You Saved Me

“Oh My Gosh! I can’t believe you had dinner over at his house! Why didn’t you tell me before?! Did anything happen between you two? What did you guys do before and afterwards? Is he a good kisser? He must be a good kisser! Look at him, he’s good at everything else he does. Tell me everything!” Jessica rattled off all of her questions in a matter of 45 seconds and one breath.

“Chill Jess. One question at a time.” Brittany said, racket in one hand while holding up her other hand and slowing having her fingers pop up until all 5 of them were up.

Sometimes Jessica would get too worked up and forget to breath. She needed someone there to count to five on their fingers for her to take a deep breath.

The reason for all her questions…a Mr. Joseph Jonas came over while Coach Turner was doing attendance and said that his mom invited her over to dinner again tonight. But only if she didn’t have a lot of school work and her ‘Uncle’ would be ok with it.

“Ok, so what was your first question?” Brittany asked, reaching 5 and having Jess take one more breath before she could say anything.

“Screw my first question! Is he a good kisser?” she practically yelled, making Brittany pull her by her arm over to a little bit more secluded area of the tennis courts.

“I wouldn’t know. We didn’t kiss. And we won’t so, get on with the next question.”

“Fine. But you know you two are going to kiss somewhere down the road. Cinderella and the Prince kiss at the end of the play. Don’t forget!” Jess said in a taunting way with her finger waving.

“Crap! I forgot about that scene. Do you think Ms. Creole will take it out?” Brittany groaned, slapping her forehead with the palm of her left hand since she had the racket in her right one.

“Are you crazy? Why wouldn’t you want to kiss him? He looks like he’d be great! His lips always look like he’s ready to make out with someone. Why would you want her to take it out of the play?!” Jessica shot back at her friend as if she were delusional.

“Let’s just pretend the kiss doesn’t exist. Any other questions you have for me before we get yelled at by Turner?” Brittany asked, somewhat irritated.

This was the kind of attention she didn’t want and knew she would get if she hung out him.

“You promise to tell me everything when it does happen?” Jess asked, folding her arms across her waist and looking sternly at Brittany.

Brittany rolled her eyes and sighed out a yes and asked again what questions she wanted to ask.

“Ok. Um…why were you at his house?” Jess asked, unfolding her arms and started walking toward their assigned tennis court.

“We were practicing the dancing for the play and his mom invited me to stay for dinner.” she quickly informed her friend since Coach Turner was eyeing them up from their lack of tennis playing.

“Wow! I’m so jealous. I wish I would’ve actually taken the audition as seriously as you and Steph. I would’ve been able to hang out with him and you two all the time.” Jess said, looking up at the sky, as if it was showing her how it would be like to hang out with Joe Jonas.

“Coppers! Holly! What’s the problem?! Jonas and Hawks are waiting! Let’s go!” Coach Turner yelled over to them, making Jess jump, taking her out of her daydreaming.

They both jogged over to the tennis court that had the two boys on it.

“Ready to go down Coppers?” Joe asked, a smirk evident on his face as he bent down to get into position for her serve.

“Are you ready Jonas? I just hope you don’t cry when I beat you.” Brittany said back to him, trying hard not to smile but finding it impossible when looking at him.

She threw the ball into the air and smacked it with her racket, serving it over the net only to be hit back by Joe.

The game went by quickly. Always staying a tie and very little amount of playing time for either of their team mates. The rest of the class started to watch their game instead of playing their own because it was so good.

“As happy as I am to see two of my students taking this so seriously, it’s time for you to go change for next period. Just remember the score and continue the game tomorrow.” Coach Turner said to them and then turned around and started cleaning up the courts.

Joe wiped off some sweat from his forehead while he jogged around to Brittany’s side of the court while she looked around the courts, seeing that they were the last two students still out there.

“Well, I must say, you are a very good competitor. Next time we pick teams for a sport, you’re mine.” he said to her, chuckling slightly.

“I don’t think that’d be a good idea…” Brittany said after drinking some water from the water bottle she brought along for today and handed it to him.

“Why not?” he asked confused and grabbed her water bottle, squirting some water into his mouth.

“Cuz it would be like a massacre if we were a team. We’d have no one good to play against besides Turner. And I don’t think he’d want to be humiliated in front of his students.” she said with a laugh and then grabbed her water bottle from him, taking another sip.

He laughed at her comment and nodded his head in agreement.

It was silent for the rest of the walk up the small hill towards the gym doors.

“What class do you have next?” Joe asked her, grabbing her wrist as she was about to push open the girls locker room door.

“English. Why?” she asked, taking a step away from the door to look at him.

“Mind if I walk you? It’s on the way to my next class.” he said in a hopeful voice with a worried facial expression.

