Lucky I'm In Love With My Best Friend

Kevin’s POV

February 14th. I usually have no problem with this day, but that sure did change this year. I officially hate Valentine’s Day. It’s so frustrating that I should be happy. I should be happy with one girl in particular. But I’m not. She left, leaving me a mess, leaving me all by myself, leaving me to wallow in my emotions and negative thoughts.

Everywhere I go, everything I do, everything I see reminds me of Dina. We have so many memories together that it’s affecting my everyday life, throwing off my daily routines. I can’t eat waffles anymore—she made them for me every time I went to her house early in the morning. I can’t wear the sweater she bought me anymore—it makes me think about the time we spent together on my birthday. Every time I see a helicopter, I cringe—that was the best date I have ever been on.

Megan said she’s doing fine. Although she probably wasn’t supposed to, Megan showed me the emails from Dina. I feel like Megan is the only one that understands. Nick and Joe have it set in their mind that I should be instantly over Dina and everything that happened. Well news flash to my little brothers, easier said than done.

Seeing as it’s the most romantic day of the year is making absolutely nothing better. I’ve picked up the phone and entered Dina’s number multiple times, but I’ve never gone through with actually dialing. She doesn’t want me to talk to her, so I have to respect her wishes, despite how badly I want to hear her voice.

Since Nick is going out with Megan and Joe is going out with Pamela on their almost sickeningly romantic dates, I decided that Frankie and I would spend the night having some quality brother bonding time. I told my parents that I would take Frank for the night, allowing my parents to have a nice night to themselves. They are very thankful, but it’s really obvious that they’re worried about me. After reassuring them that I am fine, and am going to take Frankie out to dinner, they agreed to go out to dinner themselves for some much necessary and very valuable alone time.
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“Kevin, I’m ready!” Frankie yelled as he walked into my room. “Why do you look so sad?”

“I’m not sad, Frank. I’m excited. It’s not every day we get to spend time together like we’re going to tonight!”

“Yeah! But I still think you’re sad. Do you miss Dina?”

“Yeah, Frank, I do,” I sighed.

“I miss her too, but I say we go girl hunting tonight!”

“Woah there, aren’t you a little young to be thinking like that?”

“So you’re saying it’s a bad idea?”

“No, I’m not. I’m just gonna grab my stuff. I’ll meet you downstairs.”

Frankie laughed as he ran out of my bedroom. I shook my head. Now my nine year old brother is trying to get me back into the dating scene. I shoved my wallet into the back pocket of my jeans and my phone into the pocket of my jacket. Once in the kitchen, I grabbed my keys from their designated spot and headed out to the car with Frank.

I helped Frankie get situated in the passenger seat of the Tahoe. After completing that task, I put myself behind the wheel. I turned the car on and proceeded to do all the things that needed to be done prior to leaving. It was then I realized Frankie and I had everything we needed, except a destination,

“So Frank, it’s all up to you. Where do you want to eat?”

Frankie’s ears perked up as he replied, “You mean I get to pick wherever I want?”

“You bet.”

“Hmm, the pressure. You know where I haven’t been in a while?”

“Where?”

“In N Out Burger!”

“Out of any restaurant in this whole city, you want to go to In N Out Burger?”

“Yes!” Frankie shouted, taking pride in his decision.

“Deal, little brother,” I approved, laughing as I put the car in drive.

Fifteen minutes later, I entered the west coast burger chain with my youngest brother. As Frankie’s eyes filled with excitement, my smile grew bigger on his face. After ordering our burgers, we took a seat at a table. There weren’t many people eating around, seeing as In N Out Burger isn’t the most romantic destination on Valentine’s Day. However, both Frankie I took note of the two girls sitting diagonally across from each other at a table for four. They looked about our ages.

The conversation between us flowed easily, mostly about Frankie’s band and video games. However, neither Frankie nor I could help but send some discreet stares at the two girls.

“So you see those girls over there?” Frankie asked.

“Yeah, what about them?”

“I think we should go talk to them.”

“Frankie, when did you suddenly become girl crazy?”

“I’m a growing boy quickly approaching puberty. I have raging hormones, Kevin.” I couldn’t control my laughter. I did not expect words like that to come out of my little brother’s mouth. Frankie stood up and my laughter suddenly subsided.

“What are you doing?”

