Now It's My Time to Strike Back

I stared at my suitcase as I packed my suitcase, knowing I had to head back to Rose and Dad in Florida. I rolled my eyes, but smiled at the thought of Rose’s face when she’d see us. She didn’t know Nick was going to come with Mel and I, but boy I couldn’t wait!

I zipped up my third and final suitcase I’d brought to the Jonas’, jumping slightly when Nick’s voice interrupted my thoughts.

“Hey”, he said in a low tone.

“Hey there, sexy”, I said, wrapping my arms around his neck when he was close enough.

“Hi, Vic”, he answered with a chuckle.

I leaned in, giving Nick a peck on the lips, him kissing me back slightly. Unsatisfied, I kissed him a little longer and more aggressively, trying to get him to do the same. He did, but it seemed like it was forced, but I brushed the thought away as the kiss deepened.

My hands wrapped into his hair, but he broke the kiss, taking a sharp intake of breath before he pulled away entirely, sitting on his bed, sighing.

“What’s wrong?” I asked in confusion.

“It’s just Rose used to do that sometimes”, he answered honestly, making the jealousy rise in me.

“Oh, did she?” I asked in shock. I had to find out whatever she did to Nick so I can do it better.

He only nodded in response before speaking again.

“I’m not comparing you two or anything. I’m just saying, is all”, he said in a low tone.

“It’s OK, Nick”, I began, placing a hand on his own, “I completely understand. But if you don’t mind me asking, what happened between you two while you were together, anyway?” I asked.

I watched all emotion disappear from his face and soon began to worry. Out of the many times I saw him do that to his brothers, he’d never done that to me except whenever I asked about he and Rose, but I wasn’t intimidated by the expression. It made me think twice about asking what I would, but I never took the question back.

“She was…kind. Physically, she never came onto me. It was really relaxed”, he said as though he were in a daze.

Jealousy grew stronger in me as I watched him basically reminisce mentally with a dazed look on his face. I knew he was thinking about Rose, but to keep up appearances, I couldn’t make him stop. She was his ex, after all.

“So, you and Rose never-”, I began, but he cut across me.

“Yeah. We did”, he answered, causing me to purse my lips in anger.

So, they had sex and Rose took his virginity?! Why am I just learning about this?

“Oh”, I said after a minute.

“Yeah”, Nick said again.

“You’ve never thought of, you know, trying it out with me?” I asked, running my fingers up his torso.

He shivered in my hands and I smiled brighter knowing I was getting to him.

“Honestly?” he asked nervously as he moved a little bit away from me. I nodded a few times, smiling brighter than the previous time, eager to hear his response.

“No”, he answered simply. I dropped my fingers, wrinkling my brows as I frowned at him.

“What?!” I exclaimed angrily due to shock.

“I mean, it’s not like you’re not attractive. It’s just, like I said before, I want to take my time before moving into the love phase like I did with Rose even though I did love her”, he explained, rambling slightly.

“So how soon was it before you guys had sex-?” I asked, but he cut across me.

“We didn’t have sex. We never had sex. We made love”, he said in a monotone.

This infuriated me more than I thought it would. I hadn’t expected him to say that-not about him and Rose. And the fact that he was so blatant about it made me upset even further.

“So, you don’t love me enough to make love to me?” I asked, feeling the tears fill my eyes.

A sigh escaped his lips, then I felt his hand lift up my chin gently to look at him.

“It’s not like I don’t love you, Vic. I just don’t want to repeat what I did with Rose with you”, he said blatantly again.

“Who said if I minded about the physically intimate part? I just want you, Nick”, I said, pleading him to reconsider.

“I-I don’t want you in that way, Vic-or at least, not right now”, he said, correcting himself.

I huffed, standing abruptly.

“But I can do things to you that Rose didn’t do! I can make you love what I do to you and just forget what you and Rose had!” I exclaimed heatedly.

