Crawling Back To You

Megan’s POV

“Are you totally drained today, or is it just me?” Heather asked as we gathered our things in the locker room.

“It’s definitely not just you. We worked wicked hard today,” I responded. After zipping up my backpack, I gripped my keys in the palm of my hand as I headed for the door.

“Can we jump in your pool when we get to your house? Like right away?”

“That sounds like a great idea,” I laughed.

As we walked across the parking lot, my fingers slid over the buttons on my Blackberry, formulating a response to the text Nick sent me during practice. Heather’s phone beeped, signaling she had a new message as well. I watched her face as she opened it, her face instantly turning from nonchalant to blushing like crazy.

“May I ask who is turning your cheeks so red right now?” I said with a large grin.

“Yes you may, but I know you already know the answer.

“The brother of the boy I’m texting.”

“If you want to put it like that, sure,” Heather laughed.

“He likes you, Heath. A lot.”

“Does he?” she contemplated as we threw our bags into the back seat of my car.

“He told me so. I didn’t even ask. He just said it.”

“Ugh, I don’t know, Meg,” Heather said with a huff, buckling her seatbelt as I started the car. “I get the vibes from him but, I don’t know, the whole thing with his ex is still sketchy to me.”

“I talked to him about what happened. He finally opened up to me. Apparently she sent a…a not very appropriate picture of herself to Joe, but on accident. The message with it said, ‘I miss you, Mark!’”

“Shut up!”

“Dead serious. Apparently they had been having issues lately, issues that no one but them knew about, and this last thing officially put him over the edge.”

“That message thing would be kind of funny if it didn’t happen to someone I know.”

“You mean someone you like?”

“Yeah. I mean, wait. Oh my gosh, you just set me up!”

“I did? Oops…” I shrugged my shoulders before joining Heather’s fit of laughter already taking place.

As I pulled into my driveway, I saw an out of place, but very familiar car where I usually park. “What is Joe doing here?”

“Did he know I was coming over?” Heather joked.

“I have no idea.”

“This seems fishy.”

“I’m putting ten bucks on Nick being behind this, too.”

“Well regardless of what those two brunettes are doing, can we just relax in the pool?”

“You’re reading my mind.”

Although we pretended like we didn’t care what Joe, and most likely Nick, were up to, we were both dying to know. Instead of walking around the house to the backyard, the most obvious and quickest way to the pool, Heather and I decided to venture through the house. As soon as I pushed the door open after unlocking it, I was hit with an amazing aroma.

“You smell that?” I asked over my shoulder.

“How can I not? That smells incredible,” she replied.

Confused and intrigued, I stepped further into the kitchen, finally settling my eyes on the sources of the smell. Spread across the island in the middle of the kitchen was a colorful display of delicious foods—different kinds of sandwiches, various types of salads, and a tropical fruit platter. The usually bare kitchen table had a dark green table cloth draped over it, plates and silverware set up for four.

“Good afternoon, ladies,” Joe greeted as he came into view.

“How are you both on this lovely day?” Nick added, entering the kitchen soon after Joe.

“What is all this?” I asked.

“We felt badly about our last minute bailing on our plans last night, so we wanted to make up for it,” Nick explained.

“After I work out, I’m always hungry. So, under the assumption that that is true for everyone, we went for the edible approach. Are you girls hungry?”

“Starving!” Heather and I yelled at the same time.

Walking over towards Nick, I wrapped my arms around his torso as he pulled me into his chest. “Thank you,” I whispered.

“You’re welcome, baby. I’ve said it a bunch of times, but I am sorry about yesterday.”

“It wasn’t your fault. I know you can’t control those last minute meetings.”

“You’re the best,” Nick concluded, placing a gentle kiss on the top of my head.

“Hey love birds, I’ve been smelling and staring at this food for the past hour. Can we please eat it?” Joe impatiently requested.

I sent Joe a smile meaning two things; ‘yes, we can eat’ and ‘you’re like a ten year old boy at heart.’ Without any more verbal communication, Nick and Joe simultaneously pulled chairs out for Heather and me. After each of us thanked the particular Jonas for his action, we immediately dug into the food.

“So how was practice today?” Nick asked, placing spoonfuls of potato salad on his plate.

“Long,” I answered, as Heather answered “Exhausting” at the same time.

“Sounds like a great time,” Joe laughed.

“No. This was the worst practice we’ve had in a while.”

“Oh it couldn’t have been that bad. I’m sure I could have kept up,” Joe claimed.

“You almost died after our two mile run last week, Joe!” I reminded him.

“You run more than two miles at practice?”

“Two miles is like a warm up for us, my friend.”

“No way,” Joe refused to believe.

“We are a United States National Team. We represent the female population of the country’s ability to play soccer, a game of ninety minutes of pure running,” Heather explained.

“True. I didn’t think of that.”

“That’s because you don’t think,” Nick taunted his brother.

“Watch it, Nicholas. You may be slightly smarter than me, but I’m still the older brother, which means I can beat you up whenever I want.”

“Oh, I’m so scared. Megan, save me!”

Nick put a hand on my shoulder as he ducked behind me. Just the feeling of Nick’s cheek on my back made my heart speed up. The ends of my lips lifted, forming a genuine smile across my face. It seemed as if Nick amazed me more and more every day. Even after eight months, the boy could make my heart race just as fast as the day I met him.

“So guys, don’t take this the wrong way, you know I thoroughly enjoy your presence, but you are still missing one. Have either of you talked to him? Don’t you have that huge meeting tomorrow about the potential upcoming tour?” I curiously questioned.

“Yeah we do. He texted me this morning,” Nick announced.

“What?! He didn’t text me!” Joe complained.

“That’s because he likes me more. Anyway, he said he would probably be taking the red eye home tonight.” My response was a simple nod as the conversation at the table died for a few seconds.

