"So what in the world happened?!" Sarah yelled through the phone. "I haven't heard from you all friggin' day. Something had to have went down. Spill."
Bailey stood at the front of the bus, facing the door with the phone up to her ear and a smile on her face when she thought about kissing Joe, in the rain.
"Oh, uh, yeah." Bailey replied quietly so she couldn't be heard from the back of the bus. "Hold on a sec." she said before making her way to the bathroom. She shut the door, turned on the air vent so no one outside could hear her talking, and then started with Joe's name.
"So Joe, you gonna tell me what happened outside?" Kevin asked, smirking. Joe looked at him wide-eyed, then pointed to the bathroom. "Chill, she can't hear us. She's on the phone with the vent thing on. If we can't hear her, she can't hear us."
"He's got a point." Nick commented, taking his eyes off the TV screen.
"Well, - "Joe started. "- you told us to go outside in the rain, and we did. Then like, - "he stopped, thought, and then smiled.
" - What?" Kevin exclaimed in interest.
"I just, kinda, kissed her." Joe stated as his cheeks turned a little pink.
"What do you mean, 'kinda'?" Nick questioned.
"Forget I said 'kinda', I did kiss her." he corrected himself. Kevin and Nick just stared at him. "What?"
"I don't know, you tell me." the oldest said. "Was it 'in the moment' or was it like, a 'kiss-kiss'?"
Joe shrugged. "I had been meaning to for a while. . ."
"What do you mean, 'for a while'? You just met the girl not even a week ago." Nick questioned.
"Stop asking me what I mean! I mean exactly what I said." Joe spurt out. "I don't know, I just really like her. Even if it has only been a few days. There's just something about her. . ."
"What do you mean you 'don't know'?" Nick smirked.
"NICK!"
"Ok, ok." he put his hands up in surrender.
"So are you going to ask her out?" Kevin asked.
"I - " Joe started as the bathroom door opened.
"Sarah say's her hellos." Bailey informed with a smile, then sat next to Joe on the couch. Everyone was staring at her. "What?" they all shook their heads, then turned back to the TV.
- - - - -
The next morning, Nick was the first one up. The four of them had fallen asleep during the movie the night before. Kevin was sprawled out on one couch, Joe and Bailey were on the other. Nick smiled as he saw Bailey curled up next to Joe who was slouched back with his head against the back of the couch. Her head was on his chest and his arm was around her waist. Quickly, Nick snatched Bailey's phone and took a picture.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Kevin barley got out as he awoke, his low voice crackled. "What time is it?"
"It's like, 10am, but we're still on the road." he replied, then took a seat next to him.
Kevin noticed Bailey and Joe. "Aw, they look so cute."
"I'm awake and I can hear you." Joe said softly. His eyes were still closed and he didn't move at all.
"Ah, he speaks." Kevin stated.
"Me too." Bailey said. She had been up for a while also, she was just so comfortable, she didn't want to move. She was in Joe's arms and she loved it.
Joe opened his eyes at the sound of her voice and looked down at her. He had no idea that she had been awake. He had been up for at least 10 minutes, just holding her.
A few seconds passed before Bailey finally sat up, pulling away from Joe.
"So where are we headed anyway?" Bailey asked before standing and stretching her arms up above her head. Joe watched as his t-shirt rose and revealed her belly button. He frowned to himself as it disappeared as quickly as it showed.
"Memphis, Tennessee." Kevin replied. "But we've still got a few hours to go."
"Great." Bailey stated, sarcasm dripped from her mouth.
"Ha ha, why do you say it like that?" Joe asked.
"It's just all my clothes are on the other bus. It kinda sucks." she chuckled.
"We have clothes." Nick offered.
"I don't think boys pants are going to look all that great on me." she replied.
"I think Nick has a pair or two of girl pants in there." Joe smirked.
"Hey, I think you do too, Joseph." Kevin piped in, causing Bailey to laugh. Joe narrowed his eyes at him.
"C'mon." Nick motioned Bailey to follow him to the front of the bus.
Kevin just stared at Joe who followed Bailey with his eyes as she left with Nick. Joe looked back at him. "What?"
"You're falling so hard." he smirked. Joe didn't bother replying, he knew he was right.
- - - - -
After 3 more hours off driving, the bus was finally parked at an arena in Memphis, Tennessee.
"Last one off is . . . LAST and just sucks!" Nick yelled, then rushed out of the backroom. Kevin quickly followed. Joe went to get up, but Bailey stopped him.
"Joe, can we talk for a sec?" she asked, looking into his eyes as they stayed seated on the couch.
"Yeah, sure." he replied, completely attentive.
"About last night. . ." she trailed off as she shifted her eyes. "Well, I don't know how to ask this without being too forward, but like, what was that?" her soft voice asked. "I mean, I know it was a kiss, but does it going anywhere beyond that?"
Joe kept eye contact. The same thing had been on his mind since then. "Did you want it to?"
"You can't reply to my question with a question."
He chuckled, looked away, then looked back into her sea blue eyes. "I really like you, Bailey. A lot. I love talking with you, being around you, flirting with you, laughing with you, hugging you, and as of last night, - "he started, but stopped when she leaned in and kissed him. She could feel that he was shocked, but it instantly went away as he kissed back. " - kissing you." he finished softly as she slowly pulled away. She smiled when she saw that his eyes were still closed.
"Joe?" Bailey asked after a few seconds, his eyes were still closed and he was silent.
"Shhh, I'm taking it all in. I just spilled my heart out. Give me a moment." he tried to stop himself from smiling, but he failed miserably, causing him to open his eyes and lock them with hers again, she smiled back at him. "Ok, since we skipped a step. . .or three, do you want to go out to dinner sometime? Maybe a movie or something?"
Bailey chuckled, "How about a tour around this arena accompanied with a hot dog and soda?" Joe smiled, he loved her originality and simplicity.
"That works." he replied, standing up and reaching out his hand. Bailey took it and he lead her off the bus.
"Happy Hippo's Hot Dogs?" Bailey asked, looking up at the big purple sign. Joe and her were two of the few people walking around the arena before any fans were let in. "Should I be scared?"
Joe laughed, "As long as they're not made out of hippos."
"Ask 'em." she stated, Joe looked down at her in disbelief.
"What?"
"You heard me, ask him if they're made out of hippos." she nudged her head towards the guy behind the counter. "I dare you." she smirked.
"Ok, fine." he replied, then approached the counter with her by his side. "Excuse me, sir, are your hot dogs made out of hippos?" he asked in a serious tone. Bailey tried to stifle a laugh. Joe elbowed her.
"Why, uh, no. I don't believe they are." the old guy replied.
"Great. I'll order two then. With two Cokes." Joe informed.
"Root beer." Bailey coughed.
"I'm sorry, Root beer. Two Root beers." he corrected, before glancing over at Bailey who was trying not to laugh. "Thanks." Joe said as they grabbed their order and slowly walked away.
"You're just too cool." Bailey joked before taking a bite of her ketchup covered hotdog.
"So I've been told."
"This is probably the best date I've been on, even if we truly are consuming hippos." she stated. Joe almost choked as he began laughing. She smiled over at him as they continued walking.
- - - - -
"I don't think they're ready for us, guys." Joe said into the mic backstage; the crowd went wild.
"What? Are you sure anyone is even out there?" Kevin asked.
"Let me check. . ." Nick stated, then stepped onto the stage. "Woah." he exclaimed as he scanned his eyes over the arena; it was loaded with people in the pit and balconies. The show had to have been sold out. It looked insane!
Bailey stood at the foot of the stage like normal with her clipboard and headset as the boys performed 'Year 3000'. She pretty much zoned out until they started playing 'Mandy'.
"Mandy used to be that girl, the one that never said a word." Joe sung. Bailey looked up, almost swearing that she heard her name. She shook it off, then zoned out again. "Bailey always laughs when I act stupid." she looked up on stage to see Joe smirking at her as he continued to sing. She noticed Nick looking at him like 'WTF', but Joe waved him off. "Bailey always knows exactly what I'm thinking and she's always on my mind."
Bailey's jaw dropped as he sung to her, not believing that he had used her name. She turned around to see if the fans noticed; a few had a funny look on their faces, but other's didn't notice because they were too busy rocking out. For the rest of the song, Joe sang the original lyrics after receiving glares from his brothers.
Halfway through 'Hello Beautiful', Bailey thought her ears were going to explode. Every time Nick would sing, the girls behind her would shriek. To be honest, she felt like strangling them. At some point during Nick's verse, a fan who looked about 13 hopped over the barricade. Instantly, Bailey rushed towards her but the fan was too fast. Within seconds, she was up on the stage, security was quickly moving in. Some of her scream was caught in Nick's mic as she hugged him, but he kept on singing. Joe was laughing at him form the opposite side of the stage as security pulled the young girl off of him. She had clung onto him long enough to slip a note in his guitar strap.
Once again, the show was coming to an end. The boys said their 'thank yous' and 'goodbyes' as a few fans threw random objects onto the stage; one being a pair of socks.
"Thanks, I'm going to go change into these right now." Joe said into the mic, holding up the hot pink, frilly socks. Bailey chucked, then made her way backstage to set up for the meet and greet.
- - - - -
"Mwah!" Bailey smiled after smacking Joe's cheek with a kiss as she ran up to him after the last fan from the meet and greet left.
"You're so sweet." he replied.
"So Nick, what'd that love note say?" Bailey asked him as they finished picking up their stuff that was lying around the room.
"What are you talking about?" he asked, sounding confused.
"Oh come on. I'm not stupid." she smiled. "I saw her slip that note on your strap." she winked, making Nick blush a little.
"Well, it had her number in it." he replied.
Bailey grinned. "Guess who we're calling when we get back to the bus?"
"Guess who's going to go back to their own bus?" Nick mocked.
"Guess who's going to be tackled if he doesn't lighten up?" she asked, Nick was about to reply until she cut him off. "Joe!" she yelled, then ran up behind him and jumped on his back, he grabbed her legs as they wrapped around his waost and held her up. Her arms were draped around his neck as the front of her body pressed up against his back. "Hey gorgeous." she finally whispered in his ear, unknowingly sending tingles down his spine.
"Alright, we're heading out." Kevin waved for everyone to follow him. "Are you rooming with us again?"
"Uh, I don't know." Bailey replied, a little unsure. "Yesterday it was because I had to, but today my bus is actually here."
"Are you saying that you want to leave us?" Nick asked, sounding a bit offended."No, not at all. I just don't think it's appropriate this time." she trailed off as they made their way through the arena.
"It's not any less appropriate than that." Kevin pointed to her on Joe's back. Within moments, they were already outside by the busses.
"Yeah, I just think I'll crash on my bus tonight." she said as Joe let Bailey slowly slide down his back. Her legs moved between his hands as she slid down. After making contact with the ground, she gave Kevin and Nick a hug goodbye. "See you guys tomorrow." she waved to them as they hopped onto their bus. "Don't lose that number!" she called after Nick, then turned to Joe. She could barley make out his eyes at the angle she was at.
Joe smiled as he watched hers glisten in the little moon light that reflected off the bus. He embraced her in a warm hug and held her for a few minutes, every now and then giving her back a gentle rub. After slowly pulling away, Bailey stepped up on her tippy toes and gave him a kiss. For some reason, his lips seemed a lot softer than they had earlier.
"See you tomorrow." he smiled down at her.
"See ya." she waved, then made her way onto her bus. Joe didn't move until she was out of sight.
Once Bailey placed her bag down in the darkness, she clicked on the light. She was instantly stunned by what she saw in front of her.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Well it sounds like you're having a great time up there!" Bailey's best friend Sarah stated excitedly on the other end of the phone line. "You know, it pretty much blows to know that you were back home the day before I came back from vacation in Ohio. It's ridiculous!" it was going on the second hour of their conversation.
Bailey was back on her own bus in her bunk. The only reason she was up was because she received a call from her friend 8am that morning.
"Tell me about it. I needed you too! It was horrible, with Jake and everything." Bailey trailed off. "But everything is ok, I mean, with Joe and I." she had given Sarah an overview of the past four days of the tour in the first hour of talking.
"I wanna meet this kid." Sarah smiled into the phone. "You haven't gone 3 minutes without saying his name."
"Hey! I'm sorry that he's so interesting to talk about." Bailey replied smiling.
"- And who's that?" she heard Joe's voice on the other side of the curtain that closed off her bunk from the rest of the bus.
