The Good Life

he next day Joe and I woke up, and got ready to go to the studio, as usual. I kissed him goodbye for the day and brought everyone their Starbucks and went to my desk, while Joe went into the door marked ‘Studio 4.’ I took care of the regular things I did around the office for most of the day and around 2:00 I heard the elevator ding and glanced up to see who it was. Two girls that were dressed to the likes of Paris & Nicole walked through the doors, both on their cell phones, and both clad with pounds of make up on their faces and designer track suits. I scoffed a laugh as they pranced over to my desk, “Um excuse you, where are the Jonas Brothers?” I looked up at her, “I’m sorry who are you?” She looked at me like I had just insulted her mother,
“Um, I’m Camilla, the older one stated, and this is Sam.” she said pointing to the girl next to her. “Okayyyy, and you need to go in there because…” she was getting annoyed at this point, “We sing and we’re going to be working on a song with them, our manager hooked it up.” She said with a smirk, “plus now’s my time to make my move,” she leaned over my desk and cupped her hand to the side of her mouth like she was telling me a secret, “Joe wants me.” I couldn’t help it I let out a loud laugh, which caused her to look at me like I was crazy.

I buzzed the studio phone and asked Mr. Nottingham if he was expecting a ‘Camel’ and a ‘Pam’ both girls squinted their eyes at me and he gave me the okay, I hung up the phone, “Studio 4.” They both turned on their 4 inch heels and I heard them talking about how I was jealous and what not as they made their way down the hall, I wanted to call after her, ‘Is he seeping in your bed every night?’ But I decided against, seeing that wouldn’t be so appropriate or business-like.

A few minutes later I heard a door slam and heavy footsteps coming my way, I craned my neck to get a better look at the person and smiled when I saw Joe, my smile faded when I saw the expression on his face. I walked from behind my desk and made my way to where he was pacing and running his hands through his already messy hair. I laid a hand on his arm causing him to jump and asked him in a small voice, “Babe, what’s wrong?” He fully turned to me and his hard expression softened a bit when he saw me and he rubbed the sides of my arms, “It’s just HER.” I scrunched my face up, “Who?” he dropped his hands to his sides, “Camilla.” He paused, “She won’t leave it alone, we had a thing once last summer and I decided that wasn’t going to work out for me so uh, i kind of just ended it and now she’s here and we have to write a song with her and her sister.” He let out a sign and I just opened my arms to him, “Come here.” A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth and he bent down, wrapped his arms around my waist and laid his head on my shoulder. “How do you do that?” he asked after a couple moments. “Do what?” I said as I pulled back and we both kept our arms around the others waist, “Just completely calm me down like that, they probably thought I wouldn’t be back until tomorrow.” I shrugged, “So are you gunna go back in there or what?” He nodded, and gave my lips a peck which eventually turned into a full make out in the middle of the hall. We heard someone clear their throat and jumped apart to see the devil herself, Camilla, I didn’t like this girl, she looked like a big bundle of trouble and drama, and that’s not what I needed right now.

She walked over to us and put a hand on Joe’s shoulder, “They want you back in there.” She said with a smile that showed her way to white, chemically enhanced teeth, making me want to gag. Joe grabbed me and pecked my lips once more before turning and making his way back down the hall. I turned back to my desk and heard the door shut assuming the two went back into the studio, that is until I heard the ‘clack clack’ of high heels against the marble floor. I looked up, “Need something?” she didn’t answer my question, instead she asked a question of her own, “So you and Joe are like…kind of like dating huh?” I nodded, “No way, we like really just like to like hang out in the hall and make out with each other, like that.” I said in her annoying voice with a fake pep in my voice, she narrowed her eyes at me, “You better watch your back, he’ll be crawling back to me before this song is written and recorded, you just watch.” I laughed at her attempt at a threat, “Is that supposed to scare me?” She shook her head, “Oh, don’t you think your special, Joe Jonas’ girlfriend why don’t you—” I cut her off, “Who do you think you are? Get over yourself, Joe and I are doing perfectly fine, so take your skanky ass bullshit and bring it somewhere else because Joe dumped you once what makes you think he’d take you back into consideration again?” She looked at me stunned and turned to walk away, I sat there with a smug look on my face until she turned around and said, “Why don’t you ask your ‘perfect’ boyfriend what he did with this skanky ass last summer.” She smiled and then turned back down the hall.

The feeling of triumph I had faded and a feeling of nausea settled in. ‘What the hell was she talking about? Joe said they went out once, what the hell happened? He made it sound like no big deal, of course he would if something actually happened, why would he want me to know if he hooked up with that slut?’ I shook my head, ‘NO.’ I was turning myself against Joe in my head, and I didn’t even know the story, I couldn’t jump to a conclusion, that’s unfair to him. I’ll just ask him tonight.

