Into My Arms

On Thursday, I met with Austin and Collin at Starbucks. They were already there and right when I walked in, they shot up and tackled me in hugs as I laughed. It was really good to see them. I missed being on tour with them. We all caught each other up on what’s been going on ever since tour. I found out that they knew about the whole Eric thing because they were at Jake’s house when Joe brought Eric by. They were really pissed off at him and they only saw him as a band member…nothing more. Which kind of made me feel bad for Eric…but I wasn’t getting into it. I want him to leave me alone and I want nothing to do with him because he always seems to just cause trouble in my life…I told them that. But we didn’t want it to be a serious meeting so continued and started talking about my movie deals, new songs, our love lives, people that they met and got all excited about. I surprised them with an agent coming in and sitting down with us.

“He’s absolutely the best agent ever…besides Anna of course…he’ll know what you’re strengths and weaknesses are and what projects would be good for the two of you,” is what I told them…and it was completely true.

They deserved the best and I told them I would try and get them some deals, I wouldn’t leave them in the hands of someone I couldn’t trust. This guy was recommended by Anna…which must mean he’s good. They both got so excited and hugged me tightly. We said our good byes after that and I left, leaving them to talk business. I was walking down the sidewalks of LA as the skies were kind of gray, a sign of rain as some paparazzi wouldn’t leave me alone. They kept throwing questions as pictures were being taken and I just pushed forward. I had a few fans come up to me, asking for an autograph or picture and I happily gave them out.

Then when I got to my car, I saw a face that I’ve been longing to see. That beautiful set of curls that were so bouncy and I had a big desire to just run my fingers through it. I stared at him in awe with the eyes of a child on Christmas morning. He was leaning on my car with his signature hat on the top of my car and a pair sunglasses covering his hypnotizing eyes. But as soon as he saw me, he took the sunglasses off and smiled at me, teeth and all. Only he could brighten up a dark, cloudy day. I didn’t even care about the paparazzi when I ran into the parking lot. I saw the paparazzi tried to follow but the gates began to close and I saw Big Rob was the one who closed them. I flashed him a smile before locking eyes with the one I‘ve been needing to be hold me. He got off my car and rushed toward me as well as I jumped into his arms and he spun me around.

“Ugh I missed you so much,” I stressed with a light laugh.

“So did I…are you okay?”

“Yea…I’m just kind of tired…and stressed about everything”

“Want to get some ice cream? Maybe even some chocolate covered strawberries,” he suggested and my face lit up as I nodded.

He chuckled and then kissed my forehead before opening the passenger door for me. I got in. He walked around to the other side and got in. Big Rob opened the gate and Nick pulled out quickly so the paparazzi would get scared and get out of the way.

We spent the rest of the day together and we bought ice cream at a nearby ice cream shack. I actually got him to let me buy my own! Can you believe it? I cant. Fans began to come up to us, asking for pictures and we happily gave them. Eventually, we made our way back to my car and he began to drive.

“Where to next?” I asked.

“Well I thought we could try and just have some one on one fun”

“Dirty,” I commented with a giggle and he just laughed. We soon arrived at a baseball field…and it was empty.

He parked and we both got out of the car. He went to the trunk and pulled out two bats and a small bag of some baseballs.

“Ready to get your butt kicked?” he asked.

“Nope. When I win, you owe me some of those chocolate covered strawberries that you promised,” I flashed a sweet smile before putting my cap on backwards.

“Okay…but when I win…you have to come back to the house and stay the night and tomorrow you make me breakfast”

“You’re on,” I agreed and swung the bat over my shoulder as I began walking away.

It wasn’t so hot but it was almost there. There was a nice breeze every once and I while. It was a good day to be outside…and it was a good thing I wore shorts and a tank today.

We got to the diamond and we did a few practice runs against each other. “Alright Nick! I’m hitting it out of here!” I yelled to him as I was at home plate.

“Thanks for the warning,” he said with a hint of sarcasm and I just smiled.

He got ready, wound up his arm and then he threw the ball. I swung to early on purpose and missed it, so it flew into the gate behind me. “Oh darn” I said as I went to pick up the ball and Nick laughed.

He shook his head at me. He knew I did it on purpose. I threw it back lightly. He threw it again and I missed it on purpose again.

“Oh Nick, I guess you are just so far more superior and more athletic than I am. I just cant seem to hit it”

“Come on Rea, just hit it already!” he laughed lightly.

“Okay okay I’m done,” I said and threw it back, a little harder this time. He caught it.

“I’m ready now!” I announced.

"You’re positive?!”

“Yes!…”

Then I noticed a few guys watching us at a distance. “Make it count!” I winked and gestured, subtly, at the guys speculating.

He nodded, understanding. He began to wind up his pitch and I could tell he was giving his all into this one. I was ready though. It left his hand, coming at me at probably 50 miles per hour…maybe more. But I swung the bat, right on time and hit the ball. The loud smack of the ball hitting the bat was heard and it went soaring into the air. I began running the bases as Nick began running to catch the ball. It got a lot of distance. But when I was coming to second base, I saw the ball bounced onto the ground first before Nick caught it and started running back. I began to run faster…but he quickly was on my tail…and with my luck…I tripped over my own feet and flew down to the ground. Nick wasn’t expecting it so he flew on top of me and we both started rolling on the dirt. We stopped rolling and I was on top of him. We both were laughing hysterically. I sat up and he stood up, then he took my hand and helped me up.