"Is that him?!" Sarah asked, getting a little excited. Bailey put the phone down and pulled open the curtain to see Joe standing at her eye level.
"Hey." she smiled and slid out of the bunk.
"No no, who's so interesting to talk about?" he poked at her.
"Ha, wouldn't you like to know."
"Fine, don't tell me." Joe stated, then turned away from her with his nose in the air. "- But no, I came in to say bye and that we're leaving for this conference thing a few blocks away. I already asked Ross if you could come with us, but he said he had stuff for you to do here, so. . ."
"He so likes you!" Sarah yelled on the phone. The volume was up loud enough for the two of them to hear her as it sat on her bunk.
Bailey went to gab the phone, but Joe snatched it before she got to it.
"Yellow?" He asked with the phone up to his ears.
"Blue." Sarah replied, knowing it was Joe. She tried to keep herself from laughing.
"Orange." he replied.
"Purple." Sarah came back.
"Periwinkle." Joe stood proudly as she heard her chuckle through the phone. "Ha, I win."
"Joe! Give it back." Bailey whined with her hand out, he shook his head.
"So, are you gonna ask my friend out or what?" Sarah blurted out, making the breath in Joe's lungs freeze.
"Uh, what?" he asked with an unsure chuckle.
"Joe." Bailey said again, he put his finger up, telling her to be quiet. She put her hands on her hips and stared at him.
"You heard me, Romeo. You better step on it before she moves on. If anyone knows her, it's me. Best friends since 1998, I think I'd know." Sarah said seriously as a grin spread across her face.
"Here." Joe said, quickly handing Bailey her phone back.
"Finally." she joked. "Well, I guess I'll see you later?" she asked.
Joe nodded, then moved in for a hug. Bailey of course leaned into him, inhaling his wonderful scent and holding onto his built body.
"Yeah, later." Joe said after pulling away from her. He smiled at her before exiting the bus.
"What in the world did you say?!" Bailey exploded on Sarah who was now laughing.
"Nothing."
"Oh my God, Sarah!"
"I just told him that he better move in quickly, that's all." she replied nonchalantly.
"You probably scared him." Bailey accused. "Maybe he doesn't want to do anything. Maybe it's nothing more than flirting. I mean, he hasn't really said anything he's had so many opportunities to do something if he really wanted. . ."
"Bails, I know. You told me." Sarah stated, her voice full of boredom.
"- I mean, yeah, we flirt a lot, but maybe that's all there really is between us."
"Shut up. There's more to it and you know it." her friend snapped.
Bailey narrowed her eyes at her tone, even though she couldn't see. "Not where he's concerned." she mumbled. "Look, I better go. Apparently Ross has stuff for me to do."
"Sure, just change the subject that you started. Cool." Sarah rolled her eyes. "Call me later."
The two said their goodbye's, then Bailey made her way off the bus to find Ross.
- - - - -
"Have you guys seen Bailey?" Joe asked Kevin as crew members rushed by them backstage.
"No, I haven't seen her since last night." he replied. "Maybe she just got caught up in the crap Ross had for her. Don't worry."
"But I haven't seen her since like, 9 this morning. It's going on 8pm!" Joe complained.
"ONE MINUTE!" a crew member shouted.
"Yes, show time!" Nick exclaimed as he strapped his guitar on behind Kevin.
"Let's go!" another crew member yelled, motioning the boys to enter the stage.
The crowd went wild once they were in view. Joe scanned the area in front of the stage, there was no sign of Bailey. He became highly disappointed; he didn't have anyone to sing to.
- - - - -
"Yum." Joe mumbled as he took a big bite of cake. "So who's birthday is it?" he asked, looking at the three girls in front of him at the meet and greet table.
"Me!" a short, brown haired girl replied.
"Happy Birthday!" Joe exclaimed after stuffing another piece of cake in his mouth. He spit out a few chunks on accident, making the girls laugh. His icing-covered lips smiled at their amusement. "BAILEY!" Joe yelled instantly after he saw her enter the fan-filled room, she was really late.
He forgot about the plate of cake he had in his hands as he went to run up to her. It was as if it was in slow motion as his foot clipped the end of the carpet, sending him straight to the ground, causing chocolate cake and vanilla icing to accompany his outfit.
Bailey instantly lost control as she burst out laughing while he laid stunned on the floor. The fans in line at the meet & greet table flashed their cameras as Bailey doubled over from laughing hysterically. Her stomach was cramping as the tears flowed from her eyes.
"Are . . . You . . . Ok?" she got out in between laughs while staring over at Joe who was now only a foot or two away from her on the ground. He mimicked her laugh before slapping a little cake from his shirt onto her face. "Hey!" she exclaimed, still laughing a bit as he got up from the floor. She instantly shot up from the ground herself and chased him throughout the room. She hopped on his back and smushed a little in his face, causing him to drop her on accident.
"Ah, I'm sorry! Are you ok?" he asked as he helped her up. She nodded, then wiped her face from the tears of laughter. Joe had a little cake on his finger, so he put it in her face, motioning for her to lick it. She did without hesitation as she listened to a few fans curse behind her. That made her smile even more.
"My God Joseph!" Kevin yelled as he approached them; the two of them couldn't help but smile. "Bailey!" he added, once he noticed the clumps of cake on her face. She gave a little wave. "You two are so lucky that we ran out of time tonight." he motioned towards the line of about 20 JB fans. "It's raining outside, why don't you two go out there and clean off a bit. I think it's better to be wet than cakey."
"Race ya!" Bailey yelled before smacking Joe's arm and taking off through a group of people and out of the back room. Through a couple more doors and she was outside in the pelting rain. It was as if someone was pouring buckets and buckets of water from the sky. It was only seconds later before Joe was by her side in the darkness.
"I love the rain." he said to no one in particular, looking up at the star-filled sky. "Especially when it's warm out like this." he looked over at Bailey.
She wiped her face as the rain pelted down on her. Joe couldn't help but stare. Her long hair was sticking to her face, her clothes were sticking to her body. His eyes were glued.
Bailey noticed him staring, but she didn't care; he wasn't looking too bad himself. His face glistened in the moonlight as the water trickled down from his thick, dark hair. His wet t-shirt clung to his firm frame. She caught herself staring for a few also. Tingles emerged throughout her as she noticed his shaggy hair dripping and sticking to his forehead. His muscular neck caught her attention as the water glistened off of it. It was right then that she decided he was the most gorgeous person ever. She wanted to tackle him right then.
Joe chuckled as she looked into his eyes. He couldn't stop looking at the blob of icing that was still on her cheek. He slowly approached her through the rain. After bringing his hand up to her face, he softly wiped the icing off with his thumb. Even though he couldn't tell, Bailey's head started throbbing. She wanted him bad. His face was only inches away from hers as he stared down into her eyes. Her heart was beating in her ears as she wished he'd just do it.
Joe smiled down at her beautiful face before slowly moving his face closer to hers. Bailey closed her eyes as their lips met. Warmth instantly took over her body as he moved his hand to her firm waist. Bailey brought her hand up to his jaw line and leaned in closer against his body. She was in heaven.
"Hey you guys - " Kevin's voice rang around the corner, causing Bailey and Joe to quickly pull away. A millisecond later, Kevin appeared. "Hey, we're about to get going." the two of them just stared at him, they were still taking in what had just happened and relieved that they hadn't been seen. "Um, are you alright?" he asked, looking back and forth between Bailey and Joe.
"Uh, yeah, we're fine." she replied. "It's just, this stupid cake." she said, looking down at her shirt. "It won't come out." she lied.
"Oh, we'll fix it later. Just hurry up. We're pulling out in a few." Kevin gave a little wave before re-entering the building.
Joe turned and looked a Bailey, she couldn't help but smile. As much as he tried to fight it, a smile appeared on his face as well; he was glad he had finally made his move. Then without a word he grabbed her hand, interlocking his fingers with hers and lead her back into the building.
Once inside, she let go of his hand and made her way back into the meet & greet room. A few people from the venue and band were scattered around, but all the fans were gone.
Bailey tried to ignore the fact that her lips were still tingling as she walked through the room and out the main door that went into the lobby. She knew that Joe had stopped trailing behind her, so she made a break outside to her bus. The only problem was, her bus wasn't there.
"Yeah, your bus left already." Nick said behind her. She turned around and looked at him. "Guess you're rooming with us 'til the next show." she gave him a weak smile. "Lets go, Shaggy." he exclaimed, referring to the fact that she was drenched, before running through the rain and onto his bus. After a moment, she followed.
- - - - -
"So what happened out there" Kevin asked Joe as they walked through the arena.
"What do you mean?" he replied.
"Oh come on Joe, I'm not stupid." Kevin stated. "Did you finally make your move or what?"
Joe looked over at him as they walked outside. "Maybe." he said as he hopped up onto the bus with Kevin close behind.
"Maybe? What do you - " Kevin stopped as he bumped into Joe who had stopped in front of him.
"Hey." Bailey said, sitting with her legs tucked under her on the couch in the back wearing a pair of Joe's PJ pants and one of his shirts. Nick insisted on her changing out of those wet clothes.
"Hey." Joe said softly, then bit his bottom lip as it began to form a smile. Kevin nudged him from behind. "Oh, I'm, uh, going to get changed." he said before making his way to his bunk and grabbing a dry set of clothes.
Bailey looked up at Kevin expectantly. "So - " he started, then sat on the couch on the opposite side or her. "How was that cake?" he smirked.
"Great." Nick said, appearing in the doorway. "It gave me gas though." he finished, then sat next to Kevin on the couch with a bottle of water.
"So that's what that smell was?" Bailey laughed.
"Why are you here?" Kevin asked. "- Not to be rude or anything, just curious." Joe was now listening intently from inside the bathroom.
"My bus left without me, so I'm stuck with you guys tonight." she smiled.
"Yes!" Joe exclaimed. Immediately after his outburst, he covered his mouth.
"You ok in there?" Nick yelled to him.
"Yeah, I just hit my head." he lied as he exited the bathroom in his dry clothes.
"Aw, poor thing." Bailey made fun of him, causing him to walk over and flop down on top of her on the couch. "Jeeze, all you had to do was ask." she said, scooting over to the left side. Since Joe was already lying there, he waited for her to get situated before resting his head on her lap.
"Uh. . ." Nick tried to think of something to say as he watched Joe and Bailey. "You guys up for a movie?"
"Sure." Kevin, Bailey and Joe replied at the same time.
"Is the 'Duke's of Hazard' fine with everyone?" Nick asked, everyone shrugged. He sighed before putting the DVD in the PS2 and turning off the light.
A few minutes into the movie, Bailey started twirling Joe's hair between her fingertips. Little did she know, he was enjoying every second of it. They both knew they weren't going to be able to concentrate on the movie; they were too busy thinking of each other.
"Hold me, hold me. If I were to. I can't, cant, I swear I can't let you. It's all in your hands now I'll do what I can to you." Bailey's phone rang from the front of the bus.
"Hasn't anyone told you to silence your cell phones during movies?" Kevin joked. He felt her glare at him.
Bailey then patted Joe's chest for him to lift his head so she could get up to get her phone. He lifted on command then watched her disappear to the front of the bus, admiring how good she looked in his t-shirt.
Bailey was back on her own bus in her bunk. The only reason she was up was because she received a call from her friend 8am that morning.
"Tell me about it. I needed you too! It was horrible, with Jake and everything." Bailey trailed off. "But everything is ok, I mean, with Joe and I." she had given Sarah an overview of the past four days of the tour in the first hour of talking.
"I wanna meet this kid." Sarah smiled into the phone. "You haven't gone 3 minutes without saying his name."
"Hey! I'm sorry that he's so interesting to talk about." Bailey replied smiling.
"- And who's that?" she heard Joe's voice on the other side of the curtain that closed off her bunk from the rest of the bus.
"Is that him?!" Sarah asked, getting a little excited. Bailey put the phone down and pulled open the curtain to see Joe standing at her eye level.
"Hey." she smiled and slid out of the bunk.
"No no, who's so interesting to talk about?" he poked at her.
"Ha, wouldn't you like to know."
"Fine, don't tell me." Joe stated, then turned away from her with his nose in the air. "- But no, I came in to say bye and that we're leaving for this conference thing a few blocks away. I already asked Ross if you could come with us, but he said he had stuff for you to do here, so. . ."
"He so likes you!" Sarah yelled on the phone. The volume was up loud enough for the two of them to hear her as it sat on her bunk.
