My Girl
I Can't Hate You
“Looks like someone moves on fast.” I pulled away from Parker quickly and turned around, coming face to face with the entire Jonas family.
The voice came from Joe, of course, who was smiling evilly down at me. I looked away and ignored the looks I was getting from everyone, but there was one pair of hurt eyes I couldn’t ignore.
“Joe, shut up.” These eyes said, moving their attention away from me. I watched as Nick’s curly hair fell in front of his face as he glanced down at the ground.
“Hey, Frank. Let’s go play on those bars.” Kevin suggested, picking Frankie upside down and throwing his over his shoulders. He started to walk away, followed by an anxious looking Denise, who was walking closely behind as if Kevin would drop Frankie any minute. Mr. Jonas followed, grabbing onto Joe’s shoulder as he walked past him. Joe didn’t budge.
“Joseph, come on.” Paul mumbled, tugging on his sons shoulder more forcefully.
“Nick isn’t leaving. Why can’t I stay?” He asked stubbornly, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Joseph. Adam. Jonas.” Mr. Jonas’ voice even scared me as he scolded Joe, pushing him toward where the rest of the Jonas’ were. Nick continued to stare at the floor.
“Elise, I will…” Parker started, but trailed off when I grabbed onto his hand childishly. Nick saw this, his eyes glaring down at our intertwined fingers.
“Is there something you had to say, Nick?” I tried to make my voice sound intimidating, but it wavered as his name escaped my lips.
He looked up into my eyes again, a wave of guilt crashing into me. He seemed truly hurt.
“…How are you?” His cheeks flushed as he asked this question. His eyes looked down at the same spot on the ground he had been looking at earlier.
“Wonderful. Absolutely great.” I said sarcastically, wanting so badly to start screaming at him. How the fuck do you think-
“That’s good.” He looked at Parker. “Is this…your friend?”
I watched as Parker and Nick exchanged a look. “You could say that.”
Ouch. “Oh…well. I’m glad things are…wonderful and everything.” He glanced behind him at his family, where everyone was pretending to be watching Frankie. It was obvious that at least Kevin and Joe were listening in. Joe didn’t even hide it, he just stood there, glaring at me as Nick spoke.
“Yep.” I nodded my head, pulling my cell phone out to check the time. “We should get going.” I said to Parker, who continued to look at Nick.
“Right.” Nick answered, taking his hands out of his pant pockets. “See you around.”
“Sure.” I mumbled, watching him as he made his way back over to his family. Kevin patted him on the back subtly as he walked up to them. I ignored it and took my hand out of Parker’s.
“Sorry about that, I just didn’t want you to leave.” I mumbled. Parker said something, but I still was too consumed in the Jonas’.
If this weren’t to happen, if things would have turned out perfectly in my little world, I would be standing next to Nick right now, laughing as Frankie jumped down from one of the highest bars and smiled up at his family.
I could almost feel Nick’s unreasonably cold hands wrap around my palm as he looked my way to tell me a story about something Joe had done last time they were at the park. I would have laughed at this too, Joe probably wouldn’t hate me like he did now, and we would have continued to both live our happy, perfect little lives.
“Do you want to leave? I don’t want to force Steph to watch Arielle for that long.” Parker looked down at his watch, and I finally bore my eyes away from the group.
“Right.” I smiled at Parker. “Thanks for everything, by the way.”
“No problem.” He nodded toward his car that was in the distant parking lot. I looked at it and then back at him.
“I think I’m just going to hang out here a little while longer, I can call you later or something?” I pulled my cell phone back out of my pocket since I was yet to get Parker’s number.
“Sure…” I handed him my phone awkwardly and watched as he typed his name and number on the keyboard and then saved it to my contacts.
We said our goodbyes and walked separate ways. Parker, to his car. Me, as far away as I could get from Nick, while still staying in the park, as possible.
But as soon as Parker was out a safe enough distance, and I glanced over to where Nick and his family still were, I saw Nick glance at me and then quickly walk away from his family without a single word.
And the only thing I could keep thinking was, keep walking.
“Go away.” I felt his presence almost instantly behind me as I furiously walked down the path.
