It's A Roller Coaster Ride We're On

Within the next few days we had all returned to California. The Jonas’ went and stayed in their house which was only half an hour away from mine and Lauren’s apartment so Joe and Kevin were frequent visitors in our last three days together. That last night before the Jonas’ left for Australia, Denise invited Lauren and me over for dinner.

“They’re here!” Frankie exclaimed, opening the front door before I could even ring the bell. Lauren and I laughed as we walked in and we both kissed him on the cheek.

“Hey Tank.” I said, ruffling his hair. “Where are your brothers?”

“Kevin and Joe are setting the table and Nick’s upstairs talking to Lana.” He said, rolling his eyes.

“Well go tell Nick that his best friends are here.” I said.

“Okay!” he said, running upstairs.

“Honeys we’re home,” Lauren and I exclaimed walking into the dining room. Kevin and Joe laughed and came to welcome us.

“Hey beautiful,” Joe whispered, enveloping me in his arms.

“I could stay here forever.” I mumbled into his shoulder.

“I think we both could.”

****

Dinner was a fun affair. We talked and laughed and enjoyed our time together. It wasn’t until later when Denise, Kevin Sr., Frankie, and Nick left the four of us alone. Kevin and Lauren went into the living room. Joe and I went outside to the deck. We sat on the steps and looked up at the stars.

“Thank you,” he whispered.

“For what?” I asked, looking over at him.

“For making these past few months… some of the best of my life...”

“My pleasure,” I said, smiling at him. “Do you want more soda?”

“No,”

“More cake… ice cream?”

“I’m good.” He said sighing. “Tell me not to go,” he whispered, turning his head to look at
me.

“What?” I asked.

“Tell me not to get on that plane. Tell me to blow off my brothers, the band… the whole Jonas destiny. Just, tell me I can figure something else out. Just tell me not to go.”

“Well, I can’t do that.” I said, looking him in the eyes.

He heaved a heavy sigh and pulled me into him. He placed one hand on the back of my head and smiled at me before placing his lips on mine. I slowly started moving my lips against his, memorizing the softness. He opened his mouth a little and licked my lower lip and I obliged, parting my lips where his tongue started wrestling with mine. We continued to make out for a little before pulling away and gazing at each other. It was silent between us before I spoke.

“So what time should I be here tomorrow?”

“You don’t have to come.” He said softly.

“You’re leaving. I have to go with you to the airport.”

“No.”

“I have to go to say goodbye. To you and your brothers and your parents, and the band.” I said.

“Lyss, no.”

“Yes!” I exclaimed. “I have to wave to you at the gate.”

“They won’t let you come to the gate.” He said slowly. “They’ll stop you at security.”

“Okay well, I’ll… I’ll wave to you at the metal detectors.” I said, standing up.

“Lyss…” he said, standing up as well and following me through the house.

“I have to go with you.” I said defensively. Denise and Kevin Sr. looked up as we entered the kitchen and followed us into the living room where Kevin and Lauren looked up.

“No!” he said.

“Yes!” I retaliated. By now Frankie and Nick had joined us having heard the commotion from upstairs. They stood on the stairs and watched. “You are leaving for Australia. Who knows when we’ll see each other again?”

“I thought that was all set.” He said.

“What was all set?” I asked, tears starting to form.

“Christmas, Thanksgiving…”

“That’s so far away, I…”

“Lyss,” he said, putting his hands on my shoulders. “If you come with me, I won’t get on the plane.” I looked at him with longing in my eyes. “I’ll call you when I get in okay?” he said, leaning in and kissing me, tears and all. “What?” he asked as the tears flowed.

“I keep trying to think of fabulous things to say, but all I can think is, ’say hi to Hugh Jackman for me’.”

“I love you, Lyss.” He said, placing his forehead on mine.

“That’s so much better than, ’say hi to Hugh Jackman for me’.” I said, laughing slightly. He pulled me close and kissed me again.

“You should go,” he whispered.

He slowly pulled away from me and walked backwards towards the stairs. Lauren came next to me and wrapped her arms around my shoulders and turned me to the front door. Kevin opened it for us and gave me a hug as Lauren led me outside. I turned my neck to look at Joe but he was looking at the floor. Frankie and Nick waved as I climbed into the car. Lauren climbed into the front seat and drove off, honking the horn twice.

****

“Good morning everyone,” Lauren said, walking into the office.

“Mmm,” I heard everyone else grumble.

“What’s going on?” she asked. Someone must have whispered to her because it was silent for a moment. “Oh, what’s wrong? Photo crisis or font crisis?”

