From GuitarGuy92 to xoJadeBabyxo

“Are you prepared to love me?”

I glanced up from the book I was engrossed in and glanced at the person that had randomly spoken to me. Squinting into the sun, I recognized the person to be Nick Jonas.

“Excuse me?!?”

He plopped down on the patch of grass next to me, the giant smile on his face growing wider. “I asked if you were prepared to love me,” he reiterated.

I stared blankly at him, not knowing how to answer that question. “Uhm, is this a legit question?”

Honestly, I hadn’t spoken much to him since we got back from the shelter two days ago. I mean, I said hi to him if I saw him around campus and had shared a minute long conversation with him yesterday about when we would meet up to finish the project, but that was it. His random question threw me off.

“So last night I was talking to my friend Kelsey about the project we’re working on and I told her how we have to rewrite our tale as a modern version and then perform the skit for the class, and she said that if we wanted, she could talk to our friends in the drama club and have them help us out,” he said in one quick breath.

“Wait, you mean, have real actors act out our skit?” I questioned for clarification.

He nodded his head enthusiastically. “Yea. We just have to write the skit and give it to them to rehearse and they’d come in during our presentation and act it out. Props and all.”

“Wow, that’s really cool,” I said, turning to him with a genuine smile on my face.

“I know. I got so excited when Kels told me that I went to my dorm and started writing out a modern day skit. It’s not that great though, but I was hoping we could get together this weekend and work on it together,” he stated, the ending of his sentenced laced in a questioning tone.

“Yea, that’d be awesome,” I replied, smiling again.

It’s only been a week and a half since we were paired up for this project, but already Nick was doing a pretty impressionable job at changing my perspective of him. The fact that he was taking such a large initiative in getting involved in this project was more than I expected of him. Way more.

“Cool, well, I have basketball practice tonight so why don’t we get started tomorrow?” he asked in a surprisingly enthusiastic voice.

“Sure,” I replied with a nod. Then something occurred to me. “But wait, don’t you guys have that big basketball game thingy tomorrow?” I asked.

He chuckled softly. “Big basketball game thingy?” he asked, in a teasing manner, his eyebrows raised at me.

I shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly, even though I could feel my cheeks flaming in embarrassment. “I’m not much of a sports person,” I confessed.

He chuckled again before replying, “No, the championship isn’t until next Friday. Some superstition or something about playing on Friday the 13th.”

“Oh, okay,” I said.

A silence fell between us. It barely lasted a few seconds before a second person walked over to us. “Hey Legs.”

I recognized the voice belonged to Charlie and glanced up, smiling at her in greeting. “Hey Charlie.”

“What’s up?” she asked, drawling out the question, glancing curiously from me to Nick and then back again.

“Oh, Nick and I were just talking about our project,” I replied hastily.

“Sup,” Nick said when I brought him into the conversation.

“Hey,” Charlie said, giving him a closed lip smile.

We all fell silent after that until Nick let out a tense cough. “Right. Well, I’ll see you tomorrow then Allegra,” he said, scrambling into a standing position. “Charlie,” he said, nodding at her.

“Yea, see ya,” I said with a tiny wave.

I turned back to Charlie once Nick’s figure was out of sight and saw her looking at me with raised eyebrows. And I knew exactly what she was thinking.

I was letting him get to me.

JB—JB—JB—JB—JB

Twenty minutes. He was twenty minutes late. I was at the library at five o’clock sharp just like we had agreed, but he wasn’t there like the other times. I waited outside for five minutes and he still didn’t show up, so I decided to go inside and see if he was there. After scouring the library for ten minutes, there were no signs of him. So I went back outside and waited another five minutes. No Nick Jonas.

I can’t believe he seriously didn’t show up.

I should have known this was all an act. He didn’t really care about this project. It was all part of his plan to get me to like him.

I can’t believe I fell for it.

I whipped my phone out of my back pocket and scrolled through my contacts until I found the number I was looking for.

“Hey Legs, what’s up?” I heard Kenny ask.

“Hey Kenny, not much, what are you up to?” I replied.

“I was just doing my Business and Economics homework. Thank you for distracting me from that by the way,” he said.

“Oh I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt. I just have a quick question,” I said, feeling guilty.

My worries were met with a deep chuckle from Kenny’s side. “It’s fine Legs. I was totally kidding. You can call me any time you want. Okay, so, what’s your question?”