“Who was that?” He shouted behind me. I ignored his question and continued to walk, until his strong hand wrapped around my arm and pushed me toward the side of the trail. We were far enough so that no one from his family could see us.
“Get your hands off of me!” I screamed, hoping someone walking by would think something was wrong. But by the small scene Nick and I had just made minutes before, I was pretty sure everyone at the park was convinced that I was some melodramatic freak.
“Elise, stop it.” Nick whispered, and I closed my mouth. So easily, he had control. “Can we please talk?”
“I don’t want to talk to you.” I lied. I was dying to tell him everything. I wanted him to know who Parker was, but I wanted him to get jealous about how I had ‘moved on’, just so I would know that he still cared.
I felt Nick’s thumb stroke my arm as we continued to look at each other. “Please?”
“Didn’t I tell you I would talk to you when I was ready?” I asked him quietly, pulling away from his arm. He gave up and watched me as I backed away from him slowly.
“Actually, you didn’t say anything to me once I left.” He retorted, glancing behind him quickly. I crossed my arms over my chest and watched as he moved around awkwardly. Something about this moment wouldn’t let me turn around and walk away, even if it was the perfect moment to.
“I just need some time to think things through. I still don’t know what happened, and I’m not ready to deal with you yet.” I stated, clenching my fingers to my palms so they wouldn’t shake.
“Which is why you should let me explain things.” Nick answered, waking closer to me. I sighed and stared down at the dirt road, kicking a loose rock from the gravel with my shoe.
“Later, alright? I promise. I just…” I ran my hand through my hair and looked at him. Stop making excuses.
“Do you have a ride home?” He asked, frantically coming up with any ideas to keep me around. It hadn’t occurred to me until now, but since I had driven with Parker, I did not.
“I can walk.” I said, turning on the heel of my converse and continuing down the path.
“It’s supposed to rain.”
“I can deal.”
“Please just let me drive you.” Nick was jogging slowly to keep in pace with me. I shook my head.
“You drove with your family. They probably hate me.”
“I drove separately.”
“I can walk.” I repeated.
“It’s fine.” Nick slowed down, falling slightly behind me, and even though I hated to admit it, I prayed he would continue to ask.
If he asked one more time, I told myself, I would let him drive me home. It wouldn’t even be that big of a deal anymore, he didn’t feel that way for me. We were over.
“It’s the least I could do.”
My mind took that as asking again because without a single word, I turned around, looked up at him, and simply nodded my head once, letting him lead me back to the parking lot where I saw his familiar car parked in the very back of the drive.
/>>/
“Are you sure it’s supposed to be making that noise?” My window was pulled down, even if it was pouring outside, as we both listened quietly to the sound coming from the car’s engine.
“Yeah, it sounds this way when it’s wet.” Even if Nick sounded confident with his answer, I could tell he was also waiting for it to break down any second. We were struggling up the hill a few miles away from the park.
Nick looked down at the steering wheel in concentration, biting down on his lower lip gently as he pushed the car into a higher strength level. I watched as his curls fell out of the way they had been styled above his head. He ignored them and continued to drive, but soon gave up and let the engine stall on the side of the road.
“I can call someone to pick us up. It’s just not safe for us to be driving in this car.” Nick told me, looking up from the wheel. I had still been looking at him, so our eyes met, and stayed looking at each other until I quickly glanced out the window.
“Alright.” I agreed, glancing down at his phone that was resting in the cup holder between us. He coughed awkwardly and reached for the phone, dialing a number quickly and pressing the front of it to his ear.
“Joe? Hey. Where are you?” The call was answered and either the volume was so loud on his phone or Joe was talking extremely loud, but I could hear the sound of Joe’s voice on the other line.
“We just got home. We thought you would be here already.” Nick looked at me and I pretended to looking at the pair of foam dice that hung on the rear-view mirror in front of us.
“My car broke down.” He pulled his keys out of his car and stared out the window as the rain continued to pour down onto it.
“That’s a problem.” I heard Joe mumble. Nick rolled his eyes and ran a hand through his curls.
