I Never Should Have Let You Go

Soon, it was time to head back to JFK airport to catch our small private plane to Haiti.

Strangely, Nick hadn't pleaded with me to stay in the USA. The camera's of the paparazzi were going wild as they screamed questions. Demi, Selena, Joe and Tyler slipped ahead, leaving Nick and I to navigate through the crowd of bodies.

Some idiot photographer decided to yell in my ear, so very subtly I edged to the left and drove the tip of my shoe against his open-sandled feet.

Upon hearing cries, the other paparazzi turned to look, and Nick and I darted out of the mob. He was in hysterics, clutching his stomach as he tried to breathe.

As I looked up from adjusting the lock on my suitcase, I spotted Joe throwing his hands up in the air in frustration. Demi was tugging at his shirt, shaking her head.

Nick and I shared a quick glance, making our way over to them.

"What do you mean we can't fly our for another three days?" Joe seethed. My heart began to pound.

"Why? What's wrong?" I asked in a rush. Selena gripped my arm softly.

"There's been a really bad earthquake in Port-au-Prince and they're only flying emergency supply planes in for the next couple of days." she said, sighing heavily. "We're having the tickets rescheduled to Thursday."

Nick gasped from behind us. "No! That means I get to spend three days with my girlfriend."

Just because we'd had a kiss and shared a few intimate words did not mean we were 'fully' dating. Things were to be taken slowly. I wanted to make sure Sarah was okay first, before I let the media discover we were back on.

"No, that means in those three days, even more people will die, and there's nothing I can do to help them!" I snapped, tugging my handbag strap viciously.

Selena sighed as Nick focused his line of vision on his shoes. "Sorry." I muttered, moving away to step next to Joe.

The repetitiveness of Joe's complaining faded away as I watched Nick. He was averting his eyes away from me, instead choosing to stare at the faded black Converse tied to his feet. There was probably one specific thought running through his head; she doesn't want me here, and that's clear.

This statement wasn't completely true. Of course I liked Nick standing by my side, but it irked me when he pushed too hard to recover our long buried feelings.

"Let's go!" Joe growled, snatching up his suitcase and charging towards the reporters.

"Demi! Joe! How's the best friends turned lovers thing going?!"

"Selena! Have you and David Henrie ever had a romantic connection?!"

"Cianna and Nick! Hey! Are things all worked out between you?! What about the proposal?!"

At the mention of that event on the 19th December 2009, I gingerly reached into my pocket to touch the silver band.

I'd brought it with me instead of leaving it at home, because there was a high possibility that Megan would hold a party at my house, and an even bigger chance one of her friends would trash my room.

I was not taking that risk.

The car was warm, and Joe slid behind the wheel angrily. Demi took his hand in reassurance as did Nick to me.

I let him stroke my skin, running the pads of his fingers along my thumb and back to my palm.

"This is ridiculous! Why can't they just fly us out in the emergency plane?!" Joe muttered, gripping the steering wheel tightly.

"It's okay babe, we're flying out eventually so don't stress." Demi cooed. Nick started to clutch my hand tighter, trying to send me those identical words sublimably.

Looking straight into my eyes, Nick gave me a small smile before pressing his lips to my nose gently. He kissed the corners of my mouth, and then firmly planted a peck.

Selena nudged me sharply in the side, and I broke away with a jump.

"What?" I hissed, rubbing my ribs. She threw her thumb over her shoulder, pointing at Tyler.

He had his head down in his hands, sighing gently. If that was my fault I instantly felt guilty. Nick tried to wrap his arms around me, but I just pressed my hands against his chest, shoving him away.

Instantly, I reached back for Tyler, tapping his leg softly. He straightened his back, blinking slowly.

"Hey." I whispered. The car came to a stand-still at a red-light so I quickly jumped into the seat behind me.

Nick was frowning, deep lines settling in his forehead. His eyes were narrowed into small slits, and he was glaring dangerously at Selena. Whoops?

