Just Friends

“Life is for dreamers, and I’m a believer, that nothing can stand in our way today let's find a place to play,” I sang along at the top of my lungs, dancing around like the other fans next to me. The stage really did look like one big party. It felt like one, too.

I couldn’t really see the stage too well, but on the screens, I had noticed Miley focusing on Nick up until they walked the catwalk together. At the end of it, she ruffled his hair and kissed his cheek before running back to sing by Joe. When the song ended, she disappeared backstage and the boys continued with their set. They played so amazingly, I was left wondering how they could top it tomorrow.

After their set, Miley came back out to perform her songs. I started to make my way backstage when “Best of Both Worlds” started, telling the girls around me that I had to meet my mom out front. I pulled my backstage pass back out from the back pocket of my jeans and showed it to the security guards at a series of doors until I found my parents with Mr. and Mrs. Jonas. When Miley and the boys came off the stage from after the final bow, we all congratulated them. I went to give hugs to Kevin and Joe, telling them each that they reeked of sweat.

“You love it!” Joe smirked as he tried to rub my face in his armpit.

“Ew, gross! I HATE YOU!” I shrieked, trying to get out of his grip.

“Dude, let her go,” Kevin stated, always the voice of reason, “SO I CAN GET HER, TOO!”

I yelped and tried to hide from the both of them, seeking shelter behind Nick who was talking to my mom. “Make them stop!”

He shook his head and engulfed me into a hug. A slight whiff of cologne was still lingering on his skin, but he smelled equally as bad.

“One hundred percent, not what I meant,” I scoffed, wriggling out of his embrace.

“How do you deal with him?” I asked Miley.

“He’s cute, so I just let it slide,” She waved it off and chuckled.

“So, Mom, is it alright if Big Rob takes us to Tick Tock for a bit?” Joe asked her, while wrapping his arm around her.

“If you shower first!” She answered bluntly, “Be back in your rooms by midnight. We will be checking.”

“Sounds good,” He nodded, and they split up to get ready.

While they all showered and changed, I chatted with little Frankie who was trying to convince me that he wasn’t tired in between a series of yawns when Nick walked into the hallway.

“Hey,” He smiled, reaching for me, “Let’s go find somewhere to talk.”

“Okay, you lead the way.”

About a minute later, we were sitting on the edge of the stage, letting our feet dangle off the side.

“That was a great show.” I complimented, leaning back on my hands.

He cracked a smile, “Yeah, it was one of our better ones, I’d say.”

“I still can’t fathom how you guys do it. Standing up here in front of thousands…I’d die of stage fright.” I said lowly, looking around the area surrounding us.

“Well, when you’re up here doing what you love, it makes it easier.” He shrugged.

I nodded, not knowing what else to say.

After a few moments of silence, he pushed himself up and walked over to the piano that had still not been removed from the stage and sat at the bench. “Come here.”

“For what reason?” I asked, walking towards him anyway.

“Just do it.”

“What do I get out of it, huh?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“What’s not to take out of it?” He joked, “Seriously though, I’ll do the first verse and you can help me on the chorus.”

“What song?” I asked, placing my fingers on the keys.

“Your favorite,” He answered before counting down for us to play.

Together we played the introduction and he started the first verse,

“If the heart is always searching, can you ever find a home?
I’ve been looking for that someone, I’ll never make it on my own,
Dreams can’t take the place of loving you, there’s gotta be a million reasons why its true…”

I faintly joined in to start the chorus,
“When you look me in the eyes, and tell me that you love me,
Everything’s alright, when you’re right here by my side,
When you look me in the eyes, I catch a glimpse of Heaven,
I find my paradise, when you look me in the eyes…”

He faded out and I glared at him before continuing the second verse on my own,
“How long will I be waiting, to be with you again?
How can I tell you that I love you, in the best way that I can?
I can’t take a day without you here, you’re the light that makes my darkness disappear…”
He joined back in for the rest,
“When you look me in the eyes, and tell me that you love me,
Everything’s alright, when you’re right here by my side,
When you look me in the eyes, I catch a glimpse of Heaven,
I’ll find my paradise, when you look me in the eyes…
Moving on, I start to realize,
I can reach my tomorrow, I can hold my head up high,
And its all because you’re by my side…
When you look me in the eyes, and tell me that you love me,
Everything’s alright, when you’re right here by my side,
When I hold you in my arms, I know that its forever,
I just gotta let you know, I never wanna let you go,
Because when you look me in the eyes and tell me that you love me, everything’s alright…” He faded out the music again because the rest was just a continuation of what we had already sung.

