This Heart, It Beats, Beats for Only You

Casey had never had a worse day in her life. She had spent the entire last 18 hours at the hospital. Joe had been put in critical care, but there was no news. Nick and their family was there with her too.

“He’ll be okay,” Kevin promised.

She nodded mechanically, but she didn’t want to hope just yet. She couldn’t. She just needed to know Joe was okay then everything would be okay.

“We’ll be back in the morning,” Mrs. Jonas promised them.

“Mrs. Jonas, my parents are coming back from their vacation tomorrow morning,” she said. “Could you please tell them I’m here if you see them before you leave?”

She smiled and hugged Casey. “I will. Thank you, Casey. I know Joe will be so happy you’re here when he’s finally our of the ICU.” Again, Casey nodded. “I’m so glad he found you.”

Casey sighed and looked out towards the ICU doors. “So am I,” she said quietly.

Mr. and Mrs. Jonas left to go home to Frankie, who couldn’t be here at the hospital. Kevin too had to leave to pick up Danielle from the airport in the morning before they all came back. But Casey and Nick were staying the night. She knew that Nick and Joe were the closest in the family and that if it were Nick in the hospital, Joe wouldn’t leave either. And Casey had nowhere to go. Sure, she could go home, but she would be alone. And right now, she couldn’t bare it. After all, she loved Joe. And she couldn’t think of anywhere else to be. This was where she belonged, with Joe.

Nick had gone off to the cafeteria with Zoey, who had stopped by a little while ago. She saw him walking alone towards her now, two cups of coffee in his hands. He handed one to her before plopping down in the seat besides her. “Thanks,” she said, taking a sip.

“Everyone left?”

She nodded. “They’ll be back in the morning.”

He sighed and put the cup down on the floor by his chair. He ran his hands through his hair. “He’ll be okay, Casey.”

She looked at him. “You’re lying to me.” She had noticed how the Jonas’ would whisper to each other when they thought she wasn’t listening, and she knew they knew more than they were letting on.

He didn’t look at her. “Casey, today he’ll be fine.”

“Today?” she repeated quietly.

They fell into a silence then, both drinking their coffee and trying to avoid the awkward conversation. Her phone buzzed for must have been the hundredth time that day. She had been bombarded with text alerts and phone calls from makeascene and its fans. It got to the point where she had to put it on vibrate. She looked at it now. It was a makeascene alert about Sam and Marisa. She sighed and hit the end button.

“He thinks you’re a saint for putting up with that,” Nick said conversationally.

She looked up to see him staring at her. She hadn’t thought he was even paying attention. “What?”

He nodded to her phone. “Make a scene. Neither of us can believe you actually put up with it.”

“Right,” she smiled. “Joe thinks it’s superficial and stupid. A fake celebrity.”

“No he doesn’t,” he said quietly. “He told me he thinks you’re the strongest and most interesting person he knows.”

“He told you that?”

He shrugged. “He also said he can see why they’re all obsessed with you.”

“They’re not obsessed,” she sighed. “They just want to live vicariously through me. And they’re just waiting for my fall.”

Nick nodded. “Trust me, we know the feeling. We deal with it all the time, but the difference is we chose this life. We knew what would happen if we got to live our dream. We knew our every move would be watched, and honestly, to get to do what we do, it’s worth it. But you. You have to put up with everyone sticking their nose in your business, and you don’t get anything out of it.”

Casey shrugged. “Sometimes, I love it. I know my life is different from yours, but I worked to get where I am too. I had to perfect my image. I had to make myself interesting. It was only after I met Joe that – I realized I was pretending.”

“I wouldn’t say pretending,” he smiled. “The posts have only gotten more interesting since Joe and I moved here.”

She laughed. “That’s because you guys are rockstars. That’s automatic interest.”

“As true as that is, and it is, I meant posts about you. From what I’ve seen, you’re the same girl who came to yell at us the day we moved in because we broke your mailbox, only now, you’re much happier.”

“Thank you,” she said quietly.

He nodded and they fell into another silence. She knew that if it were Joe, there would be no silence, and she immediately saw the difference between the brothers. But she found that she liked the silence with Nick. It was comforting.

“Zoey left?” she asked.

“A little before I came here,” he said, looking on the ground. She knew there was something he wasn’t telling her about Zoey, but she didn’t pry. He would have told her if he wanted to. She hadn’t known Nick that long or as much as she knew Joe, but she knew that if he wanted to say something, he would.

Again, there was a silence.

“It’s weird, you know.”

She looked at him, unsure if he had even spoken because it was so low. He was still staring at the ground. She was going to look away but he turned to look at her.

“Seeing Joe happy with someone, I mean.”

She waited for him to continue.

“I’ve seen him with girls before, but I’ve never seen him as happy as he’s been since you and him started. I was afraid I would never see it.”

She was touched. She knew Nick didn’t lie. And it warmed her heart to know that she made Joe as happy as he made her. “He makes me happy too.”

Nick smiled at her and looked at the ground again.

“Casey!”

She turned to the direction of the voice and saw Marisa and Sam running towards her. “Hey guys,” she said. She didn’t stand though, and Nick smiled understandingly. She just couldn’t. She didn’t have the energy. He stood and excused himself to give them some save.

Marisa plopped onto Casey’s lap, squeezing her tightly. Casey noticed how she had become a lot more forward since Sam rejoined their group, and the makeascene alerts on the duo had not been lost on Casey. It wasn’t that Casey didn’t trust Marisa, but she wasn’t completely sure she trusted Sam just yet. And if Sam ever plotted against her again, she didn’t want Marisa on her side. Of course, she’d deal with this later, after Joe was all better. Right now, she didn’t care enough.

“How are you, love?” Marisa asked.

“How’s Joe?” Sam’s tone was timid, as if she thought Casey would object to her presence here.

“I don’t know,” she answered both at the same time.

“Is Zoey still here?” Marisa asked.

Casey didn’t need to ask how she knew her cousin had been here. She too had received the text alert. “She left a little while ago.”

“He’ll be okay,” Marisa insisted.

Casey just sighed and nodded. She then saw Nick was coming back with a doctor. Marisa got off of her lap and she stood. “Is he okay?” she asked when the doctor reached them.

The doctor exchanged a look with Nick before answering. “He’s awake. He’s asking for a Casey. I’m guessing that’s you.”

She nodded, and he gestured for her to follow him. She took a deep breath. Nick took her hand and squeezed it comfortingly, smiling at her. The smile on her face was genuine for the first time in the last 18 hours. Joe was awake. Now she would have to learn his fate. But it was okay. It would all be okay if Joe was with her.