NOBODY'S HOME

Chapter 6: Be strong, now

Be strong, be strong, now
Too many, too many problems
Don't know where she belongs,
where she belongs

NO ONE'S POV

It was a very chilly morning, but both Miley and Nick were warmly snuggled onto each other's bodies. Miley slipped inside Nick's bedroom the previous night, sobbing uncontrollably. She wanted to run away, but then she didn't want to leave him. Her longing for his warm embrace was prevailed over her longing to run away. She felt safer in his arms. Nick on the other hand, felt surprised with her sudden outburst. He hated seeing her cry, so he just took her in his arms with no questions asked. He was a bit disorientated when he opened his eyes. The sunlight greeted his vision and a warm body was pressed against his own. He looked down and soon realized that it was Miley. Her face was buried into his chest, and her grip on his arm was kinda tight for someone who was sleeping.

"Hey, you're awake... are you feeling hurt?" he asked when he felt her stir and open her ocean blue eyes.

She looked around her surroundings for a while, before she realized what had happened the previous night. Her gaze soon fell onto Nick's face and she gave him a small smile in return to his kindness.

"Not that much," she murmured.

"Your bruises are slowly fading," he mentioned as he examined her exposed skin.

She sighed in relief. She wanted her bruises to fade away immediately. It always reminded her of her horrific past.

"What happened to you last night? You came here crying." His brows were creased in frustration, but concern was visible through his voice and facial expression.

"I couldn't sleep," she replied with another sigh as she looked down, so he wouldn't be able to look in her eyes. But then, she couldn't fool Nick. He knew that something was wrong.

"Well, did you sleep well?" He had decided to drop the subject for a while. He wanted her to tell him everything when she was ready. Right at that moment, he just wanted to hold and soothe her.

"Yes. I liked sleeping in your arms." Her face was raised so she could look in his eyes. Her ocean eyes were filled with such honesty, happiness, and delight. He was glad that he somehow eased the pain she was feeling.

"You did? That's good." He smiled and caressed her hair lightly. She loved it when he touches her hair.

They just finished lunch and Miley finally told Nick about her past. He was surprised on how a girl like Miley could handle it all. Her life story was in no doubt tragic. Just the thought of her crying in terror during the time where she found her lifeless mother, was heartbreaking. The image of a helpless Miley being beaten her foster brother was something he couldn't endure to think of. It was horrifying. She was so small and defenseless. But she was strong to overcome all those terrifying incidents. To be honest, he thought she was braver than him; it even made him more proud of her. After everything she had told him, he understood her better.

"Can I ask you something?" he asked hesitantly as he caressed her arms in attempt to soothe her.

"Sure." She felt kinda nervous for his question, but she shrugged it off.

"You told me you wanted to die. Why did you go to my room instead?" he asked her with confusion evident in his voice.

Miley felt her cheeks blush. She didn't really understand herself at that moment.

"I don't know. I guess I remembered you. You took good care of me, and I didn't want to upset you. And then I just felt so safe in your arms. Like no one could harm me and I felt like you care for me." Her eyes bore into his chocolate brown ones. She was being truthful and he saw it in her eyes.

"I do. I want to keep you safe." He smiled at her and brought his hand to her cheek.

"For how long, Nick?"

"Until you are ready to get on your own feet."

She looked down to her lap and fiddled with her fingers as she felt uneasy.

"I don't think I would ever get on my own feet," she whispered. Her heart as full of self doubt, and Nick was ready to take the responsibility to make her feel that there was something more waiting for her outside the limitations that everyone, including herself, had set for her.

"I'll help you, don't worry too much. We'll do it slow." He smiled at her and wiped her tears from all the crying she had done from her story-telling.

"Thank you. I'm so happy I met you. I never thought I would be able to escape from him." Happy tears fell from her eyes. She couldn't believe that someone finally wanted to be with her, even though she thought she doesn't deserve to be with him.

"He wouldn't hurt you anymore. I'm here, okay?" he assured her. Finally, she felt safe and at ease.

Nick and Miley hugged each other. She felt extremely happy and grateful that not all men in the world had lost their kindheartedness.

"Come on," he said as he stood up from the couch and offered his hand to her.

"Where are we going?" Her eyebrows furrowed as she gave out her hand to him.

"To the mall. I'll take you shopping," he told her with a big smile on his face.

"Nick, that's too much." She felt surprised. She didn't want to use much of his money. It didn't feel right for her. She thought she doesn't deserve it.

