One in a Million

Aalia was beginning to get far too used to being by herself. As she sat on the hotel bed she hadn’t yet slept in, alone, she couldn’t understand how everything could had fallen apart so quickly. Maybe she was meant to be alone all this time. Too many mistakes had been made by her and by everyone else at her expense.

First, she’d felt angry.

She couldn’t believe that Caroline could behave so irresponsibly. She was tired of always being the rational one, pulling Caroline back whenever she went too far, always on edge trying to make sure her best friend was alright.

Then, she felt jealous.

Caroline had everything going for her: an exciting life in Los Angeles, endless possibilities for her acting career, and a caring, not to mention crazy famous, boyfriend. She had it all, and yet she was throwing it all away with her habits. Drinking, sleeping around, cheating—none of her new hobbies were beneficial. And there was Aalia, who considered herself not to have anything going for her at all. She had no job, no family, no friends, and no boyfriend. All of her money came from her father.

But she didn’t want to think about him.

Then, she felt guilty.

She had spilled the beans. She had told Joe the secret. She had ruined everything for them, and as angry as she was at Caroline, she was still her best friend and she still regretted what she had done, even if it wasn’t on purpose.

The guilt outweighed the anger and jealousy more than she wanted to admit.

She considered leaving the state, going back home, and starting over. It wasn’t even worth staying anymore. But she was still there for Caroline. She had to ensure her safety.

About a day after the house party incident, Aalia decided she’d stop caring. When you care for someone, part of you expects them to care for you too. But that expectation leads to disappointment far too often, so it was best to let everything go. She thought about what Caroline had said about the Mystery Boy. About letting everything unravel itself. That was her plan from that point on. If it was meant to make sense, it would. Eventually.

She hoped so.

She picked up the beige colored telephone sitting on her side table and dialed the number for the front desk. As it rang, she held it between her ear and her shoulder, reaching to the floor to throw her unopened suitcase on the bed.

“Front lobby, how can I help you?” a female voice said on the other end.

Aalia unzipped the suitcase and began looking through her stuff, throwing out various pieces of clothing carelessly.

“Hey, I’d like to order room service.” She grinned.

-----------------------------

Heat.

Aalia felt it inside and outside as she sat in the bathtub, lilac-scented bubbles all around her, with her hair tied up in a messy bun and her head resting against a pillow in the steamy bathroom. Dishes of unfinished gourmet food scattered the floor—fresh lobster tail, deviled eggs, linguine and bell pepper sauce, practically the entire dinner room service menu was hers to devour.

Her motto at that moment was this: Who needs friends when you have food?

“I’m at a payphoooone, trying to call hooooome,” she sang loudly along to her iPhone, “All of my change I’ve spent on youuu.”

Who needs friends when you have music?

“Where have the times goooone? Baby, it’s all wrong! Where are the plans we made for twoooo?”

Who needs friends at all?

Aalia knew that if anyone saw what she was doing at that moment, they’d laugh at her. But that was the whole problem. No one was there to see.

Her song paused as she received a text message:

"Call me?
-C."

Aalia chewed on a piece of buttered bread as she read it multiple times to make sure she wasn’t imagining it. She mentally prepared herself for an argument as she called Caroline, her heart thudding with nerves.

“Hey,” Caroline answered after the first ring. She sounded tired. Hungover, maybe?
“Hey.”

“How are you?” Caroline also sounded apprehensive.

“Um, fine.”

“Look, Aalia,” she breathed, “I’m sorry about what happened, okay? I can be a real idiot sometimes. I shouldn’t have drunk, I shouldn’t have ditched you, and I definitely shouldn’t have kept that secret from Joe.”

Aalia stayed quiet as Caroline continued her apology.

“I was just so scared,” she went on, “I still am. Scared shitless, Aalia. I know that’s no excuse. But I’m not like you. I can’t deal with my emotions so well. I can’t deal with things going wrong. I make mistakes. Stupid ones. Really, really stupid ones. You came all the way up here to be with me without even a second thought, and I don’t deserve that.”

Aalia sighed. “It’s okay, Caroline.”

“No. No, it’s not okay. I messed up big time.”

“So did I,” Aalia said quietly, leaning back further into her pillow, “I’m so sorry.”

“What are you talking about?”

“It’s my fault that Joe found out the way he did.” Saying his name so casually made her feel weird. “I should’ve kept my mouth shut.”

“How were you supposed to know he was listening? It wasn’t your fault. It wouldn’t have even happened if I’d told him from the get go.”

Aalia wasn’t sure what to say. “I’m still sorry, Caroline.”

“It’s okay,” said Caroline, “We talked about it and everything’s okay now. I know what you’re thinking…He’s great and I don’t deserve him. You’re totally right, I don’t. He’s amazing. Incredible. I let him down all the time and yet he sticks around. I have no idea why.”

