Playing With Fire

Seeing Nick’s face after so long made my heart erupt. I couldn’t explain it – what his gleaming smile did to me was beyond words. My legs wouldn’t move. I was just in awe over him, simply and utterly in awe. I had forced myself to imagine his face and depend on it to comfort me during my worst moments when I was in such indescribable pain away from him, and finally getting to see him in the flesh, standing just a few feet from me, took my breath away. He hadn’t changed a bit. He was wearing black jeans, high-top Chucks, and an Elvis Costello t-shirt. His eyes were rimming with tears, but he was grinning like there was no tomorrow. The minute my legs thawed out, a tear ran down my face and I ran to him. I ran as fast as I possibly could to feel him, to touch his face and listen to his heart. He met me halfway just as fast and took me in his awaiting arms, letting out a gush of relief.

We were both lost for words. He took my face in his hands steadily and I latched onto the back of his head, twirling my fingers around the soft curls I had missed so much, as our lips met in a reunion and we cried. He kissed me all over – my lips, my cheeks, my forehead. I had been through hell without him and I couldn’t imagine how he had felt as well. I took all of him in, breathing in his sweet scent and finally feeling safe and protected in the barrier of his arms. All the demons that had haunted my brain in the past forty-eight hours were chased away. My angel had returned and I wasn’t letting him go ever again.

We remained in each other’s arms for a long time, not ready to let go just yet. He took my hand and led me over to his bed, sitting down and pulling me into his arms. I nestled into his chest and was overcome with sheer joy when the sound of my song filled my ears. It left me breathless, I was so amazed. What that boy did to me was beyond explanation. He healed me when I was un-healable, he picked up the broken pieces and mended them together so they could break no more, and he filled the hole in my heart that had been ripped open countless, painful times. I just wanted to lay there beside him forever and for always.

It was silent. Words weren’t needed – we already knew everything that the other wanted to say. And words seemed so small at the time. They couldn’t even begin to describe the feeling. We both just let it sink in, and after a while I felt myself slowly drift into much needed sleep. With Nick holding me, I was safe. I let sleep win the battle I had been fighting for two days, knowing that it wouldn’t bring me nightmares anymore. The fight was over. Nick had returned.

I dreamed that Nick was holding Layla. That was it. He was just in a small, white room holding her. And I dreamt of just that for hours. It was so simple, and yet I was deeply fascinated by it. I marveled over his glowing face, smiling down at the tiny baby wrapped in a blanket in his arms. It was a beautiful sight and it warmed every corner of my heart – I couldn’t wait to see it happen in real life.

When I awakened about an hour and half later, Nick hadn’t moved an inch. He was still holding me firmly against him, humming the song I had played earlier. One hand was holding me, rubbing my arm lovingly, and the other was touching Layla, who kicked with forgotten happiness.

“I love you,” I whispered sleepily to him. I felt his chest vibrate with each hum.

He laughed a laugh of relief. “I love you, too,” he replied, placing a kiss on the top of my head. “You don’t know how crazy I went without you,”

“Right back at ya,” I told him, smiling. I snuggled closer to him and began tracing tiny hearts on his forearm with my finger. “You like the song?” I asked.

“I love the song. You have to teach it to me,”

My smile widened. “I will,”

He took a deep breath and I sat up, suddenly eager to look at his face. He supported my lower back with his hand and stared back into my eyes with a smile on his face. I wandered over his features, saving the best for the very last – his beautiful brown eyes. I let out a tiny gasp – they were so much more stunning than I remembered. My memory and imagination hadn’t done them the least bit of justice. I touched his face with my hand, tracing over his jaw line with my finger, and pulled him closer to kiss him. We kissed like we had all the time in the world – it was slow, steady, and sweet as can be. My heart was begging to jump out of my chest. I had missed it so much.

We were interrupted by a low, angry growl in the pit of my stomach. Nick smiled against my lips.

“You’re hungry,” he said in between kisses.

“Food can wait,”

I continued to kiss him, making up for our missed time together, until he took my hand, placed one last gentle kiss on my forehead, and led me towards the staircase.

