Because You Live.
Chapter 4.
"Hello, Miley," the blonde woman in the doorway said. Miley felt tears slowly fall down her face as she backed away slowly.
"No! No! You can't be here! YOU RUINED OUR FAMILY!" Miley screamed, and when they heard her, Jackson and Billy Ray ran down the stairs to see the woman that had ruined their family: Tish, Miley and Jackson's mother.
"I thought I made it clear when you cheated on me with my best friend that you were to stay away from me and my kids," Billy Ray growled at his ex wife, and Tish shook her head and looked at Billy Ray.
"They're more my kids than yours. I gave birth to them," Tish said.
"I've looked after them for the past 15 years!" Billy Ray yelled, and Miley sobbed into Jackson's chest as Jackson rubbed her back and glared at his mother.
"I wanted to see how my kids had grown up. What grade are you now, Miley? Junior year?" Tish asked, and Jackson hardened his glare and said, "Don't talk to her. Stay away from us. We've gotten used to life without you! We don't need you in it again! Go back to wherever the hell you came from!"
"Jackson Rod Stewart, watch your language!" Tish exclaimed, and Billy Ray glared at Tish.
"To you, my son can say whatever he wants. What did you do with yourself when you left anyway? Become a prostitute? Because is seemed like you enjoyed sleeping with any man that wasn't me when we were married, huh, Tish?" Billy Ray asked coldly.
"I got remarried. I have three kids. Rhiannon, Marco, and Ava. They've always wanted to meet their older brother and sister," Tish said and smiled weakly. Miley wiped her tears and pulled away from Jackson's arms, and she stepped up to her mother with not even a hint of a smile.
"We don't want anything to do with your filthy kids. You cheated on our father and you ruined our family! I'm ashamed to say you're my mother. I've gone through hell the past few days, and seeing you makes it all a whole lot worse, you know that?" Miley hissed. Billy Ray put an arm around Miley and smiled fakely at Tish.
"I believe that's your signal to go, huh, Tish?" he asked and smirked.
"I just want my family back," Tish whispered, and Jackson smirked and said, "You've got your family with that new husband and kids that you live with. Go and live with them, because we don't want you anywhere near our family. Oh, and I swear, if you come near our family again, I'll call the cops. I may be at college abroad, but I have a way of knowing if you come within 3 feet of my father and my baby sister. You understand me?!"
Tish nodded and wiped a tear that had managed to fall from her eye, and she looked at Miley, and then at the picture of Jackson, Miley and Billy Ray that hung on the wall of the foyer. "I just wanted to see how my babies had grown."
"We're not your babies anymore, and we're never going to be your babies again. We don't want a woman who sleeps with her husband's best friend to be our mother, and we're ashamed that you are," Miley said coldly, and Tish nodded and wiped away her tears.
"I understand where you're coming from. I made a mistake 15 years ago and all I wanted to is fix it. The truth is ... I cheated on my new husband, and he divorced me because of it. I have no money, no home, and no family. My parents died three years ago, and my sister wants nothing to do with me because of what I did to this family. Where am I supposed to go?" Tish asked.
"How about you try hell? Maybe, if you're lucky, Satin will take you," Jackson said coldly and slammed the door in Tish's face, and Miley high-fived her older brother. They glanced at Billy Ray, who was silently sitting on the stairs and staring into space.
"Daddy, are you alright? Was what we said to her okay? Did we upset you or something? Daddy, please talk," Miley begged, and Billy Ray stood up and hugged Jackson and Miley, and he kissed Miley's forehead.
"I'm fine, baby girl. I'm incredibly proud of you both. You two managed that perfectly. That woman deserves everything all of us said. She tore this family apart, and she's going to pay for her mistake," he said, and Miley smiled and hugged Jackson and Billy Ray.
"I love you guys," she whispered.
"We love you, Miles," Jackson said and patted her back, knowing that she was thinking of Nick, and all the mistakes he had made recently.
BYL***BYL***BYL***BYL***BYL
The next evening, Miley kissed her father's cheek as he walked out of the house to go to dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Jonas, and she hugged Jackson as he left for his friend, Cooper's, house. Within moments, Mikayla, Alex, Lilly, Troy, Kevin, Joe and Justin all arrived.
"Hey, Miles. How you feeling? You didn't come to school today. What happened? Nick was panicking and thinking the worst. As usual," Lilly said and giggled lightly as the group all sat in various places around Miley's huge living room.
"Um, actually, my mom came back last night. She wanted back into our lives, and we told her to go. We don't need her. My life's hell as it is right now, and I don't need her screwing up our family again. My dad almost died from heartbreak the last time, and she isn't doing that to him again. What do you mean Nick was panicking? Because this morning, Brianna sent me a video via text," Miley said coldly. She pressed a few buttons on her phone and passed it to Joe, who watched the video.
