A Simple Love Story. Not!

After getting big portion of what I was feeling off my chest with Nick, the day went by smoother.

I apologized to the parents and Ally for my outburst and behavior, and everything was pretty much forgiven. I even enjoyed the rest of the day even without having my best friend by my side and goofing off with me. But I had to stick it out since Nick hadn’t had time to talk to Joe yet and I wasn’t going to call a truce.

He still needed to understand that yes, what he did was adorable, but it also really hurt me since he was doing what he thought I wanted instead of doing it because <b>he</b> wanted to.

Kevin came into our room, since that’s where us girls ended up after Animal Kingdom, and started giving us hugs while letting us know that him and the Jonas clan were leaving for dinner. They wanted to spend family time together. Even though they liked and enjoyed our company it was still a family vacation and they didn’t get to really spend it as a family really. I was fine with that, considering that I wasn’t talking to Joe but it would still be weird since this would be mine and the girls first dinner without them on this vacation.

“I promise to talk to him.” Nick whispered in my ear when he started making his rounds to us girls before leaving as well.

I simply smiled at him and nodded my head while mouthing a thank you to him before getting tackled by Frankie.

“Have a good dinner little man and I’ll see you later!” I said to him while giving him a hug.

“I’m glad you’re not angry anymore. I don’t like it when you’re cranky. You make Joe cranky.” He stated and I nodded and forced a smile before saying that I don’t like being cranky either.

With Kevin, Nick and Frankie already saying their goodbyes for tonight that left only one Jonas boy left, and I had no clue what to do.

I didn’t want to be mean and single him out completely by giving all his brothers hugs and not him, but at the same time I still hadn’t talked to him yet and I wasn’t about to let him think that everything was a-ok between us.

“Soo…I guess I’ll see you later?” Joe asked while looking down at the ground and I rolled my eyes. I wasn’t sure why that irritated me, but I guess when you’re pissed at someone everything irritates you.

“Yeah, of course. I’m not going anywhere.” I said back to him which caused me a “be nice” mouthed to me from Ally and a look from Nick.

I thought I was being nice, but apparently my tone wasn’t that nice. Whatever, as far as I was concerned Ally could suck it too.

Ok…I really didn’t mean that, but still. I was her sister; she should be mean to Joe too.

God I’m such a baby!

I let out a sigh and rolled my eyes again for what I was about to do. It’s not that I didn’t want a hug, I just didn’t want to him to think that everything was all cool between us and we were best friends again. I meant what I said when I fired him from being my bff.

“Come here.” I stated while grabbing his arm and pulling him into me, giving him a hug. “I’m still mad at you though, so don’t think anything is ok between us.” I whispered in his ear.

“How can I not think anything of this? You’re talking to me again,” he said while pulling away from me, a huge gorgeous smile on his face and I felt my anger subside a little for him.

He looked so cute when he smiled. But as soon as that thought crossed my mind, I shook my head and said, “Doesn’t matter. I’m still mad.”

I bit my lip to try and keep my smile from coming back onto my face and when all he did was smile wider, I rolled my eyes and turned around to sit on my bed.

Although I wasn’t as furious as I was before, I missed talking to the kid. He was my best friend after all.

“We’ll see you girls later! Have a good time tonight while we’re gone.” Kevin announced and I silently thanked god for him saying that. At least that meant for Joe to get a move on and get out of our room.

“Yeah, but not too much,” Nick stated before bolting back over to Ally and giving her a kiss on the cheek while saying, “By the way, I love you!”

She giggled slightly before saying that she loved him too and thankfully, they were gone.
Unfortunately as soon as the door clicked all three girls turned on me and said, “Spill it.”

“Spill what?” I asked innocently and lay down on my back to avoid looking at their faces. All that did though was have them lean over me and look at me with their wide eyes.

I let out a sigh before sitting back up and all four of us sat on mine and Ally’s bed.

“So, what happened between you and Joe last night? Anything good?” Duckie asked, smirking quite a bit and I let out a laugh.

“You’re a dumbass. Of course it wasn’t good considering the way they acted all day towards each other.” Liz snapped at her sister while shoving her off the bed.

Ally and myself laughed as Duckie landed on her butt for a few minutes before she got situated on the bed again.

