Worlds Keep Spinning Round

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: MEET THE PARENTS

Everyone was completely happy the rest of that night. Nick had gotten on better terms with Camille and promised to keep in touch while they finished their tour. Sarah and Kevin were now dating. Sarah and I were going to go with the guys to New Jersey and spend Christmas and New Years with them and their family. Then we were going to fly back to California and they were going to finish their tour.

It was the morning of our flight to New Jersey and a few days had passed by since we had all spent the night together. The guys picked us up at Sarah’s apartment and we were on our way to the airport. It was still pretty early and we were all sleeping in the car. Once we were in the terminal, Big Rob led us to the jet. It was a pretty long flight back to Jersey and I slept most of the way. After our stop in Mississippi, I stayed awake. As we got closer to Newark airport, I got more and more nervous. We finally landed and it was getting late (considering there is a three hour time difference...I can never get used to that). We all piled into a van and Josh drove us to the Jonas household. I sat looking out the window, listening to my Ipod, and fidgeting with the necklace Joe had given me for my birthday. I saw Joe look over at me from the corner of my eyes. We hadn’t talked much through the long trip. I saw his lips moving and took out my earpieces. “What was that?” I asked him in a whisper so no one else would hear us.

“I asked you why you had that weird look on your face?” he repeated in a whisper.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” I told him trying to brush it off.

“Yea right. What’s up?” he asked again.

I let out a sigh and told him, “I’m kinda nervous.”

After taking one glance at the look on my face, his expression softened. He put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me in closer to him. Once my ear was right next to his lips, he said, “You have nothing to worry about. My parents are going to love you.”

I pulled back a bit and looked him in the eyes. “But what if they don’t?” I asked with an apprehensive look on my face. After all, they had mentioned countless times that it was essential for their mother to approve their girlfriends. Considering the rift there had been between me and Josh, I had no idea what she knew about me, or what she thought. The idea scared the shit out of me.

A small smile spread out on his lips. “What’s not to love? Besides, I’ve told them so much about you already that they are dying to meet you,” he added.

“Really?” I asked apprehensively.

“Really,” he said. He pulled me in again and gave me a light kiss on the temple of my forehead. Right then we pulled into the driveway of an average looking house. Everyone piled out of the car and Joe and I were the last ones left. He offered his hand and helped me out of the van. Before we even reached the door, it flew open and a little tornado came running out. He tackled Nick into the snow. Joe immediately jumped on top of them and Kevin followed.

“Frank the Tank. What’s up little yoda,” Kevin said.

“Nothing. It’s about time you guys got here. It’s been so boring with just mom and dad. I missed you.” The boys were laughing and goofing off, catching up on the months since they had last seen each other. I couldn't help but admire how close they all were; the sight of them talking as they sat in the snow brought a smile to my face.

“You boys better come in here right now before you freeze to death out there,” came the sound of their mother’s voice from the doorway.

They all got up and walked into the house. Kevin grabbed Sarah’s hand and Joe grabbed mine. Sarah and I both looked at each other. This is it. Please let them like me.

As soon as we were inside the house, Joe led me to the kitchen, and introduced me to his parents. “Nat, these are my parents Denise and Kevin Sr. Mom, Dad, this is my girlfriend Natalie,” he said with a huge grin on his face. He still loved the fact that he was able to call me his girlfriend. I didn’t mind it either.

“It’s so nice to finally meet you,” I said to his parents walking up to shake their hands. To my surprise, Denise pulled me into a hug.

“It’s so nice to meet you too. Joseph does nothing but talk about you,” she said pulling back and taking a long look at me. She turned me over to her husband and he too gave me a hug. Except his hug was a big bear hug that kind of suffocated me.

“Dad! She can barely breathe,” Joe exclaimed.

His dad released me and air flowed back into my lungs. “So sorry. Joseph Adam Jonas, you never told us how pretty she was,” he said turning to face Joe.

Joe blushed like crazy and rolled his eyes. He pulled me aside as Kevin introduced Sarah to his parents. They gave her the same greeting except Mr. Jonas didn’t give her as big a hug as he did me. After we were introduced to their parents, they gave us a tour of their house. I pointed out how much I loved all the baby pictures of them on the walls and they all blushed. Sarah and I just laughed at them. We were in Kevin and Joe’s room when the tiny tornado came in and tackled Joe.

“How can one little kid have so much energy?” I asked no one in particular.

All three guys burst out laughing. “You have no idea just how energetic Frankie can get,” Nick said. We all looked at Frankie. He was staring at me with a glazed look on his face. The kind of face a kid would get when walking into a candy shop.

“Um, why is he staring at me like that?” I whispered to Kevin, who was standing closest to me.

He waved his hand in front of Frankie’s face. “Frankie. Hello. Little Yoda.” Frankie snapped out of it and whispered something in Joe’s ear.

