& it's all because you're by my side.

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He took a deep breath before beginning. “I was scared to tell you about this sooner, because I don’t want you to be upset or mad, but…”

"But?"

“But we’re leaving Friday for Europe for a few weeks. We want to promote the CD and SOS as a single there, and play some concerts and do some radio interviews.” He finished hesitantly.

“Joe!” I exclaimed. “That’s awesome!” A smile occupied my face as I stared at Joe. “Why would I be upset or mad about that?”

“Well,” he began nervously again. “I want you to come. Europe would be amazing with you,” he paused. “But mom and dad think it’s best if you stay here. I’m so sorry, Kate. If it were up to me, you would be there with me through the whole thing.”

I stared at him, shaking my head in disbelief. “Joe, mad is the last thing I am right now. I am so proud of you guys. That’s amazing!

“And of course it would be awesome to go to Europe with you, but I completely understand that I can’t go. I don’t expect you to have to take me. That trip is for the Jonas Brothers, and you need to be there for that. And I am perfectly fine with that. I’m so proud of you three!”

“Really?” A smiled crept across his face.

“Yes, of course!” I replied happily before climbing across the bed and into his arms. He wrapped them tightly around me. “And plus, I’ve got a lot of packing to do for the Burnin’ Up tour. I can’t be away in Europe when precious packing needs to be done.”

He laughed as he held me tightly. “And you’re not mad that I waited so long to tell you?”

I smiled. “No, it’s alright.” I thought for a moment. “How long have you known about Europe?”

He chuckled nervously. “Just a few weeks.”

All I could do was roll my eyes and bury myself further into him.

--

JOE’S P.O.V.

“So, Europe’s kind of far.” Katy told me softly as we sat snuggled on the hotel room couch.

We had eaten breakfast with Nick and Kevin, showered and cleaned up before rejoining each other back in her hotel room.

I gave a small chuckle. “Just a little far.”

She let out a long breath of air. “I’m going to miss you.”

“I’m going to miss you, too.” I replied, equally as bummed. “But after Europe, we’ll have the whole Burnin’ Up tour together.”

I could feel her smile as her head lay on my chest. “True.”

“And I imagine time is going to fly for you with all that packing.” I told her playfully.

She let out a laugh. “True. But it’s going to seem like a lifetime for you, sightseeing in Europe.”

I chuckled. At least the Europe subject was easy to discuss. Of course we were both bummed, two weeks away from each other, but we could handle it. And I was impressed she handled the news so well. Sadly, I had doubted that she would take it so well.

A comfortable silence fell over us. I ran a hand through her long, soft hair before speaking again. “Let’s do something today.”

“No,” she protested, snuggling further into my body. “I just want to stay right here, all day.”

I chuckled. “But we’re in New York!”

“I know,” she replied. “And this is my first time in New York, but I don’t want to leave your arms.”

I smiled down at her, giving her a tight squeeze. “I promise to let you touch me all day if you let us explore New York.”

She let out a small groan.

“C’mon, it’s New York! I want to show you around.”

She grumbled again before speaking. “Fine, we can go explore New York.”

“Alright, let’s go!” I exclaimed, preparing to get up from the couch.

"But," she began firmly, causing me to fall back against the cushion. "I'm going to hold you to that promise."

I chuckled. "Ok."

--

KATY'S P.O.V.

“So, I’m kinda glad you talked me into coming.” I told Joe as we stared up at Yankee Stadium.

Joe chuckled and glanced at me.

“I’ve only ever seen Yankee Stadium in pictures or on the tv. It’s pretty cool to see it in person.” I told him thoughtfully as I stared up at the tall structure.

“Well, I was going to take you to a game, but they're away this weekend.” He returned his gaze back up to the stadium.

I turned my head to look at him. “Really? That would’ve been pretty cool to go to a Yankees game. You don’t get that opportunity much in California.”

Joe let out a soft chuckle. "Yeah. Maybe sometime during the tour we'll be able to." He paused for a moment, turning his gaze back to me.

A wide grin spread across his face as an idea popped into his head. "Let's go get some Yankees gear!" He exclaimed excitedly before pulling me into the Yankees dugout store with him.

--

"Rita's gonna kill me." I told Joe as we exited the store, covered in Yankees stuff.

He insisted I get a shirt, hat, key chain, ball, foam hand, bat and bobble head.

He also made me wear every possible item that I could.

"Why would she kill you?" He asked, also covered in Yankee blue, while poking me with the foam hand that covered his right hand.

"She's a Red Sox fan." I told him, using the foam hand I had to poke him back.

"No way!" Joe exclaimed. "Does Nick know?"

I chuckled. "Probably."

"Wow, that's gotta be a tense relationship."

I laughed at his seriousness. "Thankfully I'm a Giants fan, that's a totally different coast."

He nodded in agreement, a smile wide on his face.

“But,” I began. “You’re partially a Dodgers fan. That can create some tension.”

“But,” he began in defense. “My heart mainly remains to the Yankees.”

“Alright, I think I can handle that.” I chuckled.

He gave my hand a small squeeze as we continued towards the car; he had stayed true to our promise so far, I still had a firm grip on his hand. “Let’s go get some lunch, how does that sound?” He asked.

“Sounds pretty good.” I chirped as we reached the car, Big Rob was sitting behind the steering wheel waiting to take us to our next destination.

