Love Will Save You

-Jamie-

I woke up the next morning, chuckling quietly after realizing that Danielle didn't make me sleep on the couch. Danielle's head was on my chest and her arm was laying across my stomach. I kissed the top of her head as I played with her hair, listening to her breathe. She woke up about 10 minutes later and looked up at me. I leaned in and kissed her softly, pulling away a few seconds later and whispering, "Happy birthday, beautiful." She gave me a confused look, causing me to laugh, "You forgot your own birthday?" "I may or may not have misplaced the date in my mind," she said in a sleepy voice.

"What are we doing today, birthday girl?" Nash loudly announced as he walked into the room, the others trailing behind him. "Sleeping," Danielle mumbled, burying her face in my neck. "Come on," Melanie said. "We're in Australia on your birthday!" "Yeah, there's gotta be something you want to do," Ryan added. "There is, and that something is sleep," she replied. "Well, that's not an option," Amy said. "If I don't get two more hours of sleep, you're going to wish you did make it an option," Danielle threatened.

They all looked at each other, then Ian spoke up, "We'll give you two hours and go get some breakfast. You wanna come, Jamie?" I shook my head, "I'm good. I'll eat something later." "You sure?" Nash asked. Danielle groaned loudly and turned so her back was facing us. "We'll see you guys in two hours," Melanie laughed lightly. She grabbed a pillow and covered her face with it as everyone chuckled and walked back out of the room.

"Babe, you're gonna suffocate yourself," I said, taking the pillow away from her. She just shrugged and I grabbed her shoulder, making her lay on her back. "I'm not suicidal," she rolled her eyes, looking up at the ceiling, knowing what I was about to say. "You never say anything like that though. You're always smiling and laughing and being so...happy," I said quietly. "Smiles can hide so many things, Jamie," she replied. I stared at her as she continued, still not looking at me, "It only happened a few days ago. You wouldn't have known even if I wanted you to." "Why wouldn't you want me to know?" "I have a reputation for not talking about my feelings, and I don't plan on ruining that reputation any time soon."

"Danielle Nicole, look at me," I said. She still refused to look over, so I put my hand on her cheek and turned her head to make her. "We have been together for over a year. You don't need to worry about your reputation with me. This conversation never leaves this room, got it?" "Promise?" she whispered. "Pinky promise," I said, holding my pinky out toward her. She smiled slightly and linked her pinky with mine.

She looked up at the ceiling again and I could tell she was searching for words. "A couple days before we went through...you know...I was Skyping with two of my friends and one of them took a picture and I posted it on Facebook and my ex-boyfriend commented on it." "Well, what did he say?" I asked, lightly holding her hand. She simply shrugged and I said, "Danielle." "Fine," she groaned, letting go of my hand and getting off of the bed, walking over to the small desk in our room and grabbing her laptop. I sat up as she sat back down on our bed and logged onto her Facebook. She moved the computer to my lap before laying back down and closing her eyes. I glanced at her, then back at the laptop and read all the comments.

"You know these aren't true, right?" I asked after a couple minutes of staring at the screen, looking back at Danielle. She shrugged again and I got off of the bed to put her laptop back on the desk before laying back down and facing her, resting my hand on her cheek and talking quietly, "They're not true and they never will be true. He's just pissed because he lost you and he can't get you back. He obviously didn't love you as much as he said he did and no one will ever love you as much as I do." I kissed her forehead and she smiled, then wrinkled her nose when I kissed it. I softly kissed her lips and whispered, "Nothing your ex or anyone says will ever make me think you're not beautiful." She just nodded and laid her head back down on my chest, causing me to sigh.

"Is that why you walked out?" I asked suddenly, kind of regretting it. "Yes," she replied softly. "Why?" She looked up at me, biting her lip, "It didn't stop with those comments.." I raised an eyebrow at her, "What do you mean?" "His sister messaged me during the time he was doing that." I'm guessing she could tell I was going to ask, because she continued talking before I could say anything, quietly saying, "He told everyone I cheated on him." "That's why you got mad? Because I thought you would do the same thing to me?" I asked, more to myself than to her. "She said I wouldn't find anyone like him, and she was right," Danielle said. I felt my heart drop. Maybe she still loved him. Maybe she still wanted to be with him.

