Stopping the World

Nick and I’s relationship officially changed seven months later. The day, July 28th, was when it all happened.

As much as I know you are all anticipating that moment, I’m going to start with the night before. When Nick asked me what would be a foreshadowing question.

“How are you handling all of this?” he had asked me. By this, he meant dating him and everything that came with it. I shrugged.

“It’s fine… why?” I asked. “Do I not look okay with all of it?”

“No, it’s not that,” he said. “It’s just… well, generally if I were dating any other girl for this long, she would have cracked. Meaning, she would have confessed about our relationship to the public, or had ended things. But you… you’ve been quiet when it comes to the press. And, well, obviously we’re still together.”

“Yeah? Well, I’m not ‘any other girl’,” I said. “You should know that by now.”

“That’s true,” he said. “You’re probably the only girl I know that would pose immaturely in a wedding picture…”

“Oh, please, Rachel’s aunt’s wedding was so boring to begin with,” I said. “I livened it up by sticking my tongue out and jumping in the air when they snapped the photo. Which, by the way, takes some skill; I actually wasn’t blurry in the photo when I jumped.”

“And didn’t you head-bang during their first dance?”

“Again, I made it more interesting,” I said. “They chose the most boring song.”

“How would you like it if someone did that at your wedding?” he asked. I shrugged.

“It would matter, because I’d choose a song you can rock-out to anyway,” I said, smiling. He rolled his eyes at me.

“Maybe not if you got married to me,” he briefly muttered, but I still managed to catch it. I could hear the smile in his words.

“But anyways…” I started, getting back to what he first asked, but still momentarily distracted by what he muttered. “I just deal with it because… I like being with you. And as for why I haven’t told the press yet, well, that’s because it’s not really their business, you know? A relationship should be between two people, not two along with the rest of the world.” What I neglected to tell him was that as much as I put up with it, the paparazzi continually asking us questions was getting quite annoying. I put up with it, sure, and so did Nick, but I knew it secretly bothered him too. Not that he said anything, though. I guess he was just used to it.

That annoyance would soon enough be pushed over the edge; ironically, the next day. The day I would end up stopping the world.

>>------------------------------------------>>

I hadn’t said this, but we were currently visiting Nick’s family again in Texas; seeing as it was summer and class was out and all. Nick, so far, had only ever come visit my parents with me twice, for obvious reasons.

Remember when my parents gave me the world? Like, how they acted all happy to give it to me and were excited to see my face when they gave me the gift for my birthday? Yeah… well, as you found out how they started acting different at Christmas, you could say they were no longer the same in general either.

They still loved me and all, sure, but they acted differently; as if they disapproved of my decisions before I even told them about them or made them.

The prime example of this, of course, would be when I brought Nick home the first time, during Easter break. My brother, Michael, sadly hadn’t been there since he had a girlfriend of his own and went with her to her home for break. That was a wise decision on his part; although, I can’t blame him for leaving me to deal with them alone with Nick; I hadn’t gone to see them for Christmas while he had.

Anyways, the visit was awkward, to describe it mildly. My mom and dad wouldn’t stop questioning Nick about what exactly he was going to do after college, what exactly he was going to do when he wasn’t famous anymore (which I thought was borderline rude, considering Nick had the potential if he didn’t have it already to be a legend along with always being known), and… their questions were just pestering. Whether they were doing it for my best interest or not, I didn’t like how they did that.

And even when we gave them a second chance at the beginning of the summer, it seemed as if they had already made their mind up about Nick, by giving him the cold shoulder upon our next visit. They seemed to decide things too early.

That’s why we were now visiting Nick’s family. After barely a week with visiting my parents, I told him it would be better if we go see his family instead. Which, was where we were now.

We were out having lunch at this diner that Nick enjoyed going to while he was in Texas. And seeing when I was here before and was able to try it, I now found myself liking the place as well.

Even though I wasn’t epileptic, the chronically flashing lights bothered me. I still hadn’t gotten used to it, even though it’s been awhile since Nick and I started dating. The only negative about this diner was that pretty much all of the seating was in public view; all of the booths and tables being next to windows.

“Just ignore them,” he muttered to me, sensing my tension and not talking as loudly in case they could somehow hear. You’d be surprised how well they could read lips.

“I’m trying,” I said, smiling. We were pretty much done eating anyway, so I suggested, “Can we just go?”

