We Can Change the World

I hate you," Selena shouted as she slapped me. I stood there, motionless, knowing I had deserved it.

The scene changed. Joe was there this time. He had kissed me, and Selena had been sitting on the couch the whole time, completely oblivious to us. Nothing mattered when I was in Joe's arms. Not even the heartbreaking face of one of my best friends.

The scene changed again, and suddenly I was standing under a waterfall, water falling directly on my face.

I stirred. That wasn't just a dream, water was falling on my face. Groggily, I opened my eyes.

"Hello Beautiful," Joe smirked as he was on top of me. I realized that it was the water from his wet head that was falling on me. He bent over and kissed me.

I screamed. "Joe, you're getting me all wet."

"Excellent," he smirked again as he shook his head over me, spraying me with water.

I laughed and screamed again. I reached up and kissed him again, wrapping my arms around his neck, holding him closer to me. Joe held both hands on the bed on either side of me, hoisting himself up. It had been a week since we started talking again. I had missed him so much. But then I froze, remembering the other horrific event from last week.

"Selena," I said as I saw her over Joe's shoulder.

"No, Joe," he smirked at me. "Do you like girls now too or something? Cause then this is kind of hot."

"Shut up Joe," I scolded him. "So not the time." I was staring at the back of the green room. He turned to see what I was looking at, and froze too.

"Hey everybody," Kevin and Nick burst into the room shouting. "Shoot Nick," Kevin sighed. "We're too late."

"A bit," Selena said softly. She wasn't looking at them, or Joe. She was staring at me. I fixed my eyes to the ground, unable to look at her from guilt, and shame. Despite the situation, all I wanted was the feel of Joe's arms around me, telling me everything was going to be okay. That I could get through this. But Joe seemed transfixed to the spot he was in. I knew, too, that I'd have to deal with this on my own.

"Maybe we should go," Nick suggested.

"Not yet," Kevin whined.

Nick rolled his eyes. "I swear, sometimes you're just as bad as Joe." Kevin still didn't budge. "Hey, is that Ashley Tisdale," Nick asked, looking outside. Kevin's head whipped around practically in a full 360, and he ran out the door. "We'll be outside," Nick said as he followed him out, mumbling something about Kevin being obsessed.

And that left just Selena, Joe, and me. None of us really said anything. Selena was still staring at me. I still had my eyes glued to the floor, and Joe was still looking between us. Finally realizing that neither of us was going to take the first initiative, Joe stepped forward. "Selena, I "

"Save it Joe," her eyes flashed to him. "I heard your whole conversation, including the fake break up call." He hung his head down in shame. I could hear the grief in her voice. Her eyes came back to me. "How could you do this? You're supposed to be one of my best friends."

"Selena," I sighed. "I am so sorry. I didn't mean for –"

"You didn't mean for what? For me to find out," Selena shouted, cutting me off. "You know, every time Miley has said something about you, I've always stood up for you. No, I would say. Dani isn't a slut. No she would never lie to me about her feeling for Joe. She wouldn't go behind my back. She'd tell me first. And Miley would ask, well what would you do. And every time I would say that I'd totally understand. Joe and Dani are kind of perfect for each other, and when Dani and Joe realize that, I'll gladly bow out of the equation. But no, you did go behind my back. You did lie to me. I trusted you! I hate you Danielle. I hate you both," she shouted before she ran out of the green room.

I turned to follow her. "Selena," I shouted after her.

Joe reached out and stopped me. "Let her go," he wrapped his arms around my waist. And despite everything, I was suddenly comforted a bit, just as I had known I would be. "Giver her some time. She needs to deal with this her own way."

I buried my head in his chest, sobbing. I knew he was right. I knew I would have to give Selena space. It just hurt to know that I was the one causing my friend so much pain. "This is all my fault Joe. I – I hate that I hurt her. I am such a horrible friend."

He rubbed my back soothingly. "No you're not Dani. You're one of the kindest people I know. You thought you were doing the right thing, protecting her. Selena will see that in time." He kissed the top of my head, holding me, comforting me.

"Dani," Joe stopped, concern laced his voice. "Are you okay?"

"It's been a week," I said softly.

He sighed, knowing what I was talking about. "I know."

"I have to talk to her," I said.

