A Simple Love Story. Not!
Indiana Jonas
"It happens every time/ when I see you!", Ally, Liz and Duckie screamed while hitting each of the boys with a pillow, making me laugh and shake the camera slightly.
"It happens every time, when I think of you!" they continued, hitting the boys again.
That's right! On Friday, at 4 AM we snuck into the boys room to get revenge for them waking us up at 5 the other day. Liz was hitting Nick, Duckie was hitting Kevin and Ally was hitting Joe. Ally and Liz claimed that they, "couldn't do that to their boyfriends!" so that's why Liz had Nick and Ally had Joe. Nobody had Frankie because then nobody would be able to record the boys and plus, he was on the top bunk, none of us could really reach him.
Joe practically jumped out of his bed from Ally hitting him in the stomach and started to scream, drowning out the girls singing. Nick just rolled over from Liz's light hits and somehow slept through Joe's wailing. Kevin rolled off the side of the bed taking Duckie down with him and Frankie sat up quickly, throwing his pillow towards the door.
After a few seconds, the realization of what was going on hit them and they grabbed their pillows and starting hitting the girls back. Joe and Frankie were double teaming Ally, while Liz and Nick started going at it once he woke up. Duckie and Kevin were fighting for her pillow on the ground.
I recorded them for a minute or so and then decided to turn it off and join in on the fun, only to have Joe pick me up and throw me onto his bed when I tried hitting him with the pillow that I brought.
It didn’t take long before we were all tuckered out and tired again. We were all laying around the boys room on the brink of passing out. It’s kinda surprising that the parents didn’t come in here after all the screaming and yelling that was going on, but I was happy that they weren’t making their presence known. We would’ve for sure been yelled at and who knows what else.
Kevin seemed to have read my mind and told me that they had invested in ear plugs due to our constant revenge with singing earlier and earlier in the morning to one another.
I nodded my head to indicate that I heard him when Duckie announced that she was going to be back to our room.
“Why aren’t you leaving?” Kevin asked her a few seconds later when she didn’t move.
“I’m too comfortable. Maybe we should just sleep here for a little bit.” Duckie said after yawning. I nodded my head to agree with her and passed out somehow with being sandwiched between Joe and Frankie on the lower bunk.
I woke up a few hours later with Joe’s head on my stomach. I wanted to laugh at him, but he looked so cute all cuddled up into me.
NO! No more thinking about him like that. That’s it. Eric is your new man now. Eric likes me, and Joe doesn’t so Eric, Eric, ERIC!
I let out an irritated sigh at myself and tried pushing Joe off of me, but that didn’t work too well. I started to shake his shoulders.
“Joe, wake up! Everyone else is gone.”
“But…it’s Nick’s fault. I swear…” he mumbled back to me.
I chuckled a little bit after he said that before pushing myself up quickly with all the force I could muster at the moment which caused him to fall off of me and wake up.
“What’s wrong?!” he questioned while looking frantically around the room.
“Nothing, I just wanted to get up and find everyone. I think they’re all getting ready for the day today and we’re the last ones left.” I explained to him.
As if on cue Nick, Frankie and Kevin walked into their room with smiles on their faces.
“Ah. The love birds are awake.” Kevin said with a goofy smile on his face.
I scowled at him since we were not love birds since both parties need to have love for one another in order to be dubbed that saying. I saw Nick elbow him in the ribs which made me smile quickly as I got up from bunk.
“The girls are in your room getting ready.” Nick informed me when I made my way past them.
I mumbled a quick thanks to him as I left their room and went into the hallway. After knocking on the door twice, Liz finally answered the door with her toothbrush in her mouth.
“I’m taking a quick shower after your done.” I stated and then went to get an outfit out for today.
“So, you talked?” Ally asked me while she curled her hair in front of the mirror.
“Yep, and we’re just friends.” I quickly said in order to get in the bathroom as fast as possible without being bombarded with questions.
I noticed Ally and Duckies “Are you kidding me?” faces so I added a quick, “who flirt with each other” before entering the bathroom and kicking Liz out. She had enough time to brush her teeth anyway.
I needed time to just figure out how exactly Joe and I were going to be go back to being just friends since our talk. Yes, we talked last night but today would be the first day since our talk and I wanted to make sure I didn’t make it as awkward as possible between us or anything. Having to answer all of their questions right now wasn’t going to help me, and I needed time to figure out what I was going to say to them too.
* * * * *
"That was so totally awesome!" Joe yelled while running ahead of all of us and doing some weird jump in the air.
"Hey, do you think I could be like Indiana Jones? Ya know...all sly and stuff?" he asked when we all were close enough to him.
"I don't think so. You would get killed in a heartbeat, and it wouldn't be Indiana Jones. It would be Indiana Jonas."I answered him and chuckled slightly. Sure it wasn’t the greatest joke, but I still cracked myself up sometimes.
"Why do you say I would get killed? But I do like the ring of that. Indiana Jonas. It sounds really cool!" he said with a dreamy look in his eyes.
He looked like such a dork standing there as if he was actually thinking about people calling him Indiana Jonas. But a cute dork none-the-less.
"You just would. You're not that...debonair." I said with a smirk after hearing the parents chuckling behind me.
"Ugh! What do you know? You would die in a heart-OH!!! Tower of Terror! Let's go!" he yelled while grabbing my arm and dragging me after him.
“I am NOT going on that ride. It looks way too freaky.” I heard my sister say from behind us which made me try and stop Joe from sprinting off into the hoard of people towards the ride. Luckily, my lack of enthusiasm seemed to get his attention.
We walked back to the rest of the group and I heard a few people saying they wanted to eat, see a show and go on some rides.
As always, being the executive decision maker for his family, Mr. Jonas decided that we could all split up to do what we wanted for the next few hours but had to meet back by 3 at the main entrance to leave so we could go to dinner.
I looked down at my watch and saw that that gave us 4 hours to run around this park on our own. Freedom! Not like we haven’t had much of that this entire trip so far, but I would take it. My mom and John were kinda duds. They didn’t really want to do anything except walk around and look at stuff. Talk about boring!