Joe burst out in laughter and moved Frankie off of his chest. “Looks like I’m not the only Jonas Brother that likes you,” he said. This caused Frankie to punch Joe’s gut.

I giggled and bent down to be at eye level with him. Before I even said anything he said, “You’re really pretty. Will you be my girlfriend?”

I giggled even more and ruffled his hair. “Of course I will. You’re not so bad looking yourself, you little stud muffin,” I told him. “Don’t tell your brothers this, but I think you are way cuter than all three of them put together,” I whispered in his ear.

He covered his mouth trying to hide his laugh but failed. Joe, Nick, and Kevin looked at me and scrunched their eyebrows. I winked at Frankie and stood up. The guys just shrugged and led us down to their basement, finishing off the tour. We were hanging out and they were trying to teach Sarah how to play Guitar Hero when their parents called us up for dinner. Afterwards, Sarah and I helped Mrs. Jonas do the dishes, while the boys went outside and played in the snow and Mr. Jonas went to watch the news.

When we were done, we put on coats and went outside. The boys didn’t see us walk outside so we looked at each other and nodded. We bent down, made an arsenal of snowballs and started throwing them. I aimed my first snowball at Joe and Sarah aimed hers at Kevin. They both turned around surprised and gaped when they saw how far away we were from them. “Whoa, you guys threw that?” Joe asked.

He can be so dumb sometimes. “Yea, we did,” I told him in my best gangsta voice. They were shaking their heads as they bent down and grabbed a handful of snow and made a snowball. “Hey Frankie, wanna be on our side?” I yelled to him.

He didn’t say anything. He just ran towards us and made his own sloppy snowball and threw it at Nick. Seconds later, our snowball fight began. The guys belatedly realized that we already had a whole bunch of snowballs made. We weren’t giving them a break. When we were out, Sarah bent down and started making more. Frankie and I threw them as fast as she made them. Finally, Nick, Joe, and Kevin surrendered.

“Alright,” the three of us said.

“High five,” I said to Frankie holding out my hand. He hit it with little force and giggled when I shook my hand, making believe it hurt. The three of us were celebrating our victory and not really paying attention to the other three. The next thing we knew, we were on the ground, each having been tackled by an older Jonas. We were rolling around in the snow in a fit of laughter.

We looked up as we heard the door open. “Alright Frankie lets go. Time to get ready for bed,” Mr. Jonas said.

“Aww come on dad. They just got here,” he whined.

“Inside. Now,” Mr. Jonas said not giving in to his youngest sons pouts.

Frankie got up and brushed the snow off his clothes. He dragged his feet all the way inside the house and I heard him mumbling as he walked past me. “Aww, poor Frankie,” I said after Mr. Jonas had closed the door. “How does your dad do it? I would not have been able to say no to such a cutie like Frankie.”

Nick shook his head and laughed. “Dad used to give in all the time with us. But mom set him straight after,” he stopped himself from telling an embarrassing story. “Well, point is, Frankie got the short end of the stick. He doesn’t get away with anything, usually.”

“Poor thing,” Sarah said.

“Yea,” Nick said. He got up and brushed the snow off his pants. “Well Imma head on inside and check to see if Camille is on AIM.” He walked into the house and left the four of us alone.

We all got up and sat on the edge of their patio deck. We stayed out there for what seemed hours just talking about childhood memories, mostly embarrassing stories. “Well, I’m kinda tired,” Sarah said getting up and brushing the snow off her butt. “I’m gonna head in.”
Kevin got up too and led her inside to show her where she would be sleeping. This left Joe and I all by ourselves. Now that Sarah was no longer sitting next to me, I could feel the wind blowing. I shivered a bit and immediately Joe put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me closer to him. “Better?” he asked.

I nodded my head and sat with my head against his shoulder. “So, how is it possible that you can throw snowballs from that far away?” he asked.

I let out a giggle remembering the expression on his face after my first snowball had hit him right in the back of the head. “Sarah and I used to pitch for our softball teams. I played for the school and she played in a league. But when we were little, my uncle Mikey, Sarah’s dad, he used to take us to the park and we’d play either wiffle ball or baseball,” I told him.

“Pretty, funny, smart, nice, amazing singer, and plays wiffle ball,” he let out a sigh. “I have the most perfect girlfriend in the world,” he said kissing the tip of my nose. I let out a giggle and shook my head. I didn't see the need to mention that I was far from perfect. We sat in silence for a while until we heard Kevin yelling at us from a bedroom window.

“Will you two get in here before you freeze to death?” We looked up at him and rolled our eyes. There he goes being all protective big brother. We got up, brushed the snow off our frozen butts, and made our way inside.

