A Simple Love Story. Not!

Liz had hopped into the shower once I was out while Ally went over to Mom and John’s room and informed them of ‘Couples Day’ and then hopped in their shower while Duckie and I were finishing getting ready and watching TV until the boys were ready to chill.

“Ya know…” Liz started from her place in front of the mirror and applying a little bit of make-up to her face. “Today would be a perfect time for you to talk to Joe about ya know, everything!”

I looked up from the TV and looked at her back while thinking it over.

It would be a good time, except for the fact that I would be with Frankie and Duckie the whole time too. And I didn’t want to ruin their day if Joe and I got into a fight or something about how he made me feel.

“You uh…you think so?” I asked somewhat hesitantly while looking back at the TV.

“Uh..yeah.” they all said in unison, teaming up on me.

For once, I really didn’t like the few times we were able to have ‘girl talk’ on this trip since they were all cornering me. I really wished Joe was ready, but I knew he’d be the last one so my hope of getting out of this conversation was a lost cause.

“I don’t know.” I started. “I don’t want to leave Duckie and Frankie alone together, I feel like you get….I don’t want to say stuck with him, but I feel like you end baby-sitting him or something when Joe and I do stuff.”

I didn’t really know how to say it without it coming out wrong. But it was kinda true. If Kevin and Liz were gone, and Nick and Ally were in their own little dream world, that left Joe, Frankie, Duckie and I and majority of the time, Joe and I would just…be together.

“Are you kidding me? I love that little guy! He’s the Man!” she said with a laugh while deciding to throw her hair up into a ponytail since it didn’t want to cooperate with her today.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to leave you…hanging…I guess is the right word.” I said somewhat skeptically.

A part of me wanted her to say that she was fine, just so I could spend some alone time with Joe during the day and no potential ‘getting into trouble’ was in the near future. But another part of me wanted her to say that she wasn’t ok with it, because if she did say she was ok, then I would have to talk to Joe. And honestly, I didn’t want to.

Sure it irritated me, or I should say, he, irritated me. But…that was Joe. That was the way he was and if he didn’t, I probably wouldn’t be so crazy in love with him. No matter
how difficult it was to actually be in love with him.

“Yes I’m sure. And even if it did bother me, which it doesn’t, I wouldn’t tell you anyways. You need to talk to him. No, actually. You have to talk to him.”

I let out a sigh when Liz gave in a chorus of agreement with Duckie’s statement and I weighed all of the options of telling Joe today. It was only the third day of vacation…and if Joe didn’t like what he heard, it would be a really bad rest of the vacation for me. But then again, if I told him and he finally realized how much he loved me, it would be amazing. And then I wouldn’t have to envy my sister and Liz, I would be a part of them.

I liked that second scenario a lot better.

“Ok, so where should I take him then?” I asked. “A quiet place to talk for lunch or something? Help me out here!”

“You can’t take him anywhere. Actually you can’t talk to him at all about it. You’re gonna ruin his vacation.”

I looked around the room and noticed that not only myself, but Duckie and Liz were looking at Ally with what the hell? faces.

This whole time she was the one instigating the girls to get me to talk to him and tell him how I felt. And now that I was actually going to do it, she told me not to.

Girl was crazy.

I tell ya, those Jonas boys can mess you up big time.

“So let me get this straight…” I started and leaned up against the wall and looked at her with a glare. “You’ve been trying to get me to agree to talk to him and tell him everything…but now that I am you don’t want me to?”

“Well…” she started and walked as casual as possible towards her drawer to get any of her makeup she was planning on putting on. “I changed my mind when you were talking just now. If you make things weird between you two, you make it weird between all of us since you two are the reason why the rest of us even talk. If you two get into a fight and have it be strained against you, then all the boys will take Joe’s side since they are Joe’s brothers and we’ll take yours since we’re your girls. It would be strained and probably put a huge wedge between Nick and myself and Kevin and Liz. You can’t talk to him anymore. No lunch date for you two. Maybe once vacation is over with it’ll be ok bu-”

“I can’t believe you!” I snapped at her and completely cutting her off.

