In the Rose Garden

Addison quickly tried to compose herself after almost experiencing death by water. She never knew water could make your nose and lungs hurt so badly. She wiped her nose with the sleeve of her black The Rocket Summer hoody and stood up straight. She couldn't believe Joe had seriously just asked her that question.

Joe sat back down on the bed and looked at her, waiting for an answer. He hadn't expected his question to elicit that type of respond from his girlfriend. She just damn near died on what was probably an ounce of water.

"Joseph Adam Jonas, what kind of a question is that to ask a lady? I mean, could you be any more blunt!" she exclaimed.

"I'm not asking a lady," Joe responded while shaking his head. "I'm asking my girlfriend, Addison Violet Turner, and she still has yet to give me an answer."

Addison leaned against the dresser and looked at the floor in thought for a moment. Just before answering, she sat next to him.

"I'm not ready, Joe. I've thought that I am, but, I'm not." She decided to try the lie first.

He studied her face before deciding that the answer wasn't good enough.

"That's not it. Come on, Addison, surely you have a better answer than that."

She sighed and gave in. "All right, fine. It's because you're not ready."

"I think I can decide for myself whether I'm ready or not," he said as he stood up and faced her.

"No, Joe, I don't think you can. We both know that if it were to really happen, you'd be the one backing out because of the promise you made. You made that promise for yourself and for your mother."

"She's always said that she'd be fine if it happened before any of us were married."

"Yeah, well, she lied. She's a woman. She wouldn't be fine with it because she's banking heavily on that promise and you know that. You becoming sexually active would mean that you're growing up and it's something she can't control and then she would start thinking that she's starting to lose you. Then that'd be two sons down and two more to lose."

"I don't think so. She's not acting like she's loosing Kevin," Joe responded.

Addison pointed out, "She doesn't know that Kevin and Dani are having sex. What's there for her to get upset about then?"

"What I do is my decision and my decision is that I want to take this next step with you."

"It's not just your decision, Joe. It's my decision too. You can't complete this decision by yourself 'cause if you could, that'd be a little weird."

"So then, wha-"

Addison answered his question before he could finish it. "We're going to wait a little longer. I love and respect your mom too much not to have her hate me so soon. We still have a long ways to go, kid."

Joe was about to roll his eyes but Addison made a noise that you would make when your cat or dog is about to do something they shouldn't.

"Joe, that is my wish and I wish you would find some way to respect it. I don't know how long I'll make you wait but it probably won't be too long."

Joe wasn't quite sure what to say or think for a moment. He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed before saying, "Addie, I'm sorry. That was really inappropriate of me and I'm really sorry." He sat next to her on the bed and looked at her.

"It's all right, Joe. It would have come out eventually. This wasn't exactly the way I planned it but nothing ever goes as planned, does it?"

He shook his head. "No, it obviously does not."

Addison patted his knee and kissed his cheek before getting up and walking into the bathroom. When she was out of sight, Joe smacked himself in the forehead and felt stupid for what had just happened.

* * *

"Addison, go in there and let's test this out," Mr. Turner told his daughter as he stood in front of the soundboard in his new studio. The house originally had a basement but then an up and coming producer moved in and turned it into a studio. It almost seemed like fate since Mr. Turner would be considered an up and coming producer once he started recording with All Time Low.

Addison shook her head. "Joe's the professional, not me. Have him go in there."

"Oh no Addison, it's your dad's studio. He should get to pick the very first artist to go in there."

"But I'm not an art-"

"Yes, you are an artist. You sing, you play guitar, you play piano, you write music and you've recorded a demo. Add that all up and what do you get? I'll tell you what you get: an artist."

"He's got a point, Violet," Mr. Turner said. It was obvious he had been talking to his father. Only his father was allowed to call Addison by her middle name, Violet.

"'He's got a point, Violet,'" she mocked her father in a high pitched voice. She even did the little exaggerated head shake.

"Very funny," Mr. Turner said. "Now, go get in there already."

"Fine, Dad," she said. She walked to the right side of the basement and through a door. She walked through another door and was in the booth, staring back at her father and boyfriend. She didn't bother with putting the headphones on; there was no music to sing to. She watched as her dad pressed a few buttons and then gave her a signal to sing. He then heard her belt out words from the man who technically started her "career" years ago.

Love, I'm aching to believe. Just give me something real enough. Give me somewhere to fall from. Cause in the dark, I can't find my feet. I've build my world on promises, colorless and cold. I'm short of breath, yeah, I'm short…

I'm gone. Let it wash away the best I had. I'm gone and when I disappear, don't expect me back. Don't expect me back.

When she walked back into the main room, Joe said, "Who's the rock star now?"

"Shut up, Joe."

Her dad pressed another button and then played back what Addison just sang. "That's amazing," he mumbled. He had a look on his face as if the piece of machine in front of him had just performed a miracle.

"Wow," Addison whispered to Joe and then she spoke up. "Dad, I didn't sound that bad before you did whatever to it."

"No, no, I know. That's just amazing. Good quality stuff," he said and nodded his head. This made Addison and Joe laugh at him. He looked at them with fake hurt. They laughed again.

