Disclaimer: I own nothing/no one except the plot.
Without me answering, the door opened. "Hello…" Joe said, trying to smile, but failing.
"What do you want from me, Joe?" I growled.
"You look terrible…" he said.
I rolled my eyes. "If you want an 'I'm sorry for your loss' just say it." I said bitterly.
"Actually I'm getting over it pretty well." He admitted.
"That makes one of us." I said with no emotion in my voice.
"I know how much my brother meant to you Miley. You might not know this, but you meant the world to him. Even when you were broken up, when he was dating Selena… you were his life Miley." Joe said.
I had heard this story once before. That one weekend…
I rolled my eyes in disbelief. "Lies…" I muttered.
"He always thought you didn't want him back. He thought you moved on… he didn't know." Joe said quietly.
These words shocked me. I never would have thought Nick would have left out any details.
"Okay, fine. What do you want from me, Joseph?" I asked coldly.
"I wanted to say, I'm sorry." He said taking a deep breath. "I never should have treated you the way I did. Nick didn't want me to, Kev agreed with me, we thought- we thought you weren't good for Nick. We thought you were too clingy. We didn't want you in his life."
I felt my heart sink. What a cold hearted man Joe was.
"But, we, as in Kevin and I, realized these past few months that Nick's death has really taken a swing at you more than anyone. And we feel so guilty. For everything. We never knew, Miley, we never knew how… how in love you were with Nick. And I am so sorry, so sorry." Joe said wholehearted.
I put my head in my hand, overwhelmed.
"I have a question." Joe said. "What happened to Miley? Last time I checked, she was a positive person. She never let anything or anyone get her down. Positive thoughts always hovering over her throughout every situation. Where is she now?" he asked.
"Gone." I said with my head still in my hand.
He put his hand on my knee. "Miley, stop it. You're scarring me. You look like you've seen a ghost." He said concerned.
I'm not exactly a ghost, Miley his words echoed in my head as if he was screaming off the top of the Grand Canyon.
"Well I haven't so you don't need to be concerned." I said, an honest tone in my voice.
I started feeling dizzy, as if I were going to faint. I felt the color wash from my face and my hand drop.
"Miley, Miley are you okay?" Joe asked concerned.
"Yes." I said barely, almost gasping for air.
I then remembered, I haven't really eaten a balanced meal for a day or two.
I felt like I was trembling as I opened my eyes from their tight lock.
I saw him, no not Joe, his little brother, Nick, standing behind him.
He looked frozen, as if he hadn't died, just been placed in cement.
I screamed in a high pitched tone, hardly even a scream, more of a screech.
Joe pulled me from the chair into a hug, trying to shush me as I was trying to break away from his iron grip.
I don't know what triggered it, but I let the river of tears shed onto his shirt.
Why was I crying? I honestly didn't know.
"Shh, Miley, shh. It's okay." He repeated as he rubbed circles on my back.
"No it's not, Joe, no it's not!" I muffled into his shirt.
Joe held onto my shoulders and sat me up straight.
"Miley stop it. You have to let it go, you have to let him go. You have to. Or you're going to be-" I cut him off.
"Be what Joe? A shattered mirror? The mirror has already shattered. I'm the broken glass. I'm the pain in the ass that you have to vacuum up afterwards. The pain in your foot when you step on me." I said, my voice hoarse.
Joe was silent as the tears still streamed from my eyes. I realized the problem. I couldn't bear to look at Joe. He brought back to many good- and bad memories. Mostly bad.
I didn't want to think about it, him, any of the Jonases. I wanted them to have never existed at this point.
"Can you go?" I whispered.
He sighed and nodded, getting up. "Take care of yourself." Were his last words as he walked out the door.
I looked up and Nick wasn't there anymore. I sighed and got out of the chair.
As I did, mom walked in. Luckily my tears had dried.
"I'm sorry to tell you this, honey, but your job needs you. They can't take anymore time off or they are going to have to cancel the show, Miley." Mom said.
"Fine. I'll go as I am, they'll change me anyway." I sighed.
"Okay honey, they need you in 20 minutes. Take a quick shower." Mom suggested.
"I took one last night, mom." I said.
"Okay honey, then come on, they said 20 minutes, but you know them. The sooner the better." She said.
I followed her out the door and down the stairs like a puppy.
I got into the passenger's seat, afraid if I drove I'd ram us into a tree purposely.
