You Can't Fight Fate

“But what if she gets abducted by aliens?” Maya asked as she followed me throughout my house.

“Why would she get abducted by aliens?” I snapped at her. Maya continued to ponder over stupid questions as to why Stevvie wouldn’t approach me.

“You still never said when you’re going to talk to her,” she reminded me, what if she just drops dead one day? Then you’ll never know how she really feels about you.”

I rolled my eyes at her. “I’m waiting till she comes to me May-May.”

“But why!” she complained, “come on man, laid down your freaking Pride and get your woman!”

I looked to the ceiling and groaned loudly. “Maya Kibbel, I will do as I please.”

“But Nicholas…what if she really doesn’t come?” she asked. I could tell from her serious tone that she was just as worried as I was.

“She will, I promise…I don’t know when, but she will.” I hugged her tightly.

“Wow, you sure do keep your promises,” Maya stated, running out of my arms.

“What?” I muttered. When I turned around, I figured out what she meant.

“Stevvie!” Maya exclaimed.

I stood speechless at what I was seeing. Stevvie’s arms were crossed before she opened them to embrace Maya into a huge. Her lips slowly formed into a smile as Maya giggled because she was there. I watched her every movement in what seemed like slow motion. A quick swipe of her hand removed the wisps of her that interrupted her beautiful face. She was dressed simply, not even bothering to put on makeup. I instantly noticed the bags under her amazing blue eyes from traveling. She listened closely to Maya’s chitchat, genuinely caring about what she had to say, then, once again pulling her into another hug. She mesmerized me with her simple but elegant aura.

“Nicholas!” My mom pulled me out of my trance, “look who came for a surprise visit.”
That was when I looked around for the first time and noticed that not only Stevvie came, but she brought her parents too, along with all of the members of Chasing Fate. Gregg, Julian, and Johnny stood in a group, talking to Frankie. Todd and Jennifer stayed close to each other while they chatted with my parents. Slowly, Joe, Jess, Kevin and Dani all trickled into the living room to see what the chaos was about.

“I-I don’t know what to say…” was all I could get out. I couldn’t believe what was happening. Everyone turned to me and went silent.

“Say hi dude!”Johnny exclaimed as he made his way to me, breaking the awkward silence.

I gave him a firm handshake and inevitably was pulled into a bear hug by him. Even through all the low mutters of everyone in the room, I heard Stevvie’s adorable giggle.
Eventually, everything went back to normal after everyone introduced himself or herself. I forgot about Stevvie as I listened to the guys I’ve looked up to for so many years.

<->

“…Oh yeah! I tried that trick on David and it worked!” Maya squealed, “I have a date with him on Thursday.”

I congratulated her and listened to her latest escapades with boys and friends. I loved Maya so much, she was little my little sister I never had. Maya was a year or so younger than me so she often came to me for advice on boys fashion, and any other thing she needed. She trusted me.

“How did Nick take it?” I whispered.

“I haven’t told him,” she sighed, “he’s going to freak out you know?”

“He just cares,” I explained to her, “David is a good kid, he’ll like him, I promise.”

I stayed near Maya; she was my safety zone until I felt it was time to talk to Nick.
Gregg was actually smiling as he laughed at Joe’s jokes and Uncle Julian conversed with Dani and Kevin who were attached at the hip (as usual) about their impending birth of their baby girl. Julian and my aunt had a baby around the same time last year so I assumed he was giving them tips. What made me nervous were my parents and Nick’s parents talking in the hallway. I only could see their faces and nothing seemed to be too serious, my mom and Mrs. J smiled and giggled ever so often but I couldn’t hear anything.

“So, are you going to talk to Nick?” Maya asked. I sighed, “…yeah, but I just don’t know what to say yet. Plus, look how happy he is getting all this attention from the band. I don’t want to ruin that.”

We watched Nick crack a wide smile, revealing that adorable crooked tooth I was obsessed with as he laughed at Johnny’s stories. I really didn’t want to kill his good mood. At times,
Nick’s humorous side was almost elusive.

“Just look at him,” I stated dreamily, “he’s beautiful.”

Maya’s face twisted into a weirded out look, causing me to laugh.

“You’re making me second guess this whole dating thing,” she warned me, “am I going to be like that when I’m in love?”

I laughed at her serious question.

“Unfortunately for you, yes,” I replied, “eventually, you’ll even dream about him.”

Maya groaned and put her head against the wall. “That’s so uncool.”

We continued to discuss what it was like to be in love, the good and (for me) the bad until I was summoned by my parents.

“So…what are you waiting for?” My mom asked.

