In the Rose Garden

"She's a really great girl," Mrs. Jonas quietly told Joe as he handed her another plate from breakfast. "Your brothers and Danielle seem to really like her."

"Yeah, she is pretty awesome," Joe said and looked at his mom. He already knew what she was about to ask next.

"What about Taylor?"

Joe looked at the floor for a moment before saying, "I think I'm going to break up with her. Things just aren't the same anymore. She's changed a lot."

"Is it that she's changed a lot or that your feelings have changed a lot?"

Before Joe could even begin to answer, Addison walked into the kitchen.

"There you are… still," she said and stood next to him.

Joe looked at her and then at Mrs. Jonas. "I guess we'll find out soon enough." Joe put his arm around Addison's shoulders and walked out of the kitchen with her.

"You'll find out what soon enough?"

"Nothing, you'll see one day."

"If you say so…" They went into the living room. Addison sat next to Nick on the couch and Elvis jumped up onto her lap. She looked around the room; Frankie was schooling Kevin in the latest video game and Danielle was watching, Nick was texting someone and Joe was watching her.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi," she quietly responded.

"Let's go talk outside," he suggested and stood up. Addison nodded her head and followed outside to the pool area. They both took a seat on two separate chairs and stared at the water that filled the pool. The water was blue from the paint that coated the bottom of the pool.

"Joe thanks for inviting me over this morning. It was different from my usual routine, especially just having your family there. I'm so used to being alone for breakfast."

"Well I appreciate you coming over. My family really likes you."

"I really like your family too."

"Anytime you want to come over for breakfast, lunch or dinner or whatever, just let me know. We always have room for one more," Joe said as he sat next to her.

"I'll remember that," she said looking at him.

"And you can call me anytime you want to get away from your mom. I can't say I know what it's like because well, you've just seen my family but I can sympathize for you and I don't want you to ever be lonely. I'm always right here."

"Thanks," she said quietly as they both put an arm around each other. Instead of the gesture being awkward, it was comfortable, maybe too comfortable. Addison looked at him and he was looking at her with that look. She pulled her arm from around his waist and touched his cheek. She didn't move as Joe started to lean in. Her heart started to race when she could feel his breath on her lips. They both should have known the moment wasn't meant to happen when Joe's cell phone started to ring. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and looked at the screen. Addison could see Taylor's photo from where she was.

⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆

Taylor listened as the phone rang and rang. To her it seemed like Joe answered his phone less and less over time. She continued to listen as she heard the familiar voicemail message and the beep.

"Hey Joe, call me when you can… which is hopefully sometime today." Taylor pressed the end button on her phone. She turned and looked at Abigail who was browsing on her laptop.

"As crazy as this is about to sound, are you and Joe even still together?" Abigail asked and looked up at her best friend.

Taylor nodded her head. "Yeah, we haven't split up yet… why?"

Abigail turned the laptop around so Taylor could see the screen. She saw her best friend had googled "Joe Jonas" and "new girlfriend" and there were plenty of pictures of Joe with an unidentified blonde. Taylor could swear she's seen her somewhere but couldn't place her. Taylor clicked on the web link to see how many articles had been written about the subject. There were many, many pages. She decided one was too many and opted not to read any of them.

"I am going to have one serious talk with that boy," Taylor said trying his phone again. This time she didn't leave a message.

"Maybe he's with her," Abigail suggested.

"It's like, 9:30-10 in the morning there. I doubt he's with anyone but his family."

"That may be true but then why isn't he answering his phone?"

"True," Taylor said and sighed. She unhooked the internet and turned the laptop off.

"Did you try texting him?" Abigail asked.

"Not really," Taylor admitted. "I'll try now."

She opened up a new text on her phone and typed in Joe, call me. We really need to talk.

"I guess we'll see what happens."

⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆

Joe pulled his arm from around Addison and pulled his phone out of his pocket. Taylor was trying to call him again.

"You can get that you know," Addison told him.