"No, it's not. Listen, my family… We have some extra money, and I'm going to use it to help such people like you, okay?" He felt a tad awkward in explaining it, but it seemed like he was able to explain it well. "Now go and take a bath," he said as he ushered her to the guest room, which would serve as her own room.

Nick was carrying almost ten shopping bags of Miley's clothes when they were done shopping. They walked through the parking lot, with Miley timidly trailing behind him. She felt so shy that he had to buy all of that stuff for her. He seemed to notice Miley's uneasiness as he closed the back compartment of his car.

"Hey, are you okay? What's wrong?" Nick asked worriedly as he caressed her arm. "Do you want something we forgot to buy? Just tell me."

"No," she whispered warily. "I'm just not used to having someone buy me expensive stuff." Her cheeks blushed and she bit her lower lip in embarrassment. Nick couldn't help but chuckle at her. She looked adorable. He couldn't believe he could make her blush.

"Oh, shhhh… You have to get used to it," he said as he led her to the passenger seat.

"Are we going home?" Miley asked Nick as he drove out of his parking spot.

"We're going to have dinner," he told her with his knee-weakening smile.

They soon parked on a parking lot outside a fancy restaurant, and Nick helped Miley out of the car.

"Joe! Demi!" Nick greeted as he and Miley met the said people at the reception area inside the restaurant.

"Hey, you've been busy, man," Joe said as he hugged his brother.

"I know. I had meetings everywhere," Nick said with a sigh. "Anyway, this is Miley, a new friend of mine," he gestured towards Miley's direction as he introduced her.

"I'm Joe, Nick's older brother," Joe said as he extended his hand towards her.

Miley gave him a smile and gladly shook his head. His face resembled a much matured-looking Nick. They don't look alike that much, but she could point out some of their similar features. He has brown eyes and curly hair like Nick's, but his hair was more of wavy than curly. Nick's hair was curlier, and Miley loved twirling some strands in her finger. She had also observed that he looked much leaner than his younger brother, because Nick has more muscles. Miley let go of his hand, and he then gestured to his right where a brunette woman stood with one of her arm wrapped around Joe's waist. Miley thought that she looked beautiful, nothing like herself.

"This is Demi, my girlfriend," Joe said to Miley.

"Oh, hi Miley, I'm Demi," Demi said as she extended her hand. She gave Miley her very unique smile, the one that Miley envied most about her, right at that moment. Miley shook her hand and they had some small talk while waiting for their table to be prepared. After a few moments, the waitress led them to their table. Joe and Demi sat on one side of the booth, while Nick and Miley sat on the opposite side.

"Hey, you okay?" Nick asked when he noticed the tension that Miley was feeling. He squeezed her hand and caressed it softly with her thumb. "Just relax, Miley. They are harmless." It was crazy because it only took just a few strokes of his thumb on her hand to soothe her nerves.

They ordered food and chatted for a while as they waited for it to get served. Nick had warned Joe beforehand not to bombard Miley with personal questions, so Joe and Demi kept their mouth shut. They actually liked Miley, but they were aware that there was something mysterious about her. Joe and Nick almost did all the talking. Although Miley didn't feel too left-out, the questions asked to her were very common and not that intriguing. Nick made her feel comfortable, always acknowledging her presence.

"So you're Nick's new friend?" Demi asked Miley in a very teasing way. They were waiting for the bill, when Demi finally asked. Both she and Joe were totally clueless about her. They didn't even know if Nick was dating Miley.

"Yeah," Miley replied softly as she tried her best not to blush.

"Mom and dad wouldn't believe you're dating again," Joe commented, and the tension got started.

"Nick and I aren't dating," Miely admitted as she bit her lower lip shyly.

"Oh," both Joe and Demi replied in unison. They were quite expecting that Nick and Miley were dating.

"We're just friends," Nick relied cooly as he gave Miley a sweet smile. I t was obvious that he likes her.

Maybe friends with benefits, Joe thought to himself.

"Okay, then. We better get going," Joe said.

"It was nice meeting you," Joe and Demi told Miley.

"You too," Miley replied with a smile on her face. She actually liked them. But she felt so uncomfortable because she had to hide a lot of things from them. But she knew everything would get better in time. She got Nick to help her get back on her feet.

AN: I'm so sorry if I wasn't able to update earlier! =( Too busy with life. *sigh*

I hope you liked this chapter. Please send me your feedback by hitting the REVIEW button below. Pretty pleaseeee? =)

Thanks for all of your love and support! I have revised the outline of this story. It seems like it would have 4-5 more chapters ;)

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