"I know," he sighed again. "But what if she's not ready yet?"

I looked away, having considered this myself. "Joe, this is all my fault –"

"It was our decision," He corrected me. "You don't have to face all this alone."

I sighed and kissed him quickly. "I know, but I should. After all, my betrayal hurt more than yours, I think. And if she's hurting because of me, I have to fix this now. And we're only in LA for a few more days."

He kissed me again, this time not so softly. His mouth opened mine, moving it with his and catching my bottom lip between his teeth. My hands knotted in his hair, pulling him closer to me. He lost his balance and was fully on top of me, pressing himself against me even more. His lips moved to my neck as I gasped for air. His hands were trailing my sides slowly. Everywhere he touched me, it burned, wanting his touch even more. Not able to bear it any longer, I pulled him back to me, pressing my mouth against his again. His hands trailed to the bottom of my shirt, touching my bare skin, lingering there, like he was going to pull it up. But then he sighed and pulled away. "I love you," he said softly. "I want you so badly."

"But you have your vow," I reminded him softly.

He kissed me again, softly this time. "I love you."

"I love you," I said back. I could tell that this was hard on him, stopping, I mean. So I sighed before pushing him off. "Now move, you're heavy fatso!"

He laughed, the moment at ease again. "Look who's talking chunk," he retaliated.

"Well this chunk," I smirked at him as I headed to the hotel bathroom. "Is going to beat you at an eating contest as soon as I am ready."

"You're on," he smirked as I closed the bathroom door.

I sighed as I looked in the mirror. In a matter of minutes, as soon as Joe's lips were on mine, I had forgotten all my worries. There was no Selena, no jealousy, no hatred, no problems. But now, as I stood alone, looking at myself in the mirror, it all came back. I knew I had to make her forgive me. No matter what.

₪₪₪

"We probably missed the breakfast menu now," Dani playfully scolded me as we went to the hotel cafeteria. "All thanks to you and your hair."

"Hey, it takes time to get it to look so great," I smirked as I flipped my hair back dramatically.

She rolled her eyes and laughed. "Who said it looked so great," she asked.

"Oh please Danielle," I pretended to glower at her. "You know my hair looks amazing. Almost as amazing as these guns," I flexed my arms for her benefit.

She laughed. "Okay there Terminator," she smirked as we walked to the table where Nick, Kevin, and Frankie were already seated. "You work out, we get it. But still, those are nothing compared to these guns." She exchanged a look with Nick, and they both flexed their arms.

I rolled my eyes. "Let's go get breakfast before you break something with your huge muscles," I smirked at her. "And mine are so bigger than Nick's," I mumbled as I ushered her to the line where food was being served.

When we sat back down, we exchanged a look. It was obvious that my brothers had been talking about us, since they all got quiet when we approached. And it was pretty obvious what it would be about. They hadn't caught us together for a week, so we knew now was the golden opportunity for them to interrogate us.

"So we wanted to talk to you guys about something," Kevin said.

"Are you guys together," Frankie blurted out. Nick and Kevin glared at him. "What, you were talking too long."

Dani and I laughed, not answering. "Well," Nick demanded.

"Define together," I said, stalling.

"Are you two going out with each other," Nick said slowly, emphasizing every word.

Dani looked a bit nervous, but smug at the same time. I took her hand under the table. "Yes," she said.

"Why didn't you tell us," Kevin asked.

"Uh let's think," I put my finger on my chin. "A certain girlfriend I had, named Selena Gomez."

"Yeah, what was with that anyway," Kevin asked.

"Long story," Dani grumbled, looking at her cell phone. "Speaking of which though, I have to go see her now." She leaned over and quickly kissed me on the cheek before leaving. I smiled after her for a few moments before turning back to my eggs.

When I looked up, I saw all three of my brothers staring at me. "What," I demanded, eggs falling out of my mouth.

Nick and Kevin just smirked at me, not saying anything.

I took a sip of my orange juice. "Can I be the ring bearer at your wedding," Frankie asked. I spat my juice out, choking a bit.

"What," I asked, wiping my mouth with my napkin.

"When you marry Dani," Frankie rolled his eyes. "I want to be the ring bearer, unless you want Nick or Kevin." He made a face.

