In the Rose Garden

Addison gave her best friend an annoyed look as she and her boyfriend played the "No, I love you more" game while trying to get off the phone. After another two minutes of this, Lily finally hung up. She looked back at Addison and shrugged her shoulders.

"You know, you and Greg make Danielle and Kevin look like pros," Addison said.

"I would say you're just jealous because you don't have a boyfriend but you do and you two have been together a little longer than Greg and I so I can't say that."

"Yeah, I know. If it weren't for us, you guys wouldn't even be together."

"I'll figure something out for a retort," Lily responded and pushed her rice around her tray.

Addison set down her spinach and mushroom pizza. "Sure you will."

"Come on now; don't act like you and Joe have never played that little game before."

"We haven't."

Lily stopped what she was doing and said to her best friend, "Seriously?"

"We haven't even said those words yet," Addison confessed.

This time Danielle's jaw almost dropped to the table. "You two seriously haven't said I love you yet?"

"Well why not?" Lily demanded to know.

Addison shifted in her seat and looked at the table for a moment before looking up at Lily and Danielle and explaining. "Remember when I was in a relationship with Kyle back in high school?"

"Dude, who could forget that, everyone was so freaking jealous," Lily said.

"Okay well I never told you this but this is the real reason why I broke up with him. At the very end of our relationship I told him I loved him because I really thought I did. He responded by laughing at me and saying I was silly. So I figured if I never say those words again I'll never have to worry about feeling like a jackass or sounding ridiculous."

"Oh, that's terrible," Danielle said.

"Okay, Addison, first of all, Kyle is obviously an asshole. Second, Kyle is obviously the world's biggest asshole. Third, Kyle-"

"Yes, we get it. Kyle is an asshole to the tenth power. Thank you Lily."

"Do you want to know what I think?" Lily asked. "Well I'm going to tell you anyway-"

Addison quickly shook her head. "Lily! We're in public."

"Kyle's lucky he's not here. I'd so give him a piece of my mind."

"And I don't doubt you one bit," Addison told her best friend.

Danielle stood up and brushed herself off. "Are you girls ready to get some more shopping done?"

Addison stood up too. "Anything to get Lily's mind off my ex-boyfriend would be awesome."

The three girls threw away their trash and walked as they decided on what store to go to next. They walked into Wet Seal and looked around at the latest in style clothes while Miley Cyrus's "Full Circle" played over the speakers.

Lily held up a green, white and black dress to Addison's figure. "This would look really cute on you. You could wear it out with your boyfriend sometime and everyone would be jealous because he's with a really hot girl in a cute dress."

"I wasn't really looking for any dresses. I was looking more for like pants and cute shirts."

Danielle then suggested, "Actually the boys have the Nickelodeon Awards coming up in a month or two. Joe's most likely going to take you so maybe you'd want to find a cute dress for that." She shrugged her shoulders.

"Yes!" Lily almost shouted.

"Oh man!" Addison groaned.

"Sorry," Danielle apologized and gave Addison a sympathetic look as Lily draped the dress over her arm and continued to look. Eventually Lily wandered away from Addison and Danielle in search of more cute dresses and some shoes. Addison shook her head and continued to look at the graphic tees.

"That girl really is something else," Danielle noted out loud.

Addison nodded her head and said, "Yes, she is and I wouldn't have her any other way."

⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆

Get a rep for breaking hearts. Now I'm done with superstars and all the tears on her guitar… Now I see everything I'd ever need, is the girl in front of me… She's much better.

Joe thought for a moment longer if he really wanted to keep going. He wanted to keep his life with Addison as private as possible but the song just kept nagging him to be written. When the album came out, it would be very obvious who the two girls are in the song. He just wasn't sure if he wanted to put Addison through that.

You know, every time I look at this song, I get a feeling that something more can be done," Nick said as he held up the lyrics and sheet music to "Before the Storm." "But I have no idea what."

Kevin, Joe and Garbo read through the lyrics. Kevin looked up and said, "It looks good enough to me."

"But that's just it. It's only good enough. It could be better."

"Maybe we should work on something else and it'll come to you eventually," Joe said. "I started this." He pushed forward his notebook with the beginning lyrics to "Much Better."

"Does Addison know about this?" Garbo asked.

Joe looked over at him. "I wasn't aware that I needed her permission to write about my life."

"Well no, I'm just saying thanks to you know who, Addison's always going to be the underdog."

