A/N: Here's Chapter 25. Last completed chapter I have until I can write some more :(
This won't be what you expect. I just counted how many chapters are left in this story and it's rather... interesting. I think you'll be happy.
xx
Chapter 25 - Skipping A Beat
He was dancing around to eighties Christmas songs and classics when she turned in her seat to watch him. Mandy and Joe were laughing at him as the pair of them danced just as expertly and excellently as they usually did, their bodies popping and locking, rising and falling against each other as they smiled and laughed amongst their group of peers. Kevin and his girlfriend were shuffling on their feet, looking completely uninterested in what was going on around them. Demi was dancing with Mrs J as she laughed and jokingly nudged Joe in the arm as he teased her about her old eighties haircut when most of the songs had been released. The entire room was a mingling buzz of multiple endless amounts of bodies all moving and shaking against each other to form one separate ecstatic entity.
For once, she was sat at the side, one of the lonely few too tired or too busy to be acting like a fool on the dance floor.
Or at least that was what she had told them when her best friends had come to drag her from her place at the table and onto the dance floor, tugging at her hands and prying the glass from her them…
She didn't want them to know what was really going on in her head…
The last hour had been spent building up her courage to walk up to him and talk to him about everything like an adult instead of in the stupid seventh grade way she'd been dealing with it. Lena was right, he deserved more than that. He deserved for her to actually talk to him rather than to yell at him. He deserved his chance to tell her everything that he wanted her to know. He deserved maturity and ease in the way she spoke instead of the daggers she'd lately been constantly been throwing at him.
When finally the courage had been plucked from the darkest recesses of her soul, he looked at her in shocked confusion when she stormed across the dance floor mid "Beat it" and tapped him on the arm to get his attention. Taking her cue, he leaned into her as she pressed a hand to his arm his face inches from hers. His dark curly hair grazed over her cheek and she took a deep breath at the tingly sensation it left there. She smiled nervously and tugged on his arm again, bringing him closer and whispering softly in his ear.
"Can I talk to you outside in the courtyard?"
His eyes bore into her and it was like he was trying to pluck all the reasons why she would want to talk to him from his mind and let them buzz around in the air. She was relieved when he nodded and, letting go of his arm, she let him press a hand to the middle of her back and guide her through the crowd receiving looks from all the people closest to them that had been dancing with him. Mandy's googly confused eyes and Joe's cocked eyebrow were joined by ignorant gazes from Kevin and his girlfriend. While the boys' mother stared at her intently, confused to where they were leaving to. She was soon put to a halt when Nick caught sight of her and indicated that they were going outside to talk. She nodded pleased. Denise had always loved Miley. She'd always wanted a daughter. Miley was a breath of fresh air in a family of five boys.
"MILEY!"
"NICK!"
"MILEY!"
"MILEY!"
"NICK!"
"THROW US THE PEACE SIGN!"
"ARE YOU GUYS BACK TOGETHER?!?"
Seeing the sight of the dozen or so paparazzi she withdrew back into his chest and shook her head. Perhaps this had been the wrong place for them to talk right now… maybe this could wait until a better time where there were no cameras and no middle-aged creepy men who could manage to take sex from every occasion.
Nick had other ideas…
He rose his hands in the air as the paparazzi attempting to silence them in their questioning and state that they had no comment. The security swarmed them as they made their way to the courtyard at the back of the venue. The ratio of security to paparazzi was hugely out-numbered and the security were cowering in fear at the amount of large bald middle-aged men with cameras that headed for the two teenagers knocking them out their way. Nick began forcing Miley behind him, acting as a human shield as they cornered them at the edge of the entrance to the courtyard making it impossible for them to get inside.
"WAIT!" Miley yelled annoyed as she pushed herself out from behind Nick, his arms continuing to attempt to shield her from all the men trying to jump on them for a photo. As usual he lost and in seconds she was beside him, holding on to his jacket as she held her hands out to stop the paparazzi.
"There's something we need to do, guys and we'd appreciate it if you gave us fifteen minutes to relieve ourselves of our necessary needs!"
The dozens of men and few woman standing in front of her gawped at her with wide open eyes as she continued to hold her hands out to stop them. They were frozen however as she waited to hear their reply. They didn't appear to have one as they just continued to stare at the pair of them. Shaking her head in annoyance, and not wanting to wait anymore, she placed her hands onto Nick's shoulders roughly pushing him through to the courtyard. She let out a loud sigh of irritation and closed the gate behind them, fuming at the paparazzi and fuming at herself for letting herself get caught in this situation. She became even angrier when she turned around and found Nick standing metres away from her, giggling as he leant against the stone circular wall.
"What?" she huffed impatiently placing her hands on her hips exhausted, "I didn't see you trying to do anything!"
He shook his head and his mouth opened as she obviously did not just hear the same exceedingly obvious innuendo as he had just done, caked in the meaning that was simply not the one she was aiming for.
