Disclaimer: Based on real events, but some things are made up to help the story. Slight AU. Goes in a different direction.

Chapter 3 - January 31st, 2017

"I told you my heart's leaning towards you a little more, then I knew something was scaring you. Is it too much or too fast or too forward? Should I step back and pretend I don't feel this way?" - Excerpt from Love Alone, Katelyn Tarver

The second Nick stepped out of his house, he was bombarded by paparazzi.

It had taken him almost an hour to push back all the photographers, fans, news reporters looking for easy gossip, and whoever decided to show up. He had shut all of the blinds and curtains, locked every door and window, and his house was now like a blackened graveyard full of growing gloom and despair. He could still hear the audible murmurs outside his house and was growing sick of it. He didn't turn on the TV—he knew what to expect.

Nick didn't even bother checking his phone.

But Nick did check his messages—or, at least, the one by Joe. It read: You're on the news—everyone's talking about you. You'd better run, lil bro. Nick groaned. As if he needed reminding. Nick put his phone on silent and put it face down. If anyone called him, he genuinely wouldn't know. Haughty perhaps, but Nick just didn't know what to do. Nick headed to his room and saw his dog Elvis sleeping at his bed. He stroked the golden dog's back. "Oh, Elvis, everything's just so messed up right now."

The dog whimpered in his sleep before curling to a more relaxed position. "I'm an idiot," Nick mumbled. "Why did I have to make a big show out of everything? I ruined everything, and the publicity is in not only my life but also in Miley's... I'm a fool." The dog rolled over in his sleep, and Nick sighed. He knew why, deep down, no matter how much he wanted to deny it.

He did it because he wasn't sure how Miley would react—if she did react—if he just talked to her face to face, just the two of them.

Nick didn't realize he was humming softly under his breath until he realized the room wasn't silent. But he knew what he was singing: I Hope You Find It, the song Miley had sang at the party.

Nick closed his eyes briefly, lingering in the memory—painful as it was—of the party. With a hefty sigh, Nick stared at Elvis. Miley had loved the dog and vice versa. The dog would lick her all over her face when she came—while Nick tried not to get jealous of his own dog (!)—and Miley would play and coo at Elvis fondly. The sharp memory glistened in the back of his mind.

Nick stroked the sleeping dog's back before leaving the room. Elvis looked adorably curled up at the foot of Nick's bed. But Nick also remembered when he and Miley had been watching a movie, and Elvis had curled up at Miley's feet, showing blatant interest in the blue-eyed girl. Nick had also remembered jealousy coiling in his veins as Elvis settled comfortably at Miley's feet.

Nick headed back to his living room and picked up his phone. He saw a missed call from his manager, from about five minutes ago. He called his manager, Phil Mclyntyre, who picked up almost instantly. (For the record, I'm not really sure if this is his manager. It was just a ten-second research thing, so sorry if it's wrong. But if it is... well, let's just go with that.) "What's up?" Nick said, lounging further into the comfort (or discomfort in this case) of his leather couch.

Stupid couch. Stupid couch-makers. Stupid Nick for buying an uncomfortable couch.

"Everyone is talking about Nick Jonas and how he blew up entire internet lines with how he announced to Miley freaking Cyrus that he was still in love with her!" Phil exploded, voice excited with maybe a mix of incredulity. "You're doing a show in LA—millions will be there. Hell, you could even invite Miley. Not that that would put you in Liam's good books, but—"

"A show?" Nick interrupted.

He could picture his manager nodding furiously. "Yes! Nick, this is big!"

"Huh..."

"Huh," Phil repeated. "You get big news, and your reaction is 'huh.' I should get paid more."

"I'll do the show," Nick said quickly, ignoring his manager's reply of 'excellent.' "It's not like I have anything better to do. I'll even invite Miley and Liam—who knows? Maybe they'll come. I'll personally tell them"—and by 'them,' he obviously meant 'her'—"myself." Nick paused. "When's this concert again?" There was a distinct—and totally unnecessary shuffling of papers in the background.

"Three days!" Phil announced primly. "On February 3rd."

Nick paused. "Thanks. Send me the details later. I gotta go." Nick ignored his manager's protests and hung up. He scrolled excitedly through his contacts to find Miley's number but thought to take a few moments to compose himself first. After a few deep breaths, he called. A few heartbeats passed, and Nick hardly dared to move, to speak, to breathe.

"Hello?" came Miley's familiar voice. Nick almost gasped. "If you're not going to answer, I'm going to hang up. Three, two, one—"

"Miley!" Nick burst out. He swore inside. Could he be more stupid? "It's Nick."

There was a pause. Then, she laughed. "I know it's Nick. I recognized your voice, idiot. So... why did, um, you call me, Nick?"

God, he missed hearing her say his name. He shifted uncomfortably and bit his lip, suddenly nervous. What if she rebuffed him? She sounded very nervous, and the once-familiar and comfortable silence between them was now awkward. Very awkward. And let's not forget how embarrassed Nick was feeling. "I was wondering..." he said shakily but got lost in a familiar memory. If they were together as a couple, she probably would've said "Ooh, wondering—always a dangerous thing to do." She had said that once to him... only it had been about thinking.

And thinking was almost the same thing, just different.

"Nick..? You still here? Because I have to go in, like, five minutes."

Nick swallowed. "W-would you—?" He stopped short, reddening.

"Nick?"

"I—"

"Four minutes."

"WouldyouliketocometomyconcertinLAonFebruary3rd?" he forced out, not pausing for breath.

"What?"