--

“Man, that was some seriously good pizza.” I exclaimed while rubbing my full tummy.

“Mmhmm.” Joe responded as we began walking down a busy New York street. “That was better than…” He sat in thought for a moment. “That was like better than the Yankees beating the Red Sox good.”

I laughed at his silly analogy. “No, better than like beating Kevin at Guitar Hero good.”

He looked at me, a silly grin across his face. “I think we can agree that it was good.”

I chuckled. “Definitely.”

We continued down the street in silence, passing by many shops along the way.

I held onto Joe’s hand tightly, enjoying the warmth and softness. He had done a pretty good job of keeping his promise, for the most part, but when he needed to use the restroom during lunch, I kind of had to let him go.

It was tough; I had grown slightly attached to the boy.

“We should check out that store.” Joe pointed to a store just ahead of us to the right.

I glanced at the store, quickly reading the name as we walked.

My eyes went wide once the name registered.

“I’m serious.” Joe added.

“What?” I stared at him as we came to a halt in front of the store.

“C’mon, it’ll be fun.” He encourage, a smile occupying his face.

“No,” I hissed. “We can’t go into a Victoria’s Secret together! That is so awkward.”

“Oh c’mon Katy, what’s so awkward about it?” He urged.

“I dunno, it just is.” I replied, feeling my cheeks flush. “And plus, what if someone sees us, takes a picture, and it ends up on the web?”

“It’ll be fine.” He replied like it was no big deal. “Just follow me.”

He began heading into the store, pulling me alongside behind him.

I had to duck my head down in embarrassment.

Joe and I hadn’t even been together two months; it was way too early to go into a lingerie store together.

Joe stopped at a rack once we were in the store, observing some kind of silky undergarment.

I kept my head down and eyes to the ground as much as possible. It was just too awkward for me.

Joe nudged me in the arm. “I think these would look good on you.” He held up a leopard print bra and panty set.

My eyes bulged out at the sight before I grabbed them from him and put them back onto the rack.

“Can we please just go?” I urged as he wondered toward another rack of revealing lingerie.

“Katy, c’mon. Just try and have some fun. I don’t see why you’re so embarrassed. It’s not like I’m asking you to model them for me,” he paused, “although, I wouldn’t mind that…”

“Joe!” I hissed.

“Just kidding!” He held his hands up in defense.

I gave him a stern look before he let out a chuckle.

“Actually, I brought you in here because there’s a perfume that smells really good and I want to see if you like it.” He finally admitted.

I let out a frustrated groan. “You couldn’t have told me this sooner?”

He smiled innocently. “Nope. It was really cute watching you get flustered and embarrassed.”

I rolled my eyes at him before he guided us to the perfume shelves.

He began looking at all the perfume bottles before he stopped at one for me to smell.

“Here, this one.” He removed it from the shelf and let out a small squirt, allowing for the air around us to be filled with a sweet floral scent.

“Wow, that smells really good.” I admitted at the lovely smell that was filling up my nostrils.

“I was hoping that you’d like it.” He glanced at me, a sweet expression across his face. “When I first smelt it, it reminded me of you.” He admitted shyly.

I let a smile fall across my face before I leaned forward and gave him a soft kiss.

He pulled me into a hug after our lips separated. He was so sweet, and thoughtful, and adorable.

I was definitely falling for him. And hard.

“Let’s get you some new perfume and then let’s get outta here.” He told me, slowly releasing me from our hug.

“Ok,” I replied with a smile as he directed his eyes into mine.

He placed one more kiss on my lips before heading towards the register with a bottle of perfume.

He paid for the bottle before we began towards the exit of the store.

I stopped walking as an item caught my eye, causing Joe to stop as well. I pulled a garment off of a rack to our left. “What do you think of this one Joe?” I asked as a dark red filled his cheeks.

It was a black, lacey, see-through lingerie set.

“Uh,” he stuttered, wide-eyed.

I rolled my eyes with a grin before placing the item back onto the rack.

“It’s really cute watching you get flustered and embarrassed.” I told Joe nonchalantly before heading out of the store.

He let out a nervous chuckle once he realized my antics.

Karma's a bitch.

--

“That was mean.” He told me after a good two minutes of walking in silence down the street.

I chuckled. “How was that mean?”

“’Cause it just was.” He told me defensively.

“Well, you totally embarrassed me first.” I retorted.

“Yeah, but that thing was completely see-through.” He added, his cheeks darkening.

I laughed and rolled my eyes.

“Not that I have any complaints with see-through…”

“Joe!” I squealed, hitting him lightly on the arm.

He laughed before wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling me closer to him.

I rested my head on his shoulder as we continued to walk down the busy New York sidewalk.

“Joe,” I began after a moment of silence. “Why is it that you’ve been inside of a Victoria’s Secret before?” I asked curiously.

“Well,” he began awkwardly. “My dad wanted to get my mom some perfume the other day, so I went with him.”

“Oh, I gotcha.” I replied, it finally making sense. I had been a tab bit curious as to why he had been inside of a Victoria’s Secret before.

“And I ended up finding that perfume for you, but I know how picky girls are with perfumes so I wanted to make sure you liked it to before buying it.” He told me. “And it just so happens that it’s still your birthday month, so it all fit perfectly together.”

I chuckled before removing my head from his shoulder to give him a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you."