Crawling Back To You

Joe’s POV

“I should have known you would do this,” Dina admitted.

“Yeah, you should have. Why are you hiding from us, from me?”

“It’s complicated, Joe. You wouldn’t understand,” she said, shuffling through the papers in front of her, giving herself a distraction.

“Try me,” I dared.

“You want the truth, Joe? Fine. Here’s the truth.” She dropped her papers before she dropped a bomb on me. “I’m pretty pissed at you.”

“At me? What did I do?” I asked, stunned.

“You lied to me.”

“I have never lied to you.”

“You said he still loves me. You said he still cares about me. Newsflash—he doesn’t. You got my hopes up. And for what? For nothing.”

“Are you kidding? Of course he does. Why would he have pulled some strings last night to find out where Damien was? Why would he have gone to a club, a place where he feels very uncomfortable, to find Damien? Because he knew you’d be there. Why did he tell Nick and me not to tell you we were coming to New York? Because he wanted to surprise you.”

“Kevin showing up last night was nothing more than a freakish coincidence. You’re lying to me again, Joe, right now. Stop the lying. It’s only making me hurt more.”

Silence filled the conference room as tears began pouring out of Dina’s hazel eyes. She didn’t deserve to be feeling this way, but she needs to put her guard down and accept the fact that Kevin needs her, she needs Kevin and they need to be together. As Dina’s elbows hit the table, her face immediately fell into her hands. Taking this as my cue, I walked around the table and took the seat next to Dina. I scooted my chair closer to her, placing my hand on her back and moving in a small, circular motion.

“I’m not lying to you. You need to believe me, Dina. In all the years we have known each other, now is the time to take me seriously.”

Her face crashed into my chest as I securely put both of my arms around her, providing her with the comfort zone that I knew she needed. It isn’t often that Dina breaks down. It takes a lot for her to appear as vulnerable as she did in my arms. Strength is one of the most dominant characteristics about Dina. As soon as she feels weak in a situation, she leaves it, fearing someone will steal her strength.

Wiping the tears off her face, Dina pulled away from me, brushing me off while pretending that little break down didn’t occur. “I’m sorry for accusing you of lying,” she said, pushing some buttons on her phone. I stared at her, confused at the sudden turnaround in her emotions.

“Dina, what are you doing?”

“Hey Scott,” she said to the person on the other end. “Can you send someone from the show up to floor six? I have Joe Jonas up here and I’m sure you guys are waiting on him…Yup, thanks Scott.”

In my mind, I tried to sort out what just happened. One minute, Dina was falling apart in my arms, appreciating that I, one of her best friends, was here for her when she needed it. The next minute, she sold me out to production and basically asked them to remove me from her presence. I don’t understand what she wants. Girls are impossible.

“I’m gonna be fine, Joe. Thanks for finding me. You’ve always been one of my best friends. Have fun on Regis and Kelly.”

Dina quickly gathered the scattered papers in front of her and scurried out of the room. Still unsure of what just happened, I followed Dina’s path. As I reached the elevator, a frustrated man stepped off and gave me a stern look. I sent him an apologetic look and stepped into the elevator with him.

Kevin’s POV

When we cut to commercial break, I let out a surprised sigh as I wondered how I managed to pull that off. I could barely hear the questions being thrown at me over the ringing in my head. Every time the audience cheered, I cringed as the pounding of my head increased. The hangover I experienced this morning was miserable and I promised to myself I would never get that carried away again.

We stepped into the elevator and I immediately placed my head against the cold wall, letting my eyes shut for the short ride down. “Kevin?” I opened one eye and glanced down, where Frankie was looking up at me with furrowed eyebrows. “What’s wrong with you?”

“I think the hectic schedule and lack of sleep is finally taking a toll on me, buddy,” I lied.

“You look like you need a nap.”

“I do, Frank. I definitely do,” I laughed.

As we headed through the lobby, I felt my phone vibrate in my coat pocket. Slipping it out subtly, I gripped it with my hand as I pulled my sunglasses over my eyes. After stepping out the door, there was an instant increase in volume and brightness. I secretly wished the fans would shut up for once, showing consideration for my splitting headache. Ignoring the obnoxious yelling and picture taking, I glanced down at my phone, remembering the message indication from a few moments before.

1 New Received Text Message: Dina Cordon
10:14 a.m.- My apartment--182 24th Ave, number 7E. Come over at 4.

Part of me thought this was a sick joke, like Damien took Dina’s phone and texted me that to see if I’d show up—to give him a reason to kick the life out of me. But, no matter how crazy that thought was, the thought that I wouldn’t take this invitation was even crazier. As my steady pace brought me closer to the awaiting car, the grin on my face grew. Dina wants to see me. After all we’ve been through, maybe there is hope.