Danielle looked at me, "Stop over-thinking what I just said. She was right when she said I wouldn't find someone like him because I found someone way better. He never said I was beautiful. He never called me pretty, cute, adorable, gorgeous - anything like that. None of my exes ever did. They never tried so hard to convince me of something like that. They always purposely made me mad. You say I'm beautiful all the time. You try as hard as you can when you know I'll have a hard time believing it. You feel bad even if I pretend to get a little angry at you," she giggled.

I laughed a bit as well, knowing everything was true. "I only do those things because I love you. More than I think you'll ever realize. I don't tell you because I have to. I tell you because it's true." She rolled her eyes, "Ian told you what we talked about, didn't he?" I nodded and pulled her on top of me, "Even if we had only seen each other around Nashville and never actually met, I would still think you were the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. Ian already said it, and I'm saying it again," I grabbed her left hand and held it up, showing her her ring, "I'd rather live the rest of my life single than be with anyone but you, and this just proves it. I never want you to think any differently." "I know," she whispered.

Danielle moved her face closer to mine and was about to kiss me when Amy burst through the door. "No one come in here! They're having sex," she yelled. Danielle groaned and rolled off of me, "It's only been half an hour." "But you're still awake, so let's get moving," Amy replied. "You're a bitch and I hate you," Danielle said, getting up and walking toward the door. "Fuck you," Amy said sweetly. "I'd say it was Jamie's job, but you people keep interrupting all the time," Danielle stuck her tongue out at Amy before shutting the door.

"God bless her cockblocking soul," Danielle sighed walking back over to the bed, "This day cannot get worse." She was about to lay back down, but I quickly got up and grabbed her waist, keeping her standing, "Nope, we've gotta get dressed." "But Jamie," she whined. I smiled and kissed her, saying in her ear, "No buts. Just get dressed." "I call first dibs on the bathroom." "And what if I want it first?" She grinned, "That's just too bad," before running into the bathroom and closing the door. I laughed, "That was so not fair!" "Not my problem," she yelled back, but I heard her laughing.

I got dressed while I waited and she came out about 5 minutes later, smirking at me, "It's all yours." "Finally," I joked. Another 5 minutes passed by the time I walked out. I stopped when I saw Danielle and smiled as I watched her put in her earrings. "Stop staring at me," she giggled. "I'm not staring," I said defensively. "I'm standing in front of a mirror, Jaim. I can see you," she laughed. "Oh," I trailed off. "And Keaggy said you would never lie to me," she sighed dramatically.

I walked up behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist, "I guess Keaggy just doesn't know what I'm capable of." Danielle laughed, "I'm sure." "Hey, I'm unpredictable." "Of course you are, Jamie. I believe you," she joked. "You just remember that later today," I smirked. "What's later today?" she asked, looking at me in the mirror. "You'll see," I sang, walking out of the room.

-Danielle-

"Is this really necessary?" I asked as Jamie covered my eyes with his hands. "Yes, we're almost there and we don't want you to see it yet," I could hear Jamie's smile. "Am I the only one who finds this weird? One person is covering my eyes, another's holding my arm, and I look like I'm about to raped and murdered by seven people, and no one's stopped us to ask questions." "You think too much," Nash laughed. "It's one of my many wonderful qualities," I replied sarcastically. "Yeah," Melanie giggled, "It's especially wonderful when you think about how cereal could kill you." "Seriously?" Ian chuckled. "Yes! I'm at the store, I put a box of Lucky Charms in my cart, walk away for a couple minutes to get something else, someone who has some sort of grudge against me goes to my cart and somehow poisons the cereal and leaves before I get back, I go home, eat a bowl of it, and the next thing I know, y'all find me dead on the couch watching some shitty Lifetime movie," I said casually. "You're so weird," Amy laughed. "Not weird, just creative," I stated. "Aren't they kind of the same thing though?" Maggie smiled.

"We're here," Amy suddenly exclaimed. "Great! Can you take your hands off my eyes now?" I asked Jamie. "Nope," he chuckled. We walked inside some building and I immediately felt cold. "It's cold as fuck in here," I whined. "You'll live," Ryan laughed. "What if I get hypothermia and die, Ryan?" I yelled, "No one told me it would be cold. I'm wearing a dress, for crying out loud!" "Don't worry, I've got you covered," Jamie said. "Now can you take your hands off?" "Jamie, for the love of our sanity, just move your hands," Amy smiled.

