Reconciliation

Did she mean it, no!

At least she knew that now. She mentally cursed herself, for being weak and giving into the temptation. For putting the guy she loved through the pain she had. For being fool enough not to notice that he was the only one she wanted; at least like that. They had both messed up- Nick and her. They both knew now that it shouldn't have happened. Yet saying sorry just wasn't enough in this case.

She crammed the last few t-shirts into her bag, before zipping it up. She knew what she was going to do, would help no-one, bare maybe herself. What was doing wasn't going to solve the gaping whole in the relationship of the brothers. Nor her broken relations with the entire Jonas family.

She dragged her polka-dotted suitcase through the bus, lifting it down onto the ground as she stumbled down the stairs. She returned inside the bus, looking for any traces of her visit. An odd sock, or hairbrush. She ventured to the bunks after finding nothing.

Evelyn pulled herself up onto Joe's bunk, instantly feeling at home as the smell of his cologne greeted her, she wrapped herself up close into the covers, as if it would supplement the warm feeling of Joe's arms around her. She let out a sigh, feeling slightly alright for the first time I just under a week.

Just under a week she'd spent without Joe, she reminded herself bitterly. Ever since he caught them, the bus had been tense. No-one dared to say anything to each other, they just kept themselves busy with one thing or another.

That was hard for Nick, Joe and Evelyn. None of them would speak to each other nor stay in the same room as each other. That didn't mean they had no contact, after all being stuck on a bus didn't give them much distance. It was when she bumped into Joe that it really hurt. The look of disappointment and hurt would picture on his face. It was then that Evelyn Jones wished that Joe Jonas was like other guys. That Joe would just get angry, and yell and scream. But he wouldn't.

She lay her head down, in an attempt to stop her head spinning, she felt something cold and hard underneath her. She recognized the feel of it in her hand, the small grooves in the metal, the lightweight of the chain compared to the charm; it was her necklace.

She couldn't believe she had almost left it behind. Her grandmother had given in to her. While it wasn't her most important thing in the world to her. Normally she'd realize its absence, which isn't strange considering it she had worn it since she turned fourteen.

Joe had taken it off of her one night, when things got heavy. While it didn't end in sex, she knew they were close. They had been many times, every time though they'd spring apart all of a sudden, knowing they could go no further. Content simply with sitting with the other.

There was no springing apart from Nick though. No, they had gone the whole way, defeating the purpose of his promise. Never had the brothers considered the others breaking the vow, especially not level-headed, calm and in control Nick. It was something no-one, even the fans would consider Nick doing.

Nick acted weird for two weeks afterwards and he hadn't talked to Evelyn once. Joe and Kevin both came to an agreement that something had happened between them. Nick and Eve had been best friends it was weird that all of a sudden they stopped talking. The brothers however didn't notice the extent of it however. They supposed it was something petty and silly. An argument the two had gotten in.

Evelyn and Nick had kept this secret, it wasn't only once though; not that Joe knew that, even now. It had happened for four months prior to Joe's discovery. Evelyn was still unsure as to why they did it, whether it was just hormones (being stuck on a bus with three boys all summer did no good for a teenage girl) or perhaps lust.

She lay her necklace across the pillow, the clasp undone so it spread almost the full length of the pillow. She had no idea why she leaving it, she just wanted to. Now, it was time to leave she thought, and jumped from the bunk to the floor, walking out of the bus.

She entered the recording studio the boys were in, suitcase trailing along behind her. To say she looked bad was an understatement- she looked terrible. A week with only a few hours sleep had left her with big bags under her eyes, her skin and hair looked greasy and she slumped as she walked, worn down by the current ordeal. Her clothes hung off her frame looking boring and depressive. A big change to her usual cheery, colorful attitude.

All eyes were locked on her as she walked through the lobby, towards the recording booth the Jonas' were in. Evelyn tried to keep her head raised high, despite the overwhelming urge to drop it, watching her converse carry her to the room. The eyes felt like lasers against her back- harsh, cruel and undeserving of any sympathy. This felt like the walk of shame.