I wasn’t really sure why I was so upset to hear her say something that I was secretly wishing one of them would say. But once it was voiced, boy I didn’t like it. So what if Joe and I fought…it wouldn’t do anything to the couples that were together. I’m pretty sure even Frankie and Duckie would be ok.

Or maybe that was what I was so upset about. That Joe and I weren’t a couple and that things would change between us.

Oh crap, I hate it when other people go all Dr. Phil on me, but when I do it to myself….hell no. I can’t stand that.

Grr me. Grr.

Either way, whatever reason I was upset, I was really upset and I didn’t want to fight with Ally about it. If I wanted to talk Joe, damn it, I would talk to him. He was my best friend and I could talk to him about anything. Plus, I owed it to him after keeping my undying love for him a secret. It was only fair.

So I grabbed my key card and walked out of the room. Making sure that the door, when it shut, was slammed shut. Just so that she knew how upset I was with her and the situation.

Ally and I never fought, and when we did, it was never something serious so it would be over as soon as I made a stupid comment that didn’t make sense. Then we’d laugh about it and that would be it. But this, where neither of us really knew what we were fighting about was never good. In fact they were the opposite of good.

They were bad.

Really bad.

I took a couple deep breaths and let myself fall to the floor next to the door with my back up against the wall and tried to calm myself down. And prayed that Joe would miraculously be ready in about 5 seconds to go somewhere with me.

But as always, my prayers got cut short when Ally whipped open the door and said, “Hey! This isn’t over with!”

I stood up from my spot on the ground and yelled, “Well it is for me you insensitive little…..yerk!”

She let out a big dramatic gasp at my name calling before shoving my shoulder and I flew back a couple of steps since I wasn’t ready for that.

“Don’t push me!” I yelled at her while going to shove, only for her and I to shove each other.

“What’s going on?” Nick’s voice suddenly stopped us and then himself came in between us a couple seconds later to put an end to our shoving of one another and name calling that I didn’t even realize was going on.

But before her or I could answer, Joe emerged, as sexy as ever in a plain black t-shirt and jeans and his hair disheveled and wet to show he just got out of the shower, and asked in a semi-flirtatious tone, “Yeah, what is going on?”

I opened my mouth to ask if he wanted to maybe go to lunch with me, but Ally beat me too it by saying that I was going to ruin his vacation by taking him on a lunch date that would consist of heavy conversation. She then turned towards me and gave me a ‘ha ha’ look and smirked afterwards while I glared at her. And let me tell you, if looks could kill, she would be not just 6 feet under, but 12 feet under some concrete with 6 feet of dirt on top of it and then a mountain on top of that.

Yeah, that was how pissed I was at her right now for saying that.

Joe looked at me, smiled sweetly and then looked at Ally and asked, “and that would be a bad thing because?” but Nick quickly said, “Why’s that bad? We always have heavy conversations at our dates.”

“Everything is always so serious with you Nick! We can never have fun and I’m all about the fun!” Ally snapped while throwing her hands up into the air to show her frustration. But because of her frustration, Nick shot something back at her to make them both yell and scream at each other. But I tuned them out only because I was now focused on the confused, and yet completely adorable Joe.

He was snapping his head back and forth between his brother and my sister with their yelling as they inched closer together. But he finally snapped out of it and stepped between them to stop their bickering when they’re noses were touching and their fingers were raised in each other’s faces.

“Come on now guys. Let’s just hug it out.” Joe tried coaxing them with a soft voice that made my knees buckle and if I was the one who was fighting I totally would’ve gladly taken that hug. But since it wasn’t directed towards me, I just simply fawned over his beautiful voice and watched as Nick and Ally yelled, “Stay out of this! It doesn’t concern you!”