“Can you please just get someone to come pick us up?” I opened my mouth to inform him on what he just said, but Joe beat me to it.
“Us? Who is us?”
“I meant I.” Nick said quickly. Joe continued to talk on the other line as Nick smacked the top of his forehead with his palm.
“It’s Elise…isn’t it? That’s why you took off once that kid she was with-”
“Joe, shut up. I was just trying to be nice.” Nick mumbled. For whatever reason, this killed me inside.
“Please, why can’t you just admit that you still like her?” My palms started to sweat as they reached out for the car door handle.
“I shouldn’t be hearing this.” I mumbled, pushing open the door and climbing out of the passengers seat.
Glancing behind me through the rain, I could faintly see Nick throw his phone in the seat next to him and join me outside.
“Elise, please wait.” His voice was barely audible through the pouring rain.
“I can walk.” I said quietly, realizing he couldn’t hear me.
“Your going to get a cold.” He told me, walking up next to me. Once again he reached out for my arm and got a good grip on it, pulling my body toward his. “Elise, I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“Shut up.” I tried to get out of his arms but he easily held onto me. I stayed stone cold in his arms and waited until his hands got loose enough for me to get away.
“I don’t care who sees us together.” My walking slowed. “I don’t care if everyone tells me it’s for the best, I don’t care if they’re right…” I had completely stopped walking by now.
Staring behind me at Nick, I saw him standing only a few feet behind me. His curly hair was matted to his face, the white v-neck t-shirt he was wearing was sticking to his body tightly.
“…I don’t care if you hate me now, but there is no way I can stay away from you.” Through the rain, you couldn’t see the tears streaming down my face as I closed the gap between us. The door of his car was wide open on the side he had exited out of, probably ruining the interior as we stood staring at each other.
“I can’t hate you.” I told him, letting a sob out when he intertwined our fingers together. I stared down at our hands and shook my head. “I just can’t be with you.”
The voice came from Joe, of course, who was smiling evilly down at me. I looked away and ignored the looks I was getting from everyone, but there was one pair of hurt eyes I couldn’t ignore.
“Joe, shut up.” These eyes said, moving their attention away from me. I watched as Nick’s curly hair fell in front of his face as he glanced down at the ground.
“Hey, Frank. Let’s go play on those bars.” Kevin suggested, picking Frankie upside down and throwing his over his shoulders. He started to walk away, followed by an anxious looking Denise, who was walking closely behind as if Kevin would drop Frankie any minute. Mr. Jonas followed, grabbing onto Joe’s shoulder as he walked past him. Joe didn’t budge.
“Joseph, come on.” Paul mumbled, tugging on his sons shoulder more forcefully.
“Nick isn’t leaving. Why can’t I stay?” He asked stubbornly, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Joseph. Adam. Jonas.” Mr. Jonas’ voice even scared me as he scolded Joe, pushing him toward where the rest of the Jonas’ were. Nick continued to stare at the floor.
“Elise, I will…” Parker started, but trailed off when I grabbed onto his hand childishly. Nick saw this, his eyes glaring down at our intertwined fingers.
“Is there something you had to say, Nick?” I tried to make my voice sound intimidating, but it wavered as his name escaped my lips.
He looked up into my eyes again, a wave of guilt crashing into me. He seemed truly hurt.
“…How are you?” His cheeks flushed as he asked this question. His eyes looked down at the same spot on the ground he had been looking at earlier.
“Wonderful. Absolutely great.” I said sarcastically, wanting so badly to start screaming at him. How the fuck do you think-
“That’s good.” He looked at Parker. “Is this…your friend?”
I watched as Parker and Nick exchanged a look. “You could say that.”
Ouch. “Oh…well. I’m glad things are…wonderful and everything.” He glanced behind him at his family, where everyone was pretending to be watching Frankie. It was obvious that at least Kevin and Joe were listening in. Joe didn’t even hide it, he just stood there, glaring at me as Nick spoke.
“Yep.” I nodded my head, pulling my cell phone out to check the time. “We should get going.” I said to Parker, who continued to look at Nick.
“Right.” Nick answered, taking his hands out of his pant pockets. “See you around.”