“You have to eat,” he said as he walked behind me up the stairs, holding each of my hands. “And there are some people who want to see you,”

The moment we reached the top of the stairs, Nick jumped in front of me as Joe ran towards us, prepared to tackle me into a hug.

“Dude, what was that for?” Joe asked, offended.

“You were gonna run into her!” Nick responded, shielding me.

“Sorry…” said Joe, looking down at his feet. “I was just excited,”

I squeezed Nick’s hand reassuringly and then let it go, walking around him and throwing my arms around Joe’s neck. He hugged me back with equal emotion and I smiled against his shoulder.

“You have to sign my cast,” he said once he unwrapped his arms around my waist. I was graced with his giant, cheerful smile and it warmed my heart.

“Don’t worry, I will,” I told him. I spotted Kevin and Mr. Jonas standing behind Joe and walked over to hug them as well. I could tell from the look on Mrs. Jonas’s face that she couldn’t have been happier to have them home, and so was I. The house just wasn’t the same without them.

After reuniting and catching up for a while, Mrs. Jonas offered to order pizza for lunch. The boys rushed to decline.

“No, Mommy, we’ve had fast food like, everyday,” Joe said, leaning his head on his mother’s shoulder like a small child.

“Yeah, we’re in dire need of a home-cooked meal,” Kevin agreed.

I turned to Nick who couldn’t seem to care less. He was holding my hand and playing with a strand of my hair, completely oblivious to everything around him. I laughed to myself and squeezed his hand.

Mrs. Jonas made spaghetti for lunch and the boys gobbled it up like it was the last meal they’ll ever have. I was pretty happy eating it too though. Yesterday, spaghetti would’ve looked like worms and I would’ve felt disgusted looking at it. But with Nick by my side, it looked just as incredible as it had tasted. I cleaned my plate, full and satisfied.

“So,” Nick said from beside me, setting down his fork and napkin, raising his eyebrows, “Someone owes me a fashion show,”

I laughed. “Yes, I do.”

“Wanna go up?” he asked me, pointing to the ceiling.

“Sure,” I smiled. We stood up and put our dishes in the sink, then walked upstairs to Nick’s bedroom. The new wardrobe Mrs. Jonas had bought for me had been sitting in her closet, so Nick helped me bring all of the clothes to his room and lay them on his bed.

“I’ll be out in the hall,” he said, giving me a kiss and turning on his heel, out the door.

We spent about an hour and a half on the “fashion show”. I’d tried on over fifteen different outfits and Nick’s jaw had dropped at every single one of them. I couldn’t help but feel satisfied that I made him feel that way. It boosted my confidence level to know that I had clothes to look good in.

The last outfit I had tried on had gotten the best response from him – it was a scarlet red dress with thin criss-cross straps and red jewel-encrusted heels. When I stepped out of the bedroom, his eyes became wide and bright, unlike anything I had ever seen before.

“Wow,” he said, standing up and walking over to me. He took my hand and twirled me around in a circle, then finally nestled me into his arms. “You look beautiful,”

“Thank you,” I blushed.

“Now, I have to hold up my end of the bargain,” he sighed, kissing my forehead. “The song I wrote is kind of depressing because, well…I was kind of depressed.”

I reached up to touch his face and ease the worry lines. He looked into my eyes for a minute and then took my hand, leading me back downstairs to the basement. We sat side by side at his piano and he slowly began playing a melody on the keys. He took a deep breath and his smooth, beautiful voice filled my ears.

Broken hearts and last goodbyes
Restless nights but lullabies
Help to make this pain go away.
I realized I let you down
Told you that I’d been around
Building up the strength just to say

That I’m sorry
For breaking all the promises
I wasn’t around to keep.
If only this time was the last time
I will ever beg you to stay
But you’re already on your way.

Filled with sorrow
Filled with pain
Knowing that I am to blame
For leaving your heart out in the rain.
And I know you’re gonna walk away
And leave me with the price to pay
Before you go, I wanted to say, yeah

That I’m sorry
For breaking all the promises
I wasn’t around to keep.
If only this time was the last time
I will ever beg you to stay
But you’re already on your way.