I bit my tongue then only because 1. All of this started because of Joe and 2. Joe looked so scared, which was still adorable, but confused as to why they were yelling at him that I wanted to protect him.

But he simply took 2 steps back and held his hands up to let them know he meant no harm as he backed away and I fought my urge to laugh from that simple move.

I wasn’t really even paying attention to anything other than the way Joe’s hair was slowly drying and how some pieces were getting fuzzy while the others were still damp. Also, how sexy his t-shirt was on him, even though it wasn’t anything special. But damn, that boy could make anything look good. But I got shoved out of the reverie of Joe when Ally accidently pushed me to grab Joe’s arm while saying, “Ya know what? I’m gonna go out with Joe today because he’s a fun person and I want to have fun today. Extra emphasis on the fun!” and then pulled him down the hallway after her while he still had a confused look on his face that probably mirrored mine.
“Fine then!” Nick shouted and grabbed my arm. “I’m gonna hang out with Steph today and we’re not gonna have any fun!” he yelled while pulling me in the opposite direction to walk down the stairs. “And for you information, YOU PUT THE EMPHASIS ON THE FUN WHEN YOU SAID IT!” he yelled right as they were in the elevator and we were about to turn to the corner.

I didn’t really know what happened, or how this even ended up the way that it did. All I did know is that Joe wasn’t standing in front of me so I could gawk at him and that my sister was out on a lunch date with him that I should be on.

And that pissed me off all over again.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

After a very interesting lunch with Nick which consisted of us both venting about Ally and how she stole Joe from me for the day and how they never go on lunch dates and how we were going to make her go on a the most ‘non serious, non romantic date ever’ we made our way back to the hotel to watch a movie with Duckie and Frankie. Only to get chased down by Paparazzi and we had to hide behind a smelly dumpster for 10 minutes until they left before finally being in the safety of our hotel room. Well, mine and the girls’ hotel room anyways.

I hate it when Joe is right. I should’ve known we would be hanging out in our room instead of theirs.

“Toy story! By far!”

“NO! Sleeping Beauty!”

“PETER PAN!”

“NO! TOY STORY!” Nick yelled in response to Frankie’s suggestion.

“But Peter Pan is the best! Come on Nick! You used to watch it all the time!” Frankie whined while I huffed out that Sleeping Beauty is the best and since I’m the girl, we should watch my movie choice. But before Nick could even come back with anything, Duckie stood up and said, “We’re watching Aladdin. Now sit down and shut your traps” and luckily for her, we all did.

Or maybe it was lucky for us that we didn’t say anything….I’m not really sure.

But either way, we all sat there quietly for the first half of the movie until the door clicked from outside to indicate that someone had swiped their key before it opened. And low and behold, in walked a very angry looking Ally and a very sad, and hurt Joe. And I don’t mean emotionally hurt looking, I mean like he was limping a little and holding his head.

I wonder what the hell happened during lunch.

I looked away from Joe long enough to catch Ally and Nick glaring at each other and then Joe’s attitude to completely change from hurt to excited to see Aladdin playing.

“I love this movie!” he exclaimed while taking a seat next to Frankie, who was seated next to Duckie who was sitting next to me and then Nick taking my left side.

I wasn’t really pissed at Ally anymore, seeing as how I got all my anger out during lunch with Nick and that Joe was now in my presence. I don’t know what it is about that boy, but he can always make me feel happy…well. Almost all the time.

“So….” Nick started after a couple minutes of silence except for the moving playing. “Steph, what non fun stuff did you do today?” he asked while nudging me.

I looked at him like he was crazy seeing as how I was with him all day and he would know and when I said, “Nick, I was with you all day!” he snapped at me saying I should just answer the question.

But before I could say anything, Ally said, from her spot of leaning up against the wall that jutted out a little bit by the bathroom and the beds, “Joe, tell everyone about all the non-serious ALL FUN stuff we did today!”

I noticed Joe wince a little bit when Ally started talking and Nick glared at her and Joe from her statement, but he cracked a smile when he heard Joe say, “We didn’t have fun.”