The video was of Brianna kissing Nick that morning. Joe watched in shock and then he stopped the video and handed Miley her BlackBerry back as tears came to her eyes, and she looked down at the carpet in her living room.
"Forget Nick, Miles. If he doesn't even wait to to ask you whether you've made your mind up or not, he's obviously not worth it. Especially if he'd rather be with Brianna than wait for you," Alex said, and Miley shook her head.
"I'm too late, guys. I should've told him earlier that I missed him, and that I wanted him back. I let Brianna get between us again. Gosh, I'm so stupid. Ever since she got here, she's gotten between me and Nick," Miley said and buried her face in her hands. Justin squirmed slightly in his seat, and Mikayla noticed.
"OK, Justin, what do you know? Because you're squirming and I want to know why. So, spill before I MAKE you spill it," Mikayla warned, and Justin sighed and looked down at the ground, and as Mikayla got up and started walking towards him, he started telling her quickly.
"Alright, alright! But if Nick finds out I told you, I'm dead! Brianna said that if Nick was her boyfriend, she'd leave Miley alone. And if he didn't, then she'd do something that meant you would end up in a hospital," Justin said quietly, and Miley froze.
"Th-That's why he's with Brianna? Because he's protecting me?" Miley asked quietly, and Justin nodded and looked down.
"He's only doing it for a week, though. And the rules are that she's not allowed anywhere near you, and she's not allowed to dangle him in your face," Justin added, and Miley wiped her tears and smiled slightly. She said, "So he still cares about me?"
"Did you actually think he'd stop? I'm staying with the Jonas' while I'm here, and he's either writing love songs or love letters that will never be sent, or he's moping in his bedroom or in the garden. He doesn't even play with Frankie anymore," Troy commented and leaned back on the couch.
Miley jumped up and said to Kevin, "Where is he? Tell me!"
"He's in his bedroom, I think. Why?" Kevin asked, and with those words, Miley sprinted out of the mansion and across the street. She knocked on the Jonas' door, and Nick answered it. He was shocked to see Miley.
"Miley, what are you doing here?" Nick asked, and Miley ignored him and kissed him as deeply as she possibly could. Nick wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed her against his front door. Miley wrapped her arms around his neck as Nick bit her lip gently, and she opened her mouth and Nick slid his tongue in. Their tongues were soon having a passionate battle as the two teens played with each other's hair. As she kissed him, Miley slipped the promise ring onto his finger and slipped hers onto her own. About 20 minutes later (A/N: WOW they can kiss a lot! Haha), Miley pulled away and hugged Nick.
"I'm so sorry. I should have believed you, but all I did was listen to what Brianna said. I wanted to get back with you, but then I was scared that it would happen again. And then my mom came back last night and she wanted back in our lives and I told her my life was hell as it is and then she left and she's not coming back and – oh, I just missed you so, so much!" Miley said and hugged him as tightly as she could, taking in the smell on his cologne.
"Baby girl, it's okay. Now, hold up. Your mom came back!? Is she crazy?! Everyone on this street hates her for breaking up families and friendships! If it wasn't for what she did, you and I wouldn't be going through this!" Nick exclaimed, and Miley smiled.
"It's sorted, Nicky, so chill. She won't be coming near us for a long, long time. I think she gets the picture this time. We don't want her back. The only thing I want back is you," Miley said, and Nick kissed her forehead, and he took in the scent of her perfume – the perfume he had gotten her for her birthday.
"So, Mr. Jonas, I hear that you have a memory box in your room. Want to show me? I hear I'm in it," Miley said and bit her tongue cutely, and Nick pulled her up to his room and handed her the box.
"That's it," he said, and Miley opened it and looked at everything, until finally, she came to her locket. She picked it up in her hand and read the engraving with tears in her eyes. She ran her thumb over it as Nick sat down beside her and held her spare hand. "I was hoping you might want to wear it again."
Miley nodded vigourously, and Nick chuckled and slipped it around her neck and did the clasp, and she turned and kissed him gently before pulling away and holding his hand tightly.
"Justin, uh, Justin told me about what Brianna said. Do you think she really meant it? Because apparently, it's only been a day since she told you about that deal," Miley said, and Nick played with his promise ring and looked up at Miley.
"I agreed with it to protect you. And now I'm stuck with Brianna for a week. Ugh, Miles, what am I supposed to do? She's, like, following me everywhere. She's doing my head in with her whiny little voice and her scrawny little body!" Nick said, and Miley giggled and placed a hand on his cheek.
"I guess we'll just have to wait another week to be together, huh?" she asked and smiled lightly, and Nick looked down and said, "I guess."
