Chapter Fourteen

"Will you paint my nails?" I asked, looking up at Nick. We were sitting on my tourbus, everyone else out. It was weird how quickly everything returned to normal after my little breakdown, but I was glad no one was too caught up in it. Even Nick and I were back to normal again and it was nice. Fantastic, even.

He shot up, furrowing his eyebrows at that request. "What?"

"Please? It makes me feel closer to you."

"Miley, you should know better than anyone. I'm straight. I don't paint nails."

"Please? For me," I smiled.

He came closer, smirking a bit. "And what makes you so special?"

"I'm your angel. Remember?"

He shook his head. "How could I forget."

"So, is that a yes?" I smiled.

We had a staring contest for a few seconds before he finally let out a defeated breath nodding a little. "One condition: I get to pick the color."

I bit my lip, looking into the colors before nodding. This would just be good blackmail no matter what color.

"Okay, here, any color," I thrusted the bin at him.

He picked one out, shaking the bottle and unscrewing the cap. I laughed a little. He knew that he had to shake the bottle. "You've done this before?"

"Shut up before I change my mind, superstar."

"Alright, alright," I shrugged. "Does it have to be pink?"

"Yup."

"No, I like this color more," I whined, holding up the light gray bottle filled with sparkles.

He shrugged. "Okay, then you can paint it yourself and make it whatever color you want."

I was quick to grab his wrist, stopping him from leaving. "No. You do it."

"Pink it is," he smiled, taking the brush out and beginning to paint.

"A thin layer now."

"Yes, Miley."

"Why didn't I ever think of this when we were dating? New favorite thing for us to do," I rambled.

He shook his head, concentrating not to get any on my skin. He wasn't doing too bad so far. "I liked our dating activities a little more than this."

"I know, I'm pretty good at making out, huh?"

He met eyes with me, both of us giving each other a mischievous smile.

"You weren't too bad," he replied after awhile. "Nice to see you haven't lost your subtleness."

"Now that won't ever happen."

"I think this color looks pretty on you," he noted. Did he really? Well, looks like I'll be painting my nails pink more often.

"Thanks," I smiled.

He met eyes with me, stopping the painting for a few seconds before he looked back down.

"I'm gonna hold your hand. To keep the nails still so I don't mess up," he explained quickly. "Unless you don't want me to-"

"That's fine," I wanted to laugh at his attempt to be nonchalant about it.

He nervously took my hand in his, shaking at first but relaxing when I squeezed it reassurance. His eyes darted to make sure I was really okay with it before beginning to paint again.

"I can paint your nails after if you want."

"No way in hell," he muttered.

"So, I kinda feel like I need to say sorry that Selena said no," I stuttered out. But it seemed like years ago now. Not just a few weeks. It was surreal to think that it'd only been a few weeks since all that drama had happened.

Nick shrugged, blowing on my nails to make the paint dry, looking up at me, and starting another coat. "Why? It's not your fault."

I looked down. "It kind of is."

"How?"

"Well, I kinda overheard Demi saying something-"

"Miley," he complained already. "How many times have I told you not to eavesdrop?"

"I didn't try to, they were just there and they were talking and then we came up so I had to stay, and she mentioned how she said no to you because of me," I quickly explained myself. "She likes you."

"A lot of people like me," he grinned. I just scoffed, rolling my eyes. "Why would she say no because of you?"

"I don't know, she didn't say," I bit my lip. We both knew why she'd say no because of me.

"Do you like me?"

"Nick-"

"I'm just asking," he defended.

I sighed, looking at him while he became quite interested in my nails. "Do you really want to do this?"

"Do what?"

"Get into talking about relationships again, because you know that once we do we'll talk about how great it was and ignore the fights, then we'll wanna try something-"

"Do you wanna try something?"

"I-No, I mean, not unless you wanna try something." Damn it. There he went again, making me stutter.

He looked up, his brown eyes meeting mine. "It's up to you. You know that."

I nodded, smiling a little bit. "What are we gonna do?"

"Well-"

"Are you painting her nails?"

We both jumped about a foot, turning to see Demi. Shit, shit, shit, please say she didn't see anything.

"You said she wasn't gonna be back for hours," Nick grumbled, obviously upset.

