A Simple Love Story. Not!

Saying that I wasn't a happy camper the next morning would be an understatement.

Ally had come into my bedroom and woken me up at 10 and practically yelled at me to get up and get ready to hang out with the boys since they would be coming in a half hour to get us so we could hang out with them before they left. But when that didn't get me to wake up, she sent Duckie into my room and the two of them jumped on me and my bed to get to me to wake up.

That got me up, but I was not a happy camper from that point on. They picked out my clothes while I was in the shower and then my sister gushed to Duckie and I about how her date went last night with Nick and how he had gotten her a bracelet with a little heart charm on it that said, 'Happy Birthday Ally' on one side and 'Love Nick' on the other side. Then she told us practically word for word his little speech he gave her about how he was going to make sure that they would make their relationship work and yadda yadda yadda. And as if that speech wasn't enough, he had the chef write 'Will you be my girlfriend' in chocolate on their dessert plate.

Of course, I already knew about all of this and just hearing it again, made me depressed that my sister had gotten a boyfriend, let alone a guy that she was crazy about.

How come she snagged her Jonas and yet I can't get mine?

It really wasn't fair, I mean, I was the one who introduced them seeing as how Joe and I started talking first. I should get Joe's heart before my sister gets his brothers heart. It's only fair!

And then to add on top of my 'happy camper' mood, my mom's boyfriend, John, was telling me to get in a better mood or I was going to ruin the day for everyone.

What the hell? You don't tell someone who's already upset to get in a better mood. It just brings them down even more that other people can see that they aren't in a good mood when they thought they were so good at covering up their emotions.

Ass.

And then to hear Joe's whining about losing against his brothers at bowling at Stonefire after-wards really didn't help.

But I did get to kick some Zombie Ass when Joe and I played 'House of the Dead'. Granted Joe did better than I did and he actually did more Zombie ass kicking than me, but it brightened up my day and ever since then, my day has been slowly getting better.

We just finished 'House of the Dead' to go watch Frankie and Kevin play air hockey while everyone else watched and I figured this would be the best time to talk to Demi and get to know her. But it turns out that Demi is quite an air hockey cheerleader for Frankie and I was one myself so we just got to yell a lot while Kevin yelled at us to cheer for him.

When Kevin lost, which Frankie practically buried him, 1 to 7, Joe wanted to beat Frankie.

But Frankie beat Joe and that's when Joe became the sore loser he was and stomped off.

"So who's gonna go and calm him down?" Kevin asked while Frankie said he wanted to challenge Duckie now.

"I'll go." I sighed since it was my idea to go over and watch Frankie kick Kevin's butt.

I quickly made my way through the people towards Joe and slung my arm around his shoulder and pulled him towards me while asking, "What's wrong Baby Kangaroo?"

"Baby Kangaroo?" he asked me and I could hear the small laugh in his voice from my word choice.

"Yeah, baby kangaroo's are called Joey's so...you're a baby kangaroo."

"But only if you were going to call me Joey." he countered back at me and I simply rolled my eyes before asking him what was wrong.

"I just hate being a stupid cripple. I know it's my fault and everything, but if I didn't have this stupid sling on my arm-"

"You would've cheated." I cut him off with a laugh as we each took a seat at our table where we were to meet up with everyone in about 15 minutes to have lunch.

"Whatever." he scoffed under his breath while looking away from me and I bit down my laughter at how childish he was being.

It was cute, even though he was acting like a little kid.

It was nice though. After that, Joe and I just talked like how we always did until everyone met around the 4 tables that we pushed together so everyone could fit and luckily, Demi sat down next to me so we could finally talk and get to know each other.

It turns out, she's pretty cool. We had a lot of stuff in common and I could see how her and Joe had gotten so close. He wasn't kidding her when he said that she reminded him of me. And if I didn't already know better, I'd say they would end up together.

She would definitely give me a run for my money. Assuming that Joe would want me back though...ugh. Stupid word games.

"So he knows now and everything is all hunkie dorie with you two now?" Demi asked me after we got off of our movie conversation thanks to Joe falling out of his chair.

It sounds weird I know, but after seeing Joe acting so goofy, it just kinda reminded her that she didn't know what happened last night between us since she left right after Joe and I talked.

I nodded my head before leaning closer towards me so Joe wouldn't over hear us talking about him. He was after all, sitting on my left side while Demi sat on my right.

"Yeah, to be honest with you, I was really worried that it would be weird, and it was at first but then it just feel into how we used to be. He's still the same way towards me he was before and-" I cut myself off when Demi brought her hand up to cover her smile that was quickly taking over her face and asked her a "What?" while my face dead panned.

