Crawling Back To You

Joe’s POV

My stomach grumbled as I casually strolled into the brightly illuminated kitchen. Looking out the large bay windows, I noticed the morning California sun was much brighter than the mood of the house. Last night was not a good one. After Kevin kicked Lexie out, way too politely in my opinion, he went up to his room and shut the door. Neither Kevin nor Nick emerged from their rooms the rest of the night.

“Joseph, honey, where are your brothers?” I moved my eyes from my bowl of Lucky Charms to my mother, entering the kitchen looking somewhat flustered.

“Good morning to you too, Mommy.”

“Good morning, Joseph,” she corrected herself, rolling her eyes. “Where are your brothers?”

“Probably upstairs. Would you like me to get them?”

“Yes, please. You’re leaving in five minutes, no later. Please stress that to them.”

Following my mother’s commands, I scooped a mouthful of Lucky Charms into my mouth before making my way towards the stairs. As I ascended, I couldn’t help but enjoy the deliciousness of the crunchy letters and sweet marshmallows. After reaching the top and swallowing the last bit, I reevaluated the task at hand.

Glancing at my watch and doing the math, which took longer than it probably should have, I figured out that Nick has been in his room for the past twenty-six hours. I decided to get Kevin first, seeing as he would probably be the easier one to round up. I stopped in front of Kevin’s wooden door, my toes pointed directly at it. I let my fist hit the barrier between Kevin and me, repeating the action a few times.

The door swung open, revealing my older brother appearing to be dressed and ready. “Hey.”

“Hey Kev. We’re leaving very, very soon. Mom wants you downstairs.”

Kevin moved around his room, grabbing some things. A few seconds later, he nodded at me signaling he was ready to go. Flipping the light switch down, he entered the hallway. “Has Nick come out?”

“He has a girlfriend, Kevin.”

“Ha-ha. Hysterical. You know what I mean.”

“I know. I’m just trying to lighten the mood. The tension in this house is insane. But no, he hasn’t. He’s the next stop. Maybe you can help me considering we only have three minutes.”

Kevin sped up and placed his body in front of Nick’s door like my body just was in front of his door. Literally mirroring my actions, Kevin gently knocked on Nick’s door. I pressed my shoulder against Nick’s doorframe, folding my arms across my chest and crossing one foot behind the other. As moments passed on, Nick’s door still shut, Kevin’s knocks became heavier. With growing frustration, Kevin’s light taps turned to violent pounds.

“What!?” my younger, distraught brother yelled from the other side of the door. The pain in his voice was prominent as he shouted.

“Nick, are you almost ready? We have to leave in two minutes,” I informed him calmly, trying to keep his temper at a reasonable level.

Silence filled the second floor of the house as Kevin and I exchanged glances, waiting for a sign that Nick was making some sort of progress towards being ready. I tried to read Kevin’s face as he tried to read mine. We were both well aware that Nick was on the edge—one wrong word and Nick would snap.

A slow, quiet creak forced Kevin and I to redirect our attention. At the sight of Nick, my body stiffened up. Nick defined miserable better than Webster—his eyes dark and heavy, his curls not in their usual place, his shoulders tense with agony.

After exchanging glances from brother to brother, a voice broke the silence. “Boys, we need to leave now! You have one minute to get down here!” Dad’s booming voice rang through the house.

“Let’s go,” Nick said. I turned as Nick led down the hall, Kevin following me. Even by looking at the way Nick was carrying himself, you could tell something was wrong.

“Nick, are you o—” I began to ask.

“Joe, please, not right now.”

“Okay, I’m sorry Nick, but you need to try and pick it up a little. If you go into the radio station like that, they’re instantly going to know something is wrong and bug you until they find out what it is. I’m just looking out for you.”

Nick reached the bottom of the stairs and sighed, letting his head roll back as he shut his eyes tightly. I watched with anticipation, expecting Nick to turn around and yell in my face, telling me to keep my mouth shut. However, his reaction was the opposite.

“You’re right. Thanks, Joe.”

I stopped in my tracks as surprise took over me. Footsteps were no longer heard behind me. I assumed Kevin was just as shocked as I was that Nick was being so…so civil. I turned around and knew my assumption was correct based on the look upon Kevin’s face.

“That was a hope lifter,” Kevin said, after Nick had disappeared into the kitchen.

“Yeah, definitely. But Kevin, the same goes to you. You need to pick it up, too.”

“Boys! Outside. Now!”

The powerful voice was now Big Rob’s, the top dog on the power hierarchy. When he yells, it’s become instinct for us to run. Kevin and I lightly jogged to the kitchen, heading for the door. Grabbing my Lucky Charms, I made my way out to the car with the others. Big Rob hit the gas before we could even put our seatbelts across our chests.

“Where are we going, again?” Kevin asked.