Jamie moved his hands and I started laughing, "Yeah, I don't think so." "Why not?" Melanie groaned. "You know I can't ice skate! Need I remind you of three winters ago," I said, pointing at her. Melanie started laughing and Ryan asked, "What happened?" "You don't need to be concerned about that," I cut in before Melanie could respond, "You just need to know that I can't ice skate to save my life."

"Did you really think we were going to bring you to an ice rink without teaching you how to skate?" Jamie asked. When I didn't say anything, he said, "Exactly. And if you want your surprise, you'll do it." "Will this surprise result in my death?" I asked. "It might," Ian smirked. "In a good way," Ryan added quickly. "Fine," I sighed and we walked over to put on our skates.

As we reached the edge of the ice, I stopped and looked at Jamie, "I swear, if you let me fall.." "I'm not going to let you fall," he said quietly, "Trust me." I nodded and he kissed my cheek, wrapping his arm tightly around my waist as we got on the ice.

After about 5 minutes, Nash and Amy made their way over to Jamie and I. "How's it going?" Amy asked. "Oh, nothing, just haven't fallen yet. You know, no big deal," I shrugged. "Give it time," Nash smirked. "Thanks for having faith in me, dick," I laughed. "Only because it's your birthday, babe," he chuckled as he and Amy skated away.

An hour later, we finished skating and had changed back into our shoes, just hanging out and eating when we heard the rink's owner come on speaker, "So, word on the street is that it's a couple people's birthday today." "Oh, dear God, please, no.." I said once I saw the look on Jamie's face. He shrugged and smiled as the owner continued, "And since they're both here, why don't they come up so we can sing Happy Birthday to them." "Wait, did he say them?" Jamie chuckled evilly and pulled me up in front of everyone.

"And what's your name?" the owner asked. "You know it's my birthday, but not my name? That seems a little odd," I said. Everyone laughed and Jamie just looked at me. I sighed, "Danielle." "Well, Danielle, I heard from a very reliable source-" "That group of idiots," I interrupted, nodding toward Jamie, Ryan, Melanie, Nash, Amy, Ian, and Maggie. "Yeah," he chuckled before finishing his sentence, "That you like a certain singer." "I like many singers. Where is this getting at?" He laughed and said, "She's getting impatient. Just come on out."

I looked over to my left and stood speechless as Demi Lovato walked out. I turned back to the group and they just smiled at me. The shocked expression wouldn't leave my face, even as she got to me. "I know you guys said she was a huge fan, but I was sort of expecting her to be a little more talkative," Demi laughed. "Give her 5 minutes, you'll wish you never said that," Melanie giggled. I laughed sarcastically, then seriously said, "Shut up."

After everyone in the rink sang Happy Birthday to Demi and I, I got an idea. "Ryan," I held out his name. "Yes, Danielle. We'll sing Why Don't You Love Me," he chuckled. "I was actually going to ask you if you wanted the rest of my chips, but I guess that's okay, too," I smiled innocently. "I'm sure you were," he laughed. They got up to sing the song, me dramatically lip syncing it to Jamie as he tried not to laugh really hard.

(I don't feel like writing any more about this.)

As we were getting up to leave, I saw Nash and Amy talking in the corner and could they were about to kiss, so I trotted over, "Time to leave!" "Fucking cockblock," Amy mumbled, starting to walk toward the door. "Payback's a bitch and so am I," I smiled, giving her and Nash a thumbs up, skipping back to Jamie.

-Jamie-

When Danielle got back over to me, I grabbed her hand and chuckled, "That wasn't very nice." "It wasn't very nice when she did it to us this morning either," she replied, sticking her tongue out at me. "Whoa there, no need to take it out on me. I was cockblocked, too, you know," I teased. "Oh, I know. Two nights in a row must have been tough on you. I mean, why wouldn't you want this?" she joked, pointing at herself.

We got outside and Danielle froze immediately. "What's wrong?" Nash asked, worried. "Holy shit," Amy said quietly. "When the fuck did he get here?" Danielle whispered. "Seriously, what's going on?" Ryan asked. "Ex-boyfriend," Melanie stated. "...What?" I asked. "The one we talked about this morning," Danielle whisper yelled.