She couldn’t help but smile at how adorable he was, thinking that she would say no to his offer.

“Sure. That’d be great. But hurry up! We only have like 6 minutes to get ready!” she said while shoving him in the shoulder to get him to move.

A smile came onto his face as he jogged off to the other side of the gym towards the guys locker room.

She couldn’t help but look at his butt as he jogged away. It was too damn….yum.

Everything about him was yum.

She couldn’t hide the smile that was spread across her face as she entered the locker room, all the girls practically changed and ready to leave.

“I have to finish up a couple of my math problems, so I’ll catch you later!” Jessica said on her way out of the locker room.

Brittany nodded her head, smile still plastered on her face and started to change quickly, spraying a little bit of perfume on herself and re-doing her hair quickly before exiting the locker room herself.

She was shocked to see Joe already leaning up against the side of the wall, waiting for her when she came out.

“Wow. You change quickly.” she said with a laugh as she made her way towards him.

He pushed himself off the wall with his shoulder and started to walk and said, “Only when I have something to look forward to.”

She looked off to the side, hiding the pink tinge to her cheeks that was rapidly making it’s appearance.

It was silent between the two as they walked down the hallway toward the English part of the school, goofy smiles on both of their faces.

“Well, thanks for walking me to class.” she said as she turned towards him, looking down at the ground.

“No problem. I’ll see you later in Econ.” he said quickly and gave her a quick wave before he turned around and headed down the hallway.

She let out a small squeal of excitement before turning around and heading into her English class.

Normally it wouldn’t be that big of a deal that a guy walks a girl to class. But it was when the girls class was in a dead end hallway, clearly not on the way to the boys next class.

Whatever spell Joe is casting on me….it’s working. And I like it.

* * * * *

“We all should hang out tonight and go to that ‘Haunted’ Stagecoach place. It’s supposed to be really creepy!” Jacob said once Mrs. Creole left the auditorium.

Joe wanted to finish his ‘scary’ story about his Dwarf Princess, which led everyone else to tell a scary story, except Brittany.

She didn’t tell one. She barely got to listen to what everyone else’s stories were, due to her lead role in the play.

“I don’t think so. I’m probably just gonna stay in tonight. Maybe get a head start on that essay for English.” Brittany said while getting her stuff together since Steph went through her bag, looking for a damn pen.

“Oh come on! That thing isn’t due for another two and half weeks. Come out tonight! It’ll be fun!” Steph whined while pulling on Brittany’s arm and sporting at puppy dog face.

“Please?” Joe begged after Steph, pulling on Brittany’s other arm and giving her a puppy dog face as well.

“Yeah…please?!” rang three more voices in perfect harmony.

Brittany forced herself to look away from Joe’s adorable face to see Beth, Jacob and Mark crawling on their knees and all sporting puppy dog faces as well.

Brittany did another quick scan of everyone’s faces that were around her and she finally gave in after seeing Joe’s bottom lip tremble a little bit.

What I wouldn’t give to bite that right now…..NO! Bad Brittany! You barely hug the kid, don’t even think about kissing him!

She looked down at her feet and closed her eyes while letting out a heavy sigh.

“Fine. But I have to be home no later than ten otherwise Bobby will kill me!” she said with a stern voice while everyone’s facial expressions changed from puppy dog faces to smiling ones.

Joe and Steph each hugged half of her and then started having a fake fight between them on which one gets to hug her fully first.

Beth, Mark and Jacob watched as the two fought, pulling Brittany left and right until she said, “A little help here!”

Beth continued laughing but took a few steps forward and grabbed her, pulling her into a big hug, making the two stop their ‘fight’ and scowl at her.

“Ha ha! I got the first hug.” she said smugly while pulling away.

Steph and Joe looked back at each other briefly before shrugging their shoulders and then started collecting their stuff.

“So, is it ok if I invite Danny? I know he’s not in the play but….” Beth trialed off.

“Yeah, that’s cool. I’m gonna invite Jess and Katie anyways.” Steph said, standing up straight and looping her arm through Brittany’s.

Mark, Jacob and Joe all rounded together and gave each other high fives, huge smiles on their faces.

“What are you guys all happy about?” Steph asked them, taking the words right out of Beth and Brittany’s mouths.

Joe was the first to turn towards the girls with a smile on his face and answer them.

“Just that there’s gonna 4 girls and 3 guys. One of us gets to be lucky and double up with two of you!”

“Ugh, Hello?!” Beth practically yelled. “I’m gonna be there and Danny will be there too.

Mark then turned towards her and said, “Yeah, but you don’t count. You’re taken.”

Beth gave out a pitiful sigh of disgust while trying hard not to smile.

