Disclaimer: I own absolutely none of any crap you could possibly think I do.

Nick's POV

It's been two days and I still haven't called her. I thought about it yesterday but what if she told her parents? How would I face them?

You know what Nick? This is stupid. Just do it.

Right then the phone rang.

Who could that be?

I looked at the caller i.d. and saw that it was Miley. My Miley. Huh?

The obvious thing to do would be answering.

"Mi?" I heard sniffling on the other end.

"Nick, can you come over please? I really need you right now."

Miley's the kind of girl that doesn't want you to see her sweat. Heck, the only time i've even seen her cry is while we were watching a movie.

"Of course Mi. I'll be over right away, okay? It'll be fine. I promise."

More sniffling came from her end of the line. "Just hurry."

That's exactly what I intended to do. I looked towards the clock first, though.

Eight p.m. Mom's not gonna like this.

I ran downstairs as fast as my legs would allow. As soon as I saw my mom I stopped dead in my tracks.

"Where are you running to, Nicholas?" She inquired. "You know it's too late for you to be out."

"I do know that Mom, but Miley called me and I know she was crying. I have to be there for her. Please?" I knew even if my mom said no I'd find a way to sneak out. I looked at her directly to find a smile planted on her face.

"Fine Nicholas. But this is a one time deal. Got it?" She wagged a finger as if scolding me.

"Understood. Thank you so much mom. Love you. Bye."

I ran and ran nonstop. I had to make sure she was alright. My legs begged me to stop as they burned, but I couldn't give in. I hadn't even thought to just drive my car.

Boy, am I smart or what?

When I got to Miley's wing of the house I barged right in. No hesitation. There she was right in front of me. Her back was turned so she couldn't see me, though. It was quite a scene she was playing out before me. Pictures were being torn left and right. I decided to let her get it out of her system until she picked up a glass picture frame and threw it against her dresser.

"Mi, what are you doing?"

She swiftly turned to face me. I have never seen her in such a state. She was always smiling and making jokes. I wrapped my arms around her but she just hit my chest over and over. I knew it wasn't personal so I just held on while her blows softened. Eventually, her body just shook from the power of her uncontrollable sobs until we made it to the floor. Then, I pulled back to wipe her tears with my fingertips. When done, she pulled away from me and crawled across the floor over to Beary Bear. He's her favorite stuffed animal. Seeing her like this tore me up inside. All she could seem to do was cling to the inanimate yet comforting object in her clutches as hard as possible. In the corner she tucked herself away and her hair stuck to her red cheeks. I made my way over to her. I doubt she wanted to discuss whatever made her this way. Thinking this, once again I engulfed her with my own body heat hoping to protect her from more emotional harm. I almost wanted to cry, too.

About 10 Min. Later

I decided to ask once she had completely quieted.

"Do you want to tell me about it?"

She shook her head no.

"You know i'm here to talk when you do, right?"

She nodded yes. That was good enough for me.

Change the subect Nick. Right now!

"Well, look Mi. You know the other night? I'm sorry for everything. It's just like you said. I was being a teenage boy. I just...I don't know. It only seems to happen around you. You make me impulsive. You make me feel things that I don't really know how to react to. And I guess me thinking what I was thinking didn't help at all. That creep--"

"What were you thinking?" She disrupted me.

Uh oh. This isn't embarrassing at all.

Nick thought this with heavy sarcasm in his head.

"Umm, you know, me and you, your clothes and...maybe the floor?" I said this as a question.

"You think about me like that?" Her angelic voice came out in a slightly high tone as she gripped Beary Bear even tighter. The last thing I wanted her to feel around me was unsafe.

"No, of course not. At least, I didn't." This was the truth. "You know i'd never try to hurt you, Mi."

"Of course I know that. But sometimes I guess I get really self concious. I mean I'm definitely not the prettiest girl you've ever met and I'm aware of that. I don't want to disappoint you." She put emphasis on not when she spoke.

I looked into her blue eyes. The redness had worn off a little bit. "You're gorgeous Mi." I looked directly at her. "You shouldn't think anything less and for the record, you are the prettiest girl i've ever met."

"You're lying to me." How could she think that? She's beautiful.

"I'm not." She just studied my features with disbelief. I had to get her to smile tonight. "Let's dance." I pulled her hair from her tear stained face and fixed her ponytail.

