From GuitarGuy92 to xoJadeBabyxo

The following morning Nick found himself pacing like crazy in his bedroom. Mike and Jimmy had gone over to get Nick for the game and that’s the way they found him. “Dude just relax. We’re gonna win this game no problem,” Jimmy said in his over confident way.

“That’s not why I’m pacing,” Nick said, barely looking over at his friends before turning on his heel and marching in the opposite direction.

“Then why the hell are you so nervous?” Mike asked this time, staring curiously at him.

Nick stopped to look at them for a few seconds before continuing his pacing. He couldn’t tell them what had him this way because they wouldn’t really care. The truth was he was still anxious about his situation with Allegra. He had been sitting by his phone waiting for Charlie’s phone call on the update on Allegra. To his surprise, Allegra herself called him. He managed to get over the shock of seeing her name flash on the screen of his phone long enough to answer on the second ring.

“Hello? Allegra?” he’d said. But she didn’t answer. He heard what he thought was a sob come from her end before the line went dead. He cursed softly to himself before calling her back. She didn’t answer. He called again three times before she finally turned off her phone. With a resigned sigh he dialed Charlie’s number—which she had given him before leaving that afternoon.

“Hello?” she asked.

“Charlie, hey, it’s Nick,” he said.

“Nick?” she sounded confused. “Why aren’t you talking to Allegra right now?”

“Because she hung up on me,” he replied, trying to keep calm even though his nerves were on end.

“Why? What did you say?” she asked, instinctively blaming him

“Nothing. She hung up when I answered the phone,” he replied, now really trying to keep his cool.

“Damn it,” Charlie mumbled to herself.

“What is it Charlie? How bad is she?” Nick asked, this time not being able to hide the worry that clawed at him.

Charlie released a long breath as she contemplated whether she should tell him the truth or not. She decided it would be worse if she didn’t. “Not so great. He was the most important person in her life and it’s going to be hard for her to get over this,” she finally said.

Nick bit back the string of profanities that were dying to roll off his tongue. “Okay, I’m on my way down,” he said.

“Nick, stop being ridiculous. You know you can’t come down here,” Charlie said, her tone surprisingly calm.

“Well I can’t stay up here either. Not when I know that she’s hurting and that I have to clear things up with her.” Now Nick was getting angry. Angry that the world had decided to play such a foul trick on Allegra, angry that Dawn had managed to fool them both, and angry that there was absolutely nothing he could have done to prevent any of this.

“Look, just take a deep breath and try to relax. I’m here with her and I can handle this. Just focus on tomorrow’s game and try not to worry so much about her,” Charlie said. Nick begrudgingly agreed before hanging up the phone.

However he hadn’t been able to stop worrying, hence all the pacing he was doing. But he had to push all those thoughts aside because he had a game he needed to get to. And while he knew that he wasn’t going to be giving it his all the way he always did, he didn’t feel the least bit bad about it. Because at the moment nothing was more important to him than clearing things up with Allegra.

JB—JB—JB—JB—JB

“What happened?”

I looked up from the album I had started to go through again up at Charlie. Her figure was a bit blurry because of the tears welling in my eyes, but I could make out her form leaning against my doorframe. When she acknowledged the tears in my eyes she came over and sat next to me again. “Why did you hang up on Nick?” she asked soothingly.

It should have surprised me that she knew this, but instead I was surprised that I didn’t find it all that surprising. “I just can’t talk to him right now. Not when any little thing upsets me and I’m crying every thirty seconds,” I answered.

“Legs, you’re going to have to talk to him eventually. This whole thing isn’t what it seemed to be before,” Charlie stated.

“What do you mean by that, Charlie?” I asked, growing exasperated. She had mentioned something about that earlier and I felt like she had some vital information that I didn’t. It was starting to drive me crazy. My mind couldn’t take so much turmoil right now.

“I told you before; this is something you two need to talk about. And that’s never going to happen if you just keep avoiding him.”

I closed my eyes tightly and shook my head. I knew she was right. Losing my pop-pop made me realize that life is too short to hold grudges and not tell others how you feel. I wanted to clear things up with Nick—I had to! But I was still dealing with this situation. I couldn’t even imagine what I would be like if I had to face the situation with Nick.

