A Messed-Up Heart

July 24th was to be an easy day for me. After going on the 10! Show so as to speak with Bill Henley and Lori Wilson about my book, I would be going out to the Wachovia Center. That was my plan for the day. So, I arrived at NBC 10 studio along with Betsy and Karleigh in tow. They would be in the audience supporting me as I gave this interview. While I waited to be introduced, I couldn’t help but remember last year when Denise came on this show to speak about the boys. The same topic was bound to come up during the course of today’s interview, particularly when the book had been dedicated to Kevin.

As I was being introduced, I hoped that Allison wasn’t going to be watching the interview, particularly when Kevin and the feelings I had for him were bound to get mentioned. With a heavy sigh, I walked out and shook hands with the two newscasters that I had grown up watching on TV. “So nice to be here,” I said as I quickly glanced out into the audience to look over at Betsy and Karleigh for a brief moment before taking a seat.

“Good to have you,” Bill Henley said,

“Yes, you’re an author from our area, right?” Lori Wilson asked.

I smirked. “Well, in a sense, your right,” I explained. “I grew up about an hour from here. My younger sister and I essentially grew up watching NBC 10 News. So, I requested that my first interview regarding my debut novel be done out here in Philadelphia.”

“We’re honored,” Lori said. “So, tell us about your book.”

Upon hearing Lori say that, I had no choice but to laugh. I knew that Betsy was going to kill me for this. “That is a very convoluted story,” I said. “And, I’m sure that a certain person currently sitting in the audience doesn’t want to hear this, not when she’s heard it too many times.”

“Who?” Lori asked.

“My younger sister, Betsy,” I explained. “Since I have no other siblings, and I didn’t want my parents to know of my plans to write this book, I turned to my younger sister as a way to bounce ideas off of. She helped me to create the characters as well, particularly Lizz, who was in fact based off my younger sister. And though Betsy did get rather perturbed over the fact that I was bouncing ideas off of her, she became one of my biggest supporters in all of this. That’s why my debut novel was dedicated to her,” I said as I thought about the dedication I wrote and how much this book meant to me, Betsy, and Kevin, the latter in a way that Allison would never let him become aware of, not in a million years.

“That’s so nice,” Lori said.

“Yes, so how did you come up with the concept of this novel of yours?” Bill asked. “Is there any significance as to how you came up with the plot for your debut novel?”

“Well, it essentially began as a series of dreams I had three years ago. After writing them all out in my dream journal, I began to sketch out a rough cut of what my novel should be about. The rough cut included a plot about amnesia and dragons, but a high school field trip to the 2005 Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire changed all that. A creative writing assignment that was required in order to go on that trip asked me to write a five-page short story about something that could have happened at the Renaissance Faire. By this time, I had already created the characters, so I felt it necessary to incorporate them into the short story that I was writing in my British Literature class. That short story was ultimately submitted to a contest, one I received an honorable mention for.

“From that short story, I was able to concoct a web of deceit, feud, and time-travel, a story that I am now able to share with the public thanks to a little help from my friends and younger sister. I worked on this story for a good three years, so as to give all of those fantasy lovers a novel that is so much more than it seems, a novel centered around the escapades of two friends, and Lizz’s older brother as they attended the 2009 Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire,” I explained as I looked over at my sister and Karleigh. From the looks of it, Karleigh was texting someone, presumably Nick, about something that was going on as I was giving this interview to all of Philadelphia, at least the ones watching.

“Dreams, the Renaissance Faire, and a contest? Well, that’s quite an interesting combination,” Bill said as he looked out at the audience before turning his attention back to me.

I nodded. “Yeah. It is a pretty weird combination,” I said, acknowledging such a fact. “But, that’s just the way that inspiration hits me. It’s how my ideas come to me: through dreams.”

The subject was then changed. “Other than Lizz being based off your younger sister, are there any characters in your book that you decided to base off the people in your life?” Lori asked.