“I’m getting there,” I complained, “what were you guys talking about?”

“Parental things,” my dad replied, trying to act serious.

“Says the dude wearing a Jonas Brothers T-shirt. Trying hard to impress the boys Todd?”

“Don’t tell you’re back to calling us by our first names again?” Todd complained, “I actually didn’t mind daddy.”
I crossed my arms, shifted my weight to one leg, and smirked.
“Do you still refuse to call me Stevvie?”

“Absolutely.”

“Then we’re even...Todd,” I replied smugly as I walked away.

<->

Todd and Jennifer looked at each other and then back at their daughter.

“That’s your daughter for you,” Jennifer replied laughingly, “she gets that from you, not me.”

“I know,” he replied grimly, “this is why my mother always said I should never have kids, you get Stephanie when you do.”

Stevvie took a deep breath, fixed her hair and made her way towards Nick. It was time to tell the truth.

Nick listened contently to Johnny’s story of him he played the drums with a broken arm on tour. He still couldn’t believe he was talking to one of his favorite drummers and you could tell from the smile on his baby face. Though Johnny was a little “out there”, he was actually intelligent, and exceptionally good at music writing.

“Dude, we could make a killer song if we wrote together…” Johnny gushed.

Stevvie shyly approached them, not trying to make a scene.

“Oh hey mi Amigo…or should I say Amiga…would you be offended if I said I still missed the thirteen year old baggy jean wearing Stevvie?”

Stevvie giggled, (causing Nick’s heart to beat faster) at Johnny and replied that she would not. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her, this was the first time he’d seen her up close in so long.

“So, Johnny…would you mind if I stole Nicholas away from you?” she asked.

Nick’s heart skipped a beat as he secretly jumped for joy that she wanted to talk to him.

“Oh no problem…” Johnny replied, trying not to look like he knew what was going on. As he left, he (of course) gave Stevvie two thumbs up and failed at whispering “good luck”, causing Nick to smile. Stevvie just shook her head and chose to ignore his obviousness.

Nick stuck his hands in his pockets and shyly followed Stevvie outside. As they sneaked out of the screen, everyone seemed to notice and turned to watch. Nick just shook his head at them and closed the door behind them.

They continued to walk until they came to the same pond they spent their last night together in Dallas and stopped near a large oak tree.

“So...before I start I’m going to say this right now. I am not going to cry. I’m not a crier, I hate crying,” Stevvie thought in her head, “you can do this.”

“Nick…I-I’m sorry…” her voice broke unintentionally, “I know that I’ve probably disappointed you and hurt you and I feel horrible and I would completely understand if you never wanted to see me again because I did something incredibly juvenile and unnecessary, but I can explain.”

Nick hesitated to reply, looking at the ground with a serious expression on his face.

“Go ahead then,” he simply muttered.

Stevvie took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. She never felt uncomfortable with Nick, but he was never this cold to her before.

“Okay…um…I guess…” she stuttered, not knowing where to start.

“Why did you lie to me?” he helped her, “what was so bad that you felt you had to hide your dad from me?”

“Why wouldn’t I Nick…” she asked, no longer nervous, “you’re a fan, you know what my dad’s done…you know what the band has done….picture yourself in my shoes. You’re a family staple...everyone looks to you guys to be these great, good-clean, Christian guys. My dad...well honestly, unlike you guys, they notoriously drank, smoked, and screwed. You guys play ping-pong…totally different worlds.”

Despite the seriousness of their conversation, Nick couldn’t help but chuckle at the ping-pong reference.

“That may be true, but that was your dad…not you.” He pointed out.

“Your parents have some influence defining who you are, you know that Nick…no matter what you try to do to make it different. I was scared okay…I was scared you would look at me differently. While you got inspired to write songs from a broken heart my uncle and Johnny got high and called it "inspiration". That’s not something you would really be proud to tell someone would it Nick?”

“No…but you knew I was a huge fan,” he reminded her.

“True…but it wasn’t about whether you were a fan or not. I-I just panicked. I was in front of you parents. I didn’t want them to think I was some floozy trying to take advantage of you for fame or money of something, or for them to think I was some party girl,” Stevvie explained, “believe it or not, but its happened to me before and it’s going to happen to me again in the future. I’ve lost friends because of this, because they’re parents didn’t understand mine. I’ve had to lie in the past just to talk to someone before.”

For the first time, Nick looked Stevvie in the eyes. They had a thin layer of water about to brim over. He knew once she started crying, he would too.

“I never thought of it that way…” he responded, “I guess I only looked at the musical side of your life…how proud I thought you be…which is why I couldn’t understand why you would lie, but now I-I understand. I just wish I didn’t have to be that way.”

