You all have permission to hunt me down with pitchforks...
"Miles?" Nick called into the receiver a minute later after hearing nothing, but silence. Realizing Miley had fallen asleep on him, he whispered a soft good night to her before ending the call. He tossed the cellular device onto his unmade bed and stood up, stretching his limbs a little, a sigh of contentment leaving his lips. Upon hearing a slight knock on his door, he made his way over to the door and opened it, revealing a tear-stained Mikayala standing in front of him. "Miki, what happened?" he wondered, his tone soft and concerned for his friend's well-being.
"H-he stood me up," she mustered out through her crocodile tears, her dark locks sticking to the frame of her face.
"Who?" He asked when he ushered Mikayla into his dorm room; he shut the door and sat down beside her on the bed, "Miki…" he tried again a moment later, wiping his hand over her damp face. "Who stood you up?"
"C-cody!" she said, feeling herself break down all over again at the sound of his name. "I waited for him for two hours, Nick and he didn't even text or call to tell me he wasn't coming… I sat there like a total idiot, waiting." She brought her own trembling hand up to her make-up streaked face, wiping the tears away. "I thought he was going to be different, but I was wrong."
"He isn't worth your tears," Nick told her softly. "You deserve so much better than him."
She shook her head, turning her face away from him as the tears fleeted down her face once more, "why are boys such jerks, Nicky?" She wondered. "It seems like all they want to do is toy with a girl's feeling and once they get what they want, they throw us away like we're some rag doll or something."
"I don't know…" he told her lowly, honestly not knowing how to respond to what she had just said. Everything that had just left her lips was true, but sometimes we didn't mean to do it purposely…
"You're not a jerk though," she murmured softly, sniffling a bit.
Draping his arm around her shoulder, he pulled her body closer to his, "hey, look at me." He told her, waiting as Mikayla turned to look at him. "Smile." He brought his hand up to her face and pushed the corners of her lips upward, forming a funny looking grin. "That's better," he chuckled humorously.
Slapping his hand away, a slight laugh left her soft pink lips. She leaned her head onto his shoulder, "how do you manage to make someone feel better in a matter of a few minutes?" She asked, glancing up at him.
He shrugged slightly, "it's pretty easy actually," he admitted with a sly grin. Seeing the evident tears still visible in her eyes, he moved his hands over her eyes again, wiping them away. "no more tears over a asshole like him, alright?"
Nodding, she opened her eyes again. "Nah, I think it's because you're Nick Gray," she smiled up at him.
"Psh, yeah," he said and tried to play if off coolly, but that only caused Mikayla to laugh at him some more. "Hey, we should go do something," he suggested.
Lifting her head off his shoulder, "Pinkberry?" She questioned hopefully.
"It's like you read my mind," he stood up and offered his hand to her.
She placed her hand in his palm and allowed him to help her up to her feet. "You're like an open book, Nick. Anyone can read your mind," she stuck her tongue out playfully at him. "Can I fix my make-up first?" she asked.
"Yeah, you left some of your stuff in the second drawer in the bathroom," he responded before moving over to his closet to find a clean shirt to wear.
Walking into the bathroom, she opened the second drawer and like he said, some of her make-up that she hadn't remembered leaving there, "why do you have my mascara and lipgloss?" She asked, poking her head back into his room. "Are you hiding something from me, Nick?" She wondered with a giggle.
"Did someone forget whose place they got ready at last week?" he replied as he pulled a clean white t shirt over his head of curls; he turned to look at her, his eyebrow arching up at her. "Huh, little missy?" he bobbed his head playfully, snapping his fingers a bit.
She laughed at his antics and shook her head a little. "Oh yeah," her cheeks flushed a light pink at the sight of Nick being shirtless in front of her for a few seconds. Craning her neck back into the bathroom, she reapplied some mascara onto her thick dark lashes. Brushing some blush across her intensifying cheekbones, she applied a small amount of peach flavored lipgloss onto her thin lips again.
"Pinkberry is waiting!" He told her impatiently.
