I'll Be Your Girl

Nick drives straight to Remy’s house, already devising a take-me-back speech in his head. He’ll start off with sorry and perhaps repeat that continuously until she decides to talk to him. Then he’ll talk about how stupid he is and from there, lapse into a huge bitch-fit about Elise. But then again maybe not, because Nick hates bitching. He’ll just… subtly criticise her. Yeah, that’s a nicer way to put it. Perhaps at some point he’ll throw in a quick “By the way, I’m in love with you,” but that’s only if he’s feeling really confident. Which is unlikely.

Yet when he pulls up to the curb outside her house, it’s to find that the driveway’s empty; neither Remy nor Marie’s cars are there. Oh-kay. What’s he supposed to do now? He could call her, but then that might start his whole speech on the phone, and he’d rather tell her in person. She might even decide to not pick up.

Figuring that his only option right now is home, he revs the engine back up and leaves Remy’s street, shooting one last look at her house before he turns the corner. Twenty minutes later he’s pulling up at the Jonas household. As it’s already pretty late - past eleven by now - he tries to stay quiet as he creeps in. Then a voice startles him.

“Sup Nick.”

Nick peers around the corner to see Joe in the lounge room, playing a snowboarding game on their old XBOX. “You’re awake?”

Joe ignores his question and keeps his eyes glued to the screen. “You should speak to Remy.”

“I, uh- that was my plan,” Nick mutters, stepping into the room. He can’t help but feel a little wary around Joe, especially as their last conversation had been about how much of and idiot Nick is. “She’s not home.”

Joe’s heavy eyebrows furrow in confusion, but he still keeps his eyes trained on the game. “But she left here over an hour ago.”

“Then I don’t know where she’d… wait. She was here?”

“I never said that,” Joe mutters quickly. “How was Elise’s concert?”

“Horrible. And you just said Remy left here an hour ago. So yeah, obviously she was here.” Nick glares at his brother’s form, feeling more than suspicious of his defensive attitude.

“Okay, yeah she was. What of it?” Joe says nonchalantly, making his snowboarder do a back flip in midair.

“What were you doing?”

Joe shrugs. “I don’t know. Stuff. We made a cake.”

“Okay… so what’s the big deal?” Nick says slowly.

“There’s no big deal,” Joe snorts in reply.

“Then why didn’t you just tell me that in the first place?”

Joe becomes unsettlingly awkward. “I don’t know. Maybe I just didn’t want to say anything because I thought you might freak out and think Remy and I had been doing something out of the ordinary. Which we didn’t do. At all. We just baked a cake, alright? Stop insinuating things. Nothing happened!” He finally wrenches his eyes away from the screen to see Nick giving him a weird look.

“Um, alright?” Nick mutters, not really sure what to make of that.

“Alright,” Joe huffs, nodding his head. “Now go and talk to Remy.”

Nick folds his arms across his chest. “We’ve been through this - she’s not at home.”

“Then go and find her.”

“Now?” Nick questions, wondering if his brother’s mind is in the right state at the moment. He seems so off tonight.

“Yeah, now. This friendship is important to me, okay?”

“It’s not even your friendship!”

Joe sends him a stubborn look. “It is. I just claimed ownership of it.”

Nick’s jaw drops. “You just claimed ownership of the friendship between Remy and me,” he deadpans.

“Yep. Now go find her.”

“You’re a freak, Joseph,” Nick grumbles, but does as he’s told. Just as he’s heading back out the door, he hears Joe muttering something that sounds a lot like “…but that’s just the way we roll.” Nick’s going to make Joe have his head checked when he gets home.

~

What am I doing here? I’d planned to drive straight home from the Jonas house, but somehow I’ve found myself only a few blocks away, sitting in the park where we took Elvis this morning. Man, was it really only this morning? It seems like such a long time ago, now.

I feel a shiver run through my body and huddle further onto my thick coat, for once not enjoying the snow so much. I know I should go home, but instead I simply pull my hood up in an effort to keep some warmth in. I think I’m waiting for someone. For Nick. It’s a stupid idea, but sometimes things like that happen. Two people ending up in the same place, simply by chance. I’m not superstitious or anything, but at times like these, where the whole world is white and the glowing streetlamps are creating a sort of hazy atmosphere, I could believe that fate might exist.

And besides, even if nothing happens tonight I still know what I’m going to say to Nick first thing tomorrow morning. I’m going to apologise for overreacting like that, and then I’ll forgive him for the whole Elise thing. I mean really, who am I to judge him for hanging out with her? Just because I hate Elise Summers doesn’t mean that everyone should. Maybe after a bit (okay a lot) of practice I can learn to deal with it. How can I explain the whole kissing Joe thing, though?

I let out a sigh and see the air turn into smoke before me. I should go home. Just as I’m standing up, I see a figure walking towards me.

“Remy?”

I squint through the semi-darkness as he approaches. His Converse are already getting soaked from the snow, as well as the ends of his tight-fitting jeans. He’s shivering slightly, with his hands shoved into the pockets of an old hoodie, but all the same, his face looks pleased to have found me.

Too bad all I can feel right now is harsh disappointment.

“Chad. Hi.”