God Bless the Broken Road

Joe walked through the empty house following the sound of music. He found the source in the kitchen and as he stood in the doorway he couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face.

There he found Leigh Ann dancing and singing, her way across the kitchen as she cleaned. She sounded quite good as she danced and sang the lyrics to Mercy by Duffy. Just as Joe was about to let her know he was there she turned and caught sight of him and let out a screech to prove it.

“JOE, you scared the heck out of me! How long have you been standing there?” She asked as she clutched at her chest.

Joe started to laugh at the look on her face, “Long enough.”

Leigh blushed bright pink, “oh so you saw that did you?”

“Yes and I have to say you looked and sounded great. Have you ever considered singing as a career?” He asked with a smirk.

Leigh Ann just rolled her eyes, “Joe come over here. I want you to taste this and tell me what you think.” She stated holding a plate of cookies out for him to taste.

Joe stuck out his tongue at her before he swiped a cookie off the plate and shoved half of it in his mouth. They were good, different but good.
“There good. But what’s that look for? You didn’t poison them did you?” he asked eyeing the cookie regretfully.

Leigh Ann giggled, “No silly their sugar free. I found this recipe in one of your moms cook books and tried it. I know Nick likes sweets and well this way he can have as many cookies as he wants with out worrying about his sugar.”

And that right there is why Joe found himself beginning to like her more and more. The small seemingly insignificant little things that she did for them that were just incredibly sweet.

Joe grinned devilishly, “Oh I see how it is; someone has a crush on my little bro.” He teased.

Leigh Ann rolled her eyes, “Oh please, He’s the same age as.” Her face fell.

“Same age as who?” Joe asked in confusion.

“Don’t worry about it Joe, I-I’m not feeling so well so I think I’m gonna go lay down okay” She said as she sat the plate of cookies back down on the counter and headed for her room.

As Joe heard her footsteps on the stairs he noticed she left something behind. There it sat the notebook that she always seemed to have with her. The one she was always writing in. He was willing to bet anything that that very book held the key to everything he wanted to know. He knew he shouldn’t, but one little quick look wouldn’t’ hurt anything right?

He quickly picked up the book and flipped it to a random page.

20, May 2008

I got the Job!! I am so excited! Mr. and Mrs. Jonas are so incredibly sweet. First they invite me to dinner and then after finding out that I would be staying in a hotel until the tour started they both insisted that I go ahead and stay with them for the three weeks. Mrs. Jonas said she needed the extra help with last minute things anyway. And their four boys, they are just absolutely adorable. Especially Frankie, I can just tell we are going to have lots of fun together. Then there are the other three. Kevin, Nick, and Joe, I still think is funny that they didn’t believe me when I said I had never heard their music. It’s not my fault I was raised in Mississippi. We tend to listen to the likes of Taylor Swift, Kenny Chesney, and Blake Shelton not the Jonas Brothers. Although I do believe after the mini concert they gave me after dinner I am now a Jonas Brother fan. Their music is amazing, especially Hello Beautiful. That song gave me chills. It was like when Joe was singing I could see right into his soul. It still gives me chills thinking about it. Speaking of Joe what can I say about him…

Joe panicked as he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Tossing the book back on the counter he headed for the fridge and jerked it open pretending to be looking for something to eat just as she came back into the kitchen.

“I just forgot my notebook, I’ll be in my room if you need me,” Leigh Ann stated as she headed back towards the stairs.

As Joe shut the fridge he couldn’t stop the smile that began to spread on his face and he couldn’t help but wonder just what exactly did she have to say about him.

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A few hours later Leigh Ann found herself doing what else but writing in her notebook when there was a knock at the door.

“Come in” she stated

Joe pushed her door open all the way and announced, “I’m bored.”

“And?” Leigh Ann asked confused.

“And I want to go do something,” Joe stated as he walked in and plopped down on the end of her bed.

“So go do something,” She stated as she gave up trying to write.

“But I want you to come with me,” Joe said as he crossed his arms behind his head.

Leigh blushed a little as she tried not to stare at the muscles peaking out of his short sleeved t-shirt, “Ok, but where do you want to go?”