“Steph and I are going on the Tower of Terror.” Joe voiced up quickly and then started dragging me after him in the ride’s direction.
Apparently nobody else wanted to go on it since I didn’t hear anyone saying they wanted to come along, and oddly enough, I kinda wanted someone to come with us. It would cut the potential awkward tension between him and I. We seemed ok, but we were with everyone up until this point and I didn’t want to take the chance that it would get weird between him and I and then we’d be walking around quietly trying to find someone to hang out with.
It didn’t really look like I had a choice though since Joe was pulling me fast and I had to turn around fully and jog to keep up with him without falling over backwards.
After the ride we decided to eat some lunch since we were both hungry and tried finding a place to eat that we could agree on.
“Let me guess, a cheeseburger with everything on it?” Joe asked me with a cocky smile on his face.
I rolled my eyes and wanted to counter him with something else, but the kid knew me too well. Plus it sounded really good at the moment.
“I hate that you’re right, but yes. I want a cheeseburger. So tough luck if you don’t want one.”
“I want one too anyways.” He stated smugly and then started walking off in a direction that I’m assuming there was a burger place near it.
It was quiet between us as we came up on the burger joint that the park had, but I honestly didn’t mind. I thought it would be really uncomfortable having silence between us, but it wasn’t too bad. Joe and I didn’t always have to be talking in order to make the awkwardness go away. If we were to talk, it would be about something that was stupid probably which would make it more awkward.
I snuck a look over at Joe and saw that he had a smile on his face.
“What?” I asked him as I quickly nudged him with my shoulder.
“Nothing.” He nudged back. “This is nice. Just you and I, I mean. Just chillin’.”
I nodded and smiled back at him before it got quiet between us until we reached the burger area.
“Go sit down, I’ll order for us. Water right?” he asked as he pointed to a table for me to sit down at.
“It’s fine. I can come up with you.” I countered but when he stopped and said that he was paying regardless of how much bickering we would do at the counter, I scoffed and walked back to the table he pointed at. I saw him let a smirk grace his face before I turned around and it made me roll my eyes.
So smug.
I noticed the girl at the counter was giving Joe the goo-goo eyes and I wondered if that’s the reason why he wanted to go by himself to the counter. But that thought quickly went away when he finished placing his order and turned towards me to give me a toothy grin and then made a silly face at me. I let out a laugh and then laughed harder when the girl at the counter looked over at me and gave me a disgusted look.
Sorry girl, but he’s with me.
He strode back over a few minutes later with our order on a tray, bending over really low and setting the tray on our table while saying, “Your food my lady” in a horrible British accent.
“Why thank you good sir” I played along and chuckled when he sat down.
“You know that girl was totally trying to hit on you, right?” I questioned him while I ripped open a few ketchup packets.
“I know, but she’s not really my type.”
“Well, what is your type?” I questioned back at him. I knew this was dangerous territory considering this was our first day as being BFF’s again, but I needed to hear it. Maybe it would help me get over him by hearing him describe someone who I wasn’t.
NOT that it matters. I have Eric at home!
“Umm…” He started and took a bite out of his burger and chewed slowly before he answered me. “I don’t know, someone who just catches my eye I guess. They just have to look like they would be fun to be around.”
I let out a small laugh from his answer since that wasn’t a ‘type’. That wasn’t really anything.
“That’s not a type Joe.” I stated before taking a bite out of my burger now that I had ketchup and mustard on it.
“I guess I don’t have a type then. Just someone who I’m instantly attracted to” he said with a shrug. “To be completely honest, I never really met a girl that I wanted right away. They always were friends first and then something developed from the relationship, now that I think about it.”
My heart soared a little bit after hearing him say that, but then I stopped it. I couldn’t wait for him to chance his mind about me anymore. I was going to waste my life away waiting for the day that Joe would feel something for me. I knew Eric liked me and he had no problem telling me how he felt about me. I should take what I have and not worry about another boy.
Ugh. I confuse myself.
“Anyways…” I said, changing the subject that I wish I would’ve never started. “How did you know that I wanted a burger, and remember all the stuff that I like on it? Aren’t you like an international pop star who needs to remember more important things?” I asked him, giving him a little nudge at the end to show him I was only slightly kidding and not stereotyping him.
“Oh, I have so much stuff I need to know but that’s what Nick and Kevin are for. They remember all that boring stuff and I get to focus on the things that matter” he said and smiled at me.
I could feel my cheeks blush from what he said, but my face fell and I smacked him when he added, “Like food” to his sentence.
He let out a chuckle and then shrugged his shoulders at me and sat back in his chair. “I don’t know. I just remember everything about you I guess. Like how you like Strawberries and Cream Fraps from Starbucks or White Siberian Tigers are your favorite animals. Or that you rub the bottom of your chin when are stressed out or tired."
My mouth dropped open a little bit from hearing him state back everything that I told him, what 6 months ago now? Why did he remember that random and trivial stuff about me? Of course though, I couldn’t let him be right about all of that either.
“Tigers aren’t my favorite animal” was all I was able to say back to him, still astounded that he remembered all that stuff.
Sure, I knew most of that stuff about Joe, but so did every other girl who ever read a magazine interview of the boys. That wasn’t as impressive as him knowing it all about me.
He rolled his eyes and me and leaned forward on the table and picking up his half eaten burger. “Tigers are your favorite land animal. Dolphins are your favorite water animal” he said back to me and gave me a half smirk.
Ok. He had me there.
Again, still astounded by him right now.
“How do you remember all that stuff about me?” I blurted out. I couldn’t contain myself anymore. I don’t know why it hit me or meant anything to me that he remembered all that trivial stuff about me, but it did for some reason.
He made an “I don’t know” noise since he was eating and then wiped his mouth when he was done with his napkin before answering me.
“It just kinda, stuck with me I guess. Plus, you're my best friend. Why wouldn't I know important stuff like that?” he questioned me back with a smile on his face.
He got me there. I knew all that kinda stuff about Megan and she was my best girl friend.
I guess it wasn’t that big of a deal. Regardless though, I still felt incredibly important for him remembering all of that little stuff about me.
“Anyways” Joe started, “What do you want to do after this?”