“Because he loves you.”

Caroline laughed. “We’ve only been together for a few weeks.”

“Doesn’t matter. I know he loves you.”

Caroline sighed deeply. “He’s having a pool party tonight,” she said after some time, “He wanted me to tell you about it.”

“That’s awesome. Have fun. You deserve it.”

“What time should I pick you up?”

Aalia’s eyes widened. “What?”

“To go to the party. He invited you, silly.”

“Oh.” She suddenly felt self-conscious again. “I don’t know, Caroline…”

“Come on, it’ll be fun,” she insisted, “It’ll just be us. We can start all over. Pretend like that night never happened. Please come.”

“He really invited me?”

“Of course!” she exclaimed, “So will you come?”

She sighed and spoke with a shaky voice. “Alright.”

“Yes! I’ll pick you up in an hour?”

“Okay. I’m at the Holiday Inn.”

When Caroline spoke again, she sounded small.

“I’m so sorry I told you to leave,” she said, “I’m a horrible friend. Please come back.”

Aalia smiled. “It’s alright, C,” she said, “I already booked my room for a week.”

She sighed again. “I’m so sorry…”

“Stop apologizing, love,” said Aalia, “I’ll see you in an hour.”

“Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

Aalia hung up the phone and laughed loudly as she looked around the room.

Who needs friends?

“I do,” she thought.

------------------------------------

“I definitely don’t belong here. This is so out of my league," she thought.

Aalia couldn’t believe her eyes as she looked around the backyard: A gorgeous swimming pool, the smell of fresh barbecue, and an extremely tempting Jacuzzi. Compared to her tiny patio back at home, that was a dream.

Caroline had picked her up like she’d promised, and after a long hug, they were on their way to the party. Caroline blasted the radio and pulled the top down of her car, and Aalia had on her silver bikini under a sundress. They had driven down a scenic route she wasn’t familiar with.

“Don’t you think it’s dangerous for us to be seen driving to their house?” Aalia had asked.
Caroline had laughed. “A little,” she had said, “But Joe told me about this road. He swears it’s safe, but I don’t know. We’ll found out.”

Aalia had nodded, but she couldn’t ignore the fear building up in her chest. Her fingers had pulled nervously at her dress and she had looked down, noticing the soft, bright yellow material. She had laughed, throwing her head up towards the sky.

“What’s funny?” she had heard Caroline ask her.

“I wore this dress the third time I talked to him.” Her laughing had continued. “He called me pretty.”

Caroline had turned to look at her for a second and Aalia had seen a sad smile on her face.

“Don’t think about him, Aalia,” she had said loudly over the sound of the wind whipping at their hair, “Let go. Have fun today!”

But Aalia couldn’t help it. He was everywhere she went.

Joe had answered the door when they had arrived at the house. He had been shirtless, dressed in blue swimming trunks and a necklace, and holding a can of soda. He had smiled brightly.

“Hey!” He had grabbed Caroline as she threw her arms around his neck.

“I brought her along just like you said,” she had said as he unwrapped his arms from her waist.

Joe had looked in Aalia’s direction with a smile still on his face. He had opened his arms.

“Glad you could make it, Aalia,” he had said.

Aalia had smiled, still trying to wrap her head around the situation as she hugged him back.
So as she took in the entire backyard with Joe and Caroline at her side, she couldn’t believe her eyes. She was just a small town girl from Arizona. She definitely did not belong in Los Angeles.

“There are drinks over there,” Joe said, motioning towards a large cooler sitting by a set of lounge chairs, “And food over there.” He pointed to the grill and a dark brown picnic table full of pizza boxes. “Help yourself any time.”

“Thanks,” Aalia muttered with a smile, feeling out of place.

“My parents are upstairs. They might come down after a while. Same with Frankie,” he went on as Caroline took a sip of his drink from under his arm.

“Where are Nick and Kevin?” she asked.

Aalia’s heart felt like it was about to explode. All three of them were here?

Joe looked around. “That’s a really good question,” he said as his eyebrows creased together, “I’ll go see if I can find them. Be right back.”

He kissed Caroline’s forehead before disappearing into the house.

Aalia stared at Caroline with wide eyes. It took her a moment to notice.

“What?” she asked Aalia as she continued to sip on Joe’s drink.

“How can you be so casual, Caroline?” Aalia kept her voice low. “We’re in the house of the fucking Jonas Brothers!”

Caroline laughed and started walking towards the pool.

“Maybe you can live with this ‘cause you’ve been here for a while, but oh my God, Caroline. These guys are famous!”

Caroline reached into her beach bag and pulled out two towels, laying them out on side-by-side chaises.

“They’re celebrities, Caroline! Do you know how much Dylan would freak if she were here? I know we never liked them much, but come on…Even I can’t help but feel star-struck, okay? An hour ago, I was singing and eating in my bathtub!”

