Disclaimer: I don't Hannah Montana or the Jonas Brothers! I do however own this plot and such characters as Josh and Ryan. I don't own Kevin's GF and Jackson's GF.
A/N: I wanted to thank you for all of the wonderful reviews for that story. You guys put me over 100 reviews! I haven't said this in a while but thanks for putting this story on alert and favorites! : )
Miley sat on her bed, continuing her mantra of what she was going to do. She didn't want to tell Nick about her memories and that she was keeping it from him. He would hate her. She knew what everyone else was saying was true, but she didn't want to believe it. "He hated me before, what says that he won't hate me again when I tell him?" she asked to the still room. She was so confused.
All of a sudden, her phone that was on her nightstand started ringing. She hesitated to pick it up. She didn't want to talk to anyone right now. She took in a deep breath and knew that she had to make everything right again – even if it means that she would no longer be happy. Her family and everyone else were right – she had to do the right thing.
"Hey, could you meet me at the beach later tonight? I have something important to tell you," she sobbed into the phone. The voice on the other line protested into seeing her now, but she stayed firm in her decision. She hung up the phone and tried to get her bearings back in order. She dragged herself to her closet and rummaged around for an outfit that was Nick's favorite. 'Hopefully, that will lessen the blow a little,' she thought as she found the perfect outfit.
A few hours later, she was dressed and ready to leave for her destination. As she walked towards her bedroom door, she faintly heard a cellphone buzzing – it was the Hannah phone! She shook off whatever urge she had for wanting to pick it up and walked out the door. She slowly made her way down the stairs when she heard voices talking. She gasped when she recognized it as Nick's. She stood on the landing and decided to eavesdrop. She knew it was bad, but she couldn't help it.
"Hey Hannah, it's Nick. I know that you probably are not wanting to talk to me right now, and I sort of hate that I'm dumping all of my problems on you, but I really need a friend right now. Can you please call me back as soon as you get this? I really need a girl's opinion right now. My brother's fiancée is no help because she's crying right now and no one can get her to stop. Thanks," he said and hung up his phone.
"You weren't able to get her?" Kevin asked. Nick shook his head.
"Do you know if Miley's around?" she heard Nick ask her parents. Robby Ray was about to answer 'yes' but her good old brothers jumped in and told him that she had left to clear her mind. She could picture her parents looking at them like they were crazy because they knew that she was still in the house and in her room.
Nick nodded his head and told them that he had better go and see if Miley had arrived at the place where they were supposed to meet. He wondered what she had to tell him. He felt that his brothers and even Lilly were keeping something from him but he couldn't, for the life of him, figure out what.
He arrived at the beach, at their spot, a few minutes later. He took in a deep breath as he looked out over the ocean. He really wanted to find out what was so important that made Miley sob at the end of the phone call. 'Did I do something wrong?' he asked himself, as he prepared himself for the girl of his dreams to arrive.
Miley arrived a while later after Nick left her house. She didn't want to let him know that she was sort of following him for a while. She was glad that he was occupied with his thoughts to notice that her car was right behind him. She pulled into the public parking lot and proceeded to go to their spot. She took a deep breath as she saw the back of his curly head. "Nick?" she asked, slowly.
"Hey, Miles," he said as he came towards her for a hug. She pulled him closer as his arms went around her waist. 'This could be the last time that I do this,' she thought as she felt the tears slowly forming in her eyes. "What's wrong?" he asked, concerned as he pulled away. He felt that she was holding back on the hug even though it was a tight one.
"I have to tell you something important," she slowly said as she sat down on the little blanket that he had brought out. She loved how he knew that she would want to sit on it, whenever she came here with him, when they were hanging out from before.
"What's up?" he asked, again, preparing himself for the worst. He hated whenever tell him 'we need to have a talk' or something along those lines.
"I have been keeping something from you, Nick," she said, slowly feeling her tears trekking their way down her neck. "Please, forgive me. I need you to."
"Of course, I will forgive you, Miley. I love you, even if you don't remember that," he answered.
She felt her heart clench at the words. That just made it much harder for her to tell him. He loved her and then she's just going to break his heart. "I didn't mean to…it just slipped out…I wasn't trying to hurt you or anything..." she said, trailing off.
"What's going on, Miles?" he asked. "What are you talking about?"
"I…" she said, taking in a deep breath, "I lied to you. I do remember you. My memory never really left." He didn't understand what was going on.
"If this is Joe's idea of a practical joke, it's not funny," he said. "You can come out now, Joseph!" he yelled, thinking that Joe was going to pop out from behind a house or something and race towards them. Miley sat there and shook her head.
"It's not a joke, Nick," she said. "I'm serious. No one is playing you."
"No one, but you, right?" he asked, feeling the anger roll out of him. He was betrayed once again! "I'm sorry, that was uncalled for. I guess I can understand."
She was definitely confused when she heard that. 'He could understand?' "You could understand?" she voiced. He nodded his head. "You and I were in a batch patch and you just wanted to start new all over again – which means that you still do love me!" He grinned at his revelation.
"No, Nick," she slowly replied. Nick was stumped. He didn't understand. He stopped grinning and looked at her confused. 'She had just confessed to me that she loves me and now she says that she's not?' he asked.