“Sure.” I mumbled, watching him as he made his way back over to his family. Kevin patted him on the back subtly as he walked up to them. I ignored it and took my hand out of Parker’s.
“Sorry about that, I just didn’t want you to leave.” I mumbled. Parker said something, but I still was too consumed in the Jonas’.
If this weren’t to happen, if things would have turned out perfectly in my little world, I would be standing next to Nick right now, laughing as Frankie jumped down from one of the highest bars and smiled up at his family.
I could almost feel Nick’s unreasonably cold hands wrap around my palm as he looked my way to tell me a story about something Joe had done last time they were at the park. I would have laughed at this too, Joe probably wouldn’t hate me like he did now, and we would have continued to both live our happy, perfect little lives.
“Do you want to leave? I don’t want to force Steph to watch Arielle for that long.” Parker looked down at his watch, and I finally bore my eyes away from the group.
“Right.” I smiled at Parker. “Thanks for everything, by the way.”
“No problem.” He nodded toward his car that was in the distant parking lot. I looked at it and then back at him.
“I think I’m just going to hang out here a little while longer, I can call you later or something?” I pulled my cell phone back out of my pocket since I was yet to get Parker’s number.
“Sure…” I handed him my phone awkwardly and watched as he typed his name and number on the keyboard and then saved it to my contacts.
We said our goodbyes and walked separate ways. Parker, to his car. Me, as far away as I could get from Nick, while still staying in the park, as possible.
But as soon as Parker was out a safe enough distance, and I glanced over to where Nick and his family still were, I saw Nick glance at me and then quickly walk away from his family without a single word.
And the only thing I could keep thinking was, keep walking.
“Go away.” I felt his presence almost instantly behind me as I furiously walked down the path.
“Who was that?” He shouted behind me. I ignored his question and continued to walk, until his strong hand wrapped around my arm and pushed me toward the side of the trail. We were far enough so that no one from his family could see us.
“Get your hands off of me!” I screamed, hoping someone walking by would think something was wrong. But by the small scene Nick and I had just made minutes before, I was pretty sure everyone at the park was convinced that I was some melodramatic freak.
“Elise, stop it.” Nick whispered, and I closed my mouth. So easily, he had control. “Can we please talk?”
“I don’t want to talk to you.” I lied. I was dying to tell him everything. I wanted him to know who Parker was, but I wanted him to get jealous about how I had ‘moved on’, just so I would know that he still cared.
I felt Nick’s thumb stroke my arm as we continued to look at each other. “Please?”
“Didn’t I tell you I would talk to you when I was ready?” I asked him quietly, pulling away from his arm. He gave up and watched me as I backed away from him slowly.
“Actually, you didn’t say anything to me once I left.” He retorted, glancing behind him quickly. I crossed my arms over my chest and watched as he moved around awkwardly. Something about this moment wouldn’t let me turn around and walk away, even if it was the perfect moment to.
“I just need some time to think things through. I still don’t know what happened, and I’m not ready to deal with you yet.” I stated, clenching my fingers to my palms so they wouldn’t shake.
“Which is why you should let me explain things.” Nick answered, waking closer to me. I sighed and stared down at the dirt road, kicking a loose rock from the gravel with my shoe.
“Later, alright? I promise. I just…” I ran my hand through my hair and looked at him. Stop making excuses.
“Do you have a ride home?” He asked, frantically coming up with any ideas to keep me around. It hadn’t occurred to me until now, but since I had driven with Parker, I did not.
“I can walk.” I said, turning on the heel of my converse and continuing down the path.
“It’s supposed to rain.”
“I can deal.”
“Please just let me drive you.” Nick was jogging slowly to keep in pace with me. I shook my head.
“You drove with your family. They probably hate me.”
“I drove separately.”
“I can walk.” I repeated.
“It’s fine.” Nick slowed down, falling slightly behind me, and even though I hated to admit it, I prayed he would continue to ask.
If he asked one more time, I told myself, I would let him drive me home. It wouldn’t even be that big of a deal anymore, he didn’t feel that way for me. We were over.
“It’s the least I could do.”