“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m gonna go talk to them. Watch and learn, bro.”

“Frankie, stop!” I whispered as loud as possible, but it was too late.

Frankie decreased his distance between him and the girls, increasing the distance between me and him. I rested my elbow on the table, rubbing my thumb and index finger over my eyes. I couldn’t watch, nervous as to what he was going to say.

“Hey, I’m Frankie.” I looked up, seeing Frankie standing at the table, both girls staring at him with smiles on their faces.

“Hi Frankie! I’m Madison. How old are you?” the little girl cheerfully asked.

“I’m nine, how old are you?”

“I’m nine, too!”

I smiled as I watched my little brother work his ‘magic,’ which he obviously learned from his older brothers. The interaction between Frankie and Madison was really cute. Madison had light brown hair and an adorable face. No wonder Frankie likes her. My eyes quickly found their way to the girl Madison was with. With curly blonde hair and bright blue eyes that could be seen even at the distance I was at, she was hands down gorgeous.

“This is my sister, Lexie,” Madison announced. Lexie, that’s pretty. “She’s twenty.”

“Really?” Frankie’s hand raised and his index finger pointed straight at me. “That’s my brother, Kevin. He’s twenty-one!”

“Hi Kevin!” Madison yelled in my direction. I smiled at her and her smile expanded from ear to ear.

“Hey Frankie, do you want to go grab your food and your brother and finish eating with us?” Lexie asked.

“Yeah! Be right back!”

Frankie hurriedly walked back to me. Lexie’s eyes followed Frankie as he did so. When he reached the table, our eyes quickly attracted to each other like magnets. She smiled as I saw her cheeks turn a slight shade of pink. Maybe she finds this situation as embarrassing as I do.

“I gave you a great lead in Kev, don’t screw up!” Frankie sternly whispered at me.

I stood up and grabbed my tray, laughing at my little brother’s ‘threat.’ Frankie sat in the vacant seat next to Lexie. At first, I was confused as to why, but when I realized he wants me to look at Lexie, not be next to her. Oh, he’s good.

“Hi, I’m Kevin.” I extended my hand to her before I sat down.

“Lexie, nice to meet you,” she replied. I instantly found myself lost in her eyes. I tried not to be, but I couldn’t resist them.

“So what brings you two to In N Out Burger on Valentine’s Day?” Frankie asked.

“Lexie recently broke up with her boyfriend, so she said we could spend the day together.”

“Wow, thanks Mads,” Lexie said looking away, completely embarrassed.

“No way! Kevin just broke up with his girlfriend! He was all sad at home, so I told him we should go out.”

“Okay, this part of the conversation is over,” I replied, copying Lexie’s humiliated tone.

“Kevin, you look really familiar,” Madison said from next to me.

“I was thinking that as well,” Lexie agreed, deep in thought. From across the table, I could tell she was studying my facial features.

“There’s a very good chance you’ve seen me before.”

“Have you ever been on TV?” Madison questioned.

“Quite a few times, yes.”

“Oh my, People magazine.” I redirected by attention to Lexie. She looked shocked. I couldn’t help but laugh, knowing exactly what she was referring to. In the most recent issue of People, I was put on the list of the Sexiest Men. It’s an honor of course, but it’s kind of an embarrassing reason to be known. “Kevin Jonas.”

“Guilty,” I replied.

“Oh my gosh! That’s what it is. So you’re the Bonus Jonas! I knew you looked familiar too,” Madison said to Frankie.

“Guilty,” he mimicked. That sparked conversation among the two little ones, leaving Lexie and me with each other.

“I bet you were surprised to see yourself on that list. Oh, no, that came out wrong. You definitely belong on that last. Okay, that came out weird too. I’m just going to stop talking now.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I insisted, holding back my laughter so she didn’t feel any worse than she already did. “I know what you mean. I was surprised they put me on their list. I was not expecting it.”

“Right, that’s what I meant. Sorry, I guess I’m rusty on this whole dating thing.”

“Date?”

“Oh gosh, there I go again. I didn’t mean this was a date or anything. That came out wrong.”

“If you want to call it a date, I’m not going to stop you.” A smile broke out on Lexie’s face as she looked at me. She studied me as I studied her. Her face was flawless; there was nothing at all wrong with it.

“So, ex-girlfriend, huh?”