Bailey went to gab the phone, but Joe snatched it before she got to it.
"Yellow?" He asked with the phone up to his ears.
"Blue." Sarah replied, knowing it was Joe. She tried to keep herself from laughing.
"Orange." he replied.
"Purple." Sarah came back.
"Periwinkle." Joe stood proudly as she heard her chuckle through the phone. "Ha, I win."
"Joe! Give it back." Bailey whined with her hand out, he shook his head.
"So, are you gonna ask my friend out or what?" Sarah blurted out, making the breath in Joe's lungs freeze.
"Uh, what?" he asked with an unsure chuckle.
"Joe." Bailey said again, he put his finger up, telling her to be quiet. She put her hands on her hips and stared at him.
"You heard me, Romeo. You better step on it before she moves on. If anyone knows her, it's me. Best friends since 1998, I think I'd know." Sarah said seriously as a grin spread across her face.
"Here." Joe said, quickly handing Bailey her phone back.
"Finally." she joked. "Well, I guess I'll see you later?" she asked.
Joe nodded, then moved in for a hug. Bailey of course leaned into him, inhaling his wonderful scent and holding onto his built body.
"Yeah, later." Joe said after pulling away from her. He smiled at her before exiting the bus.
"What in the world did you say?!" Bailey exploded on Sarah who was now laughing.
"Nothing."
"Oh my God, Sarah!"
"I just told him that he better move in quickly, that's all." she replied nonchalantly.
"You probably scared him." Bailey accused. "Maybe he doesn't want to do anything. Maybe it's nothing more than flirting. I mean, he hasn't really said anything he's had so many opportunities to do something if he really wanted. . ."
"Bails, I know. You told me." Sarah stated, her voice full of boredom.
"- I mean, yeah, we flirt a lot, but maybe that's all there really is between us."
"Shut up. There's more to it and you know it." her friend snapped.
Bailey narrowed her eyes at her tone, even though she couldn't see. "Not where he's concerned." she mumbled. "Look, I better go. Apparently Ross has stuff for me to do."
"Sure, just change the subject that you started. Cool." Sarah rolled her eyes. "Call me later."
The two said their goodbye's, then Bailey made her way off the bus to find Ross.
- - - - -
"Have you guys seen Bailey?" Joe asked Kevin as crew members rushed by them backstage.
"No, I haven't seen her since last night." he replied. "Maybe she just got caught up in the crap Ross had for her. Don't worry."
"But I haven't seen her since like, 9 this morning. It's going on 8pm!" Joe complained.
"ONE MINUTE!" a crew member shouted.
"Yes, show time!" Nick exclaimed as he strapped his guitar on behind Kevin.
"Let's go!" another crew member yelled, motioning the boys to enter the stage.
The crowd went wild once they were in view. Joe scanned the area in front of the stage, there was no sign of Bailey. He became highly disappointed; he didn't have anyone to sing to.
- - - - -
"Yum." Joe mumbled as he took a big bite of cake. "So who's birthday is it?" he asked, looking at the three girls in front of him at the meet and greet table.
"Me!" a short, brown haired girl replied.
"Happy Birthday!" Joe exclaimed after stuffing another piece of cake in his mouth. He spit out a few chunks on accident, making the girls laugh. His icing-covered lips smiled at their amusement. "BAILEY!" Joe yelled instantly after he saw her enter the fan-filled room, she was really late.
He forgot about the plate of cake he had in his hands as he went to run up to her. It was as if it was in slow motion as his foot clipped the end of the carpet, sending him straight to the ground, causing chocolate cake and vanilla icing to accompany his outfit.
Bailey instantly lost control as she burst out laughing while he laid stunned on the floor. The fans in line at the meet & greet table flashed their cameras as Bailey doubled over from laughing hysterically. Her stomach was cramping as the tears flowed from her eyes.
"Are . . . You . . . Ok?" she got out in between laughs while staring over at Joe who was now only a foot or two away from her on the ground. He mimicked her laugh before slapping a little cake from his shirt onto her face. "Hey!" she exclaimed, still laughing a bit as he got up from the floor. She instantly shot up from the ground herself and chased him throughout the room. She hopped on his back and smushed a little in his face, causing him to drop her on accident.
"Ah, I'm sorry! Are you ok?" he asked as he helped her up. She nodded, then wiped her face from the tears of laughter. Joe had a little cake on his finger, so he put it in her face, motioning for her to lick it. She did without hesitation as she listened to a few fans curse behind her. That made her smile even more.
"My God Joseph!" Kevin yelled as he approached them; the two of them couldn't help but smile. "Bailey!" he added, once he noticed the clumps of cake on her face. She gave a little wave. "You two are so lucky that we ran out of time tonight." he motioned towards the line of about 20 JB fans. "It's raining outside, why don't you two go out there and clean off a bit. I think it's better to be wet than cakey."
"Race ya!" Bailey yelled before smacking Joe's arm and taking off through a group of people and out of the back room. Through a couple more doors and she was outside in the pelting rain. It was as if someone was pouring buckets and buckets of water from the sky. It was only seconds later before Joe was by her side in the darkness.
"I love the rain." he said to no one in particular, looking up at the star-filled sky. "Especially when it's warm out like this." he looked over at Bailey.
She wiped her face as the rain pelted down on her. Joe couldn't help but stare. Her long hair was sticking to her face, her clothes were sticking to her body. His eyes were glued.
Bailey noticed him staring, but she didn't care; he wasn't looking too bad himself. His face glistened in the moonlight as the water trickled down from his thick, dark hair. His wet t-shirt clung to his firm frame. She caught herself staring for a few also. Tingles emerged throughout her as she noticed his shaggy hair dripping and sticking to his forehead. His muscular neck caught her attention as the water glistened off of it. It was right then that she decided he was the most gorgeous person ever. She wanted to tackle him right then.
Joe chuckled as she looked into his eyes. He couldn't stop looking at the blob of icing that was still on her cheek. He slowly approached her through the rain. After bringing his hand up to her face, he softly wiped the icing off with his thumb. Even though he couldn't tell, Bailey's head started throbbing. She wanted him bad. His face was only inches away from hers as he stared down into her eyes. Her heart was beating in her ears as she wished he'd just do it.
Joe smiled down at her beautiful face before slowly moving his face closer to hers. Bailey closed her eyes as their lips met. Warmth instantly took over her body as he moved his hand to her firm waist. Bailey brought her hand up to his jaw line and leaned in closer against his body. She was in heaven.
"Hey you guys - " Kevin's voice rang around the corner, causing Bailey and Joe to quickly pull away. A millisecond later, Kevin appeared. "Hey, we're about to get going." the two of them just stared at him, they were still taking in what had just happened and relieved that they hadn't been seen. "Um, are you alright?" he asked, looking back and forth between Bailey and Joe.
"Uh, yeah, we're fine." she replied. "It's just, this stupid cake." she said, looking down at her shirt. "It won't come out." she lied.
"Oh, we'll fix it later. Just hurry up. We're pulling out in a few." Kevin gave a little wave before re-entering the building.
Joe turned and looked a Bailey, she couldn't help but smile. As much as he tried to fight it, a smile appeared on his face as well; he was glad he had finally made his move. Then without a word he grabbed her hand, interlocking his fingers with hers and lead her back into the building.
Once inside, she let go of his hand and made her way back into the meet & greet room. A few people from the venue and band were scattered around, but all the fans were gone.
Bailey tried to ignore the fact that her lips were still tingling as she walked through the room and out the main door that went into the lobby. She knew that Joe had stopped trailing behind her, so she made a break outside to her bus. The only problem was, her bus wasn't there.
"Yeah, your bus left already." Nick said behind her. She turned around and looked at him. "Guess you're rooming with us 'til the next show." she gave him a weak smile. "Lets go, Shaggy." he exclaimed, referring to the fact that she was drenched, before running through the rain and onto his bus. After a moment, she followed.
- - - - -
"So what happened out there" Kevin asked Joe as they walked through the arena.
"What do you mean?" he replied.
"Oh come on Joe, I'm not stupid." Kevin stated. "Did you finally make your move or what?"
Joe looked over at him as they walked outside. "Maybe." he said as he hopped up onto the bus with Kevin close behind.
"Maybe? What do you - " Kevin stopped as he bumped into Joe who had stopped in front of him.
"Hey." Bailey said, sitting with her legs tucked under her on the couch in the back wearing a pair of Joe's PJ pants and one of his shirts. Nick insisted on her changing out of those wet clothes.
"Hey." Joe said softly, then bit his bottom lip as it began to form a smile. Kevin nudged him from behind. "Oh, I'm, uh, going to get changed." he said before making his way to his bunk and grabbing a dry set of clothes.
Bailey looked up at Kevin expectantly. "So - " he started, then sat on the couch on the opposite side or her. "How was that cake?" he smirked.
"Great." Nick said, appearing in the doorway. "It gave me gas though." he finished, then sat next to Kevin on the couch with a bottle of water.
"So that's what that smell was?" Bailey laughed.
"Why are you here?" Kevin asked. "- Not to be rude or anything, just curious." Joe was now listening intently from inside the bathroom.
"My bus left without me, so I'm stuck with you guys tonight." she smiled.
"Yes!" Joe exclaimed. Immediately after his outburst, he covered his mouth.
"You ok in there?" Nick yelled to him.
"Yeah, I just hit my head." he lied as he exited the bathroom in his dry clothes.
"Aw, poor thing." Bailey made fun of him, causing him to walk over and flop down on top of her on the couch. "Jeeze, all you had to do was ask." she said, scooting over to the left side. Since Joe was already lying there, he waited for her to get situated before resting his head on her lap.
"Uh. . ." Nick tried to think of something to say as he watched Joe and Bailey. "You guys up for a movie?"
"Sure." Kevin, Bailey and Joe replied at the same time.
"Is the 'Duke's of Hazard' fine with everyone?" Nick asked, everyone shrugged. He sighed before putting the DVD in the PS2 and turning off the light.
A few minutes into the movie, Bailey started twirling Joe's hair between her fingertips. Little did she know, he was enjoying every second of it. They both knew they weren't going to be able to concentrate on the movie; they were too busy thinking of each other.
"Hold me, hold me. If I were to. I can't, cant, I swear I can't let you. It's all in your hands now I'll do what I can to you." Bailey's phone rang from the front of the bus.
"Hasn't anyone told you to silence your cell phones during movies?" Kevin joked. He felt her glare at him.
Bailey then patted Joe's chest for him to lift his head so she could get up to get her phone. He lifted on command then watched her disappear to the front of the bus, admiring how good she looked in his t-shirt.
Are you sure I can leave you alone with this?" Bailey asked Joe as he placed the burgers her mom just made on the grill in the backyard. "I don't want to come back out and see the grill up in flames!" her hands were on her bare hips as she eyed him. They were still in their bathing suits from earlier.
"Hey! I can handle it. I've grilled stuff before." Joe replied, sounding a little offended after placing the last burger on. "Watch and be amazed."
"Sorry, I can't. I have to go inside and help my mom." Bailey gave a little wave before heading in the house.
"She totally digs me, man." Joe stated, only half jokingly as he looked over at Kevin who was sitting over in the sun by the pool.
"Sure, whatever you say." was his reply.
Back in the house, Bailey and Nick were in the kitchen making baked beans and macaroni and cheese. Bailey was on bean control as Nick stirred the cheesy noodles.
"Yum, smells good." Joe complimented as he walked into the kitchen.
"Thanks - WAIT! Joe, the burgers!" she exclaimed.
"Chill, Kevin's got it." he chuckled. "He told me to move and that I was pathetic."
"Hm, so he speaks the truth." Nick commented. Joe went to respond, but the doorbell rang.
"Hey Joe, can you get the door? My mom said she invited a few people for this cook-out thing." Bailey asked as she stirred the beans next to Nick. Joe nodded, then made his way to the front door.
He swung it open to see Jake standing there with a dozen red roses. Two seconds later, he closed the door in his face and walked away. "Wrong address." Joe informed, walking into the kitchen, trying to hide his smirk. A few moments later, the doorbell rang again.
"BAILEY! GET THAT!" her mom yelled down the stairs.
"Joe, take care of the beans." she said, then walked away without waiting for his reply. He went to stop her, but then just sighed and let her go. Bailey got to the door and opened it to view the same thing as Joe; Jake with flowers. "HA!" she cackled in amusement before closing the door in his face, for a second time, but he put his arm out and stopped it.