"I'll see you at school on Monday, Nick," Miley said quietly and got up. She walked out the door. But to Nick, it felt as though she was walking out of his life for the next week. He sighed and stood up, and he walked over to his dresser and looked at the framed picture of him and Miley that rested in its frame. He heard footsteps and turned to see Miley standing there.
"Who were we kidding? We can't wait a week," she said and kissed him deeply, and Nick kissed her back and pulled her closer to him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and deepened it as she wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled into the kiss. Nick licked her bottom lip, and Miley opened her mouth, and soon their tongues were in a fiery battle with one another. Minutes later, Miley pulled away and hugged Nick tightly.
"How about we go back to the secretive romance again?" Miley whispered, and Nick chuckled and kissed Miley's head. "You know I'd always keep a secret if I was with you," he said, and Miley smiled and squeezed his hand.
"Right, so I'll meet you at the beach tonight at midnight," Nick said, and Miley looked up at him and shook her head.
"The others are all sleeping over at my house tonight. We had arranged it before the break-up. Do you want to come?" Miley asked, and Nick smiled and said, "If you're there, then of course." Miley smiled and pulled him to her mansion.
Nick stopped halfway across the street as rain started coming down. "Wait a second! I just realised. You're wearing my football jersey," Nick said, and wrapped his arms around her waist.
"I like it. And it smells like you. It was the closest thing I had to you during the whole misery break-up thing. Now, where were we?" Miley asked and leaned in, and she wrapped her arms around Nick's neck. Nick leaned down to about a centimetre away from her lips and said, "Right here." He kissed her gently. They heard wolf-whistles and cheering, and they turned to see Alex, Mikayla, Lilly, Kevin, Troy, Joe, Justin, Jake and Oliver all standing in the doorway of Miley's house. Miley giggled and bit her lip, and Nick held her hand and they walked over towards Miley's mansion.
"Hey there, love birds. Back together, I see?" Oliver asked and laughed.
"Yeah. But you can't tell anybody. We're going to wait until my prison sentence with Brianna is over before we show some PDA or tell anybody but you guys. Because if we tell anyone else but you and our parents, Brianna will find out and she'll make me pay the price of breaking the rules of the deal," Nick said, and everyone nodded.
"Got it. You guys better come back in before you catch a cold, alright?" Jake asked, and they all stepped back so that the wet teenagers could come back inside, and Miley and Nick walked in, with their clothes sticking to them, and they dried themselves off and changed before sitting in the living room with the others.
"I say we play a little game of Truth or Dare to celebrate Nick and Miles getting back together," Justin said, and Nick whispered something in Miley's ear, making her laugh, and he pulled her onto his lap as Justin looked at Joe. "Joseph, truth or dare, my friend?"
"I told you not to call me Joseph! Anyway, I pick dare," Joe said and sat back in his chair. Justin thought for a moment then smiled evilly.
"Alright then. I dare you to kiss Lilly. With tongue. For 5 minutes flat," Justin said, and Miley started laughing, and Mikayla and Alex were rolling around on the floor with laughter as Lilly blushed and looked down.
"What, Lils? Do you have a crush on Joe or something?" Justin asked and smirked.
"Okay, guys, chill. Lils, Joe, the quicker you do it, the quicker it's over, right?" Troy asked, and Joe nodded and crawled over to Lilly, and they started making out with each other, and Nick started whispering things in Miley's ear.
When the five minutes were up, neither Lilly nor Joe pulled away. "Uh, guys? Time's up," Justin said, but they still didn't pull away. Miley whistled loudly, and Joe fell onto his back in shock of the loud whistle.
"Finally! We thought you would suffocate without the air, eh, Joe?" Kevin asked and smirked. Joe hit him on the arm and winked at Lilly, who blushed furiously.
Nick laughed lightly as his phone vibrated in his pocket, and he took it out to see a text from Brianna, telling him to come over.
"Ugh. It's Brianna," he groaned. Miley quickly scanned the text and sighed.
"You should go. We don't want her to get suspicious," she said sadly, and Nick turned off his phone and sat it on the coffee table, and he wrapped an arm around Miley.
"Brianna can wait. Right now, all I want is you."
A/N: Hey, guys. So today, this UK Christmas Number 1 in the charts is announced! It's a pretty big deal over here, and I hope Alexandra Burke got it. Anyways, there's something sort of important I want to say. The amount of reviews I get has gone down, and I was wondering if you could maybe bring it back up? I mean, I take hours making these chapters, and it only takes minutes, maybe even seconds if it's short enough, to leave a review. I do this because people like my writing, and I enjoy writing these stories. But if people don't review, then I don't know whether or not to continue. So please review.
Love,
ShoppingAndDiamonds