“I don't know. What is there really to do? Besides the Aerosmith ride and the Tower of Terror?” I asked before shoving some fries in my mouth.
I watched as he looked around us and then his face lit up when he saw a poster of something behind me.
“There's a stunt show that I know you'll love. It's got cars, bikes, explosives. It's really cool. Did you want to catch that?”
“Ugh” I sighed out. “You do know your audience."
He smiled proudly after hearing me say that and then check his watch. “We have about 15 more minutes until it starts.”
I nodded my head and started finishing up my burger and fries while he did the same.
I don’t know why I was still thinking about all the little things Joe remembered about me, but for some reason I just couldn’t shake off the feeling of happiness from knowing that he knew all of that.
Sure, Megan knew that stuff about me just as much as Joe did, but I didn’t get this giddy about her knowing it.
I wonder if Eric knows that stuff about me?
We sat in silence as we finished our food and when we were both done, he grabbed my garbage and threw it out for me.
“Is everything ok?” Joe asked me quietly as we started walking. I noticed how nervous he sounded from asking me and I shook myself out of my thoughts.
“Of course” I said to him with a smile and looped my arm around his. “I’m just hoping them blow up a car or plane or something like that.” I hopped up and down a little bit to show him I was excited and all of my thoughts were gone from before. They were, I was fully invested in watching things blow up now.
He smiled widely at me, grabbed my hand that was looped around his arm and pulled me after him. “You are by far THE coolest girl ever” he said and I smiled at him while jogging behind him.
After watching the show, both Joe and I freaking out every time something flew over the gap that didn’t look like it was going to make it, we were gushing about how awesome it was when his mom called.
He answered his phone and listened to his mom, but was doing some weird thing with his hand to convey his excitement over what we just saw. When he balled his hand up and then opened it really fast with his fingers sprawled out as far as it could go, I knew he was talking about the final explosion.
It was freaking epic!
I nodded my head back to him and used my hands to portray riding a bike, then did a circular motion in the air with one hand, an explosion one with another hand and then another explosion after that and he nodded his head at me with a smile on his face and gleam in his eyes.
I loved that we didn’t even have to speak to each other to know what we were thinking. We could use some hand signals, which I’m sure people were looking at us like we were crazy, and some enthusiastic facial expressions to understand one another completely.
I’m sure other people did that all the time with their best friends, but still, it was something Joe and I could do as friends and I loved it.
“Everyone’s at the entrance, ready to leave. We’re leaving to get dinner I guess” Joe told me when he got off the phone.
I nodded my head to him and started talking about the show again as we made our way to the entrance.
“We’re gonna go swimming at the hotel after dinner!” Frankie yelled the second he saw Joe and I walking towards the group.
“That’s awesome!” I yelled back at him and then tried to hide my blush from Joe from flashing back to the last time I went swimming with him.
I stole a quick glance at him to see if he was reminiscing as well and he had a small smile on his face before he busted out laughing.
“What’s so funny?” I asked him, trying to hid my anger.
Our swimming encounter wasn’t funny, it was hot and….it doesn’t matter!
“Remember the cop that we had to run from?” he laughed out and I nodded my head and started laughing too.
I totally forgot we had to do that, and thinking back on it, it was pretty funny. Only Joe would get me caught up with having to run from the police for sneaking into a pool.
“What’s so funny?” Nick asked us when we were close enough to the group.
Joe and I contained ourselves and both replied with, “Nothing” at the same time, then we looked at each other and started laughing again.
I don’t know why it was so funny and why we were both laughing so hard, but something about the fact that Joe and I only knew about it made it more comical and more intimate at the same time. I know that I wasn’t planning on telling anyone our little run in at the pool anytime soon. It was just something Joe and I were able to hold onto and laugh about, hopefully years to come, because of one of our secret and rule-breaking rendezvous while on vacation together.
Nick gave us both scared looks before slowly turning away from us to face everyone else.
“We’ll go get the trucks” Kevin Sr. said while walking away with the parents.
Once Joe and I were back in the present and not reveling in our escape from the police officer, I noticed that Kevin was acting strange.
It wasn’t anything too out of the ordinary, at first, but when he kept doing it; that’s what made it weird.
He was giving Liz kisses on the cheek or on the hand like every 10 seconds and some sweat on his forehead.
Now, don’t get me wrong, it was hot out but it wasn’t that kind of sweat. He would’ve been sweating everywhere else too if it were due to the weather. It looked like it was just on his forehead and temples. Add that to how fidgety he was just standing there waiting for the parents to get the vehicles, it was odd for Kevin. He was always so cool and calm and nothing ever really got him anxious.
I noticed that Ally and Duckie both made their way over to me and when they did, Joe made his way over to Nick and Frankie.
“So, how did everything go today?” Ally asked me, although she wasn’t looking at me. Both her and Duckie were looking at Kevin and Liz how I was just looking at them.
“It was fine” I answered quickly and then asked, “Is Kevin acting weird or is it just me?”
“No. He’s acting weird.” Ally answered back.
“Definitely.” Duckie added quickly.
“We met up with them in line for the Aerosmith ride and he seemed really jittery in line anytime we started talking about the tour that’s coming up.” Ally added and I nodded my head.
“Maybe he’s just nervous about leaving Liz for such a long time or something” I offered and that seemed to make sense to both Ally and Duckie.
The parents pulled up and started honking their horns for us to get in and we all filed out of the park, but all three of us girls were still looking at Kevin and Liz oddly.
Liz didn’t seem to notice anything different about Kevin since she was smiling away and blushing every time he would give her a kiss on the cheek, so I didn’t want to say anything to her.
Not like I could’ve anyways considering Kevin was practically glued to her side the whole time to the truck and sitting down for dinner.
Luckily for me, I had some freedom and I ended up sitting next to Mrs. Jonas at dinner.
Amidst all the talking and laughing through dinner, I felt Mrs. Jonas nudge my elbow to get my attention.
“Is everything ok now between you and Joe? I noticed yesterday that you two weren’t acting like your usual selves.”
I smiled guiltely at her and remembered how strange and rude I must’ve been yesterday with being on my phone all day, unapproachable with my mean looks and my crazy yelling to Nick during lunch.