"Look Bailey, hear me out." Jake pleaded.
"No, I'm not going to. What don't you understand?" she questioned, looking into his gorgeous, blue eyes.
"Is that Jake?" her mom asked as she cam down the stairs. "Let him in, Bails. I invited him over. -Oh, and the Smith's are coming too."
Bailey rolled her eyes before trailing back into the kitchen. At this point, she didn't care about Jake anymore. She didn't care that he was there, only because he wouldn't pull anything with her mom there and also because Joe would be by her side. She planned on acting the same as she usually did, with or without Jake. He wasn't going to ruin this.
"Mom invited him for the cook-out." she stated quietly to Joe. She noticed him tense up. "Don't worry, it'll be fine. Just ignore him, that's what I'm gonna be doing." she informed. "Joe, the beans!" she exclaimed as she noticed them bubbling. Instantly, she removed them from the stove and placed them on the counter. "You're unbelievable, you know that?" she stated, looking at him. He shrugged his shoulders. "I love it." she smiled.
"I think Nick's got it from here." Joe said, then grabbed Bailey's hand and pulled her with him out to the backyard as Jake and her mom appeared in the kitchen. "I can't even believe he's here. Doesn't he get the hint?" Joe ranted to himself, letting go of Bailey's hand and walking up to the edge of the pool.
"Hey." Bailey said softly behind him, causing him to turn around to look at her. "Don't even think about him. He's nobody. Look, I know you don't believe me when I say I don't care anymore, but I really don't. Jake isn't my problem anymore. I'm done with him." her voice was filled with honesty.
"But how can you just forget someone like that?" he asked.
"Well for one, the feelings weren't truly there to begin with. He was just a friend and my mom, for some reason, loved him. Then it went from there. We dated and I couldn't say no. I mean, I loved having someone there with me, but there was never truly a connection." she paused. "And this, of course it hurt to find out that he slept with another girl when we were together because there was that feeling of betrayal, but I'm over it." Bailey looked up into his eyes. "Plus, I met this other guy who is just. . .indescribable. He makes me forget about everything and everyone when I'm around him."
Joe panicked for a moment as his mind raced about the other guy, but then it clicked once she smiled up at him. He was the other guy. He kept himself from kissing her right then, and wrapped his arms around her instead. He didn't want to move it too fast. Even if the chemistry was there, he didn't want to take that big step just yet.
Tingles surged through her body as his hands softly brushed against her bare back. No one had ever made that happen to her, ever. That was another sign to let her know she was falling.
As he held her, he couldn't stop thinking about her. Yeah, she was in his arms, but even then she still took up his mind. There hadn't been another girl to make him feel this way. Joe has had a few girlfriends, yeah, but he'd never felt so strongly towards anyone like this, and they weren't even going out, yet.
After a moment, the two pulled away from each other. Bailey could still see that Joe was still down. He smiled at her, but she could see right through it.
"Joe, really." she assured. "If you really want to, we can skip this thing and just - "
"So this is really happening?" Jake exclaimed from the backdoor. Kevin almost dropped the burgers on the tray in front of him at the sound of anger in his voice.
"Jake, stop!" Bailey yelled, turning to him. Once again, she felt Joe stiffen behind her. She looked back at him as if to say 'It's ok', then looked at Jake again who was making his way towards him.
"It's all because of you!" Jake shouted at Joe as he pointed at him. Bailey stood in front of him so he couldn't get to Joe. They were only a yard away from each other now. "You're the reason she let go of me."
"No, Jake. Stop!" Bailey put her hands out on his chest and put pressure on him to get him to step backwards. He was only inches away from her face as he started up again.
"It's ok, Bails. Let him go." Joe stated, expecting Jake to charge at him, but she didn't let him go.
"Joe! No. He needs to get over himself." she yelled, then pushed him back even more. Slowly they were making it to the backdoor.
"You know, this is the closest we've been in weeks." Jake stated softly, causing Bailey to pull away and smack him, hard.
"Go inside!" she yelled, he put his hands up in defeat and walked inside with Bailey on his tail.
"What in the world am I getting myself into, Kevin?" Joe asked, making his way over to the grill. He sat in the closest chair and ran his fingers through his hair in annoyance.
"Hey, I believe her when she says its fine." he replied. "Why don't you?"
Joe shrugged his shoulders. "I guess she just seems too good to be true. I mean, we just click so well, it's perfect. There has to be something wrong, or something that's not good." he tried to find the words in his mind, then groaned in frustration. "I don't know!" he exclaimed. "I really like her and I don't know what to do about it."
"Joe, you're thinking too much. Knock it off. Everything is fine! Stop hoping for something to be wrong. Maybe she's really the girl for you but you won't admit it."
"I just said that I liked her, I think that's admitting it." Joe snapped.
"Then do something about it."
After Kevin spoke, Joe made his way into the house. "Where'd Bailey go?"
"They went upstairs." her mom said, cautiously as she continued with the food in the kitchen.
Joe rushed up the steps and stopped at Bailey's bedroom door. He waited a moment, then swung the door open to see Jake moving in on Bailey, his eyes closed and lips puckered. Bailey attracted her attention to the door to see Joe; he looked crushed. Jake was now staring at him with a smirk.
"Joe." Bailey started, but he shook his head, turned away, then rushed downstairs. "I can't believe you." she screamed at Jake, then slapped him as hard as she could. She swore she heard him yelp, but she was out of the room in an instant after Joe.
"C'mon Nick, we're leaving." Joe tried to keep his voice calm as he walked through the kitchen and out the backdoor. "What did I tell you?!" he hollered at Kevin. He looked back at him in confusion. "If I hadn't walked in, they would've kissed. I told you she was still hung up on him!"
"Joe, calm down."
"I'll be waiting in the car." he muttered, then went back into the house.
"Joe, listen to me!" Bailey pleaded as he passed her to the front door. Joe completely ignored her and slammed the door behind him. That stung her, bad.
"Bailey, -" Jake started.
"Don't you ever come near me again, you hear?!" she screamed, her voice cracked a little as her anger rose. Moments later, Kevin came in. "I swear to God, I didn't do anything." she tried her best not to lose it right then. "Oh, he hates me now." she felt the water in her eyes starting to build up.
"Just tell me what happened." Kevin asked quietly, putting his hands on her shoulders for comfort as Jake watched down from the top of the stairs.
"Jake and I were talking, then his stupid ass moved in for a kiss just as Joe opened the door." Bailey explained. "Yeah, it had to have looked bad, but Kevin, nothing happened. I didn't want anything to happen!"
"I hear you." he replied.
"Now you know how it feels, huh?" Jake called down from the steps.
"I'm gonna kill you!" Bailey, shrieked, then charged for the steps at Jake. Kevin immediately interfered and pick her up. She squirmed for a few.
"Put me down!" she yelled before he threw her over his shoulders.
"Come on Nick, we're leaving! Grab everyone's clothes too." Kevin called out as he grabbed the keys to the Cobalt and made his was out the front door with Nick tagging behind. Once they got to the car Kevin put her down on the passenger's side. "I'm driving. Get in." he said sternly.
Nick quickly climbed in the backseat where Joe was already sitting with his face in his hands. Bailey slipped in the passengers seat and they were on the road within seconds.
Bailey stared out the window as Kevin passed various cars fairly quickly. Normally she'd play the 'backseat driver' for the hell of annoying someone, but she obviously wasn't in the mood. She zoned out as she thought about how her chance with Joe was just screwed. He didn't believe her in the first place when she said it was cool, then Jake completely proved that.
'You shouldn't have followed him to your room, Einstein." her mind was active. 'I needed to end this. It was getting out of hand.' she thought back. 'Tell me about it. Now you have no one.'
As the image of Joe's saddened face standing in her bedroom doorway, the silent tears began to fall. Nick was the only one who noticed, only because he was watching her through the side view mirror. He kept it to himself.
The trip back to Philly was overflowing with awkwardness. No one said a word the entire fifty minutes back. Once Kevin parked the car, Bailey quickly got out.
"Just so you know, I'm going to Ross now and telling him that this is going to be my last show with you guys. It was fun while it lasted." Bailey informed, then quickly left the boys without a chance to respond. Within seconds, Bailey was already out of sight.
"Joe, you know nothing happened." Kevin stated as he climbed out of the car. "Now she thinks you hate her, hence her leaving. You're overreacting. This isn't like you at all!" he rambled, Joe looked up at him.
"Don't be afraid to fall. It might not ever happen again." Nick added.
- - - - -
'I'll tell Ross that my mom changed her mind and she wants me to come home. Yeah, yeah. I'll just take the train back home and everything will go back to normal.' Bailey thought. '-But then Jake's back home.'
She made a face at her own thought, then snapped back into reality.
"Ok, Ross will see you now." a young woman announced as Bailey paced in front of his temporary office door.
"Well, hello Ms.Baker! How was the visit home?" he asked with a jolly smile.
"Great." she smiled, even though is was complete bogus. "That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about." Ross looked at her questionably. "You see, - "
"Hold me, hold me. If I were to. I can't, can't, I swear I can't let you. It's all in your hands now I'll do what I can to you." her phone went off in her pocket. Immediately she rejected it without checking the ID, then continued.
"Ha, sorry about that." she chuckled. "I just wanted to say that - " her phone vibrated; she had a new text.
'Don't leave.' It was from 'Joe the Amazing'.
She was about to close it when it vibrated again.
'Stay with me. <3' Bailey couldn't help but smile down at the screen.
"Ms.Baker?" Ross questioned, her head snapped up to look at him.
"Oh, yes. I just wanted to say that the guys had a blast back home in Delaware and that they're all back in one peace." she retreated from the original plan as she quickly stood up. "Well, that's all. Bye!" she waved then rushed out of the room.
- - - - -
"She didn't reply Kevin! What if she's already talking to Ross? Even if he gets the slightest idea that something's up, she'll be sent home anyway!" Joe exclaimed.
"Well maybe you should've thought about that before you went a head and made her think you hated her." Joe glared at Kevin as he sat comfortably on the couch back on the bus. "If you would've just made your mo--" Kevin stopped as he noticed Bailey in the doorway.
Joe followed Kevin's eyes to look at Bailey himself. His eyes lit up and he charged at her with his arms open. He grabbed her face and planted a big kiss on her cheek before squeezing her. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." he mumbled into her hair. She smiled into his neck as her fingers dug into his back.
"You two are unbelievable." Kevin informed with a smirk.
"Hey! I can handle it. I've grilled stuff before." Joe replied, sounding a little offended after placing the last burger on. "Watch and be amazed."
"Sorry, I can't. I have to go inside and help my mom." Bailey gave a little wave before heading in the house.
"She totally digs me, man." Joe stated, only half jokingly as he looked over at Kevin who was sitting over in the sun by the pool.
"Sure, whatever you say." was his reply.
Back in the house, Bailey and Nick were in the kitchen making baked beans and macaroni and cheese. Bailey was on bean control as Nick stirred the cheesy noodles.
"Yum, smells good." Joe complimented as he walked into the kitchen.
"Thanks - WAIT! Joe, the burgers!" she exclaimed.
"Chill, Kevin's got it." he chuckled. "He told me to move and that I was pathetic."
"Hm, so he speaks the truth." Nick commented. Joe went to respond, but the doorbell rang.
"Hey Joe, can you get the door? My mom said she invited a few people for this cook-out thing." Bailey asked as she stirred the beans next to Nick. Joe nodded, then made his way to the front door.
He swung it open to see Jake standing there with a dozen red roses. Two seconds later, he closed the door in his face and walked away. "Wrong address." Joe informed, walking into the kitchen, trying to hide his smirk. A few moments later, the doorbell rang again.
"BAILEY! GET THAT!" her mom yelled down the stairs.
"Joe, take care of the beans." she said, then walked away without waiting for his reply. He went to stop her, but then just sighed and let her go. Bailey got to the door and opened it to view the same thing as Joe; Jake with flowers. "HA!" she cackled in amusement before closing the door in his face, for a second time, but he put his arm out and stopped it.
"Look Bailey, hear me out." Jake pleaded.
"No, I'm not going to. What don't you understand?" she questioned, looking into his gorgeous, blue eyes.
"Is that Jake?" her mom asked as she cam down the stairs. "Let him in, Bails. I invited him over. -Oh, and the Smith's are coming too."
