You Saved Me

“This is absolutely insane! Can you please just tell us where we’re going?” Steph whined from the front passenger side seat while the two boys laughed at her.

“No. It’s a surprise!” Kevin said back to her while stealing a glance the rearview mirror to make sure Joe kept his promise on keeping the blindfold over Brittany’s eyes.

“What’s up with you Jonas’s and your surprises?” Brittany laughed out as she turned her head in the direction of where Joe was next to her.

“It makes life more interesting. Now shush up both of you. We’re almost there!” Joe ordered with an amusing tone to let them both know that he wasn’t too mad at their constant questions.

Brittany let out a little chuckle and then leaned her head back onto the seat and stared at the vast black that covered her eyes while she heard Steph let out a scoff from the front seat.

After about 10 more minutes of strained silence, Joe let out an exhausted “Finally!” and opened up his door to exit the car while Kevin did the same and the two made their way around the car to open up the girls doors.

Kevin swiftly got Steph out of the car with her blindfold still on while Joe struggled with getting Brittany out, only because she was so disorientated with her lack of sight.

After the 5 minute ordeal of getting her out of the car that should have taken at most a minute, the four made their way to the entrance, slowly.

“It smells weird.” Steph stated bluntly after smelling the air for a few seconds, causing the other three to crack up into laughter.

“I love how I say something and all you do is laugh.” she said causing Kevin to pull her closer to him since the curb from the parking lot to their destination was coming up.

“It’s a good thing you make me laugh.” he said simply to her, making her cheeks become instantly flushed with a red hue as Joe and Brittany cooed a synchronized “Aww” from behind.

“But seriously, we’re walking and it smells weird. Can’t you take this off now?” Steph asked and pointed to the blindfold that was covering her eyes with her free hand.

“Almost.” Joe said from behind her and then maneuvered and coursed Brittany over the curb while Kevin did the same for Steph.

“Alright ladies. Welcome to the….” Joe said like a TV announcer and then untied Brittany’s blindfold while Kevin untied Steph’s.

“OH MY GOSH! I LOVE THE ZOO!” Steph yelled excitedly while jumping onto Kevin and giving him an excited hug while he stood there and hugged her back with a huge smile on his face.

“Yeah I know. Joe told me how much you loved the Koala bears.” he laughed out.

“You are such a sweetheart! Can we go see them now? Please, please please?!” she begged like a little 4 year old.

“It’s clearly easy to see how you two are friends.” Brittany whispered to Joe with amusement laced in her voice from seeing her best friend so excited as they made their way to pay the entrance fee.

“What can I say? She’sthe ping to my pong.”

Brittany looked over at him and looked at him with a questionable look while trying to hold back her laughter.

“Don’t even bother asking. It’s a long story and I barely remember it. All I know is that she hit me with a ping pong ball like the second day we met and I had a black eye for a week.” he explained as he grabbed her hand and pulled her after Kevin and Steph who were practically running towards the Koala Bear exhibit.

“Oh My Gosh! Their so frickin’ adorable. Ugh! I want one so bad!” they heard Steph say once they were close enough to the couple.

Kevin let out a small chuckle before saying, “Maybe I’ll get you a stuffed animal before we leave. Just so you don’t have to carry it around all day.”

“No. I can get it myself. It’s no big deal.” Steph said while turning to look at him with her blush still present on her face.

“No. I’m the man. I’m taking you out. I pay. No negotiations.” Kevin said back to her and then turned towards the Koala exhibit and pointed out the baby one that she had missed earlier.

“Wow…you two sound a lot alike.” Brittany said with a laugh and watched as Joe fake glared at her.

“How about we let these two get to know each other and go have fun of our own for a little bit? Ya know, considering it is their date.” Joe whispered to her after a few minutes passed, putting Brittany’s nerves on haywire when his breath hit her ear and neck.

She looked over at the two, just to give herself some time to get her blush to lessen a little bit from his whisper and then turned to him and agreed with a head nod.

It’s not like she would’ve been able to form a sentence. Her breath literally got caught in her throat and her mouth was completely dry.

Joe let go of her hand and made his way towards his brother and Steph, Brittany following after a few seconds and took a stand next to Steph looking out over at the Koala Bears while Joe pulled Kevin aside to talk to him.

