Chasing our Fate

I watched intently as Stevvie applied her makeup, intrigued with each step she took. Every so often, I would ask questions about what exactly she was doing. The weirdest thing to me was the fact that she “filled in her eyebrows”, the stuff she did made no difference to me. I thought she was the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen. I remember when I first saw her at orientation; John Lloyd Taylor kept teasing me because all I could do was stare at her. It was hot and crowded, people were pushing at me and I just turned around to this totally hot brunette in a short sundress. It wasn’t until she turned around and I saw her mesmerizing blue eyes that I became hooked. It was embarrassing to admit, but I was too nervous to talk to her. But, when I found out that Storm, my roommate, was her best friend a glimmer of hope lit up for me. For about a week after school started, I was positive that she must have hated me because every time I looked at her, she would look away and it seemed like she avoided me. Then, Storm finally spilled that Stevvie was crushing on me and had been crushing on me for years. I was her celebrity crush. It made since now.

“Are you excited to meet your fans?” I asked. I was sitting fully clothed, comfortably in her dry bathtub, a place I usually took to when Stevvie spent forever getting ready. Stevvie shrugged. “Well, I’m a little nervous because Scooter,” she explained, referring to Publicist, “just told me the line of people was down the street already. I worried that I won’t have enough time to meet everyone, you know?”

I smiled as I stroked Prince’s large head, he sat next to the bathtub calmly. That was pretty much all Prince did these days, Stevvie has had him since she was six years old. He was getting pretty old.

“I love that you are concerned with not have enough time to meet everyone and not with the amount of people you’re going to have to meet. You’re becoming a natural at this famous thing, since when did you become a little celebrity?”

Stevvie pulled back her thick, raven hair into a loose side braid. Her nose scrunched up when she shook her head. “I’m not fond of the words ‘famous’ or ‘celebrity’, let’s just say ‘popular’ and 'well known’. It just seemed a little less fake. I’m an author, not a singer or an actress. I hope people remember that too.”

“Well, no matter what you label yourself, I can definitely say this: you are a lovely, smart and talented woman. You have no idea how happy I am that you’re my girlfriend, I love you baby.”

“You’re not fooling me,” she muttered as she sauntered over to me, “You’re still not coming to the book signing baby.”

I groaned sarcastically, giving her the puppy dog pout. She giggled and leaned down to kiss me on the forehead. I stopped her from getting up and coaxed her lips to mine by her hands until we were finally united. Her freshly glossed lips glided over mine to my pleasure, as she teased me. My lips lingered on hers for a quick moment before she finally pulled away.

“No you don’t baby,” I murmured, hopping out of the tub. My lips crashed with hers once again, pulling her closer to me. I caressed her luscious curves, pushing her against the door and dove into a more passionate kiss.

“God, Nicholas…you can’t do this…” she muttered, “I have to go…seriously,” she struggled to say through my kisses.

A low chuckled slipped from my lips as I attached my lips to hers repeatedly. I purposely tried to distract her so she wouldn’t leave.

“Hmmmm, what is that? Kiss you again…” I muttered. She rolled her eyes, trying to avoid my lips. Too bad that I was just as content with her neck...my lips made their way up to her earlobe. As soon as I sucked just a little bit, she melted into my arms and let out a soft moan. It was like a trigger to set off a rocket, I quickly found out that it was an instant turn on for Stevvie.

“Baby…you’re killing me,” she muttered, as she attacked me by pulling me closer to her body. I happily obliged. “You know what…no…I have to go. So, I am so getting you back for this.”

An unintentional smirk appeared on my face as she sauntered away from me, checking her out without any shame since we were alone. There was just something about a woman in heels and a dress that drove me crazy.

“Quit staring at my ass,” Stevvie warned, glaring back at me.

I smiled guiltily, not listening to her warnings. Being able to admire her body shamelessly was one of the best perks of her being my girlfriend, and I am a guy after all, so if you flaunt it in front of me, I'm not going to decline the chance.

"Thank you God for her good genes," I muttered with a smirk.

<->

“That was amazing!” Scooter exclaimed as we drove away from the book signing, “I couldn’t believe how many people came!”

I smiled with joy, waving to the last remaining fans until we turned the corner. A smiled formed on my face because of the happiness that was brimming over. This was the first time I really got to see my fan base, I got to hear them, see them in person, and most importantly, love them. My goal was to make each one feel like they’re the most important person in the world because I knew what it was like to be a fan and meeting a celebrity for the first time. I also knew what it was like to step in the shoes of a celebrity. My friends who were in the business have had numerous occasions where all they wanted to do was sleep and they still had to be nice to fans. It was hard, so I hoped fans gave them slack, they’re only human.

At the meet and greet, I met many love children like me. Most of them were children of unmarried or teen parents and I was able to bond with them over that. Girls, boys, and many Chasing Fate fans came to meet me because it was something that they found to bond over with their teens. I was totally inspired by the stories of the struggles that they went through similar to my parents and surprised when people informed me that I was an inspiration myself. I was only retelling the stories I had heard as bedtime stories growing up, it was crazy. Being able to inspire someone with my writing and allow my parents story to inspire people were my only goals and it was the most fulfilling thing to do. The book was actually never going to be published because I was too embarrassed about the past, but I finally found the courage and sent it out to publishers. The result was overwhelming when I got the first actual copy with my name on the cover. A big worry was that Jonas fans would judge me, but yet again, they were the complete opposite like Nicholas. They embraced it and accepted me for who I was and who my parents used to be. It never dawned on me that my so-called “shameful” story could actually be a beautiful one. I loved hearing when people were surprised who wrote the book, that made me smile.

