A/N: I am the favourite author of 99 people as I write this. That's freaking amazing.
So, Chapter 35... I'm guessing at least another 20 chapters to go... is that okay?
This chapter... actually I have nothing to say about this chapter, so I'm just going to let you read it.
I'm reaally glad you guys liked the last chapter, I didn't really think a lot of it until I read it back wondering what all the fuss was about and it's actually one of my better chapters. I also had a complaint that the last chapter was too short. So Here's a reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally long one :) (*cough* that's what he said)
xx
Chapter 35 - One For My Baby
It was almost Christmas - December 21st, in fact - and Mandy and Joe were going crazy trying to make Christmas the best for Miley considering the circumstances she was faced with. They'd got the biggest Christmas tree, bought all her favourite things and tried to make her feel at home as much as possible. Her parents, much to their anger and annoyance, still refused to attempt to make things better between father and daughter, while Miley tried everything she could think of. She'd spent the last two weeks going to interviews and press conferences, making appearances on TV shows all across New York City. She refused to leave New York and Jersey. She spent most of her days riding around in a car with her publicist trying to decide what they could do to keep things calm. The media hated that she hadn't been very active on their magazine covers for weeks. They had tried everything they could to find her, not being intelligent enough to realise that while Miley had been missing and her father had been sick, that Joe and his brother's had been missing also, taking the opportunity to try and "work on their next album."
"Did you get the stuff for dinner yet?" Joe mumbled as he put up more decorations around their very lush and well decorated Christmas tree that he and Mandy had picked out themselves, adorning disguises and wandering onto the streets of Jersey by themselves in Joe's rental car.
Mandy nodded, as she crossed some things off of the list she'd made of gifts they needed to buy for everyone. Their families planned on joining them for dinner and gift opening on Christmas day, leaving them to prepare an entire day on their own. It was something that the two ditzy lovers were new to. It had proved to be quite successful so far.
"Where's Miley today?" Joe asked as he strained to put paper chains across the kitchen ceiling, climbing up the stepladder that had become like his new BFF he was on it so much.
Mandy looked down at the other list that sat at the head of the breakfast table and sighed, "The View," she told him, "I hope that it goes okay..."
Joe agreed as he climbed down from the step-ladder and pressed a kiss to her head as walked by. Mandy smiled up at him widely, their honeymoon phase apparently untainted and unharmed by all the bad around them, still half living in their own little romantic bubble and dreading having to live the other half outside of it with the real world.
His eyes rolled back into his head and Mandy grinned at him stroking his jaw as she heard the front door open and Miley screaming at the publicist yet again, telling him that she didn't want to move into a hotel room in the city before slamming the door in his face. Joe braced himself with a sigh, sitting down beside his girlfriend with a half-amused smile taking hold of her hand and sipping on his coffee as they waited for her to enter.
"Stupid! Stupid publicity! Freaking-- UGH! I can't believe he doesn't..."
"Speak of the devil..." Mandy whispered, leaving Joe smiling as Miley wandered through the kitchen, shedding her outerwear onto chairs and kitchen worktops as she went.
"Fricken' dumbass!!" she groaned as she took a bottle of water out of the refrigerator and opened it quickly taking a sip, "I'm calling Mom..."
Joe looked at Mandy in shock, both of their brows raising at the same time, "Must have had a bad day..."
She wandered around the kitchen, eyes down on her Blackberry, shaking her head as Joe and Mandy looked at each other for answers, knowing that they weren't getting any from the girl in turmoil in front of them. Mandy shrugged; watched as Miley grabbed some of her things that had been left dotted around the house in her lengthy stay, and listened as she mumbled under her breath trying to press the buttons of her Blackberry. She created nothing but trouble for her angered self as it seemed she couldn't quite concentrate enough to get the keys in the right order, her shouts and soft profanities making her best friends wince in the echoes they created off of the walls. Their winces only worsened when Miley bumped directly into the cold, wet, soaking body of Joe's younger brother, clutching at the towel wrapped around his waist, his hair stuck to his face as he searched for something of his own that Joe was probably about to be blamed for.