"Do you not realise how dirty that just looked?" He muttered shoving his hands into his pockets, "Breaking away from a party to 'relieve necessary needs'? Are we going to jump each other or pee over the side of one of Sleeping Beauty's turrets?!"
She stared at him for a moment before letting out a large, loud sigh of frustration, "I was going for speed not literacy!"
Nick shook his head and let out a huge belly laugh that, she was ashamed to admit, brought a warm feeling of satisfaction to her chest and stomach.
"Don't laugh at me!" she sulked with a grin, moving to look over the edge of the building and over at the lights of the park and make sure that no one was watching them now that they were elevated and locked away from the paparazzi, "It's not funny…"
He continued to laugh as he stood beside her doubled over in laughter, his back against the stone wall and his hand covering his eyes as they watered with the laughter that was streaming over his face, "It's hilarious, Miles…"
"Yeah…" she shook her head, "Well it wasn't meant to be… I brought you up here for a mature and adult conversation…"
Instantly, he stopped talking and turned his head to look at her in concern. That same look he'd possessed when she'd walked to get his attention spread across his face and his hands quickly buried into his pockets. She could hear him coughing uncomfortably beside her, his nerves getting the better of him as he continued to shuffle his feet and twitch. She shook her head guiltily letting a laugh pass her lips. When had she made him so nervous just by wanting to speak to him? There used to be a time when she would want to speak to him and all he would be able to manage was a roll of his eyes as she dragged him into some private space. Now he was a wreck just by her being kind to him. Had she really been that hard on him?
She clasped her hands together as she prepared herself to speak. He saw her and took it as his cue to stand just as she was with his chest and stomach against the hard cold of the stone round wall that overlooked the kingdom. He nervously brushed his hair from his eyes and scratched his chin unable to wait. All the time, she didn't take her gaze from him, watching him from the corner of her eye as she tried desperately to think of something to say… the perfect opening line. Her mind buzzed with all the things she'd been told over the evening and she shook her head in disbelief of the one thing she couldn't seem to get her head around… the last thing she could ever imagine…
"Did you really beat Justin up?"
She was answered by a low chuckle and a shake of the head she caught from the corner of her eye. Her cheeks blushed red and all she could feel was impressed by his actions. "Wow…" she breathed her voice continually low and calm, "That's one thing I never expected to happen…"
Nick shrugged and continued to laugh, "I made him cry too…"
She turned to him slightly and nodded subtly, "I heard…"
"Yeah…"
Awkward… this conversation, in all the history of any conversation she'd ever had in her life, hands down bet all of her other awkward conversations. It made her feel sick and she didn't know what the hell she was meant to be saying or doing. She was just letting her mouth run wild and say whatever she thought best at the moment her mouth opened. It was potentially dangerous…
She blushed even redder and scoffed out a laugh. Her speech began to stuttered, "That-That's really kind of you to do that for Lena…" she said nodding her head, her eyes away from him, "It's-It's really honourable…"
He shook his head and shrugged his shoulders gently as he avoided looking at her. He was picking at the painted effect of the wall and trying to seem completely detached from the conversation.
"I didn't do it for Selena…"
She looked away from him and down at her own hand that was picking away the paint also. Her fingertips were red from the rough of the texture and noticing that her manicurist would probably kill her from ruining the edges of her nails, accusing her of biting them again, she stopped and rubbed her fingertips together to wipe away the chalky texture.
"I didn't know that you had your own issues with Justin…" she muttered clearly.
"I did it for you, Miley…" he said plainly, "I did it because I knew that you would get dragged into deeper mess with the media if they found out that Selena had been caught in that hotel room after sleeping with that no good scumbag and loosing all of her charm and appeal. I knew that they'd just drag you into too and you'd be accused of sleeping with him too or you know… something even more pathetic and childish…" he paused and flicked some of the paint over the edge in irritated annoyance, "But most of all I did it because I knew that when he lied to you, that it hurt…" their eyes met for a moment and she watched as he nodded surely of himself. He smiled sadly and shrugged his shoulders, "I know how much you don't like liars, Miles…"
She didn't know if it was the way that his eyes bore into hers, the way that his face was stern, serious and certain of truth or the way that he called her Miles… but she was rendered motionless and speechless for the few minutes that he remained looking at her, making her feel like she was the only person in the world. He made her feel like she was the only thing he'd ever really seen.
Unable to take it anymore, unused to the once familiar sensation, she tore her eyes away and looked down at her hands.
"Oh…"
"I'm sorry if I was out of line…" he muttered quietly when she said nothing else, "I just thought that… someone needed to teach the guy a lesson and make sure he'd keep quiet…"
She shook her head, "It's fine…"
The fact that they were speaking actual words instead of throwing random phrases backwards and forwards at each other in heated amounts of angered passion was unfamiliar to her. She vaguely remembered their conversation at the music awards and what she had said. She'd got the rundown of her previous night when she'd properly woken up the morning after while eating pancakes with Mandy and Joe. They'd told her that she hadn't yelled at him like she usually done. She'd not realised how much she liked to yell and blame him for everything recently. There had once been a time when she could blame herself for being so naïve.