“I’m really sorry about all that yesterday. Joe and I just had a lack of understanding about something and we fought about it the night before yesterday. But we talked and we’re fine now” I explained to her. I didn’t want to tell her everything that happened, but I knew she would’ve stop asking until she got enough information to keep her satisfied and no longer worried about one of her boys.
“You two fought?” she asked me quietly and gave me a concerned look.
I nodded at her and looked down guilty again. “I just was….it’s really complicated.” I mumbled out while looking down. I didn’t want to tell her that I was in love with her son but he didn’t love me back, even though that didn’t stop him from making out me and acting all lovey dovey. You just don’t say that to the boys mom.
“Well, is it still complicated?” she asked me and I shrugged my shoulders before letting out a sigh. “It is, but it shouldn’t be” I admitted which hit me like a ton of bricks.
I knew that it was complicated and it would always be complicated with Joe. Thinking back to the first time we told each other how felt in the hotel after being chased by paparazzi, I wish I would’ve made a different decision. I wish I would’ve asked him out or told him that I didn’t want to be friends to see what would happen after their tour. If I had, maybe it wouldn’t have been so complicated.
“Ya know, love isn’t supposed to be easy. Take Paul and I for instance or your mom and John. None of it is easy and it’s always complicated because Love itself is complicated. “
I nodded from hearing her say that but she was right. But that didn’t make it any less confusing or irritating.
“Just let love run its course and see where you end up. If it helps at all, I’ve been rooting for you and Joe since he first told me about you.”
My head snapped up and I stopped twiddling with my thumbs that I didn’t even realize I was doing until I wasn’t doing it anymore.
She smiled warmly at me and let out a small laugh at my expression and then glanced over at Joe.
My eyes followed hers and I smiled. He looked so happy, laughing loudly with Nick and Ally.
My face lit up from seeing him laugh and smile like that and I felt giddy inside from his laughter.
She turned to look at me again and I looked up at her. “I don’t know if this will make the situation any less complicated or confusing for you, but Joe doesn’t even know it yet. I think he’s starting to and it’s scaring him since he doesn’t exactly know what it is. All he knows right now is if he admits it to himself, he’ll lose you and I don’t think he’s ready to deal with that ultimatum.”
I looked at her slightly confused. She was talking in riddle at this moment by not telling me what she wanted to say outright, and maybe that was the point. I don’t know.
My head hurts.
I wanted to ask her to elaborate on what she meant but I couldn’t find the words to say to at the moment other than telling her that everything would be fine now that Joe and I talked and we were on the same page now.
She nodded her head once, let out a small chuckle like she knew something that neither myself or Joe knew and then went back to eating her food.
I on the other hand, did not. I was too confused about my own feelings and what Mrs. Jonas just riddled out for me to even think about eating. I didn’t want to ask her to elaborate either since I wasn’t sure I was ready to hear what she was really trying to say and I was already getting the feeling of false hope.
I knew her intent was good and trying to be helpful, but I think she just messed me up even more than I was before our conversation.
I looked up across the table from me and noticed that Kevin was clutching Liz’s hand like his life depended on it.
Now there was something to distract me from my never-ending emotional roller coaster.
What the heck is going on with him?
Ally looked over at me and I nodded my head slightly to toward the couple and she glanced to her left to see what I was looking at.
“Weird, right?” she mouthed to me and shrugged her shoulders to imply she didn’t know why.
I simply nodded my head and then went back to eating my food, realizing that all of this confusion left me very hungry.
“Alright, I’m done eating! Can I go swimming now?” Frankie exclaimed from the table and got up as if he was going to walk off on his own up to the hotel room.
“I’m done too. Swimming time little man!” Joe said enthuastically, and then shot me look while raising his eyebrows.
“I’m done too.” I instantly said, knowing what that look meant. He needed to talk to me.
The rest of us ‘kids’ called out that they were done and started to move from the table which caused Mr. Jonas to tell us to behave, be safe and have fun.
The group of us made our way to the elevator after saying bye to the parents.
“What were you and my mom talking about?” Joe asked me when everyone exited the elevators and left us behind.
“To be completely honest with you, I don’t know.” I said while letting out a chuckle.
He looked at me confused and then asked if she talked in a riddle.
“Yes! And I have no clue what she meant by any of it.” I laughed out and kinda lied to him. I knew that it involved Joe and him not figuring something out yet, but he was afraid to figure it out. Or something along those lines. All I knew is that she was rooting for Joe and I since the beginning essentially and that Joe…well Joe had to figure something out.
“I hate when she does that” he sighed and let out a small laugh as we caught up with the rest of our group.
“We’ll meet you out in the hallway in a few minutes!” Frankie said excitedly before grabbing the key Nick was holding and opening in the door to their room.
Everyone nodded in agreement and turned to go to their rooms when Kevin pulled Liz into him and whispered something in her ear before giving her a kiss on the cheek and going into his room.
“Ok,” I started once our door was shut and all of us girls were in the room. “What is going on with Kevin today? What did he just tell you?”
“I don’t know, but he told me has to talk to me about something important when we come back from swimming tonight.” Liz said with a shrug and a small smile on her face.
“Maybe he’ll propose to you! That would explain why he’s so nervous and anxious today!” Duckie guessed while hopping up and down.
“Yeah, that’s it.” I said sarcastically while pulling my swimsuit out of the drawer that I had. Of course, I would be happy if they got engaged. Sure it was really early in their relationship, but they were so cute together but come on. There was no way Mr. and Mrs. Jonas would be ok with that.
“Yeah.” Liz agreed with me. “He hasn’t said ‘I love you’ to me, but he’s going to propose.”
“A girl can dream!” Duckie said while laughing a little at herself while Ally laughed with her.
I rolled my eyes before going into the bathroom to change into my swimsuit but then it hit me.
Ally had said that he seemed really nervous whenever they started talking about the tour and vacation is almost over with.
Maybe, just maybe, Kevin would do something crazy like that.d
"It happens every time, when I think of you!" they continued, hitting the boys again.