Caroline turned around and put each of her hands on Aalia’s shoulders.

“Aalia! Relax!” she said with a smile, “Breathe.”

She reached up to soothe the worried lines on Aalia’s forehead.

“Yeah, they’re famous. Yeah, this is pretty insane. I’ve been through my shock phase already. But you know what? They’re just like you and me. They’re normal. There’s no need to be nervous here,” she assured her.

Aalia nodded, trying to believe her.

“You and Joe Jonas are friends now,” Caroline went on, “I know it’s so weird to think about. How do you think I felt when I met him? But it’s the truth. After a while, you’ll get used to it. No big deal.”

Aalia gulped as Caroline’s hands left her shoulders.

“Just relax,” Caroline repeated as she slipped off her jean shorts and t-shirt, exposing her lime green bathing suit.

Aalia tried to mimic her actions and removed her sundress, folding it and putting it in her bag carefully as if it had some symbolic meaning. She put on her sunglasses and took a deep breath.

“Alright,” she sighed, “I’ll try to act normal. I’m sure they get enough wide-eyed, insane girls around them. Right?”

“Right,” said Caroline, smiling. She looked above Aalia’s head. “Get on that now because here they come.”

She watched as Caroline grinned and walked around her, saying hello to the boys that Aalia had her back to. She grabbed Aalia’s hand and dragged her with her. She saw Joe approaching them with two other guys at his side. Aalia took a deep, long breath, and smiled.

“Hey, guys,” Caroline exclaimed as she waved. She looked so unbelievably comfortable while Aalia felt like a fish out of water.

“Guys, you remember Caroline,” Joe said with a smile.

“How could we not?” one of the other boys said as he gave Caroline a tight hug. Aalia didn’t know them well enough to put names to their faces. She only knew Joe.

Caroline hugged the second boy as well, who smiled at her but remained quiet.

“This,” Caroline began as soon as he let go of her, “is my best friend, Aalia. She just flew in from Arizona a couple days ago.” She wrapped her arms around Aalia’s cold shoulders.

“And we met at Jamie’s,” said Joe to his brothers, “This is Kevin.” He motioned towards the first boy who hugged Caroline. He was in khaki shorts and a green tank top. He smiled excitedly.

“Nice to meet you,” he waved.

“And this is Nick.” Joe motioned towards the second boy. He resembled him—shirtless in swimming trunks, except he had dog tags hanging from his neck. He waved but said nothing, staring at Aalia with a strange expression on his worried face.

“Nice to meet you guys, too,” Aalia said, trying her best to act normal, “You have an incredible house.”

Joe and Kevin laughed, but Nick continued to stare.

“I’m gonna go finish up on the grill,” Kevin said, “So I’ll catch up with you all later.”

“Alright, man.” Joe hit his brother firmly on the back before he ran up to the deck where the pizza was.

“Shall we swim?” Joe asked with raised eyebrows.

“Oh, no,” Caroline was quick to answer, “No swimming for me. I just straightened my hair.”

“What?” said Joe, laughing, “How can you come to a pool party and not swim?”

Caroline crossed her arms and shook her head.

“You’re gonna swim,” he assured her.

She narrowed her blue eyes at him.

“Don’t you dare, Joe.”

He began to charge at her, ignoring her screams.

“Joe! No! Put me down! Aalia, help!”

Aalia just looked on, laughing, as he picked Caroline up in his arms and jumped into the pool, splashing water everywhere.

-------------------------------------

Aalia spent a majority of her time at the party laying out in the sun on her chaise. Caroline and Joe played Marco Polo in the water, and Nick tried to help Kevin with food.

“Aalia!” she heard Joe yell.

Aalia sat up on her elbows and peered at him through her sunglasses. He was leaning on the edge of the pool as Caroline swam towards him.

“I’m gonna go get a drink for this one,” he said, nodding his head in Caroline’s direction, “Want anything?”

She smiled, taking her sunglasses off. “Yeah, sure. Thanks.”

He gave her a thumbs-up before Caroline wrapped her arms around his waist. Aalia watched as he turned around, placed his hands on either side of her neck, and kissed her lips. He reached up and placed another kiss atop her forehead before getting out of the pool.

Caroline blushed as she beckoned Aalia to come into the water.

Aalia complied, standing up and walking over to the edge of the deep end. She positioned herself and dived in, feeling the cold of the water surround her body. When she came up for air and smoothed her long hair back, she opened her eyes and splashed water on Caroline, who laughed at her in response.

“Maybe one day we’ll double date,” Caroline said quietly as Aalia approached her.

“What?”

“I think you have a secret admirer.” She nodded behind Aalia’s head.

Aalia turned her head around and saw Nick staring at her as Joe whispered something in his ear, and he didn’t look away even after their eyes met.