A/N: Can someone please tell me what the NJK Awards are...? and inform me to my involvement in them...? LOL. I feel like such an idiot. I'm so confused.

LONGER CHAPTER :D

Here's chapter 31. Almost there guys :)

Chapter 31 - A False Normality

"Do you think you have enough clothes?" he teased as he helped her carry her mass amount of bags, while struggling to clutch his one lone bag of must needed items, "Because we can go back and buy you another truck load if you'd like."

She rolled her eyes at him and hoisted a bag onto her shoulder as it slipped, "You heard what momma said on the phone this morning. He's going to be here for weeks... and I need to have choice..." he cocked an eyebrow at her, "Fine! And I couldn't decide!"

He smiled at her and stopped looking around at their position, now dressed in head to toe in new clean clothing, hats and scarves covering their identities as they walked the streets of New York City in the winter. They could have been recognised if it wasn't for the freak flash storm of sleat and snow that had begun as they got on the bus early that morning. No one seemed to want to recognise anyone else as they fought their way through the haze of white; everyone rushing to the safety of their homes and workplaces. Nick and Miley would have probably lost each other if she hadn't of grabbed his finger to hold onto as they walked. He tried not to think too much of it, and knew that it was just so that she didn't get lost in the unfamiliar place. There was no other reason for her to do such a thing... he kept telling himself so.

She'd been weird with him since he'd called her beautiful the night previous. For a moment, as he sat playing guitar on the couch, he thought he'd blown it and that she didn't like it. But twenty minutes after she'd 'gone to bed', she returned and told him she could not sleep. He'd patted the couch beside him and handed her some candy, and slowly searched the shelves for a movie he knew she'd like. She'd stopped him when he reached Frankie's Disney movies and asked him to put on his favourite. He'd slipped Peter Pan into the DVD player and had sat down beside her. The next thing he'd realised was that it was morning, and that she was asleep on his chest with his arm around her shoulders.

He caught sight of her pause as they reached Times Square, her eyes drifting up to where the Rockin' Eve Studios usually were. He could see the emotions shift in her face, her hand drop from clutching his fingers. He could nearly see the memories rushing over her eyes like an old black and white movie as she stood stuck to the spot, her head looking up at the studios mesmerized, her eye glassy with the rush. He had to do something.

"That was where we went wrong..." he whispered to her as people walked around them in the snow.

She turned straight around to him and shook her head. Her cheeks were pink and he wasn't sure if it was from the cold or from the anger that was suddenly apparent in her voice as she spoke. She shook her head at him adamantly.

"No..." she said and he could barely hear her through the wind, "It wasn't..." he looked at her questioningly, "We went wrong way before we were ever in Times Square, Nick... a long, long way before..."

He chastised himself internally as he watched her waiting for his response. She shook her head angrily at him as he continued to stand facing her in silence in the place that always meant change for them. She scoffed when he continued to stare at her, turning on her brand new boots and turning to walk away, leaving him doing the only thing he seemed to be doing lately - running after her.

"This is why I never take public transport..." Miley mumbled grumpily, folding her arms across her chest and shivering slightly.

He smiled at her as she looked out of the empty bus window. Most of the roads were blocked and their was hardly anyone on the streets or on the road as the snow had put a stop on most travel of the day. They'd been stuck on the bus for four hours now; stuck in the traffic trying to get out of the gridlock of vehicles leading out of the city. They were the only people on the bus apart from the old crazy lady at the front of the bus who seemed more interested in her own fingers more than the fact that two teenagers were sat at the back of the bus, climbing all over the seats attempting to get comfortable as they faced each other, legs tucked against their chests, watching the only interesting thing they could see.

"I think there's plenty more other reasons why you don't and, more importantly, can't take pubic transport Miles..." Nick asked as he took out his cellphone, clicking onto his camera and pointing it at Miley, "It has little to do with the fact that we've been moving at a snails pace for this long..."

She smiled up at him, feeling awkward as she felt his camera snap pictures of her, wrapped up in her coat and her winterwear, brand new black leather biker boots keeping her legs warm, socks up to her thighs itching in their newness underneath her jeans.

"I would use public transport if it wasn't so freaking slow all the time," she said to him nodding, cheeks going pink as he just seemed more interested in taking pictures of her on his blackberry than he did about actually listening to what she was saying, "It's good for the environment... but it's speed seems to cancel out the eco-friendlyness. I'd rather ride my bike."

"Or get a hybrid..." he chuckled over the top of his cellphone.

She smiled and brushed her hair from her face, pulling her hat over her bandage, and nodded in agreement, "Or get a hybrid..."

