~xoxo~

"I can't believe we pulled it off," Nick said with a smile, as we made our way to the reception hall in our own personal limo. I figured Demi and Joe would probably take a couple extra spins around town alone, so Nick and I would start things off at the reception.

"What do you mean we pulled it off? You had nothing to do with it; you were only there to look pretty," I exclaimed, punching him playfully in the arm.

He rolled his eyes, "Fine. If that's what you want to call it. But I'm definitely going to be the one that makes all the wedding pictures look good."

I laughed and pointed to somewhere outside the window. "Look, we're here. Now get out before I strangle you for being a smartass."

I pushed him out of the vehicle and I laughed as he almost tripped. "I hate you," I heard him mumble as he brushed himself off.

"No, you definitely don't."

"Yes I do."

"No. You don't hate me. Now come on, we have to get this party started." I grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the hall. "There's going to be so many people here tonight. If you thought the ceremony was full of people, just wait until the reception. It's going to be suffocating, just the way I like it."

"You're cracked. Who likes to feel suffocated?"

"Wow, okay. Jerk much?"

He chuckled and put his hands up in defense. "Hey, I'm just saying that no person in their right mind likes to feel suffocated."

I shrugged, "Well I thrive in it, at least for a little while until I run away. But luckily I've learned over time to deal with a couple hours of a room packed with people. I'm very excited, to be honest, although that could be because I planned the whole night." Then I brushed past him and into the reception hall. Everything was set up once I got inside and all I had to do was direct people to their seats as the event began.

Just as I suspected, Demi and Joe didn't show up for another half hour, I figured they were relishing in the fact that they were now a married couple. When they finally did decide to show their faces, I was ready with a microphone in hand.

"Hey everyone!" I said to all the guests in attendance. "I would like to introduce to you all to the new Mr. and Mrs. Jonas who are going to celebrate their union with their first dance."

The sweet sound of the song I'll Stand By You sung by the Pretenders. Joe took her hand and led her out on to the dance floor, Demi's smile as radiant as always. He spun her around a couple of times before pulling her close to his chest in a tight embrace; Joe was whispering things into her ear and she replied with laughter. She leaned up and kissed him while intertwining both their hands together. I heard someone clear his or her throat behind me and turned to see Nick with a sheepish grin on his face.

"Can I have this dance?" he asked, placing his hand out for me to take.

"Well I guess it is the tradition for the maid of honor and the best man to have a dance as well," I said quietly, mulling it over. But after about a second I took his hand and let him lead me out to where the new married couple was dancing.

Nick took me into his arms and pulled me close into his chest. We swayed back and forth, my head on his chest. Not meaning to ruin the moment, I carefully asked, "Don't you think Selena will be mad?"

"Probably."

"And you're okay with that?"

"I just want to dance with you, Miles."

I didn't answer directly to him, but I mumbled, "Well I can't argue with that."

The song ended and I pulled away from him. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Selena with a frown on her face and her arms crossed over her chest. I sighed, flashed Nick a smile and then walked away from him before anything else was able to happen.

"Miley!" Demi exclaimed, pulling me into a hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you. This is pretty much the best thing you've ever done for me."

"Like I said, you deserve it," I grinned right back.

Joe came over to join us and wrapped an arm around his wife's waist. "Miley, our personal wedding planner, I can't thank you enough. This has all been amazing, and that's coming from a guy."

"Anytime. Maybe I can make a career out of it. Making everyone else's lives happy while I work in the background."

Joe shot me a sympathetic look, "I'm sorry to hear about you and Nate."

"Thank you, Joey, but I can't say I didn't see it coming."

"Is that why you're running back to London?" he asked bluntly while Demi subtly socked him in the stomach.

I laughed, "Despite what you think, I'm not running away from anything. I need to go back to figure some stuff out, but I'll be back, don't worry."

"Have you told Nick yet?" Demi asked softly, leaning into Joe.

"No. I don't know how to tell him to be honest."

"Just don't leave without saying goodbye this time," Joe said, giving me a wink. Then he kissed Demi sweetly on the cheek. "I'm going to go say hi to a couple people."

"Okay, I'll catch up with you in a second."

As he walked away, she turned to me and raised her eyebrows, "He's right you know. I don't think he'd forgive you if you left a second time without so much as a goodbye."

I nodded and she gave me a sweet smile and walked away to find her husband amongst the crowd of people. I figured that I might as well continue my rounds just as a good maid of honor is supposed to. As I was talking to someone that I probably once knew years ago, back in my time of fame, I caught the eye of Nick across the room. He flashed me a grin and a small wave, but I just gave him a tight smile in return.

