down the stairs, their fingers laced together, their bodies close together. Soon enough, they were back out on the alleyway.
"Stop two on your night to remember," Miley said.
"Are you going to tell me where we're going?" Nick asked.
Miley grinned. "Absolutely not. That would ruin the element of surprise, wouldn't it?" she replied.
She led him down another alleyway a little further down the street and stopped about half way down. "I have the perfect place for us. I called ahead and asked them to close especially for us," she said.
"How did you get an entire business to close in like half an hour?" he asked, shocked.
"I might have dropped your name a little bit," Miley admitted with a cheeky smile. "Whatever, it doesn't matter how I got it to close. What matters is how awesome a time you're going to have here."
There were no signs outside the heavy metal door. Nick watched as Miley pushed it open. She glanced over her shoulder and motioned for him to follow. "My grandpa used to own this building, but he sold it when I was about sixteen," she explained. "I thought about all the things that we can do together in Tampa, and then I remembered what they converted my grandpa's old workshop in to."
She led him down a flight of steps. At the bottom, Miley turned and smiled. "Welcome to La Maison Rouge, Nicholas."
Nick reached the bottom of the stairs and looked around the empty club. There were long metal poles on podiums around the room. On the main stage, there was a pole with two rows of chairs around the stage.
Miley smiled and led him down towards the bar. The only person in the club, the barman, looked up and smiled.
"So the lady who called up was telling the truth. Nick Gray really is here with his girlfriend," he said.
Nick smiled over at him. "To be honest, dude, I have no idea what I'm doing here."
The barman nodded towards the poles around the room. "This is La Maison Rouge. Some say it's the classiest strip club in Tampa. You should see the chicks that work here, dude. Some of them are –"
"Thank you, Greg!" Miley snapped. "As I was telling you on the phone, Nick and I are here to have a little bit of fun."
Greg handed them two beer bottles and nodded. "Yeah yeah, I get the idea. I'll be out back if you need me." He walked out from behind the bar and pointed at three curtained archways across the room. "If you two need a little bit of time together without worrying about anybody walking in, that's the place to go."
"Thank you, Greg," Miley repeated. "Now if you don't mind …"
Nick watched as Greg walked off towards a door beside the stage, mumbling under his breath about how he wouldn't have closed up if it weren't for the large sum of money that Miley had promised.
"Now," Miley said, "how about that wild night I mentioned?"
She pulled herself up on to the stage gracefully and walked towards the pole.
"Miley, you don't have to do this for me," Nick said quickly. "I know how you feel about this kind of thing."
Miley rested her hand on her hip and smiled. "Correction – you know how I feel about sex, Nick. A little bit of fun in a place like this won't do any harm, because that's all it is – a little bit of fun."
"A little bit of fun can lead to a pile of trouble," he warned.
"I know you're going to get impatient with me if I keep denying you sex," she said quietly. "I just thought that this way, we both get what we want. I get to say that I've never compromised my views for sex, and we still get to move forward with our relationship."
Nick took Miley's hand. "Mi, we don't need to move forward just yet. We're only starting out. All you need to do is stay the way you are, and I'll be happy."
Miley glanced over her shoulder at the pole. "I don't want to let you down."
Nick chuckled and rested his hands on her waist. He pulled her down from the stage, lifting her gently on to the ground. "You couldn't let me down, no matter how hard you tried."
"If we don't do this, you have to promise me that you won't be disappointed."
"I could never be disappointed in you, Mi. I just want you to be happy."
Miley took his hand and took a deep breath. "Then I guess we should get going. Maybe we can just relax at the hotel for the night."
"We can do whatever you want," Nick said with a kiss.
"Hey, Greg!" called Miley.
The door beside the stage opened within moments. Greg's head poked out the side. "Yes?"
"We're going to get back to our hotel. Thanks for closing up for us. We really appreciate it," Nick said. "You have a good night now." He then led Miley towards the steps again.
"You owe me my money!" Greg shouted after them.
Nick pulled his wallet out of his pocket. "Well, how much do you want?"
Greg eyed the wallet carefully for a moment. "About $200 should cover the losses the club's suffered for closing up early."
Nick tossed two one-hundred dollar bills at Greg and nodded. "Thank you again, Greg."
Miley and Nick then left the club without another word.
I know that there isn't much in this chapter, but I'm kind of building things up for a bigger storyline at the very end. I'm pretty happy that I got this out earlier than I had expected, but at the same time, I'm not too happy with the chapter. I just hope that you guys enjoy it.
I'm not sure if I'll have another chapter up my Christmas, so if I don't, HAPPY CHRISTMAS! I definitely hope to have another chapter up by New Year though, so I won't wish you a happy new year just yet.
Your reviews have been amazing. I read l0veisrealx3's latest chapter on her story, and I definitely agree with her when she said that there have been fewer people reading FanFiction in general, and to me, that definitely has an impact on how often I want to write. I mean, in all honesty, there aren't many people out there who want to write if there aren't that many people reading. I know it's about whether you enjoy writing or not, but in my opinion, the number of people that read is definitely something that influences the author. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE writing and I'm grateful for every single reader that I have, but I just wanted to ask that the silent readers could maybe speak up and tell me what they thought of the chapter as a special Christmas present
You guys have been AWESOME. I'm so grateful. Thank you all for your patience and support. Merry Christmas.