American Girl: Can't I Just Be Chloe?

Things, I knew, were never going to be right between me and Frankie. The bimbo and my best friend were always going to be going out. It pissed me off to know that all of this was happening. On Tuesday, for instance, he was gone all day. Wednesday was better. Victoria was not invited to Betsy’s twenty-third birthday party. That was a plus. Thursday though, I had to deal with her. Betsy was taking her cousin out to the airport to fly back to South Carolina. Everyone—including Victoria—showed up to say goodbye. No, not everyone. Kevin was conspicuously absent. Then again, I do remember hearing that Kevin was not fond of having Zoe out here. Betsy was the only one of Amanda’s relatives that Kevin could even stand being around, because she was helping to raise his kids.

But, anyway, back to the story. It always seemed as if Victoria was constantly attached to Frankie’s arm. I was insanely jealous of what Victoria had that I could not, but I would never let it show. Neither Frankie nor Victoria knew what was really going on with me. Everyone else knew, even Denise and Paul knew. Teddy knew. Garrett, Madison, Jason, and Quinn knew. Hell, even Rebecca knew and she’s only two. The fact was that I felt like I was losing my best friend. He was always busy with the band or off with Victoria. Before I knew it, it was the end of October: Halloween. Betsy and Kevin were taking the kids out trick-or-treating: all five of them. Joe and Kyra had gone out to dinner along with Nick and Selena. That left me sitting at the Jonas/Geiger home along with Teddy.

Despite the fact that Betsy had dated him since she was sixteen, I had not really gotten a chance to know Teddy in the seven year time span. I knew very little about the guy. But, the one thing that I had always remembered and never made sense to me was something I had to ask now. “Hey, Teddy, why is it that you’re out here in California when you grew up in New York? That never seemed to make any sense to me,” I said in wonderment.

“I was just having too many problems getting my new album out. So, I moved out here to try and get my album out. It worked too. The album was finally released thanks to me switching labels. So, I ultimately stayed out here. And, thanks to Joe, I met my future wife,” Teddy said.

“Yeah, a wife that still cares for Joe,” I replied.

“Well, not like it matters. I’ve heard the story. Her sister told me before she died why Betsy still had feelings for Joe; the relationship that she and Kevin embarked on ultimately prevented Joe and Betsy from dating. So, it doesn’t really matter to me,” Teddy said.

“It didn’t to Kyra either,” I said.

“That’s because we understand what’s going on. Not like what would happen with Victoria if she should learn that you’re in love with her boyfriend, your best friend. She’d never let you near him, you know. Betsy has mentioned that Frankie is being a complete idiot in not realizing how much you love him. Well, sooner or later, Frankie is going to realize how much of an idiot he really has been in not realizing the truth: that you were in love with him for the past two years and that Victoria is a Video Girl and a liar.”

I laughed, quoting Video Girl. “You know it’s bad when your mama doesn’t like her. All your friends saying she’s a liar.” Eventually, Frankie was going to realize the truth. It was, after all, his brothers’ song that I was quoting. But, since it was me, he would only assume that it was out of pure jealousy that I was quoting the song. Someone—other than me—needed to warn Frankie of the truth, of Victoria’s intention to further her own career. “Ugh! Frankie will never believe me if I told him what was going on. He’s dating this evil, conniving Video Girl while I am Just Friends with him. I should be the one that is dating Frankie; everyone but him and Icky Vicky know that. I need to find someone that can help me with all of this. Jyra has Quinn and the pregnancy to deal with, Nelena has Rebecca, Kevin has the triplets, and you and Betsy have your own family to deal with. Everyone I know who could talk to Frankie about this have something to do.”

“Try his parents,” Teddy suggested.

“I may have to,” I said. Ultimately, I knew that I was eventually going to have to Denise and Paul about what was going on. They loved me. Since I was usually there a lot because of Frankie, Denise ultimately considered me to be a daughter. Though Selena, Kyra, and Amanda were her daughters-in-law, she also considered me and Betsy to be her daughters. Despite the fact that neither one of us was related to the Jonas family nor married to any of the boys, we were around their family often enough to get treated like we were family. Betsy and I were grateful for that, particularly Betsy. After everything that she had dealt with since first meeting the Jonas Brothers eight years ago, Betsy was the last surviving Weimar. The only family that Betsy really had left was Kevin. So, Betsy was always treated like family because of what she had lost over the years that she knew them.

As for me, Denise was more of a mother to me than my own. I was usually able to go to her for anything. Ultimately, she considered me a daughter for that. There was that and the fact that Frankie happened to be my best friend. I sighed and left upon thanking Teddy. I was going to go talk to Denise. She seemed to be the only one who could help me right now.