In the Rose Garden

"What contest and winners?" Joe asked as he rummaged through the clothes in his dresser. He was trying to find something to wear while he went to see Addison's mother with her. What they would be doing after that depended on how the visit went.

Mr. Jonas questioned back, "Did you hear a word I said last night at dinner?"

Joe stopped and looked up at his father. He shook his head and replied, "Honestly, no. Not really. Only a little bit actually."

Mr. Jonas sighed. "Joe, get dressed. We'll talk about this later." He shut the door and walked away.

Joe shrugged his shoulders and pulled a plain white t-shirt and a dark plaid button-up out of the second drawer in the dresser and a pair of blue jeans out of the third drawer. He grabbed his boxers off his bed and headed for the bathroom. He turned on the shower before stripping out of his clothes and stepping in. He thought about the first time he had officially met Addison's mother. She wasn't exactly polite but she also wasn't exactly sober either. All in one breath she told her daughter to marry him for his money but yet again, that's probably why she was with him in the first place. Addison told her she didn't care about his money and that wasn't the reason why she was with him. Mrs. Turner didn't want to hear Addison's reasons, she only believed her own. He spent the whole next hour holding Addison while she cried and kept asking what she did to deserve a mother like that. Joe never answered her question. All he could tell her was that no one deserved a mother like that no matter how horrible the person was.

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Joe checked his watch and looked at Addison again. They had been sitting in her mother's driveway for five minutes. She couldn't go in as soon as they got there and Joe agreed to sit and wait with her until she was ready.

"Addie, it's been five minutes already. Maybe if we just go in now, the sooner it'll be over with," Joe told her.

She looked at him. "Yeah, you're right. Let's go and get this over with."

They climbed out of the car and headed for the front door. Joe squeezed Addison's hand to remind her that he was right there with her.

"Oh hey look, it's Beauty and the Beast. No, actually more like the Rock star and the Groupie." Mrs. Turner wasted no time flinging the insults. She even laughed at her own "joke." The guy sitting next to her laughed at her lame joke too.

"Mom, we didn't come over to get insulted by you and your friend."

"Then why are you guys here?" she questioned.

"We just came to tell you happy birthday, that's all. So happy birthday," she quickly said and turned to Joe. "Can we go now?" she whispered.

"I don't think that's what your dad had in mind," he whispered back.

"I think it is. So let's go now."

"Wait, hold on a minute. Addison, come here," her mother said as she stood up. She walked a few feet away from the unkempt looking guy on the couch.

Addison tightened her grip on Joe's hand and stepped over to her mother. Joe was glad he could handle pain that came from her near death grip on his hand.

"Now since you're living with your father, when are you going to come get the rest of your shit out of my house?"

Addison just stared at her mother, unable to speak. Joe answered for her, "We'll get it this weekend."

Mrs. Turner glared at Joe and then looked back at Addison and waited for her to answer.

"This weekend," Addison finally answered after another moment of silence.

"Good, good." She took a moment to light up a cigarette. "You know, you and your father are so much alike. It's just like him to turn you against your own mother."

"He didn't turn me against you. You did. He's more of a parent that you'll ever be."

Before Addison could step back, her mother slapped her. Joe was about to step in but then he saw Addison give her mother the same look she gave her father the night before. She was about to let loose and she did.

"Fuck you, Mom! You think hitting me is going to make me respect you? Well it's not. It never will because you don't deserve respect from anyone! You're a damn alcoholic and you chose alcohol over your own family. Hey, guess what? Grandma's dead. Get over it and get help."

Mrs. Turner just smiled at her daughter. "It's about time you learned to stand up for yourself but um, keep my mother out of this. She has nothing to do with this."

"She has everything to do with this and you know it."

"Well you can believe what you want to believe. You're obviously not going to listen."

"Maybe I'm not the one who needs to listen."

Mrs. Turner stayed silent for a moment and took another long drag off her cigarette. She finally said something that she knew would cut Addison to the core. "You know, when I first got pregnant with you, your father suggested I get an abortion because we weren't sure if you were his or not. I have no doubts now that you're his but I wish I would have listened to him anyway. Maybe I would have a child I actually love right now."

Addison backed away and shook her head. "Fuck you, Mom. Dad did not say that so go to hell. He loves me more than anything else in this world. I fucking hate you."

"Trust me, the feeling's mutual," she called after her as she left out the front door with Joe.

"Add-"

"No," Addison snapped. "Don't. Let's just go home." They got into Joe's car and he drove them back to his house. He kept glancing at her as he drove. He could tell she was fighting back tears. He reached over and held her hand until they got home. As they headed for the front door, Joe felt her slow down until she came to a complete stop. He turned and watched as she covered her face with both hands and finally started to cry.

"Oh baby, it's okay. It's going to be all right," he said as he held her in his arms. He felt extremely helpess and that made him feel worse.

"Every time, she does that almost every single time I see her," she said into his neck. "I can only play her games for so long before I can't take it anymore."