"It's just a song. I'm not even sure if I want it to go on the album or not if we finish it."

"Okay, okay, I think I can add something to it," Nick said trying to lighten the situation. He wrote down more lyrics and showed them to his brothers and Garbo. They worked from there until the girls walked into the room. Joe and Addison left the room to talk privately.

"What if I wrote a song about you and put it on the album?" he asked as he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the couch instead of sitting.

Addison shrugged her shoulders. "As long as you don't put my name in it, it's fine. I mean, whatever gets you to your number of needed songs. Our relationship is a part of your life now and-"

"I think I got it!" Nick exclaimed as he quickly walked into the living room. "Joe, I need to borrow Addison for like, ten, twenty minutes and then you can have her back." Nick grabbed Addison's hand and pulled her away from his brother. Addison and Joe waved goodbye to one another and she followed Nick into a room. He shut the door behind her and sat at the piano. He grabbed the pencil from behind his ear and marked off certain lines on the sheet music he had just set down. "Okay, the lines that I just marked I want you to sing, okay?"

"Okay… I guess," Addison said as Nick started to play. After they went through the song a couple times, he switched the piano out for an acoustic guitar and they played through it a few more times.

"Okay, I think it's ready for everyone else to hear it. Can you go back into the room while I go get everyone?" Nick asked as he stood up.

"Yeah, sure," Addison said and nodded her head. They both walked out and Nick gathered everyone up including his father.

"I think the song needs to be a duet," Nick simply said.

"But we already recorded it," his father noted.

"Yes, I know but I really think it should be a duet. It sounds a lot better with female vocals. Here, just listen." Nick and Addison ran through the song and everyone agreed that it would do better as a duet.

"Who'd you have in mind for the female vocals?" Mr. Jonas asked.

Everyone's look gravitated to the girl that was sitting beside Nick but she pretended to be inspecting her nails.

"You homeboys better be looking at a photo behind me," Addison said.

"But that would be so amazing if you did it!" Joe exclaimed. "You can obviously sing and you and Nick sound good together... only good though. We sound better but anyway-"

"I have never recorded a song and that is one amazing song. That means people will want to hear it live and I am not that girl. Maybe you should get Nick's girlfriend instead."

"She's not my girlfriend!" Nick exclaimed.

"That's not what the tabloids are saying," Addison teased him.

"What do they know?" he responded sarcastically.

"But seriously, it might sound better with Miley."

"How about this, we'll give it a shot with Miley and if it doesn't compare to Addison, then we'll go with Addison?" Mr. Jonas suggested.

"Only as a last resort though," he added when Addison opened her mouth to protest.

"Okay but Miley doesn't get to know that she's a second choice," Nick said.

"Second choice for what?" Mr. Jonas asked. Nick was about to answer but then realized what his dad was saying. "I'll go make the call." Mr. Jonas left the room.

"Thanks Addison," Nick said. "Sorry for putting you on the spot like that."

"It's all right."

"You seriously have never recorded any of your music?" he then asked a little shocked.

"Seriously never have. I never really saw a point of recording it when I'm not planning on doing anything with it."

"You've never thought about singing professionally?"

"I've thought about it but I'd rather be behind the scenes. I want your dad's job actually. Well maybe not your dad's job but one in the same field."

"I think I'm going to have to take you into the studio one day," Nick said.

"Good luck with that," Addison said as she sat on Joe's lap.

Joe kissed her forehead and said, "Nick can be pretty convincing at times."

Addison nodded her head as she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. She opened it to find a text from Lily. "Really, Lily, we're in the same room and you're texting me?"

"Would you expect any less from me?"

"No."

Ryan is having a party tonight and we were invited. Do you want to go?

Addison responded and put her phone back in her pocket.

⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆

Lily and Addison walked into the crowded house and walked around people. It only took them a few seconds to find Ryan in the dining room talking to some of his friends.

"Hey, I'm glad you guys could make it," he said as he hugged them both. "It's been a while since we've hung out."

"Yeah, it has. I totally blame Addison for that. She has a new boyfriend and they're practically inseparable," Lily said.

"Hey! It's not just me! It's you too!"

"You could have brought them," Ryan said.

"They're actually busy tonight," Addison said. Danielle and Kevin had dinner reservations and Joe and Garbo decided to stay in with Nick and keep writing. The girls made them commit to a promise for a double date.

Lily was checking out the party when she suddenly turned around and got quiet and whispered, "Oh boy, here comes Kyle."