“So, I think Joe and I are gonna leave you two alone for a little bit. Ya know, since it is your date and all. And to give you to some time to get to know each other.” Brittany said in a hushed voice since she didn’t really know if Steph was supposed to know about the ‘new plan’.

“Oh. Ok. Well, I guess have fun then. I know I will.” she said excitedly as she watched a baby Koala bear climb up one of the trees and started jumping around with another one.

Neither of the girls could deny the fact that Brittany and Joe needed this day to reconnect with each other after having not talked besides rude comments for the last two weeks. Also, Steph and Kevin had to get to know each other too. And that wasn’t going to be possible if the girls were always talking and the boys were always talking. It’s called a date for a reason.

“Alright Steph. See you later. And behave yourself.” Joe’s voice broke both of their gazes at the animals and made them both turn around to look at them.

“We’ll see you in a couple of hours for lunch at the Safari Grill back by the entrance. Have fun!” Joe stated and then grabbed Brittany’s hand quickly in his and pulled her away from them.

She managed to stop herself from stumbling when he interlaced their fingers together as they walked away from them, but she couldn’t help the smile that made itself present on her face.

“So, what do you want to do?” Joe asked as they came to stop in front of about 5 different arrows that said animal names on them and pointing in the direction of them.

Kiss…or just stand here…anything that involves you having your hand around mine….what the hell?! We just started talking again as of less than 24 hours! I’m acting like a frickin’ love struck teenager. What the hell?! I’m sure as hell not in love with the kid when I just started talking to him again.

“I don’t care. What do you feel like doing?” she asked back, trying to prevent her inner battle from coming out and voicing itself.

“Well, it’s almost…” he trailed off and looked down at his watch and then looked up at her before continuing.

“Noon. There’s a little theatre thing they have we could go to. It’s like 15 minutes long. But I think it’s for little kids. But who cares!? We’ll have fun.”

“Sure…sounds good. Let’s go.” Brittany said and walked blissfully next to him with their hands tangled around each others and big goofy smiles on their faces.

The 15 minute thing turned out to be only for little kids…making Joe and Brittany leave almost instantly but only because Joe tried to be a kid and ended up getting a glare from the women who was leading the little event, along with some parents.

“Well, we basically got kicked out of that. What now?” Joe asked as him and Brittany wandered aimlessly around the zoo, having people stop and stare at them every once in a while.

“Why are they looking at us funny?” Brittany finally whispered to him after receiving a puzzling look from a few people.

“Do you really have to ask that?” Joe laughed back at her in a hushed voice.

And then it dawned on her and she instantly felt stupid.

“I’m sorry. I always forget. I just…I don’t see you as famous. Since I didn’t know you were to begin with, I just keep forgetting. I’m sorry.”

“Why do you keep apologizing for it?” he asked her while stopping them and turned his body so it was directly in front of her.

“It’s not like it’s your fault ok? I don’t know how many times I’ve already said this. I like the, wait scratch that, I love the fact that you don’t see me as famous. You have no idea how great it is to be a normal person whenever I’m around you. That’s one of the reason’s why I love hanging out with you. You make me feel normal. Which is why the last two weeks practically killed me. So stop apologizing!” he said with a smile towards her.

She bit her bottom lip and then let a small smile grace her face as she nodded towards him.

He said love like twice in that sentence…wait a minute! Why do I care?! Ugh! Stupid word! Change the subject….say something…what about those other reasons…what are they? Ask that!

“So, if you don’t mind me asking…” she trailed off as they started up their aimless walking around the zoo, still hand in hand.

“I already told you. I don’t really remember the whole ping pong thing.” he said while he rolled his head around to show how exhausted he was about even remembering it as she let out a small chuckle.

“No…as interesting at that story does sound, that’s not what I was going to ask. Actually, I was gonna ask, what are some of the other reasons you like to be around me? Just out of curiosity.”

She felt him instantly tense up a little bit from her question but then it slowly eased away with every step they took.

“LOOK! IT’S YOU!” he said while pointing his hand out towards the Monkey exhibit.

She let out a sigh of disappointment for his clear cut sign of not wanting to talk about his reasons.

“Yeah. It’s me.” she said quietly and let her hand that was clasped in his, loosen a little bit from her disappointment.