That's right! On Friday, at 4 AM we snuck into the boys room to get revenge for them waking us up at 5 the other day. Liz was hitting Nick, Duckie was hitting Kevin and Ally was hitting Joe. Ally and Liz claimed that they, "couldn't do that to their boyfriends!" so that's why Liz had Nick and Ally had Joe. Nobody had Frankie because then nobody would be able to record the boys and plus, he was on the top bunk, none of us could really reach him.
Joe practically jumped out of his bed from Ally hitting him in the stomach and started to scream, drowning out the girls singing. Nick just rolled over from Liz's light hits and somehow slept through Joe's wailing. Kevin rolled off the side of the bed taking Duckie down with him and Frankie sat up quickly, throwing his pillow towards the door.
After a few seconds, the realization of what was going on hit them and they grabbed their pillows and starting hitting the girls back. Joe and Frankie were double teaming Ally, while Liz and Nick started going at it once he woke up. Duckie and Kevin were fighting for her pillow on the ground.
I recorded them for a minute or so and then decided to turn it off and join in on the fun, only to have Joe pick me up and throw me onto his bed when I tried hitting him with the pillow that I brought.
It didn’t take long before we were all tuckered out and tired again. We were all laying around the boys room on the brink of passing out. It’s kinda surprising that the parents didn’t come in here after all the screaming and yelling that was going on, but I was happy that they weren’t making their presence known. We would’ve for sure been yelled at and who knows what else.
Kevin seemed to have read my mind and told me that they had invested in ear plugs due to our constant revenge with singing earlier and earlier in the morning to one another.
I nodded my head to indicate that I heard him when Duckie announced that she was going to be back to our room.
“Why aren’t you leaving?” Kevin asked her a few seconds later when she didn’t move.
“I’m too comfortable. Maybe we should just sleep here for a little bit.” Duckie said after yawning. I nodded my head to agree with her and passed out somehow with being sandwiched between Joe and Frankie on the lower bunk.
I woke up a few hours later with Joe’s head on my stomach. I wanted to laugh at him, but he looked so cute all cuddled up into me.
NO! No more thinking about him like that. That’s it. Eric is your new man now. Eric likes me, and Joe doesn’t so Eric, Eric, ERIC!
I let out an irritated sigh at myself and tried pushing Joe off of me, but that didn’t work too well. I started to shake his shoulders.
“Joe, wake up! Everyone else is gone.”
“But…it’s Nick’s fault. I swear…” he mumbled back to me.
I chuckled a little bit after he said that before pushing myself up quickly with all the force I could muster at the moment which caused him to fall off of me and wake up.
“What’s wrong?!” he questioned while looking frantically around the room.
“Nothing, I just wanted to get up and find everyone. I think they’re all getting ready for the day today and we’re the last ones left.” I explained to him.
As if on cue Nick, Frankie and Kevin walked into their room with smiles on their faces.
“Ah. The love birds are awake.” Kevin said with a goofy smile on his face.
I scowled at him since we were not love birds since both parties need to have love for one another in order to be dubbed that saying. I saw Nick elbow him in the ribs which made me smile quickly as I got up from bunk.
“The girls are in your room getting ready.” Nick informed me when I made my way past them.
I mumbled a quick thanks to him as I left their room and went into the hallway. After knocking on the door twice, Liz finally answered the door with her toothbrush in her mouth.
“I’m taking a quick shower after your done.” I stated and then went to get an outfit out for today.
“So, you talked?” Ally asked me while she curled her hair in front of the mirror.
“Yep, and we’re just friends.” I quickly said in order to get in the bathroom as fast as possible without being bombarded with questions.
I noticed Ally and Duckies “Are you kidding me?” faces so I added a quick, “who flirt with each other” before entering the bathroom and kicking Liz out. She had enough time to brush her teeth anyway.
I needed time to just figure out how exactly Joe and I were going to be go back to being just friends since our talk. Yes, we talked last night but today would be the first day since our talk and I wanted to make sure I didn’t make it as awkward as possible between us or anything. Having to answer all of their questions right now wasn’t going to help me, and I needed time to figure out what I was going to say to them too.
* * * * *
"That was so totally awesome!" Joe yelled while running ahead of all of us and doing some weird jump in the air.
"Hey, do you think I could be like Indiana Jones? Ya know...all sly and stuff?" he asked when we all were close enough to him.
"I don't think so. You would get killed in a heartbeat, and it wouldn't be Indiana Jones. It would be Indiana Jonas."I answered him and chuckled slightly. Sure it wasn’t the greatest joke, but I still cracked myself up sometimes.
"Why do you say I would get killed? But I do like the ring of that. Indiana Jonas. It sounds really cool!" he said with a dreamy look in his eyes.
He looked like such a dork standing there as if he was actually thinking about people calling him Indiana Jonas. But a cute dork none-the-less.
"You just would. You're not that...debonair." I said with a smirk after hearing the parents chuckling behind me.
"Ugh! What do you know? You would die in a heart-OH!!! Tower of Terror! Let's go!" he yelled while grabbing my arm and dragging me after him.
“I am NOT going on that ride. It looks way too freaky.” I heard my sister say from behind us which made me try and stop Joe from sprinting off into the hoard of people towards the ride. Luckily, my lack of enthusiasm seemed to get his attention.
We walked back to the rest of the group and I heard a few people saying they wanted to eat, see a show and go on some rides.
As always, being the executive decision maker for his family, Mr. Jonas decided that we could all split up to do what we wanted for the next few hours but had to meet back by 3 at the main entrance to leave so we could go to dinner.
I looked down at my watch and saw that that gave us 4 hours to run around this park on our own. Freedom! Not like we haven’t had much of that this entire trip so far, but I would take it. My mom and John were kinda duds. They didn’t really want to do anything except walk around and look at stuff. Talk about boring!
“Steph and I are going on the Tower of Terror.” Joe voiced up quickly and then started dragging me after him in the ride’s direction.
Apparently nobody else wanted to go on it since I didn’t hear anyone saying they wanted to come along, and oddly enough, I kinda wanted someone to come with us. It would cut the potential awkward tension between him and I. We seemed ok, but we were with everyone up until this point and I didn’t want to take the chance that it would get weird between him and I and then we’d be walking around quietly trying to find someone to hang out with.
