You Can't Fight Fate

Stevvie refused to let Nick go as they said goodbye, no matter how far away he was from Hollywood, work still called him away. Now she was forced to spend the day with none other than his mother. It wasn’t a bad thing, Stevvie loved Mrs. Jonas, but she just had an overall fear of mothers of boys she liked. Even though Nick had ensured her many times that his mother had adored her, Stevvie was still nervous. Nick hated the fact that he had to leave her, this was the closest they had ever been and he was going to make his move today. However, unfortunately, fate intervened once again.

“I’ll be home around seven, okay baby?” Nick cooed as he held her in his embrace.

Stevvie nodded and reentered the house, closing the door slowly behind her.
She was surprise at how quiet the house was without the deep voices of the men around. Only Frankie and Nick still lived at home, you couldn’t really count Nick because he mainly lived at school nowadays. Joe was off in his bachelor pad condo in L.A., and Kevin and Danielle had just moved to an enormous house in new Jersey, adding to there houses in L.A. and Texas.

Stevvie wandered though the house until she found Mrs. Jonas sitting in her living room, enjoying the quiet with a cup of tea and Elvis resting at her feet.

“Come sit down,” she insisted, patting a seat next to her. Stevvie obliged and took a seat
next to her.

“So, it looks like you’re stuck with me today,” she began.

Stevvie her a shy smile and nodded, “yep.”

“Well, we could do one of two things: A) stay home and lounge around the house, maybe even do a little laundry, or do as my son Nicholas suggested, which is do a little…shopping.”

Stevvie perked up at the mention of shopping, she loved shopping.
“Well, I could use a new pair of heels…” Stevvie stated with a smile.

<->

“These…or these?” Mrs. Jonas held up a brown pair of pump and another pair in black. I
stroked my chin and contemplated on which would better suit her.

“Definitely the black ones,” I decided confidently.

“That’s what I thought too!” Mrs. Jonas agreed as she put the shoe back in its box.

We then headed to the cash register to pay for our purchases. Right now, we were at the Jimmy Choo store and it was one of the many stores we had hit up since this morning. It turns out, Mama Jonas and I had a lot in common, we both loved shopping, children, and cooking. We both were Italian also. She said that I reminded her of herself when she was younger, which I definitely liked. Mrs. Jonas was beautiful and extremely sweet. Nick was very protective of his mother and I thought it was adorable. She and I clicked so well, and I loved hanging out with her.

The next store we came by was Ralph Lauren, one of my favorite stores, so I immediately pulled Mrs. Jonas in.

“Ooh, Mrs. J, they have new dresses I saw online, you should help me pick one out,” I exclaimed.

We hit the rack of black and solid colored dresses, commenting on if we liked one or not until, Mrs. J pulled a simple black one that she adored.

“Stevvie, you have to try this one on, it fits you so well,” Mrs. Jonas insisted.

I agreed and tried it on, along with a couple of tennis outfits. After getting the approval of her, I decided on buying the black dress that she had picked out and a classic white pleated skirt and polo to go with it. Mrs. Jonas also picked up a couple of polo’s for Frankie and Mr. Jonas. I followed behind her as she asked me which colors would look best, and gave my opinion accordingly. The whole time we were in this store, I could only think of Nick, it was his favorite store and where he got his cologne so it smelled just like him.

“Oh goodness, it’s already five,” Mrs. J noticed, “the boys are going to be starving once they get home.”

“I could cook…” I suggested.

<->

I shook my head at Joe’s ridiculous comment as I opened our house, immediately surrounded by the smell of garlic bread.

“Whoa! Mom’s cooking tonight!” Joe exclaimed, “I’m calling Jess!”

I laughed at Joe and followed my nose to the origin of the smell. As I got closer, I heard the soulful voice of a certain girl.

“Oh, you see that skin?
It's the same she's been standing in
Since the day she saw him walking away
Now she's left
Cleaning up the mess he made”

Stevvie sang out in tune with John Mayer’s voice. I entered the kitchen quietly and stopped to admire her. The lighting was low and Stevie was preparing a salad. My mom was nowhere in site, but there was the familiar smell of Italian food still there.

“So fathers, be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers who turn into mothers
so mothers, be good to your daughters too.”

I sang out with her. She turned around in surprise, rolled her eyes, and smiled.
I laughed as I sauntered over next to her, washing my hands, I grabbed a knife and cutting board to prepare some tomatoes.

We continued to sing along to the song and prepare the salad until it ended.

“Wasn’t that just adorable?” Joe stated as he wrapped his arm arms around us, “you two, singing together, and making a salad.”

“You know what are adorable too Joseph?” Stevvie asked, “Weddings…you should get on that.”