I can’t make it.
Life on my own.
But if you have to go, then please go.
Just leave me alone.
‘Cause I don’t wanna see you and me
Going our separate ways.
Begging you to stay if it isn’t too late.

I’m sorry for breaking all the promises
I wasn’t around to keep.
If only this time was the last time
I will ever beg you to stay.
But you’re already on
Your way.

Nick stopped singing and looked down, away from my eyes.

The lyrics hit me a little too close to home. I was deeply touched that he felt that way – it almost made me want to cry. “I’m not going anywhere, Nick,” I told him, taking his hand. “I’m staying right here,”

“I just don’t want to break any more promises to you, Kara,” he sighed. “I mean, who knows if I’ll ever be forced to leave again? I’m taking you with me for sure, but what if I can’t? You deserve better than that. I don’t want you to be alone. I don’t want to disappoint you. You’re disappointed by people all the time. I never want to be part of that,”

“There’s one promise that hasn’t been broken,” I replied. “I think it’s the most important one. We’re not going to let this come between us, remember? It’s Hollywood, I get that. You’re not just my Nick anymore,”

He finally turned to look at my face. “I’ll always be yours,” he said, looking deep into my eyes.

I smiled. “We’re gonna make this work,” I told him with certainty.

He nodded slowly and placed a kiss on my forehead, lingering there for a moment and then playing another melody on the piano.

“This one’s a little less depressing,” he said, smiling.

Its hard to believe,
Where we are now.
Your hand in mine, babe,
Feels right somehow.
Now just hold still
So don't make a sound.
Cause its almost perfect,
So, baby, Don't you look down.

We've had our past,
leave that behind.
'Cause none of it lasts,
All we have is tonight

'Cause you're not the only one,
Who's ever felt this way.
Don't let the world cave in,
Just tell me that youll stay.

Now that the pain is done,
No need to be afraid.
We don't have time to waste,
Just tell me that you'll stay.

Beautiful, one of a kind.
You're something special babe,
And you don't even realize
That you're my heart's desire.

All I want and more.
I know you're scared,
But I promise, babe,
I'm not who I was before.

'Cause you're not the only one,
Who's ever felt this way.
Don't let the world cave in,
Just tell me that you'll stay.

Now that the pain is done,
No need to be afraid.
We don't have time to waste,
Just tell me that you'll stay.

Cause youre not the only one,
Whos ever felt this way.
Dont let the world cave in,
Just tell me that youll stay.

Now that the pain is done,
no need to be afraid.
We don't have time to waste,
Just tell me that you'll stay.

Tell me, tell me you'll stay.
No, tell me.
Tell me that you'll stay.

By the last chord, I had tears in my eyes. And so did he, but he was trying ever so hard to hide it.

“That was…incredible,” I said to him. He sniffled softly and turned away from me. I could tell that song had touched him deeply – he sang it with such emotion, it made my heart ache to watch him. I leaned my head on his shoulder and hugged his arm while he calmed himself down.

“Sorry,” he said thickly, “It gets to me,”

“I know,” I said, smiling up at him and kissing his cheek. “It’s beautiful,”

“It’s for you,” he replied, leaning down to kiss my lips and hold me tight. At that moment, I didn’t know how I went two days without him. It seemed impossible.

“Are you hungry yet?” he asked me, his tone lightened and much like the Nick I wanted to remember.

“Not really. That spaghetti filled me up,” I said, patting Layla softly.

He smiled. “So no cupcakes?”

I froze, eyes widening. “I could go for cupcakes,” I said happily. I could never turn them down.

He laughed. “Okay, let’s go for cupcakes, then.”

He took my hand and led me back upstairs to the living room where the rest of the family was playing Scrabble around the coffee table.

“Joseph, ‘poned’ is not a real word,” Mr. Jonas said to his son.

“Yes, it is, Dad. Like ‘Daaaang, you got poned!’ Get it?”

“Not really,”

Joe shrugged and noticed us in the doorway. “You guys ready to go?” he asked us.

“Yup,” said Nick.

“Alright, cool.” Joe stood up after handing his remaining letter blocks to Kevin and walked over to us.

“The cupcake thing was planned, wasn’t it?” I asked Nick.