"I'm done, I'm done," she moved everything off the bathroom counter and into the drawer again, slamming it shut quickly. Walking back into his room, Nick's hand immediately flew to her wrist, leading her out of his dorm room. "Yeesh, someone wants their frozen yogurt badly," she laughed as he pulled her down the busy hall, dodging the crowds of bulky guys who were screaming at the TV that was displaying the Super Bowl game. "Why aren't you watching the Super Bowl?" She asked him as they made their way down the stairs.
"We all know who are going to win. Saints." He told her simply, his hand absentmindedly moving down from her wrist to her hand. Lacing their fingers together, they walked out the admin building and towards his car, the bright sunlight beating down on their retreating figures.
"You never know! The other team could win," she defended.
He started to laugh, "You're kidding me right?" he asked as he glanced over at her.
"Whatever," she rolled her eyes at him, keeping her gaze forward on the quad.
"Who are you rooting for in the Super Bowl?" He inquired her politely. "Don't tell me it's the—"
"Colts," she said matter-of-factly, interrupting his sentence.
"No wonder someone has their undies in a knot!" He said with a smirk. "Sorry Miki, but your team is going to lose," he told her, teasing her playfully.
"Ha, that's what you think, Gray," she responded.
"Does someone want to bet on it?" He questioned, his eyebrow arching up a bit at her, eyeing her seriously.
"You want to lose money on it as well? Fine," she smiled confidently. "You're on, Gray." She said.
"Who said we were betting money?" He retorted, the playful grin reappearing on his thin, pink lips.
"Well, what are we betting then?" She asked, her forehead creasing in thought of what Nick would have in mind for the bet.
"If I win, you have to do my laundry for a month." He said. "Baseball season is coming up and you know how sweaty I get," he told her with a chuckle.
"Do you want me to do?!" She asked with wide eyes, her nose crinkling up in disgust. "And yeah, I do how sweaty you get, nasty…" she laughed.
"You can't turn back now, you already agreed on the bet," he told her.
Sighing, she bowed her head a bit and nodded, "okay, if you win… I have to do your laundry for a month," she shuddered a bit at the thought. "But if I win, which I will… you have to come with me to do a manicure and pedicure," she smiled wickedly.
"You're going to have me get a manicure and pedicure?!" He asked with a horrified look.
"You're going to make me do your nasty laundry!" She shot back.
"You're a girl, you're supposed to offer to do my laundry," he said playfully.
"Haha, not funny." She smacked him across the shoulder. "Sexist jerk," she muttered.
"You know I was playing," his free hand went to her head, rubbing her head annoyingly, knowing he wasn't going to hear the end of it in the car.
"Nick!" She whined, dropping her hand from his to fix her hair. "You better watch it before I make you go get that manicure later TODAY."
Groaning, he opened the passenger door for her, "you're an awful friend," he said, closing the door and chuckling a bit at the shocked look on Mikayla's face as he uttered those last few words. He walked over to his side and got in, pushing the key into the ignition, "but I guess that would make me an awful friend too," he turned to look at her as he started up his car, seeing her familiar smile appear on her glowing face.
--
Walking into the crowded yogurt shop, Mikayla's eyes fell onto the menu, scanning for something that fitted her appetite at the moment, "what are you gonna order, curly top?" she asked, turning to look at Nick.
"Vanilla yogurt with sprinkles," he responded like it was nothing of surprise.
"Don't you get tired of ordering the same thing?" She wondered, her eyes looking back at the menu again, lighting up a few times as she thought about how good that sounded.
He shrugged his shoulders again, "that's Miley's favorite thing to get here, so when I order it, it reminds me of her," he smiled.
"Ah, I see… you're such a dork in love," she told him with a head shake, her eyes still studying the colorful menu of assorted frozen desserts.
"There's nothing wrong with being a dork in love," he retorted.