Guilt was a strange thing… especially when you can't seem to shake it off. She'd been guilty of lying for some time now and she had to tell the truth. She had to set the record straight.
"I don't hate you."
From the corner of her eye she saw a smile spread across his face as he nodded his head, like he was suddenly winning something, like he wasn't being defeated anymore. It was probably because he wasn't - she was.
"I know," he said gently.
"I was just angry."
He nodded, "I don't blame you."
She smiled for a second and couldn't believe how easy he was being on her. If this was him doing the admitting instead of her, she probably would have made him worker harder to explain himself rather than just accepting everything, just like the old Nick would have done. He didn't need explanations. He just accepted the reasons and was done with it. She was the one who wanted the monologues of descriptions and explanations. If he needed to explain something to someone, he could be happy with giving them a three word answer.
"Is this all you wanted to talk about, Miles?" he asked unsurely his gazing turning to her happily. His smile was still on his face and it eased her slightly bout to ask… for the incredibly childlike thing she was about to do.
"Would you be my friend again?"
She blushed when she watched his eyebrows rise in shock and disbelief. She looked away and shook her head letting a laugh erupt unsurely from somewhere within her that was trying to make all of this easier than it actually was. Her cheeks were bright red, she could feel them. Her palms were sweating to the point that her hands were fisted up tightly in fear that she was going to lose her jewellery if she didn't. She was shaking a little, nervous that he would tell her to go jump off a cliff with her slightly idiotic and uncalled for questions. She'd treated him like crap for three months… she didn't blame him if he told her to back off and leave him alone… it was no loss for either of them.
She jumped however when he leaned into her ear and smiled widely, "Do you wanna go to Paty's for breakfast tomorrow?"
Moving back slightly, she laughed at him and nodded, "I…"
She paused as she rolled her eyes as her phone started vibrating in her pocket. She was a little disappointed as she held up her hand for him to wait. Whoever this was calling her had already annoyed her just by having the cheek to call her this late at night… it was gone midnight, she was sure of it. Even she didn't take calls this late anymore. It was just rude considering that she usually had work at seven in the morning.
She pulled the buzzing entity from her pocket and looked down at it in confusion. It was her mother. Shouldn't she have been bundled up in her jammies and socks right now? Wasn't that the point of her going home early? So just like she had for the past month, she could ignore all of Miley wishes and forget about her and not worry that it was almost midnight and she was still not home. Wasn't this the purpose of making other people do the work that she was meant to do until she was at least eighteen? So she didn't have to call her at the most annoying moments to check up where she was?
"What do you want mom?" she sighed.
"Miley calm down…"her mom said frantically.
She shook her head confused and slapped her spare arm down at her side, "I am calm, Mom…" she paused nervously and gulped noticing the way she could hear her mother's heavy and frantic, almost afraid breaths at the other side of the phone line, "what's wrong, Mom?"
"Miley I want you to remain calm!" Her mother said and she let out a noise of distress, panicking her daughter whose heart instantly began to beat harder and faster.
She shook her head, "Momma… what's wrong? You're scaring me now…"
"I want you to listen carefully…" her mother's voice broke and shattered a little as Miley heard the sounds of her sister and brother lugging heavy objects and talking in low voices to each other. The tapping of her mother's feet on asphalt and the turning of wheels soon filled her ears and she'd never been more afraid of something in her life.
"I'm listening…" she mumbled nervously.
And that was when her mother began to explain, just like Miley would have usually of liked her too. Complete and utter details were poured into her ear and she instantly began to feel nauseous and dizzy. Her world began to shatter and break and fear overtook her senses as she began to shake uncontrollably. Shock rattled her bones and clouded her brain as she listened and panicked. Her eyes grew wide at each word and her hope had never been more lost.
"Baby girl… your Daddy's been in an accident…" her mother had said breathlessly, "His tour bus collided with a truck in New Jersey… We don't know what's happening… but the hospital have called and they need a next of kin to be there as soon as possible for when he gets out of surgery… I've left Noah with Mammie and the Nanny. Braison, Brandi and I are making our way there on the first plane out. Miley, listen… I need you to find your own way here because there isn't time to wait. Baby girl, it's important that you get here soon to help… it's not looking good… Do you understand? You need to get here as soon as possible… Miley? Miley? Miley-Ray?!"
But she received no answer, because as soon as Miley had heard her news, the world had clouded around her, her mother's words had mixed into an undecipherable mess in her ears and her head had begun to pound with the shock and the inability to understand what any of this meant. Her body quivered as she felt her limbs turn to jelly, her legs slipping effortlessly out from beneath her body, buckling into two as she slumped down onto the concrete. She tried to speak, to answer her mother, but it was hopeless as the world around her drowned into the black, her conscious ebbing away into nothingness…
A/N: This is ME we're talking about. It's never that easy. Approximately 20-30 more chapters to go LOL. That sounded ridiculous.
R&R x