Apparently, Ally didn’t like his answer since she clenched her teeth and stood up straight and said, “Yes we did. We played Wiffleball.”

“Oh…yeah.” Joe said somewhat scared from hearing Ally’s tone and then turned to look at all of us with a little bit of horror in his eyes. “We played Wiffleball. It was fun.”

“See.” Ally said smugly while reaching over and patting Joe on the back and he quickly stood up to get away from her arms reach.

“Yeah….” Joe said on the brink of tears and grabbed at his head. “And it was also so much fun when Ally hit me in the eye with the bat!” he finished, whimpering a little bit at the end after letting his voice get back to his regular level again. “And it was so much fun when she started to yell at me too!” he finished while taking a few steps away from Ally, who was pissed that he had sold her out. But he kept going with his re-enactment.

“Get up you Pansy! Up I tell you! Get up now!” he yelled at the floor as if he was Ally and himself was invisible and laying on the floor.

I finally got my answer as to why he looked so beaten up when he first entered the room and didn’t know if it was funny or scary that my little sister basically beat up my best friend. But the picture I had in my head was pretty hilarious.

I covered my mouth to prevent him from seeing me smile and to hold in my laughter as Duckie got up and gave him a big hug while he cried on her shoulder for a few seconds before patting her back and taking a seat.

I know, I know. I should’ve reamed Ally out for basically beating the crap out him, but it was just too funny at the time.

“I swear, I’m going to have nightmares.” He whispered over to me after he took his seat, only to receive a nudge to the back from Ally from his statement.

“But fu…fu…fun night…nightmares. Cuz you know…we’re all about the fun!” he finished up and sent Ally a weak smile while she took a seat on the bed behind with a smile on her face and said, “See Nick! You’re brother knows where it’s at!” and then smacking Joe on the back so hard he let out another whimper and everyone else flinched from the noise. But none of us said anything. We all just sat there and looked at Joe from the side to see how he was doing.

At least, I know I was.

And about 20 minutes later, the movie finally ending, Joe yelled over to me, seemingly perfect and the wiffleball memory completely gone, “So Steph! Since we didn’t get to have lunch today, you want to go out to dinner with me tonight? Just the two of us!?” he asked and my heart leapt from hearing him ask that.

I didn’t care if that meant that I had to talk to him, just as long as I got some Joe time, I would be fine. And he was fine, so I would be fine.

“Yeah, where did you want to go?” I asked him while getting up since everyone else started standing up too and stretching out from sitting on the ground.

“I’m thinking Epcot..but it’s a surprise with where we’re actually going in Epcot!” he said to me with the biggest smile on his face and my heart skipped a beat. “Just wear something nice, like a dress or skirt.” He stated while coming over and giving me a hug.

I’m not really sure what the hug was for, but I gladly took it. He smelled absolutely amazing, even though he was probably sweating like crazy playing wiffleball. But he still smelt delicious to me and that’s all that mattered.

“Ok.” I smiled back at him like a little school girl as I pulled away from him and his hug. “What time are you thinking we’ll go?”

“Umm, let’s say about 6 or so?” he asked more than told me and he looked totally cute doing it too. Then again, when doesn’t he look cute? “It’s a little after 3 right now so we can just chill for a couple hours and then start to get ready and leave at 6. That is, if you want to hang out…” he trailed off while looking down at the ground, and then looking up at me with the most adorably innocent face ever.

I wanted to jump him right there and kiss him all over his face with how cute he was being. But I held myself together and simply smiled, really wide, and said, “Yeah. You want to go down by the pool or something?”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Before I even knew it, it was 5 and I was getting ready for my date, if you could call it that, with Joe and I was literally bouncing off the walls from the idea of even possibly calling it a date with him.

“So, I’ll see you soon.” Joe said to me after giving me a hug and going to open his door to get ready for tonight and I simply smiled widely and turned towards my door to open it and enter my room, only to scream at the sight before me.