“Ryan Seacrest, KIIS-FM,” Big Rob answered.
_______________________________________________________________________

“Ladies and gentlemen, I have some visitors in the studio with me today. I’m sure you know them. They’re a famous group of brothers united under the name Jonas. Nick, Joe, Kevin, thanks for taking the time out of your insane schedule to be here.”

“Well thank you for having us,” Kevin replied.

“So the Grammys two nights ago, you didn’t get the award. How did you guys feel after they didn’t announce your name?”

“I think for us it was kind of a bittersweet moment. Adele is a great musician, and her album and songs are awesome. While it would have been an incredible honor to win the award, we’re ecstatic to have gotten the nomination. But, I’m glad it’s over. We were so nervous. It feels like the world was lifted off our shoulders, for now at least,” I answered honestly.

“The performance was great,” Ryan added. I watched Nick cringe, the plastered smile on his face fluctuating to some extent. “You guys looked great with Stevie. Were you satisfied with your performance?”

Ryan looked directly at Nick for an answer. Nick eyes widened, clearly unhappy that he chose not to answer one of the previous questions and now, since he hasn’t spoken yet, he was stuck with the one question he was trying to avoid.

“We went out there and we tried. Joe, Kevin, and especially Stevie were excellent. I am a little hard on myself, so I’m going to say I could have done better.”

“Don’t sweat it. You were great up there. Nick, you mentioned Megan was sick the night of the Grammys. What does she have? How is she doing now?”

“She has the flu. She’s doing better, I hope.”

“You hope? Does that mean you don’t know how she’s feeling?”

“What Nick means is that he hasn’t heard this morning if she’s feeling any better than she was last night,” I jumped in, trying to save my brother from getting in way over his head. Ryan looked at me, skeptical as to why I was answering for Nick.

“When was the last time you heard from her?”

I looked over at Nick, who looked angrier than words could describe. If he was a cartoon, steam would be coming out of his ears and his eyebrows would be thick, diagonal lines, dominant on his bright red face. Any minute now, with one more word about Megan, Nick would lunge as Ryan’s throat.

“Megan is on the road to recovery and that is all that matters,” Nick stated through his teeth.

“I sense tension,” Ryan observed.

“Well, I’m having fun,” Kevin announced, sensing the uneasiness as well.

“Kevin, I’ve been meaning to ask you about your ex, Dina Cordon. She’s been linked with Damien Keller recently. What are your thoughts on that?”

“If Damien makes Dina happy, then great. Dina deserves all the happiness in the world.”

“So you two are still friends? No hard feelings?”

“Still friends. No hard feelings.”

“That’s hard to believe,” Ryan accused, trying to call Kevin out. “I have this excerpt from a magazine published a few days ago with a picture of Dina and Damien. ‘While out on the town, Damien Keller is seen yet again closely cuddling up with Dina Cordon, ex-girlfriend of the Kevin Jo—’ ”

“Oh yeah? Good for her,” Kevin replied, stopping Ryan from reading the rest and making things more uncomfortable for him than they already were.

I looked over at Kevin. I didn’t appreciate how Ryan was ganging up on my brothers. It was unnecessary. If we had known this interview would be full of worthless questions and awkward accusations, we would have opted out in a heartbeat. I felt useless—Kevin and Nick were being attacked, but there was nothing I could do. Or was there?

“Hey Ryan, we have an announcement to make. We’re going to be playing a show at the House of Blues this weekend,” I intervened, hoping to focus Ryan’s attention on me.

“Oh, that’s awesome. What for?”

“No specific reason. It’s going to be a smaller show, only fifty people. We haven’t done a really intimate show in a while.”

“What are the details?”

“It’s Saturday night. The show starts at 7:00. You cannot buy tickets. Anyone who is interested in coming can enter in their information on our website up until Thursday night. On Friday, a computer will randomly select twenty-five people. Those people will each receive two tickets.”

“So it’s all chance. You’re going to have some angry fans,” Ryan laughed.

“There will be other shows. They don’t need to worry.”

I looked at my brothers, silently thanking me with their eyes. I smiled at them as Ryan thanked us for stopping by. As soon as the ‘On Air’ light went off, Nick stood up, took off his headphones, and unwillingly thanked Ryan. Kevin quickly followed Nick’s actions as I followed Kevin’s. The three of us walked abnormally fast, a security guard in front of us and Big Rob playing the caboose, making it to the car without any issues.

“He was a little harsh today,” Big Rob commented once we hit the open road.

“Don’t even get me started,” Nick replied, his voice filled with rage.

I could tell Kevin’s eyes were closed under his sunglasses. He looked exhausted, the Kevin-Lexie-Dina-Damien love square taking a toll on him. I looked over at Nick, currently staring out the tinted window. He was helpless. All he could do was wait for Megan to come around. I needed to know when that would be. I needed my little brother back.