“Wow.” We both said shortly after.

“That was awesome.” I smiled.

“Yeah, it was.” He nodded, “We haven’t done that in forever. Have you been practicing?”

“Maybe.” I shrugged before groaning, “I wonder what’s taking them so long.”

“I love them, but Joe and Miley could be given twenty four hours to get ready, and still tell you they needed extra time,” He shook his head, groaning as well.

“Wanna see if we can grab them anyways?”

“Yeah, we might as well. But, hey, I’m really glad you enjoyed the show tonight. It’s been awesome actually being able to see you lately. I’ve been pretty lost without my other half.”

“Miley is your other half, ya dork. But I agree. I’ve really missed you guys.” We draped our arms around each others’ shoulders. “California isn’t that far, though, you know? Just a plane ride away.”

“Way to be optimistic. But realistically, I’ll see you at most twelve times a year.”

“I like that you think that I can see you once a month.”

“I’ll beg my mom to no end for that to happen.”

“Good luck with that,” I said sarcastically. When we made it back to the original hallway, Joe and Miley were just stepping into it.

“Finally!” Nick and I spoke in unison, bringing our hands into the air dramatically.

-0-

A quick ride later and we were seated in the Tick Tock diner. The boys and I decided to introduce Miley to the greatness that is a taylor ham, egg, and cheese sandwich on a bagel with a side of fries and a chocolate shake. Nick and Miley were sitting next to each other on one side of the booth, with Joe and I facing them. While we waited for our food to come out, we chatted a bit. Thankfully, Big Rob, his friend, and Kevin were seated at a table that was close enough to keep an eye on us but far away enough that we could talk freely.

“Liz, I really love your hair straightened,” Miley smiled, “It still doesn’t look as good as it does when its wavy, though.”

“You think? Thanks,” I took a sip of my shake, “Did Nick ever tell you about the time we straightened his hair?”

Her face lit up as she looked at him and tried not to laugh, “No, no he didn’t.”

“I have a picture!” Joe added then promptly showed her the picture on his phone.

Miley laughed for a before kissing his cheek, “It doesn’t look too bad.”

“Yeah, that’s why you laughed at it for that long,” He pouted.

“Oh, come on, Snickers,” She gave him puppy dogs eyes, “You know you’re still my prince charming, no matter what your hair looks like.”

Just then, our food arrived so we all dug in and faced a few minutes of silence after Miley announced that we were right about how good diner food could be late at night.

“So,” She broke the silence, “How are y’all dealing with the fact that you won’t be neighbors anymore.”

I felt a pang of sadness in my gut when she said that. Why was she even pointing it out?

“It really sucks. Knowing that I won’t be able to see this beautiful face every day,” Joe commented while resting his head on my shoulder. “Who’s going to bike to our house and force us to practice?”

“I’m currently working out a plan to convince mom to have Liz come visit us at least once a month,” Nick added, “It’s not going very well, though.”

“Maybe I can help you?” Miley suggested, “I’m only a few blocks over so maybe she can stay with us instead. You’ll love Toluca Lake. It’s beautiful.”

I just nodded and took another sip of my shake. Sometimes, Miley was a really good friend, and sometimes she seemed to rub her place in Nick’s life in my face.

“I want her to stay with us, though. We have a sleepover tradition where we all sleep on the floor or cram into one bed,” Nick said, “Remember how that started, Lizzy?”

