Author's Note: This is going to be a five part short story. So I'm going to smash it out in 5 chapters, and hopefully you guys like it. If you do, please review :) And if you love it, I might make it longer... :) Thanks!

December 2007 (Four years earlier)

"I'm sorry Nick," Miley whispered, tears running down her cheeks.

Nick stood there; his shoulders slumped, staring at Miley disbelievingly.

"I don't understand," he said, shaking his head.

"It's not like this doesn't hurt me too. I don't want to do this, but I have to."

"If you don't want to, why are you doing it? Why are you throwing everything away? I love you, Miley. When did that stop being enough?"

Miley closed her eyes and took a deep breath. If she looked into his eyes one more time, she might not be able to go through with this.

"I don't know who I am without you," Miley said quietly, her voice wavering. "All I know is that I should."

"Miley, do you love me?" Nick demanded, not giving up.

Miley's hands her shaking when she finally opened her eyes, but she refused to look at Nick. Instead, she bit her lip and gazed vacantly over his shoulder.

"I'm 16. What do I know about love?"

Nick's face crumpled, Miley's words slicing through his chest and piercing his heart. He let go of Miley's hands and took a step back, his eyes filling with tears ready to overflow.

Miley knew she shouldn't have lied. She wanted grab him and force him to recognise her dishonesty. She wanted to feel his arms around her again, and have him play with her hair while they sat under the stars. While she believed that she loved him, and that she would never stop, she had to let him go. He brought out the best in her when it wasn't the best for him. If Nick knew that Miley was doing this, he wouldn't let her, so she had to make him hate her in order to free him. Miley's heart was breaking with every word.

Nick cast one last glance at Miley, silently begging her to ask him to stay. When she didn't, he turned on his heel and walked out of the room, leaving his heart behind with her.

"It might look like I'm letting go, but inside I'm still holding on," sighed Miley, moving forward to shut her bedroom door, before slumping against it sobbing.

August 2011 (Present)

Miley yawned, struggling to pay attention as her publicist read aloud the latest article doing the rounds. She'd recently featured on the cover of Teen Vogue, and they'd begged to do an 'uncovering the truth' piece on her. She was getting tired of the trash that had been spread around in the last few years, so she agreed. What Miley hadn't expected, was them to bring up all of those rumours and ask for a comment on every single one.

"When asked about Nick, Miley backed up what was initially published in another magazine at the time. That she had indeed felt the need to 'rebel against everything Nick wanted me to be'. But then she realised that was also an act, and went in another direction again," she tittered, glaring at Miley.

Miley cringed, and knew she should have just refused to answer that question. They had brought up the Myspace photos, her previous relationship with Justin, the Youtube videos with Mandy, the official change of her name, her on and off again status with Liam, her 180 flip on everything Disney and her string of questionable acting roles. There was nothing they didn't pry about, and Miley now felt she made the mistake of allowing it.

"It's going to take a lot for me to squash the media uproar about this interview," she threatened, still looking daggers at Miley. "What were you thinking?"

Miley shrugged her shoulders. She couldn't be bothered fighting, she'd grown tired of trying to justify herself to everyone. Lately, she felt like her life was so far from where she had imagined it would be. Like somewhere along the line, the ground beneath her had fallen away and she'd never stopped running. If she really thought about it, she could pinpoint when that happened. But Miley had never told anyone, because she couldn't even admit it to herself. Every time she saw him, every time his name was mentioned in front of her, her insides twisted with pain and her heart ached. Yet on the outside, she kept the flawless mask which served to hide her emotions. She had become that practised in lying smoothly, in keeping her mask from faltering, that she'd even fooled her boyfriend and best friends, and the world. Inside she was screaming, desperately waiting for someone to call her bluff and figure out that the last 4 years were nothing but a lie. She had deceived everyone into thinking that this was who she was, who she wanted to be. Her looks had changed, her music had changed, even the way she conducted herself. She wanted desperately to go back to the old Miley, the real Miley, the one she was when she was with him, but she couldn't without hurting herself. Because she knew, she could never be that Miley, not without him.

