Nick walked into the studio with his hopes set high that this production would lead to something bigger, something better. He had just recently signed up on the set team with Joe, and it was the first time he actually had something to do. He was tired of moping around the house, surrounded by all the sadness. Though no one was willing to admit it, they were all just waiting for Tish to die. Nick still cried every few nights, and he could even hear Joe's own soft sobs, but he knew there was no point in waiting. It would only make things worse.

"Hi, can I help you?" a short blonde girl asked. She looked very official with a clipboard in hand and a small microphone taped onto her jacket. A small platinum nametag with the words Taylor engraved on was pinned onto her jacket also.

"We were looking for where the auditions were being held," Nick explained.

Taylor raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow. "We?"

Nick quickly snapped around surprised to see that Miley had disappeared once again from behind him. He scanned the room, searching for her when his stare stopped at the timid girl glancing around the room as if it were another planet. She looked so small and lost that it pained Nick to see how much she had regressed in the past summer. If he were to compare the high- energy girl from all those summers ago to the one he was staring at, he would never have believed they were the same person.

"Miley!" Nick called out with his hands cupped around his mouth. Her eyes flickered towards Nick as she slowly shuffled forward, her hands tangled together as she rubbed them anxiously. As soon as she approached them, Nick placed his hand at the base of her back. He kept it there to let her know that he was there, and to his relief, she seemed to almost melt into his touch with a little more comfort.

"This is Miley Gregory, the best dancer in Virginia," Nick smiled proudly as he turned back to Taylor. A deep blush crept across her cheeks like an untamed wave, but she managed to smile weakly.

"I wouldn't say that," Miley laughed softly, the sound of sweet bells filling the room.

"Well, we're glad to have you here," Taylor smiled as she shook Miley's hand. "Auditions start in about 15 minutes, so if you're auditioning go through that door." She pointed towards a brightly painted red door that was left propped open with a chair. She raised an eyebrow at Nick's faded jeans and uncombed curls. "Are you auditioning also?"

The curly- haired 18 year chuckled, and even Miley found another round of laughter inside her as she glanced at Nicks skeptically. "No," Nick answered with a smile. "Definitely not."

"That's what I thought." Taylor laughed and pointed towards another door under the sign Auditorium. "Well, if you're here to watch, you can go through that door. Good luck," she waved at the two of them before she began speaking rapidly into her microphone. She walked away quickly, leaving Nick and Miley alone.

Nick could easily read the worry and anxiousness on her face. He rubbed small circles on her back with his hand and flashed her a reassuring smile. "You're going to do great."

She smiled shyly. "I don't know. I haven't danced in awhile."

"You'll do great," he repeated with a sureness in his voice. "You always do… And if you get nervous, just remember I'll be there," Nick encouraged.

"How will knowing that you'll be watching supposed to make me any calmer," Miley rolled her eyes, thought a small blush crept onto her cheeks.

Nick grabbed her hands and squeezed them. "Then pretend that we're just in the summer house again. That it's any other hot day, and we're all inside listening to the radio while you dance to whatever song is playing. You're twirling around the living room carpet with your bare feet, and your braces are still on," he laughed as a small smile also twisted onto her lips. "There's no pressure, no judging. You're just dancing because you love to."

Miley fluttered her eyes open as if waking up from a pleasant dream. "Thank you," she smiled, her expressions already looking a bit calmer.

Right before they went their separate ways, Nick pulled her towards him and just held her. She didn't pull away. She didn't say anything, but let him hold her. Sometimes it felt as if Nick needed her more than she needed him. He had always needed her, he began to realize in the past few weeks. He had just been too oblivious and childish to realize it before.

"Dance your heart out," Nick grinned sheepishly as he pulled away. He ruffled Miley's hair like they were 12 again, and he almost grinned as she giggled and fixed her hair. For a moment, he felt as if they were just messing around, ready to go to the beach in a few minutes, and come home to eat dinner that Tish and Denise had lied about making instead of buying. The days where they would all just lounge around the flat screen TV at night and stuff themselves in junk food, and no one would care. Sometimes he wished it were still that easy.

Miley flashed him one last smile before she grabbed her dance bag and walked through the red door Taylor had pointed her to. Nick watched her go with a strange pride building inside of his chest. It was the same pride he would imagine from a parent watching their child take their very first steps, and knowing it was the start of something bigger.