"You alright?" I asked quietly, patting Tyler's jean-clad knee.

"Yeah." he shrugged, running his fingers through his hair and tugging on the ends.

"I'm pretty much 100 per cent sure that you're not telling me the truth. Come on Ty, you know I won't bite." I teased.

His next three words took me by absolute surprise.

"I like you." he blurted. Oh God. Oh God. Why does he have to tell me now? Why not when we first met two years ago?

"Y-you what?" I stammered, sliding my hand into my coat pocket in fright.

It was times like this that I wished Tyler wasn't so outgoing. This confession was going to make things a lot harder.

"Yeah." he whispered, continuing on with complete composure. "I like you, and that's why I didn't like you kissing Nick. I've liked you since I first saw you, but I opted not to tell you. I really, really like you Cianna."

In all honesty, it felt like he was trying to guilt trip me. I loved Tyler, but it was of the brotherly sort. Nick and I had a lot of problems between us, and I wanted to solely devote me time to working them out.

Closing my eyes tightly, I enveloped my hands to wring my knuckles.

"Ty, I-we.." I didn't want to say the wrong thing and hurt him even more, so I took my time responding. "We've known each other for--"

Stopping me from continuing was the cold hard glare Selena's eyes were sending me. 'Don't you dare.' they read.

Nick was effortlessly distracted by the passing buildings and seemed to have completely forgotten that I had choosen another boy over his kisses.

"Can we maybe talk about it later? When we have privacy?" I murmured. Tyler nodded, shrugging his broad shoulders.

"Yeah." he chuckled. "Wouldn't want Nick to hit the living daylights out of me."

With a sigh of relief, I settled back down into the seat. Time was an absolute blessing.

--

"Thank God we found a hotel with enough rooms." Nick breathed, pulling off his jacket and leaving it on the bed.

We may have found enough hotel rooms for the six of us, with one between two, but in classically cliche movie circumstances, there was also the occurance of sharing a bed.

"Yeah." I smiled in agreement, wheeling my packed suitcase into the wardrobe.

As I pretended to hang up a few of my clothes on the fluffy hangers, I watched Nick carefully remove his shoes.

He was pursing his lips, most likely thinking of something. Resting behind him were the massive bunch of flowers he'd had at LAX airport.

"Baby?" he spoke. I averted my gaze back to the material in front of me. "Cianna, can you come here for a second please?"

Stepping away from the wardrobe, I wiped my suddenly sweaty palms on my dress and sat by his side.

"When was the last time I told you you're beautiful?" Nick asked. I opened my mouth to reply with a sarcastic comment. "I don't tell you often enough to I? Here?"

A large gift bag rested in my lap. It held a significant amount of items. The first thing I pulled out was wrapped in white tissue paper.

Sliding my fingers under the tape, I eased off the covering to reveal the scrapbook I hadn't seen in a few months.

"Whenever we're fighting I want you to look at this and just remember that a lot of people like seeing us happy together." Nick's lips were curled up into a sweet smile.

Next up was a envelope, my name carefully looped across the front in gold pen.

I untucked the flap at the back and slowly pulled out a crisp folded letter.

'My dearest Cianna,
I never meant to hurt you
the way I know I have.
Your love means more to me
than anything and I'll do whatever it takes
to prove that to you.

Since the day I met you and
your love touched my heart--'

The irritating ringing of my phone interrupted our special moment. With a regretful sigh, I removed the device from my pocket.

'The best man in the whole wide world' was flashing urgently across the screen.

"Hey dad." I answered, trying to sound as happy as possible.

"Pet, you need to come home." he demanded, his voice strained.

"Dad, what's wrong? Tell me what's wrong!" I pleaded. Nick's eyes searched mine frantically. "Is it Megan? Is mum alright? Are you okay?"

The next sentence that floated out of his mouth send my happiness spiralling into the Earth.