"And one day she'll realize that and hopefully stop for your sake."

"She'll never stop." Joe managed to get her to the front door. He pushed it open and let her go in first. She instantly headed for the stairs and went up to his room.

"Addison," he said sympathetically. His shoulders and hands dropped to his sides.

"What's going on?" Mrs. Jonas asked.

Joe turned around and looked at his mother. "Addison's mom is a b-word."

"Joe."

"Sorry but that's the only way to describe her. I'll tell you about it later but right now, I'm going to go check on Addison," Joe responded and headed up to his room. As soon as he stepped into his room and shut the door, Addison was on him kissing him roughly. She pushed his plaid shirt off his shoulders and it dropped to the floor. Then she took her hands off either side of his face and grabbed the hem of his shirt. When she lifted up, Joe put his hands on her arms to stop her.

"Addison, don't do this." He shook his head.

"I don't want to feel this way anymore, Joe. Please."

"Please don't try and make the feelings go away like this."

"I just want to feel loved for once. I just want to know someone cares," she said frantically. She finally succeeded in getting his shirt off. Joe let himself go for a moment and pressed his body against hers before stopping himself.

"Addison, I know you don't want our first time to be like this. You know how I feel about you and one day, we will do this but not right now, not under these circumstances." He knew he loved her but he wasn't about to say the word out loud and he wasn't about to say it under these circumstances. He wanted the word to be said on their terms, not her mother's. Addison stopped and dropped her hands to his hips. She buried her face in his neck and they stood like this for a moment.

"I'm sorry, Joe. I'm so sorry."

He pulled her off of him. "It's all right. These feelings aren't going to last forever and I'm going to do what I can to help make them go away but not like this." He pushed her hair out of her face and she stared at his bare chest. She slowly nodded her head and he kissed her before picking his shirts up off the floor and putting them back on. Addison straightened out her own clothes and they looked at each other. He quickly kissed her.

"Okay?"

"Okay," she responded in a whisper. He took her hand and they went downstairs.

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Jenna finished brushing her hair as Mashi finished putting her make-up on. She glanced at the time on the dresser in between the two beds. "They're going to be here in five minutes," she said.

"This is going to be so awesome. I can't believe we're going to meet and hang out with the Jonas Brothers. Thanks for picking me."

"Mash, you're my best friend. Of course I was going to pick you." They quickly hugged. They both checked their purses to make sure they had everything. Then they checked each other to make sure they looked presentable to the Jonas Brothers. When they were finally done, there was a knock at the door. The girls squealed and Jenna answered the door. A brunette stood on the other side of the door.

"Jenna?" she asked.

"That's me," Jenna responded. She pointed to her friend. "And that's Mashi."

The girl stepped into the room. "I'm Bonnie; I'm the Jonas Brothers' assistant. I'm here to get you and your friend. We're going to meet the boys at the restaurant and then after that, you girls will join the boys in the shopping spree part of the deal. So, are you ready?"

"Heck yes we're ready." They followed Bonnie out of the hotel room. A black Ford Expedition with tinted windows was waiting outside for them. All three of them got into the backseat. Bonnie climbed all the way in the back while Jenna and Mashi sat in the middle row of seats. As they drove to the restaurant, Bonnie went over a couple things with them, like what questions would be appropriate and which ones wouldn't be.

"I suggest not asking questions about their personal lives. They're not very open about that area of their life. They might answer a question or two but that's pretty much it. Um, you can't ask about Joe's relationship with Taylor Swift. He won't be answering questions or comments about that at all."

The two girls nodded their heads and looked at each other. Mashi pulled out her phone and sent a text to Jenna.

Well that kind of blows. I really wanted to know the truth about Taylor.

Me too but we should really respect their privacy.

I also want to know about the girl Joe is supposedly dating. You know, if they're really dating or not.

Who knows, maybe we'll see her for a minute or something. Maybe he'll let it slip and say 'my girlfriend' or something.

I guess we'll see.

The car stopped outside the restaurant and the girls all climbed out. Bonnie led them in and to an area of the restaurant that was similar to being taped off like a crime scene. The boys and Big Rob were seated at a table and quietly chatting with one another. Nick noticed them and they all stood up.

"Hi boys," Bonnie said and motioned to the girls. "This is Jenna and Mashi. Jenna was the contest winner and Mashi is her guest."

The boys each took their turn introducing themselves even though the girls knew who they were. Their mother taught them that it was still the polite thing to do. They waited until the girls were seated before sitting down themselves. They talked all through lunch and the girls tried their hardest to avoid the subjects Bonnie had told them about earlier. The girls asked about touring, the new album, and their everyday lives.

After they finished, they hit the streets to do some shopping. The girls were each given $5,000 to spend and they still got to spend the afternoon with the Jonas Brothers.

"Hey, let's stop at that store. It looks like a cute little store," Jenna said and pointed across the street at Violet. Kevin and Nick looked at Joe and grinned. Addison was working today .