“Well, I guess it was good and then it turned bad. So you’re both right.” I stated after thinking about it quickly.

It was an amazing night. With the flowers, and the hand holding and the make out session….that was great. Until the make out session ended….then it got bad.

“Well then tell us! You told Nick, so you have to tell us. We’re your girls!” Ally begged and I laughed at how pathetic she sounded. But as soon as I thought about Joe and me fighting again, I wanted to cry.

So maybe I really didn’t mean it when I fired him from being my best friend, but…ugh. I hated this. I hated loving him. It made everything so damn difficult.

“Hey...” Liz voiced up and put her hand on my knee. “If you don’t want to talk about the bad, then talk about the good.”

Now that, I had no problem with. So I launched into how dinner went and all the cute hand holding and whatnot and how he took me to the beach and we made out under the stars…and then I stopped.

“Well, what happened next?!” Duckie asked, not picking up on my silence that that was the end of the good part of the night.

“What happened next was us fighting.” I snapped and then I instantly felt bad when I saw her eyes widen and her mouth drop open a little bit at my outburst.

“I’m sorry,” I started. “It’s just….it sucked having him how I always wanted him but to not really have him. And he wasn’t listening and…ugh. It sucked. I even said that I was firing him from being my best friend because he was always so concerned with himself and never thinking about how I felt….it’s just….it’s terrible now.”

“Geez. That sucks Steph. I’m sorry it didn’t work out the way you wanted it. But on the bright side, at least now you know what it’s like to kiss him and everything and now you can finally get over him.” Liz pointed out.

I bit my lip from wanting to say that I wanted him more now that I knew what it was like and instead said, “Yeah, you’re right. But enough about me and Joe, what happened between you and Kevin!? It was your anniversary!”

Thankfully all of their sympathetic faces turned into eager and excited ones at the thought of Kevin and Liz.

“I adore that boy so much! He’s so freaking adorable.” She started and then launched into their evening of walking all over the place and going shopping and him buying her an outfit for their anniversary dinner which was at some fancy romantic restaurant and there were candles and rose petals all over their table. “It may not sound like anything great to you girls, but it was nice to actually spend time with him since we never get to spend time together as a couple.”

After we ‘ohh’ed and ‘ahh’ed at Liz’s story, Duckie asked if he said that he loved her and that got us all on our toes again.

“No, but I haven’t said it to him either. But I don’t want him to think he has to say it back to me, which is why I’m not saying it. I mean, don’t get me wrong I really care about him and everything but love? It’s such a strong word. Plus he told me that he’s never said it to anyone outside of his family and I respect that. So I don’t want him to feel pressured or anything if I say it.” She finished and then looked at me while adding, “But if you love someone, you should totally tell them.”

“What?! I told him a month ago at Ally’s party and nothing happened. Plus, I said it a few times last night as well and there was still no response to how he felt about me other than him clearly not wanting a relationship with me.” I groaned and then held my head in my hands.

“Sorry.” Liz said quietly, “But I have to ask….how did you know that you loved him?”

I took in a deep breath and thought about it for a minute.

How did I know I loved Joe? I mean, his smile makes my stomach burst alive with butterflies and his hugs make me go crazy. But the fact that I would do anything for the boy like, oh, scaling a house to a two story window because he was jumping on the bed had to mean something. You don’t just do that for anyone.

“I’m hungry!” I heard my sisters’ voice break my thoughts. “Let’s eat.” She stated and I smiled at her when she sent me a quick smile. Thank god she shut that down really quick because I didn’t really know how to answer that. All I knew was that deep down, I knew I loved Joe, I just couldn’t put it into words quite yet.

We walked over and opened the door that connected our room to the parents’ room and asked them what they were doing for dinner.

“We were just gonna ask you girls what you wanted to eat.” My mom stated while letting out a small laugh.

“Anything that’s edible.” Duckie said dramatically which caused my mom to laugh before telling us to get our things and that we’d leave now then for dinner.

While walking down the hallway towards the elevators I couldn’t help but think about Liz’s question and her asking me how I knew I loved Joe. Not once did I ever really question my feelings for him until now. But now it was all I could think about.

Do I really love him, or is it just infatuation?