The day was a typical day of press: a book signing, interviews and then a photo call. The book signing went amazing, the interviews were a little boring, nerve-racking, but I loosened up after awhile, and the photo call was a breeze.

“That was crazy,” I replied, laughing at his overexcitement, “I can’t believe how many autographs I had to sign.”

“I can’t believe how many hot guys tried to hit on you,” Adam sighed, “are you sure Eric is taken still?”

A sympathetic smile formed on my face as I patted his shoulder. He mentioning relationship reminded that Nick was here. I giggled inside, anticipating the welcome I would soon receive once I got home.

“I say we go out to celebrate our most successful event yet,” Scooter announced, “drinks on me?”

Adam, my publicist, and my manger all raised their hands in agreement. I quickly raised my hand, only to put it down.

“You guys go ahead, um I kind of left Nick home all day. I should get back to see him.”

“Oh come on Stevvie! You sound like a businessperson in the 1950’s. Nick won’t sweat it if you spend a few minutes in a bar celebrating. You guys aren’t married,” Adam complained.
The rest of my team joined in on his complaints, bringing up previous time that I had ditched them for Nick. I was a little guilty of it because every time Nick came into town, I dropped everything and spent most of my time with him. It was pretty difficult to balance all the lives I was leading.

“Okay, okay, okay…I suppose one drink won’t hurt,” I gave in to them.

<->

I checked my phone once again, waiting for at least a text from Stevvie. Yet, here I was sitting at her apartment with no idea what to do. She never did this to me, but I had to be understanding because I have done the same thing to her because of work. I could only hope she finished sooner or later.

“Hey, babe it’s me. Uh, either you’re still in interviews or you’re phone must be lost in your purse…anyway, uh, give me a call when you get this.” I left her another message. The clock rang out; signaling yet another hour went by. Stevvie was now over two hours late.

Finally, I heard the door open from the kitchen. I shuffled to greet her with a smile, knowing she would probably be exhausted from her long day.

“Hey baby!” I stated, “How did your day go?”

Stevvie gave me a weak smile and shrugged off her sweater. I couldn’t figure it out, but she was acting shady or something. Usually she would spill about every aspect of her day, but this was weird.

“Okay…exhausting. But, yeah.”

I urged her to continue with a look, but her eyes instantly diverted towards something else. She quickly shrugged of the platform sandals she wore today and scampered off to her room.

“Babe…what’s going on…?” I mused, growing anxious. Stevvie wasn’t the quiet type when it was just her and I, “What happened today?”

She quickly answered with a nothing, turning around for me to unzip her dress. That’s when I finally noticed her smell. Instead of having the familiar aroma of Chocolate and lavender or apricots, I smelled booze and smoke.

“Stephanie you smell like an ashtray!” I shouted, “I swear you’d better tell me where you’ve been. I don’t want a story, I want the truth.”

The feeling of annoyance overcame me as I watched her cringe. I never accepted when Stevvie kept things from me and I hated when she lied to me. This was even worse because it meant she blew me off for something other than work…or someone.

“Jeez, you don’t have to pull out my full name, you know I hate it when you call me that,” she complained.

“Please, just tell me before I get upset,” I groaned.

She just replied with a scoffed, shrugging out of the purple dress I chose for her to wear. I knew she was changing in front of me to distract me, but it wasn’t going to work…much. When she first did this, I was somewhat surprised, but she explained that it wasn't that big of a deal and nothing I heaven't already seen. We being in a serious adult relationship was another reason; I lived with her when I visited so eventually I was going to see her anyway. I noticed she wore her usual: a plain pair of black hipster boy shorts and a matching simple black bra. I watched as she seductively unbraided her hair, running her fingers through it.

“There’s a very good explanation…see, the guys wanted to go out to celebrate after the book signing went so well and I only promised to stay for like five minutes, but then Charles Ovelwell showed up..he’s like the biggest book critic of Chicago and I just had to talk to him…I’m sorry baby.”

Stevvie stood up and began to caress my shoulder, her eyes traced up and down my face and her lips were slightly parted, beckoning me to kiss her.

Taking a quick breath, I refocused my attention to the reason I was mad in the first place. I smirked at her, knowing her intentions.

“I know what you’re trying to do baby, and it’s not going to work. You can’t just come home 2-hours late, get half-dressed to apologize to me. I’m not a sex crazed teenager, remember.”
I flashed her my ring and laced my arms together. I wasn’t giving in to her. She sighed, pulled on a long t-shirt and turned to me.

“I don’t even know why I thought it would,” Stevvie muttered, “please don’t be mad at me.”

I sighed. “It’s too late, I am. You blew me off, and now I’m blowing you off. We’re not going out tonight, and I’m going to bed like I should have because I have a flight in the morning.”

I began to walk out of her room, but her hand grabbing my arm stopped me.

“Nicholas! I can’t believe you,” she scoffed in disbelief, “I can name so many occasions that you've done the same thing to me for work. He was a critic for God’s sake, he could make or break my book and you have the nerve to get mad at me?”

“Gosh Stephanie, that’s why I’m upset! You don’t talk to critics because they think you’re just sucking up,” I explained, “making a move like that could have screwed you over, so you just wasted your time and my time. I really wanted to spend tonight with you, but I don’t even want to anymore. I’m just going to bed, okay.”

She didn’t reply or try to stop me as I went to the guest bedroom where I stayed for now. This definitely isn’t how I liked to end my visits to Chicago.