He snapped away his pictures of her, watching her cheeks blush as he did so. He just seemed to be taking dozens and dozens of pictures of her as she tried to avoid his eyes and the concentration on his face, looking out of the windows and smiling uncomfortably at his expression as he admired each one.

"So, you're going to save the world, one bike and bus ride at a time...huh?" he smiled and continued.

She nodded, "Apparently so..." She laughed at him as he didn't even show any kind of sign that he'd heard or even understood that she was speaking. He was instead looking at the image of her on the screen of his cellphone, in awe of what he saw, trying his best to fully represent her image into the photographic form.

"Would you stop taking pictures of me!?" she laughed covering her face with her gloved hands, only for a few more snapping sounds to issue and echo in her ears around the empty bus. She reached forward, trying to take the phone from his hand, his smile growing as he pulled it away from her and took another picture of her smiling and laughing at his playfulness.

"Dude! Stop it! I look terrible!" she pulled her hat over her eyes and smiled, still amused by his actions and listened as the snapping continued. She peeked out at him from beneath her hat and narrowed her eyes at him. He just shrugged and smiled.

"You look beautiful... and ya know... serene..." he smiled tapping his phone against his palm nervously, his eyes glittering at her nervously, "Calm..."

Unable to control them, her cheeks turned pink as she shifted in her uncomfy seat and chuckled nonchalantly, almost soundlessly at his words. She pushed her hair from her eyes and looked at him matter-of-factly.

"You lost the right to call me those types of things a long time ago, buddy boy."

Her words were stern, but her face wasn't; completely calm and serene just like he said, as she looked out of the window and rearranged her now out of place hat onto her head again. He looked at her and just watched as she made herself look perfect again, a smile creeping onto his lips as he tried his best not to kiss her there and then. She turned to him to find him staring at her and shot him a half-attempt at a smile. It was enough of and excuse for her words and he just returned an even weaker one back to her.

"I know..." he nodded, and she gulped at his sincerity and understanding, "I know... but I'm going to earn the right back," he nodded sure of himself and it just made her feel awkward at how sure he actually appeared, "As soon as I can..." she blushed and he continued to nod and shrug his shoulders at her, explaining his comprehending of the words she'd spoke, trying to explain that he was trying. It was all he could do.

"I'm not the boy I used to be..." he muttered pointing his phone at her again and letting it click to take a picture.

She blushed, laughed low and looked away from him, mere steps away from believing every word he spoke.

She nodded, and tried her best to show that she still didn't believe him.

"Sure..." She turned away from him and smiled, just to make sure she wasn't tempted to look at him and see the sureness in his face again, threatening to bring down everything she was sure of. She closed her eyes and forced away the world, trying to dissapear back into her own little world where everything was easier. But soon, her world was broken into by the sounds of the clicking of the camera on his phone. She smiled again and shook her head, refusing internally to say anything else, because even though she would have hated to admit it, she kind of enjoyed the attention.

"Country star Billy Ray Cyrus was taken into surgery again today after his collision with a truck while on his tour bus in New Jersey three days ago. Whilst talking to his publiscist earlier today we have been informed that Billy Ray's two oldest daughters, son and wife have been at his side the entire time he has been at the hospital. The star was in surgery to reallign and rebuild the bones in his two broken legs... we will find more information today."

"DAMMIT!" she said throwing the remote across the living room from her position laying on the couch, "DAMMIT! DAMMIT! DAMMIT!"

Nick watched her, lying on her front beating her hands into his mom's pillows, hands filled with plates and the bag of take out he'd just got from the delivery guy at the front door. Her hair, that was still slightly damp and curly from the wetness of the snow that had fallen into it, covered her face as she beat her fist into the fabric and muffled her screams into the padding. He watched her for a few moments, putting everything down on the table and emptying his arms before he pressed his hand flat to her back to get her attention.

"Hey..." he whispered and she turned to him, showing him her moist eyes, "What's wrong?" she sat up sulkily and sighed as he put his arm quickly around her and pressed a passing kiss to her forehead before she could even tell that it was there, "It's okay... it's just crap fed by the publicists..."

She shook her head as he loaded up a plate of food for her to eat and handed her a fork and a can of Diet coke. She smiled at him thankfully and hungrily tucked into the food like she hadn't eaten in weeks.

"Thanks..." she sniffed and allowed him to pass her the blanket she'd somehow named as her own, helping her to put it around her shoulders, "I don't even know why it's still getting to me... I mean... it's been months since I've even spoke to him... I should be used to it by now... the shunning... and the leaving me ringing on the phone unable to leave a message anymore... it should all be normal now..."

She sniffed and wiped her nose on the back of her hand, turning to find him staring at her questioningly. She frowned, confused, the intensity of his gaze making her insides bubble with anticipation and nerves. Her eyes glazed over as they stared into his for a few moments, before she could take it no more and she had to ask.