Bailey rolled her eyes before trailing back into the kitchen. At this point, she didn't care about Jake anymore. She didn't care that he was there, only because he wouldn't pull anything with her mom there and also because Joe would be by her side. She planned on acting the same as she usually did, with or without Jake. He wasn't going to ruin this.
"Mom invited him for the cook-out." she stated quietly to Joe. She noticed him tense up. "Don't worry, it'll be fine. Just ignore him, that's what I'm gonna be doing." she informed. "Joe, the beans!" she exclaimed as she noticed them bubbling. Instantly, she removed them from the stove and placed them on the counter. "You're unbelievable, you know that?" she stated, looking at him. He shrugged his shoulders. "I love it." she smiled.
"I think Nick's got it from here." Joe said, then grabbed Bailey's hand and pulled her with him out to the backyard as Jake and her mom appeared in the kitchen. "I can't even believe he's here. Doesn't he get the hint?" Joe ranted to himself, letting go of Bailey's hand and walking up to the edge of the pool.
"Hey." Bailey said softly behind him, causing him to turn around to look at her. "Don't even think about him. He's nobody. Look, I know you don't believe me when I say I don't care anymore, but I really don't. Jake isn't my problem anymore. I'm done with him." her voice was filled with honesty.
"But how can you just forget someone like that?" he asked.
"Well for one, the feelings weren't truly there to begin with. He was just a friend and my mom, for some reason, loved him. Then it went from there. We dated and I couldn't say no. I mean, I loved having someone there with me, but there was never truly a connection." she paused. "And this, of course it hurt to find out that he slept with another girl when we were together because there was that feeling of betrayal, but I'm over it." Bailey looked up into his eyes. "Plus, I met this other guy who is just. . .indescribable. He makes me forget about everything and everyone when I'm around him."
Joe panicked for a moment as his mind raced about the other guy, but then it clicked once she smiled up at him. He was the other guy. He kept himself from kissing her right then, and wrapped his arms around her instead. He didn't want to move it too fast. Even if the chemistry was there, he didn't want to take that big step just yet.
Tingles surged through her body as his hands softly brushed against her bare back. No one had ever made that happen to her, ever. That was another sign to let her know she was falling.
As he held her, he couldn't stop thinking about her. Yeah, she was in his arms, but even then she still took up his mind. There hadn't been another girl to make him feel this way. Joe has had a few girlfriends, yeah, but he'd never felt so strongly towards anyone like this, and they weren't even going out, yet.
After a moment, the two pulled away from each other. Bailey could still see that Joe was still down. He smiled at her, but she could see right through it.
"Joe, really." she assured. "If you really want to, we can skip this thing and just - "
"So this is really happening?" Jake exclaimed from the backdoor. Kevin almost dropped the burgers on the tray in front of him at the sound of anger in his voice.
"Jake, stop!" Bailey yelled, turning to him. Once again, she felt Joe stiffen behind her. She looked back at him as if to say 'It's ok', then looked at Jake again who was making his way towards him.
"It's all because of you!" Jake shouted at Joe as he pointed at him. Bailey stood in front of him so he couldn't get to Joe. They were only a yard away from each other now. "You're the reason she let go of me."
"No, Jake. Stop!" Bailey put her hands out on his chest and put pressure on him to get him to step backwards. He was only inches away from her face as he started up again.
"It's ok, Bails. Let him go." Joe stated, expecting Jake to charge at him, but she didn't let him go.
"Joe! No. He needs to get over himself." she yelled, then pushed him back even more. Slowly they were making it to the backdoor.
"You know, this is the closest we've been in weeks." Jake stated softly, causing Bailey to pull away and smack him, hard.
"Go inside!" she yelled, he put his hands up in defeat and walked inside with Bailey on his tail.
"What in the world am I getting myself into, Kevin?" Joe asked, making his way over to the grill. He sat in the closest chair and ran his fingers through his hair in annoyance.
"Hey, I believe her when she says its fine." he replied. "Why don't you?"
Joe shrugged his shoulders. "I guess she just seems too good to be true. I mean, we just click so well, it's perfect. There has to be something wrong, or something that's not good." he tried to find the words in his mind, then groaned in frustration. "I don't know!" he exclaimed. "I really like her and I don't know what to do about it."
"Joe, you're thinking too much. Knock it off. Everything is fine! Stop hoping for something to be wrong. Maybe she's really the girl for you but you won't admit it."
"I just said that I liked her, I think that's admitting it." Joe snapped.
"Then do something about it."
After Kevin spoke, Joe made his way into the house. "Where'd Bailey go?"
"They went upstairs." her mom said, cautiously as she continued with the food in the kitchen.
Joe rushed up the steps and stopped at Bailey's bedroom door. He waited a moment, then swung the door open to see Jake moving in on Bailey, his eyes closed and lips puckered. Bailey attracted her attention to the door to see Joe; he looked crushed. Jake was now staring at him with a smirk.
"Joe." Bailey started, but he shook his head, turned away, then rushed downstairs. "I can't believe you." she screamed at Jake, then slapped him as hard as she could. She swore she heard him yelp, but she was out of the room in an instant after Joe.
"C'mon Nick, we're leaving." Joe tried to keep his voice calm as he walked through the kitchen and out the backdoor. "What did I tell you?!" he hollered at Kevin. He looked back at him in confusion. "If I hadn't walked in, they would've kissed. I told you she was still hung up on him!"
"Joe, calm down."
"I'll be waiting in the car." he muttered, then went back into the house.
"Joe, listen to me!" Bailey pleaded as he passed her to the front door. Joe completely ignored her and slammed the door behind him. That stung her, bad.
"Bailey, -" Jake started.
"Don't you ever come near me again, you hear?!" she screamed, her voice cracked a little as her anger rose. Moments later, Kevin came in. "I swear to God, I didn't do anything." she tried her best not to lose it right then. "Oh, he hates me now." she felt the water in her eyes starting to build up.
"Just tell me what happened." Kevin asked quietly, putting his hands on her shoulders for comfort as Jake watched down from the top of the stairs.
"Jake and I were talking, then his stupid ass moved in for a kiss just as Joe opened the door." Bailey explained. "Yeah, it had to have looked bad, but Kevin, nothing happened. I didn't want anything to happen!"
"I hear you." he replied.
"Now you know how it feels, huh?" Jake called down from the steps.
"I'm gonna kill you!" Bailey, shrieked, then charged for the steps at Jake. Kevin immediately interfered and pick her up. She squirmed for a few.
"Put me down!" she yelled before he threw her over his shoulders.
"Come on Nick, we're leaving! Grab everyone's clothes too." Kevin called out as he grabbed the keys to the Cobalt and made his was out the front door with Nick tagging behind. Once they got to the car Kevin put her down on the passenger's side. "I'm driving. Get in." he said sternly.
Nick quickly climbed in the backseat where Joe was already sitting with his face in his hands. Bailey slipped in the passengers seat and they were on the road within seconds.
Bailey stared out the window as Kevin passed various cars fairly quickly. Normally she'd play the 'backseat driver' for the hell of annoying someone, but she obviously wasn't in the mood. She zoned out as she thought about how her chance with Joe was just screwed. He didn't believe her in the first place when she said it was cool, then Jake completely proved that.
'You shouldn't have followed him to your room, Einstein." her mind was active. 'I needed to end this. It was getting out of hand.' she thought back. 'Tell me about it. Now you have no one.'
As the image of Joe's saddened face standing in her bedroom doorway, the silent tears began to fall. Nick was the only one who noticed, only because he was watching her through the side view mirror. He kept it to himself.
The trip back to Philly was overflowing with awkwardness. No one said a word the entire fifty minutes back. Once Kevin parked the car, Bailey quickly got out.
"Just so you know, I'm going to Ross now and telling him that this is going to be my last show with you guys. It was fun while it lasted." Bailey informed, then quickly left the boys without a chance to respond. Within seconds, Bailey was already out of sight.
"Joe, you know nothing happened." Kevin stated as he climbed out of the car. "Now she thinks you hate her, hence her leaving. You're overreacting. This isn't like you at all!" he rambled, Joe looked up at him.
"Don't be afraid to fall. It might not ever happen again." Nick added.
- - - - -
'I'll tell Ross that my mom changed her mind and she wants me to come home. Yeah, yeah. I'll just take the train back home and everything will go back to normal.' Bailey thought. '-But then Jake's back home.'
She made a face at her own thought, then snapped back into reality.
"Ok, Ross will see you now." a young woman announced as Bailey paced in front of his temporary office door.
"Well, hello Ms.Baker! How was the visit home?" he asked with a jolly smile.
"Great." she smiled, even though is was complete bogus. "That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about." Ross looked at her questionably. "You see, - "
"Hold me, hold me. If I were to. I can't, can't, I swear I can't let you. It's all in your hands now I'll do what I can to you." her phone went off in her pocket. Immediately she rejected it without checking the ID, then continued.
"Ha, sorry about that." she chuckled. "I just wanted to say that - " her phone vibrated; she had a new text.
'Don't leave.' It was from 'Joe the Amazing'.
She was about to close it when it vibrated again.
'Stay with me. <3' Bailey couldn't help but smile down at the screen.
"Ms.Baker?" Ross questioned, her head snapped up to look at him.
"Oh, yes. I just wanted to say that the guys had a blast back home in Delaware and that they're all back in one peace." she retreated from the original plan as she quickly stood up. "Well, that's all. Bye!" she waved then rushed out of the room.
- - - - -
"She didn't reply Kevin! What if she's already talking to Ross? Even if he gets the slightest idea that something's up, she'll be sent home anyway!" Joe exclaimed.
"Well maybe you should've thought about that before you went a head and made her think you hated her." Joe glared at Kevin as he sat comfortably on the couch back on the bus. "If you would've just made your mo--" Kevin stopped as he noticed Bailey in the doorway.
Joe followed Kevin's eyes to look at Bailey himself. His eyes lit up and he charged at her with his arms open. He grabbed her face and planted a big kiss on her cheek before squeezing her. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." he mumbled into her hair. She smiled into his neck as her fingers dug into his back.
"You two are unbelievable." Kevin informed with a smirk.
"Well, now that you two are home, I've got to run to the store. I've decided that we're going to have a little cook out before you guys head back to Philly." Bailey's mom informed while standing up from the couch. "Don't make a mess while I'm gone."
"Sure, Mrs. Baker. I'll keep 'em in line." Jake stated with a cocky smile as her mom left. Bailey thought she was going to gag. It was silent in the room for a moment before Jake spoke again. "So I see you went from me to this punk, eh?" he asked, getting up from the couch. A tiny smirk played on his face.
There were so many things Bailey wanted to scream at him, but she didn't. Seeing him again and hearing him speak to her like that made her want to walk away without a word. She knew that if she fueled his fire, someone was going to get hurt.
"Why are you even here?" Bailey asked boldly. She didn't want to sound weak and make him think he intimidated her, because that was the exact opposite of how she felt.
"Actually, I came to apologize." he replied, taking a step towards her. "But I see you -"
"Apologize for what, Jake?" she snapped, interrupting him. "For cheating on me and fucking one of my close friends, only because I wouldn't let you get any from me? Yeah, I think you're going to need a bit more than an apology for that, buddy."
Once Joe comprehended the words that flew out of her mouth, his heart sank. He hadn't known that it was that serious of an issue. Hell, he didn't know anything at all about this guy except the fact that he wanted to embed his fist into his pretty little face.
"Aw, c'mon Bailey. You know it's not even like that." Jake responded.
"Ok, then what's it like, Jake?" she questioned. Her blood pressure started to rise as her eyes shot flames at him. All he could do was look back at her.
"Just give me one more chance." he stated pathetically, the anger inside of him slowly rose with every word she said back to him.
"Are you kidding me? Are you fucking serious?" Bailey yelled. "Why in the world would I want to be with you? Jake, you really hurt me." she kept her voice up loud and strong.
"Obviously not enough if you were able to move onto this guy." Jake spit out, motioning towards Joe who let go of Bailey's hand to cross his arms in front of him in amusement.
"Don't even go there." Bailey warned.
"Go where?" Jake smirked. "He's nothing compared to me." Joe couldn't help but laugh. "You think something's funny?" he glared at him.
"Apparently, that's why I laughed. Usually people to that kind of thing when they hear something unbelievably hilarious." Joe grinned a little, standing his ground. "It's kind of obvious why she won't take you back." he said simply. "You're sense of humor is horrendous."
"Oh really, have you seen your hair?" Jake came back poorly.