“I know I do,” I said in resignation. I know she wasn’t satisfied with that answer, so I elaborated. I released a sigh and said, “I’m going back to school tomorrow. I’ll talk to him then.”

Even though I know this eased Charlie’s mind a bit, the thought of having to speak to Nick kept me up all night. It was the first night that I didn’t cry myself to sleep since I came home, but that didn’t mean my mind was at rest. All I could think about was what Charlie was referring to when she said she was wrong about Nick, what I was going to say to him, what would happen after I talked to him, would he say anything that really makes a difference to our situation? So much to consider—so many factors that could make or break us.

The following morning, Charlie and I drove back to school, each of us in our respective cars. For this I was thankful—I don’t think I would have been able to handle having a conversation with her about Nick anymore. It was disconcerting how much she was pushing this when she disliked him so much before. I just couldn’t see what had changed between them.

I pulled into my parking spot next to Charlie in front of my dorm building and got out, lazily dragging my duffel bag up to our room. We weren’t even inside our room for a minute before there was a knock on the door. I glanced anxiously at Charlie—she couldn’t have possibly told Nick we were here, could she? I hoped not, because I still wasn’t sure I was ready to speak to him. Charlie made no moves to open the door, leading me to think she had told Nick of our arrival.

However when I opened the door, Nick wasn’t the one that attacked me with a bear hug. No. I was currently wrapped in the safe confines of Kenny’s arms. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he mumbled into my hairline, pressing a kiss into my temple. I wasn’t the least bit surprised by the tears that sprung to my eyes. It seemed I cried about any little thing. However, the fact the Kenny seemed to hate me before I left and was now being sympathetic made me cry even harder.

“I’m sorry,” I said, because I felt like I should apologize to him. My fallout with him was another thing that had kept my mind spinning while I was away.

“Don’t Legs. You have nothing to apologize for. I was a jerk and it was so unfair of me to act that way to you. You did nothing wrong. This was my entire fault. And I’m so sorry that I couldn’t be there for you when you needed me,” he said breathlessly.

“Apology accepted,” I said, leaning in and giving him another tight hug. Even though I know we had a lot more talking to do, it felt like a weight was lifted off my chest now that he had forgiven me. I cherished our friendship and it would have torn me apart knowing that he was upset with me for any reason.

When I finally pulled away from him, I noticed that he was in his baseball uniform. Then it all came flooding back to me—Nick, the reason he hadn’t gone down to my grandparents’ house, and the conversation that was looming in our future. “Were you just on your way to your game?” I asked.

Kenny looked down at his uniform before looking back up at me with a guilty look in his eyes. “Yea, I was just finishing getting ready when Charlie told me you guys were pulling in. I’m sorry. I really want to be with you right now, but…” he trailed off.

“Oh don’t worry about it,” I said, wiping away at the tears that were drying on my cheeks. “I completely understand. I’ll see you there,” I said, faking a smile.

“You’re going to the game?” he asked, genuinely surprised. I wasn’t a sports person to begin with and I know he was surprised I was going after just coming back from my grandfather’s funeral.

“Yea, I have some stuff to take care of. And besides, it’s your last time playing any high school sport, Mr. Senior,” I said, adding another fake smile. “I have to be there as your best friend,” I added.

He gave me a soft smile before pulling me into another hug. “I missed you Allegra.”

“Dido.”

“Alright, well I guess I’ll see you guys after the game?” he asked, sending a quick glance into the room at Charlie.

“Yup,” she answered, giving him a shy smile.

I wondered momentarily what that was all about, but Kenny quickly said, “Alright, bye guys.” With a quick wave, he was walking down the hall towards the staircase. I glanced back at Charlie, but her head was already buried in her bag, unpacking the few things she had brought with her down to my house.

“Okay, we should probably get going if we want to get good seats for the game,” she said. I stared at her quizzically—something is definitely going on between those two—but nodded my head in agreement. Charlie had changed into one of Kenny’s baseball shirts and while I had one too, I stayed in the black t-shirt and skinny jeans I had worn for the ride back.