"Well, ok....but you have to swear you won't say anything." she said to me while moving closer towards me while I nodded my head spastically. She had me intrigued now and since we barely knew each other and she was willing to give me information, I had to know.

Normally I could care less about gossip and stuff, but for some reason the fact that it was coming from her made me want to know. We became very quick friends if I say so myself.

"Well, Joe admitted to me this morning, when we were waiting for everyone to get ready, that he had feelings for me and feelings for you and said that he was sorry, but his feelings he has for you outweighed the little crush he had on me, but he doesn't want you to know because he's supposed to be 'mad' at you." she said while using air quotes around "mad".

"What?" I was shocked yes that he had feelings for me. Well, slightly shocked. I mean, his little innuendo of what we could possibly be doing if I had told him I loved him when I first found out gave away that he liked me maybe more than friends, but these were the actual words. Words that he said. At least, as far as I knew.

"What do you mean he's supposed to be mad?" and I cringed when I heard Joe ask, "What, what?" from behind me and lean over the table and on my back to be able to hear our conversation.

I couldn't help it, my heart skipped a beat when his body was right up against mine. It was too...ugh. I don't know...but it's a good thing.

"What-what a cute smile you have!" Demi quickly said to cover up my outburst and reached forward to pinch his cheeks like grandmas always do.

I laughed as I saw Joe try to get away from Demi's pinching and he rubbed his cheeks when he was home free and I turned so I was sitting normal in my chair instead of having my back towards him.

Although, I wouldn't mind if he leaned into me again.

"Secrets, secrets are no fun. You should share them with everyone!" Joe sang while glaring at Demi which only caused us to laugh even more.

"On the contrary..." I started and that's when I was fully aware of how dumb I sounded. "Secrets, secrets are really fun and should be shared with only one!" I sang back to him while poking his nose with my index finger at the end which caused him to give me a huge smile before letting out a small laugh that made my heart flutter.

I literally was holding in my sigh of happiness from his smile he gave me.

I was so love sick it wasn't even funny. It was more disgusting than funny if you ask me.

But then all of a sudden Joe's laughing stopped and he gave me a hard glare before turning to talk to Kevin who sat across from him.

I sat up a little straighter in my seat and smacked his arm, since his good arm was on my side and he looked over at me before giving me a smirk and then a small wink before continuing his conversation with Kevin.

I could feel all the blood in my body rush to my cheeks and the butterflies started to erupt. All from a wink.

Damn you Joseph Adam!

And that's when Demi said my name and brought me out of my turmoil of trying to decide if I wanted to smack Joe or have him give me another wink to send my heart into palpitations again.

It was weird to say the least, but a good weird talking to Demi. Since we were talking about Joe nonstop after that. But...it was comforting. I never thought that I would be sitting there talking to the girl that before yesterday, I thought of as my nemesis. But it was nice. I didn't have to worry about another guy getting brought up into conversation when talking to Demi. But it wasn't the same kinda of talk. I was gushing and remembering all of the stupid things we used to talk about while she told me about what her and Joe did when I wasn't talking to him and whatnot. She liked him I could tell, but more like a brother...not romantically like I did.

"Would you stop that?!" I whisper yelled at her when a huge smile came across her face and she went to cover it again.

"I can't help it. You and Joe have the same little twinkle your eyes whenever you talk about one another."

"I do not have a twinkle in my eye!" I stated as firmly as I could before closing my eyes and rubbing them to get whatever it was out of them that she said I had.

"Yes you do!" she stated matter of factly and I opened my eyes again to roll them at her while she continued. "You both are so cute when you talk about each other so just get over it." she finished with a small laugh before turning in her seat so she was sitting normal again to signify the conversation was really over.

I turned in my seat, taking in the information that she had told me from last night and today. It was a lot to process.

Joe missed me...a lot. He talked about me, a lot. And apparently, from what Demi thinks, he likes me a lot more than a friend. But I didn't want to think like that. It would just get my hopes up that something could happen between Joe and I and I didn't want them to get crushed again. It would just hurt too much.

I grabbed my water and leaned back in my chair to take in my surroundings and observed everyone for a few seconds.

Mr. Jonas was seated at one end of the table while Mrs. Jonas sat next to him but on the opposite side of the table from me. My mom sat next to her and two of them were in deep conversation about something as were John and Mr. Jonas. John was seated on the other side of him and on the same side as myself. Kevin was sitting next to my mother and Duckie was sitting next to him, talking to Frankie who was sitting next to her. Nick was seated at the other end of the table then next to Ally who was talking to Demi, next to me, and showing her the bracelet Nick had bought her for her birthday. Then came me and Joe sat next to me who sat next to John, bringing the table back around to the seating order. And Joe and Kevin were deep in conversation about the tour they were would be leaving for in a few short hours.

