A New Playing Field

Nick’s POV

“Oh look, it’s my gorgeous girlfriend,” I said, opening the front door.

“Hey baby,” Megan said, giving me a hug. Megan was alone at home so Mom invited her over for dinner. I, of course, had no objections. Dinner was ready when Megan arrived so we went straight to the kitchen.

“Hello Jonas family!”

“Hey Megan, I hope you’re hungry!” Mom said.

“For your cooking Denise, I am always hungry.”

“Oh Megan, you are the sweetest.”

“I agree,” I whispered in Megan's ear before kissing her cheek. We sat down and began dinner.

“Oh I have some news!” Megan said towards the end of dinner. “I got a call today from Pamela Sanders from People. She finished the article and posted it on their website." I pulled the printed copy out of my purse. Joe read it out loud.

“That’s really good,” Kevin said.

“Take that Miley!” Frankie added with attitude. Everyone began to laugh.

“There’s more,” Megan said, turning to face me. “People would like to do an article on us. Pamela would write it. It would include an interview and a photo shoot.”

“What did you say?” I asked

“I said I had to talk to you first.”

“Do you want to do it?”

“I’ll do it, but if you don’t want to, that’s fine.”

“No, I’ll do it. It sounds cool.” Megan smiled.

“Well that sounds great you two, but Nick, I’m not sure you’ll be able to fit that in before we leave,” Dad said.

I swallowed hard and look down at my plate. I felt my face become hot. I could see Megan staring at me out of the corner of my eye. I guess my family was been under the impression that I already told Megan the news. They probably thought that because I should have told her right when we found out. I just didn’t know the right way to tell her yet, so I put it off. Crap.

Megan's POV

“Oh, where are you going?” I asked innocently.

“Oh Nicholas…” Denise started. She seemed concerned.

“May we be excused?” Nick asked quietly. Denise and Paul nodded, Joe and Kevin exchanged glances, and I became severely confused. Nick and I brought our plates to the sink and Nick grabbed my hand. He led me outside and we sat in the grass with our legs crossed Indian style, facing each other.

“Nick, your facial expression is kind of freaking me out. What’s up?” Nick grabbed my hands and held them between his.

“I’m so sorry,” he said.

“For what?”

“For not telling you right when I found out.”

“Tell me what?” Nick let go of my hand. He put one hand on his knee and ran the other hand through his curls. He exhaled loudly.

“The Cheetah Girls are going on a USA tour and their openers bailed out last minute so they asked us if we could fill in.”

“So you’re…you’re going on tour?”

“Yeah.”

“When did you find out?”

“Two days ago. It’s not like I wasn’t going to tell you. I just hadn’t figured out exactly how to tell you yet.”

“When did you plan on telling me?”

“Tomorrow,” Nick said, ashamed with himself.

I drilled Nick with question after question and he provided me with answer after answer. I just needed to know what was going on. I needed to catch up and be on the same page as the Jonas clan. I knew what question I needed to ask next. I could tell Nick was waiting for it.

“I’m scared to ask this question. When do you leave?”

“September 24th,” Nick said, looking down at the grass.

“Nick, that’s in five days.”

“I-I know.”

“I’m even more scared to ask this question. How long are you gone for?”

“The last date of the tour is um…it’s December 19th.”

A sharp pain of pressure filled my chest with that one word and those two numbers. Three months without Nick? How am I going to do this? Can I do this? One and a half months was horrible enough. That was before we were dating. That was before I was in love with this boy.

Three months. I sat there silently, letting the thoughts run through my mind. I could feel Nick’s eyes on me. I couldn’t look up. I wasn’t prepared to meet his eyes with mine yet.

Three months. Those two words were involved in every thought in my stream of consciousness. For three months, I’ll only see Nick on TV and in pictures in magazines and on the internet. For three months, I’ll only hear Nick’s voice on the phone and on the radio. For three months, I won't feel the butterflies that I get in my stomach every time Nick's presses his lips to mine. For three months, I won't be able to feel the safety I feel only in Nick’s arms. For three months, I won’t smell that signature Nick smell.

I let out a deep sigh. A new thought process began in my head. This is the part where most girls would freak out. But this is what makes me different than most girls. I can’t mad at Nick. I have no right to be mad at Nick.

Nick’s job is to play music, just like my job is to play soccer. I put myself in Nick’s position. If I had to all of a sudden go to Europe for some games, Nick wouldn’t have any right to be mad at me. This tour isn’t Nick’s fault, or Joe’s, or Kevin’s. It’s their job and it’s a great opportunity for them.

“Megan, please say something,” Nick finally said, breaking the silence we were sitting in for minutes. His deep brown eyes were filled with guilt.

“Well, this sucks.”

“Come on Meg. Something a little more than that.”

“We’re going to be fine.”

“What?” Nick said, sitting up straight.

“We’re going to power-house through this, Nick.. I’m not worrying, so I don’t think you should worry either.”

“Wait, you’re not mad?”

“I have no right to be. It’s not like you’re going to get away from me. You’re going because it’s your job. It’s what you love to do. It’s your dream. Yeah, things here are going to suck without you and yeah, I may go insane without having you here. But we knew this was going to happen when we started dating, but it didn’t stop us.”

“Megan," Nick started, but I wasn’t finished. So I continued.

“Whether you’re in this city, this country, Europe, Asia, it doesn’t matter. I’m still going to love you just as much as I do when you’re right next to me.”

I meant everything I said and I hope Nick knew that. I noticed one lone tear fall from Nick’s eye onto his cheek. After seeing this, one lone tear fell from my eye onto my cheek. I wiped Nick’s tear away with my thumb, and he did the same to me. He pulled me into an incredibly tight hug. I had to pull away to breathe.

“Megan, you don’t know how much what you just said means to me. You understand me better than anyone I have ever met. We will talk everyday, I promise. I love you like crazy.”

I smiled as I laid my back against the grass. Nick propped himself up on one arm and closed the gap between us with his lips. He laid down next to me and put his arm out. I rested my head on his arm and put my arm on his firm chest. We looked at the stars for a few minutes until it started to rain. We ran inside and joined everyone else in the family room to watch a movie.

After the movie, I said goodnight and thanked to the Jonas’ for dinner. As I headed back to my empty house, the gloomy rain represented my current feeling of sadness. Three months…wow.