Crawling Back To You

Nick’s POV

“Alright so I’ll see you in two days then. We’re on for 8, right?.....Excellent. Thanks again.”

A smile filled with satisfaction spread across my face as I ended the phone call. The plans were made and the people were invited. The only thing left to do was wait. Grabbing my laptop, I quickly turned it on, tapping my fingers on my desk as it took its time to load. In general, I just hate waiting. If I can’t even wait for my computer to load, how am I going to wait two days for such an exciting night?

“Hey Nick, what’s up?” Joe casually strolled into my room, pushing my door from slightly to completely open.

“Not much. Signing onto video chat.”

“Meeting someone?”

“No. I’m just seeing if Tara is on.” I clicked around a little bit as Joe pulled up a chair to join me. “And she is,” I said, double clicking Tara’s name on my buddy list.

A black screen popped up, waiting for Tara to accept on the other end. When she appeared on the screen, it looked like she was getting ready for bed, which made sense considering the time difference. Her blonde hair was in a high ponytail. Her thick, rectangular glasses rested over her eyes.

“Hey guys!” Tara cheerfully said to us.

“Hey,” Joe and I replied in unison.

“How are you?” I asked.

“Pretty good! Really tired but I am so excited! Look, I’m packing right now!” Tara turned her computer, bringing her bed into our view. On top of her bed were multiple piles of clothes surrounding a large suitcase.

“It’s so awesome that you’re able to come out here for this,” Joe added.

“Megan is going to flip out. I can’t wait to see her go wild,” Tara laughed. “So what do you have planned, Nick? Am I allowed to know? I promise I won’t tell her.”

“If you won’t tell her, I’ll tell you. I called a club downtown, The Viper Room, and rented it out for the night. I called one of the hottest DJ’s in town and he gladly accepted. I also have a friend coming to sing a song for Megan. I’m not going to tell you who it is. That’s going to be a surprise for everyone.”

“So it’s someone she listens to?”

“Yup. I know it for a fact. She’s met him once before.”

“Ahh, I’m so excited! The suspense is already killing me. Thanks.”

“No problem! It’ll be worth it, trust me. So then I have this lighting crew coming in and they’re going to string white lights up all around the club. I have round tables coming. They’ll have black table cloths with white chairs around them. The centerpieces are these bouquets of white lilies. I know Megan loves her lilies. I have the catering company that did my dad’s birthday party doing it. Their food is incredible.”

“Gosh Nick, this prom you’re putting together is better than the prom we have at school.”

“Megan deserves the best, so I am going to give it to her,” was my simple, and completely honest, response.

“Cheesy,” Joe scoffed.

“It’s not cheesy, Joe! It’s beyond adorable. You should give my boyfriend some lessons.” Tara laughed as she rolled her eyes.

“Still with Hunter?” I questioned. Tara slightly tilted her head to the side, as if she was impressed I knew her boyfriend’s name.

“Yeah, I am. I’ve been with him for a year, and let me say, he’s never done anything nearly as sweet as this.”

“Well he doesn’t have the power Nick Jonas has.” Joe smirked after his sly comment.

“Anyway, I wanted to ask you if you could send me your flight information, like the flight numbers and times. All that jazz.”

“I can absolutely do that.”

“Awesome. I was thinking I could pick you up from the airport, and then we could go shopping.”

“You want to buy Megan a dress?”

“How’d you know?”

“I could just tell. I think that’s a great idea. It’s a good thing I know her size. That’d be really weird if you had to ask her for something like that.”

“I think that’d be just a little suspicious,” Joe concluded.

“And in this crazy life, and through these crazy times, it's you, it's you. You make me sing. You're every line. You're every word. You're everything.”

Hearing that familiar ringtone, I quickly left my chair in search of my misplaced phone.

“I don’t know if you could hear that, but Megan’s ringtone on Nick’s phone actually is ‘Everything’ by Michael Bublè. Now can I call him cheesy?” Joe asked, still trying to plead his case.

“Oh, stop! He’s not cheesy. He’s in love. Let him be,” Tara defended.