“Yup,” he repeated, grinning hugely.

I laughed and squeezed his hand. Nick looked over at Kevin and asked him if he wanted to join us.

“Nah, man. I’m winning over here!” Kevin yelled happily in response.

“Okay,” Nick laughed and led the three of us outside. He helped me into the car and I buckled my seatbelt as he scooted over beside me and Joe hopped into the driver’s seat.

“I can’t wait until you guys learn how to drive yourselves. Then I don’t have to be the chauffeur,” he mumbled under his breath.

“Then teach us,” said Nick.

“Maybe I will. I am an excellent driver,” Joe said cockily as he pulled out of the driveway and onto the street.

“For a spazz,”

“I love being a spazz,” Joe grinned at me in the rearview mirror. I grinned back.

It took about fifteen minutes to get to the bakery. The whole way there, we blasted Switchfoot on the radio and every time Nick leaned in to kiss me, Joe almost crashed the car.

“JOE, ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL US?” Nick yelled, hovering over me protectively as Joe swirved the car over the road.

“Sorry, but seriously! Stop kissing her! It’s disgusting!”

“I thought you were getting better at this!”

“Well, obviously not!” Joe groaned.

“God, you’re so weird!”

I laughed. “You two argue a lot,”

“It’s out of love,” They said in unison, making me laugh harder. Brotherly love sure was interesting.

Once we got to the bakery, I waited to get out while the boys put on hats and sunglasses.

“No one wears sunglasses at night, guys,” I told them, laughing.

“Only the cool kids do,” Joe responded.

“This town’s small and I doubt anyone will notice it’s us, but it’s just to be on the safe side,” said Nick, lowering his glasses and winking at me.

When they looked decently unrecognizable, we hopped out of the car and Joe locked it. Nick took my hand and we walked into the store, greeted with the warm, sweet smell of freshly baked bread and sugary cupcakes.

“Let’s live in here,” Joe said as he led us over to a table and sat down. He and Nick began taking off their disguises.

“Uh, do you think that’s such a good idea?” I whispered to them.

“No one’s here, babe,” Nick said to me with a smile on his face.

I peered over my shoulder and looked around. He was right. The entire bakery was deserted apart from a very wide-eyed cashier behind the bread counter.

“I think she recognizes you though,” I said, pointing to the girl. I turned to their scared faces. “I’ll order?”

“Please,” they said together.

“We can’t be seen here,” Nick whispered frantically.

“Then let’s just go,” I replied, “I don’t want you to get in trouble,”

“No,” Joe defended. “We came all the way out here and we’re not leaving without a box of cupcakes. Those things are like, amazing. Besides, what harm could one fan do?”

I nodded reluctantly and stood up, walking over to the cashier. I glanced back at the boys and saw them racing to put their disguises back on and craning their necks away from the girl so she wouldn’t see their faces.

“Hello,” I said once I reached the counter, setting my elbows on it and eyeing the cupcakes on display.

“Hi,” said the girl. She had red hair and green eyes shielded by a pair of blue frames. She couldn’t have been any older than fifteen. I immediately noticed that she refused to look me in the eye – she just looked behind me at the boys. I shifted to block her view.

“I’d like three red velvet cupcakes, please,” I said.

The suspicious girl heard my request, but refused to respond. She moved from side to side, struggling to get a better view of Nick and Joe. I knew that she was a Jonas Brothers fan judging by the baby blue t-shirt underneath her lime green bakery apron. I suddenly had a lump in my throat. My heart sped up.

She glanced at my stomach and then up at my face before she shot me an evil glare. She slowly walked over to the cupcakes and pulled out three, never diverting her eyes from the boys behind me, who were trying their best not to show her anything but the backs of their heads. When she walked back over to me and sat the box of cupcakes in front of me, she pointed a finger at the boys and asked, “Are those the Jonas Brothers?” in a high-pitched, star struck voice.

“No, why would you think that?” I replied nervously. I knew I was a terrible liar.

“They are, aren’t they?” Her voice grew louder and higher with every second. “And you’re the pregnant girl they were always seen with before Nick and Miley got together!” Her voice became mean, dripping with scorn.