"So, we're all moved in in our little place," Addison informed her father.

"Great, now you can start working on my house," he said.

"Ha ha, you should look into opening for Bo Burnham. You are that funny." Addison took Joe's hand and slowly backed out of the studio. They then headed back to their own little place.

"So, Addison, I think there's something we should really talk about," Joe said as they sat on the couch.

"And what would that be?" she asked as she tucked her legs underneath her and faced him.

"That little mini tour we have coming up in Europe…"

Addison intentionally ignored what he said. "What do you want for breakfast tomorrow?"

⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆

Joe woke up to the start of a brand new day. He stretched beneath the covers and reached over for Addison but she wasn't there. He wandered out into the kitchen area where she was making breakfast. While she had her back to him, Joe planted himself on a stool and didn't say anything. When she turned around, she jumped when she noticed him.

"You scared the crap out of me, Joe," she said and put her hand over her heart.

"Sorry babe," he apologized. There was an awkward stare between them for a moment before Addison broke it by looking at the counter. He had tried to bring up his tour in Europe more than once the previous day but she shot him down each and every time.

Joe decided that since it was a new day, he could start again. "So, I shouldn't be gone long on that tour since it is only two weeks long and then after that-"

"I made pancakes," Addison said and almost slammed his plate down on the counter in front of her.

Now to go along with that awkward stare was an awkward silence.

"You can ignore me or cut me off all you want," he said, "but I'm still going to talk about it. It needs to be said and you need to hear it."

"Whatever," she huffed. She moved around the counter to walk out of the kitchen but Joe grabbed her. "Joe, let me go."

"No."

"Joseph, get your hands off me!"

"No, Addison, not until we get this out in the open."

Addison turned away from him for a moment. She looked at him and said, "I don't want to be without you."

"I don't want to be away from you either but it's only going to be for fourteen days."

"More like fifteen or sixteen. You have to consider the day it's going to take you to get there and the day it takes you to get back."

"I never thought of that, sorry." Joe wrapped his arms around her. "We'll be all right. If we can get through a few weeks, then we can get through anything."

"I sure hope you're right," she responded. "Hey, wait, if you're going over there for a little tour, why aren't you and your brothers rehearsing?"

"We actually start this afternoon, smarty-pants."

"Oh… okay then."

"I wish you could go with me on this trip but it was planned before we even met."

"Joe, it's all right," she said and kissed him. "It's fine. I won't always be able to go with you. That's life." She shrugged her shoulders.

"I know but no one said I had to like it."

"I know," she whispered.

Hearing Joe say it out loud changed everything. Hearing it out loud made it real; it was going to happen. Joe was going to leave.

"It'll go by quicker than you even know, trust me," Joe told her.

Addison sighed. "Okay, but just this once."

"Just this once," Joe quietly repeated her.

* * *

Joe leaned against the front counter and watched Lily as she walked around the floor. Addison was in the office talking with Kim.

Lily looked up from a rack of shirts. "So, Joseph, how are we doing today?"

"We are doing great, Lilith, thanks. How are you today?"

"Oh, I'm doing excellent. You know, just working, hanging out with the boyfriend."

"Sounds like fun."

"How's the new little house? That's what I'm going to call it, the new little house."

"It's good. We're all unpacked and moved in and everything. You'll have to come check it out some time. Maybe we'll throw a party or something."

"You so should. I would so crash that party."

"You can't crash a party you're invited to. It sort of doesn't work that way."

"We'll see about that," Lily responded and smiled at him as she straightened out a bunch of hangers. After another minute, Addison walked out and stood next to Lily. She studied what Lily had fixed and pulled out a lone wire hanger.

Addison held the wire hanger up and shouted, "No wire hangers!"

Lily laughed and took the hanger from her best friend. "Oops, my bad, Addison."

"I'll forgive you this time but next time, we might have a couple problems."

"Yes ma'am, I understand."

"Fantastic," Addison said as she fixed her fitted black and white striped shirt. "All right, well, I need to get Joe out of here and to his rehearsal before he's late."

"I hear that, girlfriend," Lily responded.

Joe took Addison's hand and they headed out the door. They stopped at the Starbucks where they had reconnected and then Addison took him to the studio.

Just as Addison pulled up outside the studio, her phone vibrated. She put the car in park and opened the new text message.

Hey, are you busy?

She quickly responded with: No. I just dropped Joe off.

Can you meet me at your place? There's something I have to show you.

Yeah, I'll be there in like, 20 minutes.

"Let me know when you're done. I can come pick you up or maybe one of your brothers can drop you off. Either way, let me know 'cause I have to go meet Finn at home."

"All right, I'll just text or call you then," Joe said. He leaned over and kissed her before getting out of the car and walking into the building.

After a fifteen minute drive, Addison parked her car next to Finn's black and red mustang. She walked past her father's house and to the back where the guest house was. Finn was already waiting inside when she walked in.

"Nice place you got here," he said without looking at her. She set her purse on the couch.

"Thanks. So, what did you need to show me?"

"This," he said and pulled a folded up piece of paper out of his back pocket. He unfolded it and handed it to her. She was looking at his birth certificate.