My mind took that as asking again because without a single word, I turned around, looked up at him, and simply nodded my head once, letting him lead me back to the parking lot where I saw his familiar car parked in the very back of the drive.
/>>/
“Are you sure it’s supposed to be making that noise?” My window was pulled down, even if it was pouring outside, as we both listened quietly to the sound coming from the car’s engine.
“Yeah, it sounds this way when it’s wet.” Even if Nick sounded confident with his answer, I could tell he was also waiting for it to break down any second. We were struggling up the hill a few miles away from the park.
Nick looked down at the steering wheel in concentration, biting down on his lower lip gently as he pushed the car into a higher strength level. I watched as his curls fell out of the way they had been styled above his head. He ignored them and continued to drive, but soon gave up and let the engine stall on the side of the road.
“I can call someone to pick us up. It’s just not safe for us to be driving in this car.” Nick told me, looking up from the wheel. I had still been looking at him, so our eyes met, and stayed looking at each other until I quickly glanced out the window.
“Alright.” I agreed, glancing down at his phone that was resting in the cup holder between us. He coughed awkwardly and reached for the phone, dialing a number quickly and pressing the front of it to his ear.
“Joe? Hey. Where are you?” The call was answered and either the volume was so loud on his phone or Joe was talking extremely loud, but I could hear the sound of Joe’s voice on the other line.
“We just got home. We thought you would be here already.” Nick looked at me and I pretended to looking at the pair of foam dice that hung on the rear-view mirror in front of us.
“My car broke down.” He pulled his keys out of his car and stared out the window as the rain continued to pour down onto it.
“That’s a problem.” I heard Joe mumble. Nick rolled his eyes and ran a hand through his curls.
“Can you please just get someone to come pick us up?” I opened my mouth to inform him on what he just said, but Joe beat me to it.
“Us? Who is us?”
“I meant I.” Nick said quickly. Joe continued to talk on the other line as Nick smacked the top of his forehead with his palm.
“It’s Elise…isn’t it? That’s why you took off once that kid she was with-”
“Joe, shut up. I was just trying to be nice.” Nick mumbled. For whatever reason, this killed me inside.
“Please, why can’t you just admit that you still like her?” My palms started to sweat as they reached out for the car door handle.
“I shouldn’t be hearing this.” I mumbled, pushing open the door and climbing out of the passengers seat.
Glancing behind me through the rain, I could faintly see Nick throw his phone in the seat next to him and join me outside.
“Elise, please wait.” His voice was barely audible through the pouring rain.
“I can walk.” I said quietly, realizing he couldn’t hear me.
“Your going to get a cold.” He told me, walking up next to me. Once again he reached out for my arm and got a good grip on it, pulling my body toward his. “Elise, I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“Shut up.” I tried to get out of his arms but he easily held onto me. I stayed stone cold in his arms and waited until his hands got loose enough for me to get away.
“I don’t care who sees us together.” My walking slowed. “I don’t care if everyone tells me it’s for the best, I don’t care if they’re right…” I had completely stopped walking by now.
Staring behind me at Nick, I saw him standing only a few feet behind me. His curly hair was matted to his face, the white v-neck t-shirt he was wearing was sticking to his body tightly.
“…I don’t care if you hate me now, but there is no way I can stay away from you.” Through the rain, you couldn’t see the tears streaming down my face as I closed the gap between us. The door of his car was wide open on the side he had exited out of, probably ruining the interior as we stood staring at each other.
“I can’t hate you.” I told him, letting a sob out when he intertwined our fingers together. I stared down at our hands and shook my head. “I just can’t be with you.”
♠ ♠ ♠
Rachael's A/N:You thought this was the chapter where they finally get back together, didn’t you? ;) Heh. Proved you wrong, didn’t I?
Comment up this shiz, I know you guys want to tell me what you think. : )
Witty, Rachael, real witty.
But you guys really DID think this was where they got back together didn't you? Yeah... so did I when I read it.
NEW STORY!!!
World I Never Knew
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It's a modern twist on the Disney classic Beauty and the Beast
Thanks so much for reading!
C/R/S
~Steph <3