I blushed a little. "I wanted you to stay."

"Don't be embarrassed, Nick. I'm sure a lot of guys do this for their ex-girlfriends."

"Demetria," I warned.

"Oh, Demi-"

"Nicholas," I hissed, snapping at him. It was so natural to snap at him and know he'd take it just fine. He looked over to me. "One comment and you're dead."

"Miley-"

"Don't Miley me."

"Yeah, don't Miley her," Demi smirked, setting her bag on the table.

I turned to her, giving an exasperated look. "You, shut up."

"I'm just saying-"

"Demi, can you please go back to Joe," I begged, glancing at Nick. He was so frustrated at her timing right now and her comments weren't helping. "I'll talk to you inside, okay?"

"Fine, fine," she stood up, walking back out. "Have fun painting nails."

The door closed and I turned to Nick, sighing. "I'm sorry. I texted Joe to distract her."

"She ruined our moment," he pouted like a baby, still tense and upset.

I sighed, getting out of my chair and carefully massaging his back, making sure to keep my nail polish off of his shirt. "Calm down, okay?"

"I can't, she – I can't believe her sometimes, you know?"

"Nicky, it's okay," I promised him. Then, I took a deep breath gathering all my confidence to kiss him on the corner of the mouth. "Let's just finish this. Then if you're still cranky I'll kick you out. But if you're not, maybe we can, you know… see what's still there and what's not."

I walked back to my seat only for him to grab me around the waist, pulling me onto his lap. "Sit here instead. Please?"

I nodded giving him my hand to put the final coat on the last three nails. I laid my head on his shoulder, trying to get him in a better mood. He was so immature sometimes with his temper-tantrums.

"Done. Now we just need to wait for it to dry," he announced. I nodded, looking up at him a little and standing up.

"Am I kicking you out or can you handle yourself?"

He sighed, giving me that apologetic grin. He knew I wouldn't actually make him say sorry.

"C'mon. Let's go to the back room," I took his hand, shutting the door behind us.

"So, how are we gonna do this?"

He shrugged, his cheeks turning red. "I could kiss you, I guess. I mean, you know, if you want."

I bit my lip. "Okay. On the count of three we'll kiss each other, alright?"

"Okay," he nodded.

"One," I leaned in a little, him doing the same.

"Two," he murmured.

"Three," I brushed his lips before fully connecting them. It started out awkward but within three seconds that was all pushed away. Oh, fuck, I missed that feeling.

His tongue brushed my bottom lip and I didn't hesitate to let him enter. He pushed me up against the wall, pinning my hands against it along with my body, in complete control. I was in charge of deepening these kisses, though, and things fell right back into place. It was like we never stopped doing this.

Then the devil interrupted us, banging on the locked door. "Miley! Nick! C'mon! We gotta head in."

We pulled apart, exchanging a secretive look. We both knew that the other felt something. There was no discussing it.

"I'll see you in my dressing room before the show," I smirked, leading us out.

"Oh, you will," he whispered, catching his breath.

Demi rose her eyes as we walked out together. I stayed behind to walk with her while Nick went ahead with his brothers.

"Alone in a private locked room… What was going on there?"

"Nothing," I shrugged, feeling my face burn with color. "We were just talking."

"Uh-huh."

"Really. That's it," I smiled as Nick turned back, making eye contact before turning back around.

"Ha! What was that?" she smiled that wide smile at me making me bite my lip.

"I'll tell you later. If you stay out of my dressing room tonight."

Her eyes went wide. "Sure, alright, deal. Get some, girl!"

"Sh, not so loud. I don't want him to hear you," I whispered.

"What'd you say, Miley? Ni-"

I quickly covered her mouth, blushing rapidly. Oh, my, God. No. Please don't turn around, please don't turn around.

He turned around.

Damn.

:::

"What the fuck is going on?" Demi squealed the second we got on the bus. "Are you two…"

"Are we what?"

"You know, dating?"

I shook my head, scrunching my nose. "No way. It was just a kiss."

"So why aren't you going out again?"

"Because we're taking things slow," I explained.

"Slow?"

I nodded.

"Why?"

"Because I don't want the fights to start and the lies and just… everything's so much better simple," I told her.