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

“Wow…when did Joe get a girlfriend?” Liz laughed out while flipping through a magazine.
After a quick dinner at a restaurant down the street, we were back in the hotel and in the gift shop since we really didn’t have anything else to do until the boys got back.

“When did he get two?!” Ally asked while flipping through her own magazine and having all of us crowd around her to see the article.

“You and Joe make such a cute couple.” Duckie squealed next to me which caused me to roll my eyes, but I couldn’t help myself from smiling afterwards.

Yes, there was a picture of me and Joe and underneath it stating that he and I were dating. But then next to that picture was a picture of Joe and Demi from their Camp Rock filming saying that they were dating as well and the caption at the top of the page said, ‘Catfight soon?’

Luckily for me, the picture was a picture of my back and the side of my face so you couldn’t really tell it was me unless you knew. The picture was taken from way back when they were in Wisconsin and Joe and I were in the hot tub. And damn he looked good. Really good.

“Wow...shockingly he’s cheating on both of you” Liz stated with a monotone voice. “But you don’t have a name or any information. Just a picture,” and she let out a small huff before saying, “Man, what these people will do to get their picture in a magazine” and then set it down. But I couldn’t resist. I had to look through the rest of the pictures but unfortunately there was nothing else there.

“How come I’m the only one in this thing? You and Kevin went out and did stuff and so did Nick and Ally. Why is it only Joe and I?” I questioned and all I received were blank looks.

“Maybe they didn’t have a good enough picture with us…” Ally suggested which I quickly snapped back that they had a picture of my back. “How is that a good picture?!”

“I don’t know!” Ally yelled and then lowered her voice. “Who cares really? We all know that you and Joe aren’t dating, Joe and Demi aren’t dating, and that you girls are friends.”

I let out a sigh, although a little peeved that Joe and I were the only ones that were photographed along with him and Demi. But I guess my sister was right.

I knew the truth and that’s all that mattered.

“I’m still gonna get it though. It’s the first picture and article about you and Joe. One day you guys will laugh about this.” Ally stated which caused me to laugh at her reasoning. It was true though…that was the first article to my knowledge that I was featured in. Even though I was a nameless chick that Joe was cheating on Demi with.

“So, what should we do now?” Duckie asked once Ally paid for the magazine and we were walking around the hotel lobby again.

“I don’t know, but I’m bored without the boys here. No offense girls. It just seems like there’s more to do when they’re around.” Liz stated and looked like a lost puppy.

As much as I didn’t want to admit that I missed having Joe around, I did. The boy was entertaining regardless if I was upset with him or not.

“Hey, we’re fun, young, happening girls. We can have fun without the boys!” Ally said and I bit my lip from her saying that we were ‘happening’.

Who says that anymore?

And then I saw it….the thing that would keep us occupied until the boys got back.
My grin must’ve shown enough to capture Ally’s attention and soon she was smiling like crazy as well.

“Those smiles look really creepy,” Duckie stated which Ally and I to laugh before we started walking over to the baggage carts.

“Oh my gosh, didn’t you guys run one of those into a parked car once or something?” Duckie ask while we all headed over to them to grab one.

“Yeah and I got a huge bruise on my leg because we ran it into a wall too since a wheel got stuck.” Ally laughed out and I did too.

“Let’s take this upstairs to our hallway. There will be less people up there and we won’t get caught!” I suggested, pushing it towards the elevators while the girls followed.

“Isn’t that kinda dangerous?” Liz questioned quietly, looking around to make sure we wouldn’t get caught taking a cart. But who really was going to stop us? How would they know we were going to use it for our entertainment?

“Uh, duh! That’s why we do it.” Ally stated which caused Duckie and me to laugh. Just the way she said it made it seem like it was the most obvious answer to the question.

“Well, who’s gonna push it?” Liz asked once we all were in an elevator and making our way up to our hallway.

“I’ll push it and you can hop on too if you want.” I stated while smiling and letting out a little giggle from remembering the last time Ally and I used one.

I really didn’t remember what made us think to use it as a ride down a hallway, but I was excited that we were going to be doing it again. Plus, add in the fact that I was having fun without Joe today really was just making me even gigglier.