“Everything,” someone said.

“Honey, what’s wrong?” Lauren asked as she approached me, putting her hand on my shoulder.

“You see this?” I asked, pointing to the layout in front of me.

“See what? The layout?”

“Yes!” I exclaimed.

“It’s very nice.” She said.

“It’s very generic! What other photographer wouldn’t think of this!”

“I don’t know what you mean…”

“How long have we been married?”

“Nine years…” she replied scrutinizing me. “Honey, what’s wrong? Seriously this time.”

“I miss Joe,” I said, slouching over onto my desk and resting my head on my arms.

“Aw, honey I know. And I miss Kevin but just think… the whole family will be back here next week for Thanksgiving.” She said, smiling at me.

“Next week?”

“Yes.” She said slowly. “Sweetie, what’s today’s date?”

“I… don’t know.”

“It’s November 17… the Jonas’ are flying back next week for Thanksgiving.”

“Oh! Already? I can’t believe it!” I exclaimed, sitting up and smiling now.

“Right… and Kevin and Joe are supposed to webcam with us tonight. Do you remember that?”

“Well of course I remember that.” I said, rolling my eyes.

“Alright, well come on… work your magic here.” She said, waving her arms over my desk.

“I’m on it!” I exclaimed, setting to work on page layouts.

****

Joe’s POV

“Hey guys,”

“Hey Nick,” Kevin and I said as Nick entered our hotel room in Sydney.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“Mom and Dad want to have a family meeting so I came to get you.”

“We’re supposed to webcam with Lauren and Melissa soon.” Kevin said.

“They’re going to have to wait.” Nick said, sighing. “I’m supposed to do the same with Lana but Mom said this is urgent and we have to be there… now.”

“Fine,” Kevin said, turning off the TV and getting up. I followed to our parents’ bedroom and sat on one of the beds.

“What’s going on Mommy.” I said.

“We have some… not so good news.” She said, frowning.

“What’s wrong?” Kevin asked, slightly alarmed.

“It’s nothing to be alarmed about.” Dad said. “You’ll just… be unhappy.”

“Guys, come on, what’s going on?” I asked, looking from my parents, to my brothers, and back.

“Well… something was wrong with the scheduling. We can’t go back to California for Thanksgiving.” He said slowly.

“What?” I practically shouted, jumping up from the bed. “We have to go back. I promised Lyss I’d be back. I don’t break promises!”

“I know sweetheart but we don’t have any power over this. We have to stay in Australia. You’ll see her for Christmas.” Mom said, walking towards me.

“That’s over a month away! I have to go back I miss her.” I said, sitting back down and putting my head in my hands. “She’s going to be so upset.” I whispered.

****

8:30 p.m… the boys were half an hour late for our webcam chat. Lauren and I were sitting
impatiently on my bed… legs crossed, tapping our fingers on our knees.

“Where are they?” I asked.

“I don’t know…” she said, sighing. About a minute later the computer dinged and started ringing.

“Oh!” I said, reaching across to answer the call that Kevin and Joe were initiating with us. “Where were you?” I asked once I saw their faces.

“Nice to see you too,” Joe said, frowning.

“What? You worried us.” Lauren said. “Hey babe,” she said, smiling goofily at Kevin.

“Hey Laur,” he said smiling back.

“So, explanation?” I asked.

“What? No cute hello exchange for me?” Joe asked, pouting now.

“Hello Joseph, I miss you dearly. I am very upset without you here, now tell us where you were.” I said very fast.

“I miss you too.” Was all he said; I glanced at Lauren and she shrugged her shoulders.

“Guys… what’s going on?” she asked. They looked at each other then back at us.

“You tell them.” Joe said softly. Kevin sighed.

“We… won’t be coming back to California for Thanksgiving.” He said, slowly.

My jaw dropped. I looked at Joe but he was looking at his hands. I shook my head back and forth.

“No,” I said quietly. “No, you have to come back. You promised.”

“We know but there was a scheduling issue,” Kevin explained. “You’ll see us for Christmas for sure.”

“That’s too far away.” I said. Joe still hadn’t looked up. “Joe… speak to me.”

He shook his head back and forth.

“At least look at me!” I exclaimed. After about a minute he looked up… he looked so sad. There was a single tear trailing down his cheek.

“Lyss, I’m so sorry. I never break my promises.”

“Honey it’s not your fault.” I said calmly.

“I hate this Lyss, I really hate this.”

“We all do.” Kevin said. “We’re really sorry.”

“Kevin, Joe, really, it’s neither of your faults.” Lauren said.