“Oh, yeah, that…” I trailed off, looking down at my food.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. You don’t have to talk about it.”

“No, it’s okay. Really, it’s fine.”

“What happened?”

“She left me and went to New York.”

“Why?” Normally, I wouldn’t tell just anyone my personal situation, but Lexie seemed genuinely intrigued.

“Well she got a new job, but that wasn’t the reason that upset me. We publically announced we were dating and she had some bad run-ins with jealous fans. She actually had to see a doctor because of something one of my fans did. She couldn’t handle it.”

“That’s terrible. I’m so sorry. How long were you together?”

“We grew up together, so I’ve known her and have had feelings for her for a long time. We were together for a while, but only officially dated for a couple months.”

Lexie nodded as I took another bite of my burger, looking over at Frankie. His eyes connected with mine and he sent me a wink. Smiling, I turned back to Lexie.

“So what about you? Ex-boyfriend?”

“Yeah, we were only together for three months. The first two months were amazing. We spent every day together. But for the last month, he was really distant, making up excuses why he couldn’t hang out. One night, he said he was sick, so I picked up some take out and went over to his place. Yeah, he wasn’t sick.”

“Oh no, a cheater?”

“Yup. I’ve never felt so low in my life.”

“Look Lexie, I know I don’t know you very well, but from what I have seen and learned about you, you don’t deserve that kind of treatment. You’re way too sweet for that,” I said, truthfully.

“Thank you, Kevin. That’s really nice of you to say.” Her goofy grin mirrored mine as we once again became lost in each other’s eyes, waiting to be found.

“Hey, I have an idea!” Frankie shouted, bringing us back from our trance. “Let’s play the question game.”

“The question game?” Madison repeated while chomping on a french fry.

“It’s simple. Someone asks a question and everyone says their answer! I’ll go first. Favorite color? Mine is blue.”

“Pink,” came from Madison.

“Yellow,” Lexie commented.

“Green for me,” I said.

“See? It’s as easy as that. Who wants to ask next?”

“I will!” Madison yelled, before going into thinking mode. “Okay, favorite movie? Mine is Finding Nemo.”

“About A Boy,” I said, fully confident in my answer.

“Finding Neverland,” was Frankie’s answer. Nick made him watch it one time, and he’s been obsessed ever since.

“Definitely Billy Madison,” Lexie said.

I cringed. That’s Dina’s favorite movie. My mind wandered to all the times we watched it together. Her voice filled my head as I heard her quote our favorite lines from the movie, followed by her contagious laugh.

“Earth to Kevin!” I heard, followed by a palm hitting my forehead. “It’s your turn to ask a question.”

“Jeeze, Frank. Chill out. Um, what’s your last name?”

“Drake,” Lexie answered laughing. Lexie Drake, I like that.

The game continued for a while. No one seemed to be getting bored of it, excited to learn more about each other. The more I learned about Lexie, the more I liked, and I was getting the same vibe back from her. You can do this, Kevin. But she’s no Dina. No one compares to Dina, Kevin. Just get over that. Lexie is a great girl, so take a chance.

“Alright, well we have to get going. My parents want us home for 'family movie night,'” Lexie explained, sounding extremely thrilled.

“Oh that sounds like a blast!” She rolled her eyes at me as she stood up. “So um, can I get your number?”

“I was hoping you’d ask,” she said, grabbing her own phone from her pocket. Frankie and Madison watched on as Lexie and I exchanged numbers.

“Hey, listen. We’re having a birthday party at our house on Friday for our dad. Would you two like to come?”

“Yes!” Madison immediately accepted.

“Yeah, sure. That sounds great. Thank you for the invite.”

“I’ll hopefully see you before then?”

“I’d like that. Have a great night Kevin.”

“You too, Lexie. Let me know how that movie goes.”

“Oh, you know I will. Bye Frankie!”

“Bye Lexie! Bye Madison!”

Frankie and I cleaned up our table after the girls left. After throwing our leftovers in the trash, we walked to our car. We were silent as we got ourselves set for the ride home. Frankie struggled to find something worth listening to on the radio as I pulled out of the parking lot.

“Well Frank, I have to say. Tonight, you were a better wingman than Nick or Joe have ever been.”

“Yeah well, what can I say? I’ve got the moves.”