I thought we were through all that nervousness being around each other? I thought we were starting over? Ya know, forgetting all the stupid crap? Not the whole we’re friends and still having feelings for each other! We told each other that we liked one another…so why is he keeping secrets? Not that I can complain too much. I’m hiding a huge secret. Although I’m sure his isn’t life threatening….

He let go of her hand all together and shoved both of his into his front pockets with his head hanging low while she crossed her arms over her chest and rubbed her arm briefly before letting them fall to her sides.

What else is she supposed to do? He took the pockets as the escape….it would just be weird with both of them walking around with hands in their pockets.

Needless to say, it became very awkward between them and she now regretted agreeing to his ‘new plan’ and having split up from Steph.

This is going to be a long day…/i]

* * * * *

“Oh my gosh! Are you serious?” Steph laughed out while Kevin was tearing up.

Joe stood up from his seat and pulled his shirt out to have them get a better angle of it and watched as they burst into another round of laughter.

It was extremely awkward for the first 20 minutes of Joe and Brittany’s time alone, but since Joe had an uncanny ability to fall over, it made all the tension and awkwardness disappear quickly.

“All because a bird flew past you? Man! I wish could have seen it!” Kevin laughed out while receiving a glare from Joe as he took his seat next to Brittany who was fighting back laughter since she was replaying Joe’s fall in her head.

He ended up getting a pretzel with cheese to snack on, and also to probably have a reason for them not to talk since he wasn’t going to talk with his mouth full, but he barely had about three bites when a bird came ‘diving down’, at least that’s what Joe said, at him making him fall onto the ground with his cheese landing underneath him.

“Mom is gonna be so mad at me. She’s never gonna be able to get that stain out.” he mumbled under his breath as he leaned forward and took a bite out of his cheeseburger.

“I’m sorry Joe.” Brittany said quickly and then bust out into laughter, causing him to cringe at himself for making himself look like a fool. Although, by him doing that he got to have her close to him while she tried cleaning him up and the all the tension was gone for their remaining hour and half alone together.

The four of them continued to laugh and converse about their day at the zoo when Kevin got up saying he had to go the bathroom.

“I’m gonna go too. I need to try and get this out a little more.” Joe said as he quickly got up from the table and followed after his brother.

“So…how did your day with him really go?” Steph asked almost instantly once Joe was no longer in view.

“Seriously, you scare the crap out of me when you know stuff like that. Just thought I’d let you know.” Brittany said and then situated herself to get closer to the table and started her story in a hushed tone.

“Basically…I was stupid. He said something. I asked for him to elaborate. It got weird between us and then he fell and everything was normal after that. So not too bad. What about your day with Kevin?”

“Uh uh missy. You tell me everything before I even tell you.” she said, shaking her head at her friend but not fast enough to shake the smile that was coming across her face.

“I don’t have the time right now. Later. And what happened?! I see that smile of yours. I’ve only seen you smile like that once before and that was when Kevin gave you a kiss on the cheek yesterday when he got to your house. Spill!” Brittany ordered while trying to not laugh at how cute her friend looked right now.

“Fine. But you can’t say anything that indicates you know. Although I have a feeling Kevin already told Joe by now…but..” she trailed off, just to add for effect and waiting until Brittany practically yelled at her to tell her, causing some heads to turn and look at them while the two girls giggled a little bit.

“He kissed me! On the lips!” Steph said with an excited whisper.

“Oh my gosh! I’m so happy for you! Where? When? How long was it? Ahh! I’m so exited for later now!
This is amazing!” Brittany fired off quickly, letting her inner girl instincts come out for one of the few times since her and Steph shared that night together where she told her secret.

“What are you excited about?” they both heard Kevin’s voice ask and they instantly snapped their heads up and Brittany looked back at him to see him with his hands behind his back.

“Umm…I’m excited to see you give her that Koala bear that’s behind your back.” Brittany said as she looked at Joe and saw him mouth to her “Koala” while pointing behind Kevin’s back.

“Joe!” Kevin scolded him while turning towards him briefly and then looking somewhat saddened by his
surprise being told as he looked at Steph.

“I wanted to surprise you. But here.” he said and handed her a small stuffed Koala bear.

“Awww.” she cooed and then got up from her seat to go give him a hug.

