When You Read Between the Lines

Come Friday, Nick was still staying at Joe’s apartment. He hadn’t gone to the studio a single day that week. He hadn’t written a single song. The apartment was a mess. Nick leaves dirty dishes in the sink. His toiletries are all over the bathroom, some even scattered on the floor. He doesn’t fix up the couch when he wakes up in the morning. He hasn’t worn anything but a t-shirt and a pair of boxers all week. Last but not least, he hadn’t shaved and he was sporting a rather disgusting beard.

That evening Joe came home a little later than usual, a large pizza box balanced in one hand, his camera bag being carried in the other while trying to unlock the door. He pushed the door open with his foot and set his bag and keys on the table, finally able to use two hands to bring it into the kitchen.

The first thing he saw was Nick sitting on the couch, his dirty lunch dishes on the coffee table in front of him. Entering the kitchen he saw the empty Chinese food cartons that Nick had scraped his lunch from. They were the same cartons from Sunday night and Nick had just finished off the excessive amount of food, leaving the garbage sitting on the counters leaving bits and pieces and drips of food.

Joe swept them into the open garbage can with his free hand then grabbed a rag from the sink to wipe the counter down. He then set the pizza box down and pulled out some paper plates. In the fridge he found a Mountain Dew for himself and he grabbed two slices out of the box, placing them on a plate.

“Food!” he called out to Nick.

“Good, I’m starving,” he said, jumping up from the couch and heading into the kitchen. He grabbed one slice and folded it up, sticking it in his mouth. He grabbed another slice and put it in his left hand. He then walked over to the fridge and opened it up with his hand covered in pizza grease and pulled out a diet coke then headed back to the couch.

Joe stared open mouthed after his brother. He hadn’t even grabbed a napkin. Joe set the slice he was holding down and grabbed the rag once again and wiped down the refrigerator’s handle. Once it was clean to his satisfaction he sighed and sat up on the counter, grabbing his pizza.

In his head he was battling with whether or not he would say something to Nick about all of this. It had almost been a week. His apartment was destroyed. Nick needed a place of his own to stay since Faith was never going to take him back. She had told Joe the other day that she had gone to a lawyer so this was getting serious.

He finished eating and threw his plate in the trash and got to putting the rest of the pizza away in the fridge. He grabbed the empty pizza box and stuffed it in the trash can, pulling the full bag out of the bin. Just as he was about to take it to the door to bring down to the dumpster someone rang his doorbell. He left the bag on the kitchen floor and made his way to the door.

“That’s alright. Don’t get up, I got it,” he muttered as he saw Nick staring transfixed at the television. Joe walked up to the intercom and pushed the button. “Who is it?”

“My name is Jim Delancy. I’m here for a Mr. Nicholas Jonas,” the visitor said, his voice crackling through the intercom system. Joe glanced over his shoulder to Nick who apparently hadn’t heard.

“Yeah… uh… come on up,” Joe said, pushing the button to buzz him in. He turned and walked over to the television, shutting it off.

“What the hell, Joe?” Nick asked, tossing his arms to his sides.

“Get up. Get dressed. There’s someone coming up to see you.”

“Who? Is it Faith?” he asked, his eyes widening.

“Don’t be a dumbass,” Joe said, rolling his eyes. “I don’t know who it is. Go put some clothes on and for God’s sake, brush your teeth or something.”

Nick muttered something under his breath and grabbed his clothes bag, heading to the bathroom. Joe cleaned up the mess Nick had left the past few days the best he could. All he could do was pick up the garbage and straighten up the mail. There wasn’t time to clean the grease stains and the soda spills. Just as he was putting the last DVD case back on the shelf there was a knock on his door. Nick walked out of the bathroom, pulling a clean shirt over his head and opened the door.

“Are you Nicholas Jonas?” the man said and Joe walked to the hallway so he could see who this man was. He was dressed in a polo shirt and a nice pair of jeans, a briefcase in hand.

“Yes,” Nick said, clearing his throat. “How can I help you?”

The man reached into his briefcase and pulled out a thick yellow envelope. He held the envelope out to Nick who took it and stared down at it. The man snapped his briefcase shut and looked back up at Nick.