“Hear that, Joe? Let me be! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to take this call. I’ll see you on Saturday, Tara! Joe, log off whenever you want.”

I left my room and ventured down the hall to the vacant guest room. Perfect, I thought, as I pushed the door shut behind me. Smiling, I lifted my phone to my ear, greeting the one person I had been waiting to talk to all day.

“Hey babe, I’ve missed you.”

Megan’s POV

Lately, either Nick has been excessively busy or increasingly distant. I hope it’s the first one. I haven’t actually hung out with Nick since Monday, the Elvis Costello day—and now it’s Saturday. He stopped by on Thursday but only for ten minutes before an interview. His head just seems out of it, like he’s worrying about something else.

On my way home from practice, which was an afternoon practice, I called Nick to see what he was doing. He said he was busy, but seemed like he was hiding something. Nick has never hid anything from me—I’ve never hid anything from him. The feeling in my gut tells me something is up, that I should be concerned about something. I can’t deal with the distance, the shadiness, or the uncertainty in his voice much longer.

Physically and emotionally tired, I trudged up the stairs with the high hopes that a cold shower would help me relax. I nonchalantly walked down the hall and entered my room, throwing my jacket in one direction and my bag in the other. After directing my attention straight ahead, I froze. I stared at the mysterious box momentarily, before making my way over to it.

I ripped the taped card off of the box and looked at the envelope. It had my name written across the front, but more importantly, in Nick’s handwriting. A smile tugged at my lips as I carefully ripped the top. Pulling out the content, my eyes followed the trail of words.

Hey Meg, I think it’s about time we feel like regular 17 year olds for once. So get yourself all prettied up (which shouldn’t take very long for you) and wear what’s in this box. I’m picking you up at 8:00 sharp. I love you. Nick.

I slowly opened the box and removed the white tissue paper covering the material inside. The watermelon pink fabric instantly caught my eye and my liking. After slightly lifting the fabric out of the box, I came to the realization that it was a dress, a long dress. The top was halter with gold clasps, making it look much more elegant. The dress had a shirred empire waist before flowing out into a floor length skirt.

“Nick, what on earth are you planning?” I said to myself.

My mom did my hair after I took a quick shower. She put it half up, half down, curling the part that was up. After my makeup was on and my nails were done, I put on the dress Nick picked out. I examined myself in the mirror. Not only was the dress gorgeous, but it fit perfectly. How’d he know?

I smiled as I put my shoes on and threw random necessities into a purse. The digital clock on my nightstand read 7:59 in glowing red numbers. Nick said 8:00 sharp. When he says sharp, he means sharp.

My thoughts were disrupted by the doorbell. My clock now read 8:00. I know him too well.I took one last glance in the mirror before heading downstairs. Nick was talking to my mom, his back towards me. My mom’s eyes averted from Nick and landed on me. Noticing the shift in attention, Nick turned around. His mouth dropped slightly, before morphing into the biggest Nick smile I’ve ever seen. He was wearing a black tuxedo with a pink tie, making perfectly to the color of my dress.

“Wow,” was what came out of his mouth when I stepped off the stairs. “You look…”

The pause increased and I began to worry I went overboard. “Is it too much?”

“No! No, it’s not that. I just can’t find the right word. Beautiful and gorgeous don’t seem to do the justice.”

“Oh, stop. You’re going to turn my cheeks the color of this amazing dress.” I laughed, wrapping my arms around his neck. “Let’s go. I’m really curious where we’re going dressed like this.”

After mom snapped some pictures, Nick led me outside. However, my driveway was not occupied by his Mustang or the family SUV. The long, black, stretch limo sitting in my driveway forced my eyes to widen.

“Nick,” I said quietly, my voice trailing off. Nick’s hand squeezed mine. I know Nick, and that was his silent way of telling me that this night is full of surprises.

When the limo finally stopped, the driver stepped out and walked around. The door was opened, and Nick stepped out, the permanent smirk still on his face from when we left the house. I took the hand offered to me and followed him out. Taking in my surroundings, I noticed we were on the Sunset Strip. With confusion, I stared at the black building in front of me.

