How does everything change so quickly? Your first love goes from being distant and unattainable to being so close and so … single. The person you've wanted more than anything for years is finally within reach and then suddenly made unavailable all over again, and it all seems to happen in a matter of seconds.
He sees her for the first time in years at an awards show in Europe. He had heard that she might make an appearance, but he didn't think that he quite believed it, not after the announcement she made to the press only the week before.
"Miley's here," his brother whispers to him.
Even though he didn't believe it, Joe's comment doesn't surprise him or shock him as much as he thought it would. All he wants is to see her, to hug her and tell her just how much he has missed her all these years.
He sees her for the first time that night as she steps on to the red carpet. The photographers and interviewers go crazy for her. The flashes erupt and the shouting starts as they ask her questions about the breakdown of her marriage. He knows her well enough to see the pain in her eyes. He knows that her marriage is the last thing she wants to talk about to a mass of strangers.
The dress is perfect. Red – his favourite colour on her, as she knows – and flowing down to ground, showing off all her assets. It's as if she's trying to drive him insane.
She sees him and she approaches him with a soft smile. "Nick," she breathes, looking him up and down. "You look great."
"So do you," he stammers. "I mean, considering what's been going on."
He mentally slaps himself in the face for that comment. He sees her face fall slightly at his reference to her soon-to-be ex-husband. He immediately regrets even opening his mouth.
"Do you think we can talk?" she asks softly.
He glances at his brothers. He loves Miley. He has always loved Miley. They know that. But the look on their faces tells him exactly what they think – he can't talk to Miley, and they're right. He soon realises that what they're thinking is exactly right. She just broke up with her husband of five years. It's only natural to look for a rebound, and she uses her knowledge of his emotions to her advantage.
His brothers are right – don't be her rebound. Don't walk in to having a broken heart. Just let her go. Move on and let her go about her business. Mid-twenties and waiting on a divorce, Miley isn't the girl he once knew. She's damaged and emotional, and he can't be her back-up. Not now.
It takes everything in him, but he shakes his head slightly and says, "I don't think that's a good idea, Miley."
Her face falls once more, and it kills him to see her like that, but he knows that his brothers are right. The last thing she needs is to start something up with someone like him, someone so damaged by her that he doesn't know what to do with himself anymore. Someone so in love with her that he'll take her crap over and over again because he doesn't want to risk losing her again.
Who knows? Maybe one day they could finally be together again. But for now, what Miley needs is to be far, far away from him.
He stands there and watches her walk away, and he wonders where he went wrong. Was it all those years ago when they first started dating? Was it the time he visited her in Georgia? Was it the time he wrote a song about her engagement and sang it for the world to hear? Because his mistakes had to start somewhere. He just can't pinpoint exactly when that was.
It kills him, but he has to let her go.
Maybe Demi was right all that time ago. Maybe it wouldn't be this year or even in this lifetime, but Miley will come back to him, because she's his angel, and angels always fly back to where they came from.