I hurried to pull a ten dollar bill out from my pocket to pay for the cupcakes, set it on the counter by the cash register, and backed away from the girl. She was beginning to scare me.

I needed to make a diversion.

“Um, do you think I could get some napkins, please?” I asked, desperate to buy a moment for us to run away. “I really need some napkins…”

“They’re all the way in the back, lady,” She said, pointing to the door behind her. “There’s no way I’m running back there when I could be taking pictures of the Jonas Brothers! Well, two-thirds of them anyway,” She reached into the back pocket of her jeans and pulled out a tiny silver digital camera.

I felt my eyes widen. Too late.

I whipped my body around and sprinted to the boys. “Run!” I yelled.

Trying their best to shield their faces from the flashing camera, they raced to their feet.

“Wait, guys! I just want one picture with you!” the girl yelled frantically, jumping over the counter to get closer.

“Uh, maybe some other time,” said Joe as we reached for the door, “We really need to leave,”

“No, you can’t leave!” she shouted, “NICK! WAIT! I LOVE YOU! LOOK AT MY SHIRT! COME BACK!”

Nick ignored her and swung open the door, pushing me and Joe outside before stepping out himself. We sprinted to the car and hopped inside. Nick hid his face in his hands, almost tripping on the curb. I threw the cupcake box under the seat and rushed to put my seatbelt on. Joe’s hand was shaking as he struggled to slip the key into the ignition. Once he was finally successful, we sped away from the bakery as fast as we could, leaving the girl standing on the sidewalk with the camera still in her hands.

The car was full of sighs of relief as we all caught our breaths. I leaned my head on Nick’s shoulder. “That was so stressful. I thought she was going to pull my hair out for being with you guys,”

“God, I thought we left all the crazies in New York!” Joe exclaimed, shaking his head.

“We’re sorry, Kara. We weren’t expecting that to happen. It was stupid not to anticipate it,” Nick said from beside me, wrapping his arms around me.

“It’s okay. I know you guys are famous. It’s just going to take a little getting used to,” I smiled up at Nick. He took a deep breath and held me tighter against his chest, placing a protective hand over Layla.

“There’s one thing I don’t get though,” said Joe. I saw him crease his eyebrows together in the mirror. “Why did she tell Nick to look at her shirt?”

I let out a laugh. “It said ‘The Future Mrs. Nick Jonas’ on it,” I replied.

Joe burst out laughing. “They didn’t tell us they made shirts like that! God, what next, huh? I say we get action figures,”

I grinned at Joe and Nick took my hand in his, twisting the promise ring on my finger and playing with it.

“We need to get you one of those shirts,” he whispered into my ear. “Because it’s kind of true,” I looked up and saw him smirk. I blushed a deep scarlet and he laughed, kissing my forehead. I never thought I would say it, but the image of the future warmed my heart.

Suddenly, I remembered the reason behind our crazy encounter at the bakery. I reached under the seat to grab the cupcakes, but it didn’t work out exactly the way I planned. Layla was too big. Nick noticed immediately and reached down to get it himself, setting the white Styrofoam box on my lap.

“Thank you,” I said to him, smiling. He smiled back at me before his eyes drifted eagerly to the box. He watched in anticipation as I slid my fingers swiftly under the lid and opened it, revealing three perfectly frosted red velvet cupcakes. My mouth watered at the sight. They were a rich crimson color, wrapped in silver foil, and decorated with a generous heap of vanilla cream cheese frosting and red sprinkles. Nick and I each reached for one, weighing it in our hands.

“My blood sugar’s going to go through the roof, but it’s going to be so worth it,” said Nick, marveling over the pretty little cupcake sitting in his palm.

“This is like heaven in cake form,” I agreed.

Most people thought our obsession over the cupcakes was bizarre, but we had reasoning behind it from when we were kids. Throughout our childhood, our moms would reward us with homemade red velvet cupcakes whenever we did something good. Unfortunately, we were always with Joe, the little rebel of the bunch, and always getting into trouble with him. He was older than us, so in elementary school we treated him like he was the king of the world, doing whatever he told us to. Kevin had graduated up to middle school so he couldn’t stop him either. Red velvet cupcakes were almost never in our possession, but during the few times that we did some good deeds, the reward was always the best thing we’d ever sunk our teeth into. They were so delicious.

