Your Smile Still Makes My Heart Sing

“Are you almost done?” I complained. Joe slowly grabbed a fry and even slower he dipped it into some ketchup. I sighed loudly and leaned back in my chair. “Hurry up.”

“What’s your rush?” Joe asked as he bit half the fry and chewed slowly.

“There are like three girls behind you and they are starting to annoy me,” I said. Joe chuckled as I crossed my arms. “They’re taking pictures or recording us and aren’t really trying hard to pretend they aren’t really do what it looks like they’re doing.” Joe laughed again.

“Even though that made no sense, cool,” he said. “I don’t like driving on a full stomach anyways.”

“Um, I’m the one driving,” I replied taking a few of his fries and shoving them in my mouth.

“Yeah but when you drive over potholes or bumps in the road, it hurts my stomach,” Joe replied. “You don’t want me getting sick in your car now, do you?”

“You could always walk home,” I said. “I can call up my dad to help me out with a gift for Kevin.”

“Okay, okay,” Joe said. “I’m finished. Is it horrible for me to want to spend so much time with you? I feel like Nick and I are a married couple and he has joint custody ninety percent of the time.” I laughed out loud, causing the three young girls to giggle amongst themselves and swarm in closer to each other; most likely gossiping or making predictions of what Joe said to make me laugh.

“Fine I won’t spend so much time with Nick,” I said. “I’m trying to hook him up with this girl though.”

“Really?” Joe said leaning closer. I nodded my head and grabbed another fry. “Who is she?”

“Well,” I said, “We met her at that frozen yogurt shack downtown a few days ago. She spilled it on him, accidentally.” Joe laughed, “And you know how he is when it comes to his clothes or shoes.”

“Did he yell at her?” Joe asked.

“No, that’s the thing,” I said. “He shrugged it off as if I were the one doing it. Then when I was talking to him about her he had this glazy look.”

“Aw Nick loves her,” Joe said in a girlish tone.

“I don’t know about that,” I said grabbing my drink and shaking it. It was empty so I grabbed Joe’s instead. “I invited her to the party, but I’m going to tell her I live at your house. She might be a psycho or something and stalk you guys all the time.”

“Smart,” Joe said reaching forward and taking his drink back from me. “I’m ready now. Where do you want to go?” I shrugged my shoulders as I placed all the trash on the tray.

“I don’t even know what to get him,” I said. “I don’t want to get him a guitar since I spent all of my money on Nick, plus he has fifty guitars.” I stood up and grabbed the tray.

“I’ll do it,” Joe said. He grabbed the tray out of my hands and walked towards the garbage can. I followed him as he dumped the trash in the garbage, and placing the tray in its proper place. “What about something that has to do with golf?” I scoffed loudly.

“Lame,” I replied. Joe chucked as he led the way out of Burger King. “No offence or anything.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Kevin has to be the hardest person to buy something for,” I complained. “Fool has everything. Do you know what Kelsey is getting him?”

“Honestly, I don’t know and care,” Joe replied. I chuckled as I took my keys out of my pocket and unlocked the car. I slid in and quickly put the key in the ignition so I could turn the heater on. “How about we get him a pair of boots? We went to the mall the other day and he was staring at these Italian boots that he couldn’t get.”

“Why couldn’t he get them?” I asked as I backed out of the parking space and took off.

“Too expensive,” Joe said. I laughed. “Well, not that expensive but Mom would probably yell at him if he spent three hundred dollars on a pair of boots.”

“If Kevin can’t ‘afford’ them, how the hell do you expect me to come up with that kind of cash?” I asked.

“We’re splitting the cost” Joe said, “Remember?”

“And where am I supposed to come up with $150?”

“Fine,” Joe said. “Just head towards the mall. We’ll eventually find something.”

Joe had decided for us to drive all the way to Wayne since they had a “better” mall. The usual ten minute drive to the nearest mall turned into a twenty minute drive and it was semi quiet. Joe spent about a good two minutes switching the stations on the radio. After I continuously told him to pick a station, he stopped on a classical station. Do they seriously need a station for it? Sure it’s pretty calming, but I wasn’t in the mood for flutes and clarinets currently.

“Hey Joseph,” I said suddenly, making Joe avert his attention to me.

“Yes Jas?”

“You want to hear something funny?” I asked. I looked over at Joe for a split second and noticed he nodded his head. “Just to let you know, I’m probably going to spend my money on me today, rather than Kevin.” Joe chuckled. “We can’t go near any girlish stores, promise?”

“What if I buy you something?” Joe asked.

“Nope,” I quickly replied.

“Come on,” Joe said. “We can get matching socks or something.” I scoffed. “Or how about we buy a pair of matching shoes?”