After work Joe and I stopped at In N Out Burger and got some food to take home and ate then settled on the couch to watch the contestants perform American Idol. We were snuggled up together but Camilla’s voice was all I heard in my head, so I picked up the remote and paused the show and looked up at him. He kept his eyes on the TV, “Babe, why’d you do that I wanted to know—” he cut his sentence short when he looked down at me, “What’s wrong?”

I knew he wasn’t going to want to talk about it but I brought it up anyway because it was eating me up inside. I suddenly looked down and had a new interest for the blanket that covered us, I let out a sigh, “Joe, Camilla said something to me after you went back into the studio and it’s just been eating at me all day and I just need to know what went down with you two.” He blew a puff of air out of his mouth and removed his arms from me and placed his elbows on his knees and dropped his head to his hands, this couldn’t be a happy discussion. “We didn’t exactly have a small thing,” his statement set off an explosion of worry throughout my entire body. He turned his head to me, and quickly looked away; obviously I wasn’t very good at hiding my feelings. “I met her at a barbeque that the label threw for all the employees and artists and what not. We hung out and got pretty close to each other.” By the way his face dropped I knew I didn’t want to know the rest of the story, but I tried to prepare myself. He shook his head and kept going, “We were at my house and no one was home,” I forced a swallow down my dry throat as he continued, “Umm, we got really close to going too far.” I shook my head to clear my thoughts and waited a few moments to see if he said anything else, and then let out a barely audible, “How close?” he looked at me with a sorry expression on his face like he didn’t want to answer my question, but I pushed it, “Joe…” he looked at the ceiling, “If we wouldn’t have heard the front door close—” I had heard enough, I was now sick to my stomach and stood up and walked to the foyer, tears were stinging at my eyes, he followed my lead and walked after me, “Kayden I—” I shook my head at him causing a few tears to spill from my eyes and I saw the look in his eyes, the look that told me he cared and just wanted to make it okay.

I forced myself to look away from him because what he just told me really hurt me, so I put my hand on the doorknob and opened it, “Joe, please leave.” I looked down at the floor and saw his feet shuffle by and turn back towards the door, “Kay—” I shut the door and fell back against it and let out a sob, they continued to come and I couldn’t control them, I knew he heard because I hadn’t heard him go down the steps nor heard his car leave so I knew he was in the exact same spot.

I picked myself up off the floor and turned off all the lights downstairs and made my way up to my room, still crying, I looked out my window just in time to see him pull out of the driveway which caused my so cry even harder, I didn’t want to be without him but at this point I didn’t want to be with him either. I got ready for bed and even though it was only 8:00 I climbed in my bed. I wasn’t tired but at the rate that my crying was going, I would be soon. So instead of sleeping, I thought, I thought about Joe, and Camilla, and Joe, and what had almost happened between them, and Joe, and our conversation not to long ago about what the ring he wore on his left finger meant to him, and how he almost gave that away to Camilla. I didn’t understand, I guess that’s why I was so upset with him. These thoughts consumed my mind and I eventually wore myself out from crying that I slowly drifted off to sleep.

I woke up after potentially the worst night of sleep I’ve ever had and turned over, Joe wasn’t there, thoughts from the night before rushed back into my head and my eyes began leaking tears again, I pulled myself out of bed and took a shower and straightened my hair, I made no attempt to put makeup on my already puffy eyes and made my way to the car. I stopped at Starbucks and was thankful when I got to the office and realized the producers were all in the conference room in a meeting, I put all their orders on their desks and I did my usual at work until I heard the elevator ding.

I glanced at the schedule and saw that it could be one of two groups of people, and I didn't care to see either of them, it was too late to duck into the bathroom so I began to type my dad an e-mail I had no intention of sending, I just wanted to look busy, I heard deep low whispers and the sound of rubber soles against the floor, meaning it was the boys, ‘Wonderful.’ I inconspicuously glanced up to see Joe heading towards me with his hands in his pockets and couldn’t help but notice his red, slightly puffy eyes behind his glasses and messy hair, he had obviously had a rough night also, the mere sight of him caused my eyes to fill with tears, but they didn’t fall.

I looked down at the keyboard and saw his elbows lean on the counter, then I heard his voice, “Kayden, I’m sorry, I know I should have told you before, but I didn’t want to hurt you that’s the last thing I wanted to do, that’s the last thing I ever want to do, I love you, last night was the worst night of my life only because you weren’t there, I feel terrible, she was a mistake, I thank God every single day for you, I thank him that he let my parents walk in that day before I had the chance to make the biggest mistake of my life, once I heard the door that day I realized what I was doing, she had me in a trance and I had given in, it was wrong and I knew it, I knew she wasn't the one, I stopped and told her I never wanted to see her again, that she was a mistake, it was harsh but it’s how I felt, what I thought I had with her wasn’t real, but you, what you give me, what we have together, it’s like perfection.”

