A/N: Here's chapter 16… not sure if it's happened how I wanted it to or if it's just another chapter of Miley screaming at people because she can and because she's a pissy teenager… she kinda has a right to in this… I think I'd be pissed too if my ex had run off to Mexico with a girl two years younger than he should do.

Well… anyway… enjoy folks :)

xo

Chapter 16 – Faults & Fancies

"What?" Miley mumbled as she blinked away the primary shock.

"He's in Tijuana…" Brandi repeated, "He said that they've been there for three days and that they've not left their hotel room. They've just been 'having fun'."

Miley tried to conjure up some composure and shook her head. She felt a shadow form at her feet and she knew that he was behind her, attempting to listen and involve himself in something that had nothing to do with him… as usual, "Did you ask him where he was?" she took a deep breath losing it a little before a laugh of disbelief escaped her manically, "Did you think to ask him what freaking hotel he'd run away to?!"

"He didn't say!" she said protectively of herself, matching Miley's volume and her steadily increasing panic "He didn't say anything of any importance! He seemed really weird… like he was… proud of himself or something…"

Miley took deep breaths and let out a shocked laugh, "Of course he's proud of himself!" she panted and she felt like she needed a paper bag to breathe in to, "This was his stupid plan! This was all he wanted… he's out to ruin us… to ruin her… he's nothing but a…" she let out a gasp of pain and grabbed her ribs leaning against the wall as she let herself hyperventilate. This wasn't how things were supposed to go! He was supposed to go home and be a model… he was meant to get a recording contract and prove himself… not become some weird letch who suckered onto every single young and talented girl he could find… "Oh my…" The truth about him hit her fast and slow at the same time and she ventured to breathe normally without success, "Oh My God… what have I done…?"

"Miley calm down…" she heard Nick say beside her, "What's going on?"

Miley looked at him and the anger bubbled within her, "Brandi… I have to go…" she chocked as she hung up the phone without another word and rounded on him, her finger digging in his chest, "You wanna know what's going? Do you?!" she was about ready to sob. Her breathing worsened, "I'll tell you what the heck is going on, Bucko!"

He stepped back scared, "Miley! Calm down!"

She shook her head breathlessly, "Selena is in Tijuana with Justin! In a Hotel! Alone! And it's all YOU'RE fault for being the way that you are!" she panted out her panicked breaths and she was sure that the whole of this fine city could hear her if she wanted them to, "He's going to ruin her! He's going to ruin himself! And he's going to ruin all of us because of the stupid way that you don't think before you act!"

His mouth fell open.

"My fault?! What are you talking about?!" he spluttered, "How is your stupid ex-boyfriend abducting my ex-girlfriend got anything to do with me!? How is this in any way my fault, Miley?!"

She shook her head manically from side to side, eyes wide and her feet approaching him, "Because if you hadn't of kissed me then I would never have had to break up with him in the first place! And it would be me in her place! I'd be the one in freaking MEXICO while you and Selena play fucking HOUSE with your brothers and your silly little friends with everyone loving you!!"

Spit was flying from her mouth, her cheeks were red and she had no idea of what half the things she was saying actually meant. She was just talking and letting everything out, her disappointment, her anger, her confusion – everything – it was all escaping her.

"Miley!" he said shocked, "I can't believe-"

"No! Nick! You make everything bad that happens in my life happen! You're the only person who has ever, ever brought me this much pain! Do you not realise that!?" she was so angry and so emotional than her straining not to cry was causing her eyes to water profusely, "I don't know how many times it is you've made me feel like this but it has to change… I can't be near you anymore!" she groaned and bent over grabbing at her chest, "I wish that you would just go away… that everything that has ever happened would go away… I wish I could just forget everything and start again and do it better!"

She took a deep rasping breath and held her ribs in pain. He nodded at her and she wanted him to cry… she just wanted him to cry so bad because she'd never seen him cry at her hand. He needed to cry because of her. He needed to know how it feels to have someone break your heart repeatedly… to be eternally crushed… to be snapped in half… to have a broken soul.

He shook his head sadly and refused to show her any emotion. He shook his head like he didn't even know what he was feeling. It was like the words that had left her mouth hadn't even bothered him that much. He simply accepted it. He believed her words and he agreed with her. It unnerved her.

"I'm sorry I've been such an inconvenience to you." He muttered with a cracked and broken smile.

She shook her head disappointed at him. It was either an "I'm sorry" or some other irrelevant comment that didn't really mean anything. He just kept accepting everything and not acting on it. He knew the mistakes he had made. He knew he had hurt so many people and that he had a lot of truths to tell and a lot of things to make amends for. He may have thought that he was some angel as of late for the good he had done, but it wasn't enough for her. He may have told the truth a few times but she had always told the truth. He had to learn that.