"… Are you even listening to me?"

Miley's head snapped up as she realised that her publicist was standing before her, hand on hip, expecting some sort of answer.

Frustrated with everything, Miley jumped to her feet and without so much as a goodbye, stormed out of the beach front house.

Miley walked quickly along the pavement, suddenly aware that she didn't grab her back. She had no phone, no money, no bodyguards, no one knew where she was, and she didn't care. The last of the summer's heat beat down on her back, and she craned her neck upwards to bask in the rays. She heard a car horn, and turned to see none other than Joe grinning at her. He had his trademark Wayfarers on, the top down on his black convertible, looking pleased to see Miley. Miley's faced softened when she saw him.

"Well, if it isn't my long lost little sister!" he cried, gesturing for her to get into the car.

Miley pulled the handle up and slid into the leather passenger seat, and Joe slammed his foot onto the accelerator and took off. Miley laughed, and Joe joined her, her heartbeat speeding up as the tinkling sound of Joe's amusement reminded her of his brother.

"What are you doing wandering around Malibu by yourself?" he asked, concerned.

Miley glanced sideways at Joe, shrugging her shoulders lightly.

"Shouldn't you be getting ready for the Teen Choice Awards?" she countered.

Joe smiled, nodding his head.

"I'll get there; boys don't take as long as girls to get ready. Plus Demi won't be there, so I'm trying to convince her and my publicist to let me bail too."

"She won't?" Miley repeated, surprised.

Joe's eyes grew wide, worried he'd just given away too much.

"It's been too long, Miles," Joe deflected. "Have you spoken to Noah recently?"

"Yeah, yesterday after I landed from Europe. We were meant to catch up the day after tomorrow, but she was being all shady and said she couldn't, but didn't tell me why."

The muscle in Joe's jaw flexed as he forced a smile.

"She probably just wants to hang out with Frankie," Joe lied, clearly hiding something.

Miley nodded, her eyes narrowing. Joe had a valid explanation; of course her baby sister would want to hang out with her boyfriend. But why would Demi not being going with hers to the awards tonight?

"How was Europe, by the way? I thought you and Ash wrapped filming ages ago."

"We did," confirmed Miley. "I stayed behind. I had some… stuff to figure out."

It was Joe's turn to glace sideways at Miley, studying her face.

"You seem different," he stated, swerving through traffic.

"I've heard that before," Miley said bitterly.

"No, as in. Different to how you were when you were different from before," he tried to explain, before screwing up his face and realising that he'd confused himself.

"Oh, yeah. I get it," Miley giggled.

"You do?"

"Nope. You make no sense, Joey."

"You seem, sad. But still, like you're in a better place than you have been for a while," Joe tried again.

Miley remained silent, cursing herself internally for Joe's ability to read her so easily. She should have known that he would have her all figured out in a heart beat. He always was able to do that. That's why she had stayed away from the brothers for the last four years, as much as it hurt to be near Nick, she wished she could see them because she had missed Joe and Kevin too. It was easier just to cut them from her life all together.

"I read today that Danielle is pregnant, that's so great! Please congratulate them for me," Miley cooed, changing the subject.

"Yeah!" agreed Joe, excitedly. "Kevin's over the moon. You should see him. Anytime he thinks no one is looking, he's staring at Dani's stomach like he expects the baby to just burst out at any moment."

Miley laughed, easily able to imagine that scenario. Joe pulled the car up in front of a suit store, turned off the engine and threw the keys to the valet.

"Well Miles, I don't know where you were headed, but this is me. I can give you a ride home later if you want?"

Miley stepped out of the car and examined the front of the store.

"Why are you getting a suit?"

"Um," he faltered, scrambling for an excuse. "Oh, for tonight of course."

"Since when do you wear suits to the TCA's?" Miley scoffed.

"Since I like to do what people least expect," returned Joe, amused.

Miley nodded, turning to start walking away, when she felt Joe grab her hand.