“Uhm, well I guess you sort of already answered it. I was going to ask you if you had basketball practice tonight but obviously not since you’re doing homework.” I was really rambling to myself at this point.

So Nick really did stand me up.

“Why were you going to ask?”

I let out a sigh. “I was supposed to meet Nick Jonas at the library to finish working on this project we’re partners for. But he never showed up, so I was just wondering if you guys maybe had a practice he forgot to tell me about,” I replied.

“He stood you up?!” Kenny asked in an incredulous voice.

“It would look that way, yes,” I replied with a sigh.

“Do you want me to call him and yell at him for you?” I laughed his comment off, even though I knew Kenny was being completely serious.

“No. That won’t be necessary. But, could you give me his number? I’ll just call him and see where he is.” Kenny reluctantly rambled off Nick’s digits and I punched them into my phone, saving his number before hanging up with Kenny.

As I started walking back to my dorm, I called Nick. After five rings, it went to voicemail. I hung up without leaving a message. I should have known he would do something like this. I can’t believe I actually started giving him the benefit of the doubt.

I was passing Nelson Hall when I saw Jimmy Jefferson and Mike Eversole walking out. I knew they were Nick’s best friends and that they would know where he was. Doing something completely out of character, I walked up to them.

“Uhm, hey guys,” I said tentatively, stopping them in their tracks.

“Hi?” Jimmy replied, shooting me a questioning glance.

“Uh, I was just wondering if you guys knew where Nick was,” I said, not being able to look either of them in the eyes. This is so awkward.

“He’s in his room,” Mike said, sending me a smirk. “Why?”

It was ridiculous to think that these two guys were intimidating me, but they were. I had never really spoken to them, and right now, I was cursing the spontaneous act that put me in this position. “Uh, we were supposed to meet up,” I started to explain before Jimmy cut me off.

“So that’s why he said he wouldn’t hang out with us today,” he said as if he’d just had an epiphany. He and Mike glanced at each other, knowing smirks pulling at their lips.

“His room is on the fifth floor, door at the end of the left hallway,” Mike told me, giving me a wink.

I then realized what they must be thinking and I knew my cheeks were probably as red as the top I was wearing. “No, it’s not like that,” I started to say, but they were already turning to walk away.

“That lucky son of a bitch,” I heard Mike saying. “I just hope Dawn doesn’t find out.”

I stood there, mortified as I watched them walking away. Now I had no idea what to do. Nick obviously wasn’t going to be hanging out with his friends, so he didn’t stand me up for that reason. But was it possible that he did it on purpose? As if he knew that I’d come looking for him if he didn’t show up?

Ignoring the churning sensation in my stomach, I turned back to Nelson Hall and took the elevator up to the last floor. Following Mike’s instructions, I found myself in front of Nick’s door. I knew it was his because the whiteboard that was outside every dorm door had his name scrawled across it in his neat boyish handwriting. Taking a deep breath, I knocked softly on the door. Nothing. I knocked again, a bit more forceful this time. Still, I heard no commotion on the other side of the door. Now I was getting annoyed. I knew he was in there. His friends confirmed it. Why isn’t he answering the door?

With new found irritation, I found myself banging on his door. After another second it swung inwards, revealing a very disheveled Nick Jonas. “Allegra?” he asked in a raspy voice, as if he wasn’t sure if it was really me standing in his doorway. “What are you doing here?”

“We were supposed to meet to finish the project, remember?” I asked, crossing my arms across my chest. Even though I was angry he had stood me up, I couldn’t help my curiosity. I glanced over his shoulder into his room. His blinds were drawn and the room was pitch black, the only light coming from the hallway, making it hard to see anything at all.

I turned my attention back to Nick when he brought his hand up to his head and held on to it, pressing his eyes shut. “Yea, sorry about that. I’m not feeling too well. I would have called to tell you I wouldn’t be able to meet up,” he said, opening his eyes and sending me a weak smirk, “but I don’t have your number.”

I unfolded me arms, all the anger seeping out of my body and guilt washing over me for two reasons. One, he was sick and I had come barging into his room all angry when I shouldn’t have been. Two, he would have called to tell me, but I had refused to give him my number whenever he asked me for it. I averted my gaze from his face, not being able to look at him knowing that I had unjustly accused him of things in my head. The awkward silence lasted a few seconds before I looked back at him and said, “I’m sorry.”