We were just about to take a bite of the magical desserts when Joe interrupted us.

“Stop! She might’ve poisoned them!” he yelled.

“Who?” I asked, confused. Nothing was on my mind other than the cupcake.

“The insane chick who gave them to you!”

“Oh, please,” Nick shrugged. “I’m gonna take my chances,”

“Yeah, me too,” I agreed. The two of us brought the cupcakes to our mouths once again.

“WAIT!”

“JOE, WILL YOU STOP? There is sugary goodness waiting to be devoured in my hand and if I don’t get it in the next five seconds, I’m gonna yell!” Nick shouted. I laughed.

“YOU’RE YELLING ALREADY!” Joe screamed back. He noticed his brother glaring at him in the mirror. “You wanna go, little bro? Even with one arm, I can take you,”

“Yeah, let’s go. I have a cupcake and I’m not afraid to use it,”

My sides hurt from laughing so hard. “Guys, stop, you’re killing me here,” I chuckled.

“Sorry, babe.” Nick laughed from beside me. I watched intently as he twirled his finger around the cream cheese frosting and licked it slowly.

“Watch this,” he whispered to me with a smirk. Suddenly, his eyes rolled into the back of his head and his body began to shake violently.

“HOLY CRAP! SHE DID POISON THEM!” Joe began screaming bloody murder from the front seat and Nick’s shaking seized. He erupted into hysterical laughter.

“Gotcha,” he managed to say in between laughs.

“Nicholas Jerry, that was not funny!” Joe screamed. I continued to laugh.

Nick’s face turned red with amusement.

“You suck,” said Joe, both offended and amused. A smirk lingered on his lips as he shook his head at his brother.

After laughing at the aftershock, I was finally able to eat my cupcake and the taste of it was beyond words. It was happiness mixed with eggs and butter and milk and whatever the heck red velvet was to create the ultimate comfort food. The moment it touched our lips, Nick and I couldn’t help but smile and start dancing in our seats. Joe felt left out that he couldn’t eat his while driving, so I sat behind him and reached over the seat to feed him. The three of us were in complete bliss, eating our red velvet cupcakes and belting out to Maroon 5. Life was good.

But when we got home, something was about to kill our red velvet high.

We walked into the living room laughing, but once Kevin ran into us with a panicked expression on his face, my heart began to speed up.

“You guys need to see this. C’mon.” He led us down to the basement in a rush – I almost had to run to keep up with him. My heart was racing and Nick could sense it. He took my hand and told me that whatever it was, everything was going to be okay. I wasn’t too reassured.

Kevin led us over to the coffee table where an open laptop sat. “Look,” he said, pointing to the screen.

The three of us sat down on the couch as Kevin observed our reactions. I stared blankly at the webpage with a heart thudding so hard against my chest, it almost hurt. I gaped at the pictures on the screen – the girl from the bakery had already posted her pictures and they were all over the internet. The webpage we were gawking at was the home of People magazine and our story was the new cover: “Jonas Scandal! Nick Cheating On Miley? A Secret Jonas Pregnancy? We Thought They Were Pure! – Could This Mean The End Of Their Career? Pick up the latest issue of People to find out!” Below the headline was a long row of the leaked photos – We were running out of the bakery and the boys were shielding their faces, but they were still visible if you looked hard enough. There was even a shot of Nick with his hand at the small of my back, just about to lead me out the door.
It was bad. So, so bad…

Joe scrolled down the page with wide eyes and read some of the comments:

“What a skank! She better hop off my man!”

“She’s such a slut! Why did Nick have to go and knock her up? She’s not even that pretty!”

“Screw her! Niley all the way!!”

“Why is everyone saying it’s Nick’s kid? It could be Joe’s, for all we know.”

“That’s such a whorish thing to do! I thought they were pure!”

I felt my eyes build up with tears and hid my face in my hands. “No, no, no…This can’t be happening,” I cried. The boys had put in an endless amount of hard work into their career and I was about to end it all. Every word in every comment cut me like a knife and the last thing I wanted was for the boys to suffer. They had been so kind to me.