A slight laugh left her lips and she looked back at him, "I never said it was a wrong thing." She said. "I think I'll just order a plan vanilla yogurt with cookie crumbles." She smiled at the cashier when it reached their turn and pulled out her wallet when Nick's hand landed over hers, stopping her actions instantly.
"I'm paying," he handed the cashier the needed change and walked away as Mikayla soon followed after him.
"Nick." She called after him when she took the receipt from the cashier.
Sitting down in one of the booths by the window, he waited patiently as Mikayla slid in the seat in front of him, "yes?" he asked, cocking his head to the side a little.
"I could've paid for us," she told him with a slight off, placing the receipt in front of the two of them.
"Yeah, but when you're with me, you don't have to pay for anything." He replied.
She shook her head, "you won't be saying that once you're in debt," she said playfully.
"You want you jinx me, don't you?!" he accused teasingly with a laugh.
"You know it's the truth," she teased back.
A slight chuckle left his lips as he watched Mikayla dash out of her seat to receive their order after hearing the waitress call out their number, "you must think you're special now since you got our order, huh?" he asked after she had sat back down, a satisfied smile etched across her face.
"Mhm, a little," she laughed, pushing his cup of yogurt to him.
"Feeling better?" he inquired curiously, scooping a spoonful of the fluffy goodness into his mouth.
"Much thanks," she told him with a grin.
~*~
Her eyes shot open, instantly staring off into the darkness of the dorm room; her heart was pounding inside her chest like she had just ran a race or something. She brought her cold hand up to her clammy forehead, swiping her damp bangs out of her face. She sat up and pushed her comforter off her persperated body, in hopes of cooling herself down, "it was just a dream… just a dream," she repeated to herself as she blindly felt around for the lamp switch.
Allowing the small light to illuminate some of the room for her, she stood up shakily, her head still not adjusted to standing up just yet; she could feel the room spinning around her a bit before it all came into focus and she stumbled toward the mini fridge, pulling out a fresh water bottle. She moved down to her knees and popped the lid off the container quickly and messily brought the tip of it to her mouth, glugging about half of the contents down, liking the feeling of the cool water splashing against the back of her throat.
Moving the bottle away from her dry mouth, she brought her hand up to her lips, wiping the excess water from the corners of her mouth. Her eyes moved to Demi's bed, not surprised to see that it was still made and Demi's body wasn't laying in it. She glanced at the clock and saw that it was only after 10 pm; shakily, she pushed herself off the floor and walked into the bathroom, her hand knocking a few things off the counter as she tried to find the light switch, "crap," she muttered, feeling the blood roll down her fingertips as she accidentally touched something sharp, most likely her razor that she had forgotten to put away a few hours earlier.
Finally, finding the switch, she squinted her eyes a bit when the light came on; she turned the sink on and ran her crimson red fingertips under the cool running water. Waiting until her fingers had stopped bleeding; she wiped her hand on a nearby washcloth and stared at her reflection. Her fingers began kneading at the bags underneath her eyes. "So many hours of sleep and I look like I didn't get any at all…" she whispered, rubbing the sleep away from her eyes.
"Miley?" she heard Demi's voice from the bedroom.
"In here," she called out groggily, splashing some water onto her face to wake her up.
"What are you doing out of bed?" Demi wondered as she placed the medication she had picked up from the pharmacy onto the counter.
"I had to pee," she told her best friend.
Crinkling her nose a little, she moved the medicine towards her, "I got worried, so I pick a few things up for you," she said. "You should take some and then go back to bed," she urged again, eyeing Miley worriedly.
"Alright, mom," she sighed playfully, picking up one of the bottles to read the labels. "Why would you get me liquid?" She made a face at Demi.
"Because pills don't even do anything to help you," she reasoned. Disappearing into the room, she came back a second later with the half empty bottle of water that Miley had chugged down, "someone got thirsty," she said with a laugh as she held the bottle up, shaking it a little to taunt Miley playfully.
"You know I'm a water person!" She laughed, taking the bottle of water out of Demi's hand. "Thanks, for getting me this…" she said and quickly took the medication, downing the other half of water. "How did shopping with the evil ones go?" She asked playfully, her hand swiping across her dry lips again as she dropped the empty bottle into the sink.
