A Simple Love Story. Not!

I slowly started waking up from hearing screaming and gunfire and a few minutes later I opened my eyes fully. But when I went to got rub them to wake myself up a little more, something was blocking my hand.

Looking down confused, I saw Joe's hand over mine and then a little puff of air hit the back of my neck from his breathing and I couldn't help but smile slightly before turning my head to look at him.

The smile on my face grew when I had him in my sight and a weird feeling of protection surged threw my body as he pulled himself closer to me, snuggling his head into my neck.

I couldn't help but giggle slightly from that before the butterflies erupted in my stomach and even though I didn't really want to, I slowly picked up his hand off of mine and slid off towards the end of my bed to get off of it.

After safely getting off of my bed and turning the TV off from some war show that was on, I looked over to see Joe still sleeping.

Another smile made it's way onto my face while I thought about how adorable he looked sleeping in my bed.

I had to practically tear my eyes away from him to look at my clock.

7:45. "Hmm. Should I wake him up? Or just let him sleep? Where is everyone else?"

After much deliberation, I decided to let him sleep and head downstairs to see what everyone else was doing, only to walk halfway down the stairs and see the second cutest thing in the world.

The first cutest was currently laying in my bed.

Nick was laying on the loveseat on his side with his arms wrapped around Ally who was laying in front of him, also on her side while Kevin was laying on his back on the floor with Liz laying on her back but her head was on his stomach as a pillow.

I couldn't help but think that those 2 couples had to get together sometime soon. They just looked so cute together and they were each perfect for eachother.

After a few more minutes of deciding that I would do everything in my power to get Kevin and Liz and Nick and Ally together, I turned around and decided to get ready for the party since we were gonna be there around 9:30 or so.

After a quick shower, just to be extra clean, I changed into my clothes and combed my hair and debated on blowdrying it just because I didn't want to wake Joe up.

I decided to blow dry it just to get the majority of the water out and then let it air dry while stealing glances at Joe from across my room to see if he was waking up or not and surprising, he barely moved and inch.

Man, he's a heavy sleeper!

I quickly applied my make-up and went downstairs to get some water since I was going to just surf the web for a while before I had to wake them all up in time for the party.

Quietly humming a tune as I made my way past the two sleeping couples in the living room on my way back up to my room, I was shocked to see Joe sitting on my bed while playing with my phone.

"Well, good afternoon sunshine!" I said as I entered my room while glancing at the clock to see that it was 8:30 and when I went to grab my phone, he pulled it out of my reach.

"What is your obsession with my phone?" I asked him while setting my water down next to my bed on my nightstand while I put both hands on my hips.

"Im just doing something really quick. Then you can have it back." he said somewhat choppy from his concentration on my phone.

I just rolled my eyes and said that I would be right back since we had to be at the party in less than an hour now and decided to go wake up the couples.

I walked half way down the steps, took a big deep breath before yelling, "WAKE UP!" and then instantly started laughing from seeing them all jolt awake and Ally fall off of the couch from Nick jumping.

"What the heck?!" Ally scolded me while Nick quickly helped her get up from the groudn while Kevin was helping Liz up.

"Sorry, but you all needed to get up. Kevin, Liz, are either of you changing before the party cuz were gonna leave in about an hour or so?" I said, turning my attention to them as Ally brushed the invisible dirt off of her.

"Umm, I wasnt planning on it, but I will since you did." Liz said while standing up to stretch while Kevin said that he was going to change to while letting out a yawn.

"Ok, we'll meet back here in 45 mins or so and then we will all drive over there together. Ok?" I questioned them and Kevin simply did one quick curt nod of his head and then whipped out his phone to call Big Rob to take them back to the bus to change and to take Liz home.

I heard Nick say that he was going to change too to Ally while she smiled sweetly at him while nodding her heard.

"And when I'll come back and we'll go out to eat?" he asked her more than stating it and she quickly shook her head yes to his suggestion.

He let out a loud sigh from holding his breath from her answer and I couldn't help but beam at him for being so nervous on asking a girl out.

It was simply adorable.

"Joe! Come down here!" Kevin yelled causing all of us to jump from his sudden outburst while footsteps were heard quickly coming towards us.

"What?" he asked as he stood on one step behind me.