A few hours later, I found myself alone in the car with Big Rob on our way to Dina's apartment. “We’re here, Kev,” Big Rob announced.

The car began to slow down as my heart began to speed up. Thanking Rob for the ride, I stepped out and quickly strolled into Dina’s building. Although I didn’t think it was possible, my heart was going faster than it was outside. Only Dina could do this to me—to my heart.

“Hello, may I help you?” a man behind a desk asked me.

“Uh yeah, I’m here to see Dina Cordon.”

“Name?”

“Kevin Jonas.”

“Ahh, yes. Around 4:00,” he said, looking down at some kind of book. “You’re right on time. Ms. Cordon is on floor seven. Take that elevator up. When you step off, hang to your left and you’ll eventually hit apartment E.”

“Thank you very much.”

Following the man’s instructions, I made it to apartment E. I held out my arm and held my index finger over the doorbell. With a sudden boost of eagerness, my arm shot out until my finger made contact with the small, white button. Hearing the ding, I quickly put my arm back to my side before shoving my hands into my pockets. I was undeniably nervous. I could only hope that Dina and I had the same expectations to come from this little get together.

The door swiftly opened, revealing Dina looking more beautiful than ever. My breath hitched in the back of my throat, preventing me from speaking. “Hey Kevin,” Dina finally said, after realizing nothing was going to be coming out of my mouth.

“Hey Dina,” I replied.

“Come in,” she offered, taking a step to the side.

Smiling, I stepped into Dina’s apartment. Looking around, I decided this apartment must have been at least three times the size of her L.A. apartment but was decorated similarly. The mantle display was literally the same expect it was missing one thing—the picture of me and her that used to sit framed next to the picture of her and her sister. Now, there was an empty space. Sadness and happiness battled for dominance inside of me—sad my picture was no longer there, but happy that it was not replaced.

“Your place looks great,” I commented.

“Thanks. Can I get you something? A drink or anything?”

“No, thanks. I’m fine, D.”

“Alright then. Let’s go into the living room.” I followed her into the living room and took a seat on the couch next to her, both of us slightly slanting our bodies to face each other. “So, I asked you to come over because I think we need to talk.”

“I think you’re right,” I agreed. “Can I go first?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Alright. Look Dina, I’m not going to beat around the bush. There’s no point in that. I’m just going to lay it all out right now. Dina Cordon, I love you just as much today as I did the week before you told me you were leaving. I can’t go on pretending like these feelings inside me don’t exist because they do. I tried to move on, I did, but I couldn’t help but compare her to you, which was hard to do because there was no comparison. I’m sick and tired of feeling like crap, Dina. I need you and I’m not going to settle for anything less than you by my side.”

“Kevin, I—”

“Dina, don’t you dare deny that you don’t have those same feelings for me.”

“You aren’t me, Kevin. You don’t know what’s going on inside of me. Who are you to say what feelings I have and what feelings I don’t have?”

“I practically am you. I know more about you than you know about yourself. The same goes for you about me. Together, we are one. We have been one since we were nine years old. From the day I realized you didn’t have cooties, I wanted you and only you.”

“But Kevin, I’ve been more successful at moving on.”

“If you’re referring to Damien, all I’m going to say is bullshit. I saw the way he treated you. I saw the fear in your eyes when he was blaming you and mad at you for something you didn’t do. I bet you went home and did what you always do when you’re upset. I bet you crawled up in your bed and turned on a Lifetime movie, right?” My eyes tried to grab Dina’s, which were purposely straying away from mine. She knew I was right and didn’t want to have to admit it. “Am I right?”

“Yes. Fine. I did that. So what?” she asked, beginning to get upset.

“Does he know what you do when you’re upset? Does he know anything about you? Does he even care?”

“You don’t know him like I do. He’s a good guy.”

“Oh yeah, a good guy. I called you last night, did you know that? I called you and he picked up. He threatened me, saying that if I tried to contact you while in New York, he was going to ruin my life. He doesn’t care about you like I care about you!”

“If you cared about me even half as much as you claim to, you would have followed me out last night.”

“I did! The cab was pulling away when I got outside.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Okay, fine. Don’t believe me. But just so you know, I took Damien’s threat fairly seriously. I know he has power in the entertainment world and in this city. When I got your text, I didn’t think twice about coming here, despite what he said to me. Do you think I would risk my reputation and my career for something and someone I don’t care about?”

“Kevin, we’re just not on the same page. I can’t do this.”