Her face was void of emotion as her eyes locked with Kevin's. He stood next to the technicians and producers who were watching Joe and Nick in the booth. When Evelyn turned she saw the two brothers, neither of them were preforming to their full ability and the words came out harsh and angry.

She barely registered as one of the guys told them to stop for the day. She bit her lip, she had to leave. She waved goodbye to Kevin as he looked at her curiously, most probably due to the look of anxiety and urgency on her face.

Walking through the lobby the first time, was nothing compared to the second. She could feel in the stares the questions undoubtedly behind them.

Did she regret cheating? Was this her plan all along? Was it simply grabbing her 15 minutes of fame? Did she really think she could get away with it?

She shook herself, even the last one sounded ridiculous to her. It sounded like something you'd see on a crime drama; something someone would say to the killer as they were being taken down. Sure, she hadn't killed anyone but she felt like a serial killer who'd just been faced with a 80-something year prison sentence.

The obnoxious grinding of her suitcase wheels against the paving, was only making the growing headache she had worse. Still, she ignored and carried on walking. A left, two rights, down an alleyway, across the street, another two lefts and finally she found herself exhausted from the walking.

She looked to the other side of the road, where she saw a small opening into a river of some sort, she smiled lightly the soft lull of the waves soothing her aching head. She decided to take a seat on the cold bench overlooking the water, flinching slightly as the cold hit her legs.

She wasn't quite sure of where she was, no doubt it wasn't far from where she started. And surely a taxi driver would know, so that was no problem. She sighed, why am I sitting here then? she asked herself.

She wanted to be in Joe's warm arms again, feeling the tickle on her neck as he whispered into her ear. She wanted to be Eve again; the bubbly although slightly naive girlfriend of Joseph Adam Jonas.

Evelyn threw her head into her hands, rubbing over her eyes like a fatigued and rather irritated middle-aged business woman. She wanted to get out of her seat and dance around in a tantrum, screaming childish phrases such as 'its not fair' and 'why me?'

She didn't though, she was occupied by the constant taunting she gave herself- reminding her exactly who was to blame.

She was the one that cheated, she was the one that lied, she was the one who stole Nick's innocence and above all she was the one who crushed the heart of the middle Jonas.

Her thoughts returned to Nick briefly. Evelyn and Nick had been friends for what seemed close enough to forever. She remember coloring with him as little children, the photographs of them both playing always grinning cheek-to-cheek. The way he mopped her up after her first break-up and the way he acted excited for her when she had a date. That was the way it should have stayed.

Not how it was now, sneaking about into each others hotel rooms when given the touring luxury, anxious texts about whether anyone had noticed anything, waking up next to each other practically running for the bathroom to wash. Begging not to be left in a room together.

She cringed to even think about it. She wondered if he hated her now too, whether he would ever manage to make it up to Joe, how they were going to perform on the same stage without killing each other. Concern filled her, I guess she was showing her true colors in leaving her best friend to fend through that. She couldn't go back though, she couldn't. She was a coward.

Seeing a taxi, she remembered her original plan. The airport, she reminded herself, getting into the cab.

“Where to lass?” he asked.

“The airport, please” throughout the journey the man tried to make pleasant conversation with her, she slowly but surely rejected him, not in the mood for dry chit-chat. The silence that followed was like doomsday; leaving her completely to her thoughts, somewhere she thought she'd been enough for a day.

Finally pulling up, Evelyn paid the driver- adding a nice tip in attempt to make up for her ignorance earlier. He smiled seeing the money, and she couldn't help but rolling her eyes adding a fake smile in his direction for good measure.

The busy environment of the airport always thrilled her. So many different cultures and classes under one roof, none of them meaning anything to the other, all having one thing in common. The need to leave.