“Sure,” he answered, before laying some money on the table; more than enough to cover the bill and tip. “Let’s go.”

To let you know, it wasn’t then that I made the decision. It would be later that afternoon, when we went out to go bowling with his family. I hadn’t taken the world with me when we went to lunch, but later that evening was a different story. And thinking back on it now, I can’t really remember why I chose to take it with me.

We had left the bowling alley, and the sun was about to set. Kevin Sr., Denise, and Frankie had driven there in one car, Kevin, Joe, and Danielle in another; while I rode with Nick. Nick and I had to park farther away from the place we bowled at seeing as by the time we got there, there had been no more parking spaces available. People are aware when the Jonas Brothers are all in town, I’ve realized.

We quickly dispersed as we each made our way to our cars. Nick and I were on our way to his car when the paparazzi approached.

“Nick! Marley! How is your relationship going?” one of them tried to catch our attention. Like we had always done, we ignored them. Nick grabbed my hand so we didn’t get separated. All of the paps noticed.

“Are you going to pop the question soon, Nick?” another asked. Did they really just ask that, though? We haven’t even been together a year yet.

“What’s in your bag, Marley? You seem to be always caring it with you,” one pointed out.

“I’m sorry that I don’t have a new one every time I go out,” I said to them, starting to get irritated now. Nick gave me a look.

The next thing that happened shocked me beyond comprehension. The guy who had pointed out about my bag snatched it, and took off. I yelled.

“What are you doing?” I exclaimed. The other paps seemed to be shocked as well; not seeming to have seen another one among them do this before. I took off after the photographer.

“Marley!” I heard Nick call out to me. But I ignored him. In that bag was the earth, and if the guy opened my purse and found it, I was dead meat.

“Stop!” I shouted. He was only a few feet ahead of me. “I could… have you arrested! You’re not supposed to take people’s things! That’s stealing!” I tackled him to the ground, and he still managed to keep a tight grip on my bag. I did the only thing I could think of; I punched him in the face.

I heard noticeable gasps behind me as I finally grabbed my bag back and stood up. “Marley, have you always been this violent?” a woman paparazzi asked as I turned around toward them. I shielded my eyes from the flashes before turning away from them and running. Nick was fast to catch up with me.

“Marley, wait! Where are you going?” he asked me, finally catching up but still running seeing as I still was.

“I don’t know! I… or we… just have to get away from them!” I struggled to get out, as we continued to run. We turned into a near by alley way, and as soon as we did, I opened my bag. I didn’t really think about my next couple of actions.

“What are you doing?” Nick asked, as I took out the earth. We had slowed to a fast walk by now, but I had to be quick if I didn’t want anyone to see what I was about to do.

“I’m stopping it,” I stated, not exactly being specific. I looked at the earth; rotating just inches above my hands.

“Stopping what?” he asked, either not knowing what I meant or asking because he couldn’t believe that it was the earth I was referring to. “Or wait… you don’t mean-”

“Yes,” I said, interrupting and looking at him. “I’m stopping the world.”

“Wait-” he started to say, grabbing my arm, but I didn’t listen. Before I knew it, I had placed both my hands on either side of the earth, in order to get it to stop rotating. I had to use a lot of pressure, but it finally started to slow.

“Nick! Marley!” I heard a group of people exclaim, but they sounded distant. The earth, being bright ever since my parents had given it to me, started to fade in color. There was a gust of air; almost like wind… that came out of the earth. I shut my eyes, not knowing exactly what was going to happen, and two seconds after that… things went noticeably silent. I slowly opened my eyes.

I looked to my side where Nick was still standing gripping my arm and eyes tightly closed. I couldn’t tell if he was breathing or not.

“Nick?” I questioned, starting to get scared now. A moment later, however, I instantly relaxed, seeing as he breathed out as soon as I said his name. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at me. After that, he turned around and looked behind us.

“How bad is it?” I asked. He shook his head. I didn’t really understand what that meant.

“Whoa,” was all he answered with. I gave him a look to show I didn’t understand, but he still didn’t say anything else. So, I turned and looked with him.

The paparazzi were just standing there; frozen. They weren’t moving; not even breathing. Some even had their eyes wide open, and when a moment passed with none of them blinking, I had a better idea of what my action resulted in.

“Whoa is right,” I agreed. “What did I do?”