“My parents were going away for their anniversary, and your mom made us sleep in the living room so we wouldn’t bother Joe and Kevin because we wouldn’t stop talking. But you pulled a bunch of sleeping bags onto the floor so we could all lay and we formed a circle with our heads like in ‘The Lion King’ and made up stories until we passed out. It was an awesome night,” I reminisced.

“One of my favorites,” Joe stated, “Well, that, and the time you called him Fuzzball.”

“When was that?” Miley asked, tilting her head to the side, pretending to seem interested.

“It was about a year and a half later, we were continuing the tradition, but it really cold that night. Liz wanted to sleep next to the fireplace to stay warm, but Nick wouldn’t let her. He said it was too dangerous and she would catch on fire. But she thought he was threatening to set her on fire if she did. Apparently, she didn’t give a damn, and shouted ‘GOODNIGHT FUZZBALL’ before fliiping onto the opposite side in her sleeping bag. Kevin and I were cracking up when our Mom came in to tell us we were too loud. That’s when I knew she would be around for awhile. She was the only one who could, and still can, put Nick in his place,” Joe shook his head and chuckled softly at the story.

“When was your favorite time together, Liz?” Miley asked me.

“It was our first Friday Night Movie Night. We had dinner at my place and then went to the Jonases to watch the movie. But in between, I remember us playing tag and Joe calling Kevin a pirate, so we made it Pirates Versus Ninjas Tag. When we actually got to their house, our parents put on Toy Story. We got bored halfway through and decided to sit at the table and color or something like that. And we came up with the Best Friends Forever and Beyond box.”

“Do you still have that?” Nick interrupted.

“I think your mom is holding onto it for us. That thing is hideous, but we were so proud of it.”

“It had a ton of our game ideas, photos, and shared items in it, too,” Nick informed Miley.

“I don’t remember that box,” Joe said, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.

“Because you’re not part of the club,” Nick deadpanned, “It’s just us two.”

Joe opened his mouth, probably to utter a dumb comeback, but Kevin interrupted him, “We’re leaving. Make sure to leave a nice tip, alright?”

Miley cuddled into Nick on the ride back, and they hung towards the back of the group to say goodnight before entering the hotel. Joe showed me to his room, since I’d be bunking with him and Nick tonight.

Nick came into the room with his hair ruffled up and a satisfied grin on his face. “You’re bunking with us?” He asked.

I nodded, taking some clothes out of my bag, “I hope this doesn’t cause any problems with Miley…I’m gonna be taking this bed with Joe, though.”

“It’s fine, really. She won’t care; she knows you’re like family.” He shrugged it off.

“You sure?” He nodded. “Okay, I’m gonna go change then.”

I put on my sweats and one of my dad’s t-shirts before opening the door so the boys could come brush their teeth, too. It was another one of our dumb traditions. It felt a little off without Kevin, though.

After a little while, we were all tucked into bed, watching some late night TV when Mrs. J knocked and came in.

“Alright, you three, its lights out. Joseph, are you sure you don’t want to let Liz have the bed to herself, and you can sleep on the couch?”

“It’s really fine, Mama J, I don’t mind. I don’t want to kick him out of his bed.”

“It’s a pullout couch, so he’ll be comfortable.”

“Do I really have to?” He whined, “I’m really comfortable here.”

“Now,” She ordered.

“If it was Nick’s bed, you wouldn’t care,” He mumbled under his breath as he threw the covers off of him and took a pillow with him.

Thankfully, she didn’t hear him and exited, but Nick gave him a death glare. “That’s because I’m trustworthy. You, however, are a perv.”

“She’s like my little sister, there is no attraction there. No offense, Liz.”

“None taken. This conversation is getting a little weird, though…Do you guys mind shutting up so I can go to sleep, maybe?” I asked, all innocently.

“If we must, princess,” Joe said mockingly as he finally crawled onto the pullout couch, “She was wrong, by the way, this thing feels like I’m laying on an uneven lawn.”

“Do you want to switch?” I asked.

“Fuck that and move over. She can yell at me tomorrow if she really feels the need to,” He shook his head and plopped back down next to me, “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Joey. Goodnight, Ick.”

“Goodnight, Lizzy.”