I was frozen, I couldn’t move, I heard him let out a sigh of frustration after a few moments, and I kept my eyes glued to the keyboard, my heart was telling me to jump up and hug him and tell him it would be okay but my mind was thinking otherwise. I was about to open my mouth to say something when he slammed his fists down on the counter, “Damnit Kayden, look at me.” His sudden movement and the loudness of his voice caused me to snap out of my trance and I looked up at him, tears spilling from my eyes, he reached towards my face but I flinched and turned my head to the side, he had scared me just then. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him rush around my desk and swivel my chair to him he knelt down in between my legs and looked up at me, I saw the tears forming in his eyes as he folded his arms over my lap and laid his head down and began shaking his head, “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry Kay, God, I’m sorry.” He kept repeating, at this point my heart had melted, right then i knew how much he cared, and how he never meant to hurt me so I ignored the thoughts in my head and followed my heart.

I ran a hand through his hair causing him to look up at me and I choked out the first words I had said to him since I told him to leave the night before, “I…love..you.” I said in between light sobs. A look of relief washed over his face and he pulled me up and wrapped his arms around me, I was so happy to be back in his arms that I began sobbing uncontrollably, he pushed the hair away from my face that was sticking to my face wet with tears he cupped the sides of my face with his hands and kissed me, it was sweet and alow and full of love; I smiled into his lips and hugged him, “I missed you, I couldn’t sleep, I was miserable, God, I love you, I just love you.” He looked down at me, “Can we please leave and just be together, just you and me, do something, go anywhere, stay home? I don't care what we do, I just want to be around you.” I shrugged, “I don’t know, I’ll talk to my uncle, I guess, what about you?” He laughed, “Please, I do what I want, if I want to leave, I’ll leave.” I gave him a look, and he laughed, “Nah, we just had to come here and sign some stuff, we called this morning and said we couldn’t do the song with them, that is wasn’t going to work so we don’t have to be back until Monday, that's in five days, in case you were wondering.”

My eyes bugged out and my mouth dropped open, “Joe, you didn’t have to do that, I feel so selfish—” He put a finger to my lips, “No, they were going to cause too many problems, all of us knew that it wouldn’t work out, even Mr. Nottingham, he told us he was thankful we called it off before he had to.” I nodded my head still stunned, and looked up at him, “I’m going to talk to my uncle, go see what your brothers are up to.” We drifted apart and I knocked on my uncle’s door, he yelled for me to come in and I opened the door to see the beaming smile on his face slide off, “What’s the matter?” he said while he stood up and made his way to me wrapping me in a hug, he pulled back and looked at me, “Joe?” he asked I nodded and he turned towards the door mumbling under his breath, something about beating the sit out of him, I don't know, I grabbed his arm, “No, we’re okay now, but I didn’t get much sleep last night and I don’t feel up to staying here all day, do you mind if I just go home?” He smiled at me, “No problem Kay, you’ve been doing so well around here, we really appreciate it, go do something fun.” I smiled at him, maybe your right; I kind of need a vacation.” He nodded, “Go for it kid, live a little, take today and tomorrow off, that gives you a five day weekend, you deserve it.” I hugged him tight, “Thanks Uncle Tripp, love you.” He retuned my hug, “Love you too kid, now get outta here.” I walked back to my desk and texted Joe;

‘I’m heading home, when you leave here, come to my house, I have a surprise :’

He quickly texted me back, ‘Oh a surprise? I’m excited :’

I drove to the Jonas house, I had some things to discuss with Mrs. Denise.

