Crawling Back To You

Megan’s POV

Nick and I sat in the backseat of the Jonas SUV, our legs resting against each other’s and Nick’s arm lazily draped over my shoulders. The car was silent, except for the low murmur of the radio, as Big Rob tried to maneuver through L.A. traffic as quickly as he could. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Nick’s other leg bouncing up and down frantically. I glanced up at his face, which was turned away from mine, staring out at the California scenery.

I leaned across his body, placing a hand on his restless leg. First, he looked at my hand, then at my face. “Are you okay?” I asked him.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he said. “I’m just a little nervous.”

Today, Nick and I were going to be recording an episode of the Tyra Banks Show. Two weeks ago, she contacted us, wondering if we would be interested in taking part in an episode about teenage dating. Of course, we were hesitant at first, concerned that this would pry into our personal lives a little too much. But after a long thought process, our desire to help other teenagers took over and we agreed.

“It’ll be okay, Nick. We’re talking about us and our relationship, two things we’re both experts on. If anything gets too personal, just give a very generic answer. I’ll be right next to you the entire time,” I said, adding a little squeeze on his knee.

“You’re right. And anything is easier for me when you’re by my side,” he cooed, placing a light kiss on my temple.

When we reached the studio, we were immediately put into hair and makeup in the large guest dressing room. Nick and I were the only two guests on this episode, so we had the huge room all to ourselves. Getting my makeup done was always a little weird for me. When I do wear it, I don’t glob it on like other celebrities out there.

“Megan! Nick! It’s great of you two to join us today,” came a voice from behind us. Nick and I turned around simultaneously to identify the speaker. We came face to face with Tyra herself, strolling towards us with a glowing smile spread across her face. “I know who you two are of course, but we’ve never formally met. I’m Tyra Banks.”

“It’s an honor to meet you, Ms. Banks,” Nick spoke as Tyra shook his hand first.

“It’s an honor to meet you as well, Nick. Please, call me Tyra. It’s an honor to meet you as well, Megan.”

“Same to you! My mom and I watch Top Model together.”

“Your mother is a fantastic designer,” Tyra complimented.

“Yeah, she’s incredible,” I smiled.

“I’m so thrilled you two agreed to do this show with us. When we came up with the teenage dating idea, we couldn’t think of anyone better to have on the show than both of you.”

“Thanks for thinking of us,” I replied as Nick flashed his signature toothless smile.

“So the cool thing about this episode is that the entire studio audience is teenagers,” Tyra explained. “So what we’re going to do is I’m going to ask you guys questions first about you two. You can offer up as much or as little information as you feel comfortable with. I’m not going to pry. And then we’re going to have kids in the audience ask questions or ask for advice or whatever.

“Sounds easy enough,” Nick responded with a nod.

“Awesome. We’re going to get started fairly soon. The crowd is already anxious to see you guys. No pressure or anything,” Tyra joked.

“Oh yeah, none at all. Nick and I are just about to reveal details about our relationship that we never have before. No big deal, really,” I sarcastically replied with a laugh to show I was kidding.

“Just remember,” Tyra started, heading for the door. “Only say what you’re comfortable with. I’ll see you guys out there!” she called over her shoulder.

The makeup artists working on Nick and me followed Tyra out the door, leaving us alone for the first time since we arrived at the studio. “Come here, my girl,” Nick said, grabbing my wrist and pulling me towards him. His beautifully sculpted arms pulled me into his chest.

“Have I told you how beautiful you are today yet?” he whispered into my ear.

“No,” I laughed.

“Well, you’re beautiful. Have I told you how much I love you today yet?”

“No again.”

“Well, I love you. And I definitely do not have a problem with saying that out there today.”

“Really?”

“As if people can’t tell by the way I look at you.”

“True. You get that little glow in your eyes,” I smiled.

“I only get that glow I’m with you.”

I was able to respond with an, “I love you,” before Nick crashed his lips against mine. One of Nick’s hands found its way to the back of my neck, pulling my face even closer. I allowed my fingers to get lost in his thick Jonas curls that I love so much. Nick deepened the kiss, increasing the intensity as he proved to be hungry for more.

A thunderous knock on the door startled us, causing me to slightly jump. “Let’s go, you two,” Big Rob’s commanding voice came from the other side.

“Darn. Just when we were getting to the good part,” Nick laughed.

“You mean that wasn’t the good part? That was pretty good if you ask me.”

“Oh please. I can do so much better than that.”

“Speaking from experience, I most certainly know you can.”

“Well at least it put me in the mood. I am now ready to go tell the world exactly how much I love you.”

“Let’s go rock star,” I smiled, lacing his fingers with mine.

Big Rob opened the door forcefully, relieved when he saw that he wasn’t going to give us a last warning. He lead the way down the hallway. We passed a man with a headset, counting down from five on his fingers. Seconds after he hit zero, we heard a roar of screams, figuring Tyra walked just walked out. It was to my knowledge that Tyra was going to say a few things before introducing us.