Nick and Kevin laughed. "No way, we're going to be the best men," Nick patted Frankie's head. "The ring bearer job is all yours Frank the Tank."

"We are so not discussing this," I groaned. "We just got together. We're 19. I'm not marrying her right now."

"Right now," Kevin smirked at my word choice.

"I'm leaving," I groaned, standing. "You guys are insane." I shook my head before running back to my room. I noticed the door had been kept slightly open. I pushed it open cautiously. With our past experiences with fans, it could have been a psycho stalker fan who would kidnap me as soon as I went in the room. I had to be careful. Walking in slowly, I looked around the room. Then I froze. Sitting on mine and Dani's bed, was Selena.

"Selena," I gasped, surprise flooding my voice.

"Uh hi," she said softly. She looked a mess. Her hair was thrown back in a messy ponytail. She had on sweats and a beater. This was so unlike her. Her hair was usually down and her style was usually amazing. She looked really down. "Is Dani here?"

It took a minute for me to shake off the initial speechlessness. "She uh – came to see you."

"Oh," she said. "Okay," she got up to go.

"Uh but," I said quickly. "She should be back soon when she sees you're not there. Why don't you wait," I suggested.

She seemed to deliberate this for a second before she sighed and sat back down. "I guess."

I sat down too. "So, Selena, listen, I'm really sorry about –"

Selena cut me off, smiling slightly. "It's okay Joe. I've had a lot of time to think. And I've been talking to Demi a lot. And I realized something. You have always been Dani's. And Dani has always been yours. That has never been different, and it will never change. And I think I partly always knew that. I just – didn't want to believe it. I thought – I thought I could change it. I thought I could – be the one for you, instead, just like you were for me. But now I see that you were never the one for me, because you were always hers."

I gaped at her, not really getting it – how she could be so understanding, and self-sacrificing. "I still wish that you weren't getting hurt in this."

She smiled weakly. "Me too," she admitted. "But, I think I get why you guys did it now. You guys didn't want to hurt me."

"We really, truly didn't," I said sincerely.

"I still wish you guys had just told me," she said softly.

"We do too," I admitted.

"So can we be friends again," she asked timidly.

I got up and hugged her. "Definitely."

The door opened. We turned to see Dani, confused. "Selena," she asked. "You're here?"

Selena smiled weakly at her. This seemed to through Dani off even more. "I figured it was time to talk."

Dani nodded. "I'll give you guys a minute," I said, excusing myself.

₪₪₪

"Selena, I am so sorry," I said when Joe left.

She sighed. "It's okay Dani. As I was telling Joe, you guys are perfect for each other. It was foolish of me to stand in the way."

"Not foolish," I said quickly. Did she really forgive me?

She smiled. "Thanks, but I realized a few things this week. One of them being that you're too important a friend to lose over something that was inevitable. I mean, I kind of always knew that you and Joe would be together one day."

I sighed. Why was she so self-sacrificing? If it had been the other way around, if she had been the one to steal Joe away from me, I would never be so forgiving. I would hate her with the very core of my being. "Thank you Selena," I said. "I love you. You're one of my best friends."

She smiled and hugged me. "Love you too Dani. Just, no more secrets, okay?"

I laughed. "Promise."

We both laughed. Then the door flew open, and Nick, Joe, and Kevin all fell inside, falling on each other. We looked at them.

"Uh hey guys," Kevin said as he got up.

"Selena," Nick said. "What a surprise. We had no idea you were here."

"Ya ha," Joe said. "I told you she was." Nick stomped on his foot. "Ow – I mean, no they didn't."

Selena and I started laughing. "Well I have to go now," she said. "I'll talk to you guys later. Perhaps I'll come to your concert soon. I promise I'll call first this time," she smirked at us. "You know, in case Nick doesn't want his secret love life revealed too or something."

She left, and we all settled on the bed, watching TV. We were in the middle of High School Musical 2, when the hotel phone rang. None of us made any effort to pick up. If it was important, they'd leave a message.

"Danielle dear, it's your mother. Blair gave me the name of your hotel," my mother's voice on the answering machine filled the room. We all froze. Kevin paused the movie. "Anyways, just calling to tell you that I am officially clean and ready to start a new life. I'm coming to your concert tomorrow night. I love you baby. See you soon. Bye." The line disconnected.