"You're changing for the party right?" Kevin asked him while he asked him back, "Yeah, are we leaving soon?"

"Yeah, we're gonna go change and then come back here and leave together in Stephs car." he reported to Joe.

"Ok, sounds good!" he said while turning to head back up the stairs, but he stopped and turned back to look at me and said, "By the way, you look really good!" while looking at me in an obvious way to indicate that his choice of clothing for me to wear looked good before he made his way back up the stairs to get his phone and wallet from my room while I stood there blushing from his compliment.

After everyone left and Ally changed quickly into something a little nicer for her and Nick's date, her and I were lounging on the couch, flipping through channels before she landed on USA which had Psych playing.

"So, going out to dinner with Nick?" I asked her as a few seconds went by between us.

"Yeah. I'm so excited. I just hope he'll be able to open up though. We have fun together, but we barely even talk." She said with a little smile on her face and I couldn't help but laugh somewhat from her statement before responding to her.

"Aww, thats good though. I mean, its not good that you guys don't talk, but what do you expect? You just met him like a day ago?" I asked her rhetorically. "At least its not an awkward silence when you guys arent talking."

"Yeah. That is good I guess. But what's going on with you and Joe? Is Andy going to be at the party tonight?" she asked me and as soon as both of their names left her mouth my stomach went into nervous flips and heart start to pump a little faster.

"Umm...yeah." I stuttered out while keeping my eyes glued to the TV screen now from how nervous I was feeling. "He's going to be there, but hopefully it will go smoothly and if anything happens Joe and I will just leave. And as to the Joe question, nothing. Not that I know of. He's cool and stuff but I dont think he's really looking for anything serious, and to be honest, neither am I. I don't think I'm ready for a relationship yet. I haven't gotten that closure that I need in order to move on and I dont want to hurt him if he does want anything to happen between us."

I noticed her nod her head out of the corner of my eye from understanding where I was coming from, and then she let out a giant huff and said, "Well, don't let Andy ruin your night. This is the first night where you and Joe will be going out together. Maybe you'll make Andy jealous and he'll realize what an ass he was."

"That's what Joe said!" I said with a little bit of a smile and remembered back to when he picked out my outfit. "I just hope Joe won't be too shocked to see all my friends and stuff. I hope he's ready to handle them."

Truth be told, I was really worried about Joe meeting all of them. They weren't normal guy friends. They were more like older brothers who happened to be very protective of me. And especially after everything that happened with Andy, they'd upped their protectiveness a little bit more.

Ally's laugh and small snort brought me back from my thoughts and I heard her say, "He's Joe Jonas. You should be worried about them not being able to handle him."

><><><

A little before 9:30, they all arrived back at our house and Joe was practically bouncing off

"I am SO excited?! Are you excited?! I know I am!" was all he kept saying from the back seat next to Kevin while Liz sat up front.

I couldn't help but laugh at him. He was just too damn adorable right now.

Getting closer to my friend Joe's house, my stomach started to form into tiny little knots and my breathing became harder and I was so thankful that Megan and her boyfriend Alex was going to be there. Luckily though, when we finally pulled up to his house, Andy's car was there yet and my stomach unclenched a little. And thankfully Joe made my spirits turn up a little from seeing all the cars.

"Wow, look at all of them!" Joe exclaimed from the back seat, his face plastered to the window.

"I like that white one!" Kevin said while pointing to the white Scion.

"The Scion? Yeah, that's my favorite car. I want it so bad. It's Pitchers." I stated as I parked and got out of the car, having them get out as well.

"Pitcher?" Joe and Kevin asked at the same time with confusion laced in their voices.

"Oh, sorry. His name is actually Nick, but we have like 3 Nicks in our group so we gave them all nicknames."

"And he got Pitcher how exactly?" Kevin asked while Liz went to his side and he wrapped an arm around her waist.

While we walked down the street and up the driveway, I explained to them that at another party he fell asleep with a pitcher on his head and ever since then, hes been called Pitcher. "There's also Ned and Eini. But I'll show them to you as you meet them." I said while Joe linked arms with me and said, "Sounds confusing." with a giant smile on his face as we neared the back door to the house.

I knocked on the back door as Joe basically bounced next to me, causing Liz and I to laugh at him while Kevin just rolled his eyes.