The walk to the baseball field took us five minutes. Five minutes in which I blocked out the chatter of excited students who were walking around us and mentally prepared myself for seeing Nick.

The bleachers already had students filling them up, so Charlie and I followed the group and sat about seven rows up. The teams were just starting to come out and warm up so everyone around us just talked with each other, their excitement growing with each passing minute. I could barely think with all the ruckus around me, and I really had a lot to think about. But that proved to be impossible, so instead I turned to Charlie and tried to make conversation.

“So, what’s going on with you and Kenny?” I asked her.

I saw her cheeks darken with her blush, but she tried to play it off and asked, “What are you talking about?”

I giggled at the way she tried to brush it off. “Charlie, you two are my best friends. I noticed that look he gave you back there. What was that all about?”

“Ok, don’t get mad or anything, but we’re kind of dating,” she mumbled. I had to strain to hear her over everyone else, but I definitely heard her right.

I smiled at her—my first genuine smile in days. “Charlie that’s great! Why would you think I’d get mad about that? How did it happen? When did it happen?” I asked, glad that I finally had something to take my mind off of everything else going on in my life.

Charlie seemed to ease up a bit and angled her body so that she was facing me. “Well, I went to his room to tell him about your Pop-pop, then he started feeling really guilty about what happened between you guys so I tried to ease his guilt and told him about the conversation we had. I didn’t realize it as I was saying it, but I pretty much told him about my feelings and then we just talked about how long I’ve liked him. I don’t really know what was going through his mind but next thing I know he’s kissing me and…yea…” she said, trailing off.

My smile only got wider. “That’s really great Charlie. I’m so glad you two are together. Really,” I gushed.

“Thanks. At first I was scared he was using me as his rebound,” she started.

“Oh no don’t even think that. I know Kenny would never use a girl as a rebound. If you two are together then it’s because he really likes you,” I tried to assure her.

She smiled softly at me. “Yea, he cleared that up for me right away.”

“Good. Oh I’m really so happy for you. I know you’ve liked him for a long time and I’m glad you got your happy ending.”

“Thanks Legs. And don’t worry, it’ll happen for you and Nick too,” she assured.

At the mention of his name, I looked away from her gaze to prevent her from seeing the anxiousness in my eyes. Only to look out at the field and see Nick warming up with his team mates. My breath hitched in my throat. It felt like months since the last time I saw him, but it’s only been a week since he told me about his “dream” down at the beach.

“It’ll all work out Legs, trust me,” Charlie assured again. Right then the coach called all the players into the dugout and the announcer came on, initiating the start of the game. The crowd quieted down as our school choir lined up at home plate to sing the national anthem (yea, this was that big of a game). All the players were on the line between first and home and third and home, their hats to their chest, staring at the flag. And my eyes were on Nick the entire time. At the end, as the players all jogged to their respective dug outs, Nick looked out at the crowd. And I don’t know how he did it, but his eyes landed directly on me. He slowed down his jog until he was standing still just staring at me. I wanted to drop his gaze, to look anywhere but at his probing brown eyes that seemed to be screaming at me, but I just couldn’t. I held his gaze until his coach came out and dragged him into the dugout.

JB—JB—JB—JB—JB

She was here. Allegra was at the game. Since he stepped out on the field Nick knew that something felt different. He should have guessed it was her presence, but he didn’t. That’s why he was caught so off guard when he saw her sitting in the stands, surrounded by a swarm of people. He didn’t expect to see her out like that—not right after her grandfather’s death anyways. Which made him wonder why she was there. Why had she come home early? Why was she at the game? Did she come to see him…or Kenny? Did Charlie talk to her at all about their conversation? Did she know it was all a misunderstanding? Or did she still think he revealed her family secrets?

Needless to say Nick could not focus on his short stopping skills for the duration of the game. He knew his coach and teammates were getting frustrated with him. It was the biggest game of the year and he just couldn’t get his mind off of the girl sitting out in the crowd.

“Jonas, will you please stop ogling her and get your head in the game?” Kenny growled at him in frustration during the sixth inning. The team was down by five and it was obvious it was his fault. Difficult as it was, he had to focus on the game. The sooner it was over, the faster he could speak to her. That thought alone motivated him to do his best. And it worked. By the bottom of the ninth inning they were only down by two. There was one out left, the bases were loaded—he was on third—and Jimmy was up to bat. Jimmy was their power hitter and it was possible that they might just win the game.

