F a l l i n g I n L o v e . . .

Two weeks, and half a day. That's how long it's been since Miley had last talked to Nick. Although, he sure didn't make himself to hard to avoid. At lunch he sat as far away from her as possible, coming home they had divided into two different groups each day, and where they normally passed in the hallway they never came close to.

Whenever Noah went over to play with Frankie Miley pretended she was busy, and whenever Brandi or Trace went over for Joe or Kevin she said she wasn't in the mood. They both knew what had happened, but it was one of those things that wasn't spoken of. Miley didn't want to talk to anyone about it, and no one knew how to bring up something like that, or if she wanted to bring it up.

Everyone was trying to ignore how much Miley was pulling herself away from their group, but it was true. She hardly talked to anyone other than Demi, and even Mandy was having trouble getting her to speak. She thought that it would be better now that Demi had told everyone, but it only seemed to push the two of them closer while Mandy was pushed farther away.

"Just talk to her!" Selena had begged Nick over and over again.

Each time, he simply sighed, looked her directly in the eyes, and said the same thing. "I don't know what to say."

"Say what you feel!" Selena threw her arms up.

"And if I don't feel the same way?"

Selena almost missed it. She almost didn't see that flash of challenge in his eyes. The flash of wonder. But she did see that flash of love. The flash that showed he felt the same way, and didn't even know it.

"Pretend."

"She's in love with me, Selena. I can't just pretend that I don't know that, because I do!"

"But why does it have to mean something?" she shouted back.

Nick looked down. "I can't deal with this right now."

"How do you think she feels? You think she doesn't feel alone? That she doesn't feel like complete shit?"

"S-"

"No, I promise, she feels it to," Selena growled before storming out of his room.

"She's made the biggest mistake of them all. She's letting some stupid boy take over everything. He practically controls her life. She needs him," Demi fumed over the phone.

Selena's sigh could be heard while she stared at the picture of the two of them alone on her computer, courtesy of Facebook. "Dem, there's something you should know," she closed her eyes tight knowing that Nick may never forgive her. "He's made the same mistake for her. He loves her... He's in love with her."

"What do you mean?"

"He's in love with her," Selena bit her lip.

Demi's heart stopped for a minute. "He told you that?"

"No, but I could see it. And, I think he's seeing it now too," Selena looked down, away from the computer. "He told Joe how much he misses her, and we both kind of talked to him about how maybe he likes her more than a friend. He thought about it... I'm pretty sure he's gonna realize that maybe we're right. Maybe he does."

Nick looked down the table at his old best friend. She was smiling brightly as usual, but as usual Nick could tell something wasn't right. He sighed, glancing at Selena, knowing what he was about to do would blow his own secret. He leaned to Joe.

"Nick loves Miley. Pass it down," he murmured in his ear. Joe didn't hesitate. He leaned into Taylor.

"Nick loves Miley – pass it down."

She leaned into Selena, "Nick loves Miley. Pass it."

Selena leaned in cautiously to Mandy. "Nick loves Miley... pass it down?"

Mandy looked back to Selena before obeying, telling Demi. "Nick loves Miley. Pass it down."

Demi snapped her head to face Nick. He simply nodded at her. She hesitated. "Nick loves Miley... pass it down," she told Miley with a slight smile.

The brunette looked at Demi skeptically for a moment before rolling her eyes and going back to her story. Nick groaned, leaning back into to Joe.

"Nick swears it's true. Pass it down.

Joe sighed, leaning back to Taylor not bothering to keep his voice down this time. "Nick swears it's true. Pass it on."

Taylor once again told Selena. Selena nodded, going to Mandy again. "Nick swears it's true. Pass it down."

She nodded. "Nick swears it's true. Pass it."

Demi let a genuine smile out this time. "Nick swears it's true."

Miley looked at her for a second before bending to see Nick. He gave her a wink, but she didn't let up. This was a game of telephone. The same game she played in first grade to teach her rumors were almost never true.

He smiled, getting up and going around the table to sit directly across from her. "I swear. It's true."

"How do I know you aren't just feeling sorry for me?"

"'Cause if I felt sorry for you, I don't think my stomach would be fluttering like mad, and I would want to kiss you this badly," he admitted, blushing.

Miley's cheeks turned crimson to match as she found a smile trying to break through. "How do I know that isn't a lie too?"

He grinned. "Because you know I can't lie to you."

"So..."

"I love you," he blurted.

"And what exactly do you want to do about that?"

He grinned. "Marrying you would be nice, but I guess for now... be my girlfriend?"

Miley bit her lip nodding. "That could most definitely work."

So some things changed...

"Have you always loved me?" Nick asked her.

"Dems, I seriously don't know how I lived before you were my besty," Miley giggled.

"Mandy! You'll never guess what happened," Selena ran up to her best friend.

And some things would never be the same...

"Mandy, what happened?"

"We both found new people to be there for us, I guess."

"I gotta go! Miley's here!" Demi said, hanging up the phone so she could go hang out with who turned out to be the one person that seemed to understand her.

But things would always be how they were meant to be.

"I love you," he smiled down at her.

"I love you too, Nicky," she whispered.

okay, this story is over. haha, worst chapter ever written, but i really wanted to at least finish the story. hope you liked it :)

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