I just felt angry all of a sudden and started to walk over to him when Danielle pulled me back, "We really can't afford to have this put on your police record no matter how much I want you to kick his ass. It's not worth it. His face can't get any more fucked up, so why bother trying." The group snickered at her comment and she simply smiled, "Shut up. It's true and y'all know it."

"Oh, God. It's coming this way," Melanie groaned quietly. I felt Danielle tense up and I squeezed her hand and whispered, "I'm right here." She looked at me and nodded before we heard, "Danielle? Is that really you?" "Unfortunately," she mumbled, forcing a smile. "How have you been?" "I've been good.. Uh, how about you, Damien?" "I've been well, thanks for asking," he replied, "You look...beautiful." She gave him a look and I just snapped, "That's not what you said a few days ago." "Who are you?" Damien asked angrily. Danielle lifted our hands up, "He's my boyfriend, dumbass. If you were on Facebook more, you probably would have realized that." "Well, you blocked me, so I can't exactly know what's going on with you," he shot back. "I blocked you a few days ago. We've been dating for over a year," she replied, rolling her eyes. "At least I don't block people who didn't do anything wrong," he said, glaring at her. "In what world do you think getting an attitude with two of my best friends and calling me 'an ugly, hypocritical bitch who deserves to be single for the rest of her pathetic life' means that you've done nothing wrong?" she said, her voice getting louder.

I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her closer to me so she didn't do anything stupid. "You only say it's wrong because you can't handle the truth," Damien smirked. Before I had the chance to say anything, Amy punched him and started to walk down the street back to the hotel. Danielle couldn't hold in her laugh when we saw blood coming out of Damien's nose and covering his lips. "I like that shade of lipstick on you, Damien. It really compliments the bright red hand print on your face," Danielle smirked. "Punches don't leave bright red hand prints," he said. "Really? Well, good thing slaps do," she said before slapping him as hard as she could and walking after Amy. "Those are my girls," Nash smiled, following Danielle. Ryan, Melanie, Ian, and Maggie all followed. "Don't you ever talk about my girlfriend like that again," I growled at Damien before sprinting out to catch up with the others.

-Nash-

"Why do we always have to avoid playing drinking games?" Amy whined as we were all sitting on the couch back in our hotel room after we had calmed down. "God, you and Nashy really are perfect for each other," Danielle said, rolling her eyes, "We're not stopping you from playing any drinking games anyway." "You guys just chose not to play them without us for some reason," Melanie added, "If you really want to play, go ahead, but remember: We're not cleaning anything up." "And that right there is why we don't play," Ryan chuckled. "Come on, it's not that bad to clean up," I replied. "Because you're never the one cleaning anything," Danielle exclaimed. "You don't have to clean it, you know," I said, rolling my eyes. "Yeah, because sober Nash will get right on cleaning whatever shit he makes a mess of, won't he?" she shot back.

"Guys," Ryan yelled slightly, "Can we not fight about this, please?" Danielle sighed angrily and leaned back on Jamie as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her cheek. She smiled slightly, then giggled at whatever he whispered in her ear.

"I feel awkward," Amy stated. "Well, you are awkward, so," I smirked. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door and Danielle hopped up to answer it as I teased Amy about her awkwardness.

"Oh my God. Amy," Danielle groaned before walking back over to us, "Dick's here for you." "Shit," Amy mumbled, standing up and walking over to the door. At that point, everyone started listening in.

"Can I come in?" we heard a guy asked. "No, you can't. What the fuck do you want, Lawrence?" Amy replied, obviously not in the mood to see him. "Babe, don't be like that," he said. "Don't call me babe," Amy shot at him as I got up. I walked over to the door and wrapped my arm around her, "Who's your friend?" "Boyfriend," Lawrence said. "Ex-boyfriend," Amy growled at him before I could respond. "We never broke up. We just took a little time off." "I don't know how 'a little time off' is defined in whatever fucked up world you're living in, but where everyone else is living, three years is not 'a little time off'." "It has not been three years, Amy," Lawrence replied. "Maybe it hasn't felt like that to you, considering you've been fucking every girl in the city, but yeah, it's been three years. Goodbye," Amy said. She went to close the door, but Lawrence stopped it with his foot, "This isn't over, Amy. I will get you back and none of your stupid friends or your little fuck buddy will stop me either." I was about to say something when Amy just grinned evilly, "He's better than you ever will be." She kicked his shin and slammed the door in his face, locking it. "God, that felt good," she breathed, turning around and walking back over to the group.

