My Hero

"Hey," the very masculine voice of Joe Jonas said, "I'm going to be in town for a few days. You want to hang out tonight?"

"Sure. Do you want to come to my place? Katie is in L.A. and I'm not doing anything."

"I could do that, just text me your address so I can put it in my GPS."

"Alright, it's about six now so can you come by in an hour?"

"Sure, but only if you let me cook. I can make one mean sausage marinara and I know how much you like sausage marinara."

I just smiled and giggled before saying, "Alright, seven o'clock it is."

"Okay, I have to swing by the grocery store now," he chuckled. "I'll see you soon. Bye."

"Bye."

I hung up and placed my phone on my bed before going over to my closet and looking for something to wear tonight. My hand absentmindedly made its way to my bloated stomach, gently rubbing it in small circles. I'm about four months along now, so I was really growing, but luckily it was still generally easy to hide. I didn't want everyone to know about it yet. So far only my family and Daniel's family knew about their newest addition.

"Hmm," I hummed as I looked through my closet, "I would wear my new skinny jeans, but I don't think someone is going to allow that. You know, you are throwing off my groove," I told my unborn child.

I finally decided on a white, low-cut graphic tee with a v-neck. Various black music notes were starting from the top left shoulder and falling to the bottom right side, giving the shirt more design to it. With the shirt set out, I decided to put on a pair of black, khaki-like shorts that just happened to have an elastic waist. Finally, I moved to fix my hair and make up.

I pulled my naturally wavy hair down from the messy bun it was in and brushed it out, allowing my bangs to fall perfectly to the left. I then touched up my eyeliner, eye shadow, mascara, and lip gloss. I did one final check just in time for Joe to ring my doorbell. I smiled into my mirror once more before I walked downstairs and let him in.

"Hey, you look great," I told him, taking in his clean cut look. He had on a gray v-neck with black straight-leg jeans, and a pair of Nike high tops. It was clear that his hair was also freshly cut and he had just showered, he smelled really, really...fresh.

"Do you need help with the bags?" I asked, holding out my hands to take two of the four bags.

"Thank you, you look nice too. And, don't worry about the bags, I got 'em," he smirked, flexing his muscles, jokingly showing off his strength with the cocky action. "Where's the kitchen? I'll get started on dinner now and we can chill while everything is cooking."

"Right this way," I told him, motioning for him to follow me. "Um, Joe?" I asked once we reached the kitchen.

"Hmm?" He replied, pulled various items out of the bags.

"Can you not use onion and garlic? I know they are key parts of the recipe, trust me my father is pure Italian, hence my name. I just can't take the smell," I admitted truthfully. There were only a few things that definitely made me sick; fried food (chicken, bacon, pork chop, etc.), onions, and garlic.

Joe nodded understandingly, "That's fine. I'll still make sure everything taste great."

"Awesome," I grinned. "The pots and pans are in the cabinet next to the sink and the spoons, spatulas, and all that good stuff is the the right of the stove."

Joe continued to get things organized as I took a seat on one of the bar stools at the breakfast-bar between the kitchen and the dinning room. This way, I was close enough to talk to Joe, but far enough to stay out of his way. The bar was conveniently made from the wall that the oven was against, meaning that I could be close to Joe the whole time.

"So how have you been?" Joe asked after getting everything set out.

"I'm great," I replied as I watched him pour a bit of olive oil into a skillet. "How about you?"

"I'm good, I've been doing some work here and there back in L.A., but mostly relaxing before the big tour. We have two extra weeks off since they reorganized things so my brothers and I are all doing our own things before we have a few days of rehearsal."

I nodded before saying, "I have to meet your brothers one day."

"Actually, you live about five minutes away from my older brother and his wife. Maybe you can meet them before we leave for the tour," he shrugged. "My younger brother is in London and my youngest brother is hanging out there with him and my parents.

Joe was beyond attractive and his simple appearance was making me rather...well, horny. It's all just another side effect of pregnancy (raging hormones), and as he continued to speak, my situation didn't get any better. It was easy to just stare at him and ignore everything else around us.

"So, tell me something about you," Joe said with a smile after a few minutes of silence. "Anything."

"Hmm, well I'm the baby of the family," I admitted proudly. "There's my brother Marcus, then Elias, Kathrine, then me."

"So you're the baby girl?"

"That I am." I couldn't help but grin as I looked at him, "So what about you?"

"Well, let's see. I'm a certified babysitter, but I never babysit. I mean, I've watched my little brother from time to time, but that's it."

I let out a light giggle before asking, "So, then why are you a certified babysitter?"

"There was a pretty attractive girl in the class so..." he let out a small chuckle as he trailed off, allowing me to fill in the remainder of the story with the pure obvious.

"Oh, so little Joe Jonas was trying to be a womanizer?"

With this, Joe broke out into a fit of laughter stepping back from the stove. "For some reason," he laughed, "when you say womanizer, it is utterly hilarious."

"Oh, gee thanks Joseph."

"Hey, hey, hey," he said as his laughs began to die down to a small chuckle, and he made his way back to cooking, "I just might have thought it was cute."

"Yeah. Right."

"Okay, don't believe me."

I watched as he turned off the stove then realized we had talked throughout the whole cooking process and it was a little after seven-thirty. Joe was just truly distracting.

"Where are the plates?" He questioned, interrupting my thoughts.

"Right above your head, in that cabinet." I got down from my stool and continued to speak, "My sister likes to cook so she keeps the pots, pans, plates, and silverware by the oven and the bar so she can serve her friends quickly. While they are at the bar."