Nick exhaled sharply. "I, um, have a concert in LA in three days, and I, um, was, um, wondering if you maybe wanted to come?" he blurted out. An awkward silence settled in the room. "It's on February 3rd," he added unnecessarily. "If you don't have plans... I was wondering if you c-could maybe come? With Liam, too?" He didn't add, Because I'm sure Liam wouldn't let you go to my concert without him by your side.

"I—wow, Nick," came Miley's slightly distorted reply. "I'll have to ask Liam..."

He closed his eyes. "That's fine. Thanks for your time. Bye—"

"Nick—wait," Miley interrupted. Nick didn't dare to breathe. "We need to talk."

"I agree," he murmured. "But not now. Face to face. At the concert. Save the date. Bye."

"Nick," Miley said exasperatedly. "It's just like you to do this."

"Do what?" he demanded. "Listen, it's past five minutes. You s-said you had to go."

"Fine." There was a note of finality in Miley's cool voice.

"Miley—" Nick broke out his words, knowing he would be ranting. "I just... It's hard. It's been hard. These years. And... it can get lonely, y-you know?" There was a long pause on Miley's line, and Nick heard a low murmur of, 'Who's that?' in the background. He gulped. That had to be Liam. "Put me on speaker," he told Miley softly, and he put her on speaker, too.

"It's Nick," Miley explained.

"Nick? As in Nick Jonas?" came Liam's defensive tone.

"He wants us to go to his concert in LA..." Miley said quietly.

"Are you sure he wasn't just asking you?" Liam demanded.

Nick winced, grimacing. How dare Liam talk to Miley like that? Of course, considering Nick would do the same vice versa, maybe he had no right to judge. "Just... uh, show up if you can?" Nick said, trying peace. Of course, considering he wanted to win Miley back, and she was engaged to Liam... yeah, there was no way Liam was going to, uh, cooperate.

"We can't go," Liam said coldly.

"Yes, we can," Miley countered. "We aren't doing anything."

"You're rebelling because I won't let you go?" Liam demanded. "Or would you have just been considering if I didn't jump in?"

"Do you really think I'd cheat on you? With Nick?" Miley demanded.

Nick heard Liam falter. "No, I... it's just complicated. You guys were... pretty... What I'm trying to say is... you guys were really... close."

"Close," Nick repeated. "We were 14—how were we supposed to know if we were in love or not?" He said that, but his heart told him, we were in love. We're still in love... or at least, I am.

"Even Nick admits it," Miley said.

"He'd say anything about now to let you go," Liam grumbled sullenly.

"We'll be there, Nick," Miley said in a sort of sad way. "Sorry about Liam—"

"Don't apologize for me!" Liam snapped.

"It's alright, Miles," Nick said, letting the old nickname slip by accident. He heard Liam move in the background, and Nick shifted uneasily. "It's good to hear your voice again, Miley," he said, emphasizing her name to let her know that he said her nickname by accident. "And..." he added in a lower voice. She waited patiently. "I... missed you. A lot. And I know Liam won't thank me for saying... um, any of this..."

"Too right!" Liam snapped.

"Right. Sorry. Later."

"I... yeah, Nick," Miley said slowly. "See you."

She hung up, and Nick sighed. He might've made a fool out of himself, but at least he had gotten what he wanted. Nick stared despondently at his phone. He didn't want to force Miley to choose him—how would she be happy that way?—but he did want her. But he wanted her to choose him on her own accords. Would Liam back off? No. He was engaged to Miley—but maybe Nick could say thanks to Trump being president for the sole reason of Miley not wanting to marry when he was the president.

Don't get him wrong, Nick despised Trump with a passion (for reasons he couldn't fathom... but probably because, um, Miley hated Trump) but would accept the guy as a president. What would Nick get out of just blatantly hating Trump and not accepting the guy? Nothing. So it was better that way—but that didn't mean Nick had to like it. Because he didn't.

Nick put his phone down and sighed once again. He had been sighing a lot as of the late. He had a concert to plan. A smile curled onto Nick's lips. In three days, it was time for Nick Jonas to hit the news. In three days, it was time for Liam to get more angry at Nick (if that was even possible), and Nick thought that it would happen. In three days (if all went well), Nick would get closer at his chance.

Did he have a chance? Yes.

Was it slim? Yes.

Was he going to waste it? Not a chance.

QotD: What is Nick planning at his concert?

#I'll never tell!

A/N: Hey, it's Darky! I know that the last chapter was probably one of the most horrible ones ever: I know. It had horrible writing, things all over the place, drama that would seriously not make sense whatsoever in real life, and a bunch of other things. I don't know. I've never had a Beta for writing, and I do not think I really want one as of now... Let's see how this goes.

Thank you to everyone who followed, favorited, and reviewed! They all make me smile—literally. I find myself grinning like an idiot, and when my sister looks at me, her face says, she's crazy or she's lost her mind. Reviews are the best motivation—and although I'm mostly writing because I want to write, it feels weird if I feel like I'm writing to no one—silent readers. LOL. Which is kind of embarrassing (more awkward than anything), but do what you want with your life and what pleases you. You have no reason to try and please me—unless you just want to, of course, which is really nice.

Which is why I always leave a review on all the stories I check out. I like to encourage other writers!

I know lots of people hate it (me included) when writers nag them for reviews (which is why I'm not threatening or anything, plus, I'm not a very violent person and write simplistically for the sake of writing). If I ever do that, please tell me (actually, I would appreciate it if you yelled it at me) that I'm being very discourteous. I appreciate it! X-)

Bottom line, I'll always ask (and maybe but probably rarely or never beg) and not demand/threaten/etc. Capisci?

Review your answer to the QotD! Tell me your thoughts? I appreciate it though you don't need to. But who doesn't love reviews? ;)

- Darky