It had been two weeks since her encounter with Nick. She had left the next morning without waking him up, and since that day they hadn't talked to each other nor seen each other, even though she did hung out with Kevin and Joe one time at their house, but Nick was apparently with Alex.
She had been invited to a concert where the boys were playing, and she was going to go with Mitchie and Taylor. She knew that Alex was going to sing there as well, and well, she was kind looking forward to seeing her performance. Not because she thought Alex was a singer, because she clearly wasn't, but she needed a good laugh. Joe and Kevin had warned her that if she knew what real music meant, then she'd either laugh all the concert or fall asleep.
The concert started that same day at 6 pm, but she was going to be there since 2 pm, because the boys had told her she could come since sound check, and she accepted the invitation because she knew Taylor would love to see that. She checked the time on her bedside clock and it said it was already 12:30 pm, which meant she had to start getting Taylor and herself ready if she wanted to make it on time.
The boys were sitting in their SUV while the driver drove them to the venue where they would be playing tonight. The three of them felt the excitement of performing again, because they hadn't really held a concert like this one in two or three months, but Nick was feeling something else. He knew that Miley was going to be here, and due to what happened two weeks ago, he had a feeling that today would be kind of awkward between the two of them.
But one the other hand, Alex would be there which meant that there were going to be less chances of him having any alone time with Miley, so it would be okay today, or so he hoped.
After ten minutes of driving, they finally arrived at the venue and while they helped unpack some things, they saw another car approaching, it was a nice black Volvo. At first they thought it was someone from the staff, but when they saw it clearly, they knew it was the car where Miley, Demi and Taylor were in. Nick found himself smiling at the sight of them, but most of all at the sight of Taylor, his daughter. He knew that Miley hadn't told Taylor he was her dad yet, but that didn't matter for him, at all. Even if he had knew that for a short time, he knew he loved her more than anything in this world.
The three girls got out of the car and made their way towards the guys. They all said hi to each other, but Miley and Nick of course avoided eye contact with each other. It still felt weird to them, because they knew they shouldn't have done what they did, but most of all because he was with Alex now, and she wasn't able to continue loving him the way she wanted to. They all talked for a while before making their way to the sound check area.
Miley had been wondering the whole time why Alex wasn't here with them, after all she was performing with the guys today and had to do her sound check as well. And as id reading her mind, Nick's cell phone rang and she thought about the possibility that it was Alex on the phone.
"Alex. Where are you?" Nick said through the phone. He was really worried because she was supposed to be here since long time ago, and if she didn't arrive early, she wouldn't be able to do everything she had to do. While he started pacing around he heard her cough.
"Hey Nick. I'm at my house. I'm afraid I won't be able to make it to the concert tonight. I have laryngitis and I won't be able to sing. I'm really sorry, I just came back from the doctor and he told me I had to rest my voice for like 3 days" She said, coughing now and then. Nick sighed
"It's okay. We'll just find someone else to perform with us, don't worry. Hope you get better and I'll try to go and see you after the concert. I don't know if I'll have time though. Bye, love you" He said before hanging up. He didn't know why he had answered like that, because he had never been so cold towards her, but maybe the stress of not having anyone to perform as their of opening act was affecting him. Yeah, it was that.
"So what are we going to do?!" Joe asked for what seemed the millionth time. Nick just sighed.
"I don't know Joe. I already called everyone I thought could help us. I called Jordin, I called Jordan, I called Justin, I called HS, I called everyone, but they are either performing somewhere else tonight, or they are out of town, or they just can't do it tonight. This situation is getting really stressing" Nick said and started to pace around the room trying to find a solution. He didn't know what to do anymore. He needed fresh air, to clear his head, so he decided to go take a walk and see how the stage was arranged this time.
As he made his way towards the stage, he remembered he left the girls there, and what he saw when he entered the place gave him a great idea. Miley was sitting on a stool with a guitar on her hands and was strumming it while singing some song to their daughter.
"Miley" he said quietly, "she could sing with us tonight". And as soon as those words came out of his mouth, and he realized that it was quite a god idea, he rushed back to the backstage area to tell his brothers about it.
"Guys! Guys!" He said when he arrived. He stopped to catch his breath, while his brothers gave him a confused look. "I know who could sing with us tonight" Joe and Kevin looked at him, waiting for him to tell them his idea. "Miley could sing with us. You guys know she has an amazing voice and I know she would love to perform with us. Besides, she's here right now, so it's a good plan"
The two boys remained in silence for a while before Kevin spoke. "I think that's actually a great idea, but you know, we need to ask Miley if she wants to first" Joe nodded his head and Nick turned around and went back running towards Miley to ask her.
Miley had been waiting for the boys to come back out from the backstage place and start doing their sound check, but as they hadn't come yet she decided to climb into the stage and play some guitar and if she was in the mood, to sing to Taylor. It had been a long time since she played any instrument, and it felt pretty good to do it again, and this time on a real stage.
