Heyyyy guyssss! (: thank you soooooooo much for all the reviews/alerts/favorites adds! you have no idea how much they all mean to me! (: I love you alllll sooooooo muchhhhhhhhhh. xoxoxo

oh, ps, I still own nothing but my road dogs jersey, my imagination, and my burning love for Nicholas Jerry Jonas. (:

Nick Lucas couldn't sleep. Macy's words hung over his head, unanswered. Moments after her confession, she had darted into her room and refused to come out for hours.

******FLASHBACK******

"Nick, see. Here's the thing." she started. "Kevin's…well…Kevin's….confused."

Realization dawned on Nick. It made all the sense in the world. Kevin had never, not once, kissed Macy in front of anyone. He thought his brother was just a private person. Which hadn't made sense to him, now that he thought about it. No guy would be able to resist kissing Macy in public at least once in the year they dated. But this, this made sense. Except for one thing.

"Who else knows?"

Macy sighed. "Just me. He wasn't quite ready to tell any of you yet. But then…" she bit her lip and cast her eyes downwards.

"But then what, Mace?" he urged her gently.

"But then I told him that I couldn't marry him. Because I was in love with someone else. And he told me that he understood, because he was as well. He was just too afraid of hurting me to do anything about it. So once I came clean, he didn't see any reason to stay. He's planning on telling the rest of the family at Christmas."

"So why…" Nick trailed off. His head was stuck on the tiny detail that Macy was in love with someone else. The thought hurt, and he didn't like it. "Why didn't you call off the wedding? Why wait until the very last second?"

Macy drew in a shaky breath. "I wasn't sure if the guy I'm in love with wanted to be with me. So I asked Kevin if we could wait until…" Macy paused and took a deep breath. "If we could wait until I knew how you felt about me." Macy's eyes downcast for what seemed like the millionth time that day.

Nick was stunned. "M-me? I'm the…" he trailed off.

Macy nodded, solemnly. "You're the guy I'm in love with."

******END OF FLASHBACK******

When he'd finally retreated to his own room, he thought sleep would be best, but was finding that to be the most difficult thing he'd ever done. Nick sighed frustratingly and got out of bed, slipping his feet into the slippers Macy had gotten him for Christmas. Maybe he just needed to eat. Yeah, that was it. His blood sugar must be off.

As he made his way into the kitchen, he found Macy standing quietly in front of the stove, arms wrapped around herself. She was still wearing his button up, but the shorts were missing. Nick knew this meant she had tried to sleep as well. Macy never slept with bottoms on, a little quirk Nick had found when they moved in together. One that, under different circumstances, usually drove him mad. But now, looking at the sad girl in front of him, for the second time that day, his heart broke through his hormones.

He let the silence overpower them until it became unbearable. He tentatively crossed the kitchen to stand behind her. He placed a hand on her shoulder and softly whispered, "Macybear."

Nick could hear her sharp intake of breath. He knew she had been crying, and he couldn't blame her. Nick had given her no indication of his feelings, simply sat there in stunned silence. Now, turning to face him, she was hurt and vulnerable. He rushed to wrap his arms around her, burying his face in her soft hair. It smelled like Macy, strawberries with a hint of her vanilla perfume. The smell alone made his heart race.

He heard her mutter his name and he pulled away slightly, not releasing his hold on her waist. He attempted to meet her eyes, but she refused. She made a great effort to steady her breathing. When it was finally under control, she finally spoke. "Nick, it's okay. I understand. I should've just kept it to myself. But you were there and I just had to-" Nick couldn't take it anymore. He covered her lips with his own. He felt her hesitate before slowly kissing him back.

As quickly as it had happened, it was over. Macy pulled away with questioning eyes. Nick simply chuckled and kissed her forehead. "Macybear, I love you too."

Her eyes fell to the ground as she mumbled, "you don't have to lie."

Nick's heart broke. "Mace, I'm not lying. I've wanted to tell you for years now. I'm in love with you. I think I always have been." He felt the sincerity in his words as he said them, and hoped she could feel it as well.

He knew he had broken through when a beautiful smile returned to her face. "Really?" she bit her lip slightly and Nick swore he had never seen anything as beautiful as she was in that moment. He just had to kiss her.

So he did. And he kissed her again because she had slipped her arms around his neck. And then again because he felt her smile against his lips. And then again, simply because she was Macy.

But she broke away before he could come up with an excuse to kiss her forever. "Nick, wait. This is crazy." she giggled.

"If this is crazy, baby. There's no one I'd rather be crazy with. 'Cause I'm crazy about you." Nick muttered into her skin, placing feather-light kisses on every inch of her shoulders.

He could literally hear the smile in her voice as she said, "Nick Lucas, you're one huge cheese ball, you know that?"

He brought his head up to meet her eyes, sending a playful pout her way. He loved feeling this way. Carefree and in love, with the girl of his dreams in his arms. His heart swelled to three times its normal size as she smiled back at him. "It's okay, baby. I love cheese." She brought her lips up to meet his, and Nick Lucas knew that he would be as cheesy as she wanted, as long as it meant he got to do this for the rest of his life.

They had a lot to talk about, but for now, Nick was going to let her lead him back to his bed. He was going to let her lay down on his side. And he was most definitely going to let her fall asleep in his arms. Because Nick Lucas was in love with Macy Misa. And she loved him back. In this moment, that was the only thing in the world that mattered to him. He silently kissed her forehead and drifted off to sleep moments after she did.

Love it? Hate it? I dunno. Let me know! (: I'm sure you will. Have I mentioned you guys are THE BEST? xoxoxo