She rose her eyebrows. "You're not dating him because you don't want to fight?"

I paused, hesitating. "Well… Yeah."

"What'd you and Nick fight on when you were a couple?"

Demi and I both turned to Selena in surprise. Why would she even ask that? Why would she ask me anything about Nick? And since when was she in here?

"Everything."

"Really?"

"Yeah," I shrugged.

"What was the most common thing?"

"You," I smiled a little, smirking as I got to watch her squirm a bit uncomfortably. "Just kidding, I had no idea who you were until you magically started dating him. My despise for you didn't start 'til February."

"Good to know," she rolled her eyes. "But, really, what did you two fight on?"

"Why do you wanna know?" I asked innocently, tilting my head to the side. She wasn't gonna tell me, though. So I gave in. "We fought on never seeing each other enough, his brothers interrupting us, my sisters spying on us, what else? Oh, then of course jealousy issues, and him not taking his insulin seriously, blowing it off… Really, everything."

She nodded, looking back down to her laptop.

"Why'd you wanna know?"

"Nick and I never fought."

I rose my eyes. With Nick it was pretty hard not to get frustrated with him at least once a day. "Really?"

"Yeah. Never. Not even a disagreement."

"That's good," I smiled, unsure. Where was she going with this?

She shook her head. "Hardly. I mean, you guys always made up so obviously it just brought you closer."

No, if only she knew how wrong that was. I loved Nick, don't get me wrong, I absolutely loved him with everything in me. If someone asked me to give it all up for him I would in a heartbeat. He was Prince Charming, and he always would be. But the pain the two of us caused each other… If I knew that I wouldn't be able to think of the past for more than five minutes without crying, heartbroken, I wouldn't have done it. I wouldn't go through all of this again just to get to this point where I'm still unsure of what the hell's going on. I wouldn't go through all of this again if I had the choice.

"Did he yell a lot?" she moved topics before I could respond.

Demi was just listening intently, letting her snarky comments be silenced for a few minutes. Maybe she enjoyed watching me feel so awkward.

"He was so damn loud. I was asked if he had ever hit me before once by one of my dancers because he sounded so angry."

"I can't even picture him like that," she murmured, still in her own faraway world.

"Let me guess, he played the whole shy boy act for you," I asked, getting into the conversation now. Discussing Nick had to be the best thing in the world. I was actually good at it.

"Yeah, kind of."

"Hardly. Have you ever seen him drunk?" I smirked.

Demi's jaw dropped. "Nuh-uh. You got him drunk?"

I have to admit, even I was proud of that one. "2009 did perform miracles."

"He-"

"How?" Selena finished, both of them absolutely amazed. Selena came over, sitting with us as we all leaned over the table like this was the most exciting news in the world.

"We were mad at each other. Played never have I ever, just the two of us, going at each other's throats. In my defense, I was pretty drunk too," I shrugged. "A lot happened back in Tybee, don't ya know?"

"Any other good stories?"

I thought about it. "None that I'm gonna tell you willingly."

"Miley," Selena whined.

"C'mon, Mi."

I rose my eyebrows in shock. They agreed on something for once.

"I can't tell you, he'd kill me!"

"The kid barely talks, besides, you're the last person he'd kill," Selena laughed. "Spill."

I was still paralyzed. "Did you just say he barely talks?"

"Well, he talks, but you gotta admit he's pretty quiet."

"Hardly. If anything I was the listener in our relationship. Me. And do you know how much I talk?" I looked at Demi who nodded. "He literally always had a new story he had to tell me, or something to say that he just knew would make me laugh."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it – He's so bipolar," I finally settled.

"Cool, cool," Demi shrugged me off, "now back to these stories you have."

"Demi-"

"Did he ever do drugs?"

I groaned. "No."

"Gone off at a fan?"

"Yes. Wait! No. Maybe."

Selena crossed her arms, looking at me challengingly until I gave in.

"Okay, once."

"What was it over?"

"Me, but-"

"What happened?"

"I'm not talking about this. If you're gonna interrogate me continue before I leave."

"Okay, okay, feisty. Selena, you got any?"

I thought I'd died for a minute. Did she just acknowledge her?