I held back my laughter at Joe shocked face, for the past six months, Joe had been saying he was going to propose to Jessica, but he found at least one hundred reasons to stall. Everyone, including Jessica knew he was going to propose, but to leave him with a little dignity, she didn’t push the subject. He even had the ring in his room hiding at the top of his closet. It was kind of an ongoing inside joke in our family that Joe will never propose and I let Stevvie in on it too.

Everyone burst out laughing at Stevvie’s jab, causing me to smile. I was so amazed at how well she fit into our family so rapidly and how quickly she became comfortable with them. Stevvie was usually reserved around new people, but she must have felt comfortable because she was joking around.

Joe scoffed and over dramatically sighed, jokingly. “I’m just waiting for the right time!”

“Awe, Joe, don’t worry,” Stevvie cooed, “just remember, I’m sure Jess would prefer to walk down the aisle, rather than roll.”

“Ha, ha, very funny,” Joe replied sarcastically, “You know what Stevvie, I see how it is. You take their side! It was Nick’s smoldering eyes and his flawless skin…way to steal the pretty genes bro!”

I shook my head at Joe until I felt his heavy weight on my back as he leaned on me, then holding me down.

“Seriously, dude!” I yelled as I squirmed out of his headlock, and pulling him down.

“Alright, calm down boys,” Mr. Jonas yelled over our loud roughhousing, “why don’t you guys thank Stevvie for the delicious meal she cooked for you guys.

Joe continued to hug on me and smiled widely, “You cooked? I thought it was mom?”

I finally squirmed his way out of my brother’s embrace and glared at him.

“Yes, she did. I was very impressed Nicholas,” Mrs. Jonas replied proudly, “her fettuccini is better than mine.”

Stevvie immediately shook her head and blushed.

“Trust me, from what Nicholas tells me, I don’t even come close.”

“You’re getting close though,” I replied to her as I wiped my mouth off from tasting the pasta with my fingers.

Stevvie slapped my hand away and glared at me, causing me to shrug my shoulders and smile.

“How about we sit down and enjoy it,” Mr. Jonas.

“Well, I’m going to enjoy it before Nick!” Joe yelled as he grabbed the bowl and ran into the dining room.

“You are my hero Mrs. J, once again, I couldn’t do it,” Stevvie stated as she leaned onto my mom’s shoulder, “those boys…so immature”

I gawked at her in disbelief, “Okay then…”

I smiled at her mischievously, “Never gonna give you up…” I sang.

“Never gonna let you down!” she immediately sang after me without thinking. Her eyes
widened as she realized where she was. I laughed at her reaction and continued to sing,

she was obsessed with Never gonna give you up, by Rick Astley and couldn’t resist but sing it at any time.

“Never gonna turn around and desert you!” we sang together.

I pulled her by her hands and we both belted the next line of the song at the top of our lungs.

“I hate you for that!” she complained. My family laughed at our sudden outburst in song, surprised. Stevvie and I could just look at each other and burst out in the same song and we often did.

“That just proved to all of you, that Stevvie is indeed just as immature as all of us,” I announced, “let’s eat.”

<->

Nick and I walked along the pond that stood behind their large mansion. The full moon reflected off it, giving it an eerie look. I pulled my sweater closer to my body from the breeze that was coming off the pond.

“I’m impressed, you seem to be getting along my mom way faster than I expected, she’s beginning to sound like me when I talk to her about you,” Nick finally broke the silence.
I smiled shyly at him; all I could see was the outline of his chiseled face, but I could tell he was smiling too. I looked away, trying not to get too enveloped in his beautiful face. Today was amazing…this weekend was amazing. Yet, I couldn’t help but want to punch myself in the face because of the stupid lie I made up about who my dad was…who I was. There was no way I could even let myself continue with Nick unless he knew the truth. I loved his mom and his family, and I wanted them to be in my lives more. All I could think of was ways to tell him the truth, but in way the that he would forgive me. Every scenario I ran through in my head ended the same way, me losing him for good. That was the last thing I wanted. I promised myself once we got back to school that I would tell him the truth before he found out some other way.

I stopped in front of the pond and stared at the rippled the wind made. Seconds later, I felt Nick’s gentle hands wrapped themselves around my waist, causing me to shiver at his touch. He leaned his head on mine and rocked us side to side peacefully. I wanted to smile so badly but I didn’t feel like I even deserved to and got tears instead. I quickly wiped the two single tears that escaped before Nick could notice and broke his embrace. I had given up, I was falling for Nick, hard…and I was ready to be with him. But, now I had a huge problem….Nick would never want to date a liar.

Damn.