“Gross! And on our bed?! Geez! Couldn’t you have done that on Liz and Duckie’s bed?!” I shrieked when seeing Nick on top of my little sister, making out with her.

“Sorry, I guess I’ll…ummm…” Nick trailed off, straightening his clothes and making his way towards the door and myself.

“Change?” I asked him after my freak out was done and over with and now I was going into cool older sister who wants to pick on her little sister and her little sisters boyfriend.

“Yeah…that. I’ll see you soon Ally.” And with that, Nick was gone and out of the room so fast, it was like he barely was there to begin with.

“So I take it you two made up?” I asked with a smirk while picking out what I was going to wear tonight for mine and Joe’s date.

Yes, I’ve decided to call it a date. I was thinking about it when we were hanging out down by the pool which basically consisted of him giving me an awesome back massage.

Yes, it was amazing to have his hands all over me.

But anyways, I was thinking about it and he asked me out for food. Therefore it’s a date. And the fact that at least one of us for sure has feelings for one another constitutes as well. So that’s why it’s a date and I don’t want anyone telling me otherwise because I’m happy and damn it, I deserve to be happy!

“For your information, yes we did.” Ally said with a bashful look on her face and her cheeks flushing bright red from getting caught making out with her boyfriend by her sister.

I was gonna use this for years to come whenever she wanted to do something evil to me.

Perfect blackmail. Thank you Nicholas Jerry Jonas.

I let out a small giggle and laid out my outfit for tonight before walking over to the bathroom and letting her know that I was gonna shower now and asking her to help me with my hair afterwards for my date.

An hour later, my hair was curled and pulled back super cute and I’m not one to toot my own horn, but I felt damn cute tonight. Even if nothing went well with Joe tonight on our date, I still would feel great because I looked great.

And right as I finished putting my lip gloss on, there was a knock at our door and since I was the closest, I answered it.

“Hey Frankie! What’s up?” I asked him while moving to let him in and noticing that he had his hands behind him back.

“Hi. Is umm….is Duckie ready?” he asked while he blushed and looked down quickly and I instantly thought of Joe from earlier today when he asked me out.

“I think so little guy. Come on in and we’ll figure it out together.” I said while smiling widely at him and yelling through the bathroom door to Duckie that her date was here.

She emerged a few minutes later dressed in a nice shirt and some capri's from the bathroom and engulfed Frankie in a hug that caused him to practically burst at the seams with happiness.

“This is for you.” He said quietly while letting his hands finally unlock from behind his back and show everyone what he had.

“Aww…” I gushed out upon seeing the red rose that was held out to Duckie and she bent down and gave him a little kiss on the cheek before getting a cup to put the rose in.

“So, where do you want to go little man?” Duckie asked him after putting her rose on the table and taking a seat next to him on her and Liz’s bed while Ally was finishing up her make-up.

“We’re gonna go to Norway tonight! They have the coolest Viking helmets and the awesome swords!” he answered excitedly which made me laugh at how cute and ‘romantic’ the rose thing was and now that they were going to Norway for their ‘date’.

Not that it was a date for Frankie and Duckie…but still. They were going out to dinner and everything and he liked her. But whatever…I don’t know. All I know is that I’m going on a date tonight and that’s all I’m gonna worry about.

My date.

My date with Joe.

And there goes my heart and my face hurts from smiling so much.

And luckily, there was another knock at the door and I bounded over to it, thinking it was Joe.

But my hopes were crushed when I saw Nick standing there with his hands behind his back.

“Wow…glad to see you too.” Nick said sarcastically and gave me a one armed hug before making his way into the room.

“Sorry, I thought you were Joe that’s all. Do you know how much longer he’s going to be?” I asked, trying my hardest not to sound too desperate to see him. Even though I was.