“I don’t understand, Dina!” I raised my voice. I let myself push off the couch and pace back and forth on the other side of the coffee table. “Why you are making this so hard on yourself. Why are you making this so hard on me? We don’t deserve this. We deserve to be happy!”

“You deserve to be happy, Kevin!” she yelled, stepping up onto the coffee table to be at my eye level. “I can barely look at myself knowing what I did to you, knowing how terrible I made you feel! What if I do it again?”

“That won’t happen. But if you ever do it again, or if you even try to, that time would be different. That time, no matter what, I wouldn’t let you go.”

“But. But Damien. But Lexie.”

“I broke up with Lexie last week. You could drop Damien like a dime. You mean nothing to him. He shouldn’t be allowed to treat you the way he treats you. I would never even think of treating you with such disrespect.”

“Kevin?” she asked, her hazel eyes digging into my brown ones. “Do you really think we could make this work again?”

My heart, rather than my head, decided to answer her question. My hands gravitated to the sides of her face, holding it steady. My thumbs found comfortable positions on her cheeks while my fingers wrapped around her jaw bone. Pushing forward, I didn’t stop until my lips met hers.

The kiss was the first thing that felt right for me since Dina left the West Coast. When I was with Dina, it was like I had no other problems in the world. With my lips on hers, I couldn’t even tell you what two plus two equals. My focus was entirely on Dina, and that’s just the way I wanted it to be. Dina’s lips began to move against mine in a synchronized manner. I would say our four lips fit together like puzzle pieces, but unlike Dina and me, puzzle pieces can easily break off and become detached.

Suddenly, Dina’s lips left mine, allowing the brisk air to hit me. “Kevin.”

“Don’t deny it, Dina. It needs to happen, it’s what’s supposed to happen, so let it happen.”

“It can’t be this easy.”

“Why not?”

“We can’t just magically go back to being perfect.”

“Why not?”

“Damien.”

“What about him?”

“You said it yourself, Kev. He’s powerful in this industry, in this city. I can’t just drop him like that. What if he goes after you?”

“If I have you, I don’t care what he does. I’ll deal with whatever he has up his sleeve. We can face it together.”

“But, what should I do?”

After a good, long thought, I decided to test something. “Come with me. Right now,” I offered.

“What? What are you talking about?”

“Don’t ask questions. Just grab some stuff and come with me. Just leave.”

For me, this is the ultimate test. Dina loves her job, and I would never, ever ask her to give it up for me, but if she’s willing to jeopardize it in the heat of this moment, it would mean she truly wants to be with me. If she’s willing to come with me to a disclosed location, it would mean we could really make this work. I need to know if she’s serious about this or if she’s just telling me what I want to hear.

I could tell she wasn’t taking me seriously as she stood there with a goofy, shocked look on her face. To show her I wasn’t kidding, I grabbed my coat and began to put it around me. Shooting one last look in her direction, I turned my back to her and began walking towards the door slowly, silently praying to God that she would follow me.

“Kevin, wait!” Prayer answered. A smile grew on my face but I quickly wiped it off before turning around. She somehow already had a coat on as she threw some random things into her big, black purse. As she walked towards me, I opened the door, allowing her to exit first. I followed after her, letting the door slam shut behind me. Grabbing her hand and lacing her fingers with mine, we walked at a quickened pace down the hallway towards the elevator.

I let go of her hand as I went over to push the button for the elevator. A ding signaled the elevator’s arrival. The door opened slowly, exposing an empty elevator. Placing my hand on the small of Dina’s back, I guided her into the elevator as I followed suit. Pushing the L button, I looked at Dina while the door slid shut.

“Kevin, where are we going?”

“It doesn’t matter where we go. All that matters is that you came with me.”

A genuine smile spread across her face as well as mine. Finding it too cute to pass up, I placed my hands on her waist and brought her closer to me. Her arms wrapped around my torso as she nuzzled her face into my chest. Resting my chin on the top of her head, I couldn’t help but stop and appreciate the situation. Dina is finally back in my arms—back where she belongs.

I looked down as I felt Dina pull her head away from my chest. She smiled up at me before lifting herself to her tip toes to reach my lips. She placed a short, sweet, genuine kiss on my lips, causing my heart to flutter to no end inside my body.

“Hey Dina?”

“Yeah, Kev?”

“I love you. I never stopped and I don’t plan on stopping.”

“I love you too, Kevin.”

“And to verbally answer your question before, I know we can make this work again. I know we will be happy,” I told her, pulling her into me again. I gave her body a light squeeze before saying, “I wouldn’t want it any other way but this right here.”