“Thank you. I love it. And I’ll call it Kevin. Kevin the Koala Bear.” she stated firmly while she pulled away from him but stood there smiling up at him.

The two just stood there, gazing into each other’s eyes with smiles on their faces until Joe scared the crap out of all three of them by yelling “AH MAN!”

“What? What’s wrong?” Brittany asked hastily, turning her attention away from the couple towards Joe so see him with ketchup now on his shirt.

“Do we need to get you a bib or something?” she laughed out while she grabbed a napkin and reached towards his shirt to make it somewhat stiff while she wiped it up.

“No. I’m not two years old anymore. I’m just accident prone.” he scoffed out while he dipped a tip of his napkin into his water and then handed it to her once she got the majority of it off.

“Obviously.” she laughed out as she blotted his shirt with the wet tipped napkin.

“Mom is gonna be even more pissed at you now. You do know that right?” Kevin asked as him and
Steph made their way back to their seats while he kept one arm draped around her shoulders.

“Yeah I know. Maybe if we get home before she does I can throw it in the wash or something and try to get it out before she sees.”

“Ya right. Joe…do you remember the last time you tried doing the laundry?” Kevin asked with a laugh and then told the girls, without waiting for a response from Joe, about how he put too much detergent in and it started to bubble over.

“I’ll do it for you Joe. But we should hurry then so you’re mom doesn’t come home. Where is she anyways?” Brittany asked as she started cleaning up her food along with Steph and Kevin to throw it out.

“Mom and everyone else went to a baseball game. And it ends around 5-ish or something like that. Did you girls just want to come over and watch a movie or something?” Kevin asked and then looked hopeful towards Steph.

She blushed a bright crimson red and nodded her head quickly with a smile on her face.

“Those two are so cute together.” Brittany whispered to Joe, keeping her eyes trained on the two in front of her.

“I can think of two cuter people. But yes. They are cute.” he whispered back to her, causing her to look
at him with a confused face.

“Beth and Danny. Duh!” he said while he rolled his eyes in a obvious manner, showing some of his sarcasm.

“Come on guys. Let’s go!” Kevin called to them and the two looked back to see them halfway to the doors.

The two quickly scrambled to gather their garbage and went to throw it out, and then made their way towards them. Brittany jumping on Joe’s back in the process for a piggy back ride and completely forgetting about the two cuter people comment when Kevin had Steph get on his back and the two raced back to the car while the girls screamed out towards the parking lot, “The animals have gotten loose! Run for your lives!”

* * * * *

“Thanks again for doing this.” Joe said, taking off his shirt and handing it to Brittany once they got back to the boys house and were safely inside.

She tried hard to look away from his defined abs and defiantly flawless chest, but it didn’t seem to work very well.

No...that’s bad. Really bad. He wears a purity ring for crying out loud! Stop that! Plus, it’s not the first time you’ve seen him without a shirt. You sat next to the kid in the car when he drove home shirtless after falling in the lake. What’s the matter with me?!

But she couldn’t help the dirty images that ran quickly through her head from seeing him like that….until he waved a hand in front of her face, breaking her gaze at his perfectly sculpted body.

“Huh?” she asked, coming out of her trance and snapping her head back up towards his face where she could’ve gone into a whole ‘nother trance from that too.

This boy is too perfect for his own health. There’s gotta be something wrong with him. Like….a third nipple or a huge scar across his back!

“I asked you if you were ok. You seem out of it.” his voice brought her back from her thoughts.
She glanced quickly down at his chest for second, letting her eyes wander a little bit to low since she saw his abs and he start of ’V’ line before snapping her head back up to his face.

Defiantly no third nipple…damn. And Oh My Gosh! He has a ‘V’. This is not good!

“Just….um. I think I got to much sun. I think I need to lay down for a bit after I throw this in the wash. Do you have any other clothes that need to be washed? Cuz it’s kinda pointless to throw one shirt into the washer.” she rambled on, anything to keep her eyes from wandering back down to his delicious hip bones.

“Yeah. I’ll go get my basket. Be right back!” he said and disappeared up the stairs.

Damn! No disgusting scar along his back either! Ugh!

She shook her head a little bit once his was gone from her sight and turned around and headed towards the living room where Steph and Kevin were sitting on the couch deciding on which movie to watch.

