Chapter Twenty-Three
December 3rd
Miley's POV
Miley dialed her friend up curious as to where she had been the last few days with no phone calls or anything.
"Hello?" She answered wearily.
"Tay?"
There was a pause and then, "Miles, hey."
"Tay, are you okay?"
Miley thought she heard a sniffle before Taylor began to talk again. "No."
"What's wrong?"
"Taylor..." All of a sudden she began sobbing over the phone. Oh God, what had happened?
"Taylor, it's okay. Just...tell me what happened. We can probably fix this."
"I slept with him!" She said shocking Miley. "I'm a horrible person. I cheated on my boyfriend."
"Taylor..." Miley didn't know what to say. Plus, having a conversation like this was awkward over the phone. "I'm coming. Where are you?"
"Hey." Miley sat down next to Tay on the floor against the wall of her hotel room in an entirely different hotel than Miley's. She put a hand on Taylor's shoulder and squeezed it comfortingly. "First things first. How do you feel about Taylor right now?"
Taylor sobbed again but spoke. "I love him."
"And how do you feel about Jake?"
"I...he's my boyfriend. I..." She sighed. "Nothing." She finally finished rambling. "I don't feel anything for Jake. I don't want to hurt him."
"Jakes a big boy, Tay." She pulled Taylor's head to her shoulder and brushed her blonde tendrils back gently. "You can't stay with someone just to make them happy. You are fortunate to be happy with someone else who returns your feelings and you can't pass that up."
Taylor turned her wide innocent blue eyes up to Miley. "I haven't been back to Jake's apartment. And I haven't spoken to Taylor either. I just feel like such a betrayer." She tightened her small beige sweater around her abdomen over her stylish white sundress.
Miley sighed. "Selena and I fought."
"What do you mean? You guys are still fighting? She told me she would call you."
Miley shook her head. "No. It's a different fight. I got upset with her about saying some things about me and Joe and I blamed her for why Demi is in treatment." She brushed a hand through her hair letting out a deep breath. "She's never going to come near me again. She hates me."
"No." Taylor shook her head. "I think the reason she's avoiding you is because she thinks it's true."
Miley thought about that and the last words that Selena spoke. She said she would leave her alone. Like she was doing Miley a favor. Miley groaned and stood up. "Great. Listen, I have to go talk to Selena and you need to go talk to Taylor and probably Jake too."
Taylor nodded slowly as Miley hoped she would be okay.
Demi's POV
Demi lay in bed with the television down low just staring at it but not really watching. She figured she looked a mess since she hadn't done her hair or hadn't put any makeup on. She wore the crappy flannel pajamas she'd been lounging around in since the beginning of November. She wanted to call someone, to speak to anyone but she didn't have anything to say. She just needed someone. She felt like her prayers had been answered when one of the attendants came in.
"Miss Lovato, you have a visitor."
Demi sat up expecting Miley or Selena to walk through the door, but when she saw who it really was, her arms weakened and she fell back in her laying position, staring numbly up at him. "What are you doing here?"
"Uh, hi." Joe stepped to the side of her bed, not taking his eyes from her. "I needed to talk."
"About what?" She asked cautiously, trying once again to sit up and did. She swung her legs to the other side of the bed trying to get as much distance as possible between them.
"I don't know. About this awkwardness between us. It has to end, for both our sakes." She had her back turned to him but she could hear the sincerity in his voice. She could always tell what he was feeling which was why it had come as a surprise to her when he dumped her just like that. She had loved him and he had loved her. "Demi." He spoke her name after she didn't answer him and Demi realized she missed it. He hadn't said her name for at least a month and a half and she missed the way he said it, the way it sounded when he was the one speaking it.
Demi felt her selfish side come to the surface, the side that loved the way Joe made her feel special when he said her name. "Where's Ashley?"
"On the set of Breaking Dawn, I think." Joe shrugged and then ruined her whole plan to stay away from him as he rounded the bed and sat down beside her. "We're over."
She wasn't sure how she was supposed to feel about that. Was she supposed to feel happy that the guy she loved was no longer with the girl she constantly compared herself to, the perfect woman, or was she supposed to hate him for dumping yet another innocent unsuspecting decent human being? Strangely all she wanted to do was hug him, but yet it made sense. Her and Joe used to be best friends and they used to comfort each other through this stuff. But now they were strangers trapped in the best of friends bodies. Demi opened her mouth to say something, anything, but she didn't have a thing to say. So she just shrugged.
"Can't you just tell me what you're feeling for once?" He asked, his tone of voice raising getting frustrated.
"Feeling? I feel..." Useless, unperfect, unneeded, unnecessary, ugly. "Nothing. And whatever I do feel, you proved you don't care long ago, Joe."
"I do care. You misunderstood the breakup completely."
Demi shook her head as she lowered it, pinching the bridge of her nose between three of her fingers. Then she sighed, exasperated. "I don't WANT to understand. I don't want to talk about it."
"I need you in my life, Demz."
Those whispered words were caused the tears to overflow. Why did he have to call her that? Why did he have to know exactly what to say? She couldn't just cave that easily. He hurt her. He... She looked up at him and her hand fell to the bed. "I don't know if you being here is good for me right now. We'll talk, Joe. Just...not now. It's too soon. Please...just go." She kept eye contact with him although it was killing her to see the hurt behind his eyes. She couldn't give him the satisfaction of giving in. She had wanted to call him but now she know it would've been too soon. She deserved a little more time, a little more recovery.
Joe stood up hesitating before walking over to the door where he stopped again then turned. "I'm thinking about an album. I really need my best friend so...will you just call me, when you are ready to talk?"
She nodded slightly not looking at him but she felt when he left the room. She felt the emptiness.
Niley day Marathon {3/3}