The crowd was buzzing, everyone practically at the edge of their seats. This was it. Nick blocked out all the outside noises, focusing only on Jimmy at home plate. His legs were already inching away from third, dying to make the sprint to home base. His eyes moved to the pitcher as he prepared to make his pitch. Then his eyes briefly flashed up to the crowd where he knew Allegra was sitting. He did a double take when he saw her head of black wavy hair bobbing through the crowd towards the exit of the field. His heart stopped for about a millisecond; then the outside world came crashing down on him. He had missed the pitch, which Jimmy had hit effortlessly. Now all he heard was the cheering crowd and his coach yelling at him to run.

By the time his mind caught on to what was going on, he was already running towards home. His teammates were right behind him—seeing as Jimmy had hit the winning homerun—but he didn’t stick around for the celebration. Instead of stopping at home plate to take in the moment—their team had just won state championships, the second one for the school that year—Nick kept running. He ran past all the fans that were running onto the field. Ran out of the field, down the hill that situated the field, and towards the familiar figure that was practically speed walking, all the while stripping off his batting glove and batting helmet.

She was the only other person around, everyone else at the baseball field. “Allegra, wait up,” he called out. He didn’t know how much she knew or what she was even experiencing, but he didn’t expect her to keep walking the way she did. If anything, she sped up when she heard him calling out to her. “Allegra,” he called again, this time a bit closer. He picked up his speed just a bit and within the following few seconds he caught up to her—they were almost at the dorms. He took a hold of her arm, halting her progression. “Hey,” he said, turning her to face him.

That’s when he saw the tears that were rolling down her flawless face. The sight of her crying always got to him—always. So he pulled her close to him, embracing her in a tight hug. This was something he had wanted to do since Charlie told him about her grandfather’s death the day before. He felt like there was so much he wanted to say to her. He wanted to apologize for the misunderstanding, for her grandfather’s death, wanted to make sure she was doing okay. But all of that could wait, because at the moment what she needed the most was comfort—his comfort.

Or so he thought. She pulled away from his hug almost instantaneously, taking a few steps away from him. “Hey, whoa, where are you going?” he asked.

“I—I can’t d-do this,” she said through her tears.

“Legs, I’m so sorry. For everything,” he started. He figured apologizing first was the best way to start the conversation he knew would take place.

“S-s-sorry? You’re sorry?!? How c-c-could you do that t-to me Nick? Why w-would you do t-that?” she asked. Nick was surprised that she still thought he had spread her family’s secrets. I guess Charlie didn’t say anything to her after all, he thought to himself.

“Allegra, I didn’t say anything to anyone. It was all a misunderstanding,” he started, taking one step closer to her. She took one step back, shaking her head at him. “Charlie and I figured it all out. It was all Dawn’s fault. She set us up.”

Allegra’s misty eyes clouded with confusion. “W-w-what?”

Nick tried again, taking another step closer to her. She didn’t move at all, so he took that as a sign. He slowly advanced towards her as he said, “We don’t know how, but Dawn found out about your mom and used that against me so that you would think I betrayed you. She knew you would be there the day she cornered me into talking to her. And then once you left she told me that you were JadeBaby and poisoned my mind, telling me that you were just using me to become popular,” Nick explained all in one rapid breath.

“I would never,” Allegra exclaimed.

“I know that now. And I’m so sorry for blowing up at you and being an asshole. You didn’t deserve any of the things I did and you have no idea how absolutely sorry I am. I feel so horrible,” he said, finally having gotten close enough to her to grab a hold of her shoulders so that she wouldn’t run.

Allegra was staring cautiously at him from under her dark lashes, her blue eyes flooding with too many different emotions. “So you didn’t tell her about my mom?” she croaked out, trying to wrap her mind around all the new information being thrown at her.

Nick shook his head, running his hands down the length of her arms until he intertwined her fingers with his. “Absolutely not. I would never intentionally hurt you that way,” he whispered.

