Australia

Sam’s POV

I whistled as I walked from my bedroom towards the stairs the following morning. I felt as if I was floating on air; glowing and somehow complete in a way. A smile hadn’t left my face since the crack of dawn; 5am, which is when I woke up. I felt rejuvenated; after sleeping only God knows how many hours yesterday. I felt like a new person; a completely happy, ecstatic, over the moon person. I skipped a little. I bit my lip, deterring a giggle of overwhelming happiness from escaping my lips. I caught Kevin slowly coming out of his room and he pulled the door slowly behind him. I peered around him a little and saw Joe still in bed.

“Hey Kevin!” I exclaimed cheerfully.

“Oh!” Kevin turned around in shock; pulling the door shut loudly behind him. He cringed at the bang the door made. “You, you scared me.”

“I’m sorry,” I grinned apologetically.

“It’s alright,” he shook his head. “So, what’s up?”

“What’s Joe doing?” I questioned.

I was bouncing on the balls of my bare feet. I was in a terrific mood. Nothing could possibly kill the mood I was in.

“He told me he had a headache, and that he’d hang with us for lunch or something,” Kevin smiled at me.

Okay; nothing could kill my mood except that. I was looking forward to seeing him and hanging out with him all day. I wanted to talk about what happened and perhaps; grab a hot chocolate or something or maybe sitting and hang in the park.

“Oh,” I frowned.

“I’m sure he’ll be up later,” Kevin smiled encouragingly.

“Yeah,” I returned the smile; less convincingly than Kevin had. “I’m sure you’re right.”

But Kevin wasn’t right. Joe didn’t get up for lunch and he didn’t surface for dinner. I went the whole day without seeing him; instead opting to go for a bike ride with Maya, who was visiting with her mum for Kevin’s birthday and Frankie. It might have been my paranoia getting the better of me, but it felt like Frankie was the only one of the Jonas boys not avoiding me. Joe hadn’t left his room, Kevin had been out with Danielle all day and I hadn’t seen Nick. Truth be told, I had know idea where Nick was.

“Tank,” Maya whined. “I don’t think that goes there.”

We were all sitting around the dining room table; a 500 piece puzzle of the skeletal system of a tyrannosaurus Rex laid still more than half scattered on the table. Denise had given us 3 hours; if we didn't make a dent we had to put it away and help set the table. I had pretty much watched on in silence as Maya and Frankie argued over the placement of what, looked to me, to be a toe. Frankie turned the piece in his hand, holding it up freakishly close to his face. He tilted his head in the same way as each of his older brothers did. He looked from the piece to the gap before slipping it expertly into the empty place in front of him.

“Shows what you know,” he smiled triumphantly and stuck his tongue out at Maya.

“Samantha Leigh Riley!” I cringed at the sound of my name being hollered from the living room.

“What’d you do?” Maya whispered to me.

“I, honestly don’t know,” I half whispered back to her.

What had I done? I didn’t even recognise the voice being yelled at me. I stood up slowly.

“Samantha!” the voice boomed again.

“You better go!” Frankie urged; picking up another pile of loose puzzle pieces and dumping them in front of him. He started to turn them over.

I made my way to the swinging door slowly. I pushed it open and stepped out into the living room. I looked up and found Kevin, yes Kevin standing in front of me. His hands were on his hips, his face was blank and his lips were pressed into a firm line. Kevin was angry; angry with me? What’d I do? Unless....

“Kevin I can...” I started.

Kevin started walking towards me. He dropped his hands from his hips and they swung sternly at his side. I backed away slightly unsure of what Kevin was going to do. I had never seen him angry before. I’d seen his disappointed face and his caring big brother face. I had seen him smirk, smile, grin and laugh so hard that coffee came out his nose. That was an eventful trip to the emergency room. But I had never seen him like this. I gulped. Out of all of the Jonas’ I didn’t want Kevin mad at me. Maybe I could fix whatever it was I had done. Kevin abruptly stopped in front of me. I looked up at him. His face softened and he wrapped his arms around me suddenly; pulling my into his chest into a bone crushing bear hug.
I let my breath catch up with me before loosely wrapping my arms around his middle as well.

“Thank you, thank you thank you!” Kevin said excitedly into my ear.

“Um, you’re welcome,” I stuttered out; suddenly having difficulty retaining oxygen. “But, Kev. I, I can’t breathe.”

“Oh sorry,” Kevin immediately let me go and pushed me back gently by the shoulders. He patted my hair down and adjusted the hood on my hooded jumper. He then grinned at me.

“What are you thanking me for?” I asked; dumbfounded.

“For one of the best birthday presents ever!” he exclaimed.

I looked around him to Danielle who was standing by the door. She smiled apologetically.

“I’m sorry,” he half smiled. “I caved.”

I looked back to Kevin who was practically bouncing up and down. I smiled at him and he just grinned.

“It’s pretty tough not to cave when he’s that cute huh?” I asked Danielle; jabbing Kevin in the chest with my forefinger.

“It is,” she gushed and cast her eyes to Kevin who rubbed where I had jabbed with the palm of his hand. “Kevin! Give her the present.”

“What present?” I asked.

“I got, well, we got you a little something for fixing up our spectacular dinner date,” he told me and dug a small box out of his jacket pocket.

“Kev, it’s a birthday present,” I shook my head and smiled at him. “You didn’t have to get me anything.”

“It’s nothing really,” he assured me. Danielle walked over and looped her arm around his waist. He held the small box out to me. “Open it.”

I took it from him, unsure. He didn’t have to do this; the dinner was a birthday present. A thank you and a hug would have sufficed. I lifted the small lid off the box and pulled the tissue paper out of the way. Nestled amongst the dark blue of the tissue paper was a white guitar pick. I plucked it out and turned it over in my hand. The letters; my initials, “S.L.R” were written on the back in a scribe print; perfect swirls written in black. It was so pretty. It was just a pity I didn’t have anything to play with it.

“It’s beautiful Kevin,” I smiled up at him and Danielle. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” he smiled back at me.

“Oh, and, Joe never did get up,” I frowned.

“Yeah?” Kevin asked.

“No,” I answered. “I wasn’t here all day but he’s still in bed.”

“Do you want me to talk to him?” Kevin offered but I shook my head.

“No,” I smiled. “I’ll talk to him after your birthday.”