Selena was just as surprised, stuttering before pulling herself together. "Has he ever talked dirty with you?"

I bit my lip. Oh, God. He did that more often than not when we were together. Even today the sexual comments were starting up again.

"Well that's a yes," Demi scoffed and I figured I must have been silent for awhile. "Have you ever talked dirty to him?"

"Is that even a question? Of course," I smirked.

"Have you guys ever gotten dirty?" Demi asked.

"It depends what you consider dirty."

"Make-out sessions for more than hour, hickies, seen each other naked, hand job, you know."

I wouldn't mention to her that we did every single one of those. I felt my face get red and tried to bury it in my hair but it did no good.

"No," I tried to lie for that one. It wasn't just embarrassing to him, but too personal for me. Me.

Demi shook her head. "Your smile gives it away right now. It's bigger than mine."

"I-"

"You naughty girl," she laughed. "This is too good, I'm never letting it go."

Selena nodded in approval, standing up maturely, a small smile on her face. "That's all I needed to know. Thank you."

"Wait-" I started to call her back, but Demi put an arm on my shoulder, silently shaking her head, not letting me call her back. I watched her walk away instead before turning to Demi, making sure to whisper so she couldn't hear. "What was that about?"

"She loves Nick too," Demi explained to her. "She just wanted to make sure she gave him up for the right reason."

"Oh, shit," I cursed. "She loves him and I totally went of talking about how close we are – damn it, why do I always need to open my mouth?"

Demi shook her head, glancing quickly towards the bunks. "It's exactly what she needed to hear."

She didn't seem sure, though, and we both knew Selena was hurting. Considering it was because of me I couldn't exactly help.

"Go check on her," I demanded.

Her eyes turned from sympathetic caring into hard and merciless within a second. "Excuse me?"

"Go."

"Miley, you and Selena are best friends, and that's cute, really, but me and her don't talk. We-"

I rolled my eyes. I wasn't in the mood for this. "Just go. You guys were best friends too, and you know that you miss it. So stop feeding me bullshit, suck it up, and go check on her."

She stared at me for a few seconds before glancing to the bunks and back to me. Eventually she stood up, walking in the same direction Selena did.

"You okay?" I heard her ask faintly.

I took a deep breath. Those jealousy issues that Demi had with Selena? I had them too. The fear that once they became friends again I'd be forgotten never left. And I was positive that one day, they would become friends again. It was a given.

Nick walked in and smiled at me, nodding to the private room we had in the back. I grabbed his arm, stopping him.

"They're having a deep conversation." It was so quiet that it was almost as if I was lip synching it.

He just looked at me blankly. "Selena and Demi?"

"No shit."

He nodded. "Interesting."

"Sure. So, you need to go."

He gave me that lopsided smile. "Why? We can do it here."

I bit my lip. He was pretty tempting, I wouldn't lie. "No. What if they come out?"

"Not my problem."

I rolled my eyes, grabbing his hand and taking him into the bathroom.

"This is getting serious," he remarked, looking around. He opened the cabinet, smiling as he pulled out a box, reading the label out loud. "Miley."

"Don't look at that!" I snatched the hygiene products away from him. "Those are private."

"Got something to hide?"

"My beauty secrets," I huffed, flicking my hair behind my ear.

I gave him a look and he quickly shut up. I loved having that power over him. "Are you gonna do anything?"

I hopped on the bathroom sink and he shook his head, coming over. He caressed my cheek, going painfully slow. "You're so beautiful," he murmured.

It had to be a lie.

"So, so beautiful," he came a little closer. "You'll always be my number one."

"Don't say that," I whispered. "You're young."

"But it's true. They can try, but no one can be as amazing as you," he praised me, imagining some different version of me that must have belonged on a pedestal. "You're so beautiful."

I closed my eyes. He couldn't think that. Not when life for me was so unstable right now. I had to know that he was willing to move on, but I would never be able to ask considering he didn't know.

"You haven't met the good girls yet, then," I shrugged. "But who cares? We're keepin' it simple for now, right? Seeing if anything's still there."

"Yeah, exactly."

But we both knew from the second our lips touched earlier that there was something there. And there was nothing simple about this.

there might be a lot of mistakes - sorry if there are! hope you enjoyed it, anyways:)