When the crowd finally died down, Tyra began to speak. “People start looking for love at a very young age. Teens across the world jump into relationships to see what it feels like, to test the waters. A lot of those relationships unfortunately end with broken hearts. It’s not every day that you find a young couple in a healthy relationship built with a strong foundation of trust and loyalty. However, I did find one who so kindly decided to join me today. But this young couple isn’t like your ordinary couple. It’s safe to say they’ve seen it all and been through more than most teenage couples have. They need no further introduction, so give it up for Megan Gibson and Nick Jonas!”

Nick and I were given the cue by the man with the headset to walk out. Nick gave my hand that was still in his a light squeeze as I gave his hand one right back. The crowd of entirely teenagers erupted with noise, giving us a loud and warming welcome. Tyra, who was standing by the long couch, greeted us with hugs before signaling for us to sit.

“Aww, you two are so cute,” Tyra cooed, referring to the fact that Nick’s arm was resting on the couch behind me.

“Why thank you,” I laughed.

“So Megan, you are how old?”

“Seventeen.”

“And you, Nick?”

“Also seventeen.”

“How long have you two been dating?”

“It’s May, right?” Nick asked, resulting in audience laughter.

“Yes, Nick. It’s May,” I told him, rolling my eyes.

“Then just about nine months,” Nick answered.

“Nine months! Wow! Okay, let’s take it from the start. How did you guys meet?”

“It’s kind of funny actually. Well, funny for Megan, but kind of embarrassing for me,” Nick admitted.

“Nick was doing an interview with Ryan Seacrest and actually admitted to having a ‘celebrity crush’ on me. Ryan introduced us at the Teen Choice Awards and we just clicked. When I was in Beijing and Nick was still on the Burning Up Tour, we talked a lot and continued to get to know each other despite being on opposite sides of the world. When we were both back from our respective trips, we settled down and decided we wanted to be together.”

“Was there a time that you knew you had to be with the other person?”

“I definitely do,” I answered first. “When I was in Beijing, the day before the gold medal match, my grandpa passed away. My family left China to come back home and I was extremely upset about having to miss the funeral. However, Nick called me and told me to turn on my computer. When I did, he invited me to a video chat and when I accepted it, he was actually at my grandpa’s funeral. He had a day off and flew across the country to attend a funeral for someone he didn’t know, but he did it so I could ‘be there’ without physically being there. I had no idea he was going to do that, neither did anyone in my family. That’s when I knew,” I said, smiling at Nick.

“You did that?” Tyra asked.

“I did. I felt awful that she couldn’t be there. I could feel her pain just by hearing it in her voice. I had to do something.”

“If that’s not the sweetest thing in the world, I don’t know what is.”

“I do what I can. And for me, the moment I knew I just had to be with Megan was when I watched one of her games and saw that she had written ‘NJ’ on her cleats.”

“The announcers apparently thought that was to represent New Jersey. They were wrong. It was absolutely for Nick Jonas,” I clarified.

“I, of course, knew that. And I don’t really know. Something just hit me. I just knew it at that moment.”

“And now look where you are,” Tyra said, sounding absolutely astonished.

“Yup. Here we are,” I laughed.

“Okay, I remember when I was seventeen. I could barely make a relationship last nine weeks, let alone nine days. How do you guys keep it going, especially with incredibly busy lives such as your own?”

“Trust,” was my simple response.

“Absolutely. Our jobs are demanding and there are a lot of days we can’t see each other. There are days that we’re lucky enough to even get in a phone call. But the fact that we trust each other to be doing good things on those days is very important,” Nick added.

“Patience and understanding are also huge. Those two things are easier and harder for us. It’s easier because we understand how busy the other is because we have similar schedules. But it’s also frustrating because there are a lot of times where one of us is busy and the other is not, and then it switches and it feels like we just keep missing each other,” I said.

“Are there any positives that come from having such vigorous schedules?”

“We value the time we have together more than most people do, which is certainly a good thing,” Nick replied.

“I definitely agree. When we’re together, we make the absolute best of it because sometimes we don’t know how long it will be until we can spend quality time together again.”

“Do you want to play a little game?” Tyra asked.

“Does it involve being competitive?” Nick asked in response.

“No, and I think I’m glad it doesn’t. You just had this really intense look on your face. I got kind of scared for a second. Down boy!” Tyra laughed. “I guess it’s not really a game per se. You each have to say three facts about the other one that you don’t think any fan knows. It can be as random and as silly as you want. You’ll go back and forth, taking turns. Can you do that?”

“I’m at a severe disadvantage. Jonas fans know everything! But I’ll try,” I agreed.

“Alright, who wants to go first?”

“Ladies first,” Nick smiled.

“Such a gentlemen. Something fans don’t know about Nick, huh? Nick never walks around the house barefoot. He is always wearing socks.”

“Even in the summer?” Tyra questioned curiously.