"OH!" Miley squeaked, and it was the look of pure shock that caused Joe to bury his mouth into his hands behind their backs and watch on entertained.
Her eyes were wide and her mouth fell open as her eyes darted to every corner of his chiselled chest. The contour of each muscle was outlined by the pearls of clear perfect water that dripped from the still soaking wet strands of his hair. Her mouth began to open and close as she saw the sight of him standing their wearing nothing but a navy blue towel, making it instantly doubtful she would ever be able to remove the image from her mind. She was mumbling, trying to be coherent as Nick just smiled awkwardly, clutching the towel and running a hand through his hair. Miley's hands and the sleeves of her purple t-shirt were soaked where she had bumped into him, but apparently she didn't care as she stepped unsurely from foot to foot trying to find her words.
"Jesus Christ on a motorcycle..." she said finally, loud enough for Joe to snort loudly and muffle a guffaw of laughter as both he and Mandy covered his mouth with their hands.
Eventually she decided simply on looking down at her feet, her own hand running to forehead trying to shield her eyes and resist the urge to stare at him for too long. Mandy could see her mouthing curses to herself under her breath silently and would have sympathised with her best friend if it hadn't been for the hilariously obvious sexual tension that they had lowered the atmosphere with. She decided to watch on, her hand still wrapped around Joe's jaw to keep him silent.
"I was... uh... I was looking for my insulin pump..." he told her with a uncomfortable smile and pink cheeks, "I though I took it in the bathroom with me but uhh.... I must have forgotten it..."
Miley nodded nervously and pointed behind her, crossing her arms across each other as she did so, "I think I saw it in the kitchen..." she darted her eyes up to look at him and grimaced noticeably as he struggled to squeeze past her, their bodies sliding against each other again.
"Sorry..." he said as he covered her in the left over water covering his body, "Sorry..."
She forced an awkward smile and shook her head, clutching her phone to her chest protectively, "Don't worry 'bout it..." she grimaced again as his towel caught on her boot. He tugged it away carefully, "I'm just gonna...."
"Yeah."
"...I need to make a phone call."
"Of course."
"I'll see you later..."
"Cool... bye..."
"See ya."
Nick watched Miley leave the room, his hands still clutching at the towel as he made sure she was out of sight before moving. He sighed irritated at himself before turning around and catching sight of the one thing that he didn't want to see at that moment.
Mandy and Joe stared at him awkwardly, like what had just happened hadn't been real at all. They were dumbfounded at Nick who just shook his head at them and wandered over to the kitchen to grab his pump and storm from their presence.
Mandy looked at Joe who was simply shocked to the core, mouth wide open at what he had just witnessed.
"What the heck?!"
"I know..." Mandy sighed as she rested her elbow on the table, propping her chin up on her hand.
"What are they doing?!" Joe hissed and Mandy regretted ever telling him that she found it kinda cute how he gossiped like a girl, cos in actual fact, he liked to girl talk more than she did sometimes, "I mean... it's obvious that they're like totally in love with each other!"
Mandy nodded bored and dug around the piles of decorations for the remote to the small TV that sat atop the kitchen counter, "You're telling me Dude..." she said as she yawned, clicking on the TV to find that White Christmas was on TV, "Mmm... you know what it is... don't you?"
Joe frowned, trying to fight the urge to let himself get immersed in the movie, "What?"
Mandy shrugged her shoulders and wrapped her arm around his neck as he moved back against her.
"They're in de-niley."
Joe laughed as he watched the movie, suddenly laughing hard at what was happening on screen causing Mandy to becoming confused to what he found funny, and look down at him.
"What?"
Joe slowed down his laughed, "You totally know what we need to do, don't you?"
Mandy shook her head at him and sighed, "You say that I'll know, but I never, ever do, Joseph..."
Joe smiled before leaning to kiss her, "The best things happen while you're dancing, Amanda..." he whispered as he jumped up from his chair heading out of the room to find some source of internet, "Just listen to what Bing and Danny have to say..."
Mandy realised just what he was talking about and smiled happily, "If you get this right, Joseph, I will be incredibly impressed it we get a 'White Christmas'."