Normally for her the minimal airport terminals signaled teary goodbye's or warm hello's. Never the other way round, until now. This was a welcome departure, one on which she wouldn't care about the old man snoring in the isle behind her, or the excitable kids which never seemed to shut up next to her.

She felt a tug though, a small waver in it. Once again Joe Jonas had managed to rock the boat. He made her an over-the-top girl. Before she never giggle or squealed or aww'd, before he had made any real impact in her life, she'd shudder to even think about it.

“Evelyn, Evelyn, EVE!” she heard behind her, she spun around.Speaking thinking of thedevil angel, she thought.

“What are you doing here Joe, how did you even know I was here?”

“Well, perhaps it was the page you left open on the laptop or maybe even the receipt on the kitchen table, I'm not too sure. What do you think?” He joked, adding some humor to the situation; as per usual. Evelyn fought the smile, pulling at the corners of her mouth.

The situation soon fell short however, when there was no joke to fill the silence, and no conversation to blanket the truth.

“Can we go somewhere? Where people aren't going to recognize me- or you for that matter.” He asked rubbing his neck, uncomfortable with the looks he was receiving by the mystery faces that knew his.

She made her way towards the nearest exit, leaving him following after her. As they arrived outside, the silence ensued both of them too scared to say anything.

“So-” Joe said, she nodded awkwardly. Neither of them were familiar with the forced conversation with each other. They had always talked so freely with the other that this felt foreign. “Don't go!” he suddenly pleaded. She turned around harshly.

“What?”

“Don't leave, stay on tour with Me and Kevin... and Nick.” Ignoring his understandable hesitance to bring up Nick she asked why. “I-I-” He sighed running his hand through his dark curled hair.

“Because some stupid magazine will find out we've broken up.”

“And? We have, so they'll find out soon enough, Joe”

“What if they find out about you and Nick- The Jonas Brothers lose all credibility.” She raised an eyebrow, Joe had always been the one to remind everyone that if the fans were fans they'd understand their imperfections.

“That's not it” Evelyn stated, turning so she was face-to-face with him. Hesitance. “What is it Joe?” She asked a sharp irritated edge to her voice.

“I don't want us to be over. I want you to stay Eve, I wanna work things out. I've tried to be angry, I damn should be, but I can't. He's my brother, and you're still the girl I love. That's not changed, heck, I don't want it to change. Just-” he sighed unsure of how to get the message across. “Stay.”

“What the fuck?” She said letting the profanity fall, “You hate me, damn it Joe. You're supposed to hate me. I can't deal with this drama. I'm lost. I've been waiting for you to snap; yell at us, hit someone, throw something but you won't. You just give me the silent treatment and an occasional glare, I can't take knowing that I've done this to you. I can't take even thinking that you hate me, because that's the last thing I ever wanted.” There was a small pause and tears pooled her eyes. She turned away, keeping them from his view.

“They all think I'm a slut!” She whispered, “That this was all for fame, all so I can go home and brag that I messed around with a Jonas, and left another broken-hearted. They think I don't care about you. And now we're standing here having this conversation like an outtake from a cheesy fucking romance movie” Joe looked at her.

“Damn it Joe! This isn't a romance movie, we can't go off, riding into the sunset. You can't take me back, I don't deserve that and sure as heck you don't. Just let me get on my plane” She began to walk back. He grabbed her,

“Eve, we don't deserve this but we deserve to be happy too. No regrets, remember Eve? You told me that. Don't live with regrets, just live with instinct because the only person that really knows yourself, is you and you wouldn't lie to yourself. Come back, please.” She bit her lip, determined that he wouldn't sway her. “Don't make me beg in the middle of the airport Evelyn” he warned.

“If I do back, Joe. It's not going to fix itself. We'll go back and it'll still be broken.”

Joe smiled, “Then let's start again.”

“Start Again?” She asked skeptically.

“Exactly” he said and dragged her towards a Taxi.