“I want to jump in the pool,” Heather abruptly stated.

“Wow, random much?” Joe teased.

“We just ate. We can’t swim yet.” Oh Nick, always thinking.

“I’ll go in with you, Heath. We’ll be okay, mom,” I directed at Nick.

Heather and I quickly got up from the table and ran towards the sliding glass door leading outside. “What about the dishes?” Nick called out.

“We’ll get them later. Now get your cute butt outside!”

“Fine!” Nick yelled, running after us with Joe following suit.

After four cannonballs, the previously tranquil blue water was officially disturbed. The laughing and complaints that the pool was cold instantly started after the four of us surfaced. The pool wasn’t cold; Joe was just being a wimp.

I swam up behind Nick, wrapping my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. Somehow, Nick turned his body around in my grip. I watched as the water dripped off the curls stuck to his face. Desiring to see his gorgeous eyes, I brushed the hair out of the way.

“I love you, Megan. I feel like I don’t tell you that nearly enough to express how I actually feel.”

“I know how you feel because it’s how I feel. I love you, Nick.”

Nick leaned forward, his lips catching mine in a kiss full of affection and chlorine. “Nick, Kevin does NOT like you more than me!” We broke apart to look at Joe, who had just registered Nick’s comment from earlier.

“Joe, out of everyone I have met, you are the slowest and the most capable of ruining a moment.”

“Well, I’m going to take that as a compliment, because you have met a lot of people!”

Rolling his eyes as I let out a slight chuckle, Nick told me to ignore Joe as he pulled me closer, picking up where we left off.

Dina’s POV

My older brother always told me, “The more your head hurts in the morning, the more fun you had last night.” Based on his theory, and based on this headache, you would think I had a pretty great night last night. But the more I thought about it, the worse my night seemed. The words exchanged between Damien and I flooded back into my pounding head, making me feel even more uncomfortable than before.

I glanced over to my night stand with the intentions of learning the time. In front of the digital clock sat a glass of water, two pills of Advil, and a note.

“D–I’m ready to talk when you are. –K.”

Although the note has some sense of negativity, it provided me with comfort at the same time. If anyone knows how to take care of me, it’s Kevin. If anyone knows how to make me feel better when I’m feeling sick, my fault or not, it’s Kevin. If anyone is going to tell me how stupid my actions were last night, which I definitely needed to hear, it’s Kevin. If anyone is perfect for me, it’s Kevin.

Throwing the covers off myself, I swung my legs around until my feet hit the floor. I quickly stood up and opened the door, venturing down the hall in search of the only man I wanted to see at the moment. My eyes finally found him on my living room couch. I felt horrible seeing Kevin scrunched up on the tiny couch as I slept with a huge bed all to myself.

Kneeling on the floor beside the couch, I brought my face close to Kevin’s, allowing myself to feel his evenly spaced exhales on my cheeks. His slender body looked so exhausted that I felt bad waking him. Placing a kiss on his closest cheek, I stood up and began walking back to my room.

“Hey,” a quiet voice came from behind me. Peering over my shoulder, I noticed Kevin’s slightly open eyes as he perched himself up on his elbows.

“Good morning,” I replied.

“How are you feeling?”

“I’ve been better but I’ve been worse.”

“Want to sit?” Kevin asked.

Thinking quickly, I shook my head no. As I watched Kevin’s eyebrows rise in confusion, I walked towards the couch. Motioning for him to move over, I comfortably placed my body in the space Kevin created, leaning against Kevin’s chest as his arms wrapped around my frame.

“I’m sorry for pushing you away last night and I’m sorry for being ridiculous.”

“It’s okay, D. I just really need you to know that there is no one better than me for you. You just need to accept the fact that I’m for you and no one else.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I know I am just as perfect for you as you are for me. You want what’s best for me and I want what’s best for you. If I’m what’s best for you, then I’m yours.”

“Promise?” Kevin asked.

“I promise.”

“Forever?” he whispered.

“Forever,” I proudly responded.

“You just made me a very happy man, Dina Cordon.”

“I’m glad I could help, Kevin Jonas.”

Kevin turned my body around in his arms until I was facing him. The process made me giggle, his hands tickling at my sides. Once facing each other, Kevin leaned forward, adding our lips to our ongoing list of touching body parts. Seeing as my living room couch wasn’t that big, we were practically on top of each other, but neither of us complained.

“I love you,” Kevin stated, pulling away to look me in the eyes.

“And I love you,” I replied. “So, not that I want you to or anything, but when do you have to leave?”

“Just as much as I don’t want to, I need to take the red eye tonight. I have a big meeting tomorrow morning that I can’t miss.”

“About what?”

“Tour planning.”

“I wish my job could involve following you around.”

“You could always join the Jonas task force. We pay good salaries.”

“That’s tempting. So tempting.”

“The offer is always there. But you love your job and you’re amazing at it, so you should stick with it.”

“Even if it means me being here all the time and you being all over the place all the time?”

“We’ll get through it.”

“You’ll get through it. You’ll have things to do. You’ll have girls throwing themselves at you left and right.”

“I’m not looking at nor do I care about any girl whose name isn’t Dina Cordon.”

“That’s reassuring,” I said with a smile.

“What do you say we get some breakfast?”

“We’re not going to get breakfast. I’m going to make breakfast!”

“So we’re having cereal?”

“Shut up!” I playfully hit Kevin in the shoulder. “Do waffles sound good?”

“Waffles made by you sound fantastic.”

I stood up, grabbing Kevin’s hand in the process. Pulling him up with me, I continued pulling until his lips crashed mine. After I was satisfied and after I heard Kevin’s stomach growl, I separated our lips, but not our hands as dragged Kevin to the kitchen.