Whether my brothers liked it or not, they were about to receive my help. I evaluated the situations in my head, as well as what I might need to do to try and fix them. Based purely on location and the current strength of the friendship, I decided I needed to work on Megan first.
_______________________________________________________________________

“Knock, knock.” I peered my head through the ajar door. I was welcomed with a smile, beckoning me to enter. “Hey Meg, how are you feeling?”

“Hey Joe. I’m feeling much better actually, thanks. How are you?”

“I’m doing pretty good.”

“I heard your interview this morning.”

“How he sounded isn’t even close to how badly he is doing,” I confessed, watching her face fall.

“Look, Joe. My doctor should be in any minute to tell me I’m allowed to go home. I don’t want to start this here and get cut off. You can come over when I get there. I just want to go home.”

“That sounds good. Text me when you’re settled. Would you like me to bring lunch?” I asked, pulling Megan into a tight hug and placing a light, brotherly kiss on the top of her head.

“Yes, please! Thank you. I can’t wait for real food. Hospital food is disgusting.”

“Alright,” I laughed. “I’ll see you in a little bit.”

“Hey Joe?” Megan called out as I reached the door. I turned around and raised my eyebrows, giving her my attention. “Does he know you came here?”

“He doesn’t have a clue.”
_______________________________________________________________________

When I got home, I headed up to my room, passing the now shut doors of my brothers’ bedrooms. A large sigh escaped my lips. The unhappiness my brothers were feeling caused them to retreat to their rooms again, leaving me torn up. I’m supposed to be the funny one. I’m supposed to make people feel better when they’re feeling down. But my name is neither Megan nor Dina, so how much was there for me to do?

Speaking of Dina, she was next. I went into my room and shut the door, jumping on the bandwagon. My motives for shutting the door were different than my brothers’. They wanted to be alone. I wanted to make sure no one was going to hear what I was about to do.

I signed onto my laptop, immediately requesting the video chat. My fingertips tapped the surface of the desk, waiting for a reply. When black box appeared on the screen, I sat up straighter, reading the message plastered on the screen—JoAJo is now video chatting with DCords.

“Hello there, Joseph.”

“Hey Dina, what’s going on?”

“Not much. I’m at work.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. If this is a bad time, we can do this later.”

“No it’s fine. My boss isn’t in today, so I’m in charge. No one can yell at me,” she giggled.

“So work is going well?”

“Very well. I love this job. It’s perfect for me—exactly what I want to do.”

“So it was worth it?”

“Yes and no.”

“No? Why is that?”

“You know why, Joe.”

“I want to hear you say it.”

“What’s gotten into you?”

“Did you listen to the interview this morning?”

“Of course I did. You know I’ll always follow you guys.”

“So you heard me single handedly save my brothers because they have both reached a point where they are so lost in their love lives that they can’t function properly in real life? That stuff about Kevin being okay with you and Damien being together—he lied through his teeth. The only truth he said was that you deserve all the happiness in the world. He wants to give you that happiness.”

“I gave him the choice, Joe. I flew across the country and waited on your doorstep in the pouring rain, only to be denied by Kevin while his new girl basically watched. If that doesn’t define pathetic, what does, Joe?”

“Dina, Kevin’s girlfriend, and I use that term loosely, is insane. He doesn’t love her, not even close. I swear he barely even likes the girl.”

“Isn’t she the reason he denied me?”

“Yeah, but that was when we all thought the girl was normal.”

“Regardless, he’s moved on,” Dina stated, after a few moments of silence.

“That may be one of the funniest things I have ever heard. He is so hung up on you. He ultimately sacrificed his relationship with Lexie yesterday just to talk to you. I’ve never heard Kevin raise his voice the way he did with her yesterday. He was so angry with the way she treated you. He kicked her out of the house, Dee. He made her leave and told her not to call him.”

Silence took over as Dina ran a hand through her straight, dark hair. I could tell I was starting to make an impact. I was forcing her to think, forcing her to start listening to those feelings she had been trying so hard to suppress.

“He’s not over you and you’re not over him. As much as you deny it, he wants to be with you. And as much as you deny it, you want to be with him,” I forcefully informed her.

“My life has changed. You don’t know what’s going on with me anymore.”

“Maybe your life has changed, but that doesn’t mean I still can’t read you. You’re still Dina Cordon, the girl I can read like a book. It’s written all over your face that you want my brother.”

“But I have Damien.”

“Oh right, the reason you called me balling yesterday,” I replied, sarcasm taking over my voice.

“What the hell is your problem, Joe?”

“I’m sorry, Dee,” I apologized, rubbing my face with my hands. “It’s just, they were both so helpless today. Nick almost strangled Seacrest and Kevin, Kevin was just distant. I feel like I’m losing my brothers and I don’t know what to do about it.”

