Just Friends

Dad came to wake us all up the next morning for a big family breakfast with the Kings. I rolled out of bed, grabbed my phone, and headed into the bathroom to shower and get ready while Joe and Liz refused to get out of bed. I had a few “good morning” texts from Miley, along with a few other texts that actually made my morning good.

It was only when I finished my shower that I realized I had left my suitcase at the edge of my bed. I groaned to myself before opening the door a bit to see if I could quickly run and grab it, but Joe was standing in front of the door.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” He asked, “You’ve been in there this long and you’re not even fucking dressed.”

“I left my suitcase out there,” I growled, clutching the towel around my waist, and pushed passed him to get it.

“Liz, you can shower next, just let me take a piss first,” Joe stated, ever so politely, before shutting the door.

“I apologize for him,” I said, shaking my head. I set the suitcase on the bed, opened it, and ruffled through my clothes with just one hand so I could keep my towel up. Liz, however, was facing the other way and holding onto her suitcase so she could hop into the shower as soon as Joe came out. I was thankful that she wasn’t much of a morning person at that sufficiently awkward moment.

Once we were all ready, we headed downstairs where everyone was already seated and eating.

“We would have been down earlier had Nick not decided to shower for ten years,” Joe announced as he passed the table on his way towards the breakfast buffet.

My cheeks reddened a bit and I gave him a death glare. Liz giggled beside me so I glared at her, too.

“What? He’s just telling the truth. You have no reason to be annoyed and defensive. Or do you?” She lifted an eyebrow.

“I-uh, well,” I cleared my throat after it cracked.

“Exactly,” Joe said, getting in my face, “I caught you, and you know it.”

“Can we not do this now, please?” I asked in a hushed voice.

“How about let’s not do it at all?” Liz suggested while placing some eggs and bacon on her plate.

“Yeah, Nick, how ‘bout you don’t do it at all,” Joe teased before sauntering over to the table as if nothing had happened. What a dick.

“And you said Joe took awhile to get ready,” Liz shook her head as she followed him, leaving me speechless. She sat down beside Danielle, who must have just arrived. They were talking about where their seats were when I finally sat down next to Liz to quietly eat my breakfast.

Kevin, Joe, and I had a few things to do for our new music video throughout the day, so we left the hotel with our dad and headed into New York for a few hours. Joe had told Kevin the story and they continued to tease me on the ride down, which put me in a pretty bad mood. When Miley had finally texted me back, I ignored it so as not to start them off again.

-0-

An hour before show time was when we finally saw Liz and Dani again. Kevin hugged Danielle and told her just how beautiful she looked. Joe did the same to Liz, but in a mocking way. She did the same back to him, which caused both Kevin and Dani to blush.

“You guys are too cute,” Liz commented, pulling away from Joe.

“Thank you,” Danielle’s soft voice said, “It’s mostly him, though.”

“Not true,” Liz shook her head, “He’s a butt sometimes, but you’re always lovely.”

“Who are you calling a butt, exactly?” Kevin playfully glared at her.

“You know EXACTLY why I called you that, Kev. I was forced to sleep next to Jose because of you.”

“Forced? More like you begged me to,” Joe scoffed.

“No, I was there. She was forced into it,” I shrugged.

“Sorry, Master Bater, your opinion doesn’t really count at this moment in time. Even if you are on my side,” Liz spoke, all nonchalant, but my brothers couldn’t help but laugh.

“Let it go, already, guys,” I pleaded.

“You’re the one who hasn’t let go of the embarrassment of it. We are just casually discussing a natural human function, right guys?” Liz stated, all matter-of-factly. My brothers both nodded, but looked like they were trying not to laugh.

“I think you’re making Dani uncomfortable,” I pointed out.

“Nope. I have a younger brother. I’ve talked about it enough.”

I huffed out a breath, “And here, I thought you were pretty cool, Dani. Shame.”

“Nicky, how rude of you,” Miley’s voice piped in as she took the spot next to me and extended a hand to Dani, “I don’t believe we’ve met yet.”

Danielle smiled softly and shook Miley’s hand, kind of retracting back into herself. I guess Liz had figured out how to get her to open up, but the newer face had brought the shyness back. “Hello. It's so nice to meet you. Thanks for having us all here.”

“Of course!” Miley grinned, “I hope you and Liz enjoy watching the show tonight.”

“I’m sure we will.”

It was then that one of the crew members came to get Miley back to costume. She pressed a kiss on my lips before heading off. We left the circle in another few minutes to get ready, as well. Danielle gave Kevin a good luck kiss and a long hug which we all playfully “aw”ed at.

-0-

That night’s show went almost perfectly. Until Miley and I walked the catwalk together.

She ruffled my hair and pulled me in for a half hug, then continued to dance on and around me. She pressed a kissed to my cheek right as we were about to turn and walk back. I avoided her glance as we walked, but she kept singing the words to me, rather than to the crowd. Normally, I wouldn’t have been all that mad, but she was just adding fuel to my brothers’ fire. There was no way they would let that go.

She came to hug me after the final bow, when we were back stage.

“You did so great, babe!” She planted a kiss on my lips, which I barely returned.

