Nick pulls away from Demi a while later, looking down at her. "Are you sure you want this, Demi? Absolutely sure?"

"Nick." She takes Nick's face in her hands and smiles up at him. "I'm okay. I'm sure. I want this, I promise."

Nick nods and takes a deep breath before leaning down to kiss her again. Demi wraps her arms around Nick again and gratefully kisses him back. Nick slides his hands under the straps of Demi's dress, his fingertips grazing her bare skin. Demi shivers slightly from Nick's touch, moving her hands down his back slowly. Nick pulls away from her a second later to unzip her dress. He looks down at Demi for a second before kissing her once more.

"I love you," he murmurs in between their kissing, his hands moving down to the bottom of her dress.

Demi smiles as Nick pulls away from her once again. "I love you too." She grazes a finger along Nick's lips gently.

Nick smiles, too, and kisses her finger as he slips his hands under Demi's dress, starting to pull her underwear down. Demi's breath catches in her throat as he does that but Nick doesn't notice. He starts to slip the straps of her dress down her shoulders.

That's when Demi's eyes go wide. She tries to move away from Nick. She hits his chest, kicks her legs, starts to cry.

"Get off me!" she screams. "Go away!"

Nick frowns in confusion. He tries to take Demi's face in his hands. "Demi," he says soothingly. "Demi, it's me, Nick. It's me–"

"Go away!" she says again, starting to cry harder.

"Demi!" Nick tries again. "It's me! Demi, baby–"

Nick knows immediately that that's the wrong thing to say. Demi's eyes widen again and she slaps Nick—hard—across the face.

"Get off me!" she cries, pushing on Nick's chest. When Nick immediately does, she curls up into a ball, sobbing into her pillow.

"Demi–" Nick starts but then he bites his lip and backs up toward the door. "I'm sorry," he whispers.

When Demi doesn't answer, he swallows the lump in his throat and makes his way to the door. He slides down to the floor in the hallway. He closes his eyes and takes his phone out of his pocket, dialing the all too familiar number.

"Hello?" Joe asks groggily, answering after the first few rings.

"Joe?" Nick asks, his voice full of sadness.

Joe sits up in bed, wide awake now. "Nick," he says. "What's the matter, buddy? What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"Can you—can you pick me up?" Nick wonders, leaning his head back on the wall. "Please?"

"Of course," Joe says immediately. He's already out of bed and getting dressed. "I'll be there in twenty minutes, okay? Sit tight, bro."

Nick nods his head, even though Joe can't see him. "Thank you," he says quietly, hanging up the phone.

Joe gets there exactly twenty minutes later and finds Nick sitting on a bench outside of the center. He stops his car and hurries over to his little brother.

"Nick!" he exclaims. When Nick looks up at him, Joe sucks in his breath. "Oh, man." He sits down next to him. "What happened, buddy?"

Nick looks over at him. "I made a bad decision," he says quietly.

"What 'bad decision' did you make?" Joe wonders, tilting his head to the side.

"We almost had sex."

Nick's voice is so low that Joe has to strain to hear it. But when he does, his eyes widen. "Nick, what do you mean you almost had sex?"

"Just that." Nick shrugs a little, looking away from Joe's face. "We almost had sex."

"Okay." Joe holds up a hand. "Back up and start from the beginning."

"Okay." Nick takes a deep breath. "I picked Demi up for our date–"

"Okay, not that beginning. Tell me what happened when you brought her back here after your date."

"Oh." Nick looks at him again. "We got back here, and I walked her to her room, and I said that I'd see her tomorrow, and she said, 'What if the night's not over yet?' So I told her that we're both tired, that the night was over. And then she goes, 'What if you and I did something to make us...not so tired?' And then I said, 'Demi, are you saying what I think you're saying?' And then she nodded and wrapped her arms around me, pressing her body into mine. And then she said, 'Make love to me, Nick.'"

Joe's eyes widen once more. "Whoa," he says softly. "What did you do?"

"I said 'Demi...' but then she kissed me and said, 'Make love to me,' so I said okay and we went into her room," Nick finishes, looking down at his hands.

"Okay," Joe says, nodding. "Then what happened?"

"We—we started kissing. I asked—I asked her if she was sure, and she said she was. So—so then I started to pull her—her underwear down." He glances at Joe for a second, his cheeks flushing. "Then I started to slide her straps down her shoulders, and that's when she started freaking out. She pushed on my chest, started crying and kicking and hitting me. I made the mistake of calling her 'baby,' and she slapped me across the face." Joe nods again, noticing the bright red mark on Nick's cheek for the first time. "So I got off her and she curled into a ball and started to cry. I—I told her that I was sorry, and—and then I left the room. And then I called you."

"Oh, man," Joe says again. He touches Nick's shoulder, and he looks at him again. "You have to make this okay. She's your girlfriend. You can't just leave here tonight without making things okay."

"But she's probably scared of me now," Nick says sadly. "How am I supposed to make this okay?"

"Just go in there. Maybe don't hold her, but just let her know that you're still here for her. How will it look if the one person she expects to be there is the one person who isn't?"

Nick nods. "That's true. Thank you, Joe," he says sincerely.

Joe smiles at him. "Hey, what are brothers—and best friends—for, huh?"

Nick smiles right back at him. "Yeah," he says.

"Now, go. I'll wait out here but text me if you're staying the night, okay?"

Nick nods again. "Okay," he says, standing up. "Thank you," he says again before walking back into the building.

Joe watches after him until he feels his phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulls it out and smiles at the text he just received.

I really miss you. See you soon! xx AJ

Joe smiles more and quickly replies.

I miss you more.

AJ's answer is instantaneous.

Not possible.

"Dem?" Nick wonders, knocking softly on her door. He hesitates a moment before opening the door. He sees Demi still curled up on her bed, so he takes a few slow, cautious steps inside the room. "Demi?" he says again.

Demi picks her head up and looks at him, her eyes widening. But then Nick turns on the light and she visibly relaxes when she sees his face.

"Hi," she says quietly.

"I'm so sorry," he starts but Demi shakes her head, cutting him off.

"Don't be," she replies, sitting up. She holds out a hand for him and, after a second, Nick walks over to her, taking her hand and sitting down on the bed. "I wanted it. I thought I was okay. I thought I would be okay." She looks over at Nick. "I want to be okay."

"I know you do, sweetie," he says quietly. He starts to put his arm around her but then thinks better of it. "You will be okay, Demi, I know it. It's only been a month, honey. It's going to take time—a lot of time—but you'll be okay. And, look..." He pauses for a second. "If you're never ready to...take that step and make love, then we won't. Okay?"

Demi looks at him again. "You'd be okay with that?" she wonders quietly.

Nick nods. "I mean, yeah, I'd want to have sex with you—I am a guy after all." He smiles jokingly and Demi giggles slightly. "But if you don't want to, if you're not ready, then we won't. I love you so much. You're the single best thing that's ever happened to me. It's okay if you're never ready to have sex. It's okay."

Demi smiles at him, slipping an arm around his waist, laying her head on his shoulder. "You're so amazing," she whispers to him. "Thank you for making me feel better, too."

Nick smiles and kisses her head. "You're welcome," he says just as quietly, kissing her head.

Next chapter will most likely end on a major cliffhanger that none of you will like. I can't wait to write that! ;)