“No thanks,” I said. “Remember the shoes you bought a long time ago when we all went out that day? Those neon green ones?” Joe chuckled.

“Fine,” Joe replied. “By the way, if you’re not familiar the mall is two blocks further.”

“I knew that,” I said. We finally arrived at Willowbrook Mall and I started my quest to find a close parking spot. Of course that was pretty much out of the question, seeing as there were none.

“There’s an empty spot right there.”

“That’s so far,” I complained.

“Come on,” Joe said. “I’ll buy you a sundae.” I sighed since I know I wouldn’t find a spot close enough to my liking. “Good girl.” I glared at Joe as I took off my seatbelt and got out of the car. “So where do you want to go to first?”

“Macy’s!” I shouted.

“No,” Joe said. “You just asked me to help you keep away from the girly places.”

“But I could find something for Kevin there,” I said, “In the guy’s department, hell-o.”

“We’ll end the night there,” Joe said pulling at my arm. “Come on its getting cold out here.” I rolled my eyes as I shoved my hands into my coat pockets.

“I thought you were warm not to long ago,” I said.

“When you were close enough to share body heat,” Joe said, “I was warm. Now you’re five feet away from me like I have the chicken pox.” I laughed to myself as we continued walking. We entered through the side of the mall, and started walking around. None of the stores caught our attention yet, and it was starting to bum me out.

Finally after passing at least ten stores, I spotted a maternity store. I laughed and I felt Joe staring at me.

“What’s so funny?” he asked. I pointed to the store and he still didn’t get it. “Know someone who’s pregnant?”

“No,” I said. “I just thought of something.” Joe stared at me still confused. “We should not get Kevin a real gift but a bunch of bad gifts. I mean the party is one big thing he’s not really expecting, plus I’m making him a cake, do I really need to buy something super expensive?” Joe laughed out loud as the two of us stopped in the middle of the mall, making people have to walk around us.

“That’s a good idea,” Joe said. “But tell me how you got that by looking at a maternity store. Wait, you’re making Kevin a cake? You didn’t make me a cake.”

“I just pictured Kevin in a maternity dress,” I said. Joe laughed as we continued walking. “Don’t ask. Plus you weren’t home on your birthday, neither was Nicholas.”

Joe and I walked around some more until I spotted Spencer’s. I had to literally drag Joe into the store. He claims he was freaked out by the mechanical Freddy Kruger that was standing at the doorway. We walked through the store and didn’t find anything interesting until we started flipping through the posters. I found what I thought would be the perfect poster to get Kevin; Joe on the other hand thought differently. He laughed at first, and then opposed at the thought me of getting that. I had to reason with Joe to let me get it.

“Come on Joey,” I said using the name I hadn’t called him in months. “I’ll give it to him when it’s just us and he can throw it away if he wants.”

“No Jas,” Joe said. “I don’t want to think of him looking at that.” I rolled my eyes but continued buttering him up.

“Por favor,” I said. I let my bottom lip hang a little while I looked up at Joe. “I’ll buy it and I’ll say it’s my idea.”

“What if my parents see it?” Joe asked. I rolled my eyes yet again.

“If Kevin is smart enough he won’t show it to your parents,” I said. “And it’s not like he’ll hang it up. Kelsey would murder him.”

“And I don’t want that in my room,” Joe said. I gave Joe a crooked smile.

“So I can get it?” I asked.

“Well…”

“Forget you,” I said bending down and picking out the correct poster. I checked again to make sure I picked out the correct one and started walking around the store.

Joe ended up buying Kevin a tiara that had the numbers ‘21’ on it. I laughed out loud when I saw him buying it. After almost two hours of “what about this?” or “we should get him this”, Joe and I were sitting on a bench going through our bags. After two hours of running around the mall looking for things, we ended up getting Kevin a harmonica that would end up breaking after excessive use, a Boston Red Sox baseball cap that he would most likely toss out (I blame Joe fully for purchasing this cap), a Hannah Montana doll that sings when you press her stomach, Kidz Bop CD, a rubber chicken (which I will most likely take and hit Nick or Joe whenever I please), Joe’s little ‘21’ tiara and of course my present; the gift that would overpower anything Kevin could ever get.

“I still have thirty dollars,” I said, “Can I go to Macy’s now?” Joe shook his head as we continued to sit on the bench. I didn’t want to sit here any longer since it was smack dab in the middle of the mall and I was more worried about someone finding out that Joe Jonas was at the mall, but of course people were already noticing. Joe is probably the only person in the world that would use a credit card without having an ID.