Nick sat back in the plush seats as he tapped his foot in rhythm to a song playing in his head. He had been waiting for almost half an hour, and he had watched as endless numbers of girls of all ages and ethnicities danced across that stage, fighting for the same role that Miley was aiming for.

Nick felt a bit of anxiety swell inside him as he took note of certain girls who basically burst of talent. The competition would be hard, and Nick's hopes were beginning to dim. If she didn't get the part, Miley's hope would shatter even further, and Nick had been the final one to talk her into auditioning.

He watched anxiously as a petite Asian girl around Miley's age leaped across the stage with a height that Nick only thought possible with stage wires. Her pin- straight raven black hair waved behind her like a veil, following her in sync with every move or turn she performed. Nick held his breath as she finished with a perfect stance, not a single footing or hair out of place.

The young girl strode of stage with a large smile on her face. His attention suddenly snapped towards the stage again when a voice spoke through the microphone and called out the next dancer.

"Miley Gregory?" the dance director called out as he fidgeted with the brightly colored scarf wrapped around his neck. Nick watched, his whole body frozen as he watched Miley walk across the stage. She seemed a little hesitant, but the moment she was hit with the bright spotlight, she seemed to freeze completely.

I'm here… I'm right here, Nick wanted to scream out, but his mouth stayed sealed as his mouth dried up. Finally, as if hearing his thoughts, those orbs of blue- gray flickered across the small crowds of people and focused on Nick. The summer house… the radio is on… you're dancing around us…, he repeated over and over again in his if once again being able to read Nick's thoughts, Miley shut her eyes and nodded. A smile crept on her lips right as the music they had chosen the night before began to play.

It was a simple song with a building chorus, exactly what described Miley and the way she danced. She began with tiny, tender movements and began to leap further and spin faster as the chorus began to approach. Her leotard clinged onto her body like a second skin, and her hair was tied into a tight bun on top of her head except for a few strands which framed her face like a halo. Nick watched in awe as she moved across the stage with so much grace and fluidity that it was almost impossible to believe she had stopped dancing at all.

The last time he had actually seen her dance was for a recital Denise had flew them into Virginia to watch. She was only 13, when she had been cast as the lead in the Nutcracker ballet. Nick and Joe had taken it all for granted, rolling their eyes when their mom had first told them. They knew from all the times Miley would dance in the summer house and on the streets at the most random moments that she was a good dancer, but the moment she had stepped onto that stage, both of their eyes weren't ready to see what they had seen. Miley Gregory seemed like a completely different person when she was dancing. Sometimes it was hard to tell whether the real Miley was really the one on stage or the one off stage.

Nick watched captivated until the very last moment. The song ended in a high note that seemed to suspend in the air as she leapt into the air for one final jump. For a second, Nick actually believed that she was about to break into the air and fly.

But a moment later, she had fallen back onto the stage with her toes pointed, her arms stretched out in a perfect angle and her head pointed straight towards the audience; just like they had practiced.

Before anyone could move or say anything, Nick had already leapt out of his seat and began to applaud. He hooted and screamed and clapped until his voice began to croak and his palms became red and itchy. Miley grinned back at him, her chest heaving from the power she had given in her performance. Nick flashed her a look filled with so much pride, that he wondered if a feeling could ever burst out of a body.

Even the director had stood up to clap. All the doubts and regrets that had filled his mind before the audition suddenly vanished as if it were never there to ever begin with. He had no doubt who was getting the part. The minute Miley walked off the stage, Nick ran out of the auditorium and raced out to find Miley waiting outside the double doors, her chest still heaving with exhaustion or happiness.

"You were amazing!" Nick exclaimed as he picked her up in his arms and twirled her around and around and around. She wrapped her arms tightly around Nick's neck, giggling as she buried her face in his hair. "We're all going to be so proud of you when you perform on that stage for everyone."

Miley was still laughing when Nick finally put her down. Her cheeks were red and her hair was sticking out everywhere, but Nick couldn't find a moment when he had thought she looked any more beautiful that she looked right now. "I don't even know if I got the part yet."

"You might as well have," Nick grinned, wanting nothing else but to kiss her at that moment. "Those judges didn't stand up for any other audition."

"Really?"

"Really," Nick assured her.

"So what now?" she asked.

The 18 year old boy carried her into his arms, and tried to forget the tingles that shocked his entire body whenever her skin touched his. "Now," he exclaimed with a large smile, breaking at the corners of lips. "Now, we celebrate."