"Have you seen your face? Make you should think about buying a mirror." Joe replied. Bailey could hear the amusement in his voice. He knew he sounded cheesy, but he didn't care. He knew it'd set him off.
Jake became flustered looking at Bailey. "You're leaving me for this guy? This is crazy." he exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air.
"'This guy' is more amazing than you were or ever will be." Bailey informed. "He's been more of a man in these past three days than you were in the past 3 months. If you're going to be angry, be angry at yourself." she stood proudly. "And no, I'm not leaving you. You left me when you decided to take your pants off for Lori." she didn't even wait for a response. "Jake, just get out."
Jake just stood there, clenching his fists. Bailey's glare dared him to do something but instead, Kevin shot up form the couch behind them.
"Do you not understand English? She said get out." Kevin looked Jake straight in the eyes.
"This is fucking ridiculous." Jake shook his head. "You're just going to throw away everything we had? All the time that we spent together, it was all a waste.
"Yeah, tell me about it." Bailey hollered. "Do you not hear yourself right now? Jake, YOU threw this away. YOU ruined everything." she lowered her voice a little. "Just leave. I'm done with this."
"But -" Jake started.
"For fuck's sake, GET OUT!" she screamed, pointing to the door. If he hadn't took a few steps towards the door, she would've charged at him herself. He took one last look at her before walking out the door. Bailey could've sworn she saw a tear roll down his cheek.
Bailey turned around to Joe. She shot him a look of apology.
"That was probably the craziest thing I've ever witnessed." Nick stated, bringing everything back down to normal.
"I'm really sorry, Bailey." Joe stared into her eyes. "I didn't know it was like that."
"Shut up, don't be sorry." she smiled weakly. "I didn't tell you about it. . .but that was only because I just wanted to forget about it myself. I didn't think the situation was worth mentioning because it was already done with." she shrugged. "I was losing feelings for him before it happened anyway, so it would've ended sooner or later."
"But what about Lori?" Kevin asked, making Bailey laugh.
"Lori had been sweating Jake for the longest time. That was bond to happen too. She always get what she wants. . . Which is why we didn't really get along in the first place. She was more of a family friend anyway, since she lives next door and all. She's kinda always been there." she shook her head to herself. "But it's over with, let's just forget it."
"How can you just forget that?" Joe asked, not understanding how that was even possible. From the sound of it, it seemed to be a serious relationship. How could you just push it aside?
'Because of you.' Bailey wanted to tell him, but all she could do was shrug her shoulders and look away. "What do you guys want to do?" she asked, changing the subject.
"Well, that pool is looking very lonely back there. . ." Nick trailed off, looking into the backyard.
Bailey chuckled, "You're lucky we have a lot of swim trunks."
- - - - -
Joe and Bailey were the first two outside as Kevin and Nick fought for the bathroom.
"Are you going to be ok?" Joe asked, looking over at her as she sat her towel on a chair. She nodded her head before looking back into his eyes. "Are you sure?" she nodded again as she approached him. "Really really?" he started to smirk.
"Yes, Joe. I'm fine. I promise." she smiled back at him. "So, how's the water?" she asked as he looked over the edge. He turned back to respond, but she shoved him from behind. He quickly turned around and grabbed her as he fell backwards into the pool, pulling her on top of him as he hit the water. When they surfaced, she playfully smacked his bare chest.
"That was not cool!" she laughed, knowing what his response was going to be.
"You pushed me in in the first place." he replied. "I just figured you wanted to know how was the water was as well." he grinned.
"CANNON BALL!" Kevin shouted, followed by an enormous splash.
Nick made a funny screeching noise before jumping up in the air and flipping before smacking down into the water after him. Bailey and Joe laughed.
"Ah, this is so nice." Kevin cooed as he kicked off the wall of the pool sending him backwards.
"Anyone up for a game of 'chicken'?" Nick asked, flickering his eyebrows at Joe. Bailey didn't notice.
"Bring it!" Joe challenged, then automatically moved behind Bailey. "We're kicking some 'Nevin' ass." she laughed at the nick-name he gave his brothers as Nick struggled to get on Kevin's shoulders. "Ok, you ready? I'll go under, then you just go on my shoulders and I'll stand up. Then BOOM, it's showtime!"
"Ha ha, ok." Bailey replied before Joe went under water. She wrapped her legs around the back of his neck as he grabbed her legs. He stood up and they were ready to go.
Bailey was glad that things were normal between the four of them. She thought the Jake issue was going to make things awkward, but the guys took it very well. She was surprised but extremely relieved at the same time.
"Grrr." Joe growled as he stepped towards 'Nevin' in the middle of the pool. It wasn't too shallow, but it wasn't all that deep either. The water came up a little past Joe's belly button.
Bailey grabbed Nick's hands as he leaned towards her. Kevin and Joe were inches apart as the two on top pushed and pulled each other.
"Ah, I'm slipping. Joe!" Bailey exclaimed, feeling herself sliding backwards as Nick gripped her forearms.
"Your legs are slippery! I can't get a good grip." he replied, a little frustrated.
"Well, I'm sorry for shaving! I don't like having hairy legs." she stated, distracting Nick and making Kevin laugh. Kevin lost his balance and Nick was dropped back into the water.
"Yes!" Joe cheered as Bailey rested her hands on his wet and shaggy head.
"Best two out of three." Nick hollered before smacking Kevin in the arm.
Nick and Kevin resituated themselves and it was on again.
Nick groaned as Bailey pushed back at him with the same force he was; it wasn't going anywhere. After realizing he wasn't progressing, he left go of her arms and leaned for her stomach. She swatted at him for a few then screamed.
"Oh my God, Joe, put me down!" she squirmed as she covered her bare chest. Nick's hand accidentally got caught on her bathing suit top causing it to come off as his pulled his hand back. A split second later, Joe let go of Bailey in the water and grabbed her top.
"Turn around guys." Joe said after tossing Bailey her top, he turned his back to her and motioned Nick and Kevin to do the same. She heard them snickering.
"Shut up! It's not funny." she said, hoping no one really saw anything. She knew her face was red because she could feel it heating up. "Joe, come tie this."
Instantly, he turned around to see her bare, tan back and her hand holding up her bikini top strings behind her.
"Got it." he said once he got a hold of the strings. Bailey held the front part in place over her chest as she felt his fingers slowly fiddling around with the strings on her skin. Even in the 97 degree weather, goosebumps started to form on her body. "There." he said as he tied the bow. He smiled as he saw the little bumps form on her back; he tied it slowly on purpose and he was happy with the outcome.
"Thanks." Bailey replied, turning around to face him. "Alright, it's cool guys." she said to Nick and Kevin who still had their backs to her.
"Sorry, Bailey." Nick snickered as he turned around. "Looks like we're tied now. Nevin: 1. Boe: 1."
"That counts as a point?!" she exclaimed, ignoring the new nickname.
"Of course it does!" Kevin informed with a grin. "Now let's go. And try to keep your top on this time." Bailey's jaw dropped.
"Kevin!!" Joe exclaimed, followed by Bailey punching Kevin in his arm.
"I was joking!" he laughed. "Now let's go."
"No, not yet. Hold on." Bailey said, then grabbed Joe's hand and pulled him over to the shallow end of the pool, out of earshot. "We have to strategize." she said softly, leaning into Joe.
He laughed at her seriousness. "And how do you want to go about this?"
"Well, we seemed to do better when we talked. We distracted them a bit." Bailey looked into his eyes. "Maybe we could just. . .talk and junk. Or just like, charge at him."
"Ok, ok. Let's do that." Joe replied, a little excited. "You put some thought into that." he stated as they swam back to the middle of the pool to see 'Nevin' in a mini huddle.
"I put a lot of thought into everything." she replied, looking over at him. "I just don't always voice it."
Moments later Nick and Bailey were back up into the air. She narrowed her eyes at him, causing him to laugh at her lame attempt of intimidation.
"CHARGE!" Joe yelled, then rushed forward at 'Nevin'. Bailey hunched over and put her palms out to Nick's chest. With her arms locked and Joe's strength pushing her forward, Nick and Kevin went down instantly. "Woo!" he exclaimed as Bailey slid down off his shoulders.
"Mad skills." she said with a smile as she gave him a double high five.
"Cheat! You cheated!" Kevin exclaimed jokingly.
"Rematch!" Nick yelled.
"I wouldn't go all that far. My shoulders are killing me." Kevin chuckled, then started making his way out of the pool. "Bathroom time." he informed everyone.
"Hey Kev, can you grab my phone while you're in there?" Nick called after him as he made his way to the door.
"Where is it?" he called back.
"It's in my pants."
"Where are your pants?"
"Forget it." Nick replied in defeat and got out himself. "I'll be back." Then with that, Bailey and Joe were alone in the pool.
"That was fun." she stated with a smile as she floated on her back like the night before. Joe stayed silent as he stared at her. "What?" she asked, looking over at him. Little did she know, his mind had been racing ever since they saw Jake.
"Did you really mean what you said in there earlier?" he asked. Bailey said up at the seriousness in his voice.
"I'm not sure exactly what you're asking about, but I meant every word that came out of my mouth." she stated. "Why?" she asked, even though she knew why he was asking. If someone had said she was the most amazing person ever, she'd have few questions as well.
"Oh, I don't know." Joe said quietly as he slowly moved closer to her. "I guess it just kind of got me thinking."
"Thinking about what?" Bailey played stupid. As he got closer and closer, her heart beat faster and faster. There was something in the air that was screaming that this was it.
Joe didn't say another word as his face was only inches away from hers. The butterflies magically came alive in her stomach as he moved in for a kiss.
"I'm back!!" Bailey's mom called out the backdoor, completely killing the moment and making Joe slowly sink under the water.
Joe felt like shooting himself as the sound of her mothers voice. He had finally had the guts to make a move, but then it was murdered. Shoot straight in the back of the head, just like that. He couldn't help but letting himself slowly sink underwater.
There were millions of different curse words running through Bailey's mind. She couldn't believe that the moment was ruined by her mother. She'd rather it have been Kevin or Nick, even Jake! Because even then, it still could've happened. She would've done it right in front of them.
Bailey reached underwater for Joe's hand. He shot up and looked at her. She could see the disappointment in his eyes. She motioned her head to the house and started to pull him with her.
"You know, we can leave whenever we want." Bailey stated after letting go of Joe and retrieving her towel. "Only 40 minutes and we'll be back in Philly. Just say the magic words." she pleaded. She was ready to get away, without her mom and Jake. Knowing him, he'd probably return soon.
Joe chuckled. "I guess we could leave after this cook-out thing, if that's cool with you."
"Absolutely." Bailey replied, wrapping her towel around her body.
- - - - -
"What happened out there?" Kevin asked quietly as Joe walked out of the bathroom after changing back into his clothes. Bailey was upstairs changing and her mom wasn't anywhere to be found.
Joe shook his head and defeat and fell down onto the couch, sinking back into the poofy cushion.
"Well, did you make your move?" Nick asked, sounding a little more interested than he should've.
"I started to, but then her mom killed it." he mumbled, still a little upset.
"Well, everything happens for a reason. . " Kevin trailed off, then received a look of disbelief from Joe. "I mean, maybe it just wasn't the right time. Maybe there will be a better opportunity another day."
"-But did she go for it?" Nick added, Joe looked up at him, trying not to smile as he nodded his head. "See? At least you know she's interested."
"Sure, Mrs. Baker. I'll keep 'em in line." Jake stated with a cocky smile as her mom left. Bailey thought she was going to gag. It was silent in the room for a moment before Jake spoke again. "So I see you went from me to this punk, eh?" he asked, getting up from the couch. A tiny smirk played on his face.
There were so many things Bailey wanted to scream at him, but she didn't. Seeing him again and hearing him speak to her like that made her want to walk away without a word. She knew that if she fueled his fire, someone was going to get hurt.
"Why are you even here?" Bailey asked boldly. She didn't want to sound weak and make him think he intimidated her, because that was the exact opposite of how she felt.
"Actually, I came to apologize." he replied, taking a step towards her. "But I see you -"
"Apologize for what, Jake?" she snapped, interrupting him. "For cheating on me and fucking one of my close friends, only because I wouldn't let you get any from me? Yeah, I think you're going to need a bit more than an apology for that, buddy."
Once Joe comprehended the words that flew out of her mouth, his heart sank. He hadn't known that it was that serious of an issue. Hell, he didn't know anything at all about this guy except the fact that he wanted to embed his fist into his pretty little face.