It didn’t really look like I had a choice though since Joe was pulling me fast and I had to turn around fully and jog to keep up with him without falling over backwards.
After the ride we decided to eat some lunch since we were both hungry and tried finding a place to eat that we could agree on.
“Let me guess, a cheeseburger with everything on it?” Joe asked me with a cocky smile on his face.
I rolled my eyes and wanted to counter him with something else, but the kid knew me too well. Plus it sounded really good at the moment.
“I hate that you’re right, but yes. I want a cheeseburger. So tough luck if you don’t want one.”
“I want one too anyways.” He stated smugly and then started walking off in a direction that I’m assuming there was a burger place near it.
It was quiet between us as we came up on the burger joint that the park had, but I honestly didn’t mind. I thought it would be really uncomfortable having silence between us, but it wasn’t too bad. Joe and I didn’t always have to be talking in order to make the awkwardness go away. If we were to talk, it would be about something that was stupid probably which would make it more awkward.
I snuck a look over at Joe and saw that he had a smile on his face.
“What?” I asked him as I quickly nudged him with my shoulder.
“Nothing.” He nudged back. “This is nice. Just you and I, I mean. Just chillin’.”
I nodded and smiled back at him before it got quiet between us until we reached the burger area.
“Go sit down, I’ll order for us. Water right?” he asked as he pointed to a table for me to sit down at.
“It’s fine. I can come up with you.” I countered but when he stopped and said that he was paying regardless of how much bickering we would do at the counter, I scoffed and walked back to the table he pointed at. I saw him let a smirk grace his face before I turned around and it made me roll my eyes.
So smug.
I noticed the girl at the counter was giving Joe the goo-goo eyes and I wondered if that’s the reason why he wanted to go by himself to the counter. But that thought quickly went away when he finished placing his order and turned towards me to give me a toothy grin and then made a silly face at me. I let out a laugh and then laughed harder when the girl at the counter looked over at me and gave me a disgusted look.
Sorry girl, but he’s with me.
He strode back over a few minutes later with our order on a tray, bending over really low and setting the tray on our table while saying, “Your food my lady” in a horrible British accent.
“Why thank you good sir” I played along and chuckled when he sat down.
“You know that girl was totally trying to hit on you, right?” I questioned him while I ripped open a few ketchup packets.
“I know, but she’s not really my type.”
“Well, what is your type?” I questioned back at him. I knew this was dangerous territory considering this was our first day as being BFF’s again, but I needed to hear it. Maybe it would help me get over him by hearing him describe someone who I wasn’t.
NOT that it matters. I have Eric at home!
“Umm…” He started and took a bite out of his burger and chewed slowly before he answered me. “I don’t know, someone who just catches my eye I guess. They just have to look like they would be fun to be around.”
I let out a small laugh from his answer since that wasn’t a ‘type’. That wasn’t really anything.
“That’s not a type Joe.” I stated before taking a bite out of my burger now that I had ketchup and mustard on it.
“I guess I don’t have a type then. Just someone who I’m instantly attracted to” he said with a shrug. “To be completely honest, I never really met a girl that I wanted right away. They always were friends first and then something developed from the relationship, now that I think about it.”
My heart soared a little bit after hearing him say that, but then I stopped it. I couldn’t wait for him to chance his mind about me anymore. I was going to waste my life away waiting for the day that Joe would feel something for me. I knew Eric liked me and he had no problem telling me how he felt about me. I should take what I have and not worry about another boy.
Ugh. I confuse myself.
“Anyways…” I said, changing the subject that I wish I would’ve never started. “How did you know that I wanted a burger, and remember all the stuff that I like on it? Aren’t you like an international pop star who needs to remember more important things?” I asked him, giving him a little nudge at the end to show him I was only slightly kidding and not stereotyping him.
“Oh, I have so much stuff I need to know but that’s what Nick and Kevin are for. They remember all that boring stuff and I get to focus on the things that matter” he said and smiled at me.
I could feel my cheeks blush from what he said, but my face fell and I smacked him when he added, “Like food” to his sentence.
He let out a chuckle and then shrugged his shoulders at me and sat back in his chair. “I don’t know. I just remember everything about you I guess. Like how you like Strawberries and Cream Fraps from Starbucks or White Siberian Tigers are your favorite animals. Or that you rub the bottom of your chin when are stressed out or tired."
My mouth dropped open a little bit from hearing him state back everything that I told him, what 6 months ago now? Why did he remember that random and trivial stuff about me? Of course though, I couldn’t let him be right about all of that either.
“Tigers aren’t my favorite animal” was all I was able to say back to him, still astounded that he remembered all that stuff.
Sure, I knew most of that stuff about Joe, but so did every other girl who ever read a magazine interview of the boys. That wasn’t as impressive as him knowing it all about me.
He rolled his eyes and me and leaned forward on the table and picking up his half eaten burger. “Tigers are your favorite land animal. Dolphins are your favorite water animal” he said back to me and gave me a half smirk.
Ok. He had me there.
Again, still astounded by him right now.
“How do you remember all that stuff about me?” I blurted out. I couldn’t contain myself anymore. I don’t know why it hit me or meant anything to me that he remembered all that trivial stuff about me, but it did for some reason.
He made an “I don’t know” noise since he was eating and then wiped his mouth when he was done with his napkin before answering me.
“It just kinda, stuck with me I guess. Plus, you're my best friend. Why wouldn't I know important stuff like that?” he questioned me back with a smile on his face.
He got me there. I knew all that kinda stuff about Megan and she was my best girl friend.
I guess it wasn’t that big of a deal. Regardless though, I still felt incredibly important for him remembering all of that little stuff about me.
“Anyways” Joe started, “What do you want to do after this?”
“I don't know. What is there really to do? Besides the Aerosmith ride and the Tower of Terror?” I asked before shoving some fries in my mouth.
I watched as he looked around us and then his face lit up when he saw a poster of something behind me.
“There's a stunt show that I know you'll love. It's got cars, bikes, explosives. It's really cool. Did you want to catch that?”