Nick put his hands on my back and forced my shaking body into his arms. “Shh, don’t cry, Kara.” He comforted me. “None of this is your fault,” He tried to hide it, but I could sense in his voice that he was just as worried as I was.

“It is. It is my fault. If I wasn’t me…If I wasn’t like this, your fans wouldn’t hate me and your careers wouldn’t be on the line right now. It’s all my fault,”

“The fans don’t hate you, KC,” Joe chimed in, “They’re just misinformed.” He sighed. “And some of them are crazy. You know that. There’s no denying it,” he laughed.

I looked up from my hands slowly and Nick wiped away the tears from my eyes before I could catch them.

“I’m so sorry, guys. The last thing I want to do is jeopardize your careers,” I said thickly.

“Everything is going to be fine, Kara,” Kevin spoke up. “We’ll figure it out. Don’t you worry,” He smiled at me.

We stayed like that for a while, rereading the webpage over and over again, growing more depressed each time. Mr. and Mrs. Jonas had come downstairs to comfort us and the phones were all ringing off the hook with reporters requesting statements from the boys – all the phones except mine. I was thankful my name and number were still mysteries to them, but I knew they would find a loophole sooner or later. We tried our best to ignore the constant ringing, but we all had headaches pulsing in our brains. Kevin even turned his phone completely off. Then, we noticed a small clan of paparazzi camped out on the end of our street, waiting for us to come outside so they could snap more pictures. It was utter madness and insanity.

“Kara, can I borrow your phone for a minute?” Nick asked from beside me on the couch. It surprised me – he hadn’t spoken a word for hours.

“Um, yeah. Of course.” I dug into my pocket and pulled out my phone, handing it to him.

“I don’t like that face,” said Joe, eyeing his brother’s determination. “What are you going to do?” he asked, stealing the question right out of my mouth. Mr. Jonas also looked equally concerned across the room.

“I’m going to fix this,” Nick replied, unlocking the key guard and typing in a phone number.

“Nicholas, I hope you know what you’re doing,” warned Mr. Jonas.

“I do, Dad.” Nick took a deep breath and turned to look his father in the eye. “You always taught us to stand up for what we believe in and that’s what I’m going to do. I’m not going to sit back and let them print lies, degrading Kara and our relationship. She deserves so much better than that. I’m sick of keeping our relationship a secret. I’m tired of pretending. I love her and I want the world to know. I don’t care if they can’t handle it. That’s their problem, not ours. Besides, the fans deserve the truth. If we explain everything, who knows? They might understand. You would think that if they really respected us and wanted us to be happy that they’d accept Kara. That’s what I’m hoping for. I don’t know, maybe I’m just a dreamer and telling the truth might not be the wisest thing to do, but it’ll make things a whole lot easier. I don’t want to hide her anymore. I can’t do it. It’s too painful, okay? It kills us both. So, I’m not going to anymore. We’re coming clean. It’s as simple as that,”

Nick’s speech brought tears to my eyes. I never knew that someone could ever love me as much as he did – as purely and unconditionally as he did. I reached up to kiss him tenderly – Joe tried his best to silence his gags but I still heard them surface under his breath – and touch his face lovingly. He smiled at me and pressed “talk”, holding the phone up to his ear.

“Hey, Marissa. This is Nick. Nick Jonas, yeah…” His voice was strong and stable. He seemed extremely confident about his decision and I had to admit that it was a huge weight off my shoulders. “Can I speak to Charlene, please? Tell her it’s important. No, I’d rather not hold…Did you tell her it’s important? It’s about the People magazine thing. I need to talk to her about – Oh, Charlene. Hey. Listen, there’s something I need to talk to you about…”
Nick smiled at me and squeezed my hand before getting to his feet. The rest of the Jonases and I watched him as he turned on his heel and walked upstairs to talk to Charlene, his publicist, in a quiet room. The only thing we could do when he was out of earshot was wait until he returned.

I sat back against the couch and took a deep breath.

If everything worked out, life was about to get a hundred times better.