“I do too, but I can’t change it…and even if I could, I wouldn’t. I’m tired trying to be something I’m not. I’m not the typical child that grew up listening to…gosh I don’t even know what little kids listened to. I listened to the killers, and Queen as my lullabies and I slept in a car seat or a hotel room. While other kids waited for their fathers to come home from work and greet his wife, my dad came from finding a way to feed us and my parents weren’t married. For all these years, I had been trying to hide my childhood from other people because they didn’t approve when I loved it, because it was all I knew. This was the last straw; I’ve lost so much in my life because of the reputation Todd didn't mean to create in the first place. I mean, how do you live up to what Chasing Fate did. That’s what people wanted me to do when Todd Jameson revealed he was a father. They automatically expected me to be a crazy rebellious rocker child who broke the rules and made rock music. When people found out that I was a classical pianist and I preferred jazz music and wrote books, you wouldn't believe the looks that I get from die-hard fans of Chasing Fate.” Tears began to brim over Stevvie’s eyes and her voice softened from trying to hold back the lump on her throat “But, I don’t care anymore, I want to be me…no one else. I am the lovechild of a rocker and a groupie, my parents had me when they were both just seventeen years old and despite that, they’re the best parents I could ever have and I’m proud to say that.”

Stevvie took a deep breath, liking the feel that a weight was lifted off her chest. Everything was finally out in the open, just the way it should have been in the beginning.

Nick was silent, his face unreadable as he looked at the ground. Finally, after what seemed like forever he made I contact with her. Without saying anything, Nick simply pulled her into to a tight bear hug. Stevvie instantly broke down in his arms, overwhelmed with emotion. It was a chain reaction of tears for Nick as he found himself breaking down into tears too. He rubbed her back and placed kisses on her forehead and cheeks to comfort her.

“It’s okay to cry,” he murmured in her ear, “I’m so sorry Stevvie, it’s okay sweetie.”

Nick continued to comfort Stevvie and convincing her that it was okay. He also sprinkled her with apologies for overreacting and never letting her explain. They both cried tears and tears.

<->

Nick held Stevvie closely, whispering how much he missed her every so often.

"Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue lasts only a moment," Stevvie stated.

"Proverbs 12:19," Nick replied, Your mom told you my message."

Stevvie nodded her head slowly.

"I would never have had the courage to come here if you hadn't told me that...I'm sorry this took so long, too."

Nick shook his head. "No, I think its the perfect time... they always say absence makes the heart grow fonder. I can tell you now that my feelings for you haven't gone anywhere and maybe even intensified. I can't get you off my mind...but now it's okay because it doesn't hurt to think about you."

Stevvie smiled up at Nick. "I can say the same...but what now?"

Nick looked into space for a moment.

"Well, first of all I just want to say that I trust you again...but I really don't want us to move too fast right now. We need to catch up and things just need to settle down first."

I nodded my head in agreement, though I was bummed. I wanted him to be mine, now.

"If it makes up for anything, I really want to kiss you right now," he whispered in my ear, "But, I think I'm going to tease you until..."

"Until..." I urged him to continue. This boy did not just say he was going to hoard those beautiful pink lips from mine.

A smirk formed on his face. "Until...you admit that Aliens are real and you make me fettuccine when we get back to school. Oh and that's not until after we're together."

My jaw dropped at his demands. Was he serious?

"Please, baby, you won't last that long..." I told him in my best 'seductive' voice. I wrapped my arms around his neck, creating very little space between us, "you want me too much."

Nick refused to look into my eyes, instead biting his lip to resist kissing me (score), I ran my fingers through the back of his curls because I knew it drove him crazy.

"Y-you're cheating," he stammered, "I would be able to do this if you didn't have such soft skin and...t-that's so not fair, you know that drives me crazy." His breathing grew shallow as I caressed his face, bringing him closer to my lips. He gave in to some of his temptation and planted soft kisses along my jawline. Finally, I smirked this time and relieved him from my (surprisingly) seductive hold. It was quite entertaining to see him get so vulnerable.

"Who's the tease now?" I asked.

"I'll get you back for that...don't worry," he warned, "I still want my fettuccine."

<->

After explaining everything to the Jonas family, things settled down. Everything was back to normal and Stevvie had her friend back. No, they weren’t dating quite yet, but with all the drama that happened, starting a relationship was the last thing on their minds. Right now, they were content with just having each other to hold. Nick vowed that he would soon make his move once they got back to school. He wanted a real, normal relationship and that’s what he planned to get.