“I don’t have a clue”

Sighing in frustration Leigh said, “Well Joe it would be helpful if you knew where you wanted to go.”

“Well I don’t hear any ideas from you either miss smarty pants,” Joe said grinning.

Leigh Ann grinned, “You any good at basketball?”

“I guess,why?” He asked.

“Because that’s what were gonna go do.”

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Ten minutes, a disguise, a knee brace and a basketball later Joe and Leigh Ann found themselves walking towards the park.

As Joe twirled the ball between his hands he glanced down at Leigh Ann’s left knee, “So why you got that thing on?” He asked motioning to her knee brace.

“An old basketball injury, I’m supposed to where it when I play.”

“Oh so you’ve played before?” He asked clearly surprised.

“Yep, for seven years now”

“Are you any good?” Joe asked after he realized she wasn’t going to elaborate.

Leigh took the ball from him and spun it in her hand, “For me to know and for you to find out,” She stated as she took off running for the court and going in for a lay-up.

Joe began laughing as he followed her.

Once Joe had caught up to her and sat his hat and sunglasses on the bench Leigh Ann bounced him the ball, “Alright what’s the game?”

“First to twenty, each basket worth two points and anything goes; does that sound good?” He asked.

Leigh Ann shrugged, “Sounds fine.”

Joe grinned, “How about we make it a little more interesting?”

Leigh rolled her eyes, “interesting in what way?”

“If I win you do something for me, if you win I do something for you.” Joe stated cockily.

Leigh Ann grinned; this boy obviously didn’t know who he was dealing with, “You’re on.”

Joe bounced her the ball, “Ladies first.”

As Leigh Ann began dribbling she noticed his first mistake. He wasn’t guarding her tight. He was assuming she was going to go for the goal. As she moved to the left so did he giving her just the opening she needed. Making a quick crossover to her right she charged for the goal and put up a quick jump shot earning her the first points of the game.

“Two points,” She teased handing Joe the ball.

“Yeah, yeah,” He grumbled as he began to dribble the ball. Upon noticing how close she was guarding him he laughed. He charged to the right a bit, backed up and put a shot up at the three point line effectively sinking it.

Leigh Ann laughed as Joe did a victory dance and started flashing his “guns”. Leigh Ann rolled her eyes, “Alright Mr. hot-shot, enough bragging lets get back to the game.” She stated as she started to dribble the ball.

But this time Joe decided to guard her like she had been guarding him and easily stole the ball from her and started to go in for a lay-up giving her two options to choose from: A) Let him make it and proceed to rub it in her face, or B) Foul the heck out of him… She chose B.

She cut in front of him and jumped just as he jumped to make the shot quickly causing a series of events to occur. First their bodies slammed into each other, the momentum of which propelled Leigh Ann backwards. Then her left foot hit the grown at an odd angle causing her ankle to roll which caused her to smack first her shoulder then her head into the pole and to make things infinitely worse Joe landed right on top of her effectively knocking the air from her lungs.

Joe quickly scrambled off of her and immediately began apologizing, “Oh my God. I am so sorry, are you okay” He asked

“My ankle,” she cried as tears streamed down her face.

Crouching down he held her leg with one hand and gently remove her shoe with the other. After removing her shoe he gently eased her sock off and was met with an ugly sight. Her ankle was already starting to turn purple and from the looks of it was swelling as well. When he looked up at her he was met with an even more shocking sight. She had a small cut just above her right eye that had started to bleed and something about her right shoulder just didn’t look right. Quickly making a decision Joe jumped up and grabbed his hat and sunglasses jamming them back on then gently reached down and scooped Leigh Ann up into his arms.

“Joe what are you doing?” Leigh Ann cried through the tears and pain.

“Carrying you home,” He stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Leigh Ann scoffed, “Joe you can’t carry me back to your house.”

“And why is that?” He asked as he shifted her weight to get a better grip.

“Because I’m too heavy.”

“So what are you calling me weak or something?” He teased.

“No I’m saying that I am too heavy for anyone to carry that far.”

Joe rolled his eyes, “Leigh Ann, do me a favor.”

“What?” She sniffed.

“Just shut up and hold on okay,” He asked with a smile.

Leigh tightened her one armed grip around his neck and nodded.