I stood there for a moment before quickly making my way over to everyone and sitting next to Amy again. I couldn't really come up with anything to say, so I just wrapped my arms around her and rested my chin on her shoulder.

"So, what was that about?" Ian asked, breaking the silence. "It's really not that big of a deal," Amy replied. "It has to be a big deal if it bothers you this much," Maggie said. Danielle gave Amy a look and shook her head, "If you don't tell them, I will." "It's not though. He just broke up with me two days after my birthday for no reason through a text," she shrugged. Danielle gave her another look and she sighed, "I might still have a necklace he gave me." Danielle kept giving her the look and Amy said quietly, "And I might still, occasionally, sometimes wear it.."

My heart immediately dropped. I know that it can sometimes take a while to get over an ex, but I never knew it could take over three years. At that point, I didn't even care to know.

"I'm gonna go to bed," I said quietly before getting up and walking back to the bedrooms. I heard someone following quickly behind me, so I spun around, just as I got into my room. Amy ran into me, but jumped back. "Nash," she said softly, closing the door behind her, "I-" "You still wear things he gave you?" I said loudly. "Yes, but-" "But what? When were you planning on telling me that you were still in love with him, Amy? When?" "I didn't think it would matter, I'm sorry!" "What made you think I would be okay with you still being in love with your ex of three years and finding out you still wear shit he gave you?" I asked, on the verge of tears. "I thought maybe it would help me get over him somehow," she replied, her voice shaky, tears already starting to fall. "It won't, and you know that. Every time you look at that necklace, you're going to think about him. You're not doing yourself any good by keeping it around you," I said quietly.

She didn't respond, so I kept going, "You're too good for him, Amy. He doesn't deserve you. I've only known this guy for 2 minutes, but I know he's fucked you over so many times, you don't even bother to keep track anymore, but you keep going back to him because you feel like he's the only person who cares about you." "How would you know?" she asked, sitting down on our bed. I sat down next to her, "Because I've been there." She looked up at me with a slightly shocked expression, making me chuckle lightly, "I know it's hard to believe, but it's true. I met this girl during the video shoot for Honestly and we hit it off. Everything was great for the first few months until I found out she was cheating on me with an extra from the video. I broke up with her, and we were off for a couple weeks, but she came back and apologized. I thought she meant it until it happened again the next week. That went on for a year, but I kept going back to her because, in some weird way, I felt like she was the only person who cared about me, even though she only pretended to. She wasn't the right girl for me, and this guy isn't the right one for you."

"He just made me feel special. Like I could do anything wrong and he would never get mad at me," she sniffled. I took her face in my hands and wiped her cheeks with my thumbs, "Amy, I promise I'm never going to hurt you like he did. Just give me a chance to be the right guy for you." She nodded in response and I took a deep breath before leaning toward her, and pressing my lips onto hers.

She smiled and bit her lip when I pulled back, whispering, "Okay, but can we start tomorrow?" "Why tomorrow?" I chuckled. "Because I don't feel like putting this up on eBay right now," she shrugged. "Why would you put them on eBay?" "They're real. You think I'm just not gonna sell them? I don't think so!" "Wow, he really is an idiot." "Yeah, you're telling me," she giggled.

"Come on," I said, hopping off of the bed, grabbing her hand and pulling Amy up with me, "Let's go see what the others are up to." We walked out and noticed they were all sitting exactly where we left them, talking about nothing. Everyone stopped talking and turned to stare at us when we took our original spots on the floor against the couch. "So," I said, "What were you guys talking about?" "Whatever came to mind," Danielle replied, eying Amy carefully. "Like what?" Amy asked, obviously attempting to ease the tension. Ryan spoke up, "Like, if someone mentions a pet peeve, it could spark a discussion." "So, if I said one of my pet peeves was when stores don't have enough check-out lanes open so you have to wai-" Amy started before Danielle cut her off, yelling, "Oh my God, I fucking hate that! Especially when it's a store like Wal-Mart where a shitload of people shop, but do they ever have enough lanes open? Nooooo." We all laughed at Danielle's over-dramatic explanation before continuing the conversation.