“I don’t know what you want from me.”

“I want you to come clean with your feelings. I want you to stop pretending Damien is great for you, because he’s not. I want you to stop hiding that you need Kevin.”

“Is there anything else you wanted to discuss? Because this part of the conversation is over.”

“I’ll let you get back to work then. Let’s keep this conversation between us, Kevin doesn’t know I just told you all that stuff.”

“I won’t tell him.”

“Thanks, but Dina, you need to start being honest to yourself, honest to your feelings. I know those feelings are there. The relationship you had with Kevin will never be topped by another relationship—not with Damien, not with anyone. So sit down and think about it. When you uncover those feelings that I know you have, I promise I won’t say ‘I told you so.’”

“I hate you, you know that, Joe?”

“Why is that?”

“Because as much of an idiot as you are, you may be right.”

The screen went black as a satisfactory smile grew on my face. That was a step in the right direction, in my opinion. I patted myself on the back, saying to myself, “Good job, Joe. One down, one to go.” With freakishly perfect timing, my phone signaled a new message.

1 Received Text Message: Megan Gibson
11:32 a.m.- You can come now. I’m hungry. Bring me something good? :]
Let yourself in when you get here. You always do.
_______________________________________________________________________

After pulling the key out of the ignition, I grabbed the Chinese takeout bag from the passenger seat. I unlatched the back gate, entering the Gibson’s backyard. Quickly jogging up the deck steps, I made it to the glass door that leads to the kitchen. The door was unlocked as I slid it open and stepped inside.

“Oh Joe! You scared me!” Susan announced. I hadn’t noticed her washing dishes at the sink.

“Hey Susan, I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there.”

“Megan is in the family room, very excited to eat.”

“Isn’t she always?” I joked.

“Hey Joe?” Susan said, stopping me before I could leave the kitchen. “How’s Nick?”

“Honestly, he’s horrible.”

“I know my daughter. She wants to forgive him, I can tell, but she wants to appear headstrong and teach Nick a lesson.”

Moving my head up and down in agreement, I ventured around the corner to the family room. Megan was lying on her side, facing the TV. There were plates and eating utensils already on the coffee table.

“Aren’t you sick of lying down and watch TV?” I asked, slightly startling her.

“Yeah. So now, I’ll sit up and eat! What did you bring me?”

“Chicken Lo Mein,” I informed her with a smile, taking out the container and placing it in front of her.

“Oh man, Joe. You’re the best.”

Megan immediately dug into the carton with a fork, not even taking the time to put the noodles on the plate. I smiled, burying my fork into a carton of fried rice. For a while, we were silent as Megan inhaled her food.

“I’m gonna need to run after this,” Megan told me.

“We need to talk first.”

“Ahh,” Megan let out, putting the remaining contents onto the table. She turned her body to face mine, crossing her legs pretzel style. “Lay it out, Joe.”

“What’s going on in your head? I need to know.”

“You need to know, or someone else needs to know?”

“Both.”

“I don’t know what’s going on. I feel like it’s been years since I talked to him.”

“He feels the same way, trust me.”

“Have you talked to him?”

“Um, not really. I haven’t really had the chance to,” I stalled.

“There’s something you’re not telling me.”

“I don’t know if you should know.”

“Tell me,” Megan ordered.

“When he got home from the hospital, he went to his room. He didn’t come out until this morning, two minutes before we had to leave. I tried to ask him if he was okay and he stopped me. He didn’t want to talk about it.”

“Wow. So he secluded himself for an entire day. That is all on me, isn’t it?”

“Not exactly. You would not have had to do what you did if he did not do what he did.”

“That was confusing, yet somehow I completely understood,” Megan said, cracking a side smile.

“It’s undeniable that he made a mistake. He shouldn’t have yelled at you and he needed to control his frustration better. You didn’t deserve to be treated that way. All I ask is that you look at his perspective. His adrenaline was running, his blood sugar was low, he had a slip up in front of a million people across the country. I know none of these are excuses for what he did, but, he was fueled.”

“I know he was frustrated. I understand that. He had every right to be. But Joe, he blamed me for not being there, like I made the choice not to go.”

“You have every right to be upset. I know he’s not perfect and I’m not asking you to pretend that he is. But I know you, and I know that deep down inside you know this has gone on long enough. You just spent days in the hospital and you didn’t have him by your side. As mad as you were at him, you needed him, just like you need him now. You love him, he loves you, and you two need to be together. You need your boyfriend back, and I need my brother back.”

Megan turned her attention to the TV. I could tell by the look on her face that she was replaying the words that just left my mouth. She knew I was right, because I obviously was.

“I hate you, you know that?”

Megan’s words caused a huge grin to spread across my face. Again, I had made progress. I was two for two, and if Frankie had girl problems at the moment, his girl would have been next because I am on a roll.