“Ugh” I sighed out. “You do know your audience."
He smiled proudly after hearing me say that and then check his watch. “We have about 15 more minutes until it starts.”
I nodded my head and started finishing up my burger and fries while he did the same.
I don’t know why I was still thinking about all the little things Joe remembered about me, but for some reason I just couldn’t shake off the feeling of happiness from knowing that he knew all of that.
Sure, Megan knew that stuff about me just as much as Joe did, but I didn’t get this giddy about her knowing it.
I wonder if Eric knows that stuff about me?
We sat in silence as we finished our food and when we were both done, he grabbed my garbage and threw it out for me.
“Is everything ok?” Joe asked me quietly as we started walking. I noticed how nervous he sounded from asking me and I shook myself out of my thoughts.
“Of course” I said to him with a smile and looped my arm around his. “I’m just hoping them blow up a car or plane or something like that.” I hopped up and down a little bit to show him I was excited and all of my thoughts were gone from before. They were, I was fully invested in watching things blow up now.
He smiled widely at me, grabbed my hand that was looped around his arm and pulled me after him. “You are by far THE coolest girl ever” he said and I smiled at him while jogging behind him.
After watching the show, both Joe and I freaking out every time something flew over the gap that didn’t look like it was going to make it, we were gushing about how awesome it was when his mom called.
He answered his phone and listened to his mom, but was doing some weird thing with his hand to convey his excitement over what we just saw. When he balled his hand up and then opened it really fast with his fingers sprawled out as far as it could go, I knew he was talking about the final explosion.
It was freaking epic!
I nodded my head back to him and used my hands to portray riding a bike, then did a circular motion in the air with one hand, an explosion one with another hand and then another explosion after that and he nodded his head at me with a smile on his face and gleam in his eyes.
I loved that we didn’t even have to speak to each other to know what we were thinking. We could use some hand signals, which I’m sure people were looking at us like we were crazy, and some enthusiastic facial expressions to understand one another completely.
I’m sure other people did that all the time with their best friends, but still, it was something Joe and I could do as friends and I loved it.
“Everyone’s at the entrance, ready to leave. We’re leaving to get dinner I guess” Joe told me when he got off the phone.
I nodded my head to him and started talking about the show again as we made our way to the entrance.
“We’re gonna go swimming at the hotel after dinner!” Frankie yelled the second he saw Joe and I walking towards the group.
“That’s awesome!” I yelled back at him and then tried to hide my blush from Joe from flashing back to the last time I went swimming with him.
I stole a quick glance at him to see if he was reminiscing as well and he had a small smile on his face before he busted out laughing.
“What’s so funny?” I asked him, trying to hid my anger.
Our swimming encounter wasn’t funny, it was hot and….it doesn’t matter!
“Remember the cop that we had to run from?” he laughed out and I nodded my head and started laughing too.
I totally forgot we had to do that, and thinking back on it, it was pretty funny. Only Joe would get me caught up with having to run from the police for sneaking into a pool.
“What’s so funny?” Nick asked us when we were close enough to the group.
Joe and I contained ourselves and both replied with, “Nothing” at the same time, then we looked at each other and started laughing again.
I don’t know why it was so funny and why we were both laughing so hard, but something about the fact that Joe and I only knew about it made it more comical and more intimate at the same time. I know that I wasn’t planning on telling anyone our little run in at the pool anytime soon. It was just something Joe and I were able to hold onto and laugh about, hopefully years to come, because of one of our secret and rule-breaking rendezvous while on vacation together.
Nick gave us both scared looks before slowly turning away from us to face everyone else.
“We’ll go get the trucks” Kevin Sr. said while walking away with the parents.
Once Joe and I were back in the present and not reveling in our escape from the police officer, I noticed that Kevin was acting strange.
It wasn’t anything too out of the ordinary, at first, but when he kept doing it; that’s what made it weird.
He was giving Liz kisses on the cheek or on the hand like every 10 seconds and some sweat on his forehead.
Now, don’t get me wrong, it was hot out but it wasn’t that kind of sweat. He would’ve been sweating everywhere else too if it were due to the weather. It looked like it was just on his forehead and temples. Add that to how fidgety he was just standing there waiting for the parents to get the vehicles, it was odd for Kevin. He was always so cool and calm and nothing ever really got him anxious.
I noticed that Ally and Duckie both made their way over to me and when they did, Joe made his way over to Nick and Frankie.
“So, how did everything go today?” Ally asked me, although she wasn’t looking at me. Both her and Duckie were looking at Kevin and Liz how I was just looking at them.
“It was fine” I answered quickly and then asked, “Is Kevin acting weird or is it just me?”
“No. He’s acting weird.” Ally answered back.
“Definitely.” Duckie added quickly.
“We met up with them in line for the Aerosmith ride and he seemed really jittery in line anytime we started talking about the tour that’s coming up.” Ally added and I nodded my head.
“Maybe he’s just nervous about leaving Liz for such a long time or something” I offered and that seemed to make sense to both Ally and Duckie.
The parents pulled up and started honking their horns for us to get in and we all filed out of the park, but all three of us girls were still looking at Kevin and Liz oddly.
Liz didn’t seem to notice anything different about Kevin since she was smiling away and blushing every time he would give her a kiss on the cheek, so I didn’t want to say anything to her.
Not like I could’ve anyways considering Kevin was practically glued to her side the whole time to the truck and sitting down for dinner.
Luckily for me, I had some freedom and I ended up sitting next to Mrs. Jonas at dinner.
Amidst all the talking and laughing through dinner, I felt Mrs. Jonas nudge my elbow to get my attention.
“Is everything ok now between you and Joe? I noticed yesterday that you two weren’t acting like your usual selves.”
I smiled guiltely at her and remembered how strange and rude I must’ve been yesterday with being on my phone all day, unapproachable with my mean looks and my crazy yelling to Nick during lunch.
“I’m really sorry about all that yesterday. Joe and I just had a lack of understanding about something and we fought about it the night before yesterday. But we talked and we’re fine now” I explained to her. I didn’t want to tell her everything that happened, but I knew she would’ve stop asking until she got enough information to keep her satisfied and no longer worried about one of her boys.
