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It literally happened every single time Nick worked up the nerve to ask Demi out. Whenever her window, as Ted Mosby liked to call it, opened, it seemed to shut just minutes later. He should’ve just told her he liked her back during the Camp Rock days. Forget Miley or anyone else for that matter, Demi was better than any of those other girls Nick had dated since first meeting her.
Nick thought she was cute the fist time he met her at the Camp Rock read through, but no feelings started just yet. He had been with Miley at the time and Demi was with Cody. Nick always took a while to warm up to people - Demi even thought he didn’t like her at first and she always teased him about it from then on - but once the two of them clicked they were instant best friends. There wasn’t anyone on the planet that Nick connected to more. These feelings just grew more and more every time they got together.
But anytime Nick felt that maybe she could feel the same towards him or whenever he felt his emotions boiling inside of him so much that he needed to tell her how he felt, Demi would always introduce him to her new boyfriend.
And this cycle repeated. And repeated. And repeated until 2014 when Nick had had enough of it. He was single and, for once since Camp Rock, Demi was single too after ending a relationship with Niall.
The two of them were catching up in Demi’s LA home after not seeing each other for around four months. Nick had been in South America performing new music he and the Administration had written after the Jonas Brothers break up while Demi was only a day back after being in Mexico for the last show of her Neon Lights tour. Both had been drinking, which was maybe why Nick was feeling confident. He was just about to kiss her when Demi spoke.
"So I went out with Wilmer again the other night."
Nick could’ve yelled at her. Why couldn’t she be single just for a moment so that he could make his move? There was no way Nick was going to try anything while she was seeing someone; Nick had more respect for her than that. When the timing was right, it would work out perfectly, or so he hoped.
"And how’d that happen?" Nick asked, trying to make casual conversation. He hoped Demi didn’t notice that he had scooted further away from her.
"Well, Niall and I broke up just before I left for the South American leg of the tour and Wilmer as in Mexico when I got there, so we decided to go out and it was nice."
That’s when it hit Nick: had he been where Demi was when the break up occurred instead of touring with the Administration in Europe maybe he would’ve had a shot with Demi. It was just a whole wrong place at the wrong time situation. And that’s when Nick vowed that he wouldn’t let that happen again.
After that night, Nick made sure to call Demi every night. At first Nick was a little worried that she would get annoyed of him so he didn’t call her one night, but she called him out on it the next time they talked and told him that she missed him. Nick smiled at that.
Eventually it got to the point where it felt odd if Nick didn’t hear Demi’s voice all day. Even if one, or both of them, was busy they would call just to say a quick hello and then hang up, but sometimes they could call each other up to five times a day just to tell them the next exciting thing that happened. They even fit it into their schedules to see each other in person a lot more.
Five months passed and Nick heard every moment where Wilmer made Demi swoon, got the first listens on her new music, listened to every crazy thing she made Maddie do, and just every other aspect in her life. This only made him fall in love with her more because he got to see every side of her, not that he hadn’t before, but it was different than their jam sessions on the tour bus. At those times she had been holding back, trying to keep secrets, but now she was an open book willingly to share all her struggles and all her thoughts.
Nothing was special about this night in particular. Nick was laying on his bed tossing a baseball up above his head and catching it as it fell back down. He was waiting for Demi to call him because she was finishing up a live show of the X Factor that he should be watching but his mind kept drifting off so he eventually turned it off. He was only paying attention when Demi spoke anyway and he would rather hear her talk to him than to those contestants on the show.
Nick waited and waited and waited until finally his phone began to ring. He ignored the ball, letting it fall onto his bed, and reached for his phone. He answered before the first ring ended. “Hey Demi.” A smile appeared on his face as he said her name.
She groaned from the other end of the phone which made Nick laugh.
"Rough day at the office?"
"It just sucks sometimes when Simon is always ridiculing me and Mario is making me cut my speeches short and all I want to do is get out from behind that desk and talk to my best friend and just, uh!" Demi groaned again and Nick can imagine her collapsing onto her bed. "But I said my negative thing and now let’s change the mood of this conversation. How was your day?"
"Oh, you know, wrote a few songs, produced some hit singles for other artists, and managed to make my own dinner."
"Just the usual." Demi joked and the two of them laughed.
A comfortable silence fell between them once they finished giggling. Nick was even sure Demi had fallen asleep on him, which wouldn’t have been the first time that had happened, but then she spoke. “I talked to Wilmer today.”
"Did you now?"
"Yeah." There was a pause on the other end. "I broke it off with him."
Nick took a second to respond, making sure he heard her correctly. “You did what?” He asked because he still needed the reassurance.
"I dumped him. Kicked him to the curbed. Sent him packing. Still not making any sense?"
Laughing, Nick answered, “No, I get it now. I just wanted to make sure I heard you right. When did it happen?”
"Just a few minutes ago. I called him before I called you."
Good thing Nick wasn’t with Demi in person so that he would have to hide the smile that was forming on his face. This could possibly be his chance! “Why did you break up with him? I thought you two were doing well this time around?”
"We were, it was just, how do I put this?" Demi paused. "There was someone else."
"Did he cheat on you? Because I swear to God, I’ll-"
"No, no, no! Nothing like that. I was starting to have feelings for someone else."
Great, here it comes, Nick thought to himself. “Really?”
"Really."
"So who’s the lucky guy?"
"Well, you know him."
"I do?" Nick started listing all the guys he knew in his mind trying to think which one Demi had had recent contact with, but none seemed to click. "Can I get another hint?"
"He likes music, like, a lot. He breathes it I’m pretty sure."
"Demi, the majority of the people I hang out with are people in the industry, so of course they’re going to be into music. Can you give me something a little more specific?"
"I’ve been talking to him every day for the past five months and it took me a while to realize that he was, well, the perfect guy for me."
For the life of him, Nick couldn’t figure out who she was talking about. “Okay, I’m done playing guessing games. Who is it?”
"It’s you, you idiot."
Nick paused. “What?”
"You’re having serious trouble hearing tonight, aren’t you?" Demi laughed but then her tone grew serious once again. "I want to be with you."
"You’re serious? I mean, this isn’t some kind of joke, is it?"
"Not at all. Talking to you these past couple months, I mean, I noticed how much happier I was and I looked forward to hearing your voice every day. Literally, it is the highlight of my day, and," Demi paused "I’m falling in love with you. With every phone call I can feel my feelings growing stronger and it just wasn’t right to be with Wilmer when I knew the right guy for me was just on the other end of the phone."
"Demi?"
"Yeah?"
"I’m in love with you."
"Really?"
"Really."
There was another comfortable silence. Nick imagined that Demi was just smiling on the other end because that was exactly what he was doing.
"So what are we going to do now?"
"Well, I’m going to catch the first flight out to LA tomorrow and take you out on a real date. And then we’ll see where it goes from there."
"I’d like that very much."
And Demi’s window never opened up to any other man every again.