What About Us?

I smiled content with my unpacking. I hadn’t packed that much, not expecting what would happen. It all fit into one of the wardrobes that were lined up next to plenty more. I looked down at my phone, checking the time. It had been about 20 minutes since Nick left me which meant the rest of the family were likely here. I sighed, brushing down the jeans that I had worn here, pulling on my t-shirt before walking out. As I trudged down the stairs, I heard the bubble of the Jonas’s talking. A smile rose to my face, it had been too long since I’d seen any of them and they made me feel comfortable. I slowly walked into the lounge, before hearing the sound of Danielle’s voice. The last time I had seen her was about a month after the wedding, a few days before me and Joe broke up. She ran over to me, engulfing me in a hug. “What are you doing here? It’s been too long. When was the last time I saw you? How have you been?”

“Which question would you like me to answer first?” I mumbled, while she squeezed all the oxygen out of me. She let go, sending me a smile.

“How are you?” She asked, smiling. I nodded my head, before Kevin walked over, giving me a hug. I smiled, realizing how I couldn’t be away from this family for too long.

“When did you get here?” Kevin asked as we walked back towards the couches. I sat next to Nick, who flung his arm around my shoulders. Frankie launched himself towards me, ending up half on my lap, half off.

“About 30 minutes ago. Nick picked me up from the airport.” Nick grinned at his family, who were staring at us.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” Danielle pouted, making me laugh softly. “I would have been there to pick you up instead of this doofus.” Nick stuck his tongue out at Danielle, who just laughed.

“Because I made my mind up about,” I thought about how long ago I received that letter from Joe. The one that was still in my suitcase, waiting. “7 hours ago.” They all looked at me confused.

“Not to sound rude,” Denise turned to me from the other couch. “But why did you come?” I laughed, before shaking my head.

“I got a letter--” Suddenly, I heard the front door go. My mind went into overdrive as I heard the voice that I had been waiting so long to hear.

“Family.” He sang, walking into the room. I tried to hide behind Frankie’s head but unfortunately he moved to hug Joe. I felt Nick’s hand squeeze my shoulder, which made me look at him. “Aleah.” Even though he whispered it, I heard it straight away. I turned away from Nick and looked at Joe, who had his future wife to be standing by his side. However, what made it more awkward was Joe had a massive smile across his face. As he made his way over to me, leaving his fiancé behind, Nick shoved my shoulder, making me stand up. Without a second thought, Joe wrapped his arms around me, picking me up and spinning me around. As I got back into the floor, Joe kept hold of me. “I didn’t think you’d actually come.” He whispered, making me narrow my eyebrows together. He pulled away from me and I stood, awkwardly as he walked back to Rose. “Rose, this is Aleah.” He wrapped his arms around her. I smiled at her, before sitting down next to Nick.

“Awkward.” Nick sang in my ear, before I smacked his chest as hard as I could. He struggled to breathe, which was making it hard for me to stop laughing. “God, you’re a bitch.” He muttered, making me shake my head at him.

“Language Nicky.” I pinched his nose, making him wiggle to try and get away me. I winked at him, before laughing.

“Dinner’s done.” Paul announced, which made my head shoot up. I heard Kevin and Danielle laugh.

“Hey!” I said, wagging my finger in their face. “I spend 5 hours on a plane. With an old woman, who spent the whole 5 hours of the flight, talking about her 13 grandchildren. And then had no food because it looked like sick! So sorry if I’m hungry.” They were still laughing as we walked into kitchen. I was so tempted to throw my middle finger up at them. I sat down, taking the seat opposite Frankie. Suddenly there was a noise next to me, making my head shoot up at it. Nick was standing against Joe’s chest, both of them looking at each other.

“I haven’t seen her in nearly 2 years.” Joe defended himself. I struggled to work out what they were talking about until they both looked at the chair next to me.

“That’s not my fault, is it?” Nick mumbled, making me want to hit him. You could see the look in Joe’s eyes that he wasn’t impressed about what Nick had just said. I bit my lip awkwardly while the boys were staring at each other.

“Nick.” Joe stated, his eyes pleading at his little brother. “Please.” I shoot a look over to Danielle, who was sitting awkwardly. I pleaded her help with my eyes and she shrugged her shoulder, sending a smirk in my way. I shook my head before looking back towards the boys. “Thanks.” Joe said, before taking the seat next to me. I looked at him and sent him an small smile, feeling rather stupid that two brothers were arguing about sitting next to me. Rose took the seat next to Joe, Nick taking the other side. I looked at Paul, who was sitting next to me, at the end of the table. He sent me a wink before Denise and Kevin came in with the food. “How have you been?” Joe asked as we started to pile chicken and salad onto our plates.