“Just Lizz and Alia,” I replied. “As I said before, Lizz is based on my sister, while Alia is based on me. The guys aren’t based on anyone, but Peyton was partially inspired by Peyton Manning; I won’t explain it any further than that though. You’ll just have to read the book in order to understand what I mean by that.” I sighed, hoping that the interview would end at that. They had not yet mentioned my love life, and I hoped that it was not going to be mentioned over the course of today’s interview; I didn’t want to deal with that.

“And, has your love life made an impact in how you wrote your novel?” Lori asked. “Emotion often seems to play a role in how a novel is written. Did your have that effect?”

Once it was mentioned, I thought of Kevin and the fact that there was a possibility of me losing him. Losing Kevin was bound to be hard on me and I did not wish to deal with that. There was a certain amount of difficulty that I was able to bear, but this was an overload. So, I definitely didn’t want to talk about it, not when it was going to most certainly overshadow what was truly important: my book. I sighed and shook my head. “My love life was nonexistent at the time that I wrote this book. There were a lot of guys hitting on me, but I would have none of that, instead preferring to write my book. It also didn’t help that all of the guy that would hit on me were complete jerks. They never seemed to realize the fact that I wanted to date a nice guy, someone that would sweep me off my feet. None of them were ever like that, so I never dated. Not like my sister would get that.”

“So, love played no factor?” Lori asked.

“That’s right. Writing this was all me. Love has absolutely nothing to do with my writing. Maybe getting it published, but that is a completely different story that I would rather not get into. It’s not really something that I want to get into,” I explained, looking at Betsy.

“Why not?” Bill asked.

“To put it simply, my name has come up in the media, prior to writing my book, or rather getting it published,” I explained. “He was the one to help me get my novel published. And, even though we broke up, causing me to have not seen him in months, I have him to thank for everything that has happened to me since then. Unfortunately, with his fiancée around, there’s no way for me to ever see him and get the chance to thank him for helping me to get this book published. Giving him a simple thank you could be misconstrued as me trying to reconnect with my ex-boyfriend.” As I was explaining this, I was careful not to mention Kevin by name. Until it was absolutely necessary, his identity and involvement in the publishing of my novel was to remain a secret. No one, but Karleigh, Betsy, and the Jonas family was ever allowed to know of Kevin’s involvement in me getting my book published. Allison would kill me if she knew about that.

“What kind of woman won’t let their fiancé get a proper thank you from you for helping you to publish this novel?” Lori asked. “That doesn’t seem to make any sense to me.”

“Allison Lenore Wunderlund,” I said.

“Who?”

I sighed, knowing that I would have to explain all of this them in order to make them understand what was going on. From the looks of it, this was the only way to quell their thirst for answers. “If I told you that I would be going to the Wachovia Center later on tonight, would that statement be able to provide you with a clue as to what I’m referring to, who this person is and what they mean to me?” I asked, once again looking over at Betsy.

“Isn’t there a concert over there tonight?” they asked.

“Yeah,” I nodded, thinking of the concert and what it was going to mean to me to see them perform tonight. Philadelphia held a special significance to me, something that I never wanted to be taken away from me. If it was, I would destroy Allison. “The Jonas Brothers are performing there tonight, a concert that my sister and I will be attending. We’re close friends with Nick Jonas, and he would always do what he could in order to help us. This is particularly so in regards to the fact that my sister and I have dated Joe and Kevin respectively. Nick knows that we still love and care for the boys. They will always be a part of our lives. So, Nick is trying to help us deal with everything that’s been going on, particularly helping me deal with the fact that the boys I still love is supposed to be getting married soon.”

“So, you’ve been unable to say thank you to your ex-boyfriend for helping to get this book published?” Lori asked. “That doesn’t seem right. You should be able to thank him.”

I laughed. “You don’t know Allison.

The interview ended a short time later and I went to join Betsy and Karleigh. I needed to know what was going on, why Nick had contacted them. “Have you heard anything from Nick? I mean, there has to be something going on for you to be texting earlier.”

