The Same Jersey Girl

I made Joe cry quite a few times when we were little, though if you ask him today he denies it, but even our parents say so. I guess he’s embarrassed to admit that a little girl beat him up at least once a week. I had anger issues then to. So I guess the next big event in my life would be when my dad died, I was only ten and I took it really hard.

I woke up Nick in the middle of the night, it was three in the morning, and it was over Christmas vacation. My mom had brought me over here because she said daddy was in trouble and she needed to get him. I wasn’t a stupid girl, I knew the truth. Mrs. Jonas took me in without even thinking about it, I was scared half to death, I remember thinking my daddy’s dead. She told me to go on up to the guest bedroom and go back to sleep. Now how was I supposed to sleep!? After she walked me up to the room and made sure I got into bed she walked out and closed the door. I waited till I heard her and Mr. Jonas’s bedroom door shut down the hall before I got out of bed. I slowly opened the door and walked down the hall to Nick’s room. I knew where it was, he was my best friend after all, and it’s not like I had never been in it before. I crept opened his door and closed it behind me. I went over to his bed and shook him softly till he woke up. He was clearly confused. “Ally? What? What are you doing here it’s three in the morning!?” he said harshly whispering while looking at his clock. Then I started to cry and that’s when he got concerned. “Ally what’s wrong??” he said sitting up grabbing my hands and pulling me over to his bed. I cried and cried on his shoulder and he hugged me and rocked me back and forth while saying comforting things and rubbing my back. Once I calmed down I told him what I knew “It’s about my dad, he was in an accident.” I said tearing up again “What?” he said back still rubbing my back. “I woke up to the phone ringing, I picked it up and listened to my mom on the other line with the police, they said he’d been in a car accident with a drunk driver, and that he wasn’t going to make it.” I cried harder when I said the last part about how he wasn’t going to make it. “Oh my God Ally I’m so sorry” he said pulling me back into a hug and rocking me back and forth again. He lay down and pulled me down with him and covered us both up, then he kissed me on the head. That night I fell asleep in his arms crying.

The next day we didn’t wake up till one in the afternoon. I woke up when I heard the bedroom door open and then close again, I had my head on Nick’s chest and had his arms wrapped around me and our legs were intertwined. My throat was dry and I could see myself in the mirror above his dresser, my hair was a mess and my eyes were big and puffy from crying so much. I sat up and Nick woke up and sat up to. I sat their rubbing my eyes. “Are you alright?” he asked looking over at me. “I’ll be fine” was all I said. I know he didn’t believe it but he didn’t say anything. I went over to his dresser and used his hair brush to brush out my hair and then I put it into two French braids, he watched me the whole time. I was thinking about last night the whole time, I turned around when I was finished. “Thanks Nick” I said. “Ally it was nothing, really” he said walking over towards me and engulfing me into another hug. We stayed like that for awhile and then we separated. “Want to go get something to eat?” He asked me. “No I’m not hungry” I said, “Alright well hold on let me get changed real quick and then we can go do something” he said opening his dresser. He just took off the black shirt he was wearing and put on a white under shirt and then another t-shirt that was from Penn State University. He then was getting ready to change his pants and I turned around and covered my eyes. “You can look now” he said while zipping up his jeans. He brushed his hair real quick, put on some deodorant and then went into the bathroom and brushed his teeth. Then we went down stairs he was holding my hand the whole time. He squeezed it before we went into the kitchen where everyone else was now eating lunch. We dropped hands and I went over and sat at the table. “Ally dear do you want anything to eat?” Mrs. Jonas asked me. I just shook my head no and sat there in a daze. Joe and Kevin didn’t say anything to me they knew what was happening. After Nick finished eating he asked if I wanted to go back to my house so I could change and what not. I shook my head yes and we went over. My mom wasn’t home so I used the spare key under the rug. I headed upstairs and into my room with Nick behind me. “I think I’m going to shower” I said. “Alright I’ll wait in here” he said. I grabbed my clothes and two towels and went into the bathroom I showered and got out. I changed into white sweat pants that said BGU down the side in pink and then I put on a black t-shirt from the Texas Road House. I brushed my teeth and headed back to my room, Nick was asleep on my bed I brushed out my hair and put it in a messy bun and just stared at myself in the mirror. It was then I promised myself never to believe in happy endings and never to cry ever again.

I remember that was a really rough week, hardest in my life. The funeral was horrible, but I didn’t cry, I do remember seeing the entire Jonas family cry though. I remember being out in the grave yard putting yellow rose down on my daddy’s coffin, I was the last one to. Nick waited for me on top of the hill. He was the only one I would talk to for about a month really, my mom? it took her about a whole two days to recover, it was almost like she didn’t even care. I took much longer, I was a daddy’s girl. I remember we spent all the holidays with the Jonas family that year. Mr. Jonas was the only other father I had really. They were like my second family. So it was Mr. Jonas who came with me to all the father daughter dances and such. Now that I think about it I have no idea what I would have done with out Nick during that time. But anyway on to the next memory of him, I guess that would really be the first time we kissed.