"Miles?" he said softly, spinning her to face him. "I've missed you. This you."

"What do you mean?"

"The stuff splashed all over the tabloids? That Miley doesn't fool me. I know you, Miles. And I miss you. We all do," Joe told her, collecting her in his arms and hugging her tightly.

And there it was. Miley hadn't had a proper conversation with Joe in four years, and yet he was the only one who had seen through it all in the space of 15 minutes. Breathing in deeply to calm herself and ward of the threatening tears, she returned his embrace.

"See you tonight?" she asked, placing a kiss on his cheek.

"Front and centre when you take that stage," he proclaimed, giving her a final grin before slipping into the shop.

Miley wiped her eyes, making sure her mask wasn't threatened, when she was blindsided by the paparazzi. Two or three cameras were shoved in her face, and Miley yelped as she took a step back. They started shouting at her, asking her for comments and photos, and Miley became overwhelmed. Looking around for an escape, she saw the sleek glass doors Joe had just slipped through. Making a run for it, she flung one open and snuck inside. The moment the door shut, the paparazzi were locked out, and the two ways mirrors prevented them from trying to snap any more shots.

Miley ran her fingers through her hair, trying to calm herself. She looked around for Joe, quietly nodding to the sales assistant and putting her hand up to stop them from approaching her. Spotting the mop of dark hair, she headed in his direction. She stopped in her tracks when an unmistakably familiar voice call out to Joe.

"I don't see why there needs to be so many fittings. And why Kevin doesn't have to!" Nick whined, checking himself out in the mirror.

"Kevin came in yesterday to do it. You know he was doing an interview on Ellen today with Dani."

"I still can't believe this actually might work. The announcement of Kev Jr, the awards; the decoy plan might work."

"It has to," confirmed Joe. "If you don't want any paparazzi at the wedding. Don't forget your solo tour announcement. That's given the media enough to handle, I don't think they'll suspect there's about to be a covert wedding staged tomorrow."

Miley's breath hitched in her throat, and she ducked behind a clothing rack. A wedding? Miley's heart fell. It has to be Nick's, otherwise Joe would have said something if he was marrying Demi. Why would Noah lie about where she was?

"How come you were late?" Nick asked, watching as the seamstress fiddled with the hem of his pants.

"I, um. Gave, um, a friend… a lift?" stammered Joe, averting his eyes from Nick's stare.

"What friend?"

Joe mumbled something and walked back into the change room.

"Was I meant to understand what you just said?" Nick laughed.

"Hey, is Selena staying at yours tonight?" shouted Joe, ignoring Nick's previous question.

"Who did you give a ride to, Joseph?"

"Miley," Joe admitted, smiling sheepishly at Nick.

Nick's eyes bugged out of his head, and his mouth fell open.

"Why would you do that?" asked Nick, incredulously.

"Because she's my friend."

"She hasn't been a friend to any of us for a long time," Nick shook his head, a sad look on his face.

"She still cares about us. About you, Nick. I can tell. All the stuff that's happened since you guys broke up… you know none of that is her. All the things she's said, things she's done. That's not our Miley. Not your Miley."

"She's not my Miley. Not anymore. Can we just drop this?" hissed Nick, turning his back on his brother.

The seamstress stood up, smiling at Nick.

"Miley is the bride?" she asked in a foreign accent.

"No," Nick shouted vehemently, rubbing the back of his neck. "No, she's not."

"Dude, calm down. I didn't mean to make you angry," Joe apologised.

"Can we just get this over with? I want to go home to Selena and see her one last time until tomorrow."

"So she's not staying over?"

"Bride must not see groom until she come down aisle!" cried the seamstress.

Both boys started laughing at the woman who looked at them confused, while Miley started crying. She flew back out of the doors, not caring if they paparazzi were waiting for her. It was too late, she'd lost Nick. I'm 16, Miley's voice echoed in her head. What do I know about love? The tears tumbled down mercilessly, as Miley realised she was right. What did she know about love, if she walked away from it four years ago?