I sighed at that point, thinking about having to say goodbye to him when he knows that I love him. It would be difficult. More difficult than it was before I knew I loved him.

I took one more sip from my water before leaning forward and putting it down on the table and leaning back in my chair, only to feel Joe's arm hit me across my shoulders from having his arm draped across the back of it.

Ok, I know I shouldn't look into it too much, but I couldn't help but get giddy from the idea that he was me as his. It was too hard not to since I loved him and all this new information from Demi floating around my head.

I had to bit my bottom lip to keep myself from giggling like a maniac whenever his thumb would brush up against my arm since I was wearing a tank top and my skin was exposed. It sent shove waves through my body and I loved that feeling, no matter how much I shouldn't at this point in time.

But when Joe sent me a smile every couple of minutes in between his and Kevin's conversation, I couldn't help but giggle slightly. And luckily, Joe didn't mind, at least I don't think so, because he whenever I did giggle, he would rub his thumb against my arm on purpose.

I was in heaven for those few seconds that his skin was in contact with mine.

But after we all ate and were stuffed with pizza, everyone wanted to take it slow for a while and decided to play mini golf.

Everyone was split into teams : Kevin and Frankie, Demi and Duckie, Nick and Ally and the parents were to be coupled off together. Joe wanted to play, but he couldn't really hit the ball because of his jumping on the bed last night, so he had to sit this activity out, which he was not happy about. But in an effort to make him feel better, I decided to sit this one out with him. Plus, it would give me an excuse to talk to him about what Demi said about him not wanting me to know that he wasn't mad at me anymore.

We were sitting in silence for a few seconds before I broke it. I couldn't take Joe sulking anymore for his stupid and childish behavior from the night before and hurting his arm.

"So, I know that I'm not supposed to know, but I have to ask." I stated and that seemed to bring him out of his funk.

He looked at me nervously for a few seconds before saying, "Ok...."

"Well, why are you 'mad' at me and not want me to know?" I asked him, using air quotes around the word 'mad' like Demi had done before bringing my elbow onto the table and letting my head rest in it while looking at him.

"Why would you think that?" he asked me with a nervous laugh attached to it and looking away from me.

"Well,..." I started and I realized that I had no other way to tell him that I knew that or why other than selling Demi out. I couldn't do that to her. She was a friend after all, now, and she's the one who gave me my information. I couldn't do that to my source!

"Just tell me why you want me to think that your mad at me?" I said while shaking my head to get off his question and make him answer me.

He looked at me for a few seconds before leaning forward and letting his head rest on the table. "I don't want you to think that your off the hook yet. Ya know, with the whole trust thing." he stated, glancing up at me from the table before turning his head back down towards the table.

"But you're really not mad at me?" I asked him while leaning down towards his head and talking into his ear.

"How can I be?!" he yelled somewhat frustrated before shooting back up into a sitting position in his chair. "You're too nice to me, and my family loves you. Plus you're my best friend. But I still don't want you to think that you don't have to prove your trust to me!" he finished while pointing his finger at me with his good hand.

I laughed at him a little bit before nodding my head and slowly pushing his hand down and saying, "Ok Joe. I promise I'll try my hardest to try and win back your trust."

"Good." he stated with a curt head nod and looking over at the arcade games that were a few feet from our table. "So what do you want to do? he asked me. "I mean, something that both of us can do."

Make out?

I looked around the area and took in a deep breath before turning back to him and saying, "I don't know. You're the broken one...what do you want to do?"

He let out a loud and annoyed groan before saying, "I'm so mad at myself." and slamming his other than down on top the table to let out his frustration. "Actually, I need to stretch it out for a little bit, can you help me get this thing off ?" he asked after a couple seconds.

I let out a little laugh before nodding my head and having him turn in his seat so I could reach his arm to take off the strap of the sling and slide his arm out.

"So me climbing up the side of my house to help you didn't bring back any trust?" I asked him after getting his arm safely out of the sling and he slowly rotated his arm in a small circle before getting into bigger ones.

"Well, yeah, but not all of it. You just have to wait for something to happen to me again that I'll really need you to be there and hopefully you will be, so you can win it all back."

"Well then I guess I should just stay with you for the rest of the day and then everything will be ok." I said with a laugh and when he looked at me confused and stopped his arm rotating for a brief seconds, I laughed at him before saying, "Don't worry about it."

He simply rolled his eyes before going back to big circles with his hand and almost hitting a girl in the face, which caused us both to laugh after he said a quick sorry and that's when Frankie jumped onto my back and gave my neck a hug while saying, "Kevin and I won! I'm on a winning streak today!"

"You sure are little man! How many holes were there anyways cuz that was pretty quick."