Her and Danny started dating about a week ago so they were still pretty shy about their relationship.

“Well, Jess is probably gonna be hanging out with David so it’ll probably be only three of us girls or maybe two if Katie doesn’t want to come!” Steph shot back and then Brittany added quickly, “Yeah. One of us might be lucky and be split between two of you.”

The boys faces fell instantly from that idea and looked down at the floor.

After a few seconds with Steph and Brittany standing smug about their realization of the possible math outcome, Joe’s head snapped up and he yelled, “I get Britrisha!” while taking a step forward and latching onto her arm.

“Who‘s Britrisha? An-” Mark started but Jacob beat him to it by yelling Steph’s name.

“Oh man….” Mark sighed out and then looked back and forth between the two girls and then said, “I get Steph too…if Katie doesn’t come.”

“But with all contests aside, why did you call her Brit, Joe?” Jacob asked while looking at the two.

Joe’s arm was still latched around Brittany’s and upon her realization of that, she felt the butterflies starting to flutter around inside her and her face grew hot.

“Just a little….inside joke.” he said while a smile on his face towards Brittany before bumping her slightly with his side.

She couldn’t help the small laugh that emitted itself from her as she looked over at Joe, smile wide on both of their faces. Not taking in everyone else’s facial expressions which all consisted of smiles as well.

Brittany finally settled down from her giggle, but still had her smile spread across her face, as was Joe’s, when Steph clapped her hands together and said, “Ok. Everyone meet there at around 8:30. We’ll leave when we either get bored or at 9:40. Anyone need rides?”

Mark, Beth and Jacob all nodded their heads to her question and then they all looked over to see Joe and Brittany still in their own little dream world, goofy smiles plastered on their faces as Joe kept giving her winks and bumping his side into hers, making her bump back.

“Earth to love birds! Hello?!” Steph called and then snapped her fingers in front of their faces, finally getting their attention and then asked them if they needed rides or not.

“I don’t know where it is.” Brittany said with a quick side glance towards Joe while Joe smiled and said, “Yeah, and I don’t have my license….” and then turned towards Brittany and said, “Hey, why don’t you pick me up and we’ll go together.”

“Ok. Sounds great! See you all later!” Brittany said cheerfully and started skipping down the aisle towards the exit doors.

Her smile was firmly stuck on her face and there was nothing that would make it come off, no matter what.

* * * * *

“Who invited them?” Steph whispered to Brittany and Joe.

The pair shrugged their shoulders and simultaneously said, “I know I didn’t.”

Mark and Jacob stood silently next to Steph, glaring at the three forms that were making their way from the car.

“Hey guys. Sorry it took a while….” Rose said in a false happy tone and then turned towards Joe and sent him a smile and said, “But I’m here now.” with a wink attached to it.

That’s right. Rose, her lemming, Mary, and Mike ended up showing up while the group of 5 were waiting for Beth and Danny.

“Not to sound rude or anything, but…who invited you three?” Steph asked them, trying her hardest to hold back any sort of hostility towards the three, but ended up failing.

“Well, I heard all of you guys talking about it and decided to come with. And I invited these guys along.” Rose said while turning to the side slightly to show Mary and Mike to everyone.

“Hey Everyone, we’re here! Let’s get the sho- Oh!” Beth cut herself short after seeing Rose, Mary and Mike standing there in front of the group.

“Hey guys…” she said nervously, casting a quick nervous look towards Steph and Brittany, who shrugged their shoulders, before looking back at the three unwanted people with a fake smile.

“Hey Beth. So, let’s get going….Joe…” Rose trailed off, fake smiling at everyone else but then a real smile graced her face when seeing him. “Can you protect me? I’m a little scared.” she said while pouting out her bottom lip and looking up at him with sad eyes.

“Oh please.” Steph sighed out but was hit in the ribs by Brittany.

“Umm. Sorry Rose. I kinda came with Trisha-” he said nervously, throwing an arm around Brittany’s waist and pulling her closer to him, to solidify who he came with.

“Well, that’s why I brought Mike. He was all excited to be Trisha’s protector.” Rose said in a false sad voice while Mike shook his head with a smirk on his face.

“It’s fine Joe. You can protect Rose while Mike protects Mary.” she said, not wanting to detangle herself from Joe’s arms, but did so anyways.

“But then who’s gonna protect you if you get scared?” Joe asked, turning towards her and begging her with his eyes to not make him be stuck with Rose.

Brittany tried hard to not laugh at his facial expression and said, “I don’t get scared. Therefore, I don’t need anyone to protect me. I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.”

“Are you sure?” Joe asked, taking a step towards Brittany, raising his eyebrows toward her as if asking her again to not make him go with Rose.