“The Viper Room? Uh, Nick, I don’t think they let seventeen year olds in nightclubs. I know some crazy stuff happens in L.A., but not that crazy.”

“I think that just for tonight, they’ll make an exception.”

Still perplexed, I allowed Nick to lead me into the building. I knew something was up, I just couldn’t tell what it was yet. Inside was dark and loud. The music was flowing freely throughout, becoming louder as we took more steps. Then, everything was revealed.

White lights were strung all over the club. There were some people sitting at round tables, arrangements filled with my favorite flowers in the center of each. There were people dancing to the music a DJ was playing in the front of the club. But as I looked closer, at the faces in the crowd, I recognized one after the other—my friends, my siblings. When I looked at Nick, he was looking at me, still with that same smirk.

“Nick, what is this?”

“Alright, so you know how we’re both home schooled?”

“Yeah, I’m aware of that,” I sarcastically replied, waiting for the true reveal.

“Well, I’ve never been to a prom, and you’ve never been to a prom. So, I made a prom for us.”

I swear my heart skipped a beat. I looked around once more at the decorations, the outfits people were in, the music that was being played, but this time, with an indescribable amount of admiration and gratitude.

“Nick, I really don’t know what to say. I…I love it. I love you.”

Nick smiled before walking to the nearest table and grabbing two plastic container type objects from the table. He opened one and lifted out a pink and white corsage. I held out my hand to him as he slowly placed it on my wrist, before placing an ever so gentle kiss on my hand. He opened the other container, revealing a boutonnière. Oh no.

“Nick, I can’t! I’ve never done this before. I’m gonna stab you or something!”

After his laughter subsided, he came back with, “Just try it. You’re a smart girl. You can figure it out.”

I reluctantly took the flower and the pin and placed it in the correct position on Nick’s jacket. After a few unsuccessful attempts, I finally got the flower pinned to his jacket without injury.

“Hey everyone!” My focus turned to Joe, standing next to the DJ with a microphone in his hand and a childish expression on his face. “Welcome to Nick and Megan’s Prom. That was a Saved by the Bell reference if anyone caught onto that. Anyway, since the lovely couple just got here, Nick decided to make their first dance a very special one. By very special, he means live. So everyone head to the dance floor.”

Joe paused as people moved around me. Nick grabbed my hand and started walking, almost pulling me to follow. “Megan, that means you have to move those super star feet of yours," Joe ridiculed. I’ll thank him for that later.

I shrugged off the embarrassment as Nick led me to the center of the floor, saying hi to people as I passed by them. “Atta girl, Meg,” Joe grinned at me. “Alright everyone, this guy is very talented and if you know Megan, which we all do, you know she loves his music. Give it up for Jesse McCartney!”

I looked at Nick. My face must have read, “how did you do this?!,” because he instantly said, “Jesse’s my buddy. No big deal.”

Jesse came onto the stage with a guitar player. As soon as the guitarist started strumming cords, I knew exactly what song was coming.

“I don’t want another pretty face. I don’t want just anyone to hold. I don’t want my love to go to waste. I want you and your beautiful soul.”

When Jesse finished, the DJ picked up with the fast music. I kissed Nick sweetly, before pulling back and looking Nick in his deep brown eyes. “This night is perfect, Nick. I can’t thank you enough for this.”

“Don’t thank me, yet. There’s still one more huge surprise. In my opinion, it’s the best one.”

“Better than a prom? Better than Jesse McCartney? I don’t think I can handle a surprise bigger than those, Nick.”

“Oh, you can always handle me!”

Hearing that voice, my ears perked up. I looked at Nick and put my hands flat on his chest, slightly pushing him backwards.

“No you didn’t!” I practically yelled in his face. As I quickly spun around, I came face to face with my best friend in the entire world. “Shut up right now!” I screamed as I ran towards her. Tara practically lunged at me as we crashed our arms around each other’s necks.