He leaned his body against his door and closed his eyes. “It’s okay,” he said, his voice suddenly sounding much softer—vulnerable almost. I couldn’t help the worry that settled in the pit of my stomach at the sight of him. He really didn’t look too good.

“Are you alright?” I asked, leaning forward and touching his forearm lightly. He opened his eyes, squinting against the intensity of the hallway light. Being this close to him, I could see his face was much paler, the usual pink tint in his cheeks gone.

“Yea, I’m fine,” he replied with a weak smile.

Even though there was a tiny voice inside my head telling me to just leave him and not get involved, I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t leave him when he was obviously not okay. I bit my bottom lip and shook my head. “No you’re not. Come on.” I grabbed his arm and led him back into his room, shutting the door behind us. The room was immediately consumed in darkness, and I stopped, not knowing what to do. I didn’t know the layout of his room, and didn’t want to move in fear I would run into something.

Nick must have sensed this in my hesitation because he started walking, blindly pulling me with him. He stopped and wriggled out of my grasp then I heard his body plop on what I assumed was his bed. I stood there awkwardly for a few more seconds until my eyes adjusted to the darkness. When they did, I allowed them to sweep once more around the room. It was fairly large and I noticed that his bed was the only one in here. He didn’t have a roommate.

I let out a slow breath to ease my nerves then kneeled by his bed and said, “So, what’s wrong with you.”

This has to be the most awkward situation I’ve ever gotten myself into.

I saw him shrug slightly, but he didn’t say anything. The room grew silent again—the sound of Nick’s even breaths filling the space between us. He seemed like he was asleep, and I found myself staring intently at him. His lips were set in a firm line, his usually neat curls a bit wilder than usual. Then I found myself admiring his chiseled jaw line, his high cheek bones that would have looked feminine on anyone else, but managed to work for him, his long dark lashes that rested against his cheeks. As I observed this, I saw him squeeze his eyes tightly, as if he was trying to block some pain. “Nick?” I whispered.

“It’s just a headache,” he whispered back after a few seconds.

Before I could stop myself, my hand was already brushing his curls away and resting softly on his forehead. I heard his breathing stop, only to resume when I removed my hand. “Well, you don’t seem to have a fever,” I observed. “Does anything else hurt?” I asked.

“My stomach,” he replied weakly.

I don’t know why, but something about how vulnerable Nick was being in front of me pulled at my heart. I couldn’t find it in myself to walk away from him, even though my head was telling me that I shouldn’t allow myself to become too close to Nick. But there was a part of me that wanted to. That realization had hit me when we got back from the shelter on Tuesday. I had seen a side of him that I didn’t think existed. And it plagued me more than it should have. But I couldn’t help but feel that maybe Nick was worth getting to know. And there was something about how vulnerable he was right now that had me thinking that again.

My thoughts were interrupted by Nick quickly getting up and dashing towards an open door on the other side of his room that I realized was a bathroom. The sound of him throwing up the contents of his stomach had me running after him. I found him curled up on the floor, his flushed face pressed to the cool tile floor. And my heart went out to him.

I went to his side and helped him up; leading him to the sink and helping him brush his teeth. By the time I had led him back to his bed, his body was limp in my hold and he just collapsed on his bed, bringing me down with him. I don’t know how, but I managed to maneuver both our bodies so that he was lying down and I was sitting next to him. He looked so sick and I couldn’t take it. I brushed his curls and ran my hands down his face, prompting him to open to his eyes. “I’m gonna go get a nurse,” I told him.

As I was getting up, I felt his hands wrap around my wrist. “Please don’t go,” he whispered hoarsely.

“Nick, you need professional help,” I told him softly, trying to ignore my pounding heart.

“Please Legs, don’t leave me.” My breath hitched in my throat. Did he just call me Legs? Only my friends call me that. I looked down at him and gave in to the pleading look in his warm brown eyes, sitting back down on his bed. I felt his entire body ease up next to me as he let out a sigh of relief. It didn’t take long for his breathing to even out, letting me know he had fallen asleep. Even then, I couldn’t find it in myself to get up and go get him help.

This led me to one question.

What am I doing?

JB—JB—JB—JB—JB

Nick kept waking up every couple of minutes to throw up, coming back and falling asleep again. I eventually got him to drink a can of ginger ale, and about an hour later, he stopped waking up to go to the bathroom. I convinced myself that he would be all right—he just had to sleep it off—and got up to leave.