After a few seconds of Joe shaking by my side the door swung open to reveal my freind Joe, the host, standing in the doorway.

"Hey!" He said to us and then leaned back to yell into the house. "Steph's here!" before leaning towards me and giving me a hug while I gave him a hug back.

"Come on in!" he said while motioning us with his arm and taking a step back to let us in. "I see you've brought some people. The more the merrier."

We all took our shoes and jackets off and headed downstairs where the party was.

"Hey losers!" I yelled over the music that was playing, get their attention. "I want you all to meet my friends. This is Joe, Kevin and you all know Liz." I said while pointing to each of them while saying their names.

Everyone said hi and then Joe, the host, said, "Looks like we have 2 Joes! Which one is gonna get the nickname?" and then grabbed Joe's arm and dragged him off to the couch to start talking a little bit.

Joe looked back at me with a somewhat scared face and I could do was laugh before they were both out of sight.

Liz ended up seeing Jill and they started screaming loudly and then disappeared for a little bit to catch up on stuff while everyone else started coming up to Kevin and I to say hi and give me hugs.

If you could call them that.

Zach and Greg came over and lifted me up and spun me around to say hi while a few seconds after they put me down, Pitcher came over and two of us did our stupid handshake that we guys made up about 3 years ago in gym class. Matt, Ned and Chad all tackled me to the ground and then started wrestling with each other while I got up and started to show Kevin around.

I waved and said a quick hi to Sam, who was Pitchers girlfriend, and to Lindsey, who was Joe's, the host's, girlfriend and to Kayla who was just a friend of everyones.

"Ok, so this Joe!" Joe, the host annoucned while pointing to my Joe...

My Joe...huh...that's sound.....different....

"Is going to be called...what is it again?" he asked while leaning down to Joe who was laughing slightly and said his nickname. "Oh yeah...DJ Danja! And I will just be Joe!" Joe, the host said while everyone yelled out "DJ DANJA!"

I'm not goona lie, the look on Kevin's face, which consisted of being scared and a little overwhelmed, made me laugh while Joe made his way over to me, huge smile on his face.

After a few minutes of the overwhelming feeling left them, they slowly started to venture off on their own and started mingling with the other guys.

Joe ended up getting along great with Zach and Greg, they were the crazy ones of the group and Kevin was talking to Joe, the host, and Little Brad for a good half hour or so and I couldn't take my eyes off of Joe from how well he was getting along with them all so far.

All my other boyfriends, besides Andy, never really got along with them. The only reason Andy did was because Andy was part of their little group before we started dating.

Not saying that Joe was a boyfriend, but the guys were assuming that something had to be going on between us since I brought him.

I'll have to let them know that we aren't dating.

"He seems really nice. He better treat you better than Andy did!" I heard an all too familar femal voice say from behind me and I turned and jumped on her.

"Megan!" I yelled as I gave her a giant hug as we almost toppled to the ground.

"I'm glad to see you too, but I would like to breathe." she managed to choke out while I quickly let her go while saying that I was sorry.

"I see that the guys have taken a liking to Joe, that is his name right?" she asked and I simply nodded before asking her what she meant by them taking a 'liking' to him.

All she did was point her finger over my shoulder with a smile on her face and I turned around to see what she was looking at.

Joe, Chad and Matt were having a ping-pong ball war against Zach, Greg and Ned and all I could do was laugh at seeing that.

He really did get along great with them, surprisingly and you actually were a little mad at yourself for thinking that he wouldn't.

After a few more minutes of laughtger between her and I from watching them whipping balls at eachother, we made our way over to the little dance area that they had set up for the party and we started dancing with the rest of the girls while some guys were playing a drinking game called "Beer Pong" in a corner while eveyrone else talked and occacionsally got hit in the head with a ping pong ball.

And that's when I heard it. The all too familiar voice that made your stomach twist around inside of me.

"Yo Bro! Whats up?" I heard Ned say while giving Andy and high 5 and Megan whispered in my ear, "Just forget about him and try to have fun. And if you need to, we can start to have a little fun of our own." she ended with a mischievous smile.

I tore my eyes away from him and his blonde dream girl that was attached to his arm, and looked at her while saying, "I can't Meg. I'm driving."

"Are you serious!?!" she shrieked, getting a few people's attention before they looked away. "That sucks. Can't Joe or Kevin drive you guys back to your place or something?"