"I do love you, Nick, that's why this is so hard for me to do," she replied and he felt that sickening feeling in his stomach returning. "I lied to you. Yes, about my memory and something else." He prepared himself again for the worst. 'But, what could be worst than telling a person that loves you that you love them but it's not going well?' he thought to himself. "I'm Hannah, Hannah's me," she said softly.
If Nick wasn't paying attention to her rather than the waves, he wouldn't have been able to have heard her. "What?" he asked.
"I'm Hannah Montana. She's me," she said. He didn't want to believe her. 'She's lying to keep my heart from breaking. That's all,' he thought. He tried to cut in and tell her that but she continued on without a breath in between. "Nick, please talk to me. She was just an alter-ego. I wanted a normal life. That's why she wears a wig to disguise myself from the world. I'm sorry."
He looked at her and felt that he was seeing her for the first time. He thought back to all of his memories of Hannah and those with Miley. They were similar now that he thought about it. That's why her dad looked familiar. He felt his anger coming back full force. She lied to him again! 'What kind of sick joke is this?' he asked himself feeling anger seeping into his body. "I didn't want to do it, but it just happened. You were there…and…" she said.
"And, what, Miley?" he asked, the anger coming out in his voice. "You lied to me again! And I was the stupid one to believe you, again. Wow, Nick, you sure are dumb," he directed that last comment to himself. "Miley, you always will be the manipulative person that you are, won't you? Don't you get that I HAVE FEELINGS TOO? You said that you're not Hannah, she was just an alter-ego. WELL, GUESS WHAT MILEY? YOU ARE HER. ALTER-EGO, MY BUTT. YOU ARE JUST USING HER AS A MEANS FOR YOU TO GET OUT OF TROUBLE. I'm serious. I don't know who you are sometimes. One minute, I think you're this wonderful woman that I was completely in love with. And, the next, you're the manipulative woman that I have hated all of my career life. You hurt me then, and you hurt me now. There's never an end to this story, is there?"
He never looked so angry in all of the years that she had known him. He started walking away from her and into his car. She jumped into hers and drove after him. She didn't want him to do anything drastic. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw that he was pulling into her driveway, but why? She got out of the car and walked towards him. He gave her the meanest look possible as she was inching towards him. She was afraid of this. She didn't know what to do. She tried to come closer to him to explain. "STOP RIGHT THERE!" he yelled, catching the attention of everyone in the house. They all turned and stared at the two. Ryan, Jackson, and Robby Ray were getting ready to step outside when they each felt an arm on their shoulders. "We should let them deal with this," Heather told her husband. "Miley's never going to learn if we keep helping her."
"What about Nick?" Ryan asked turning to his mom. "What is this teaching him? He's screaming at her!"
"This is her battle, Ryan," Kadie said in a no-nonsense tone. "This is hers and hers alone. We can't fight it for her. You need to learn that she has to grow up sometimes. She can't always get out of the messes that she puts herself in with your help. She just has to do it alone sometime. And, I think this is one of those times."
"You're supposed to be on my side," Ryan said turning to face his fiancée.
"I am," Kadie argued back. "But, sometimes this is the way that things have to go. You can't fight her battles all of the time. She's adult, Ryan – just like you. You don't expect your mom to fight your battles for you or even Lilly too. So, give Miley a little credit and let her do this her way."
"As much as I love my daughter, Ryan, Kadie is right," Robby said to his step-son. "It's better this way. Miley will never learn if she doesn't know how to get out of her own messes. Now, why the hell didn't someone tell me this before that she was keeping something from Nick and how all of the Jonas brothers know the truth?"
Ryan and Jackson looked away while trying to conceal the fact that Lilly was the one to tell them. Heather looked at her two boys and then turned her attention on her daughter. "Lillian Truscott, would you like to add something here?" Heather asked her daughter. Lilly looked up with tears in her eyes and saw that her mom was staring intentively at her. She shook her head and buried her face deeper into Joe's chest.
"We found out on our own," Kevin stepped in when he saw his brother looking at him for help. "We were looking for Lilly and we stumbled upon Miley's closet." He figured the truth was the best way to go, considering the circumstances.
"You stumbled onto Miley's closet?" Robby asked, not fully believing the man in front of him. He looked up and saw that Lilly had gotten up and Joe had his arms around her. "They did, Dad," she said quietly and he took it as an answer.
"Let's move because it looks like Miley's going to run in here soon," Heather said as she saw the glimpse of dark hair flashing by the window and towards the front door.
A few seconds later, the front door blasted open and a whirl of brown hair flew up the stairs and they all heard the door slamming shut. Ryan and Kevin turned and looked at each other. "I think we better go, Joseph," Kevin said authoritatively. Joe nodded his head and turned his attention back to Lilly.
"I'll come back later, okay?" he whispered into her ear. She nodded her head and he gave her a final kiss on the lips and ran out the door that his brother and future sister-in-law had gone through.
"I better go see Miley," Lilly said slowly walking up the stairs.
A/N: Sorry for the long wait about writing this chapter. There are too many things going on in my life. Plus, I feel kind of bad because I'm sort of neglecting my other stories that I am writing. Happy readings!