“Hey Kev…? Brittany asked once she realized that she was currently holding Joe’s dirty shirt in her hand.

“Hmmm?” he asked as he turned his head around to look at her.

“Sorry for interrupting, but where is your washer and dryer? Joe kinda forgot to tell me.”

Or he did and I was too busy looking at his body to hear it….

“Oh. Hold on.” he said while getting up from the couch and leading her towards the kitchen and a door off to the side and opened it.

“Just go down the steps and go to the left. That’s the laundry room.” he pointed it out from the top of the stairs after he flicked on the light for the basement and then gave her a flawless smile before receding back to the living room to finish up the movie debate conversation with Steph.

She nodded and then went down the steps and flicked on the light to the laundry room and started to hunt for the laundry detergent.

Once she found it, she looked around the room a little bit.

Nothing to out of the ordinary for a laundry room. A couple of baskets piled in a corner while the washer and dryer where up against the wall.

Not knowing what else to do while waiting for Joe she hopped up onto the dryer top and let her head rest against the wall with her eyes closed.

Ok. Starting from now on…no more looking at Joe differently. At least…not how I thought of him a couple minutes ago. That was dirty and wrong and…dirty. We aren’t even together. I shouldn’t be thinking about him like that.

“I think you did get too much sun. If you want we can take a nap instead of watching a movie.” his voice broke her thoughts.

“We?” she asked as she opened her eyes to see him standing in the doorway of the room, smile wide on is face as he held a basket full of clothes and sadly, wearing a black t-shirt.

Not that it was a sad sight. That boy could make a garbage bag look good.

“I’m sorry. I’m a little tired too. But you can have my bed if you want. I’ll sleep on the couch or something while they watch the movie. It’s not a big deal.” he said non chalantly.

“No. That’s fine. I can watch the movie. Although I don’t know for how long I’ll last. But it’ll be ok.” she said back with a smile and then hopped off the dryer as he made his way into the room.

He put the basket at her feet and then leaned up against the wall with his arms crossed along with his ankles, and watched her sort through his clothes and put them into different piles.

“I could defiantly get used to this.” he said while a smile present on his face.

“Get used to what?” she asked while still sorting his clothes.

“You. Doing stuff like this. It almost makes me want to help, but I like watching you do it. You’re cute.” he stated.

She felt her cheeks and neck get warm so she kept her head down, not wanting him to see her blush while she said, “You’re cute too.”

It was silent between the two as Joe watched with admiration at her while she finished her sorting and then went straight to the washer to the throw a pile in there.

“All done. Let’s go see what the lovebirds are doing.” Brittany said once the washer was running and turned to see him look deep in thought about something.

She was about to ask him what he was thinking about when he nodded his head in agreement and waited for her to exit the room first, turning off the light behind himself as the two made their way up the stairs.

“So…! Decide on a movie yet?” Brittany asked, feeling a little self conscious since she could feel Joe’s eyes on her as they were before when they were downstairs.

“Yeah. Behind Enemy Lines.” Kevin said without turning his head back towards them since the previews were already finished.

Joe and Brittany made their way to the front of the couch and took a seat on the ground, leaning their backs up against the couch while Steph and Kevin moved their legs onto it.

“Can I have a pillow? I’m just gonna lay down and watch it.” Brittany said just above a whisper.

Kevin handed her a pillow, his eyes still glued to the screen while one arm was draped around Steph’s shoulders, pulling her into him slightly.

She smiled up at her and she couldn’t help how happy she felt for Steph.

She knew how much she liked Kevin to begin with and now it seemed like they were close to becoming a couple.

They would make it work. Despite how Kevin thinks about him and his brothers touring. They would make it work. It was defiantly clear that they both were interested in each other.

Joe crawled over the loveseat and grabbed a pillow and blanket from it before making his way back towards Brittany.

He situated his pillow first so that it was leaning up against the couch a little bit, giving him a small angle to look at the TV and then laid the blanket over the both of them.

She turned and smiled towards him to give him a silent ‘thank you’ and he just smiled back at her before he turned his head back to the TV.

Somewhere throughout the almost 2 hour movie, Kevin and Steph somehow laid down on the couch, him behind her and his arms wrapped around her waist while Brittany’s head somehow ended up on Joe’s chest. His arm was pressed up against her back while his fingers lightly grazed against her skin, in small circular patterns, that was showing from her shirt coming up a little bit, making her get sleepy.