"Nah," Joe said and shook his head. "To answer my phone with company over would be rather rude of me."

"Joe, it's okay. She's your girlfriend so it's all right."

Joe just shook his head again. "She'll still be there when you leave."

"Okay," she quietly responded and leaned into him.

"This sucks," he mumbled and then continued when Addison looked at him oddly. "If only we had met earlier, we probably wouldn't be going through this. I like you. I really like you but I have to deal with Taylor and all that drama."

"I'll still be here in the end. I'm not going anywhere."

"Good, I don't want you to go anywhere anyway," he said, noticing she didn't really express her feelings for him back.

Addison put her arm around his waist and looked at him. "I really like you, too, Joe," she finally said after a moment of silence.

He smiled and responded, "I was really hoping so."

He put his arm around her and they watched as the wind created a ripple effect on the surface of the pool water. They hadn't realized that at least ten minutes had passed until Addison's phone started to ring.

"For once it isn't my phone that's ringing. Well ain't that a nice change for once?" Joe said.

"Yeah, very funny," Addison said as she dug her phone out of her pocket and answered it.

"Addison, where the fuck are you? Get your ass home right now."

"Ugh, mommy dearest is calling me home," she said as she stood up. "I have to go home."

Joe stood up. "All right, well I guess I'll take you home. Do I really have to?"

"Yes," Addison said and laughed. "Trust me; if you ever want to see me again, you have to."

Joe scrunched his face up in displeasure and followed her back into his house. He told everyone that Addison had to leave and they all said their goodbyes to her and that they hoped to see her again soon. Except Nick whose words were "I'll know for a fact I'll be seeing you again soon."

On their way to Joe's car, he snuck his phone out of his pocket and saw he had a text message waiting for him. He opened it up and instantly saw that it was from Taylor.

Joe, call me. We really need to talk.

Joe shook his head and shut the phone before climbing into his car.

⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆

"Thanks again for this morning," Addison said as they stood in front of Joe's car before she was to go inside her house.

"Thanks for coming. Remember what I said, anytime you need anything, call me. It doesn't matter what time of day or night it is," Joe said as he wrapped his arms around her waist. He pulled her in closer to him.

"I know, I'll remember," she said as Joe leaned in like he had earlier. At the very last moment, when his lips were about to touch hers, she turned her head and he kissed her cheek. "Not until you're a free man, Jonas."

"What?" he shrieked.

"You heard me. When you and Taylor are no longer together, only then you can kiss me all you want. Until then though, I won't be the girl you cheat on Taylor with."

"But I really want-"

"Believe me, I really want to too but I can't. I just can't do it knowing you're with someone else."

"I got you next time I see you. Just you wait and see."

"Whatever you say," she said as they hugged each other.

They heard the front door open and then Addison's mother stepped into view. "Come on," she said and made the hurry up gesture as if there was somewhere more important they needed to be.

"Okay," Addison responded and turned to Joe. She kissed Joe's cheek. "I'll talk to you later." She walked away and went inside behind her mom.

⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆

"It's about time," Taylor said instead of greeting him with the usual hello.

Joe rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, it's not like I sit at home all day waiting for you to call me."

"Yeah, I know. This other girl seems to be keeping you pretty busy all day."

"She's just a friend."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive."

"Hmm…"

"'Hmm…' that's all you have to say?"

"Yeah, you say you're positive you two are just friends but in some of those pictures that are circulating around, you two look pretty-" He could tell she was searching for the right word. "-cozy together."

"She's a good friend of mine."

"How come I've never met her then?"

"Because we haven't been friends that long..."

"You haven't been friends with her for long but you consider her a 'good friend' already?"

"Yes, a good friend."

"How do you know she's not just friends with you because you're Joe from the Jonas Brothers?"

"She could care less about what my last name is and what I do for a living. Therefore, I consider her to be a good friend."

"Well then great. Since she's such a good friend then you won't mind introducing me to her when I come see you in a few days."