"What?" she said, her voice failing her pathetically, "What is it?"

He shrugged his shoulders, and his gaze never wavered, it stayed the same, slowly drilling her into the seat paralysed and unmoving as she looked back at him, feeling him burning into her brain. He shook his head, his eyes narrowing as he put down his own fork onto his plate and shrugged his shoulders at her, instantly making her feel like she was an idiot who didn't know or understand something... like he was smarter. In a way he was the smarter one, but she would never let him believe or know that she thought that.

"Miles..." he said with a smile filled with hope, the same hope he'd been carrying with him for some time now, "Do you not get it?" she looked at him questioning him, confused, "As long as the phone's still ringing... he knows that you're there... he knows that you're still safe..."

She felt a smile that she couldn't control break out onto her face. She looked down at her plate, trying to force it away, but it wouldn't leave. Instead, she chuckled quietly as he grinned at her.

"When did you get so wise?"

He laughed and shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know..."

Then there was another of those unbreakable gazes... causing them to stare at at each other, eyes darting millimetres to search every recess of each other, searching each other for signs of something they couldn't understand. For Miley it was something that gave her sign that he was still the boy who had broke her heart, in hopes of the continuation of healing it. For Nick, is was something that told him that she was giving into him, she had opened up to him and everything would stay that way. The only problem was, was the barrier of something they couldn't see or understand between their gazes, stopping them from finding either.

"You wanna watch another movie?" she asked after pushing her food around her plate for a few minutes, no longer hungry or able to eat from the buzzing fluttering in her stomach, "I feel like we could watch a whole lot of movies while I stay here..."

He nodded and leant back against the couch as she stood up and went to pick one. He stared around the room, from their still full plates to the shape of her body as she bent down to look at the shelves, carefully reading out the titles to him. She was perfect and he would never be able to deny anything other than that fact when asked. She was perfect and he was sure that she didn't see things that way.

She picked one, to his arguements that it was a girly film, and that no guy should ever have to watch The Notebook more than once in his lifetime, and he'd already seen it once with his mom. She refused, putting it on and strolling back over to the couch, sitting closer than when she'd left, and throwing her blanket over the pair of them without realising. She handed him his plate, and took her own, telling them they'd be sorry other wise and they laughed and joked as they settled into the movie. He watched the movie and realised as a more adult guy that it was actually a pretty sad story, but a great love story all the same. He didn't realise how engrossed he'd become in the story until he heard her sniffling from her position laying in his lap, her head resting on a pillow, while his hand stroked the ends of her hair that lay by his hand. He looked down and up to the TV where the credits were rolling and debated what to do. He stilled his hands from stroking her hair and waited.

She sat up finally and stretched, the exhaustion of days built up behind her eyes. She showed him no signs of reaction to the position they had previously been in; instead she simply yawned and stood up.

"I think I'm going to go to bed..." she mumbled looking down at him.

He nodded and moved the cushion from his lap, beating it softly against the back of the couch, "Yeah... wow... it's nearly midnight..."

She nodded and smiled, waving to him as he muttered goodnight so quietly he doubted that she heard it. He looked up at her as she stood there still, not moving from her spot and frowned questioningly as he watched the turmoil across her face.

"Thanks for being here for me..." she said shyly, cheeks reddening as she pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders, "You've helped a lot... with everything... ya know?"

He nodded, "I know..." he muttered timidly, "It's fine... I've been happy to help."

She nodded, almost relieved and finally stepped away as he bent forward, tidying the plates and preparing to take them out to the kitchen and into the dishwasher. He could hear her footsteps wandering around the house as he concentrated hard on straightening out the living room in case of a random visit from his Grandparents or Mandy and Joe's arrival and sighed as he put the DVD back on the shelf, his hands filled with plates and the bag of empty take-out cartons. He bent down, putting her shoes together by the door so she could find them, and stood up, only to jump back in shock at what he saw.

"What's wrong?" he asked her as he saw the hint of panic in her face, "You okay?"

She bit her lip and shrugged her shoulders, "Will you stay with me again?" he frowned in confusion at her awkwardness and her sudden frustration and desperation. She scoffed out a laugh that in no way made her look any calmer and more collected, in fact it made her look worse, like she was begging. "Please. Stay with me."

And then, he saw it in her sparkly blue eyes, that something he'd been looking for.

A/N: So... yeah... friday night... major boredom that I now have no life... and umm yeah...

Review me and make me happy so I write more chapters... which of course includes the next highly highly romantic... sensual chapter that includes... yeah...

Review me and I'll tell you :):)

Love xx

PS. Dont forget to tell a gal what the heck the NJK awards are :D Save her the confusion of her onsetting increasing old age.