“He’s already ready. He’s just gonna meet us all downstairs since he’s bringing the truck around since he’s driving us. And Steph….” He said, causing me to look up at him with a fake smile. “You look beautiful. Have fun tonight.” And then he turned towards Ally while I smiled like a dork.

It’s always nice to get complimented, no matter who it is.

“Aww thanks Nick.” Ally gushed when he gave her a kiss on the cheek and showed her the contents of his hands that were behind his back which was a little red box.

“Open it!” he said excitedly while she giggled a little bit from his excitement.

“Nick, you really shouldn’t have gotten me-” Ally started and then stopped, her smile fading as she picked up the contents of the box and held it at arm’s length away.

“A tomagotchi.” He finished for her all cool and smooth with some head bobbing.

I bit my lip to keep from laughing and seeing Ally’s smile completely wiped off of her face from her present.

“Right…” she said in an uncomfortable and slightly awkward way and trying to not hurt Nicks feelings since he got her a gift.

I knew he was going to psych her out with a present, I just didn’t think it was going to be this good and we both knew she was expecting something amazing like jewelry or a rose or something.

“What’s the matter?” he asked, feigning that his feelings were hurt. “Don’t you like it? I picked it out special for you. And I even got a red one cuz I know you love red.” He said, laying it on thick that he was sad she wasn’t happy for her present.

“No, no!” she quickly said. “I love it. I just….why’d you get it?” she asked while looking at it like there was no way Nick would get her something like this. It wasn’t his style to get a girl a tomagotchi as a gift. He was more of the sensitive one and getting them something really cute. And she was right. It wasn’t his style. He was just going to prove a point which she would learn about in 5 seconds.

“Well, cuz….” Nick started, turned slightly towards me and winked before looking back at Ally and saying, “Cuz you’re all about the fun.”

I watched as Ally’s face fell from that statement as she looked at the tomagotchi again with a slightly disgusted face. I know for a fact it was because of the reason behind Nick’s answer for getting her the gift that she was upset by, not the actual gift.

But it would teach her to appreciate what he has and have a boyfriend who likes to be romantic and serious about their relationship unlike someone else I know who would probably be the opposite.

I bit my lip when Nick jumped up a little bit on the balls of his feet so feign his excitement for his gift to her and said, “It’s a panda bear too! And I named him for you!”

“Really?” Ally asked him, practically choking down tears of disappointment that he really was serious about this gift and he was going to make her learn her lesson. “You did?”

“Yeah.” He said and I could tell he was starting to lose his excitement since all he wanted to do was laugh at her now. “His name is Nick.” He finished in a semi-gay tone and actually laughing a small bit.

“Huh.” Ally sighed out. “No way. Now it’s like I’ll always have you with me.” she said while putting it back in the box and setting it on the table to get as far from it as possible. But Nick didn’t like that idea and asked her in the most obvious tone, “Aren’t you going to bring it with you?”

“Why would I?”

“Cuz you have to feed and take care of it. It’s our baby!” he said in the most obvious tone again and that’s when it started getting a little overboard for me on the weirdness level.

“Ok everyone.” I announced from my spot by the door. “Let’s go.” And I started to flag everyone out of the room to get them all to leave.

Nick somehow managed to forcefully grab the tomagotchi out of the box and stuff it into Ally’s purse before making his way over to the door, making sure Ally was in front of him and he cracked a huge smile and did a small dance behind her to rejoice at his little scheme. I tried my hardest not to laugh or do anything out of the ordinary just so he could have his celebratory dance in peace so I quickly turned and grabbed my purse, cell phone and room key before exiting the room and Nick was fine again.

“So….” I started since the tension between Nick and Ally was so thick it was suffocating all of us in the elevator. “Do either of you know where your brother is taking me tonight for dinner?” I asked to try and lighten the mood.

“Yeah, but we’re not telling. It’s a surprise. Remember?” Nick asked while nudging me in the side and sending me a smirk just to make me roll my eyes at his answer.