“Did Nick tell Lana that he won’t be able to stop by in Texas?” I asked.

“He is right now.” Kevin said.

After a couple of hours, Lauren and I had to leave so we could get some sleep. We said a sad goodnight to our boys and then shut down the laptop. I turned my body so I was facing Lauren. We must have mirrored each other in expression because we were both incredibly sad.

****

The next morning I woke up still feeling sad. I walked to the kitchen where Lauren was making breakfast. We went to work as per usual… around lunchtime we sat together at her desk… we hadn’t really talked.

“I don’t like this.” I said.

“Me either. Let’s not talk about it.”

“Well, you know, I guess we don’t have to talk about stuff.” I said, shrugging my shoulders.

“Yeah. Who says we always have to be talking? We can… not talk.”

“Of course we can.”

“Okay. You know, we should probably talk about how we’re not going to talk because I don’t think we should just go right into it.”

“Let’s do something that doesn’t require talking. Like, we could go to the movies.” I suggested.

“You want to try not talking at a movie?”

“Okay… shopping.”

“Are you mad?”

“We could drink. We could go to a bar and just throw back a few.”

“Yeah, because drunk people never feel like talking. Besides, we’ve never been drunk. And I don’t want to start now. Oh, we could go to a club!”

“Yeah, because all the hot spots get rolling right about lunchtime,” I said sarcastically.

“See? This is why men play sports.”

“Sports! We can play sports.”

“We hate sports.”

“We haven’t tried every sport.”

“How about running?” she suggested.

“We could easily talk while we’re running.” I said, rolling my eyes.

“Not if we were hurdling. Hurdles require more focus and, thus, less talking. Or we could do that kind of running that’s like you leap around a tree, and run up a hill…”

“You want to run cross-country.”

“Not across the whole country, maybe just Michigan.” She joked.

“Hey, Michelle,” I said, spotting Mr. Herrmann’s secretary. “What kind of sports do you play?”

“Well, Pilates, of course.”

“What?” Lauren asked.

“It’s like yoga with cables and wires.” I told her.

“It sounds very dangerous.”

“Oh, racquetball is also a fantastic workout.” Michelle said.

“Racquetball?” Lauren asked.

“Intriguing...” I said.

“I always liked the sound of racquetball.” Lauren said as Michelle nodded her head.

“Tell us more about this racquetball.” I said.

“Well, it’s very simple.” Michelle said. “A four-walled room, a racquet, and a rubber ball.”

“Get to the good part.” Lauren said. “What are the clothes like?”

“Can we wear cute outfits?” I asked.

“I do.” Michelle said, laughing.

“I think racquetball sounds great,” Lauren said, turning to me.

“I’m in,” I said, smiling.

“Okay, good. You go home; I need to finish up a few things around here. I’ll see you there in
about an hour. I’ll take a cab.”

“Deal. Yeah, fun.”

“Okay. And no talking.”

“Except for smack talking,” I said, packing up my things. “Because I am so going to kick your butt in racquetball.” I said. She opened her mouth to say something. “No, no. I mean, my balls, they’re going to bounce way further than your balls.”

“Okay, well, you haven’t seen my great top… flick wrist spin.”

“We’ll learn the terms.” I said.

“Okay, go home and get ready.”

****

“See? It’s starting to swell.” I said, walking in front of Lauren to the bathroom in the apartment.

“It is starting to swell.” She said, moving closer to the mirror to examine her eye. “Either that or the rest of my face is shrinking.”

“I think we should put something on it.”

“Uh, concealer and loose powder?”

“Ice Laur, I think we should put ice on it.”

“So boring. Neosporin and an eye patch? Or Bactine, bacitracin, hydrogen peroxide… Winnie-the-Pooh band-aids?”

“I’m getting you some ice.” I said, walking to the kitchen. I opened the freezer and looked in the ice-bucket. “How can we not have ice?”

“Steak.”

“Huh?”

“Steak is supposed to be good for a black-eye.” She said, sitting at the table.

“Frozen peas!” I exclaimed.

“Why would I put peas in my eye?”

“No, like, a bag of frozen peas. It molds to the contour of your face.”

“But steak has actual healing properties. Something about the juices or the fats is good for the skin.”

“I’m going to the store to get us some ice.”

“And steak. And peas. And ice cream! That would feel good on my eye.” She exclaimed. “And then when I’m done using it we can eat it. It’s black-eye dinner.”

“Yeah, yeah, sure. We’re never racquetball-ing again.” I said, grabbing the car keys.

“Yes, because this beautiful face will never be damaged by another rubber ball again.” She said. I laughed and shut the door behind me.