"No, Joe doesn't have his license and Kevin doesn't know his way around here." I said back to her with as much domainance I could to get her to leave me alone about this drinking thing.

"Man that really sucks." she scoffed and the a few seconds later said a little bit more uplifted, "Oh, I'll be right back." and disappeared around the corner that led into the other part of the basement where the guys were now playing with water balloons.

Yes, water balloons, in the basement.

They were crazy, but thats why I loved them.

* * * * *
Turning close to 10:30, the guys were acting like they knew Joe for years and that alone made me happier than I thought I would be considering who was here but that all went to peices when I turned around and there she was.

The girl that I wasn't even close to looking like and could compete with.

Short, preppy, blonde and tan. Although she had more of an orangy glow to her so I knew that it was a fake tan.

The girl that Andy tried to make me into and the girl I refused to be.

They were making out. Full out groping and everything and that sight alone brought tears to my eyes faster then ever before.

Not even a full 3 months later and he's already groping another girl.

I knew I couldn't, but all I wanted to do was breakdown and cry right there in the middle of the party from seeing that. But a hand shot around a corner and grabbed my arm and pulled me into something hard.

"What the-"

"Are you ok?"

I let out a sigh from hearing his voice and shook my head no even though my next few words contridicted my actions.

"Yeah, I'm fine Joe."

"Are you sure? We can leave now if you want to." he asked me and I could see in his eyes that he really meant it.

"No, it's ok. We can stay." I said, not letting him miss out on his 'one night of being a normal kid'.

"Ok." Joe said back to me, although I could hear in his voice he didn't believe a word I said.

I sent him a fake quick smile before turning around and low and behold, Megan stood there, two shotglasses in one hand and a bottle of UV Lemon in the other.

"Drink up girl!" she said to me, smile set wide on her face and even though I wanted nothing more than to take at least one shot to forget about what I saw between Andy and his little blonde bimbo, I knew I couldn't for Joe and Kevin's sake.

"Megan..." I sighed out. "I already told you that I don't want to drink tonight. I have to drive everyone back to my house." as I turned around the corner again to get away from Joe and her but when I saw Andy shove the girl up against the wall and kiss her like he used to kiss me, I turned back around and said the one sentance I never thought I would say with Joe standing right there.

"Give me the double shot."

* * * * *

It could've been an hour. Or two. Or 7. But I didn't really care the moment.

I was feeling great. Higher than a kite right now because I had a red cup firmly placed in my hand that was half filled with "3 shot of Jager and one Red bull!" Megan yelled to me a horrible Irish accent.

Yep. I think I had about 4 shots of the UV Lemon and then her and I decided we wanted to play Vodka Pong. We ended up losing. Then we started the whole Jager and Redbull thing. And let me tell you, I was definantly happy and couldn't even tell you why I started drinking in the first place.

Liz and Kevin left with Jill and her boyfriend to go bowling because they didn't want to be at the party anymore, but Joe stayed.

Where he currently was...I had no idea. All I really knew at the moment was that I was drinking, "3 Shot of Jager and one Redbull!" Megan sang agian while I burst into hysterics.

And then it hit me. So hard.

"Where's Joe?" I asked her, cutting off my laughing as I strugged to just stay upright.

"Joe? Oh...your man Joe...he's...." she started, took a sip out of her cup and then pointed over to the couch and yelled, "Over there. Why?"

"I really I want to dance." I stated and then started laughing as I made my way over to him.

I never know how much of a slant Joe's house was on before.

Ignoring the fact that Joe, Greg and Zach were talking about something, I dropped myself down on his lap while whining for him to dance with me.

I faintly heard him let out a forlorn sigh and either Greg or Zach say something like, "She....never drinks......because of Andy......but....she does.......control herself."

I simply scoffed at that statement, took a swig from my cup and felt Joe put his hand on my back to keep from from falling off of his lap and said, "What thinks you make it do with Andy?"

I watched as the simply just ignored me and that made me mad.

"I swear.....isnt.......Stephanie. Doesnt.......to cope........and everything."

I simply pushed myself up off of Joe but didn't get very far from when Joe wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me back down onto him while I tried to make sure nothing fell out of my cup and then started laughing.