“But you did. You purposely tried to hurt me by openly flirting with Dawn in my face,” she said, releasing his hands and taking one step away from him.

Her words cut him deep. Because he knew she was telling the truth. He had purposely tried to make her jealous. But the maliciousness that that entailed was different than that of revealing her family secrets. However that didn’t matter. What mattered was that she was right. He had to make that up to her.

Nick quickly stepped closer to her again, grabbing a hold of her hand before she could run away from him. “I know. You’re right and I’m so absolutely sorry. I was a jackass, I know that. But please, you have to believe me when I say that I’m sorry. I care about you Allegra, a lot. And I don’t ever want to see you hurting the way you were when you thought I had betrayed your trust. I don’t ever want to be the cause of your tears,” he said, bringing his hand up to brush away a tear that had slipped out from her lashes.

She pressed her eyes closed at the contact, releasing a few more tears. “I can’t believe you thought I was using you to become popular,” she whispered, looking up at him.

“I know. I was stupid to ever think that. But please, please tell me you don’t hate me. This guilt is going to eat me alive,” he begged. And he wasn’t embarrassed by it. Because he knew he should be groveling at her feet for forgiveness.

“I don’t hate you,” she mumbled, shaking her head. “That’s just physically impossible.”

A sense of relief flooded through Nick at her words. He tugged on the hand that he was still holding, bringing her close to him. He used his other hand to brush her bangs behind her ear then cup her neck in his palm. He brought his head down until their foreheads were touching. “Thank you,” he whispered.

She brought her hand to lie on top of the one cupping her neck. “Don’t mention it.”

He could see it in her eyes. She truly forgave him. They were really okay. Well, in a sense. She still wasn’t okay. Because although this issue had been resolved, the fact of the matter still stood—she had lost her grandfather. And he knew that even though she was showing a brave face and had come back to school and even attended a school event, she was hurting inside.

“I’m so sorry about your grandfather,” he whispered into her hairline. “I should have been there with you and I’m so sorry I wasn’t.” He felt her body stiffen for a millisecond, then it relaxed before shaking with her sobs. He dropped his hand from her neck and pulled her in to him with the one still intertwined with his, wrapping his free arm around her shoulder and propping his chin on top of her head. Her own arms wrapped around his torso, his jersey crumpling underneath her fists. Her small figure shook with her sobs underneath him and he couldn’t do anything but rub circles between her shoulder blades and press soft kisses to her temple.

“He’s g-g-gone Nick. Forever. I’m n-n-never going to see h-him again,” she mumbled into his chest, her words sounding muffled.

It physically pained him to hear the pain in her voice. She obviously wasn’t okay and suddenly he knew that the worry he felt the previous night when Charlie told him she wasn’t doing good was justified.

“He’s not completely gone. The memory of him lives in you, your grandmother, in me, in any person he’s ever encountered. Just remember that. He loved you and he would never leave you forever,” he murmured.

Allegra pulled away from him and stared up at him through misty eyes. “How do you do that?” she asked through a hiccup.

“Do what?” he asked, running his hands through her hair.

“Say the right things,” she replied.

He stared deep into her eyes then shrugged. “I care about you and I would do anything so that you didn’t have to hurt like this.”

Allegra let out a humorless laugh. “I don’t think there’s much you can really do though,” she said.

“But I can try. I’m here for you Allegra and I always will be. Any time you need me,” he whispered. Nick was being completely sincere and he wanted Allegra to know that.

They stood there for a full minute, staring at each other. And suddenly Nick couldn’t help himself. He cupped Allegra’s face in both his hands and slowly leaned in to her. He paused for a brief second and stared at her face. Her eyes had fluttered closed and she wasn’t pulling away from him. With that he closed the gap between them, crushing her lips underneath his. They were soft, supple, and warm—everything he ever expected them to be. Allegra’s arms looped themselves around his neck as she flattened her lithe form against him. He wrapped his arms around her torso, pressing her body even closer to him. Her toxic scent engulfed his senses, making him lightheaded—something that had never happened before. And at that moment he knew, he didn’t ever want to find someone else that would be able to do that. Because everything he could ever want was in his arms.