“Couldn’t be more positive!” Brittany said with a chuckle as she looped arms with Steph and took off toward the broken down building with a flashlight in hand.

“What are you doing? Joe was supposed to protect you! How could you just give him away like that? Especially to Rose of all people?!” Steph whisper yelled at her, causing Brittany to laugh at her comment.

“Are you kidding me? Joe’s gonna need a protector more than I’m gonna need one.” Brittany laughed out and spared one last quick glance back toward him.

She couldn’t hold in her laugh at seeing his eyes widen while taking a step back, away from Rose’s advancing figure towards him.

* * * * *

“That was so not nice! Joe, tell her that wasn’t nice!” Rose yelled while the group exited the building.

Actually Rose and Mary were already out of the building, having sprinted out of it from Joe’s cell phone going off due to Brittany’s perfectly planned text that said, “Say Boo to Rose for me.”

“That was so not nice!” Joe fake yelled at Brittany, shaking his finger at her while a smirk appeared through his fake upset face.

“I am so sorry.” Brittany said dramatically, trying her hardest to not laugh while saying it.

“Well, I think I’ve had enough fun for one night. See you all at school tomorrow.” Rose heaved out while re-adjusting her mini skirt and low cut shirt before walking towards Joe.

Joe shrunk back behind Brittany’s side slightly at Rose’s advance but quickly stood up straight when Steph yanked Brittany out of the way, clearly wanting to see what was going to happen between Rose and Joe.

“Thanks for protecting me Joe. Maybe we could do something just the two of us next time.” she stated, more than asked and leaned forward, giving him a quick peck on the cheek before she made her way towards her car that Mike and Mary were already sitting in.

“Does the girl really not get it that I don’t like her?” Joe asked as Rose pulled away from where they were all standing and disappeared down the road.

“Guess not. Maybe you’ll have to try harder on your date to make it clear.” Brittany shot back at him through her laughter, thinking about how loud Rose screamed from a text message.

“Oh yeah. Well, here. Have some of her cooties that she so graciously gave to me!” Joe said back with a smirk on his face as he lunged towards her, and started weaving in and out of everyone else, chasing after Brittany.

The two laughed as they continued their pursuit, completely unaware of their audience that was smiling wide and mumbling to themselves about how obvious it was that the two liked each other a little bit more than they let on.

“You better stop Joe or…or….” Brittany stuttered out, while looking back briefly to see how close he was to her and let out a small scream seeing how close he really was.

“Or what?” he yelled back at her, smile evident on his face as he closed the gap between the two quickly, throwing himself towards her, making them both fall into the little patch of grass that was the front yard of the building they just exited.

She let out another scream as they both landed, him on her back while she went face down into the ground.

“Are you ok?” he asked quickly, pulling himself off of her and leaning over to the side so she could roll over onto her back.

As she did, she blinked a couple of times and then let out short bursts of air from her lungs, as if she was trying to laugh.

“Are you ok?” Joe asked again, trying to fight back his urge to smile from seeing her smile that was slowly making its way to her face.

“I’m good. Just….I was laughing…when I…went down and it….knocked the wind out of me.” she answered back, slowly getting her breath even again.

He smiled down at her, lightly brushing a stray piece of hair away from her face with his index finger and let it slide down the side of her face till it hit the bottom of her chin.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked, her urge to laugh at the situation gone from the way his smile slowly faded and the nervousness running through her body from the way his eyes were gazing into hers.

“You’re so-” he started but was cut off by Steph’s and Beth’s shrieks.

“Trish! You alright?! We saw you two running and then you both went down. We thought you fell into a hole or something!”

“I’m fine.” she said while sitting up slowly so her and Joe didn’t hit heads. “But I won’t be if I don’t get home in 15 minutes.” she said while standing up, brushing off some of the dirt that had latched onto her jeans and tank top from her fall.

“Just go. I’ll give Joe a ride home. No biggie.” Beth said, while Steph helped brush some dust off of Joe’s back.

“Ok. Thanks for tonight guys. I had a lot of fun!” Brittany called towards them as she jogged towards her truck.

“See you tomorrow at school!” she heard Joe call over to her.

She gave a quick thumbs up out her window before she pulled away from them and heading for the main road.

I wonder what Joe was thinking when he was leaning over me. What was he gonna say?

Wait! Why do I care what he was gonna say? But I really wanna know. Damn Steph and Beth and them worrying. I really want to know what he was gonna say!

Those were the same questions and rantings that were running through her had as she drove the rest of the way home and getting ready for bed.

As she laid down in bed, a slow smile started to spread across her face, thinking about Joe and everything that happened today.

I’m really starting to like this place a lot more than I thought I would!