I couldn't even look him in the eye and I felt terrible for it, but I knew that once he knew, he would be devastated, even if he really was in love with Selena. I could see it in his eyes when he talked about when he wanted to marry me; that love that he constantly talked about would always stay with him, which was probably why I needed to get away. He hadn't grown up yet and if he truly wanted to be with me, he would have to prove to me that he deserved it.

But then, wasn't the whole reason I was leaving was because I needed to grow up? Because I needed to find myself again? So maybe we weren't ever supposed to be together because neither of us would ever be able to grow up enough to ever be something more than teenage sweethearts.

"Miley?" the person I was talking to asked. Focusing on her more completely, I realized that it was Bridgit. After her movie on Disney got big, along with her show, she went on to High School Musical like stardom. She ended up a lot like Ashley; got out of Disney and started her own show on a whole new 'more risqué' network.

"I'm sorry. I spaced out for a second," I replied apologetically.

"Oh no problem. I figure that you're exhausted after planning all of this."

I raised my eyebrows, "How did you know I planned it?"

She shrugged, "You're Demi's best friend and you came back from wherever you disappeared to just for her wedding months ago. It wasn't hard to piece it all together. You did a fantastic job, though; this whole wedding has been magical."

"Thank you, Bridgit. I've been wanting to congratulate you forever; what you've done with your career is so amazing, I admire you so much."

"Wow, that means a lot coming from you considering how large your legacy is."

I started to reply, but Selena of all people interrupted me. She had tapped me lightly on the shoulder and was standing there with a tight smile placed on her face. "Sorry to interrupt, but Miley, can we talk for a moment?"

I was almost able to get out of it, but of course Bridgit was quick to let me go. I guess she didn't want to stick around for this awkward conversation anymore than I did. "Oh, Miley go ahead. I have to give my congratulations to Demi and Joe. Excuse me."

"Do you think we could go…" she looked around before focusing on an empty table with chairs all around, "…over there maybe? It's kind of away from all the crowds."

"Um, sure," I said uncertainly. I followed her over in that direction and carefully sat down in a chair opposite of hers. "So what did you need to talk about?"

She just stared at me for several moments, and I awkwardly attempted to keep her gaze. "I wanted to apologize."

"Wait…what?" I asked in disbelief. I must have been hearing things because those were words I thought I'd never hear out of Selena's mouth.

"Seems weird, huh? Me apologizing, but I'm serious. I've spent the last six years being so incredibly jealous of you that I never actually stopped to have a real conversation."

"So why now? Why would you start saying sorry to me now?"

"Because I'm so tired of fighting, Miley. I'm so tired of everything. Looking back it all seems so pointless, you know? I remember when I first got to join this world; I was coming in to the shadow of the great Miley. Do you realize how intimidating that is? I somehow had to create my own name and the only way I saw to do that was to leech off you."

"That sounds…terrible," I laughed.

"It was," she giggled along with me, "but that still doesn't excuse how I've acted toward you. I've been so jealous of you for so long and I don't want to be anymore. I want you to know that I never understood the way your mind worked or any of the actions you did. You were so far from perfect, you did everything wrong, you had your face plastered on every news outlet for all the wrong reasons, and I could never figure you out. You never flinched, you never cracked, at least as far as I could see and I could never figure out why because I definitely would have.

"So I spent all my time trying to be the opposite of you, I thought I needed to be perfect in order to succeed in this world, you know, the perfect little good girl who didn't have a flaw because that was the only way, in my mind, that I could actually make a name for myself. I always thought it was funny how hard I tried to make myself different than you and it actually worked, except the funny thing was that as hard as I tried to be different than you, it didn't make me any better than you and that stuck with me for a long time and I could never shake that feeling."

"No offense, but I don't really know what you want me to say to you. Do you want an apology? Or…like my life?"

She laughed and shook her head, "I just want to tell you a story of a girl who made some mistakes in her life. And I'm almost done, I promise."

I raised my eyebrows, "Okay then, keep talking."

"Most of all, the thing I wanted to say sorry for Nick."

"Selena, Nick is something you don't have to apologize for, seriously, we're so past that drama," I said quickly, even though I felt much differently, it's not like I could tell her that.

"Yes I do, maybe not for our relationship now, but for everything in the past, I never really confronted it with you and I'm sorry for that. I still don't really see it as I stole Nick from you all those years ago, but I definitely see your point, now that I've grown as a person. I knew he was with you when we began talking and honestly, I saw that more as a challenge, which sounds horrible and I really didn't try to take him, but it just happened and once it did, I didn't want to stop it. I saw it as a win for me, I had chipped away at a little bit of your armor."

I snorted, "I always knew it. Everyone told me I was crazy and paranoid, I definitely called it from a mile away."

She rolled her eyes but smiled anyway, "I never wanted to admit it to myself because that seemed so shallow and how could I do that? I was supposed to be the good girl, but I did do it and I'm sorry."

"It's in the past," I said shrugging, "I may seem like a bitch sometimes, but I really don't hold it against you. I have grown just as much as you have over the years."

She looked at me, nodded, but then sighed, "And now to the present."

"Are you still apologizing?"

"Yes, I have a lot of stuff to cover. But anyway, I'm not stupid. I may not know everything that has gone on with you and Nick since you got back, but I know enough to know that he loves you and I've fought that for so long, but I'm going to let him go because he deserves to be happy and he's happy with you. But at the same time, I'm going to give him a choice; I may let him go, but if he comes back to me then I'm going to hold on to him. It's kind of like his last chance I guess."

I sat there in shock, but I couldn't even really comprehend what she was saying. I couldn't really decide whether or not to be upset that she was, in a sense, 'giving' Nick to me because we all knew I've had him since we were thirteen. But she had a point, if she were to just let him go, he wouldn't have all that internal conflict that had kept him from me since we broke up six years ago. He would no longer have to choose between us; though, if she gave him the chance to go back to her, I honestly didn't know which girl he would choose, Nick was far from an open book.

"What do you want me to say, Selena? Honestly, I really don't know what to say at all."

"I know it's weird, but just bare with me. I'm going to talk with Nick tomorrow, after everything calms down. So I guess you should have your answer soon and lucky for you, if he chooses you, because of your break up you'll have nothing standing in your way this time."

I laughed at the irony. She was right, if he did choose me I wouldn't have Nate standing in my way, but I would have the issue of me moving back to London to mess us up quiet a bit. But I didn't want to move back to London just because he didn't choose me, that wasn't the way I wanted to go, I wanted to go because it was right for me, which it was.

"You have really funny timing, you know that?" I laughed, with tears slightly threatening to come out, though I wouldn't let them escape.

"What do you mean?" she asked curiously.

"Only Demi and Joe know but I'm going back to London tomorrow night…for a while. I'm not sure when I'm going to be back."

Selena looked shocked and she found trouble forming words, "And Nick doesn't know?"

"I was going to tell him tomorrow."

"He was devastated when you left last time without even a goodbye, if you do it again…" she trailed off.

"I won't. I never meant to hurt him last time, and this time I'm not looking to run away, I'm not going to hide this time around."

"Well…stopping the girl you love on an airplane before she flies away across the ocean seems very romantic, something that Nick would do."

I laughed, "Yeah, sure. I doubt it. But please, don't tell him, just let me do it."

"I won't say a word, I promise."

I sighed, "Selena, thank you, for talking with me. I never thought you would, but it means a lot."

I could tell that she was about to respond but then, out of nowhere, Nick appeared and the look on his face was one of alarm. "Hi girls…" he said slowly.

"I'll leave you two," I said, getting up from my chair and beginning to walk away. As I left, I could hear Nick nervously asking what that was about.

Demi ran over to me, looking surprised, "You and Selena?"

"Just clearing up some loose ends," I smiled. "Is it time for my maid of honor speech?"

She nodded slowly and I followed her to the front of the room. I did the traditional clinking of the glass with my knife and the room got quiet.

"Demi and Joe," I began, "I've watched their romance blossom over the years and I'm so happy that they've gotten here, to this moment. I've seen their ups and their downs but I always knew that they would make it. The two of them were always that strong force; the ones that always made me hope that there really was love in the world. I love you both so much and I wish you the best in life. And just remember, if you get any extra toasters, I could really use one. To Demi and Joe!"

I had the crowd smiling and laughing and they all rose their glasses. However, the whole time I was thinking if I would ever get my chance to be Demi. If I could get the chance to ever be that lucky.

If I could ever be that happy.

~xoxo~

So it's my birthday tomorrow (technically today since it's already June 23rd on the east coast, even though I'm on the west), my sweet sixteen! It can't hurt to ask for reviews as a present, can it? :)