I looked over to where I thought Megan was to call out to her to come help me, but what I saw, was Andy staring back at me sitting on Joe's lap and my drunken state of mind turned off for a second, having me realize that this was the perfect opportunity to get even with him.

I spun around so fast that I had to shut my eyes and I wrapped my arms around Joes neck and started kissing him, but within a few seconds he pulled away from me while I asked him what was wrong.

"You. This. I can't do this. You're so drunk and I'm taking you home. Now!" he said while standing up with me in his lap, and I tightened my hold around his neck to keep myself from falling.

"You don't like me do you?" I asked him back and I wanted to cry and scream and laugh all at the same time thanks to the alcohol that was in my system.

"No. I do like you. But right now I don't." he said to me with a serious tone. "Say your good-byes and then were leaving." he finished and then he set me down on my feet.

I went to go down my cup from hearing him say that, but he grabbed it from my hand and handed it to Greg who was sitting on the couch and all I could do was throw a hissy fit while saying, "Fine!" before walking away to say goodbye to Megan.

As soon as I finished saying goodbye to everyone that I wanted to bye to, Joe walked up to me and scooped me up and carried me bridal style up the stairs while some large yells of "Yeah Joe!" chorused throughout the basement and I started laughing hysterically from hearing that while Joe just shook his head.

When we reached the top of the stairs he sat me down, went and grabbed my jacket, put it on me along with my shoes and I vaguely heard him say that he was going to go somewhere and that I shouldn't move.

I wanted to make a smart ass comment to him, but my higher than a kite feeling was leaving me really fast and all did was lean my head up against the door and closed my eyes.

It felt like 5 seconds later that I was being scooped up again and carried out my car and placed into the passenger seat.

I tried my hardest to help my helper out by buckling myself in, but for some reason, my fingers didn't want to work and they ended up slapping my useless hands away.

It was Joe. That much I could tell from looking up and seeing his perfect face and hair as he buckled me in and then slammed the door shut before walking in front of my car and talking to who I think was Greg.

I gave up trying to figure out who he was talking to since it was making me more tired and I closed my eyes, only be snapped open when I heard the door open up swiftly and Joe start the car up before pulling out of the driveway, not even bothering to spare me a glance.

He was mad.

At me.

Even drunk me, as drunk as I was, could tell he was mad at me.

"You're mad at me aren't you?" I asked him as I felt myself breaking down. I was going to cry. It would be only a matter of seconds and I blamed Megan for feeding me so much alcohol to make me like this.

The only response I got from him was silence and I that brought the burning senstation to my eyes while they started to get cloudy.

"Please Joe..." I begged. "Talk to me." I said while reaching out for one of his hands but her merely just shrugged it away from me and that's what brought the tears.

I started to softly cry, trying not to make anymore noise than needed because I knew that he was mad at me for being so stupid. So stupid to get so stupidly drunk because I wasn't pretty enough to be the girl for Andy. I was just plain stupid right now and the only think I knew how to do was cry at the moment.

"I'm sorry." I sobbed out a few seconds later when he didn't even look my way or acknowledge the fact that I was crying. "I'm sorry that I'm ugly and I'm sorry that I'm stupid for getting myself like this. I just wanted to have a good time and forget about Andy." I managed to get out through my loud, uncontrollable tears.

"And did you forget about him?" he snapped back at me and even though I wanted him to say something to me for the last couple minutes that he sat there in silence, I wished he would've just shut up right then.

"No, how could I?" I practically yelled at him through my tears as my heart was broken even more, knowing that Andy wasn't mine and had moved on so easily after how many years of being with me and also knowing that I disappointed Joe. "Seeing him being all over that chick hurt like you wouldn't believe. I couldn't help but think the last time him and I were at a party, we were together. It hurts so much. I don't know what to do anymore. I'm never gonna find someone like him. I loved him with all of my heart and he stole it and broke it and now I don't know what to do with myself." I said and that's when I really broke down.

I thought I coudln't cry any harder than I did a few minutes ago, but boy was I wrong. I heard myself. Actually heard how pathetic I sounded. How loud I was being inside my tiny litter car that Joe was driving.

He didn't say anything back to me then. And I didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Either way though, I didn't care. I needed to talk about this and too bad if Joe didn't want to hear it. He had to. He was the only person I truely felt comfortable around besides my sister and she wasn't here right now. So he'll just have to listen to me whether he likes it or not.