“Even in the summer,” Nick confirmed. “I don’t know why. I just need to have socks on. It’s weird,” he laughed. “Okay, something about Megan. Umm…Megan only uses white toothpaste.”

“What? Why!” Tyra asked with confusion.

“I don’t know! I don’t like blue or green or red toothpaste. I just need to use white toothpaste!” I laughed at myself, knowing it was a weird habit. “Okay, fact two about Nick. Nick could go an entire month wearing a different plaid shirt every day. He has at least thirty different plaids. The one he is wearing right now is my favorite one,” I said, making reference to his light green and white plaid shirt.

“I love plaid. It’s simple and, I don’t know, something about plaid says adventurous to me.”

“I like men in plaid,” Tyra admitted.

“As do I,” I agreed as Tyra held out a hand for a high five.

“Fact two about Megan, she looks really good with pink hair.”

“What?!” Tyra yelled.

“Okay, Frankie, the Bonus Jonas, convinced me to allow him to spray this pink hair stuff in my hair. When Nick came home and saw it, he almost passed out on the spot. It came right out in the shower. It was funny.”

“No. No it was not funny,” Nick disagreed.

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say. Fact three about Nick, his least favorite chore is cleaning the pool.”

“Ugh, I really don’t like doing that.”

“Why?” Tyra laughed.

“I can never get the gook off the pool net. I’ll do one spot and then move to the other side and there will be more stuff on the side I just cleaned. It’s just so frustrating. And fact three about Megan, she’s seen every episode of Boy Meets World multiple times and quotes it in daily conversation.”

“Best show ever!” I proudly stated.

“Definitely an oldie but goodie. Job well done on those. Those are definitely interesting tidbits I never knew about you guys,” Tyra laughed. “So now we’re going to take questions from the audience. These questions could be anywhere ranging from your specific relationship to relationships in general.” Tyra stood up from the couch and walked towards the audience. I looked at Nick and gave his knee a light squeeze. He smiled back at me, before placing a gentle kiss on my temple. As if on cue, the audience let out one big “aww.”

“Alright, first question. Ready?” Tyra asked looking at us, standing next to a girl. Nick and I nodded as Tyra handed the girl the microphone.

“Hi Megan and Nick. My name is Kelsey and I’m sixteen. How do you deal with being months apart, like when Nick is on tour?”

“It’s hard, definitely. I know he’s out there doing what he loves and it’s not like he leaves to get away from me. It’s his job. And it makes me happy that he’s out there making thousands of fans across the country happy.”

“We rack up quite the phone bills during tour. Megan is amazing through it all, especially with the understanding aspect of it. Sometimes the first chance I get to call her will be after a show when we get back on the bus, which sometimes is after midnight. Sometimes I call her when she’s already asleep, but she always wakes up to talk to me.”

“It is by no means easy, but somehow we get by. We made it through one tour, and Nick has another tour starting next month. Saying goodbye is hard, but it’s temporary.”

“That’s something I give you guys a lot of credit for. Next question,” Tyra said, now standing next to a boy.

“What’s up guys? My name is Josh and I’m seventeen. I like this girl and she seems to like me too but I’m kind of nervous to move forward because I fear rejection. Well, who doesn’t? But still, any advice?” he asked with a grin, the audience giggling at his situation.

“I say go for it, man. It sounds like all the signs are pointing in a good direction. If it doesn’t turn out the way you want it to, it’ll be rough but there will be other girls.”

“I say go for it, too, Josh!”

“Alright, I will then. Thanks!” Josh said before sitting back down.

“Hi, my name is Nicole and I’m fifteen. Do you think there’s an age where you’re too young to love?”

“Wow, that’s a really great question,” I admitted. “Um, I think when you’re young, you think love is one thing, but as you grow older, your idea of love changes. I mean, I saw plenty of relationships in like, middle school, where you know, a boy asks a girl to be his girlfriend and then three days later, they’re saying I love you. That’s not love. But in a serious, steady relationship in late teen years, you’re definitely not too young to love.”

“Are you in love?” Nicole asked as a follow up question.

“I am absolutely in love with Megan,” Nick boldly stated without hesitation.

“Yup. I love Nick, as well.”

“You heard it first on the Tyra Banks Show, ladies and gentleman. Megan Gibson and Nick Jonas are in love! How precious! That’s all the time we have with Nick and Megan, so I want to thank them for joining us and we’ll be right back after this commercial break,” Tyra said, before the man with the headset signaled we were off the air.

“You two did wonderfully. Thank you so much for coming! You are welcome to come back whenever you’d like.” Tyra hugged us one last time.

“Thank you! It was nice meeting you!” I said.

“Not going to lie, I was nervous, but that was fun! It was nice meeting you!” Nick added.

“Best of luck to you both. Don’t let anything come between you two.”

“We won’t,” I said before Nick added, “We promise.”

Nick and I walked out of the studio behind Big Rob, swinging out intertwined hands back and forth. We were both wearing huge grins on our faces, feeling ecstatic that we just admitted our love on national television.