I still don’t know what’s more embarrassing, being with someone who had a card and didn’t have any way to prove who he was or the fact that Joe went around the store trying to prove that he really was Joseph Adam Jonas.

“But I’m Joe Jonas,” Joe said, “Don’t you have sister or someone that listens to me?” I smacked my forehead when Joe spoke those words. Why couldn’t I be the one that bought the CD? He had already bought the Hannah Montana doll.

“My sister listens to the Jonas Brothers,” the guy behind the cashier said. “And she even has posters of them all over her room. You look nothing like Joe.” Joe chuckled. “Now I’d like to see an ID, please.”

“I don’t have one,” Joe said. “I mean I don’t really have any time to go down to DMV, take my picture and wait around for it to come in the mail.”

“Then I’m afraid I can’t allow you to purchase this CD if you can’t prove this is your card, sir. Possibly if you use cash I can allow you to get this.”

“Joe, stop being a moron and just let me pay for it,” I said.

“No,” Joe said. “You bought the rubber chicken.” I swear I saw the guy behind the counter crack a smile at the words ‘rubber chicken.’ “Just wait a minute dude.” Joe left the counter, with me standing there with the confused counter man.

“Sorry about that,” I said. “Can I just pay for it and forget this happened?”

“Wait, wait,” Joe said. He came back to the counter and placed down a CD. I shut my eyes and shook my head looking down at the CD. It was of course his album. Figures. “See, that’s me. Joseph Jonas.” Joe was pointing at himself posing on the album cover.

“Your hair is different man,” the guy said. “And you’re bigger.”

“My hair grew,” Joe said, “Like hair does. And I started lifting weights to get ladies’ attention. Come on man, it’s me.”

“Joe, I swear if you go up to someone and ask if they know you, I am leaving you here,” I said. I dug into my back pocket and took out a twenty dollar bill. “Here, just take the money and-”

“Hey, Debbie,” the guy behind the counter said to a young girl who just came to where he was standing. “You like the Jonas Brothers right?” The girl merely nodded her head and turned to face us.

“Oh my gosh,” she whispered. “You’re Joe!”

“I told you!” Joe said to the guy. “I can’t believe you didn’t believe me.” With the money just lying on the counter, I grabbed the CD and left FYE. I didn’t even care that I just wasted twenty dollars on a CD that only costs $11.99.

“Okay then,” I said standing up, “Can we leave then? I still have to go to the grocery store and it’s getting late.” Joe looked at his watch, then up at me.

“It’s only 7:45,” he said.

“Exactly,” I said, “It’s Friday night. I have to watch my little monsters tonight.”

“You do?” Joe asked, finally standing up and picking up a few bags. “You should have told me earlier. Let’s go to the store then. What did you need to get?”

“Stuff for a cake,” I said as the two of us starting heading towards an exit.

“Do you even know how to make a cake?” Joe asked.

“That’s like asking you do you even know how to sing,” I replied back. “Of course I can make a cake. I usually always make a cake for someone when it’s their birthday.” Joe was about to open his mouth when I cut him off. “Except for you, Frankie and Nicholas; you three suck for not being home on your birthday.”

“We don’t suck,” Joe said. “You do for not coming with.” I rolled my eyes as we reached the mall’s entrance/exit. I pushed open the door and felt the chilling wind blow in my face.

“Gah,” I complained, holding the door open for Joe, “I hate this weather. It was never, ever cold in New Mexico. Well, okay it was sometimes, but never like this.”

“Wait until the snow comes,” Joe said causing me to groan out loud. “Don’t worry about it, when it starts snowing I’ll visit you everyday and we can sit up in your room watching movies and drink hot cocoa. Doesn’t that sound like fun?”

“A little,” I admitted. “You’re making the hot cocoa though.” Joe laughed.

“Aw, does Jas want little marshmallows too?” he asked. I nodded my head as we finally reached the car. Quickly I opened the trunk and we both tossed the multiple bags in there.

“Do you ever consider trying to teach me to drive?” Joe asked as we both quickly got in the car.

“You and Nick are so lame,” I responded. “I’m never teaching you guys to drive, especially you. I’ve heard horror stories and I’d rather be far away from you when you are behind the wheel.”

“I’m not that bad,” Joe admitted as he reached for the knob to turn the heater up higher. “I’m just a late bloomer. Come on, please teach me? It doesn’t have to be an automatic, I’ll convince my dad to let me borrow his car.” I laughed to myself as Joe continued to ramble. “Come on Jas. Be a good friend and help a needy person.”

“Why don’t you ask Kevin?” I asked. “I’ve only had my license for a year.”