After much coaxing and assuring Liz that she would be ok, she finally hopped on when I was pushing the cart down the hallway. After a while though I got tired so we all took turns pushing each other down the hallway, going two at a time. There were a few, and by few I mean a lot, of run ins with the wall but no one seemed to be on our floor or calling anyone about us so we didn’t really care.

After Ally and I crashed into a wall due to Liz’s horrible capability to steer while pushing we heard a frantic Joe come running down the hallway asking us if we were ok.

Through our laughter we were able to tell him that this crash wasn’t nearly as bad as when Duckie and Ally crashed a while ago before getting up and Duckie started pushing Liz.

“That looks awesome!” Frankie yelled while running past Joe, Ally and myself, trying to hop on the moving cart.

“Hey baby,” Nick said while walking up to Ally and giving her a quick kiss on the cheek before going down the hallway to everyone else.

“Can we talk?” Joe whispered under his breath towards me and on that note Ally turned and smiled at me before following after her boyfriend.

Traitor.

I nodded my head as he led me over to his room since it’s not like I could say I was busy anymore with Ally leaving me alone with him.

I walked over to where Nick and Kevin’s bed was and took a seat while he closed the door and leaned up against the little divider wall with his hands in his pockets.

God he’s adorable. NO!

I shook my head to rid myself of my thoughts of him before asking him what he had wanted to talk about.

He just stared at me for a few minutes which made me incredibly irritated and self conscious. Who says they want to talk to you and then doesn’t say anything? Especially when I could be riding a baggage cart with Frankie right now!

“Listen Steph,” Joe started and strode across the room to sit next to me.

I rolled my eyes from hearing his say that and let out a loud sigh which only caused him to grab my hands and sandwich them between his.

I hated the way my body reacted to his touch. It was like he was a little firework and he brought all my senses alive and my skin tingled under his touch.

“I’m so sorry Steph,” he said which caused me to look up at him and my eyes were nearly brought to tears from looking into his.

He looked so sincere and sounded so honest while saying it that I couldn’t control my water ducts. The way he was looking at me, it was like he was afraid I was going to get up and walk away from him forever. And essentially, I guess I did last night. But right now, it killed me that I was the one to make him look so vulnerable and hurt.

When I didn’t say anything, because my throat was closing up from the look on his face he started again.

“I’m so so sorry Steph. I just….I wanted things to be the way they were before Liz’s birthday party and I thought that you would like all that stuff. I just miss how we used to be before everything.”

I shook my head and grabbed my hands away from his. “I can’t help how I feel Joe. I’m sorry that I love you more than a friend should. Trust me, I wish things could be how they used to be as well, but I’m sorry. I can’t control my feelings.”

He looked me at and gave me the cutest smile I’d ever seen before grabbing my hands again, rubbing his thumb on mine like before. “Steph, you have nothing to be sorry for. You told me how you felt before and you told me how you felt last night and I…I just….I wasn’t listening. But I’m listening now and I’m really sorry.”

“I might have over reacted last night.” I started but he shook his head and squeezed my hands before saying, “No. I didn’t listen. I’m sorry again for not really thinking about your feelings. I love that you love me, and I love you too…just.” He looked down at our hands then and I bit my lip and pulled his face to look at mine.

I was shocked to see tears in his eyes when I saw his face.

“Joe, I get that you don’t love me. We’re just best friends. It’s fine. We’re fine.” I stated, my throat closing up on me from watching his eyes and how they were flooding.

“I know, but…” he started. “I just feel bad that I don’t feel the same way. And that I was hurting you. I never, never wanted to hurt you in any way and I ended up doing just that. I just wish I felt the same way about you and wanted more like you do.”

A tear came trailing down his face and he quickly wiped away before looking at me and wiping away my tears that were dropping quickly.

I thought I was over this, crying in front of him. But seeing him beating himself up about how he didn’t feel about me was killing me. I never wanted him to feel like he had to love me in order for me to be happy.

Seeing how a day without him was like, I’d take just being friends with him. As much as I’d miss our little flirty comments and kissing him, he didn’t want a relationship and I did. It was just something I’d have to get over in order to keep him in my life as my best friend.

“It’s ok Joe.” I managed to say through my tears and my throat closing up on itself. Now that I knew how he felt and he knew how I felt about all of his cute stuff, we could move past this. And I could move on from him.