The entire walk back to my dorm—which I realized wasn’t far from his—I thought about the past four hours. It started with me being mad that he hadn’t shown up at the library, then me feeling guilty about being mad when he was sick and couldn’t go, then me feeling worried because he was sick and wouldn’t let me get him help. After that my emotions were foreign to me. Something furled within me whenever he would reach out to make sure I was still sitting next to him. And when I pinpointed what he was making me feel, I just became confused. That’s when I made myself get up and go back to my dorm.

“Alright, what’s wrong with you?”

I snapped my head to the opposite side of my room to find Charlie sitting on her bed, staring intently at me. “What are you talking about?” I asked.

“You’ve been looking at the same page for like ten minutes. So I know you’re not reading. Which means that you’re thinking about something. And by the look on your face, it’s a confusing something,” she replied.

I couldn’t help but smile softly to myself. “Charlie, I think you and I spend way too much time together if you can figure that out,” I said.

She laughed at me and nodded her head in agreement. “But seriously Legs, what’s wrong?”

I let out a sigh and closed the book that I had started to read to take my thoughts off of Nick. When I looked up, Charlie was already getting up from her bed and coming to sit down on mine. “Nothing’s really wrong,” I started. “I was just thinking about…Nick,” I confessed hesitantly. I looked up to gauge her reaction. She was staring at me with a concerned expression on her face.

“You let the Jonas charm get to you didn’t you?” she asked. I sighed again and nodded my head. “What won you over? His amazing good looks? His sweet talking ways?”

“His personality,” I answered. I saw her eyebrows knit together in confusion, so I crossed my legs and got into story telling mode. “Well, on Tuesday, he asked me if I wanted to get together to work on the project and I told him I couldn’t because I was going down to the shelter, and he asked me if he could come along,” I started.

“Really?” she interrupted.

“Yea I was thrown off too. But I let him come. And he really surprised me. I was expecting him to run for the hills when he saw how those people lived, but he didn’t. And he was so good with the kids. He completely surprised me. And that’s all I’ve been able to think about all week. Whenever I’m around him, with no one else around, he just seems like a different person than when he’s with his friends. He doesn’t ever make rude comments about anyone and he seems almost caring.”

“Never would have expected that,” Charlie mumbled.

“Yea, I know. Anyways, today we were supposed to meet up at the library to finish the project, but he never showed up. Next thing I know I’m banging on his door and—”

“Wait, you went to his dorm?!? That’s so not like you Legs!” Charlie interrupted again.

“I know, that’s another story. Anyways, it turns out he was really sick and I never gave him my number, so he couldn’t call to tell me. And then I felt really bad about barging in on him like that and being so rude. But Charlie he looked really sick and I couldn’t leave him like that, so I ended up staying there the entire time, pretty much watching him sleep. And that’s when it sort of really hit me.”

“Allegra Jade Cole, are you trying to tell me that you like Nick Jonas?” Charlie asked.

“Like him like him, no. I mean, I hardly know him. But I want to get to know him. I don’t want to keep this wall up so that I don’t let myself become attached. And I know it’s totally crazy, but I can’t help but want to be his friend,” I concluded.

“You’re damn right it’s crazy. Legs, he’s a socialite. You’ve always hated the socies. Why would you want to be friends with their leader?” Charlie asked.

“I think he was being honest when he said that he wasn’t like them. I honestly think he’s a decent guy,” I replied, taking notice of how defensive my voice was.

Charlie let out a sigh and closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose as she shook her head at me. She finally opened her eyes and looked at me. “Legs, you’re my absolute best friend and no matter what I think, I know I can’t tell you who you can and can’t be friends with. But if you’re really going to be doing this, just promise me you’ll be careful. I know you better than you think and I don’t want you to let yourself get too attached because I don’t want to see you get hurt in the end.”

I smiled softly at her. “Jeez Charlie, you’re talking as if I’m in love with the kid. I just want to be his friend, that’s all,” I teased.

“I’m being serious here Allegra. He might be different, but his friends aren’t. Just be careful, okay?” she asked again.

I nodded my head once and pulled her into a hug. “I will.”

She pulled back and all the seriousness in the atmosphere was lifted with her teasing smirk. “So you seriously spent three hours in Nick Jonas’ room? I am appalled young lady.”

I shoved her off my bed playfully, giggling all the while. “Whatever.”