"That's smart," he nodded.

I watched as Joe began to plate the food. Taking the time to make sure the presentation was perfect. Soon he picked up the two plates and carried them to the dining room.

"Joe, what would you like to drink?" I asked taking two cups down from a cabinet near the fridge. "We have apple juice," -my guilty pleasure- "soda, water, fruit punch, um and wine, but that's Katie's so don't count that one."

"I'm only twenty, Bella. I can't drink, it's illegal in America," Joe chuckled. "Water would be fine."

I nodded before filling the two glasses and joined Joe in the dining room. The food not only looked good, but it smelled great. As I took a seat in the chair that Joe had pulled out for me, my mouth began to water.

"Um, do you want to say grace?" I asked him as he took his seat.

Joe's face lit up as he looked at me. "You're Christian?"

"My grandfather is a pastor," I smiled with a small nod.

"Wow, my dad is too." With that being said, Joe began to pray over the food and soon enough we were diving into our meal.

***

As we finished our dinner, I went to the living room and picked up the movie that Joe had brought over, The Book of Eli. I know it doesn't seem like a romantic movie, but that's okay for two reasons; 1) This isn't an official date, I'm not ready for another relationship yet. And 2) It's the fact that Joe remembered that I said I loved this movie. I think I mentioned it the second day we were working on his album. He asked what my favorite movie was and why. I simply said The Book of Eli because it was a strong, powerful movie that always got me thinking.

Anyway, I put the Blu-Ray disk into the player and waited for Joe as the main menu came up on the large flat screen. Before I could call his name, the rather attractive man entered the living room and took a seat next to me.

"Ready?" I asked, picking up the remote.

"Mhm," he mumbled, pulling me into his lap allowing his feet to rest on the Ottoman in front of him.

Joe allowed me to curl into his chest before he slid the remote from my hands and started the movie. Once he placed the remote down, he wrapped his arms loosely around my waist and I adjusted myself so I could comfortably watch the movie while laying in his arms. I needed this. In his arms I felt safe, more so than I ever did with Daniel.

"What are you thinking about?" Joe asked in a soft whisper, running his fingers through my hair. We were only about thirty minutes into the movie and I was already utterly distracted.

"Nothing," I lied, "just the movie. It gets me thinking about a lot of things. I think I put too much thought into it." This wasn't a complete lie, every time I watched this movie it got me thinking about my life. It was one of the reasons I loved it so much.

"Now, what's really on your mind?" He chuckled. "You aren't even looking at the screen."

"I've just had it pretty hard these last few months and I tend to think about everything from time to time." I just sighed and shook my head, "It's nothing. You wouldn't understand anyway."

I turned to watch the movie, but as I did, Joe stopped it. I looked at him like he was crazy as he moved me to the cushion next to him before turning to face me head on.

"Try me."

"Joe, I really don't want to talk about it," I hissed, a little more harshly than intended. "In all reality, I barely know you and I don't want to discuss this with a stranger." I stopped and shook my head before taking a deep breath and looking at Joe. "Okay, so I didn't mean that. Well not in the way it sounded."

"Just tell me what happened, I want to be there for you. That's what friends are for."

I just sighed, I was about to lay a boat on him. He ought to be ready for it. "Don't judge me, alright? Hear me out first."

"I couldn't judge you if I tried."

"Okay. So, right around this time of the year, a week from now to be exact, I was supposed to be getting married. I know I'm young and everything, but this guy was really like my all. He was nice, funny, caring, and romantic, but he did something utterly unforgivable. He cheated on me," I explained.

"I found out the night after I gave him my virginity. He got into a car accident with some girl in his car, who I later found out was a model he was working with. This is why I hate hanging out with models now. It's not that I don't like them, it just hurts."

I watched as just Joe nodded before I tried continuing. "So, I met him at the hospital and he just came out and said it; I'm sorry, but I'm seeing someone else. I was broken. I had given this man my life and I was ready to devote my life to him, but he obviously wasn't on the same page."

"I hate guys like that," Joe muttered. "They give the rest of us bad names."

I smiled softly at Joe's sweet innocence. "Well, anyway. I left him that day, hoping to put everything behind me. I was a wreck at first, just not knowing how to handle the heartache. I wouldn't eat out my feelings, instead I was working and exercising all the time, this lead to something rather confusing.

"About three months after, I had noticed I was gaining weight and eating rather odd things. Even with all my working out, I was getting a bit...tubby. Even my sister pointed out I was peeing all the time and really irritable. First I though diabetes. My brother, Eli, has type one so I knew the symptoms. Then my sister came home and threw a pregnancy test at me." I paused letting Joe take it all in before finishing with, "In about five months, I'm going to be a single mom. I'm due in early January, the first to be exact."

"Wow," was all that he said. Joe's face was covered in pure shock as he processed everything. "That's...wow."

"Yep. My ex, Daniel, promised to be there and to help with the baby, but I only think that's going to last but so long."

"So, when we get back from the tour you'll be...really pregnant?"

I giggled lightly and shrugged. "I don't know what you consider really pregnant. I just hit sixteen weeks, well four months, a few days ago. When are you ending the tour?"

"Right now, the last show is in October, but that could always change. Especially with all the moved dates and cancellations."

"Well, in October, I'll be about six months along. I'll be pretty round by then if that means anything," I laughed.

"Bells, you are one strong girl."

"Thanks Joe."

I just stared into the caring eyes of the man before me, and for the first time in months, all of my pain went away like a cloud. Even if it was only for a few seconds, it was nice to have some relief.