"In my room? Like this? There's not even music playing."

"It doesn't matter where we are and we can play one of your cds." I walked over to her iPod speakers and searched through her playlists. I saw 'Daughters' by John Mayer. I know it's one of Miley's favorites and I personally really enjoy it, also. I turned to help her up to find tears welling up in her eyes. I took her hand anyway and we swayed to the music. When the chorus came she told me why she broke down.

"My dad left." These words left her lips and I hid the shock not wanting her to cry harder.

"What do you mean?" Her head was resting on my shoulder while we danced hand in hand.

"My parents have been fighting nonstop the past few weeks and he just came up to say goodbye out of nowhere. I didn't believe he was just gonna leave me with one word. And that one of all choices. I asked him not to go but he told me to shut up and kept saying mean things to me. I took a second to take it in, then I went crazy. Hence, my messy room.

"You don't deserve that Mi. You really don't." I wasn't gonna bad talk her dad. I mean, she loves him. And that would be way out of line.

"In a way, I do. They're falling out of love and it's my fault. Sometimes I think they don't even like each other. The only reason they haven't given up is because of me and Braison and Noah. (a/n Brandi and Trace don't exist in this story.) But mostly me cause they know I can't do 'Hannah' and press and just live my life all by myself. Don't say I shouldn't say that because it's the truth."

"I wasn't going to, but love isn't yours to control Mi."

"But there are factors that get in the way of it and i'm a main one."

Hearing that, I knew I wasn't gonna get her to smile tonight. I had to help her get her mind off of things.

"Tomorrow the whole house will be empty. We could hang out by the pool. Maybe a picnic? I'd be all yours."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Stay the night?"

"I'm staying the night."

What do you know? She smiled. "Does this mean i'm forgiven?"

She giggled in that adorable way only she can pull off and nodded. Mission accomplished.

In Nick's Backyard

I laid the blanket out and put the food all over it.

"Why so much chocolate Nicky?"

"Well in movies girls eat a ton of chocolate and candy when they're sad or whatever."

"That's so sweet. It almost makes up for your nerdiness."

"Oh, be quiet and eat your chocolate." I put a glob of chocolate icing on the tip of her nose. Then watched her eyebrows raise.

"You did not just do that."

"What if I did?" With that, she repeated my actions and grabbed a huge dollop of the same icing and used her three fingers to spread it across my lips.

"You know, I could b--" Before I could process it she had jumped on me and started attacking me with her pink glossed lips. We were laying on the blanket and my arms were wrapped around her torso. The icing from my lips made the kiss all the sweeter. I was kinda let down when it ended. "Way to attack me, Mi."

"What? You looked so tasty. You were right too. The chocolate worked."

"I told you. Who's the nerd now?"

"Still you. Have you realized we haven't gone in the water yet?"

"We can fix that." My hands went under the back of her knees and the other supported her back as I picked her up bridal style. When it dawned on her what I was doing she started freaking out and trying to get out of my grasp. It made me laugh so hard.

"Put me down Nicholas!"

"We're on a first name basis now Destiny?"

"That's not my name anym--" Oops. Too late. She already hit the water. When she resurfaced she shook her head and rubbed the water out of her eyes. She put her hand out to me signaling she wanted me to help her out.

"No way Mi. You're just gonna pull me in." My aim of sight never left her as she climbed out herself. This is definitely not the first time she's amazed me with her wonderful physique. Tiny water droplets made their way down her body. She found her way in front of me and I hadn't even noticed until her wet mouth whispered my name.

"Huh?" I was out of my trance.

"You were staring." Duh. Look at you. She had on a bikini I had never seen before. It was pink and had yellow polka dots all over it. The strap for the top was loosely tied.

"Yeah, I just...umm." I had no reason to explain my wandering eyes.

"You just...like what you see?" She gave me a knowing look and all I could do was kiss her. I held onto her thinking she might disappear for being too perfect. It was slow. I wanted to savor this moment. Her hands grabbed my arms and she looked at me tenderly. I haven't said these words to her in person for years but they came out like word vomit. I could only hope I didn't ruin things.

"I love you, Mi. I've always loved you."

Okay, so this is like the first time Nick is saying I love you to Miley since they last broke up. That means it's kind of a big deal and he isn't sure she feels the same way. Sorry for the long wait.