I took a few deep breaths and wiped at my face to get rid of some of my fallen tears and sniffled before saying anything.

"He looked good didn't he?" I asked softly, more to myself than to him. "I was just something he kept until he could get an upgrade." I looked down at my hands then and started playing with my fingers before letting out a frustrated, "Gah I'm so stupid." while slamming my hand against my car door and looked up to see that I was already at my house.

All the lights were out, so I figured it must be late and everyone was asleep.

I knew I had to say something to him since he was still sitting the car. I knew he was expecting me to say something to him and I slowly started to regain some commen sense since I cried out about half of the alcohol that was in my body.

"Joe..." I started and looked down at my hands. "I'm really sorry I acted so stupid tonight. Normally I'm not like this at all. I hardly ever drink and when I do, I'm pretty smart about it. And I'm not saying that it was ok for me to get so drunk, but seeing him there with another girl tore my heart out." I wiped at my eyes, feeling fresh tears about to make their presance. "I feel like absolutly garbage right now. Old, nasty garbage that everybody just wants to throw out. I'm nothing." and that was as much as I could get out at the moment since I started cryign again, my voice cracking from me trying to finish what I wanted to say.

I turned my head away from him but he grabbed my chin as I lifted it up slightly and pulled it to look at him and wiped away at the tears that were falling from my eyes with his thumbs.

"You're not garbage." he stated and I chocked on my self pity laugh and went to turn my head away from him but he simply tugged on my jaw some more, making me face him. "You just need to find a way to get over this whole thing with him. If you need to, talk to him. Say whatever you want to say to him and make your peace with it." he said to me in the softest voice and it calmed me down a little bit.

He sent me a small smile as I sniffled a little bit and he wiped away a few more tears with his thumb.

"And as for the upgrade thing, I don't think he couldn't have gotten anyone better than you. You cared for him...deeply. And to be honest, he never appreciated it. He just hasnt realized it yet, and when he does, it's going to be too late because you're gonna have someone who you are gonna love even more than him and they will love you back and never give you up for anything."

My heart soared from hearing his words and how the look in his eyes made me know that he believed every word he said, which made me start to believe him slighlty.

I had to look away from him now, and luckily, he didn't rip my face back to his and I said, "You don't have to be so nice to you me, you know that right?" while savagely wiping at my face to get rid of all my tears since Joe calmed me down and no more were going to be making themselves presant.

"I know." he stated and I saw him shrug out of the corner of my eye. "I would make fun of you but right now I'm kinda tired and can't think of anything funny to say." and then a few seconds after he said that, he said, "Holy! I think thats a first!" with a surprised look on his face and mock sarcasm in his voice.

I couldn't help but giggle at his comment and then went to open my car door while he did the same.

He quickly made his way around my car to help me into the house since I didn't have control over my legs quite yet and we made our way into the house, taking off our coats and shoes quickly and then looking up to see silhouettes of two bodies laying on the floor in the living room.

As we walked closer, we realized that it was Nick and Ally.

Nick was sitting on the floor with his back up against the couch, his head laying on top of Allys as she was in between his legs sitting up slightly put definitely asleep, just as he was.

I smiled to myself and then at Joe, and he simply smiled back before lettting me go and laying the blanket that was over the back of the couch ontop of them before making his way back over to me to help me up the stairs.

After I quickly changed and brushed my teeth and went back to my room where Joe was waiting for me and then proceeded to tuck me into bed, smile still on his face.

Right as he turned around to leave, I grabbed his hand and asked him if he could stay with me.

It looked like he was having an internal battle with himself for a few seconds before he smiled sweetly down at me and I knew right then he was going to stay.

I smiled to myself and turned around to lay on my side and curled up into my covers, but when I heard taking his clothes off I whipped around and stared at him wide eyed while he chuckled and asked me what I thought he was taking off while holding his shirt up for me to see.

"I dont know." I stuttered out and thanked God for having the lights off so he couldn't see my blush before I turned back onto my side as Joe made his way into my bed.

I slowly started to drift off to sleep, smile on my face, from having Joe's steady breathing hit the back of my neck while his arms curled around my waist protectively and pulled me closer to him.