Everyone else was already showered and ready for bed. Mr. and Mrs. Jonas were already asleep in their room. Frankie was sleeping with them. Nick had apparently finished talking to Camille because he had fallen asleep on the couch in the basement. He looked comfortable so we left him there and just threw a blanket over him. Sarah and Kevin were up in Nick and Frankie’s room when we walked in. No one said anything so I just grabbed my towel and pajamas and made my way to the bathroom. When I was done, Joe took his shower.

I felt like a third wheel being with Kevin and Sarah so I went to Kevin and Joe’s room. That’s where Sarah and I were going to be sleeping anyway. I was reading a book when I saw Joe walk into the room. My jaw dropped as my eyes moved up and down Joe’s body. He was wearing long fleece pajama bottoms and no shirt. Even though it wasn't the first time I see him without a shirt, I just can never help myself from gaping at his toned, muscular body. He laughed at the expression on my face, making me snap out of it and say, “You’d better put a shirt on.”

“That’s not usually what girls tell me,” he said jokingly sitting next to me on his bed.

I rolled my eyes and slapped his bare, flat stomach playfully. “It gets really cold out here during the winter. Especially at night,” I said seriously.

He chuckled at my concern. “Yea, I know. I’ve lived here for a really long time,” he said making no movement to indicate he was going to listen to me. I raised an eyebrow his way and he shook his head. He went over to his dresser, grabbed a t-shirt and put it on. “Happy now?” he asked turning back to me.

“Mmhmm,” I said nodding my head. He walked back over to me and got into the bed. Immediately, his arm went around my shoulder and my head rested on his chest. The position was second nature to us already. We sat in silence enjoying each other’s warmth on the cold December night, sneaking kisses every so often. Eventually I feel asleep because the next thing I knew, Kevin was shaking me.

“Come on Nat, get up.”

I opened my eye a wink and saw that the room was full of sunlight. I looked over to Kevin’s bed and saw that Sarah was also being woken up by Kevin. I checked the time on my phone, 8:00 a.m. I let out a sigh and sat up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

“Kevin, is there a particular reason you are waking us up at 8:00 in the morning?” Sarah asked annoyed. She, like me, was not a morning person.

Kevin backed up, surprised by her tone of voice. I noticed it and told him, “Don’t take it personally Kev. You think I’m bad in the morning, Sarah is ten times worse.”

He eased up a bit. “Well, mom is starting breakfast, and then we were thinking of showing you guys around our hometown,” he said in a gentle voice.

Sarah was now over being woken up early. She had hopped off the bed, grabbed her towel and gotten into the bathroom before Kevin even finished his sentence. He just stared after her surprised at the amount of energy she had after being all grumpy a few seconds ago. I laughed at the expression on his face and escorted him out the door.

About an hour later, both Sarah and I were heading down the stairs for breakfast. It was the best meal I had had in a really long time and I let Mrs. Jonas know it. Afterwards, we all helped with the dishes. When we were done, we headed out. “So, where are you guys taking us?” Sarah asked looking at Kevin. We were in Kevin’s car. Sarah was in the passenger seat and Nick, Joe, and I were in the backseat.

“That’s a surprise,” Nick answered. Sarah and I looked at each other. We weren’t going to let them off the hook that easily. We started guessing all the places they could take us. We went on for a while until we pulled into a set of woods.

“Ok, this is kinda creepy,” I said as Kevin pulled the car to a stop. The guys quickly got out and waited for us. “Where are we?” I asked Joe.

“You’ll see,” he said as he pulled something out his back pocket. It was a bandana. Kevin had pulled one out of his back pocket as well.

They went to put it around our eyes. “What are you doing?” we asked at the same time. I could tell Sarah was as freaked out as I was.

“Just trust us,” Kevin said. We both looked at each other and when the guys went to cover our eyes again, we didn't protest. I felt Joe grab my hand as he led me through the thick woods. What are these guys up to? Taking us to the middle of the woods and putting blindfolds on us. This is just like scary movies. Aww man I can see the headlines now, Teen-Heart Throbs Murder Their Girlfriends on Surprise Expenditure! A few minutes later, we stopped. I bumped right into Joe and by the commotion I heard, I could tell Sarah had bumped into Kevin. Weird how the same stuff always happens to us.

Seconds later my breath was taken away as Joe removed my blindfold. We were standing in front of a gorgeous lake. It was frozen over and the ice looked so pristine. The sun was shining so brilliantly down on us and everything else was covered in snow. It was a gorgeous winter landscape.

“Do you like it?” Joe asked. I couldn’t even speak. I just nodded my head.

“You guys really suck,” I heard Nick say from behind us. The four of us turned around. He had been lugging a bag and looked really tired. Joe and Kevin shot him apologetic looks.

“What’s in the bag?” Sarah asked.