We began to try and dust ourselves off. “That was some play…you think you could use some more players?” one of the speculators asked as they all came over to us.

We both looked up and they all seemed to freeze. “We’re sorry…we didn’t know it was you two. We don’t feel like getting tackled by big body guards, we’ll leave you alone and just leave” he said as they all began to walk away.

“No, wait. We’d love to have more players. We’re off today so we gave the bulky guys a break. You guys wanna hang?” I asked.

Then they all looked from me to Nick and they were using some kind of guy language or something without talking, I saw Nick give a very approving look at all of them and then he smiled at me. I looked back at the equally good-looking guys and they all seemed very pleased with Nick’s answer.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Once we knew everyone’s name, we picked our teams. It was pretty easy. There were 12 of them all together and they all voted that Nick and I would be the captains. The guys made a bet amongst themselves on whos team would win. Six of them joined my team while the other six when to Nick. I had Kaleb, he was the one who asked if they could play. Now that we had full teams, it was much more fun. My team went up to bat first and I was the first one to bat as Nick was pitcher.

“The bet is officially on!” I yelled to him.

“I’m looking forward to that breakfast!”

“In your dreams!”

He wound up and threw the ball as hard as he could…but I hit it and took off as the guys all stared in awe and disbelief. I was running toward home plate when Nick got the ball. I ran faster. He pegged the ball toward the empire, which was being played by a kid name Damien and I slid. If I hadn’t, the ball would’ve hit me right in the face. I was safe. I stood up and stuck my tongue out at Nick as he just laughed to himself and shook his head at me as all the other guys were still in shock.

“They’re all gonna wish they didn’t challenge us,” I said aloud as I high-fived Kaleb. The game begun.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was now sweating and tired. But I was even more into the game. I was serious but fun at the same time. I adjusted my cap so it was backwards and Nick came up to bat. Kaleb has been pitching for me because I started to get a pain in my arm. Nick hit it (of course) and it started heading my way. I started running. As it began to come down, I jumped up to catch it.

“Hey, you guys!” a girl yelled and before I could stop myself, I collided with the girl and we both fell to the ground.

I groaned as I felt that pain in my arm again. “I am so sorry, are you alright? I wasn’t paying attention…” I quickly began to apologize as I noticed a bunch of other girls rushing to help this one up.

I could tell she was about to snap and yell at me. But then she got a good look at my face when Nick was the first one at my side, helping me up.

“Are you okay?” he asked me.

“Yea…I’m fine”

“Shelby, what are you doing here?” Kaleb asked and I heard a little irritation in his voice.

“Nothing big brother…” she smirked. “We just wanted to see what you guys were up to…do you know who you’re playing with?” she asked them, not believing anything.

“Rachael Lewis and Nick Jonas,” one other girl stated, incredulous.

“Yes, we know who they are and we were kind of in the middle of a game…”

“Well then go play…we want to talk to Rachael anyway…”

“She’s playing too,” Kaleb said.

“So you really are this earthy tom-boy type girl…”

“Shelby don’t start”

“It’s okay Kaleb, lets just get back to the game…you girls can join us if you like,” I smiled politely at them.

“Ha, yea right. I don’t do that kind of stuff,” she said and I just shrugged as we all went back to the field.

“I’m sorry about my sister, she can be a real bitch,” Kaleb apologized and I laughed lightly.

“It’s okay…I’m used to it” I told him and he ran off.

I felt a pain again and I winced. “Maybe you should sit out now,” Nick suggested.

“No way, now that those girls are watching…I’m fine. I just wont pitch. We’re almost done anyway,” I said and got back to my spot. “Alright,” he agreed and went back to the plate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My team ended up winning the game once I hit my last one out of the park and got a homerun. As we all got to the pitchers mound to just congratulate each other and talk and laugh, I saw how the other girls were giving me looks, it looked like they wanted to hurt me just for talking to these guys.

“Uh oh. Nick, I think it’s time for us to leave,” I whispered as I saw paprazzi begin to arrive and I saw how some paparazzi were already here, watching our every move.

“You’re right…”

“We’re really sorry guys, we have to go now though. It was so much fun playing with you guys. We have to do it again soon,” I said as I hugged Kaleb first and then hugged the rest of them as Nick did a guy hand shake-type thing.

Nick and I took off at a fast walk toward my car but I noticed I was limping and my arm was hurting and Nick saw it too so he wrapped his arm around my waist and helped me to the car. He opened the door for me, I got in and he quickly got in on the other side and turned his body to face me and he caressed my cheek for a breif moment.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. My ankle's just sore and my arm is in a little pain. That’s it”

“Come on, I’ll get you home and we’ll put some ice on you,” he said started up the car.

Demi and Joe ended up coming over as well and as Nick took care of me (no matter how much I refused it) we all got a head start on our writing process together and Demi and I got our duets done as Joe and I did as well. As for me and Nick, we got more than one duet done this time. Friday soon came and the four of us got Kevin and Dani to hang out with us and we all spent the day together and went out to dinner. Then on Saturday, Nick came with me when I took Frankie to meet up with Miley, Liam and Noah and we all hung out. I was so happy that we could all just hang out…I wasn’t sure what Nick was feeling about it all but he at least put on a good act. I got along with Liam so it made things easier (for me anyway) to just be myself and be the friend Miley always knew and not embarrass her. When together, Miley and I were loud, more out going than usual and maybe obnoxious sometimes…but we were best friends and we always will be…no matter what life throws at us.