Sticking her tongue out at her best friend, "it was fun actually… well, they ditched me like 15 minutes into it, but I did find these super cute shoes," she nodded her head slightly, a wide grin appearing on her ruby red lips.
"Awh, Demi!" She draped her arms around Demi's neck and hugged her tightly. "You should've called me and I would've come in a millisecond," she told her.
"I wanted you to get your sleep, chica." She replied. "Plus Joe came to pick me up an hour after they had ditched me and we just hung out," she smiled, pulling back to look at Miley. "Hungry?" she wondered.
As if on cue, her stomach began to growl loudly, causing the both of them to burst out in laughter, "you read my mind again, huh?" she laughed, shutting the light off in the bathroom as she and Demi walked back into the room.
"Well duh, I got you girl!" She said in a weird schoolgirl voice. "Panda Express!" She held up the take-out boxes.
"Score!" her bright blue eyes lit up and she took the other one out of the bag.
In the middle of stuffing a forkful of noodles into her mouth, "did Nick ever call you?" She asked. "He sounded uber worried on the phone when I was talking to him a few hours ago," she swallowed.
"Shit, I must've fallen asleep on him when he was talking to me," she got up from her seat on the floor and grabbed her phone off the bed. "He might be sleeping right now," she sighed, placing the phone back onto the side table.
"That boy never sleeps, remember?" She laughed. "I mean you don't either… Mr. and Mrs. Webcam all night long until 6 in the morning," she teased.
"I'll just call him tomorrow morning," she said as she took a seat next to Demi again, pushing her on the shoulder lightly for the comment she had made about her and Nick webcamming; she glanced over at the dark-haired brunette and laughed, "Dems, you have a little soy sauce right here," she pointed to her chin.
"Ah!" she quickly wiped it off her chin, throwing the napkin at Miley. "You saw nothing!"
"Ew!" She laughed, flinging the napkin back at Demi's face. "I help you out and you throw your nasty napkin at me?!" she accused with a chuckle.
--
Rolling over, her hand flew to her alarm clock, pressing randomly around until she found the correct button, silencing the room again. Sighing contently, she moved deeper into her blankets until the sound of her ring tone blared loudly through the room again.
"Ugh!" Demi cried out, placing her pillow over her face.
"Sorry," she whispered hoarsely, pulling her cell phone off the table, "hello?" she answered groggily, her eyes slipping closed again as the person on the other line began to speak.
"Morning beautiful," he smiled at the sound of her voice.
"Morning," she replied monotone.
"Did I call at a bad time?" He inquired, scratching his head of curls when he had forgotten about the three hour time difference between California and Boston.
"No, I was just about to get up," she said as her eyes stayed closed as she talked to him.
"You're still a horrible liar, Miles," he sighed. "I can call back in an hour, you should sleep," he said.
"No, no. I'm up, really," she told him softly. "What's up?" she wondered, shifting onto her back; her eyes fluttered open and she stared up at the high ceiling.
"I just wanted to check up on you since someone fell asleep on me last night," he said with a sense of playfulness. "Is your tummy feeling better?"
"Yes, my tummy is feeling better," a small smile appeared on her face. "You're so cute, Nick," she said a second later with a giggle.
"You make it seem like I'm 5," he replied with a slight whine.
She laughed again as she could tell he was pouting, "I love you." She told him, her lips curving into a wider smile.
"I miss you," he said.
A slight wave of disappointment ran through her body at his response; she was really hoping that he would have said it back to her like he always had, "I miss you too." She said softly a moment later.
a/n: AHHHHHH, I'M SO SORRY! D: REALLY really really sorry! I'm seriously writing chapter 12 as I write this, lol! Reviews are greatly appreciated; thank you for not abandoning this story yet! :/ It sort of lacks Niley and has a lot of Nick/Mikayala, but I shall fix that in chapter 12, lol. (: