I'd Like To Order A New Heart Please

It's the day before thanksgiving and Joe and I have been dating for about 3 months now. After the day he asked me out we were nothing short of inseparable. Everyday we'd talk to each other, and spent the weekends together, sometimes accompanied by the other dating couples; Miley and Nick still, and Jace and Kevin.

We even spent our time together on Halloween by taking Frankie and his friends out Trick-or-Treating, but maybe it was just so Joe and Jace could get some free candy, I could never tell.

The best part of that night was maybe seeing Nick's costume, saying he went as a bone man in honor of almost breaking my nose the night I came over for dinner.

Dinner. Dinner was the meal that introduced me to the Jonas family, so why not meet my LA family over the same meal?

In early November I brought Joe to the Grub Shack and Mom instantly adored him, saying something about Italian boys and some special radar in her head.

Dan on the other hand gave Joe the third degree, making me sink under the table with each unnecessary question.

"Are you in school?"

"Do you have family?"

"What are your intentions with the child I don't remember my wife giving birth to!?!" That one got me a scolding for practically sitting underneath the booth we were all sitting at.

But Joe held himself well, not even wincing at the questions thrown at him.

"I just graduated high school last year, and am going to wait a little before I start college."

"I have a rather big family, but my mom told me to invite you all over for Thanksgiving, and I insist that you all come."

"I plan on just enjoying the time I have with Nicole, and whatever happens, happens."

That all lead up to my current situation, which was in the kitchen of the Grub Shack with Nathan and Jace baking a pumpkin pie.

"No Nathan! It's not even done yet!" I shouted, snatching the pie out of Nathan's hands.

"What do you mean it's not done yet!!?!" He snapped back at me. Being in this kitchen with two snappy girls can get to a guy sometimes, .

"Nathan Sims! There's nothing in this pie pan!" Sure enough the mixture for the pie was still being stirred by Jace, who insisted that it was still lumpy, when in fact if she kept stirring it would turn into water.

Maybe the fact that it's half past midnight and we were helping close the Grub Shack was a key factor in our whole oblivious thing……nah!

I sighed and snatched the bowl out of Jace's hands, poured the batter into the pan, and shoved it into the preheated oven.

"Finally! We can go home now!" Nathan exclaimed, pretty much collapsing on the tables.

"Yeah, c'mon Ja- what are you doing!?" Jace was still standing there, whirling the whisk around like she still had the bowl in her hands, eyes closed and head tilted back slightly.

I smiled at the sight before gently shaking Jace, trying to wake her up.

Her eyes snapped open and she immediately took a defensive pose, pointing the whisk at me. After her eyes darted around she lowered the whisk, her face tinting red slightly, "Sorry…….can this moment just be forgotten forever?"

I snorted/laughed before walking out to the actual diner to find Nathan sprawled over the bar, snoring.

"Do you think if we pushed him off he'd be mad at us?" I asked Jace.

Without answering me, she tiredly flopped down on the bar as well, rolling sideways to knock Nathan off the counter top completely.

"I'll take that as a 'no'," I snickered, prodding Nathan's sleeping form with a spoon that was laying on the counter.

I turned to Jace, ready to make another snide comment, only to see her eyes closed again, a lovely river a drool coming out of her mouth.

"Thanks for the help guys, really, I appreciate it." Que eye roll...and...action!

***

"What is up with this neighborhood!? My god!" Nathan snapped, tired of driving around the Jonas's neighborhood in search of a parking space.

"It's Thanksgiving, I'm sure other families have guests over as well." I cooed, trying to calm down Nathan.

After our third try and several more profanities, Nathan pushed us out of the car, telling us he'd find a spot and then walk up to the house alone.

"Nikki!" A little blur came out me, making me stumble backwards slightly.

I laughed before swooping up Frankie in my arms, "Hey buddy! Happy Thanksgiving! I see you already started without us!" I chuckled, pointing to the smudge of food around his mouth.

"Nuh uh! Trace is out to get me!" Frankie screamed out in his laughter as I spun him around.

I stopped spinning, "Trace?"

The little boy in my arms giggled, "Yeah! He's Miley's brother, you can't miss him! He's huge!" his little arms springing in the air to try to tell me his height.

"FRANKIE! IMA EATCHU!" This must be Trace, and Frankie wasn't kidding when he said this guy was huge.

He must be at least 6'3 and had tattoos covering his arms completely. The only thing that he had in common with Miley was his blue eyes.

Trace stopped in his steps, freezing when he saw that Frankie was in my arms.

"Err, hello….um, can I have the smallish person in your arms?" Trace asked, taking Frankie from my arms anyways.

"Nooooo! Nicole save me!!!!" Frankie shrieked in laughter as Trace started to pretend to eat Frankie.
"No one can save you now!" Trace released a maniacal laughter before dashing back into the Jonas house, right past a smiling Kevin.

"Hey guys, sorry about that." Kevin chuckled, giving me quick hug before moving onto Jace, who I had forgotten was standing there.

I followed the couple into the house, slightly confused to see how many people were there.

Denise, surrounded by other women in the living room, got up and snatched me in a hug, "I'm so glad you could make it! Joseph is in his room right now, why don’t you go bring him down?"

I smiled and left Denise in search of my boyfriend.

I inwardly shivered, even though Joe and I have been dating for almost three months I could never look at his face and not think that he chose me to be his girlfriend.

"Joe, why can't we give us another shot?" a voice whined from the inside of Kevin's and Joe's room.

I froze in my spot.

"Because Mandy, I don't think it's right."

My heart stopped beating. Why couldn't he just tell this Mandy girl that we were dating.

I slowly, leaned forward, looking through the tiny space that the door never made it to.

"C'mon Joey, give me one more try!"

I felt my voice getting caught in my throat as I watched a girl that was sitting next to Joe, lean in closer to him, his eyes connecting with hers.

I wanted to scream at him for letting her that close. To say every bad word I knew about her, but I just couldn't.

She was gorgeous.

Her lips were mere centimeters from Joe's and he still hadn't stopped her yet.

Closer.

Closer.

Closer.

Home base.

Their lips connected, and I felt the tears weld up in my eyes when I saw that Joe wasn't pushing her away, in fact, his hands were finding their way to her hips.

I got sick of watching their face sucking and straightened out my outfit, and brushed away any fallen tears before pushing the door open.

Joe and Mandy jumped apart like they were on fire, and their eyes were as wide as dinner plates.

It took every thing I had to not jump onto either one of them and strangle them, instead I let a forced smile slid onto my face.

"Your mom just wanted to come up and get you."

Joe jumped up and wrapped his arm around my shoulders, "Mandy, this is my friend Nicole, Nicole, Mandy."

Friend? So I'm just a friend now?!

I stepped out his embrace to shake Mandy's hand, "Nice to meet you….well I'll be going now."

I turned and looked Joe in the eye, feeling my will power disappear when I looked into the eyes that once told me wouldn't let anything happen to me.

I calmly walked out of the room, and then dashed down the stairs, cursing myself for wearing heels tonight and not even seeing the person who was standing off to the side of the hallway.

My mind wouldn't let me think of anything reasonable, not like talking to someone, or telling someone where I was going.

Nope, my brain just told me to keep going, right out the door, and then to run blindly through a neighborhood that I knew well.

I let my feet take over, the tears blind my eyes, and my ears block out every sound besides my heart beat racing in my ears.

I just didn't understand…..I thought we were so happy…..