Promise Me Forever

Joseph Adam Jonas sat in the bar in the middle of May, sculling another can of Red Bull down to his stomach. It was his fifth can that night, and the bartender was surprised that he wasn’t filled with energy and bouncing off the walls. Well, he wasn’t. So, what exactly was he complaining about?

As desperate as it sounds, Joe met his date through speed dating, just like how his best friend, Kourtney Karson, meets all her dates.

Joe and Kourtney did everything together.
Although they worked in different places, they went to work together, meet up for lunch, come home together, and even planned their dates on the same night as each other.

It was only eight forty nine in the evening, and he had just left his date at the restaurant that had gone terribly wrong. His date was probably thinking he was still in the toilet, after he excused himself to the men’s’ due of a stomach problem he made up on the spot. And with her gullible personality, she believed him.

His date’s name was, Ashley. She was tall, pretty, blue eyed and blond, and thinking he had just scored the right woman, her head was filled with sawdust.

All he could remember was nodding along with the girl, who repeatedly asked him if she looked pretty in the black little dress she was wearing, and if her plain, silver coloured stilettos matched her outfit, and his thoughts on her role model, Paris Hilton, which was someone he wasn’t too fond of.

Joe sighed to himself, as he patiently waited for his best friend, Kourtney to meet him. It was eight forty-nine so she was probably still on her date.

The pair met at the same bar, every time they had a date, good or bad. They would talk, order many rounds of their favourite drinks and talk some more, until the bar had to close and were kicked out.

By now, it was a routine to them both.
First they’d go to work, after work they’d go on a date and if the date went good or bad, both of them would still end up at the bar they met each other, every night.

He felt pathetic.

He, Joseph Adam Jonas, one of America’s heartthrobs when he was in his teens, couldn’t find someone he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. It felt like, everyone around him could find that special someone but him.

His older brother, Kevin, twenty-six, was already married to Danielle. He proposed to her early last year, and now, they have their first baby on the way.

His “stud muffin” brother, Nick, twenty-one was in a stable relationship with a girl he had been dating for three years now. Nick wasn’t planning on proposing to her any time soon, but everyone could tell the couple were going to marry sooner or later.

And his youngest brother, Frankie was at the age of puberty, where he’d soon discover sudden changes mentally and physically, and start crushing on girls and chasing after them. He was still learning how to read girls, just like his brother, Joe could. He was turning to his brothers for advice on how to win his crush’s heart.

“Thanks for starting without me,” a familiar voice grumbled.

And before he knew it, a girl with light brown hair plopped down on the empty seat next to him and snatched the can of Red Bull from his hand.

“Oi!” Joe said when he realized the can was missing from his hands.

Kourtney grinned and took a sip from the can then placed it back down on the bench. She then craned her neck and looked at Joe.

“How did your date go?”

“I could use so many callous words to describe the girl,” he answered.

“I’m betting she didn’t have a brain,” she commented, mumbling to herself.

“How’d your date go?” Joe slurred. He wasn’t drunk, he was just too lazily to pronounce the words right.

“I don’t think I’ve ever met someone completely dull,” she frowned. “He was really nice on speed dating night though.”

“I don’t think we’re ever going to find the right person before we get married,” Joe groaned.

Although, what Joe had said sounded completely stupid, Kourtney jumped up from her seat and smiled at him, pulling him into a hug. “Joe, you are the best!”

“I like to think that of myself too.”

“I’ve got the best idea,” she grinned.

“As long as it doesn’t include nail polish and make-up, go for it,” Joe frowned, referring back to one of his memories.

Kourtney had a bad break-up with her boyfriend at that time, and because she was so sad, and so depressed, Joe agreed to have a ‘girl’s night out’, which ended up, him applying nail polish and make-up. And when his brothers’ saw him – well, let’s just say it’s a memory that haunts him.

“Okay, well, let’s make a pact, Joe,” she explained. “You and I are turning twenty-five in about three months from now, and if we can’t find anyone by our twenty fifth birthdays then we have to marry each other. But because I’m born three days after you, you have an extra three days before we end up marrying each other.”

Joe took another sip from his can of Red Bull, as Kourtney patiently waited for his response. She knew Joe was still digesting all the information she had given him. He was probably deciding if he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.

“So, what do you say, Joe?” she asked, holding out her smallest finger. “If we can’t find anyone by the time we turn twenty-five, we have to marry each other.”

Joe wrapped his smallest finger around hers and smiled. “Agreed.”