“Pretty good actually.” I smiled at Joe, while Nick obnoxiously coughed at the other end of the table. “How have you been with the whole wedding thing?”

“Actually--” Rose started to talk, before Joe cut her up.

“We don’t need to bore them with all that. We can do it another time. My best friend is back.” Joe threw his arm over my shoulder, making it more uncomfortable then it actually should be. “How’s the family?”

“They are all pretty good.” I smiled. “I haven’t seen them in a while. But Zack is doing well at university and having a great time.” I smiled at the thought of my younger brother, who was around the same age as Nick. It made me think about my family.

“What is he doing then?” Denise asked as she sat down to eat. I shrugged my shoulder, eating some of my salad.

“I think he is doing law.” I said once I had finished my food. “Something along those lines. I haven’t spoken to him in around 5 months. We both have been so busy.” I nodded my head once I realized that everyone was looking at me.

“Is he still with--” Nick paused, making me look around Joe to him. “Lindsay?” I smiled. My little brother had been going out with his girlfriend for almost 4 years and they were still going strong. Apart from the occasional argument.

“Yeah. They are so adorable it makes me sick.” I laughed, before Nick rolled his eyes at me from behind Rose.

“Reminds me of someone else.” Kevin mumbled from the seat opposite Joe. Automatically, both me and Joe stared at him. Kevin shrunk in his seat, muttering away to himself. I shook my head, a smile on my face.

* * *

“Aleah.” Joe’s voice made me jump as he walked into the room. We had just eaten our dinner and afters, before I went to my room to grab my phone. I should’ve let my mum know where I was. “You okay?” He asked as he leant against the door frame. I nodded my head as I went through my bag, making sure nothing came out of it that shouldn’t.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I grabbed my phone after finally finding it. I tapped the keys, then realizing that it had run out of battery. I growled under my breath, before carrying on looking for the charger.

“I didn’t realize that you’d get on the first plane to New York.” He mumbled. I stopped in my tracks, spinning around towards him. The face that he held, I couldn’t read. I wasn’t sure if it was shock that I was actually here, or disappointed that I was. I shrugged my shoulders, pulling out the black wire. I walked over to the plug, and waited for the lights on my phone to flash. “Why did you come?”

“You asked.” I automatically said. I turned my back against Joe, looking down my phone as if there was something there. I heard him sigh heavily before it went silent in the room. I hoped that he had left, that he had gone back to the rest of his family. After what felt like a lifetime, I turned around. I jumped when I realized how close Joe was to me. I bit my lip as he slowly walked towards me.

“I didn’t realize how much I missed you.” He whispered. I just stared at Joe as he gave me a sort of smile. I shrugged my shoulders even though Joe was still staring at me. “It’s really good to see you, Allie.” I took an intake of oxygen into my lungs as he called me that.

“Same here.” I whispered, sending him the first proper smile of the night. Joe grinned at me, something that I had missed for so many years.

“Come ‘ere.” He said, waving his arms around in the air. I rolled my eyes, before crossing my arms. Joe laughed, before taking a running jump at me. I laughed as we both ended up on the bed, Joe’s heavy body covering mine. I wriggled around under Joe, hoping he will get his body off me.

“Get off me!” I squealed as I smacked his chest as hard as I could. He pressed down even harder from me, making it tougher to breath. “Joe!” I screamed, throwing my arms around.

“Tell me you missed me!” Joe said as his hands moved to my hips. I shook my head, knowing that Joe knew my exact weak point was. I felt his fingers tensing around my hips. I tried to wriggle out of his grip but his hands were too big and his grip was too tight. “Aleah-May. Admit it. You missed me.”

“Okay!” I said, taking a massive breath while Joe still tickled me. “I missed you!” Joe relaxed; moving away from me, but still was hovering over me.

“That’s what I thought.” He grinned at me. I rolled my eyes at him before he winked at me. “You’re different.” He tilted his head to one side as if he was trying to figure it out.

“I’ve changed?” I said, my voice becoming a whisper. Joe stared down at me, his eyes concentrating on mine. He knew that change was a hard subject for the both of us. Joe took a soft breath, which made me feel slightly weak, before shaking his head.

“No.” He stated, his voice and face very serious. I bit my lip, feeling intimidated by Joe, which was nothing that had ever happened before. “You never changed. You never will. You’ll still be that little girl to me. My little girl who--” Suddenly a voice stopped him in his tracks.

“Joe.” He voice was strong and hard. Without thinking, Joe leapt off me, which felt like a relief to be honest and ran over to her. “Your mum wants you.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulder, while I, like the stupid idiot was still lying on the bed. As I heard them walk down the stairs, I sat up, blowing my hair out of my face. It was too easy to slip back into normal routine.