I Find Myself in You

“I still don’t get why I have to be here,” I grumbled as I got out of Kevin’s car and put on my sunglasses. The boys just laughed and led me into the small restaurant.

“She’ll do it only if you ask her yourself,” Joe reminded me.

I crossed my arms and glared at him through my sunglasses, though he couldn’t see my eyes. This was so like Miley, setting conditions like this up to get her way. “Sounds kind of fishy to me,” I mumbled as a waiter came to the podium.

“Hi, how man--,” he seemed to see who we were. “Oh my God, The Jonas Brothers and Lainey Peters here! What’ll it be? 4?”

“Actually, we’re waiting on someone,” Nick smiled as everyone in the restaurant looked at us. I edged myself closer to Joe. On top of having to be civil to Miley, I was not in the mood to outrun a mob of fans. Joe grinned at me reassuringly, and I knew it would be fine.

“Of course,” the waiter said excitedly, grabbing menus and inclining his head towards us. “If you’ll just follow me,” he said, leading us to a table in the middle of the restaurant. We all sat down and he distributed menus with shaking hands.

I found it slightly amusing and started laughing. I quickly covered my mouth in my fit of giggles so that he wouldn’t think I was laughing at him, even though I was. He just smiled and left us to our menus. As soon as he did, we all burst out in laughter.

“Wow I hope he doesn’t spill our food with those shaking hands,” Kevin laughed.

“Oh man,” Joe said. “I love our fans.”

“I think he liked you three a bit too much,” I observed, still laughing.

“What do you mean?” Nick asked.

I inclined my head to the waiter who was at the podium again, sneaking looks our way. “Look at him,” I said. “He definitely likes you guys a lot more than me.”

The boys stopped laughing immediately. “Do you think,” Nick asked. “That he’ll hit on us?”

I rolled my eyes. “Not every gay guy is going to hit on you,” I reminded him. “But this one just might.” I started laughing again.

“Miley Cyrus,” someone cried out, sobering me up immediately.

“Please let it be a look alike,” I mumbled as we all looked at the entrance. Unfortunately, it was the real deal. I slumped a bit in my seat. “Guys, hide your faces,” I said under my breath.

Joe laughed, nudging me with his elbow. “She is going out with Nick,” he reminded me. “We can’t exactly do that.”

Nick flushed slightly as he shot me an apologetic look. I just stuck my tongue out at him. “Fine, let’s leave Nick here with her and leave,” I suggested, starting to stand as the waiter grabbed another menu and started leading Miley towards us. “Quick, while we can.”

“Lainey,” Joe sighed, shaking his head. “Just give her a chance.”

I crossed my arms and stayed seated as the boys rose when she approached. “Hey guys,” she grinned, hugging them each in turn. I noticed she and Nick were in each other’s arms a few moments longer than with the others. They finally sat down and she looked at me, smiling nervously. “Hi Lainey.”

“Miley,” I grumbled. Joe nudged me with his elbow again. I sighed and narrowed my eyes at him before facing Miley again. “I mean, hi Miley.” She sighed, but didn’t say anything. I, on the other hand, had much to say. “So you’re going to tell everyone you kissed Jesse when we were still dating? What’s the catch here? Do I have to make a fool of myself on stage? Or maybe beg for a bit? Or give you my favorite earrings? What do you want?”

“No catch,” she said, smiling sadly. “Lainey, I want to help you. I know I should make it right.”

“Well it was your fault,” I grumbled.

She sighed. “I know, and regardless of what you may think or want to think, you’re still my best friend, and I am going to help you.”

“Best friend clearly isn’t a term you know too well,” I said coldly.

She cringed and I saw the boys exchange a look of discomfort. But they said nothing. They were going to leave this between Miley and I, only hear to make sure it actually happened and act as peace negotiators if it came to violence or hostility. Miley was lucky they were here. Whatever thoughts I had before, actually seeing her made me want to punch her a few times.

“Lainey, look you mean everything to me,” she said. “You’re like my sister.”

“Funny that you kissed my boyfriend if we were really ‘sisters’,” I pointed out.

She winced. “Lainey, it was a mistake. And I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to happen, it just did. I made a mistake, just as you did even seeing him in the first place. But we can’t live in the past. You need me just as much as I need you. We are best friends. And best friends fight, they make mistakes, but at the end of the day, the fact doesn’t change that they’d do anything to help one another. And that is exactly what I’m going to do.”

I remained quiet at the end of her speech. I saw Joe smirking next to me. I wanted to kick him under the table, which would have wiped the smirk off. I refrained from the violence as I looked at Miley. “Fine, say I believe you,” I said finally. “What then?”

She sighed. “I’ll say it at my interview with Ryan Seacrest tomorrow and you’ll be cleared. Then you’ll be free to date Joe without Jesse blackmailing you.”

“That could actually,” I stopped, her words hitting me. Everyone at the table had frozen as I looked at her. “Miley, I’m not dating Joe.”

“You’re not?” she asked, confusion touching her face. She looked at Nick. “But you said--,” she stopped as he shot her a look.

Joe and I both glared at Nick. Kevin was trying not to laugh. “Nicholas,” I chastised.

Nick flushed. “I didn’t say you guys were going out,” he promised.

“What did you say then?” Joe asked incredulously.

“I just said you know,” Nick said nervously. “That you guys would be good together and were best friends and um, liked each other,” he added the last part quickly and quietly.

Joe and I looked at each other, our eyes meeting before looking away quickly. I knew how Joe felt about him, but no matter how much I had missed him, I still didn’t think we could be. I cleared my throat as I looked at Miley. “Yes well about this Jesse thing,” I said, changing the subject. “You’ll do it?”

Miley looked at Nick for a second before looking back at me. “Yes,” she said unwaveringly.

“Thanks Miley,” I shot her a timid smile. Joe cleared his throat. I groaned. “And maybe we can be friends again.”

“Really?” she said excitedly.

“Maybe,” I said tartly.

“That’s good enough for me,” she grinned. “So what are we eating?” She looked at her menu and we all continued as if it were all behind us. I wasn’t paying much attention though. I mean, I couldn’t get the Joe thing out of my mind now. Did everyone always have to link me and Joe together? This was killing me.