“Now that we both know where we each stand on the whole feelings thing, we can move past this. No matter what Joe, you’re my best friend and I’m gonna love you. There’s no way around it.” I stated and sent him a small smile before wiping away the rest of my tears.

I was done crying in front of him and I was done with this conversation. He clearly knew what he did wrong and he was sorry about it. Plus, I could finally get over him knowing that he didn’t really want me the way I wanted him and that was ok. At least I knew now. And I had Joe back.

“I love you too Steph. And I promise, if my feelings ever change towards you, I’ll let you know right away,” he said while giving me his ever famous grin and I let out a laugh.

I wasn’t going to hold my breath that his feelings would change, but it was nice to hear him say that.

“So, we’re good now? Can I be hired as your best friend again?” He asked me and I let out another laugh before pulling him into me for a hug.

“Of course, we can be best-wait. No.” I stated while pulling away from him, remembering earlier tonight with the girls.

“But! You just…what….we just-” Joe stuttered out and looked incredibly lost and confused which only caused me to laugh.

“Apparently you and I are dating and you’re cheating on Demi with me.” I stated and his eyes switched from confusion to understanding in a matter of seconds before he let out a small laugh.

“Damn I’m good. Being able to date you and one of your friends.” He laughed while shaking his head and patting my hand with his before letting go of mine altogether.

“Yeah, apparently her and I are going to fight each other sometime soon for your affection.” I said while getting up off of his bed and stretching a little bit.

“Well, when this fight goes down can you guys do it in bikinis and maybe in a pool full of orange jell-o?” he asked with a smirk and I busted up laughing.

“What is up with you and orange jell-o? And that would be a No.” I stated him as he stood up as well, getting my subtle hint that I was done hiding away in his room for this conversation.

“It’s the best flavor. Duh.” He stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “And fine, I’ll just have to imagine it.” he finished while closing his eyes. “Oh, Duckie and Liz showed up too.”

I let out a laugh before lightly hitting him in his chest for his dirty mind and his eyes popped open while he laughed.

We headed towards the door to go join the group, but right when I opened the door he asked me one more time if everything was ok between us.

“Yes Joe. It’s fine. I’m fine, and we’re fine. Unless there’s something bothering you.”

“Nope. Just wanted to make sure.” He stated and leaned forward to open the door for me.

“So, if you don’t mind me asking, who were texting all day today?” Joe asked once we were back in the hallway and didn’t see anyone.

We looked at each other before shrugging and I pointed towards my room and starting fishing for my key to open the door that was in one of my pockets.

“Megan, Demi and Eric.” I answered him, having a small panic attack before finding my key in my back pocket next to my phone.

“Who’s Eric?”

“That guy from my mythology class.” I answered him and was about to put the key in the door when he responded with, “You mean they guy who asks you out all the time?”

I smiled to myself slightly from hearing the twinge of jealousy in his voice before turning around to look at him.

“Yes, that Eric. Do you have a problem with me talking to him?” I asked him, folding my hands across my chest. It was nice getting a rise out of Joe. Plus, I could actually see just how much it bothered him. Maybe, just maybe, talking to Eric would get Joe to look at me differently as more than a friend.

“No…I just…whatever. We’re friends, and he’s a friend so you can talk to him as much as you want. I just…I didn’t know that you liked him.” he stated, putting emphasis on the word ‘friends’ quite a bit.

I bit my lip, glad that he didn’t whole heartedly mean what he said, but it still sucked since it didn’t bother him enough to want to be with me. But hey, it was a start. Plus, things seemed like they could go back to being normal between us. We could be kinda flirty with each other but he at least knew not to take it too far either.

I turned back towards my door and opened it quickly, only to have Joe start screaming, “My eyes! My eyes!” upon seeing his little brother lying on top of my little sister while they were making out.

“EWWW!” I let out quite childishly. “Get a room.” I stated and then scowled at Nick when his reply was that they were in a room.

I slammed the door shut and looked over at Joe who was pretty much clawing his eyes out from seeing that very private display of affection between our siblings.

“Let’s go find everyone else.” I stated after a few minutes and not wanting to imagine what was going on in my room.

“Yes, lets.” He stated and swung his arm through mine so we were linked together and we walked towards the elevators in search for the gang, both of us with goofy smiles on our faces.