Can't Have You

The last few days had gone by just as I predicted. Joe spent all his time with Lily and barely talked to me. I hung out with Nick and Kevin a lot. They knew it bothered me that Joe was always hanging out with Lily, so they were always trying to make me feel better. That's why we were at a carnival right now. And when I say we, I mean Kevin, Nick and I. Yeah, no Joe. I had no idea where he was. I hadn't actually seen him in two days. Some best friend, huh?

It was slowly starting to get dark, but I wanted to go on the ferris wheel before we went home. When we got in the line, I felt like crying. There was Joe, making out with Lily. I couldn't take it. I just turned around and ran back to the car. I stood there, bawling my eyes out when Kevin and Nick found me. "Oh, Mel. Why didn't you tell me?" Nick asked, while giving me a hug. "Tell you what?" I asked. "It's okay, Mel. I know. Kevin told me after you ran away." Oh. He's talking about Joe. "Kevin!" I yelled. "You weren't supposed to tell anyone!" I glared at him. "I had to tell him why you were upset." I sighed. He was right. "Did Joe see me?" I asked. "No, he didn't." Kevin replied. "Let's just get back to the hotel, okay?" "Okay" I said.

When we got to the hotel I went to my room. Yes, MY room. This time, they did get the reservations right, and I didn't have to share with Lily. I didn't even bother taking my clothes off, I just crawled in my bed, and fell asleep, dreaming about Joe.

-

Joe, Lily and I were sitting in the lounge area of the bus. Talk about akward. Well, for me anyway. They didn't even seem to notice I was there. There were too busy making out. I was relieved when Lily's phone interrupted them. She left the bus to take the call. It was just me and Joe now. "Hey, are you okay? You've been kinda quiet?" he asked. I couldn't take it anymore. "How would you know? You've barely said two words to me since Lily got here!" He looked at me, confused. "Don't look at me like you don't know what I'm talking about. You always do this. Everytime she's around, you totally forget about me. You're supposed to be my best friend." I was trying hard to fight back the tears that were coming. "Mel, you are my best friend. I didn't forget you. Okay, so maybe I've been spending a little less time with you, but can you blame me for wanting to spend time with my girlfriend?" he said. "WHAT? A little less time? Joe, I get that she's your girlfriend, and you missed her and you want to spend time with her. But seriously, when was the last time you and I hung out, huh?" He didn't immediately reply. I saw him think for a moment, and then he let out a sigh. "Before Lily got here." He said softly. Then he looked at me, and I saw he had tears in his eyes. "I'm sorry, Mel. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to ignore you. You're my best friend, and I love you. I never wanted to hurt you." I knew he wasn't lying. He really hadn't realized what he was doing. "It's okay, Joe." I said, while a single tear found it's way to my cheek. I hugged him. God, I had missed his hugs. When he pulled back he looked at me and smiled. "You know what? Tomorrow, we're going to hang out all day. Just you and me, no one else. Okay?" he asked. "Okay." I said, smiling.

-

"Kevin! Nicholas!" I shouted, when I got to Kevin's hotelroom later that day. Joe was on a date with Lily. But I didn't care. Tomorrow was going to be just us. "Wow, someone's in a good mood." Kevin said. "I talked to Joe today. We're hanging out tomorrow!" I said with a goofy grin on my face. "We know." Nick said. "Joe was in here earlier. He was mad that we didn't tell him he was being a jerk." "He wasn't being a jerk! He didn't know what he was doing." I defended him. "He was being a jerk. He just didn't know he was." Kevin said. "Shut up. Don't call your brother a jerk." I said. Kevin rolled his eyes. "Whatever." He said. "Movie?" "Of course. We still need to see Legally Blonde 2." I said, smiling. The boys groaned, but I got my way.

-

I woke up to someone knocking on my door the next morning. I opened the door to see Joe standing there, smiling. "Good morning." He said. He looked at me. "You're not dressed." "No. I'm not. I was sleeping." I said. "Well, go get dressed. We're spending the day together, remember?" Of course I remembered. "Okay, I'll be right back." I said and went to the bathroom.

I came out fully dressed. Joe seemed excited. "Are you ready for some Joe and Melanie fun?"