"There was only like 10 holes, but I'm tired now." he stated and as if to solidify his tiredness, he let a yawn escape him while he got off of my back.

"My arm feels a lot better now!" Joe announced to everyone as they made their way back towards the table and took seat around it.

"I think I want to just relax a little bit before we leave. What do you say heading back to the hotel for a little bit?" Mr. Jonas asked everyone as him and Mrs. Jonas took a seat in their seats.

"But my arms better now and I want to hang out with Steph. We have to make up for a lot of lost time!" Joe whined and I couldn't help but laugh at his whining. Don't get me wrong, I loved the fact that he wanted to spend time with me, but it was slightly funny to hear him like that.

"Liz is getting off of work now and said she'll meet us anywhere where we are to hang out with us." Kevin said with a giant smile on his face, looking at his phone. I assumed Liz text him.

"Let's just go back to their house dad. Their closer than the hotel is." Nick voiced up and gave the puppy dog face. That or he was tired too.

"Fine. You guys can go back to their house. We're gonna head back towards the hotel to make sure every thing's packed away before we relax and stuff. You boys have to be back there no later than 8. It's 5 right now so use you 3 hours wisely. We'll see you boys later." And with that, Mr. and Mrs. Jonas gave all of us hugs and kisses before heading out with Mom and John. Apparently they were going to help them with the packing as well, plus the Jonas's wanted to talk to them about something. What that something was, I wasn't sure..but it seemed important.

"Crap! I have homework that's due tomorrow and a project that needs to be worked on. I need to call Eric and have him come over." I voiced up but I jumped slightly when Joe asked me, rather sharply I might add, "Who's Eric?"

"He's my project partner for my Mythology project. It's due at the end of the semester but it's big so she gave us our partners now so we could work on it."

"Well we're leaving your house at 7:30. Have him come over then. How often do you get to see me Steph?" He asked me and then started the puppy dog face.

"Fine, fine, fine. But if I get an F on this project because of you, it's all your fault." I stated to him while he just rolled his eyes and everyone made their move to get up and go the respective vehicles that we all came in.

On the ride back with all of us piled in the SUV we all decided to watch the 4th season of Friends and upon our arrival at my house, Joe was the first one out of the car and in the house, having stole my keys and claimed the love seat for him and I.

Don't get me wrong, I love sitting next to Joe and everything, but did he really need to be so enthusiastic about sitting next to me? Jeez, stab me in the heart and twist the knife some more would cha?

Nick and Ally took claim of the couch and laid down on it while Kevin and Liz cuddled in the over sized chair. Duckie and Demi sat on the floor with their backs up against the couch while Frankie laid on their legs.

Throughout the 2 hours of Friends watching, Nick and Ally fell asleep along with Kevin and Liz and Frankie and Joe and I managed to be in a laying down position. I was in front of him while he wrapped his arms around my waist and his head resting on my shoulder to look at the TV.

I barely watched the TV at all though once Joe and I got into that position. I don't really know how it happened to be completely honest with you, but it did and it sent my mind for a whirlwind. Demi kept looking over towards us though and mouthing, "Are you alright?" to me after every episode ended and every time I sent her a nervous smile.

I didn't really know if I was alright. Sure, I loved having Joe that close to me and making me feel wanted by him, but I wasn't' wanted enough by him for us to be together.

I just wanted him to go now. He was making my brain into melted putty from all of his actions that were countered by his words. I really didn't know what to do. I wanted to hang out with him, but I didn't want him to be like this...all lovey dovey and cuddly with me. It hurt too much for him to be like that and know that I wasn't his.

So when it was time for all of them to go, I was flooded with relief and glad that my brain would be up and running again.

Of course I was sad though because saying goodbye to Joe was one of the hardest things I've had to do, but....it was just too hard to act like everything was ok between us when clearly they weren't. Joe was using my love for him to have his cake and eat it too. It got to have a girlfriend, in a way, with the cuddling thing and being close, but when he had enough, all he had to do was say, "See ya later" and no one was hurt. Well, except for me.

"Well, I'll see you soon." he said to me before wrapping me up in a hug after Nick, Kevin and Demi all said their goodbyes to me.

"Yep." I snapped quickly and gave him a hug as well. No matter how bad I wanted him away from me, I was still going to cry whenever I said goodbye to him. Damn it all to hell for having all these emotions.

"Possibly sooner than you think." he whispered into my ear. Of course he had to send shivers down my spine before he couldn't for the next however months I wouldn't see him for.

Jerk.

"What do you mean?" I asked him as we pulled out of each others grasps and he started making his way towards my driveway to get into the SUV where the other 3 were waiting.

"You'll see." he called over his shoulder before sending me a quick wave and disappearing in the vehicle.

What the hell did any of that mean?