Karleigh nodded. “Nick wants to meet you out at Independence Hall. There’ something about the concert that he wants you to know about, something that he obviously wished to tell you himself. He didn’t even tell me what was going on,” she explained.

“I know the reason,” I said.

“What?” Karleigh asked.

I eyed my younger sister, knowing that she definitely should have realized the significance of all of this to me and Betsy; it was the first place that I had ever contacted Kevin. That was why Philadelphia was so special to me. It was the place that I had started to realize how much Kevin was in love with me. Because of that, I found it quite ironic that the last concert that Betsy and I were allowed to attend was to be held on August 27th, the anniversary of when I first met Kevin. That was going to be hard for me to deal with; I had to leave immediately after that concert in order to go back to New York or Pennsylvania.

Betsy eyed me. “Philadelphia?”

“Yeah,” I nodded.

“What’s going on?” Karleigh asked.

“Philadelphia was the first place that Kevin ever heard Amanda’s voice. He asked that we meet up with Big Rob so as to start getting ready to prank Nick and Joe. That was what caused me and Amanda to meet the boys. It was what ultimately caused Kevin and Amanda to start dating. Despite the fact that the concert was held in Camden, it was Philadelphia in which Kevin first heard Amanda’s voice. Independence Hall was where that occurred,” Betsy explained.

“Then should Amanda even be here?” Karleigh asked.

“No matter what, she has to,” Betsy said. “We lived near Philadelphia up until last year. Hell, our father actually grew up here. So, confronting all of this is probably in Amanda’s best interest. Amanda knows that. I know that. Why, even Nick knows that. It’s the reason that Independence Hall is where Nick wants to meet us. So, we should probably go over there.”

As Karleigh, Betsy, and I headed out to Independence Hall so as to meet up with Nick, I wondered how I was going to be able to deal with each of the concerts. This one today was going to be the hardest for me. Last year, a concert that was held in Camden was how I first crossed paths with the Jonas Brothers. Camden was just across the river. Crossing a bridge was all that I would have to do to get back into Camden and reminisce about last year when Betsy and I first met the boys, before Allison and Zora entered our lives. So, I knew that seeing Allison kiss Kevin while we were in the Philadelphia area was going to be difficult, probably the only place that I would really have difficulty dealing with their relationship.

When we arrived, Nick was standing on the steps to Independence Hall, waiting for us to arrive. “Beth, Manda,” he said once we got there, “we have a slight situation to deal with.”

“What’s wrong?” Betsy asked.

Nick sighed. “Well, the last time we were in this area was when you came to the concert and played that prank on me and Joe with a little help from Kevin. See, Allison and Zora know about that. As a result, they don’t want you two to be at tonight’s concert in fear of you guys doing the same thing that you did last year, this time in order to get back into their lives.

“So, they don’t want us there because of something that happened last year?” I asked so as to confirm what I was hearing. “That makes no sense. It was just a prank we did so as to teach you guys a lesson in calling people names. That was the only reason we did it.”

“Yeah, but Allison and Zora aren’t aware of that fact and would never understand why we did all of that,” Nick reminded us. “The girls are pissed that we brought the both of you out to California with us after the concert in Camden on August 27th. So, they don’t want you at tonight’s concert.”

“Of course they don’t,” Karleigh said. “The girls are jealous of the fact that Betsy and Amanda were a part of Joe’s and Kevin’s lives respectively. They’re pissed about the fact that all of this has been going on. And, since it all started in this area, Allison and Zora don’t want you to be attending the concert for fear that all of this will happen again.”

“I have an idea,” I said suddenly.

“What is it?” Nick asked.

I sighed and began to explain the plan. “Just so you know, this is only going to work if you or Garbo helps us. Betsy and I are going to that concert; Allison and Zora are not, and will not stop us from attending the concert tonight. It’s our home state and we are going.”

Nick nodded. “What’s the plan?”