“But you’re cooler than Kevin,” Joe said. “You drive over the speed limit. Kevin drives exactly the speed limit. You go over by ten.” Joe looked out the window and laughed. “See, we’re already in Wyckoff.”

So I drove a little fast. What teenager doesn’t drive fast? Plus, it’s not like I’ve ever had a ticket or gotten into an accident. I was careful, especially since I couldn’t stand to see a scratch on my car; I think I would end up depressed for a long time if my car was ever in an accident.

“And look at that,” Joe said. “We’re already at the grocery store. And it usually takes Kevin twenty minutes to travel from the mall to home. What kind of cake are you making for Kevin anyways?”

“You’ll have to wait and see,” I said. We both walked into the small grocery store that was a short ride from home. Joe grabbed a basket and started pushing it as I walked directly to the aisle that consisted of baking items. I grabbed cake flour and sugar and tossed that into the basket. I then grabbed a bunch of vanilla frosting and one can of chocolate frosting and threw those into the basket.

“You should be more careful what you’re throwing,” Joe said. “That’s my brother’s cake you’re tossing around.” I grabbed two candles and held them in the air, aiming at Joe. “I’m just kidding, don’t hit me.” I smiled as I carefully placed the two candles in the basket.

“Should I put fruit in the cake?” I asked causing Joe to laugh. “No, I’m being serious. I know Kevin is weird when it comes to fruit, but the fruit completes the cake.”

“Nah,” Joe said. “Just make him a plain cake. Otherwise all your hard work is going to be wasted.” I nodded my head as I grabbed the basket and pushed it around the store. I grabbed a dozen eggs and food coloring, and I was finally done and ready. I looked behind me, expecting to see Joe to be there be he wasn’t. I had lost Joe in a grocery store. I wondered if his mother ever did that. I laughed at the thought of Mrs. Jonas leaving Joe behind in a store. It’s not that Joe would mind, he’d be in a place packed full of food.

After walking around and wasting five minutes, I gave up and proceeded to the register. The guy rang up all of my items, placed them in bags and I placed them in the basket. That had taken a good minute or so, and Joe was still M.I.A.

It’s not like I was going to leave him, all I was going to do was put the bags in the car and wait, where it was warm. As soon as I walked outside and felt the ice cold wind blow in my face and make my hair frizzy, I spotted a figure standing by the car. If I walked closer and noticed that it wasn’t Joe, I decided I was not going anywhere near that creep.

“Took you long enough,” Joe said. I grumbled to myself.

“Why’d you leave without saying anything?” I complained. “I spent five minutes walking around the store looking for you as if you were a lost child.”

“Sorry, I need some fresh air,” he admitted. He kept his hands behind his back as I loaded the bags in the car myself. Instead of walking back and putting the cart in its proper place, I merely left it in the middle of the parking lot and got in the car. I wasn’t sure if Joe was the one that made me do that or the fact that it was so cold that even my toes were freezing. “Are you infuriated with me?”

“You just used the word infuriated,” I said. I laughed to myself as I drove towards our homes. “Shocking.”

“Look I’m sorry I left without saying anything,” Joe said. “But you’re going to love me when we get home.”

“You better help me with the bags,” I said. “If you don’t, I’ll show you the definition of infuriating.”

“I’ll help you,” Joe said. “And I’ll even help you watch your brothers.” Joe cranked up the heater to four and placed his hands by the vents. “That is if you want me to come over. I haven’t been over in forever; it’s going to feel weird.”

“You came over the other day,” I said.

“Oh, yeah,” Joe said. “Well, I felt it’s been a while.” As quick as it took us to get from the mall to the grocery store, we finally arrived on our street. I parked the car in front of my house and turned the key in the off position. “Well that was fun. How long has it been since you’ve seen your Nicky Want to run in and tell him about your day?” I scoffed as I opened the trunk. True to his word, Joe grabbed a few bags with only his left hand, while I grabbed whatever I could with my two hands.

“You know you have two hands, right?” I asked.

“This is my good hand,” Joe said. I slammed close the trunk and tromped towards my front porch with three bags in each hand. “Wait a second Jas.” I put down the bags and reached into my coat pocket for my house key. “Want to know the real reason I left?”

“You saw your ex-girlfriend and she looks way better than you do, so you left?” I asked. Joe smiled.

“No,” he said with his usual childish grin. “I got you something.” He finally pulled his right hand in front of him and I noticed he was holding a single red rose. Only Joe could be such a bad romantic but still make my stomach do multiple flips. “I bought you this to make up for earlier. I should have just paid it cash or something. Plus the whole deal with the poster, you’re right, it’s just a poster. Kevin will get a good laugh out of it; I shouldn’t have acted like such a dad earlier.”

