Chasing our Fate

I smiled shyly at her, just noticing my slip up also. “W-Well, I…um…like…I don’t know…the day I met you…or something like that…”

“Really?” she seriously asked me. Her striking blue eyes took my breath away as she looked me dead in the eyes. She bit her blush pink lips, waiting for a reply.

I could feel my cheeks beginning to burn in embarrassment. Stevvie and I had never actually talked about marriage one on one, concerning us anyway. I had been meaning to ever since my grandmother brought it to our attention, you know, just to see if she would be up to it, but when I said that sentence, it was a complete slip up. I slowly nodded my head in reply to her, afraid of her reaction. We had only been together seven months and it was honestly a little soon to discuss it.

“Wow…umm…I never knew you felt that way baby,” she replied finally, “I don’t know what to say.”

“Just forget I said…um…it’s too soon to talk about that topic anyway,” I decided with a sigh.

“No, no…we might as well since we’re on the subject,” she interjected.

“Oh, okay…um,” I agreed, surprised, “well, w-what would you think about us…you know…”

“Getting married…like settling down and stuff?” She finished with a nervous laugh.

I shrugged and laughed nervously. “I guess…sorta…maybe…”

“Of course, we’re talking about the future…the distant future right?” she added, “you know , like after we’ve been together for a few years.”

“Totally, “I replied, “Like you said…we have to know each other inside and out first.”

“Yeah…and that takes awhile of course,” she replied with another nervous chuckle. As we continued, our conversation only grew more awkward and embarrassing.

“So, maybe in couple of years?” I asked.

She nodded. “Yeah…like maybe 4 or 5…”

Me eyes widened at her barely heard reply. Did Stevvie really just say 4 or 5 years? I would be almost twenty-six by the time we were actually married. I’m not saying that this was the only reason I wanted to get married, but I refuse to spend a quarter of my life being a virgin. That was just too much temptation and torture for me.

“Wait…4 or 5…y-years” I gasped. My heart sped up. “Why wait that long?”

Stevvie’s eyebrows knitted together as she gave me an uneasy smile. “Well, why not? There’s so many things that I believe a person should do before they’re married. I’d like to at least graduate college first, and then maybe consider marriage.”

“But, what could you possibly need to do before marriage?” I asked.

“Like...I don’t know Nick…live on your own, travel to foreign countries by yourself, survive a heartbreak, get drunk and make out with a stranger…discover yourself.”

“Stevvie, you are aware that you’ve done all of those already?” I pointed out.

“But have you?” she asked.

“Not everything, but pretty much yes and I’m never going to get drunk or make out with a strang-…I’m never going to get drunk.” I replied. (So, I might have made out with a stranger...I was heart broken and she wasn’t technically a stranger…she was a fan that I never failed to meet every time I came to St. Louis. She was there way after the show and I was lonely. We were friends now though.) “and besides, you can do those things while being married. I actually think it would more fun to do those things with a wife…except the heart breaking part…I don’t plan on ever going though one again, thank you very much.”
Stevvie let out a normal adorable giggle, turning our conversation from awkward to usual.

“Well, anyway. I just don’t want to settle down young.”

“But, I do.” I stated.

“Well, you’re just going to have to wait if you want this kid to be ‘Mrs. Nick Jonas’ I’m afraid,” she replied smugly.

<->

“You have no idea how hard it is to wait,” Nick muttered to me as he shook his head. He gave me a gentle, but loaded kiss. I felt his lips envelope my bottom lip, lingering there until he pulled away to breathe. I caught his gaze and he gave me a shy smile, stroking my chin. He simply kissed me on my forehead and pulled me close. I let his warm breath glide over my face as he accepting my quick smooches. I began to fool around with his sides and back pockets, sticking my hands in them to pull him close to me. Nick slyly squirmed out of my grasp and jumped away from me mischievously. A flirtatious smile formed on his face once he was out of my range. I just rolled my eyes and crossed my arms, knowing he’d be back.

As I assumed, his warm, strong arms snaked their way around my waist, slipping his hand into my back pocket. I smirked in accomplishment, happy his adorable face was now giving me the puppy dog pout. I caved and cracked a genuine smile as I accepted another one of his tender kisses. I loved the fact that though we established that we were in a serious relationship, when it came down to it, we were still just two kids in love. We were playful with each other, made sure not to take ourselves too seriously, and that we remember to have fun. Relationships were supposed to be fun.

“Race you to the car?” I suggested. Before I could even here his reply, Nick was already ten feet ahead of me. I simply laughed and shook my head, catching up to him. I loved this kid with all my heart, even if he laughs when I fall.

<->

“…And this is where I got chased on the playground by a group of girls everyday…not one of my proudest moments.”

Nick paused to look around the playground before jumping off the monkey bars.

“So, that really happened?” Stevvie asked, “And your Principle really had to ban people from making you sing?”