After a while of playing the guitar, she decided she would sing to her daughter. She started singing a song she had just written a couple of days ago, and Mitchie along with Taylor were really enjoying it. As she was about to finish the last verse of the song, she was interrupted by a loud sound on one of the doors that was on the wing next to the stage. She stopped playing and turned her head towards the door just to find Nick standing there, gathering his breath.
"Oh hey Nick. Do you guys need the stage or anything? I'm sorry I got in here without asking you guys, I was just goofing around. I'll get off of it right now, sorry# She said, still trying to avoid eye contact with him, even though it seemed pretty impossible now that he was standing so close to her.
"No, no. It's okay. I came to ask you something" He said and Miley looked at him with a confused look on her face. What could he want to ask her?
"Okay… What is it?" Miley asked insecure of what he would ask. Maybe he wanted her to leave because he couldn't stand seeing her anymore, or maybe he wanted to tell her that Alex was going to here so she had to maintain her distance or just leave. Or maybe… or maybe she should stop asking herself this stupid questions and just focus on what he was going to say.
"So, Alex is sick and she won't be able to come to the concert tonight to sing with us, and all of our other friends are kinda busy tonight or they just can't make it to the concert. So, I was wondering if you'd like to sing with us and be our opening act for today's concert." Nick said, looking at her with begging eyes. She knew how important it was for them to give a good concert to their fans, and not let them down. But why would he ask her, of all the people that could totally sing with them tonight.
"Be your opening act?" Miley asked in disbelieve. She had always dreamt to sing in a big stage like this one, in front of millions of people, but she could never full fill her dream because she got pregnant at seventeen, and with Taylor here she had different priorities than singing.
"Yeah, our opening act. I mean, we all know you are an amazing singer, and you'd do great. Besides you're already here and you can just do sound check right now and get ready. You'll love it, seriously. I promise" Nick said smiling, with a smile that couldn't be turned down by anyone, not even Miley.
Miley thought about it and deep down she knew that she'd love to do it, and that she shouldn't think it too much, but she had to. Wouldn't it be weird performing with them, or just performing? She had never done something like this before in such a big place, and this was a once in a life time opportunity, so why was she rethinking it? After a while, she smiled and nodded at him, "Okay. I'll save you this time Grey. Just tell me what I need to do" He chuckled at her
"Well, you need to sing three songs and a duet with me. But we can take out the duet if you don't want to sing it. It's okay" He looked at her and she shook her head. No matter what had happened between them two weeks ago, she wasn't going to change how this concert went. If he was going to sing a duet with Alex, then she'd sing it with him. She had to keep things professional.
"Don't take anything out, I'll sing whatever you were going to sing with Alex with you, but you need to let me sing any song that I want to" She said smiling, and he smiled back at her. "Deal" He said and walked away, just in time to miss Miley's excited squeal.
There was just half an hour left until the concert started and Miley could not be more excited about this whole thing. She had done sound check with Connect Three's band, but had restricted the entrance of the boys while she practiced, so her whole act would be a complete surprise to everyone.
She chose three of her favorite original songs, and taught them to the band, which seemed easy to the entire band, so it was all good in that aspect. She however, had to stick to Alex's wardrobe, which for her taste, wasn't something she'd wear while performing. She was going to use a pink puffy dress in her first song, and it was the one Alex used in one of her music videos, but she convinced the wardrobe assistant to cut the front part of dress, so it showed from her knees downwards, and left the back still the same size.
She also changed several pieces of clothing as well, and the results made her quite content. She hadn't feel the rush of actually performing until some minutes ago, when everyone started yelling her name from different parts of the room, she was pulled and pushed into and out of rooms, she had her clothes, makeup and hair fixed every second.
There were only five minutes left now until the show started, and she had to practically run from one end of the Staples Center, to the other so she could get inside a car, and wait until the platform lifted her up; but again, people started interrupting her, so she barely made it on time.
As she was being lifted, she closed her eyes and promised herself she would to the best she could and that she would not let the nerves get the best of her while she was performing. When she was finally on the stage, no one could see her because it was supposed to be dark on her side until it was her queue to start singing. The music had already started, and the dancers were dancing to the introduction.
She looked to her right for a moment, and smiled brightly at what she saw. There she was, Taylor, along with Nick and Mitchie, all of them with their thumbs up, and Taylor yelling 'Good Luck' over the music. She mouthed a 'Thank You' and blew them a kiss before looking forwards.
Her queue was in a couple of seconds and what she just saw gave her the confidence bust she needed before performing her song. It was now or never, and she was surely giving her everything.
Guys! I'm so sorry I hadn't update in a couple of days. I was in the beach almost all of last week, and I had a serious case of writers block again. I'm sorry if this chapter sucks, but it's kind of a filler chapter. I know I told you guys the drama was coming in this one, but I have better plans for the next one. I'm planning on making it longer than most of my other chapters. Anyway, don't forget to review. I love you all. Peace.