For What It's Worth

by mywordsareyours

Kevin's married. Joe's planning his solo career. Nick's...well, he's got nothing. That all changes once Joe announces he's going on the road. Nick meets Miley, an assistant tour manager. She's out of his league and off limits. But the more Nick's around her, the more inspired he becomes. If he lets go of Miley, he won't only lose the music, he'll lose everything.

18. Heathrow Airport, United Kingdom

p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Selfish. That's the word that's been on his mind all day. When Nick woke up in the hospital, he first thought of Miley. Of how she left him. Of how she couldn't even be bothered to say goodbye. She didn't care about him. Sure, the words may have come out of her mouth, but she didn't mean them. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"But it's not her fault, he realizes. He's the one who's been selfish. He asked too much of her. More than she was willing—was able—to give. Maybe he pushed her too hard. Maybe he didn't understand her limitations. He just always wanted more of her. All of her./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Wanting her in the first place was selfish. He never should've gone after her. He never should've gone on tour with Joe. It was all a big mistake./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"If it's a mistake, though, why doesn't he regret any of it?/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"He's interrupted by a light tapping at his door. Nick looks up, sees Joe lingering there in the hallway. "Uh…hey," he murmurs./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Hi," Nick replies just as quietly. "You need something?"/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""I was—I wanted to see if you packed your charger yet. I put mine in one of my suitcases, and my battery's almost drained."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Check my satchel. The inner pocket on the left. The one without the zipper."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Okay. Thanks."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Nick hums in acknowledgement and shuts his eyes. He thinks back to that fight with Joe. One of many if he's being honest. But he remembers now what Joe said. Of how he was going to let Miley stay on tour so that Nick could constantly be reminded that he lost him. Now, he has neither of them./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"It's surreal almost. How you can go from having everything to nothing./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Joe?"/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"He hears his brother pause. "Yeah?"/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""I'm sorry."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""For what?"/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""For everything."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Nick feels his knees give out from under him. But before he falls, he's caught by his brother's arms. He's held upright, held together, by Joe./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Dude, it's okay. You're okay."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Joe sits him down on the edge of his bed. And, yeah, he's embarrassed to be crying in front of him, but he doesn't know how else to act. What else to do./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""I fucked it all up. It's my fault."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""What is?"/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""The way that everything's ending. I ruined your whole tour."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""You didn't do anything. I still got to perform every night. We travelled all around Europe."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""But we were supposed to have fun together. Go on adventures." Nick wipes at his eyes with his sleeves. "We didn't get to do any of that."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""It's not your fault, Nick."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Yeah, it is. You said it yourself."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Joe sighs. "There's nothing we can do about it now. We're going home. We'll be in L.A. in a few hours."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Are you still gonna hate me?"/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""No. I don't hate you. I never did."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""We were angry at each other for months. And it didn't…it didn't even bother me until now."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Until you lost her?"/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Nick nods. "It was stupid going after her. I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have even come on the road with you."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""But that's what you wanted. You always get what you want."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"This isn't what he wanted, though. He doesn't want to be crying in a hotel room, feeling like he's lost everything he ever had. All destroyed by his own hands./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""I want to go home."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""We'll be there soon, bro." Joe swings an arm around his shoulders, pulls Nick into his side. "Mom and Frankie are so excited to see us. I bet we're even having steak for dinner."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Because it's my favorite?"/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Joe laughs. "You know that your mom's favorite. Even if she won't admit it."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""You're my favorite brother."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""You're not supposed to say that," he replies, elbowing Nick's ribs. "But you're mine, too."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Even after everything?"/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Joe sucks in a breath. "Seeing you in the hospital, Nick, put a lot of things into perspective. I could've lost you for good. It just hit me that there are more important things than music. At least, in my opinion."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Mine, too."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""I'm not too sure about that. Your priorities might be a little different than mine."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Family's important to me."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""More than the album you're about to release? More than the tour you're about to go on?" Joe prods. "More than Miley?"/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Nick presses his hands to his face. "I made stupid choices."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Your first love can make you stupid."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""She never felt the same way, you know that?" Nick exhales. "I think I tried to convince myself that she did. That she was showing it to me rather than saying it, but that was foolish." He looks over at his brother. "Maybe if I had accepted the truth, everything would be different."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"The door opens, and their father steps in. "We're just about ready to go. The cars are loaded up downstairs."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""All right," Joe says, getting to his feet. "We're set to head home."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Check yourself first, Nick. I want to know if we need to get you something to eat."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Dad, I'm fine. I just tested an hour ago."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Do it now. I want to see."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"He groans soft, but he takes the kit from Joe as he hands it over. Nick can feel two pairs of eyes on him as he pricks his finger and lets the meter calculate a number. "Ninety-three," he reads off. "I'm good."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"His dad takes the kit back but keeps his palm outstretched. "I want your phone, too."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Why do you—"/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Dad, come on," Joe interrupts. "He's not going to do anything."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""But she might."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"She won't. Nick knows she won't./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Here," he says, placing it in his father's hand. "I don't need it anyway."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""All right, then. Get the last of your stuff together. We'll meet at the elevators in five minutes."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"The door shuts, leaving the brothers alone again. Nick trudges over to his satchel to do a double check through everything. His passport. His water bottle. A bag of pretzels. A notepad and pen…though he doubts he's even going to need them. How are you supposed to write a song when your muse is thousands of miles away?/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Nick, I have a confession to make."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"He turns slowly towards Joe. "About what?"/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""You and Miley." Joe swallows. "I wanted to get her kicked off the tour. I was going to make sure she was sent home, but then she told me about how you were writing. How she thought you could get a whole album done, and that it'd be the best music you've ever made."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Nick scoffs. "You wanted me to write an album?"/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Because I figured you'd throw yourself head first into it. There was no need for me to break you guys up if you were going to do it yourself."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""But I didn't. I stayed here and wrote."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""I know. I was expecting you to go back to L.A., and you didn't. So then I thought the longer she was around, the quicker you'd finish the songs and have to leave."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""That didn't happen either."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""I know, Nick," he groans. "That's why I kept her with me. So that I could tell Dad what a great job she was doing."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Nick frowns. "So then he'd tell that to her boss."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Yes."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""And get her promoted."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Yes."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""And transferred to New York."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Dad said that the company was expanding on the East Coast. I thought if I maybe made the suggestion that she deserved recognition for her work on my tour—"/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""They'd send her across the country and away from me."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Joe lowers his eyes. "I was angry, Nick. I was tired of you always getting what you wanted. Even though it was my tour, you still got your way. It's exhausting living in the shadows of your spotlight."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""You could've talked to me."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Every conversation we had resulted in some kind of fight. And then you started defending her. You constantly chose her over me and that sucked."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Nick almost regrets apologizing. Maybe he hurt Joe out of stupidity, but nothing was ever intentional. It's not like he concocted this entire plan to make Joe miserable. Which isn't something he can say about his brother./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"But it's not worth it. He and Miley are done anyway. At least he can try to salvage one relationship./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""She does love you, though."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Nick laughs. "All right, Joe. Whatever you say."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""She's the one who said it. I heard it myself."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""She wouldn't do that. She wouldn't tell you and not me."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Miley didn't say it to me. I overheard her telling Dad. He was arguing with her when you were in the hospital, and she said it to him. She told him that she loved you."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Nick's grip tightens on his satchel. "If you're making this up—"/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""I'm not. I know I can't expect you to forgive me after everything, but I thought you should know how she felt about you. How she does feel about you."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Well, what am I supposed to do about it, Joe? She's already in New York."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""She's not. She's going with the rest of the crew to the airport this afternoon, like we are."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"His heart thunders against his chest. "What do I do?"/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""What do you want to do?"/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""See her."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Anything else?"/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Be with her. I want to be with her all the time."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Oh really?"/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Nick grins. "There are some things that are more important than music."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Joe grabs his phone. "It's about time you figured that out."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"—/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Nick's going to New York. The beauty of technology is that you can book a flight to anywhere on the world right from your phone. And if you don't have a phone, you can always use your brother's. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Not to mention the convenience of being able to book said flight from anywhere that has an internet connection. For instance, Nick just bought his ticket from the back of the car that's taking them to the airport with his dad sitting right in front of him./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"That's gonna be tough to do, he realizes. How is he supposed to explain to his father that he's not going back to L.A.? Does he have to say something, or can he just bail?/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"No. No, he definitely has to say something. Although he has no idea where to start or what words to use./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Hey, Dad. I'm in love with Miley, so I'm leaving with her instead./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Hey, Dad. I know you'll think I'm crazy, but I'm flying to New York./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Hey, Dad. I'm thinking about living on the East Coast for a while. You don't have to worry about me. Miley's gonna be there, too, so we can look out for each other./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Ugh. Fuck this. He's screwed no matter what he says./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"And what is he going to say to her? He's basically going to ambush her in the middle of the airport. That doesn't seem like a good idea. He doesn't want to embarrass her, and he certainly doesn't want to embarrass himself. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Okay, he should plan this out now. He's got to remain calm and collected. Just walk through the doors with his head high. When he sees her, he'll keep his head up and his eyes on hers. Then he'll tell her about Joe's confession. How he knows she loves him. How he's going to do whatever it takes to make things work. How he's going with her to New York./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"That should make her happy, right? It's the kind of thing that girls fantasize about. What they see on television and the movies. Except it'll actually be happening./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Unless she freaks out. What if she tells him to leave? What if she doesn't want him anymore?/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Maybe Nick should text her first. Give her a heads up that he's coming for her. He won't phrase it like that, though. He doesn't want to sound like a stalker./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Oh, wait. He still doesn't have his phone. He could use Joe's, but he doubts she'll even give it a glance when she sees his name. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"He wishes he planned this out better. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"The car comes to an abrupt stop. Crap. They're already here. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Joe squeezes his shoulder. "Good luck."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Nick's eyes go wide as the car doors are pushed open. "What do I do?" he gasps. "Joe, what do I do?"/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""I thought we already discussed this," Joe murmurs. "You're going in there and telling Miley how you feel."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""In front of everyone? Do you know how many people are in the airport right now? How am I even supposed to find her?"/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""The crew got here ten minutes before we did. She's probably in line to check-in." Joe steps out of the car and turns to his brother. "Come on."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Nick braces his hands against the metal frame and shakes his head. "I can't. I didn't plan this out at all. I'm not ready—"/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Dude, listen to me. I know you're all about making plans and organizing every second of your life. But the best moments—the most memorable ones—are the ones that you don't expect. Did you plan on meeting Miley and falling in love with her?"/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""No."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""But you did, and it was probably the greatest thing to happen to you on this tour." Joe grabs onto Nick's shoulders. "So what you're going to do now is walk through those doors. You're going to find Miley and tell her everything. Then, you'll fly with her to New York. I'm gonna miss you like crazy, but knowing how happy you'll be will make it just a little easier. Plus, it'll give me an opportunity to become Mom's new favorite."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Nick laughs. "You're a douchebag."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Yeah, but I'm also your brother."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""And my best friend." Nick steps out of the car, his footing sure and steady as he touches the pavement. "Love you."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Love you, too," Joe replies, squeezing him tight. "Now, go get your girl. I'll create a distraction."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""A distract—?"/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Nick can't even get the word out before Joe's off in the opposite direction. "Hey, ladies. It's me, Joe Jonas," he shouts, waving his arms over his head. "Just wanted to say goodbye to my fans before heading back to America."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"For a moment, it feels like the world is put on pause. No one speaks. Or moves. There's just a strange stillness in the air. The literal calm before the storm. Because then there's a sudden swarm of movement towards Joe. He's like the eye of a hurricane with everyone swallowing him up from every direction possible./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"European fans are crazy. No, not crazy. Nick's not supposed to use that word. They're passionate./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"He takes one last look as security struggles to fight their way through the crowd. Then, he sprints for the door. With everyone so caught up with Joe, he has a clear path to the terminal and makes his way in without a second glance from anyone./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Nick braces his hands on his knees once he's inside. He's fairly sure all of the air has been knocked out of his lungs. He can also feel a bruise starting to form on his hip where his satchel smacked against him as he ran. But he's here. He's made it this far./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Head down and phone in hand, Nick rushes over to one of the automated kiosks. He punches in his confirmation number. Grins as his boarding pass prints out into his awaiting hands./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"He scans the area in front of him. His eyes rake over the dozens of faces waiting on line to check-in. He recognizes one of the back-up dancers. And the girl who used to run the merch table with Miley. And Lauren./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Nick groans as they make eye contact. She smiles, beckons him over. He doesn't (really doesn't) want to talk to her, but she might be the only option he has to find Miley./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Nick, I can't believe you're here," Lauren squeals, hugging him tight. "It's so good to see you."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"She's surprised he's here? She's obviously aware that everyone is leaving today. How else did she expect him to get home? On a flying carpet?/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Yeah, you, too. Listen, is—?"/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""I heard you were in the hospital. Are you feeling all right?"/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""I'm great. I'm actually looking for Miley."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Lauren frowns. "Why would she be here?"/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Okay, is she really unaware that the tour is over and that there's no reason for anyone to still be in Europe?/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Nick huffs. "Because she's going home."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""To New York," Lauren clarifies. "She's not on the same flight as us. Miley's at a completely different terminal."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Oh fuck this. Nick pulls up his flight information on Joe's phone. Sure enough, his flight is on a different airline than the rest of them. And in a different terminal. So Miley's not here. He's in the wrong place. How is he supposed to get there? What if he's late and misses his flight?/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Nick, are you okay? You're getting kind of pale."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""I'm fine. Fine."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"He pulls himself away from the crowd. Trudges over to waiting area. Through the window, he can see the decently sized mob still surrounding Joe. God, this was such a mistake. Everything they did today was for nothing./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"So much for acting on impulse. This is why Nick plans everything out. Nothing can go wrong that way. Now he has to find a way to get to the other terminal before he runs out of time. He'll be all on his own. No security. No Joe. What if someone recognizes him? He won't be able to escape and get to Miley by himself./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Maybe this is a sign. Maybe he's supposed to go back to L.A. and just give up./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Hey, N.J.."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Or maybe he's not./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"He turns slowly. Moves one muscle at a time as if any motion he makes might cause her to disappear. But she's moving towards him, too. Her hair's pulled back. Her eyes are hidden behind a pair of oversized sunglasses. And the layers of sweaters and jackets she has on almost makes the shape of her unrecognizable. Nick would know Miley anywhere./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"She shakes her head as he reaches for her. "Don't."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Miley," he breathes. "It doesn't matter now. I don't care who sees."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""There's nothing to see."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Nick grabs his satchel a little tighter. "What do you mean?"/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Miley bites her lip. "Nick, you and I," she says, glancing at the window. "This is over now."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""It doesn't have to be. I'm—I'm coming to New York." Nick lifts up his boarding pass. Holds it up to her face. "I bought a ticket on your flight. We can be together. I want to be with you."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"The breath in Miley's throat stutters for a moment. "No. No, you have the album to work on."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""The album's done. They can send me the final edits to review. I don't need to be in L.A. to do that."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""And there's the tour. You're gonna have rehearsals."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Tour can wait. I've been on the road for months with Joe. I just want to stay in one place for a while. I want to be with you," he repeats./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""N.J., it's not going to work out. It's been easy because we've been on tour together. Working together. When we've got our own separate agendas, it won't feel the same."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Nick scoffs. "How do I know that? How do emyou /emknow that?"/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Because it's always been like that," she exclaims. "We'll get caught up in this romantic whirlwind because it all feels exciting and fun and new. Then we'll fall into a routine. We'll get bored. We'll move on to something else. Why should we bother dragging this out?"/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""You're wrong. It's not going to be like that."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""How do you know that?" she fires back./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Nick shakes his head. Almost has to hold back a laugh. "So you're going to act like that's why you're here? To break up with me?" He steps forward. "You love me."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""N.J.—"/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Don't deny it. Joe told me."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Miley yanks off her sunglasses. "I said it so that I could see you. I thought it would give your dad a good enough reason to let me in your room."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""That's bullshit."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Look, I'm glad you're all right, okay? I have time before my flight, so I figured I'd stop by here to see you for myself. And you're fine."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Yeah, I'm great. Never better." He sighs. Lowers his eyes to the floor. "I can't believe you're doing this."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"The disappointment in his voice is heartbreaking. That's how she knows he's right. She really does love him./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""You should go," she says instead. "You still have to go through security, and I don't want you to miss your flight."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;""Right."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Miley blinks quick. Tries to keep the tears from spilling onto her face. "You'll forget all about me. They always do."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"Nick lifts his head and looks right at her. "So that's it? I'm just one of them?" He takes one last look at the boarding pass gripped between his fingers. Before he can even think about it, he tears it in two. "Good luck in New York," he says as he turns away from her./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span style="font-kerning: none;"She watches him walk away. Follows the halves of the boarding pass as he tosses them in the garbage. And she feels her heart heave in her chest. Erratic and frantic. But still beating for him./span/p