"Ohmygosh..." Miley said unimpressed as they wandered through the doors and into the large hall filled with already spinning doubles, "What the heck is this place?"
Joe laughed and looked around at her, feeling that she didn't quite like the idea of their surprise outing he had planned for them all on his own with Mandy's supervision. She'd been sceptical when he'd told both her and Nick to put on their best clothes and join them for an evening of fun filled festivities in order to get the holidays started. She'd come down to their kitchen an hour later as the other three stood around waiting for her, late as usual, only to find that there had been some changes they hadn't realised during today's visit to New York. She was wearing her a brand new perfect dress, barely any make-up and most noticeably, all her own hair and only her own hair. It was now a good few inches shorter grazing the tops of her breasts tauntingly. Joe could hear the echo, feel the vibrations and see the bobbing of Nick's throat as he gulped at the sight of her. His plan was half moving into motion.
"We're in a retirement home..." Nick mumbled to her his hands in his pockets as his coat lay thrown over his arm, "It's thier matinee tea dance... we used to sneak here as kids to listen to them play the rat pack songs..."
Miley smiled at him without realising, "Cute."
Nick's eyes sparkled, "It's was Kevin's idea."
Before their mini-moment could continue, Joe was grabbing her hand and spinning her into a twirl moving her towards the dancefloor, refusing to let her argue with him as she protested that she was wearing the wrong shoes. In fact she was wearing perfect shoes and he knew that being the closet metro that he was. Nick watched, smiling at them as Joe spun her some more before dipping her backwards to the grins of the old couples.
"Are you gonna ask me to dance or not, Mr Jonas?" Mandy giggled as she stood behind him, "Because we're gonna look silly otherwise."
Nick smiled at held out his hand almost instantly, his body already moving to the Frank Sinatra song that was already playing, "Care to have this dance Miss Mandy?"
She took his hand and let him lead her, "I do indeed Mr Nicholas."
"So..." Joe said as he moved her around the floor, keeping his eye on Mandy the best he could in order to continue his plan, "You look pretty today..."
Mileyy looked up at him, "Ew. What do you want?"
Joe shook his head, shrugged his shoulders and tried to look as innocent as possible, "Nothing..." he smiled, "Nothing at all... I was just wondering how you've been doing with all the stuff that's been going on..." Miley looked at him and waited for him to make himself clear to what "Stuff" he was talking about. There had been so much stuff going on, and they both knew it. It was time to make everything clear - just in case. "I mean... you know... your dad... the interviews and... ya know... Nick..."
Miley smirked at him as he kept his eyes away from her just so that he couldn't see the assumed anger they would possess. He failed to see the amusement in her eyes and he looked around eventually when she didn't say anything for a few long moments where he was unsure of the preservation of his life. When he saw the smirk and the twinkling eyes, he knew that he was okay, and that at most he'd get a kick in the shins. But he could deal with that, so he pushed his luck and smiled.
"Just friends." She mumbled in finality, but it didn't stop him from raising his brow at her and smiling even wider.
"Just friends?"
She nodded, "Yep."
Joe giggled, "But you and Nick have never really been just friends, Miles."
She sighed, "Well we now we are, Joe."
Joe nodded, in understanding and she could see him thinking, almost hear the cogs turning in his brain, where he was thinking so hard. His eyes were over her shoulder as he held her in his arms still swaying and turning her to the music and he was looking at something that was approaching. She turned to attempt to see what he was looking at, but before she could, he was talking and her eyes were back on him instantly.
"I think you need to tell him that..." he said and he spun her outwards one last time, until she shook unsteadily on her feet, spinning across the floor.
"Wha--"
All she felt was the grunt of acknowledgement of two bodies crashing against each other in the centre of the dance floor. Her hair fell in her face, and as she brushed it back and tried to steady herself on her heals, she became aware that Joe had let go and was now floating around the dance floor with Mandy, off around the edges where she couldn't get to them without being noticed. Instead, they'd left her standing beside Nick, who was smoothing out his fresh crisp suit.