“Yeah, you, too. My favorite part was when you kissed me in front of everyone,” I said angrily, “I thought we agreed to keep this private.”

Her face fell, and she furrowed her eyebrows, “Sorry. I didn’t think it would be that big of a deal. No one even knows.”

“They do, and this is going to be all over the internet tomorrow, and reporters will never stop asking you about it. Do you have any idea of what you just did?!”

“Chill. Nicky, it really wasn’t that bad.”

“It really was! We’ve already had this fight once before, in Memphis, remember?”

“Well, excuse me. I just wanted some affection. I barely saw you today.”

“We were both busy. That’s not even an excuse because we have so much time to spend together.”

“NO. We really don’t. You guys are only here for another week, then who knows when I’ll see you!”

“You just told Liz that our houses were super close. When you are done touring we’ll see each other a ton. This is really not the point of why I’m mad.”

“I get it. You want things to be private. But is it really so bad if other people know? I don’t get you. You say you love me, but you want to hide it from everyone.”

“I do love you, I just-”

“Do you? Do you, really? Or are you just using me? I’ve done more than enough for you, including this morning, and you show your appreciation like this? Seriously?” She was fuming, just like I was.

“I didn’t ask you to do that,” I said flatly.

“Fine. I guess I won’t be doing it for awhile,” She threatened.

“That’s probably for the best being that I want to end our relationship,” I stated.

She looked shocked for a moment, some tears welled up behind her eyes, but then her expression hardened, “Okay, fine. Well, I want you to know that I love you despite your overbearing ways. Thanks for everything.”

I caught her arm as she turned around, “I love you, too, you know. We just both want different things for this relationship. I need to keep it private, but you want to shout it from the rooftops. It’s best for both of us if we end it. Believe me, it hurts, but in the end, we’ll be fine.”

“Whatever you say, Nick. You always have to be right, anyways,” She tugged her arm out of my grip and headed towards her family.

I watched her go then made my way towards the dressing room, ready to go to the hotel and sleep this off. I kept questioning if I really was doing the right thing. I was internally fighting the urge to go run to her, kiss her, and call her my girl again, but I couldn’t. She would always be careless of the way people perceived her, and I couldn’t let myself be attached to that, even if I did love her.

-0-

Liz and Danielle were sharing a room tonight, so when Joe was asleep, I snuck across the hall to speak with her.

She opened the door and wiped some of the sleep from her eyes. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“I broke up with Miley.”

Her eyes popped open, “What? Why? Actually, I don’t want to wake Dani, let’s go find somewhere to talk.”

She shut the door and followed me to the elevator.

“Well, when we started dating, we agreed to keep it private. But she’s been doing things lately like mentioning me in interviews and kissing me on stage that are going to let people know that we are together,” I explained.

“Why is that so bad?” Liz asked while stepping out into the lobby.

“Because she’s so careless about it. I’m afraid that something dangerous could slip and we’ll get in trouble with Disney. I don’t want us to get dropped again.” I sighed, pulling the door to the ballroom open.

“Okay, I can understand that. But you love her, right?” I nodded, “So then that shouldn’t matter. You should be able to talk it out.”

“Part of me wants to, but the other half wants to stand up for what I believe, and that is that my private life is private.”

“Sorry, Ick, it looks like you’re in quite the pickle.”

“I really am.” I moment later, I asked, “Liz, am I doing the right thing or am I being unreasonable?”

“Miley is an awesome girl. You don’t need me to tell you that. We both know how much you love her, but neither of you can ask the other to sacrifice their beliefs. It isn’t fair. If you two are menat to be together, then you will be in time,” She answered, honestly.

“Thanks. I needed to hear that,” I sighed again, “It really fucking sucks, though. My chest hurts and I feel like shit.”

“That’s heartbreak, Nick. I’m so sorry you’re feeling this kind of pain, but it happens to us all. You can get through it.”

“You think?”

“Yes, definitely. I’ve seen you go through worse.”

“That’s true; you have. I don’t know that I’ve ever thanked you for that. You’ve always been my rock, and I don’t think I’ve ever appreciated it more than I do right now. Thank you.”

“It’s what best friends are for,” She smiled softly, “Besides, you’ve always done the same for me. I love that we can always lean on each other in times of trouble.”

I nodded and pulled her into a hug, so she wouldn’t see the tears as they poured out of my eyes. I didn’t let her pull away and just sat there, crying onto her shoulder for a bit. She rubbed my back soothingly until I was able to pull myself together. We sat in silence for a bit longer before she yawned.

“Let’s head back up,” I suggested.

When we were on our floor, I hugged her again. “Would you mind staying with us tonight? I don’t think Mom or Dani will really care.”

“I wouldn’t mind at all. It’s actually pretty convenient because I left my room key behind.”

I chuckled as I opened the door to my room, “Only you.”

She shrugged and tip-toed over towards Joe’s bed. He was sprawled over the entire thing.

“You can sleep with me,” I whispered, “Like that night when I was in the hospital. Your presence will probably coax me into actually sleeping tonight.”

“Alright,” She crawled under the covers and rested her head on the pillow.

I did the same and pressed a kiss to her forehead, “Thank you.”

“Stop thanking me and go to sleep,” She ordered. So I did.