“You two fought?” she asked me quietly and gave me a concerned look.
I nodded at her and looked down guilty again. “I just was….it’s really complicated.” I mumbled out while looking down. I didn’t want to tell her that I was in love with her son but he didn’t love me back, even though that didn’t stop him from making out me and acting all lovey dovey. You just don’t say that to the boys mom.
“Well, is it still complicated?” she asked me and I shrugged my shoulders before letting out a sigh. “It is, but it shouldn’t be” I admitted which hit me like a ton of bricks.
I knew that it was complicated and it would always be complicated with Joe. Thinking back to the first time we told each other how felt in the hotel after being chased by paparazzi, I wish I would’ve made a different decision. I wish I would’ve asked him out or told him that I didn’t want to be friends to see what would happen after their tour. If I had, maybe it wouldn’t have been so complicated.
“Ya know, love isn’t supposed to be easy. Take Paul and I for instance or your mom and John. None of it is easy and it’s always complicated because Love itself is complicated. “
I nodded from hearing her say that but she was right. But that didn’t make it any less confusing or irritating.
“Just let love run its course and see where you end up. If it helps at all, I’ve been rooting for you and Joe since he first told me about you.”
My head snapped up and I stopped twiddling with my thumbs that I didn’t even realize I was doing until I wasn’t doing it anymore.
She smiled warmly at me and let out a small laugh at my expression and then glanced over at Joe.
My eyes followed hers and I smiled. He looked so happy, laughing loudly with Nick and Ally.
My face lit up from seeing him laugh and smile like that and I felt giddy inside from his laughter.
She turned to look at me again and I looked up at her. “I don’t know if this will make the situation any less complicated or confusing for you, but Joe doesn’t even know it yet. I think he’s starting to and it’s scaring him since he doesn’t exactly know what it is. All he knows right now is if he admits it to himself, he’ll lose you and I don’t think he’s ready to deal with that ultimatum.”
I looked at her slightly confused. She was talking in riddle at this moment by not telling me what she wanted to say outright, and maybe that was the point. I don’t know.
My head hurts.
I wanted to ask her to elaborate on what she meant but I couldn’t find the words to say to at the moment other than telling her that everything would be fine now that Joe and I talked and we were on the same page now.
She nodded her head once, let out a small chuckle like she knew something that neither myself or Joe knew and then went back to eating her food.
I on the other hand, did not. I was too confused about my own feelings and what Mrs. Jonas just riddled out for me to even think about eating. I didn’t want to ask her to elaborate either since I wasn’t sure I was ready to hear what she was really trying to say and I was already getting the feeling of false hope.
I knew her intent was good and trying to be helpful, but I think she just messed me up even more than I was before our conversation.
I looked up across the table from me and noticed that Kevin was clutching Liz’s hand like his life depended on it.
Now there was something to distract me from my never-ending emotional roller coaster.
What the heck is going on with him?
Ally looked over at me and I nodded my head slightly to toward the couple and she glanced to her left to see what I was looking at.
“Weird, right?” she mouthed to me and shrugged her shoulders to imply she didn’t know why.
I simply nodded my head and then went back to eating my food, realizing that all of this confusion left me very hungry.
“Alright, I’m done eating! Can I go swimming now?” Frankie exclaimed from the table and got up as if he was going to walk off on his own up to the hotel room.
“I’m done too. Swimming time little man!” Joe said enthuastically, and then shot me look while raising his eyebrows.
“I’m done too.” I instantly said, knowing what that look meant. He needed to talk to me.
The rest of us ‘kids’ called out that they were done and started to move from the table which caused Mr. Jonas to tell us to behave, be safe and have fun.
The group of us made our way to the elevator after saying bye to the parents.
“What were you and my mom talking about?” Joe asked me when everyone exited the elevators and left us behind.
“To be completely honest with you, I don’t know.” I said while letting out a chuckle.
He looked at me confused and then asked if she talked in a riddle.
“Yes! And I have no clue what she meant by any of it.” I laughed out and kinda lied to him. I knew that it involved Joe and him not figuring something out yet, but he was afraid to figure it out. Or something along those lines. All I knew is that she was rooting for Joe and I since the beginning essentially and that Joe…well Joe had to figure something out.
“I hate when she does that” he sighed and let out a small laugh as we caught up with the rest of our group.
“We’ll meet you out in the hallway in a few minutes!” Frankie said excitedly before grabbing the key Nick was holding and opening in the door to their room.
Everyone nodded in agreement and turned to go to their rooms when Kevin pulled Liz into him and whispered something in her ear before giving her a kiss on the cheek and going into his room.
“Ok,” I started once our door was shut and all of us girls were in the room. “What is going on with Kevin today? What did he just tell you?”
“I don’t know, but he told me has to talk to me about something important when we come back from swimming tonight.” Liz said with a shrug and a small smile on her face.
“Maybe he’ll propose to you! That would explain why he’s so nervous and anxious today!” Duckie guessed while hopping up and down.
“Yeah, that’s it.” I said sarcastically while pulling my swimsuit out of the drawer that I had. Of course, I would be happy if they got engaged. Sure it was really early in their relationship, but they were so cute together but come on. There was no way Mr. and Mrs. Jonas would be ok with that.
“Yeah.” Liz agreed with me. “He hasn’t said ‘I love you’ to me, but he’s going to propose.”
“A girl can dream!” Duckie said while laughing a little at herself while Ally laughed with her.
I rolled my eyes before going into the bathroom to change into my swimsuit but then it hit me.
Ally had said that he seemed really nervous whenever they started talking about the tour and vacation is almost over with.
Maybe, just maybe, Kevin would do something crazy like that.d
♠ ♠ ♠
I'm BACK! This is way over due and way too long. I don't even know if anyone reads this anymore, but I want to finish it now that I'm officially done with school now.To those who are still reading, I know this isn't the best chapter to have waited for, for a year. Where the last chapter left off, it left off on a good note and this chapter is really a fluffer piece to get to the next chapter where there will be some drama with a capital D!
Thanks for reading, if you still are! :)