Nick slowly turned to Stevie who was casually swinging. “Yeah…how did you know that?”

“One of you and your brothers’ E! True Hollywood stories,” she reminded him, “yeah, not going to lie…I thought you sounded a little wimpy as a child.”

“Oh thanks so much baby girl,” Nick replied sarcastically as he began to push her swing,

“Hey, those girls were fast okay.”

Stevvie giggled. “Well, it a good thing we didn’t go to school together, I was a bully in elementary school.”

Nick laughed aloud, not believing that his way too sweet girlfriend could have been a bully.

“Nu uh, you can’t even hurt a fly, except me…you have no problem hitting me.”

Stevvie shrugged. The only sounds they could hear were cars going by every so often and the flapping of the large American flag above their heads. His old school was one of the many stops they had made today on Stevvie’s tour of Nick’s hometown. It was sweet because like Nick, she had “hometown”. She lived in Chicago since she was four, but she moved around a lot, jumping from schools and apartments. Then, when she was five, Todd had made his first million and they moved into a more permanent home. As Todd became more successful, their houses just got bigger and she just acquired more and more assets. Even thought their childhoods were on opposite ends of the spectrum, they still had pretty much the same childhood. Stevvie went to church on a regular basis, she was involved in music and she was shy in school.

“I can’t wait until school starts,” Stevvie decided, “that way we’ll be together everyday, just like last year.”

Nick chuckled softly, but didn’t agree. Instead, he just looked away.

“Have you gotten your pre-enrollment yet?” She asked.

“Um…yeah, I think. Mom said it’s at the house in California,” he replied.

“I got mine, and so did the rest of the gang,” Stevie informed them, “I haven’t talked to Jackie or Storm much…I think they’re avoiding me…”

“Really?” Nick asked, recalling that he just spoke to Storm earlier that day, “I have…”

“Yeah, at least Jackie isn’t talking to me; she won’t text back or answer my calls…I don’t know what I did.”

They paused to think of the possible reasons why her best friend of eleven years could be mad at her. Jackie and Stevvie had ever only fought once in their entire friendship and that was when Stevvie accidently tripped her on the playground in the fifth grade, leading to a fight. Being apart had done some damage to her relationship with her best friends; she wasn’t going to lie, but nothing irreversible. Storm was just as hard to get a hold of as Nick because of Justin’s busy performance schedule, and Jackie was practically non-existent because she wasn’t ever able to leave her internship and she wasn’t aloud to use her cell phone during the 12 to 14 hour workdays she faced. Stevvie graciously paid for both of them to see each other because she knew they were facing the same thing Nick and she was.
After a few minutes of silence, Stevvie gasped, covering her mouth.

“Oh my God…oh my God…” Stevvie muttered under her breath, “Nicholas, she’s going to kill me…I can’t believe I forgot….”

“What, what, what... I want to freak out too,” Nick replied.

“Our anniversary….” Stevvie replied.

Nick bunched his eyebrow together in confusion, “Our anniversary isn’t until January though babe…”

Stevvie rolled her eyes and sighed. “Not OUR anniversary! Jackie’s and mine! We have celebrated on friendiversary every year since we’ve met and I forgot about it.”

“Oh…” Nick replied, not very amused, “you guys can do that at any time…I don’t see Jackie getting upset because you forgot one time.”

“Anything else, but we take our anniversary seriously, without me, she wouldn’t even be were she is today.” Stevvie explained, “I am the reason her Dad is still in his PR business.”

“He’s like Hardcore Public Relations company right?”

“Yes, you have to promise me you won’t tell Jackie I told you this,” Stevvie warned, “We went to the same art summer school program and our dads met, my dad was looking some new business partners in PR since he was leaving his previous one. Jackie’s dad’s business was going bankrupt and he was about to hit rock bottom until my Dad agreed to sign with him, only because Jackie was the only girl I could actually stand to be friends with at the time. So, my family basically saved his business because of the recognition we already had and the impression that it gave, having such a high profile client on his business.”

“Wow, that’s nice of your dad,” Nick commented, “so, why don’t you just go apologize when you see them next weekend in L.A. or something?”

Stevvie shook her head, “I’m screwed, she is going to take forever to get out this.”

Nick looked at his stressed out girlfriend sympathetically, feeling useless because he had no idea how to help her. Attempting to comfort her, he pulled her into a tight hug and kissed her forehead.

“People make mistakes, and people move on from them. You should do the same, okay?” he murmured, “Jackie will forgive you…I did.”

Stevvie smiled shyly at him, no one could make her feel the way Nick did.

“You’re right...everything’s going to be okay then, right Nick?”

“Yep,” he decided, “I promise.”

A wave of relief washed over Stevvie when she heard his approval. It often came down to it when she made decisions ever since they began dating, though she really didn’t notice. Nick had quickly become the dominate one in their relationship, naturally. He usually made all the executive decisions when it came to them and governed what was acceptable to him.