She felt disgusted at herself for kissing him again.

"Miley Ray! Where are you?!" her mother said as she came into the hallway looking at them standing there together. At first, from the sight of them standing together in what she had discovered from her secret powers that be as another heated and angered argument, she looked like she wanted to yell at her Daughter and chastise her for being anywhere near the boy that had as good as ruined their family. But Miley could see that she knew what was happening in the present by the way that she didn't seem to care about Nick once she'd shook her head back into focus. Brandi had called her as soon as Miley had hung up and she had told her. Momma was in on the play. She was already working a plan. And it started by dragging Miley from that hallway and back into her dressing room, putting everything she needed into her case and then making a quick exit, signing very few autographs on the way. It wasn't until they were in their car on the way to their hotel that her mother finally rounded on her wanting to know some truth.

"What the heck were you doing with that boy alone?"

Miley gawped at her and shook her head.

"Nothing."

Her mother shook her head, "It sure didn't sound like nothing…"

"Well it was…" Miley looked out of the window and nodded surely, "It was absolutely nothing… and there never will be anything because I want nothing more to do with that boy as long as I live and I can assure you of that momma…"

Her mother's gaze bore into her but she refused to turn around, "What happened?"

Miley shook her head and let a smile fall slightly to her lips. Her mother never gave up, "Nothing, mom…" she sighed and began to crack her knuckles nervously, "What's happening with Justin?"

Her mother looked down at her phone and Miley watched her reflection in the window. Her mother shook her head and scrolled through everything that could possibly help them, "I don't know, baby girl… I'm trying to get hold of your father… he'll know more than we do… because I have no clue what we're meant to do… or what we have to do…"

Miley jumped, because just like usual, as soon as she mentioned his name, her mother's phone was blowing up with her father's ring tone. She snapped it quickly to her ear and Miley watched, her head resting in her palm as her mother continued to mumble "Uhuh" and "Oh my lord" down the phone to her father. She could hear him explaining and just from the odd word that she caught onto, she knew that it was bad and that this was the start of something that would take a long time to die down (if it ever did). Selena was almost as exposed as Miley. She could see the headlines already "Replacement beats Miley to the punch: Selena caught with Miley's ex in Tijuana!" She could hear the shutters of the cameras each time she blinked. This was going to make everything ten times more worse than ever. Selena would go into hiding… it was customary. They were told to hide out for a few days once something blew up in their faces. It gave them time to think of a good enough game plan if there was no one to see and verify something. No one could talk if there was no evidence. All the press had known was that she was missing… they didn't know where or with whom she was with. Nobody did. It was for sure that Justin would keep their whereabouts secret until the best possible moment when he would reveal them to someone who could get him a job or a large wad of cash. He would wait until there would be ultimate impact, the best chance of his own survival and until he had everything he wanted before he would tell the truth.

Miley was sure of it.

"Okay… I'll talk to you later…"

Her mother sighed as she cancelled the phone call.

"He doesn't know where he is."

She let out a breath of cold air. Big Surprise there.

Miley nodded noticing some street vendors selling scarves on the street corner. She watched them as one of them started yelling at a girl about Miley's age, as he started pulling scarves from her bag and yelling at her that he was calling the police because she hadn't paid for them. She watched as the girl spat in the guys face and bolted as fast as she could the other way. She'd been caught and she wasn't going to give up. There was no way that she was going to go down in history as a thief. Miley could imagine the girl's single mom and a few other kids… an older brother… maybe a sister with a few kids of her own. For some reason, her face was replaced with the one of a girl that had once been her friend, her flawless face now beheld imperfections and her slick, smooth dark brown hair was greast and dank, her eyes that were once bright barely glowed with the memories of what she could have been.

"Your dad spoke to a producer that had been interested in Justin while you were together…" her mother explained, "Now that Justin's single… they're offering him a contract on the terms that he upholds the innocent image that seems to appeal to people… as long as that happens… they're in talks to sign…"

Miley let out a laugh of disbelief. How ironic…

She smiled trying not to lose control.

"So basically he's blown it?"

Her mother chuckled weakly, "It looks like it…"

Miley looked around to her mother and caught her eye instantly, "What do we do?"

Her mother's eyes were kind and sympathetic as they bore into her. She shook her head and pushed the hair from Miley's eyes protectively. Miley knew what she was going to say… but she wasn't sure she wanted to hear it.

"There's nothing we can do… We just have to carry on with our own work…"

A/N: Was it any good…?

Let me know friends… I've got a few chapters written of everything but they need reading over… I'll U/D them ASAP.

Love B xo