I hated getting rejected by anyone and I was not going to go easy on Nick just because he’s going through “issues”.

He stood, folding his arms across his chest, giving me a hard look and I soon began to get intimidated.

“I’m with you, Vic, but no matter what, I can’t just forget about Rose. I’m sure you can do things that Rose wouldn’t do, I mean, that’s how we got here, right?” he asked out of spite.

He knew he hit a nerve in me. I wasn’t sure if he was angry about me breaking him up with Rose, but ever since the days progressed knowing we’d see Rose, he’s been saying things like that regularly, in private, of course.

“Really, Nick?! You’re going to bring that up just like that?! Do you know how much that hurts me? I’ve already decided to apologize to Rose when we get there, but must you and everyone else here blame me for breaking the two of you apart? I feel guilty enough as it is!” I exclaimed honestly.

I felt bad about doing it-at first, but it only got worse when everyone at Nick’s house treated me horribly when they found out he broke up with Rose and decided to start dating me as well.

His face softened after a bit before he sighed again, running a hand through his curls.

“I’m sorry, Vicky. I get grief about it, too. You have no idea what I had to go through when Joe found out”, he said, looking away from me.

The matter caught my interest again as it did every time. I don’t know what Joe did to Nick, but let’s just say from that day on, Nick and Joe hadn’t spoken since. I’m not sure if matters were made worse since Joe was dating Mel, Rose’s best friend so quite naturally, those two would get an update from her.

However, Rose didn’t contact them as regularly as I expected her to. Supposedly, Jake was there to be her shoulder to cry on. I had to keep an eye on him. If he found out I betrayed Rose and manipulated him as well, he could try ruining my plans to fully have Nick to myself.

I couldn’t, no matter what, let Rose and Nick get back together. Nick was everything I wanted and more!

Suddenly, a ringtone sounded.

She wants to go home,
But nobody’s home.
It’s where she lies,
Broken inside
With no place to go,
No place to go,
To dry her eyes,
Broken inside-

I answered my pink Iphone, seeing Rose’s name flash on the caller ID.

“Hello?” I said in an annoyed tone.

“You guys are still coming?” Rose asked, but I heard some shuffling of paper in the background as well as the strumming of a guitar.

“Yeah, of course. We’ll be there in a couple of hours or so”, I replied, knowing better than to mention Nick.

“Alright. Dad asked me to call, so, that’s the only reason why I called”, she said in a monotone.

“Is that honestly all?” I asked, hoping she’d say yes.

“No. I have a question. What made you decide to go after Nick?” she asked blatantly, catching me off guard.

The Rose I knew wouldn’t have just asked outright like that. It’s almost as though ever since she and Nick broke up, she’s changed into this completely different person.

“He’s a great guy and I’m sorry, but I was being selfish at the time, but I know what you had with him now”, I rambled lowly, trying not to let him overhear me.

“Good luck with that. I wish you guys all of the happiness”, she said before the line went dead.

I hung up, staring at the phone slightly startled at Nick’s voice.

“Who was that?” he asked out of curiosity.

“Rose”, I answered nonchalantly with the wave of my hand.

“What did she want?” he asked in a monotone.

“Nothing. She just asked if we were still coming”, I partially lied. Nick raised a brow skeptically, but didn’t push the matter.

“OK”, he replied. Soon enough, a knock sounded at the door. He opened it, revealing a pissed off Mel.

“We’re ready to go, so, if you guys are ready, you’d better come on now”, she said coldly, turning away from us before we could reply.

I rolled my eyes, flicking her off even though I knew she couldn’t see me. Mel had been that way towards Nick and I all summer, but she hadn’t spoken at all to Nick. We argued a few times, but otherwise, things never got farther than that.

Nick spoke once more, bringing me out of my thoughts.

“We should head downstairs if we plan on catching the same plane with Joe and Mel”, he said abruptly.

I nodded in agreement, allowing Nick to carry our suitcases downstairs without a backwards glance.