“You’ve been served,” he said then turned and walked away, the soles of his black leather shoes creating a deafening silence down the hallway.

Nick stood in the doorway, the envelope held limply in his hands. The door slowly swung shut since Nick’s hand wasn’t holding it open anymore. Joe stood where he was, leaning up against the wall, waiting for any sign of movement from his younger brother. After a few silent minutes, Nick let out a sob causing his body to shake and he fell down to his knees.

“Shit,” Joe whispered, walking over to his brother. “Nick, come on man. Let’s go over to the couch and see what these are.”

“I already know what they fucking are,” Nick said, his breath catching in his throat. “They’re fucking divorce papers.”

“Okay, come on. Let’s go to the couch, I’ll get you a glass of water, and we’ll look these over to see what it is Faith is asking for.”

“Yeah, alright,” Nick said, standing up with Joe’s help.

****

After reviewing the divorce papers they found out that Faith had not issued a temporary restraining order meaning that Nick had twenty days plus the following Monday to file an answer. Then, once Nick had an attorney, they had to take part in discovery, meaning they would gather questions and statements regarding their relationship and why they wanted a divorce. Even though Nick didn’t want the divorce he knew there was no way he’d be able to change Faith’s mind.

Once all that was over all that would be left is the trial and the finalization of the divorce. So, the very next day, Nick cleaned himself up and went to find a lawyer. Once he had left Joe took the time to finally clean up his apartment, neatly setting aside Nick’s things. Now that things were moving with setting the divorce, Nick needed to find his own place since he promised Faith the house.

After everything was cleaned to his satisfaction, Joe flopped onto the couch and threw his right arm over his eyes. He sighed and replayed the past week and how crazy it had been. It had been awhile since he had talked to Faith so he decided since Nick was gone, this was his chance. He reached behind him to the table next to the couch and blindly searched for the phone. Bringing it into view he dialed Faith’s cell and held the phone up to his hear.

“Hello?” she asked. Joe could hear a lot of noise in the background and his eyebrows scrunched together in confusion.

“Hey, it’s me,” he said.

“Oh, hi. How are you?”

“Good. Um… where are you?” he asked and he held his hand over his ear to try to hear her better.

“I’m at the airport. I didn’t tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

“Wow. I didn’t realize how long it’s been since we actually talked.” She said. “Well I called home the other night. I told my mother what happened.”

“Everything?” he asked, gulping down his nervousness.

“Yeah, everything. She’s not mad though don’t worry. She actually said she always saw you and I together. She just didn’t think I’d have to marry Nick first to realize it,” she said with a laugh.

“Yeah, neither did I,” he said, laughing as well. “So since you’re at the airport does that mean that your family is here?”

“Yes. Well, just my parents. Lizzy refused to come,” she said and he noticed how upset she sounded.

“How’s your Dad doing? Are you sure this travel is okay for him?”

“I’m not sure. Mom didn’t really tell me how he’s doing lately. All I know is that his speech is starting to go so he’s hard to understand. I was nervous about whether or not he’d be up to travel in his condition but Mom tried not to say anything that would worry me.”

“How long are they staying for?”

“Mom said as long as I need them to. I’m assuming they’ll stay for Thanksgiving.”

“That would be nice,” Joe said. “My parents would love to see them.”

“I just don’t want things to be awkward. You know?”

“Oh yeah, I know,” he said with a sigh. He swung his legs to the floor and sat up, resting his back against the couch.

“I should go. I finally see their flight coming over to baggage claim. I’ll call you later.”

“Alright. I love you, Faith.”

“I love you too. We’ll get through this, right?” she asked and he hesitated slightly.

“Yeah, we’ll get through this. Together.”

“Bye, Joe,” she said and he heard the click as she hung up her phone.

He pushed the end button on his phone and let it fall into his lap before leaning forward on his knees and putting his head in his hands. Sooner or later his parents were going to find out about Nick and Faith. Once they did they’d find out about Joe and Faith. Then of course there was the possibility of a baby. Faith should be able to find out soon if she’s pregnant or not. All they could do now was wait.