Love Isn't Love, 'Til You Give It Away

I didn't care that we were supposed to be on the show for longer. I couldn’t sit there anymore. I couldn’t be near Joe anymore. I stood and ran backstage and into Alex's arms. I refused to cry. I wasn't going to let Joe see how much he'd hurt me. "This is what you were going to tell me?" Alex asked softly and I nodded. I pulled back and looked up at him.
"I'm sorry," I said. "I wanted to tell you properly. I mean, I wanted to tell you."
"So tell me," he said and I looked into his eyes and smiled.
"I'm gay," I whispered and he smiled and nodded.
"I don’t care," he said and I smiled and hugged him again.
"I knew you wouldn’t," I said. "I don’t know why, but part of me just knew you'd accept me."
"And...Joe...?" Alex asked hesitantly. I pulled away from him and looked back at the stage to see that both Joe and Kevin had disappeared.
"Doesn't accept me," I said sadly. "To be fair, though, I only told them yesterday...he hasn’t really had a chance to get used to it..."
"Don't defend him, Nicky," Alex said and I raised my eyes to his. "There's no excuse for what he just did. He's your brother. He should love you no matter what." I just shook my head.
"He should but he doesn’t..." I said, lowering my head and looking at the floor. "Oh, God...what's going to happen now?"
"I don’t know, Nick," Alex said softly. "But I'm here for you." I smiled at him and nodded.
"I know," I smiled.

We stayed standing there for a short while and I felt my heart rate eventually calm down and I felt my humiliation slowly ebb away. I pulled out of Alex's arms and looked up at him. I smiled weakly. Alex was one of the few people I could trust now.
"Nick, um, I-"
"Nicholas Jerry Jonas!" I turned around, my heart jumping in my chest.
"Shit," I whispered. I walked away from Alex, knowing I had to face this. I walked over to a furious looking Miley, smiling weakly, hoping she would understand. "Miley-" She cut me off when she slapped me hard across the face.
"Jerk," she hissed. "What the hell were you thinking?"
"Miley," I said desperately, hoping to get her to listen to me.
"You lied to me the whole time..." she said. I now saw that her anger was giving way to hurt.
"No, I just-"
"Why didn't you tell me, Nick?" she asked sadly. I know I'd humiliated her. Telling the public I was dating Miley and then seconds later, being announced as gay. A gay guy was dating Miley Cyrus.
"I only just told my family last night..." I said, trying to get her to see why I did it. "You can see that it didn't go very well. I was going to tell you. I just didn't know how. And I didn't know how you'd react..."
"You thought I'd react like that?" she asked angrily, gesturing towards the stage, where Robin was back on camera. I shrugged.
"How was I supposed to know how you'd react?" I asked, annoyed.
"I may not be perfect, but I wouldn’t do that to you," she said and I nodded. I wanted to say 'I know' but I didn't know. Not anymore.

I thought I could trust Joe...and look how that turned out. I didn't know who I could trust anymore. The people I believe I could trust most of all, turn round and stab me in the back...how am I to know who I can talk to safely? Miley seemed to be waiting for answer.
"I know," I lied. I didn't know anything. I used to think I did. I used to think my family loved me. I used to think my brothers were there for me through thick and thin. I used to be so naive...