“Hey hey, besty!” Tara shouted over the music pumping through the speakers.

“What are you doing here?!”

“I heard little Frankie needed a date. I was lucky enough to be considered for the spot!”

“Was this his doing?” I asked, pointing at Nick.

“He bought my ticket!”

I felt Nick come up behind me. I turned around and threw myself into his arms. “You are too much, you know that? You’re too good to me,” I said, before thrusting my lips against his.

Pulling away, he responded, “You deserve it all. Hey Tara,” Nick said, giving her a hug. I smiled at the solid friendship between my two best friends. “I’m going to go get a drink. You two go hit the dance floor.”

Gladly agreeing to Nick’s suggestion, my best friend linked her arm with mine as we went to join the already dancing others.

Kevin’s POV

“I’m really impressed with you, Nick. The way everything came together, it all looks really great, little bro. You did a really nice job,” I praised.

“I agree. I’m impressed, but I’m also mad at you. You’re making me and Kevin look bad to our girls. Thanks a lot,” Joe added.

“Well, I guess it’s a good thing Pamela and Lexie have been to proms then, isn’t it?” Nick replied. The three of us let out a good laugh.

“Is this what people do at proms? Hang out by the punch bowl like we’re doing right now?” Joe asked.

“I’ve seen it in movies,” I added. “I don’t know if people actually do it.”

“Well, if you excuse me, I see a gorgeous blonde shooting looks at me from the dance floor. Her eyes are practically begging me to get out there with her,” Joe laughed.

“I’ll come too,” Nick said. “You coming, Kev?”

“I’ll be there in a second.”

I watched Nick and Joe walk away from me towards the group of girls in the center of the dance floor. Two girls broke off from the pact and started dancing with my brothers.

“Yo K. Jo,” I heard. I turned my head to see who it was coming from.

“Oh hey Jesse. What’s up, man? Nice song, by the way. It’s great.”

“Thanks a lot. I could say the same about your stuff. Hey, I met this girl the other night. She said she knew you.”

“Oh yeah? And how does this girl know me?” I asked sarcastically. Fans always claim to know us. I somehow have a crazy relation to every single fan. Jesse laughed at my sarcasm, but something in his face seemed serious.

“She was with my boy, Damien at his movie premiere after party. Tall, brunette, pretty hot, too,” Jesse laughed.

“I’ve met a lot of tall, hot, brunettes, man.” I joined his laughter. “What was her name?”

“She was pretty wasted and to tell you the truth, I wasn’t all there myself. I don’t remember. Diana, maybe?”

I felt my stomach drop. It could be—no….could it? “Dina?” I asked, with extreme hesitation.

“Yeah! Yeah, that was it. All my boys flew out to Paris last night to celebrate my buddies’ birthday and I was telling Damien that I already told Nick I would do a favor for him. She stumbled over and started going on about how she knew you guys—you especially. Man, you sure know how to pick the groupies. You’ve got better judgment than me!”

I was frozen. I felt like my heart was being torn in half. But why?She’s not my girlfriend. I moved on. She has every right to move on, too. Then why am I feeling this why? Where is this heartache, this jealousy coming from?

“Dude, I was just kidding about the groupies. Honest,” Jesse said, noting my discomfort.

“Oh yeah. I know, man. Don’t worry.”

“Alright, well I’m actually heading to the airport now. I’m gonna meet the guys in Paris. Better late than never, right? We should work together sometime. Talk to your brothers and give me a call!”

“Absolutely. Good to see you, Jesse. Have fun in Paris.”

Jesse walked away, leaving me stunned with the news. Jesse’s words were replaying over and over in my head. “She was with my boy, Damien.” What does that mean? With him like…they hung out that night, or with him like…they’re seeing each other. Either way, it makes me feel uneasy.

“There you are! Come on, Kev!” Lexie said, grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the dance floor. I plastered a smile on my face, not wanting anyone to think anything was wrong. I tried to keep my focus on Lexie, my girlfriend, dancing and having a good time. I tried really hard. I really did.