And before they all knew it, they passed out like that before the movie even finished.

* * * * *

“We have to wake them up now. Dinner is on the table.” Brittany faintly heard a low voice say.

“If you have to.” she heard a woman’s voice sigh out and then footsteps padding away.

She slowly let her eyes drift open, having her head roll a little from her sleepiness only to not move very far and hit against something soft and yet hard.

She moved her head back a little and realized the pressure against her back as if something was binding her there.

And then she felt it tighten a little bit from her moving, pulling her closer.

She looked down and saw that Joe’s arms were wrapped securely around her waist, and then realized
that her head hit his chest just a few moments ago.

Somewhere throughout their nap, Joe turned onto his side facing her while she was already facing him and wrapped her into a hug while they were sleeping.

“Sorry that I woke you. But dinner is ready.” she heard the man’s voice say again in a little bit more hushed voice.

She turned her head to the side and saw Mr. Jonas leaning over the two of them a little bit with an apologetic smile on his face.

“It’s ok.” she said back to him with a smile and moved slightly, only to have Joe groan out of protest and pull her closer to him.

She giggled a little bit from his reaction and looked up to see Mr. Jonas shaking his head slightly from side to side.

“He likes his sleep. And right now, you’re his pillow. He always hugs his pillow when he sleeps.” he said before straightening up.

“Can you wake him please? I have to go make sure Denise took the chicken off the grill.” he said with a smile and walked away when Brittany nodded to him.

Once out of living room, she tried to pull herself a little bit away from him, but that only made him constrict his hold on her while mumbling a ‘no’.

She giggled a little more at his sleep protest and said his name quietly.

“Joe? Joe? You have to wake up. It’s time to eat.”

He let out a loud sigh and while mumbling another ‘no’ and she couldn’t help but think how adorable he was.

“Come on Joe. Up and at ‘em!” she said while rocking her body to get him to wake up since he had her arms trapped to her sides from his constricting sleep hug.

“Nooo.” he groaned out while tried to seize her rocking.

“Come on Joe. You’re parents will be mad if you don’t get up.” she chuckled out while still rocking to try and get him to loosen up a little bit.

“Just…5 more minutes.” he mumbled out while pulling her back into him since she was loosening his grip on her.

“No.” she stated with a laugh.

She heard him let out a heavy sigh and let his grip loosen on her, giving her a few inches between
them now while he mumbled, “I was having a good dream.”

“Well I’m sorry.” she laughed out. “What was it about?” she asked, sitting up slowly while his arms fell off of her and landed on the carpet with a soft thud.

“Me…” he stated while rolling onto his back and ruffling his hair a little bit while she stretched her arms out to wake up a little bit more.

“And you.” he finished as he too stretched his arms out.

She froze after hearing him say that and shot her head back at him.

She didn’t know if she should ask what about or just leave it alone but she didn’t get a chance to do anything since a shockwave of frenzy was sent through her body when he put his hand on her back and started to rub it.

“It was good too. Well, it was good until you woke me up. It didn’t have time to finish. But it did give me a good idea.”

“Come on kids. Time to eat.” Mr. Jonas said, appearing from around the corner and then standing there to make sure they were getting up.

Joe got up after a few more seconds of stretching while Brittany followed suit after him, not knowing what to do or say.

What was he dreaming about? And how did his dream give him an idea? Idea for what? I think that was the best nap I’ve ever had in my life. Wow! Way to change subject!

“Good afternoon sleepy heads. You two looked mighty comfy laying there.” Kevin said with a knowing smile while Steph sat next to him with a smile on her face as well.

Both of the guilty parties blushed before taking their seats at the table next to each other and both wanted food on everyone’s plates so they could eat that instead of smile at them.

Dinner was fun. All 8 of them ate and talked and laughed and enjoyed each other’s company and then decided to play charades afterwards which was down right hilarious on Frankie and Joe’s parts. They all
were laughing and having a good time until Brittany’s phone rang.

She looked at the screen and saw Bobby’s name flashing across it and then looked up at the VCR for the time and saw that it was 10:24 PM.

Oh my gosh! I am soooo dead!