"Aw, c'mon Bailey. You know it's not even like that." Jake responded.
"Ok, then what's it like, Jake?" she questioned. Her blood pressure started to rise as her eyes shot flames at him. All he could do was look back at her.
"Just give me one more chance." he stated pathetically, the anger inside of him slowly rose with every word she said back to him.
"Are you kidding me? Are you fucking serious?" Bailey yelled. "Why in the world would I want to be with you? Jake, you really hurt me." she kept her voice up loud and strong.
"Obviously not enough if you were able to move onto this guy." Jake spit out, motioning towards Joe who let go of Bailey's hand to cross his arms in front of him in amusement.
"Don't even go there." Bailey warned.
"Go where?" Jake smirked. "He's nothing compared to me." Joe couldn't help but laugh. "You think something's funny?" he glared at him.
"Apparently, that's why I laughed. Usually people to that kind of thing when they hear something unbelievably hilarious." Joe grinned a little, standing his ground. "It's kind of obvious why she won't take you back." he said simply. "You're sense of humor is horrendous."
"Oh really, have you seen your hair?" Jake came back poorly.
"Have you seen your face? Make you should think about buying a mirror." Joe replied. Bailey could hear the amusement in his voice. He knew he sounded cheesy, but he didn't care. He knew it'd set him off.
Jake became flustered looking at Bailey. "You're leaving me for this guy? This is crazy." he exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air.
"'This guy' is more amazing than you were or ever will be." Bailey informed. "He's been more of a man in these past three days than you were in the past 3 months. If you're going to be angry, be angry at yourself." she stood proudly. "And no, I'm not leaving you. You left me when you decided to take your pants off for Lori." she didn't even wait for a response. "Jake, just get out."
Jake just stood there, clenching his fists. Bailey's glare dared him to do something but instead, Kevin shot up form the couch behind them.
"Do you not understand English? She said get out." Kevin looked Jake straight in the eyes.
"This is fucking ridiculous." Jake shook his head. "You're just going to throw away everything we had? All the time that we spent together, it was all a waste.
"Yeah, tell me about it." Bailey hollered. "Do you not hear yourself right now? Jake, YOU threw this away. YOU ruined everything." she lowered her voice a little. "Just leave. I'm done with this."
"But -" Jake started.
"For fuck's sake, GET OUT!" she screamed, pointing to the door. If he hadn't took a few steps towards the door, she would've charged at him herself. He took one last look at her before walking out the door. Bailey could've sworn she saw a tear roll down his cheek.
Bailey turned around to Joe. She shot him a look of apology.
"That was probably the craziest thing I've ever witnessed." Nick stated, bringing everything back down to normal.
"I'm really sorry, Bailey." Joe stared into her eyes. "I didn't know it was like that."
"Shut up, don't be sorry." she smiled weakly. "I didn't tell you about it. . .but that was only because I just wanted to forget about it myself. I didn't think the situation was worth mentioning because it was already done with." she shrugged. "I was losing feelings for him before it happened anyway, so it would've ended sooner or later."
"But what about Lori?" Kevin asked, making Bailey laugh.
"Lori had been sweating Jake for the longest time. That was bond to happen too. She always get what she wants. . . Which is why we didn't really get along in the first place. She was more of a family friend anyway, since she lives next door and all. She's kinda always been there." she shook her head to herself. "But it's over with, let's just forget it."
"How can you just forget that?" Joe asked, not understanding how that was even possible. From the sound of it, it seemed to be a serious relationship. How could you just push it aside?
'Because of you.' Bailey wanted to tell him, but all she could do was shrug her shoulders and look away. "What do you guys want to do?" she asked, changing the subject.
"Well, that pool is looking very lonely back there. . ." Nick trailed off, looking into the backyard.
Bailey chuckled, "You're lucky we have a lot of swim trunks."
- - - - -
Joe and Bailey were the first two outside as Kevin and Nick fought for the bathroom.
"Are you going to be ok?" Joe asked, looking over at her as she sat her towel on a chair. She nodded her head before looking back into his eyes. "Are you sure?" she nodded again as she approached him. "Really really?" he started to smirk.
"Yes, Joe. I'm fine. I promise." she smiled back at him. "So, how's the water?" she asked as he looked over the edge. He turned back to respond, but she shoved him from behind. He quickly turned around and grabbed her as he fell backwards into the pool, pulling her on top of him as he hit the water. When they surfaced, she playfully smacked his bare chest.
"That was not cool!" she laughed, knowing what his response was going to be.
"You pushed me in in the first place." he replied. "I just figured you wanted to know how was the water was as well." he grinned.
"CANNON BALL!" Kevin shouted, followed by an enormous splash.
Nick made a funny screeching noise before jumping up in the air and flipping before smacking down into the water after him. Bailey and Joe laughed.
"Ah, this is so nice." Kevin cooed as he kicked off the wall of the pool sending him backwards.
"Anyone up for a game of 'chicken'?" Nick asked, flickering his eyebrows at Joe. Bailey didn't notice.
"Bring it!" Joe challenged, then automatically moved behind Bailey. "We're kicking some 'Nevin' ass." she laughed at the nick-name he gave his brothers as Nick struggled to get on Kevin's shoulders. "Ok, you ready? I'll go under, then you just go on my shoulders and I'll stand up. Then BOOM, it's showtime!"
"Ha ha, ok." Bailey replied before Joe went under water. She wrapped her legs around the back of his neck as he grabbed her legs. He stood up and they were ready to go.
Bailey was glad that things were normal between the four of them. She thought the Jake issue was going to make things awkward, but the guys took it very well. She was surprised but extremely relieved at the same time.
"Grrr." Joe growled as he stepped towards 'Nevin' in the middle of the pool. It wasn't too shallow, but it wasn't all that deep either. The water came up a little past Joe's belly button.
Bailey grabbed Nick's hands as he leaned towards her. Kevin and Joe were inches apart as the two on top pushed and pulled each other.
"Ah, I'm slipping. Joe!" Bailey exclaimed, feeling herself sliding backwards as Nick gripped her forearms.
"Your legs are slippery! I can't get a good grip." he replied, a little frustrated.
"Well, I'm sorry for shaving! I don't like having hairy legs." she stated, distracting Nick and making Kevin laugh. Kevin lost his balance and Nick was dropped back into the water.
"Yes!" Joe cheered as Bailey rested her hands on his wet and shaggy head.
"Best two out of three." Nick hollered before smacking Kevin in the arm.
Nick and Kevin resituated themselves and it was on again.
Nick groaned as Bailey pushed back at him with the same force he was; it wasn't going anywhere. After realizing he wasn't progressing, he left go of her arms and leaned for her stomach. She swatted at him for a few then screamed.
"Oh my God, Joe, put me down!" she squirmed as she covered her bare chest. Nick's hand accidentally got caught on her bathing suit top causing it to come off as his pulled his hand back. A split second later, Joe let go of Bailey in the water and grabbed her top.
"Turn around guys." Joe said after tossing Bailey her top, he turned his back to her and motioned Nick and Kevin to do the same. She heard them snickering.
"Shut up! It's not funny." she said, hoping no one really saw anything. She knew her face was red because she could feel it heating up. "Joe, come tie this."
Instantly, he turned around to see her bare, tan back and her hand holding up her bikini top strings behind her.
"Got it." he said once he got a hold of the strings. Bailey held the front part in place over her chest as she felt his fingers slowly fiddling around with the strings on her skin. Even in the 97 degree weather, goosebumps started to form on her body. "There." he said as he tied the bow. He smiled as he saw the little bumps form on her back; he tied it slowly on purpose and he was happy with the outcome.
"Thanks." Bailey replied, turning around to face him. "Alright, it's cool guys." she said to Nick and Kevin who still had their backs to her.
"Sorry, Bailey." Nick snickered as he turned around. "Looks like we're tied now. Nevin: 1. Boe: 1."
"That counts as a point?!" she exclaimed, ignoring the new nickname.
"Of course it does!" Kevin informed with a grin. "Now let's go. And try to keep your top on this time." Bailey's jaw dropped.
"Kevin!!" Joe exclaimed, followed by Bailey punching Kevin in his arm.
"I was joking!" he laughed. "Now let's go."
"No, not yet. Hold on." Bailey said, then grabbed Joe's hand and pulled him over to the shallow end of the pool, out of earshot. "We have to strategize." she said softly, leaning into Joe.
He laughed at her seriousness. "And how do you want to go about this?"
"Well, we seemed to do better when we talked. We distracted them a bit." Bailey looked into his eyes. "Maybe we could just. . .talk and junk. Or just like, charge at him."
"Ok, ok. Let's do that." Joe replied, a little excited. "You put some thought into that." he stated as they swam back to the middle of the pool to see 'Nevin' in a mini huddle.
"I put a lot of thought into everything." she replied, looking over at him. "I just don't always voice it."
Moments later Nick and Bailey were back up into the air. She narrowed her eyes at him, causing him to laugh at her lame attempt of intimidation.
"CHARGE!" Joe yelled, then rushed forward at 'Nevin'. Bailey hunched over and put her palms out to Nick's chest. With her arms locked and Joe's strength pushing her forward, Nick and Kevin went down instantly. "Woo!" he exclaimed as Bailey slid down off his shoulders.
"Mad skills." she said with a smile as she gave him a double high five.
"Cheat! You cheated!" Kevin exclaimed jokingly.
"Rematch!" Nick yelled.
"I wouldn't go all that far. My shoulders are killing me." Kevin chuckled, then started making his way out of the pool. "Bathroom time." he informed everyone.
"Hey Kev, can you grab my phone while you're in there?" Nick called after him as he made his way to the door.
"Where is it?" he called back.
"It's in my pants."
"Where are your pants?"
"Forget it." Nick replied in defeat and got out himself. "I'll be back." Then with that, Bailey and Joe were alone in the pool.
"That was fun." she stated with a smile as she floated on her back like the night before. Joe stayed silent as he stared at her. "What?" she asked, looking over at him. Little did she know, his mind had been racing ever since they saw Jake.
"Did you really mean what you said in there earlier?" he asked. Bailey said up at the seriousness in his voice.
"I'm not sure exactly what you're asking about, but I meant every word that came out of my mouth." she stated. "Why?" she asked, even though she knew why he was asking. If someone had said she was the most amazing person ever, she'd have few questions as well.
"Oh, I don't know." Joe said quietly as he slowly moved closer to her. "I guess it just kind of got me thinking."
"Thinking about what?" Bailey played stupid. As he got closer and closer, her heart beat faster and faster. There was something in the air that was screaming that this was it.
Joe didn't say another word as his face was only inches away from hers. The butterflies magically came alive in her stomach as he moved in for a kiss.
"I'm back!!" Bailey's mom called out the backdoor, completely killing the moment and making Joe slowly sink under the water.
Joe felt like shooting himself as the sound of her mothers voice. He had finally had the guts to make a move, but then it was murdered. Shoot straight in the back of the head, just like that. He couldn't help but letting himself slowly sink underwater.
There were millions of different curse words running through Bailey's mind. She couldn't believe that the moment was ruined by her mother. She'd rather it have been Kevin or Nick, even Jake! Because even then, it still could've happened. She would've done it right in front of them.
Bailey reached underwater for Joe's hand. He shot up and looked at her. She could see the disappointment in his eyes. She motioned her head to the house and started to pull him with her.
"You know, we can leave whenever we want." Bailey stated after letting go of Joe and retrieving her towel. "Only 40 minutes and we'll be back in Philly. Just say the magic words." she pleaded. She was ready to get away, without her mom and Jake. Knowing him, he'd probably return soon.
Joe chuckled. "I guess we could leave after this cook-out thing, if that's cool with you."
"Absolutely." Bailey replied, wrapping her towel around her body.
- - - - -
"What happened out there?" Kevin asked quietly as Joe walked out of the bathroom after changing back into his clothes. Bailey was upstairs changing and her mom wasn't anywhere to be found.
Joe shook his head and defeat and fell down onto the couch, sinking back into the poofy cushion.
"Well, did you make your move?" Nick asked, sounding a little more interested than he should've.
"I started to, but then her mom killed it." he mumbled, still a little upset.
"Well, everything happens for a reason. . " Kevin trailed off, then received a look of disbelief from Joe. "I mean, maybe it just wasn't the right time. Maybe there will be a better opportunity another day."
"-But did she go for it?" Nick added, Joe looked up at him, trying not to smile as he nodded his head. "See? At least you know she's interested."