I hadn't been outside in so long, the sun almost blinded me.
We drove in silence to the studio. We got there in 15 minutes and I got out of the car before mom even put the break on.
I walked through the sliding glass doors and saw Emily standing there.
"Miley!" She exclaimed wrapping her arms around me.
"Emmy." I said returning the hug.
"I'm so sorry, Miley. I tried to call you, but you didn't answer and Tish said you were terrible so I didn't think it'd be right to visit and I tried emailing you and-"
"Emily." I laughed. "You shouldn't have been so worried, it was just… Nick."
She shook her head and put her arm around my shoulder as we walked.
"What is today's script?" I asked curiously.
"I don't remember the name, but it involves Cody and Mitch fighting or something because 'Jake' flirts with 'Joanie'." I laughed as she put quotation marks around their names.
"Miley!" Mitchel exclaimed, just the warm welcoming I'd been expecting.
He got up and wrapped his arms around me tightly, his hug felt awkward, like he was uncomfortable.
"We've missed you so much. Mason said that Trace said that you've been pretty beat up. I'm so sorry about Nick, Miley." He said as he still hugged me.
"You never got to beat him up for breaking my heart did you? That must have crushed your dreams." I said trying to lighten the mood as a broke out of the hug.
"I was the one to knock him in the coma." Mitch laughed.
"It was a diabetic one, stupid." Emily said flatly.
"Ha-ha…" I said uncomfortably. "Hey, enough about Nick. What have you guys been up to?"
"Oh you know same old same old…" Mitchel said glancing at Em, then the ceiling, then back at me.
"Do tell," I pushed, there was obviously something he wasn't telling me. But I felt like Emily knew all about it, as if she was a part of it.
"No seriously," he said swiftly, "I haven't done much at all. Just playing basketball at home, watching TV, pigging out at friends houses," he looked at Emily again quickly, then back at me.
That's when I realized. Emily was the "same old, same old."
I looked at Emily as she stood pressed against the wall.
"How's the love life, Mitch?" I asked.
"Steady." Emily answered for him quietly.
I quickly looked at her, trying to act surprised that I heard her answer.
"What?" I asked "shocked".
"Well Miley," Mitchel hesitated, "Emily and I have been hanging out a lot and, and, we're kind of going out."
"Oh my God that's great!" I exclaimed going to hug him, then Emily.
"Yeah, it is." Emily agreed, nodding.
"How long has this been going on?" I asked curiously.
"Since December." They said simultaneously.
They smiled at each other then looked back at me.
New love and true love is always the sweetest, when it ends badly, painfully, a heart is always broken and a soul is always shattered, never fully fixed. Nick's previous words echoed in my mind, off the Grand Canyon again.
"Emily, Miley, we need you in hair." Mom called.
Mitchel kissed Em's cheek and we walked off to the hair department.
"I hope this doesn't end badly." She said, breaking the silence.
I turned my head to look at her, but she was already faced another way. I realized we were at the door that had the sign that said, "LADIES HAIR".
We walked through the door and saw a new hair dresser there sitting, waiting for us.
Her flowing hair was beautiful. The curls were absolutely perfect, curled with perfection.
Her hair contoured her pretty face, which was flawless.
She had the most green eyes I'd ever seen, glowing, it seemed.
Her skin was an olive color, which looked unbelievably pretty with her screaming green eyes and curly red hair.
She stood up straightening out the shirt I hadn't even noticed. I was too lost in her face.
She wore an outrageous color purple long sleeved shirt.
She had on a grey high-waist pencil skirt, which was shorter by an inch or two at the bottom then most pencil skirts. She had obviously cut it.
"Hello Miley, hello Emily." She greeted us with ease, shaking each of our hands cause her arm full of bracelets to shake.
"What happened to Frank?" Emily asked.
"He got offered a job in Vermont with a movie. I'm his sister. Let me introduce myself, I'm Caroline." She smiled.
"You two look nothing alike." I blurted out, by mistake.
She laughed harmlessly. "I'm adopted from Germany." She said, still smiling.
"Awesome! Germany is an amazing place." Emily said.
"Not where I was from…" Caroline muttered under her breath.
"So anyway ladies, are we ready for hair?" She asked picking up her spirits.
"Yes, most defiantly, I look horrible." I laughed.
Caroline made me feel utterly self-conscious.