I parked in their driveway and went to knock on the door, Mrs. Denise opened the door and engulfed me in a hug, “Sweetie, are you okay? Joe came home last night and was a mess and wouldn’t talk to anyone, I knew something was wrong.” I nodded into her shoulder, “We’re okay, that’s what I came to talk to you about actually.” She nodded and walked into the living room and motioned for me to sit on the couch with her. I walked over and sat with her, “So, what’s on your mind?” she asked me. “Well, Joe and I got into a little spiff last night but we’re okay now but this morning I got to thinking, we’ve both been so bust lately and I feel like I just need to get away, my uncle gave me the rest of the week off so I was thinking of driving to Salt Lake City to just chill out for a few days,” I looked up to her and she nodded telling me to continue, “I just wanted to come by and ask your permission to see if it was okay if Joe came with me.” She smiled at me, “Oh Kayden, yeah, I’ve been begging them to take a vacation, and since they aren’t working with Camilla and Pam anymore they have a few days off, I think it’s an excellent idea.” I beamed at her and stood, “Well I wanted to leave as soon as possible so I was thinking this afternoon so we wouldn’t have to drive through the night, that makes me too nervous.” She stood and shook her head at me, “I understand, you need all the time you can get.” I thanked her, “Oh, I’m trying to keep it a surprise to please don’t tell him.” She laughed, “Oh, he’ll love that, why don’t you go up to his room and grab some warmer clothes, I’m sure he doesn’t have that much at your house.” I smiled, “Good idea.” I ran up the stairs to his room and pulled a suitcase out the bottom of his closet and grabbed the warmest clothes I could find and some scarves and gloves and shoved them into the suitcase. I drug it down the stairs and put it next to the door, I walked in the kitchen to tell Mrs. Denise bye, she hugged me and said, “You two have a good time, call me when you get there and be careful.” I pulled back, “We will, thank you so much Mrs. Denise.” She smiled at me and waved.

I made my way to the car with Joe’s suitcase and threw it in the back. I made my way to my house and ran inside and grabbed my suitcase from under my bed and packed all the warmest clothes I had and grabbed my shampoo, face wash, straightner and curling iron, our toothbrushes and a tube of toothpaste, his shaving cream and razor, his cologne and my perfume I decided to put some make up on while I waited for Joe and then packed it all and put it in my hard-cased smaller suitcase and picked it up and put it with the suitcase that held my clothes. I grabbed my coat and a duffle bag and went into Joe’s closet and grabbed one of his coats to put in the car for when we got there, and shoved some more clothes of his into the duffle bag since i only got a few things fom his house and drug it all to the car and ran back inside, I changed into a pair of black skinny jeans, one of Joe’s T shirts, a sweatshirt, fluffed out my hair and pulled on my Ugg boots.

I pulled out my phone on the way down the stairs and called my dad to tell him what was going on, he laughed when I told him, “Always the spontaneous one, eh Kay?” I nodded, “What do you expect?” We talked a little while and told me that he’d take care of wherever we wanted to stay I thanked him repeatedly and he told me he was coming to visit me soon, I grinned at the idea, I’ve missed him so much, I told him I had to go because Joe would be here soon, we said our goodbyes and I promised I’d call him when I got there. I made my way to the computer sitting on the kitchen table and I googled places to stay in the Salt Lake Area and came across a little 2 bedroom, 3 bathroom cabin, fully furnished that was secluded in the mountains for a semi-reasonable price. Perfect. I pulled out my phone and called the number on the screen and made reservations for four nights and five days, and asked the woman to e-mail me a confirmation ticket. I mapquested the directions and hooked the computer up to the printer and printed them out along with the confirmation ticket and pictures of the cabin, inside and out. I grabbed my laptop case and packed it up with the charger and remembered my phone charger, I ran upstairs and grabbed mine and Joe’s and stuffed them into my laptop bag along with my camera and the battery charger.

I grabbed a bag out of my closet and the two goose feather pillows off of my bed on my way back downstairs and went into the kitchen and packed some snacks and two 4-packs of Red Bull that we always kept in the refrigerator, I pulled my old comforter off the couch and made my way to the car and shoved it all into the back seat and put the directions, confirmation ticket, and pictures on the dashboard on the passenger side. I checked the time on my phone, 1:10; he should be here any minute. I went back inside and checked for last minute things I might need to grab and was making my bed when I felt two arms wrap around my waist, I turned in his arms and laid my hands on his chest, “You ready?” He nuzzled his unshaven face into my neck causing me to shiver, “Where are we going?” he asked into my hair while kissing my neck. I smiled and grabbed his hand and lead him down the stairs turning lights off on the way. He continued to question me about what was going on but I just kept quiet with a smirk planted on my face. I walked out the door and locked the knob on the way out and then turned the key in the deadbolt and led him to the car. I hit the unlock button and we got in, “Babe, where are we goin—” He noticed the stack of papers sitting on the dashboard and grabbed them as I backed out my driveway. I saw him smiling ear to ear as he looked through the papers.

I stopped at the stop sign at the end of my street, and turned to him, “Kay, this looks perfect, this is exactly what I need,” he paused and leaned towards me, “what we need.” I smiled at him and laid a hand on his cheek, and kissed him. I pulled back, "Ready?" he grinned at me and grabbed my hand and intertwined our fingers, "Let's make some memories, babyyy." he said to me in a horrible Elvis impersonation which caused me so laugh.

And so it begins...