"Nice..." she muttered as Nick finally realised that they were standing together below the sparkling disco ball, not moving and just facing each other like they didn't know what they were meant to be doing.
She smiled at him nervously and fidgeted on the spot. He smiled back and shrugged his shoulders, "Wanna dance?"
She smiled at the ridicularity of his question considering they were already standing in the middle of a few dozen oldies who were already dancing, and it seemed only natural for them to be dancing in the centre of them. Instead of answering, she just chuckled low in her throat and wrapped an arm around his shoulders and offered him her hand. He took it, wrapping his spare arm securely around her waist and holding her against him tightly.
They smoothly moved around the room, in silence, watching all the other couples smile and laugh with each other. It seemed that the only couple Miley and Nick's eyes were concerned with looking at were that of Joe and Mandy who were still stupidly dancing around the room like they'd been doing it for years, joking with each other, kissing each other in jest and smiling widely when one another whispered something into each other's ear. Miley stared, watching them, completely unaware that Nick was doing the exact same thing as they lazily listened and moved to the music.
"They're really great together..." Nick muttered and she looked up at him, noticing what was in his eye line and agreeing with a nod.
She smiled and inwardly swooned at the change in the music. Elvis Presley's "Can't help falling in love with you"... it seemed just a little to fitting for the sight that she saw before her. Joe and Mandy couldn't help falling in love with each other, and hadn't been able to stop. She wanted a story like that so badly. She wanted a boy who couldn't help falling in love with her and that just wanted to love her and accept the inevitability of their love. She wanted a fairytale. She wanted the magic of a million love songs. She wanted a love that was like no other.
"They're in love with each other..." she whispered with a nod, "They were meant to be together. It was inevitable."
Nick looked down at her, just as gentle as she looked up at him, when hearing the words leave her mouth. She smiled at him and he relaxed when he realised she wasn't being unkind when she reminded him of what he had done to stop them being so inevitable, but was simply informing him that he was small in the grand scheme of things. She was informing him that it didn't really matter what he had done, because love was stronger than anything else and could endure anything... even the idiotic actions of a childish imbecile who wanted the world as his own. And he understood that now. He understood that their were bigger things in the world and he was just a miniscule part of it.
"I regret keeping them from each other..." he told her quickly as they gazed at one another.
Miley smiled and shrugged, "There's no point beating yourself up about it now..." she said airily, "They're together now and what you did probably only made them stronger in the long run..." she shrugged again and it was a little more pronounced causing him to smile, "They should probably be thanking you really..."
Nick shook his head, remembering Miley's very public demanding of them talking to each other at her birthday party, "They should be thanking both of us..."
Miley smiled, "I don't think that my hand in getting them together was nearly as well done as yours..."
He smiled and shook his head at her, "Things would be a lot different... a lot better if I hadn't done all that stuff, Miles..."
Miley stared at him and shook her head, "It's all to do with learning and growing up, Nick... it had to be done at some point," she smiled fondly and shrugged trying to seem blasé, "Plus, I like how we're friends now..." he looked at her confused, so she cleared her throat and explained as his dark brown eyes bore into her a little too deeply, "We weren't really friends before..."
Nick looked a little hurt and Miley felt the over-whelming urge to correct herself and change her statement to something a little less hurtful and mind-altering.
"Weren't we?" he asked her as she let her mind buzz, trying to think of something that wasn't the truth, but knowing, almost instantly, that it was going to come out anyway.
She shook her head, "We were together from the moment we met, Nick... the moment we stopped being together it was over for us, almost instantly. We couldn't be friends back then because I was way too in love with you and you were too way over being in love with me... For me it hurt just hearing your name, for you there was just boredom in hearing mine," he stared at her like she was offering him some instant clarity through her marvellous words, "It's been nice these last few weeks just learning to be your friend... I like that a lot. It makes me feel better."