But my eye rolling was put to a stop when we made our way out the front doors of the hotel only to see Joe sitting there in the SUV, the passenger side window rolled down so I could see his beautiful smiling face towards me and my heart did a little loop-de-loop in my chest.

Nick opened up the second passenger side door that led to the back of the SUV and let Duckie and Frankie jump in first to take the rear of the truck before Ally and then himself got in.

I shook my head to get myself out of the trance Joe had put me in just from smiling at me from the driver’s side, and reached for the door to hop in the passenger seat. But for some reason the door was locked.

“Joe, is the door locked?” I asked him through the open window and his smile quickly fell from his face before saying, “Oh…yeah….that would be a yes.” And quickly moved to get out of his seat and come around to me on the side of the car.

“Why?” I asked him completely confused. It didn’t make sense to ask a girl out on a date and then to lock the door on her so she can’t actually go on that date with you. Actually, it was mean more than not making sense.

“So I could do this.” Joe stated while Nick leaned forward and hit the unlock button on the driver’s side door and then opened the door for me and my heart did another loop in my chest.

So maybe it wasn’t so mean anymore or confusing. It was absolutely adorable. And I loved that he locked the door on me.

“Thank you Joe.” I said with a giant smile on my face and holding back my gushing and jumping that I wanted to do to him. This boy was going to give me a heart attack one of these days with making my heart flip all the time and that I’m trying to hide my true feelings and actions.

Grr adorable boy right in front of me. Grr.

I quickly gave him a quick hug and hopped into the seat and buckled myself in, but for some reason Joe was still standing there with the door open and looking at me with a smile spread across his face.

“What?”

“Huh?” He asked me while shaking his head a little bit and I blushed from that before asking him, “What?” again and then gestured towards himself and the door being open.

“Oh, you just look absolutely stunning tonight.” He finished before leaning in and giving me a kiss on the cheek and then shutting my door before making his way around the front of the truck, keeping his eyes glued to mine the entire time.

I never felt so happy before in my life and I needed to giggle like crazy while gushing about how adorable he was. But I wasn’t going to get that for at least another 5 hours so I needed to just make due on gushing about him in my head and clenching my fists to get some of that built up energy out.

“Ok…now…where did I put those keys?” Joe asked while searching himself, even though they were in the ignition since the car was on.

“Joe, they’re right-“

“Oh yeah….Nick can I have that please?” he asked, completely cutting me off and turning towards Nick who handed him something that caused Duckie and Ally to both let out an ‘awe’.

I turned my head to see what the girls were ‘awe-ing’ about and came face to face with a single pink rose that Joe held out to me.

“This….” He stated while wiggling it around in my face for a few seconds. “Is for you.” He finished and my face felt like it was burning. And this time, I wasn’t able to stop myself.

“Awe, thank you so much Joe. It’s so beautiful. Thank you!” I gushed quickly and reached forward and pulled him into a hug and kissing him on the cheek.

“And that right there is why I did it.” he said, making me laugh. He would of course do one of the cutest things ever in the world to me that no one has ever done before and then tell me why he did it.

“Wow….you’re…wow. It’s amazing how you can be so romantic and then crack a joke right away.” I laughed out while bringing the rose up to my nose to smell it’s floral scent. But I pulled it away from my face when I noticed Joe’s smile completely vanish from his face.

“But I like it!” I quickly said while putting a hand on his shoulder. “That’s just one of the many things I love about you.” And then it was my turn for my smile to vanish since I realized what ‘L’ word I ended up saying.

Way to make it awkward Steph. Great freaking job!

Luckily the moment passed quickly when Frankie whined from the back seat that he was hungry and how he wanted his helmet from Norway really bad.

Joe quickly put his seatbelt on and put the truck in drive and I noticed he was blushing a little bit for some reason. I may not know why he was blushing, I liked that he was. He looked so absolutely adorable with the little twinge of pink on his cheeks and it was nice to know that he did have some sort of emotion other than being able to mess around with me.

Tonight was going to be a great night. I could feel it.