Kevin walked over to where Nick had dumped the bag and pulled out an ice-skate. Sarah’s eyes widened. She loved ice-skating. I liked it too, but she was crazy about it. Probably because she was so good at it. Kevin pulled the rest of the skates out and distributed them out. “You guys ice-skate?” I asked surprised.

Nick chuckled. “Not really. After you guys told us you ice skated last night, we thought it would be a really good idea to bring you out here. We used to come out here and watch our friend Mandy ice-skate sometimes. She always tried to teach us. We could only manage to move slightly without falling on our butts though,” he replied.

I giggled as I pulled on my skates. Perfect fit. Sarah was the first to get her skates on. The second they touched the ice, she was gliding all over the place. I stared after her for a while still amazed at how good she was. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw the guys come up next to me. By the expressions on their faces, they were stunned by how good Sarah was.
After a while I started to make my way across the ice. Wow, it has been forever since I’ve done this. Within a few seconds, I was gliding across the ice just as Sarah. Without getting in each others way, we started doing jumps and stunts. We completely forgot about the guys and were just enjoying skating.

As I landed one of my jumps, I saw the guys standing where I had left them. I went over to them and put my hands on my hips. “Why aren’t you guys skating?” I asked, screeching to a halt in front of them. They didn’t say anything. They just stared at me with their jaws wide open. Then Sarah came up next to me.

“What’s wrong with them?” she asked.

“I have no idea,” I answered. I waved my hand in front of each of their faces. “Are you guys ok?” Still, they didn’t answer. I looked over at Sarah.

“Maybe we should shove snow down their shirts,” she said.

Nick was the first one to snap out of the trance they were in. He didn’t say anything, he just shook his head. Joe and Kevin soon followed. Then they started applauding. Sarah and I looked at them as if they each had three heads, and think about it, that would mean we were looking at nine heads on three bodies. Nuts! “You two, are AMAZING,” Kevin said a bit too enthusiastically.

“Uhh... thanks?” we both said adding a hint of question to the statement. That’s why they were in a trance?

“I’ve never seen anyone skate like that before,” Joe said.

“Didn’t you say you guys used to watch your friend Mandy skate?” I asked confused.

“Yea, but she was not as good as you two. She never did any jumps or anything,” Joe said as if it made perfect sense.

“Well thanks. Now come on,” Sarah said. She grabbed Kevin’s hand and pulled him out onto the ice. I did the same to Joe and Nick and followed her. We were goofing off and laughing at the guys as they fell millions of times.

Then I saw another figure on the ice. She was making her way towards us. When she finally reached us I thought she looked a bit familiar, but there was no way I could have known her because I hadn’t spent that much time in New Jersey. “Kevin, Joe, Nick! Oh My God I can’t believe it. What are you doing here? Aren’t you guys on tour?”

“Hey Mandy,” they said at the same time when they realized who the blond was.

“What are you guys doing here?” she asked giving them each a hug and a kiss, completely ignoring me and Sarah.

“Uh, we’re just on vacation. You know, for the holidays,” Nick answered.

“That’s cool. Why didn’t you call and say that you were going to be home?” she asked looking straight at Joe.

“Didn’t think about it I guess,” Joe answered. Her eyes brightened as she stared at him. I knew that look all too well. Joe got it from girls all the time. I coughed slightly, reminding him I was still there. He turned and grabbed my hand pulling me forward. “Uh Mandy, I’d like you to meet my girlfriend Natalie,” he said standing behind me and putting his hands on my waist.

“And this is my girlfriend Sarah,” Kevin said doing the same as Joe.

I could see a flash of something in Mandy’s eyes. I couldn’t tell if it was jealousy or hatred, but it was gone as soon as it had appeared. She pulled us both into a hug. “OMGness I can’t believe you two have girlfriends. Many hearts will be broken across the country. It’s so good to meet you two,” she said first looking at Joe and Kevin, and then directing her attention at me and Sarah.

“It’s nice to meet you too,” I told her. “The guys have told me a lot about you. And that song they wrote about you, well it just says something when the Jonas Brothers write a song about you and it becomes a hit.”

“Yea well,” she said popping her collar.

Oh please. I tried really hard not to roll my eyes at her action.

She turned all her attention back to the boys. “I have an idea, why don’t we all go out to lunch,” she said enthusiastically. By the look on Joe’s face, I could tell he was going to turn down the offer for us all. She immediately caught on and added, “Aww come on. It’ll be tons of fun. I haven’t seen you guys in forever. We need to catch up!”

They couldn’t say no to their best friend so a few minutes later we were heading back to the car. Mandy had attached herself to Joe so I ended up walking with Nick. “So, what’s the deal with Mandy and Joe?” I asked him innocently, even though I already knew the answer to that question.

He turned towards me, surprised by the question. “We’re all really good friends. Of course Joe dated her for a while, but that’s history. Why do you ask?”

“No reason.”