It was way too cold outside to tell if I was smiling or not. I felt like Joan Rivers after she got her botox shots; my face was numb from the chilly wind, but I was feeling like Joe was mere hours ago – warm and fuzzy inside. I had completely forgotten about everything that Joe did to make me mad at him today. It all seemed pointless reason to be mad at him.

I stopped staring at the red rose that he continued to hold and I moved my eyes to look at his face. I looked at his brown orbs that looked into my blue ones, then down to the stubble that was starting to grow on his upper lip and chin. Instead of saying something as simple as ‘Thank you’ my mouth opened and something different escaped.

“I love you,” I whispered. Even though he had already figured out the whole ‘1 4 3’ concept days ago I felt like I shouldn’t have said that. I thought I would scare him away or something by muttering those words that most guys would run away from or just say it just because. But Joe was different. His smile grew larger as he leaned forward to place his lips on my cheek.

Right at that moment, the front door opened and I quickly backed away from Joe and stared at my dad who was just standing there with a sandwich in hand.

“Hey you’re home,” he said. “And you brought Joe.” I bit down on my lip as I stared at my dad. Ever since I admitted that Joe and I were no longer a couple, my dad had changed around Joe. I felt he didn’t respect him as much anymore, and that’s what I feared from the beginning. If only my mom could throw some sense into him so he could like Joe all over again.

“Yeah,” I said. “We went out and got Kevin stuff.”

“Yeah?” he questioned. “Well that sounds like fun.” He looked at Joe and bit into his sandwich.

“Well, it’s cold outside,” I said breaking the silence and picking up the bags. “Are you and mommy leaving now?”

“Yeah,” he said as I softly pushed him aside so Joe and I could both get inside the warm house. “I didn’t want to leave, but she wants to go to the movies. Something about Saw 5 being out.” I laughed out loud.

“Mom wants to see Saw 5?” I asked. I placed the bags at the bottom of the stairs while my dad just stared at me. “I’ll bring them up in a minute dad.”

“Yeah, she got the idea from you and Nick,” he said. “Thanks a lot.”

“Hey at least it’s not a lovey dovey movie dad,” I said. “You’ll like it. There’s a lot of blood in it.”

“I’m not complaining about the movie,” he said. “I just don’t want to go out, it’s muy frio.”

“I know that dad,” I said. “I was just out and that’s why I’m home. Well, I’ll see you later bye!” I pushed my dad out the front door and closed it. It opened a few seconds later as he stared at me, continuing to munch on his sandwich.

“You’re mom isn’t even ready yet,” he said. “And remember those two have to be in bed early.”

“I know, I know,” I said. “Ten thirty.”

“Ten for Jared,” he said. “Are you staying or leaving Joseph?”

“Oh, is it alright if I stood over?” Joe asked. “I know Jas is old enough to be home alone, but I’d much rather stay over especially when she’s watching two young kids.” I looked at my dad and smiled while he just stared and shrugged his shoulders.

“That’s fine,” he said. “You two behave.”

“Dad, we’re not ten,” I said.

“Joseph!” my mom said, coming down at the perfect time. “How are you honey?”

“Pretty good, Mrs. Gonzalez,” Joe said as my mom threw her arms around Joe. “How are you?”

“Fine,” she said. “Carlos and I are going to see a movie. So we’ll be home around ten or eleven. Are you staying over tonight?”

“Um, no probably not,” Joe said. “I’m probably going to leave when you guys get home.”

“Yeah, well bye people!” I said as I starting pushing both my parents out the front door. “Ten for Jay and 10:30 for Brian, no loud music, no party and nothing R rated. Stay warm and enjoy the blood.” I heard my mom laugh as I closed the door and locked it. “Finally. Sorry about that, my dad is like on something.” Joe smiled as he held out his hand for me to take. He led me into the living room and we both collapsed onto the couch.

“What do you want to do?” he asked. I shrugged my shoulders and leaned my head on Joe’s shoulder. “How about w-”

“Nena!” Jared shouted. I groaned as he ran into the living room and jumped on Joe and I. “You’re home!” I smiled as I ruffled his short hair.

“Yes, I am,” I said. “Don’t you look warm.” I tugged on Jared’s Cars pajamas.

“I am warm,” he said. “And I want to watch a movie. Can we?” I sighed and looked at Joe who nodded his head.

“Fine, go pick something,” I said. “Something good and worth watching though.”

“I love that kid,” Joe said. I let my head fall back on the chair while I heard Jared rummaging for a movie. Joe leaned over and whispered into my ear, “But I think I love you a little more.”

“You think?” I asked. Joe smiled.

“Okay, I know I do,” he said.