He wouldn't lie; part of him ached in knowing that she was so happy with them being friends, the finality in her voice removing any hope from him that they would ever be together again. But for some strange reason, the solidarity of her words assured him that he wasn't going to lose her again and that they were going to be friends for a long time. He would settle for that. He would settle for being her friend. He liked it too. He liked being there for her and holding her without being judged for it. He liked that he could ask her if she was okay and have the amount of confidence in her that she would answer him truthfully. Slowly he was beginning to think that maybe this was only wanted he needed. That being her friend would always be enough for him and that he couldn't ruin that by continuing his hopeless mission to make her fall in love with him again. Maybe she loved him now, but as a friend... and that was enough.
He narrowed his sparkling eyes and nodded at her.
"Me too."
She smiled and he couldn't help but catch the need to smile himself, "Great."
"Friends is good."
But the sparks in their stomachs said different as they stood below the sparkling, spinning disco ball in the middle of the heavily holiday decorated dance hall. The bubbling and the caressing of emotions inside their bellies said so much more than they wanted them too. Those aching flutters and tremors upon looking at the sight of each other's eyes, so transparent to each other and showing each other everything they needed to, begged and demanded more than what their words told of them. The connection between the two was stronger than they would have liked at that moment, their hands moulded together like they would never part. The half darkness twinkling with the sparkling rainbow reflections that covered and illuminated their faces so that they could see nothing clearly but each other, smiles still present on their faces, but failing slowly as realisation seemed to hit slowly.
"Hey!"
Miley jumped and turned around to find that the music had stopped and that she and Nick were just still turning on the spot below the disco ball. She turned, instantly blushing, to find Joe standing beside her, his hands on both their shoulders shaking them pointedly. She coughed and unwrapped her arms from around Nick taking a step back, looking at his brother expectantly as she blushed red and continued to uncomfortably smile.
"What's up?"
"Do you remember Old Mandy and Jenna...?"
Miley's stomach dropped, but she smiled anyway, trying to force away the memories of exactly who Mandy and Jenna were.
"Yeah..." Nick said before her and both brother's turned to her to see her answer. She nodded uncomfortably, folding her arms and frowning. She watched Nick as the brothers spoke, "Why?"
"Mandy's having a party. She works here and we just saw her... and she invited me... in a rather... sultry and suggestive manner to her party that my Mandy caught sight of."
"Uhoh..." Miley said knowing that her Manderz could sometimes be a complete idiot about things like that.
"Yeah..." Joe said with a roll of his eyes, "So to stop her from kicking the crap outta her.... or, ya know, initiating a dance off..." He smiled at Miley widely, rubbing his arm after she punched him on the top of it, hard, "I got all four of us invited... didn't say any names of course... just said that I was gonna bring my girlfriend and a couple of friends..."
"Joe..." Nick started unsure.
Joe grabbed him by the shoulders, and shook him, "I can't handle those girls on my own with Mandy there."
Miley laughed, "What makes you think he's gonna help?"
Nick was amused and offended. He smiled at her before turning back to his brother, "I'll come... and I'll show this wise-ass how I can handle the ladies..."
He grinned as Joe wrapped an arm around him and lead him over to the door where Mandy was stood talking to the girl who apparently they would be spending the rest of their time with and the girl who had been the catalyst in ruining the only real relationship she'd ever been in. Miley watched and played his words over and over in her head. He was going to show her how he could handle the ladies. Her heart ached hard in her chest and she attempted to tell herself that it wasn't jealousy...it was simply the remembrance that she already knew how much and how well he could handle the ladies... a way that she had experienced first hand.
A/N: Yes? No? Reviews? NJK Awards Votes?!?!?!? :O
:)
Next chapter, I've picked Some Gaga and the song Ion Square by Bloc Party. You should attempt to listen to it before the next chapter :) PM me if you need a hand getting hold of it.
So, next chapter's the party. It's called "The Love Game" (I think) and those kids are gonna be crammed like sardines and partay the ravey british way.
Chapter spoilery bits:
Chapter 36: Miley, Nick, Sex, Drugs, Swimming Pools, Bathrooms, Alcohol............ Make your own conclusions :)
Chapter 37: Miley feels the effects.
Chapter 38: Miley talks boys with a boy.
Chapter 39: Nick walks in on something that makes his heart hurt.
Chapter 40: Sibling Love :)