Bailey awoke the following morning with a wet face. She opened her eyes to see her mom standing in front of the couch with a squirt bottle in her hands.
"Rise and shine." she grinned, then walked away.
"Mom." Bailey groaned, then wiped her face on the tiny blanket that she slept with. "What time is it?" she yelled to her mom who was now in the kitchen.
"9am." she called back.
'Last day with her for two whole months!' Bailey cheered in her mind, but then stopped once she smelled her mom's pancakes. 'Two whole months without good home cooking.' she frowned to herself.
"You look a little rough." her mom stated as she entered the kitchen and hopped up on the stool to the counter bar. "What time did you kids get to bed?"
Bailey shrugged her shoulders and wiped her eyes, "Not too long after you." she lied.
""Why don't you go wake the boys up for breakfast."
"Let them sleep. This is the last time that they're going to be able to sleep in for a while." Bailey stated.
"Too late." Kevin said as he entered the kitchen, wiping the sleep from his eyes.
"See, if you weren't yelling he'd still be in bed." her mom complained.
"Well, maybe if you hadn't squirted - " Bailey was cut off.
"Smells good." Nick smiled, stretching his arms up above his head as he joined them.
Bailey rolled her eyes at her mom before heading upstairs to get dressed. She knocked on her bedroom door incase Joe was already up. Once he popped up into her head, she remembered last night.
She waited a moment with her ear up to the door; there wasn't any movement inside. After slowly turning the handle, she entered to see Joe sprawled out under her covers. She held back a smile before making her way to her closet and picking out a pair of blue, teal and mint green Bermuda shorts and a tight, white tank top. She heard the blanket behind her rustle, causing her to turn around.
"Hey sleepy head." Bailey smiled as she saw Joe looking up at her from the pillow. He was curled up in the blanket all the way up to his nose. She could only see his gorgeous, brown eyes. "How'd you sleep?" she asked him. He pulled the blanket down off his face so she could see him grin, making her chuckle. "Well, my mom made pancakes, so hurry down." she informed, then left the room.
Joe just stayed there in the bed without any intention to move. He'd never been this comfortable in a long time and he wasn't about ruin it for himself. He sunk down further under the blanket as his mind went back to Bailey. He inhaled the lovely smell in her pillow one more time before slowly sliding off the bed and out of her room to join everyone downstairs.
"It looks like you slept well." Kevin joked, looking up from his plate at the table to Joe. His hair was going every which way and there was a pillow imprint on the left right side of his face.
"Woah, I didn't know we were having company." Bailey's step-dad stated with a smile as he finally made his was into the kitchen and kissed her mom on the cheek.
"Guys, this is my step-dad Bill. Bill, these are the guys." Bailey introduced poorly.
"Bailey!" her little brother Connor exclaimed as he ran into the kitchen, grasping onto her leg.
"Hey buddy." she rustled what little hair he had on his head. Joe found himself smiling at how Bailey interacted with the little guy.
Everyone met everyone and made small talk during breakfast. Nothing interesting was said. Before they knew it, it was going on 11 'o clock.
"Bailey hun, how about you take a trip to your father's house before you leave to Philly. I'm sure he's wondering what you've been up too since you last saw him 2 weeks ago." her mom stated, Bailey nodded. "Yeah, and why don't show the boys the downstairs. I'm sure there's something down there to occupy them while you go."
Bailey waved for the boys to follow her out of the kitchen and down into their finished basement. There was a large, plasma TV with Guitar Hero and DDR set up, there was a ping pong table on one side of the room, air hockey on the other, and the room was covered in posters and random pictures.
"Vwa-la!" she exclaimed. "Have fun, I have to run to my dad's house real fast. I'll only be a little bit, I promise. Then I'll take you guys someplace when I get back, ok?" Bailey asked, Kevin and Nick were already at the air hockey table looking for the 'on' switch.
"Yeah, yeah. We got you." Kevin said, a little distracted. "You're going down!" he told Nick.
"I'll go with you." Joe said, looking over at her.
She looked in his eyes with relief. "Really?" he nodded. "Alright." she replied, a little happier than she was moments ago. "Let's go."
With that, Bailey and Joe headed back upstairs. He changed back into the clothes he had on the day before and they were off.
"Mom's not in the car." she exclaimed as she backed out of the driveway, blasting her mix CD featuring a few of her favorite local bands. Joe admired the fact that she knew when to be serious and she knew when to relax and have fun. He watched her as the wind blew her hair all over the place. The warm sun made it glow as they sped down the highway.
"Aw, I love these kinds of houses." Joe stated after she put the car in park next to a bright blue Dodge Ram.
He followed Bailey up to her dad's split level home. It was dark and looked somewhat like a log cabin. There were bushes and various colored Pansies growing in a pot in front of the porch that wrapped around the entire house. There was a 'love seat' swing chained up to the ceiling of the porch near the front door that was 100% Oak. To be honest, Bailey was in love with the house herself. Once they got to the door, she stopped and turned around to look at Joe.
"Ok, I'm letting you know that my dad is kind of. . . indescribable." she stated, Joe couldn't help but laugh.
"I think I'll be able to handle him." he smiled reassuringly.
"Yeah, I mean, it's not like I'm walking in saying 'Hey dad, meet my new boy- " she stopped as the front door opened to reveal her dad decked out in a pair of old jean shorts and an beaten in Big Dogs shirt. "Hey Daddy." she said, then gave him a warm hug.
"Hey sweetie. Your mom just called and said you were coming over. You get here pretty quick, you better watch your speed." he said fatherly with a stern look. "Alright, my father-ness is done for today. Who's your friend?" he stepped back, looking at Joe.
Bailey tried to read her dad's face, but she couldn't. He had on his normal smile and all his polite greetings planned out.
"Joe Jonas, sir." he introduced himself and extended his hand. Her dad looked down and took his hand. Joe shook it with a nice, firm grip.
"You can call me Bob." her dad responded with a smile. "Please, come in." he stepped out of the doorway and motioned for Joe to pass him. He nodded a thanks then disappeared into the living room.
Bailey looked up at her dad, her eyes looking for his approval. He nodded his head at her with a smile; he was impressed. "He passed Level One." he whispered playfully behind her. He did this with every friend that was a boy of hers that she brought over. That's what she tried to warn Joe about. "-But will he make it past Two?"
"Daddy! Stop it." she couldn't help but laugh. Her dad was taking advantage of something that wasn't even there yet. "He's just a friend."
"That's not what your mom told me." he took a mental photo of his daughter's dropped jaw before entering the dark, open living room where Joe was standing, taking in all the objects that surrounded him. "Hey Bailey, why don't you go out in the back and get us a few drinks." he said with a smirk.
"But -" she started, but her dad's stern look won every time. Bailey shot Joe a warning glare before exiting out into the backyard through the sliding glass door and into the shed where her dad kept an extra refrigerator.
"So, how do you like it here in Delaware?" Bob asked Joe, making him turn his attention away form the photos on the mantelpiece above the stone fireplace.
"I like it so far. We drove up here last night and this is the only other place I've been to, besides Bailey's house." he informed, not really knowing what her dad expected him to say.
Joe tried to impress the man in any way possible. He made sure to keep his back straight and reminded himself to act cool. He didn't know why he was trying to hard. Maybe it was the fact that he was a heavy man standing at 6'2" with a short, prickly beard that was already making its way to a shade of grey.
Bob eyed him for a moment before speaking. "Come with me, I'd like to show you something." he said, motioning Joe to follow him. His heart started beating a bit faster as he lead him into a dark room.
"Dad? Joe?" she called out into the living room holding three ice cold Monster energy drinks. They were her favorite and that's all that was out in the fridge. "Guys?" she called out again, hoping that her dad didn't do or say anything stupid to Joe. She didn't want him scaring him off.
"And this one is for -" she faintly heard her dad's voice coming from his office.
"Shit." she mumbled before rushing through the house to see her dad showing Joe his Medieval weapon collection.
"Oh, hey Bails." Joe smiled at her to show he was surviving. "Oh, Monsters. Yum." he said as she handed him and her dad a can.
"Ah, so you're in love with these things too?" Bob asked Joe.
He shook his head, "Na, I wouldn't call it love. I'm more of a Red Bull guy." Joe watched as Bailey scrunched her nose up at his comment. "What?" he asked with a chuckle.
"Monster beats Red Bull any day." she simply stated. Normally, Joe would've kept it going back and forth, but instead he just added that to the long list of things he admired about her; she was able to stand her ground when she was with him and didn't give into his opinion. Unlike other girls he used to be around, they would agree with him just because he said it, not because that's how they really felt.
"So, I was just showing your buddy Joe here my collection." Bailey's dad said proudly while looking up at the weapons mounted up on the walls. "Believe it or not, he knows a thing or two about history, unlike Ja-" he started to say. "-I mean, other friends you have brought over." her dad caught himself, then gave her an apologetic smile. Unlike her mom, her dad seemed to actually watch what he said. He seemed to care a lot more also.
The three of them ended up making their way back into the living room, conversing about a few random subjects of life. After a while, Bailey placed her empty Monster can on the table in front of her as Joe finished up the subject of how life was on the road to her father.
"Here, let me throw that out for you." Joe offered, standing up and grabbing her empty can along with his own. "Mr.Bob?" he questioned, motioning to the can in his hand.
"Thanks." his deep voice replied. Joe nodded then walked off towards the kitchen. "Level Three: Cleared." her dad stated.
Bailey barely heard her dad as she sprung up from the couch. "Joe, wait!" she called out. He turned around, looking a bit confused. "Save the tabs." he laughed, then continued towards the kitchen to the trash can.
"Good kid." her dad stated. "I like him. Boy knows his history."
"Dad, nothing is going on, if that's what you're thinking. You always told me to 'consider my sources' after I hear information." she stated. "- and you heard yours from Mom. What's that say?" she grinned, knowing she had stumped him. That was a rare occurrence. Her dad always had some sort of comeback.
Without a word in response, her dad just nodded in agreement as Joe came back into the living room.
"Well, I think we're going to head back now." Bailey informed while standing up from the couch and looking at the clock on top of the fireplace. "Holy poop, it's going on 2! Kevin and Nick are probably dying back at the house." she chuckled.
"I think they'll manage." Joe added. "It was nice meeting you." he said, extending his arm down to her dad who was still sitting on the couch.
He quickly stood up and gave him a manly hug instead. Bailey stood there, a bit shocked at her dad's openness. She refrained from commenting about it as she went in for her hug.
"Have fun, honey." her dad said after pulling away. "You kids stay out of trouble. You hear? I've got eyes and ears all over the place up there." he stated, referring to the Philadelphia area.
"Alright, alright." Bailey replied with a chuckle.
Minutes passed and Joe and Bailey were already on the road.
"Sorry if my dad freaked you about a bit. I tried to warn you." she glanced over at Joe who was staring out with window, lost in his own thoughts.
""Oh, no. It's cool, really." he gave her his famous Joe smile, causing her stomach to do a flip-flop. That seemed to be the daily routine now.
"You sure? You seem a bit distracted." he laughed at her comment, shook his head, then found another object outside to focus on. "What?" she asked, becoming a little worried.
"You know what your dad told me?" he paused. "He said if I ever hurt you, he'd demonstrate how those old weapons were used." Joe replied, looking over into her eyes. She looked terrified. "Wanna know what I said?" all Bailey could do was nod her head. She could barely gather the words in her mind. "I told him that I'd use them on myself before I hurt any girl." his voice was filled with sincerity.
"Aw, Joe." she replied softly. That was probably one of the most adorable things anyone has ever said, even if it wasn't directed at her. It was a sweet comment in general.
"I also said that if I was ever lucky enough to have that chance in the first place, he wouldn't have to worry about a thing." he finished, still staring at her. Bailey was speechless, she didn't know what to say, or what Joe even meant by that statement.
He watched her smile through the windshield, she kept her eyes on the road. He knew it was his fault that she couldn't look at him and he loved it. Her smile was all he needed to see that things were starting to pick up. He stared at the window, trying to think of his next move.
"Why thank you." Bailey said politely as Joe opened the front door of her house for her. He nodded, then followed her inside. "Hey ma, we're -" she started to call out as her and Joe entered the living room, but she stopped herself once she saw a familiar person sitting on the couch next to her mother, Kevin and Nick.
While standing inches behind Bailey, Joe felt her tense up. That's when he saw the boy from the crumpled up picture sitting in her living room.
"Hey sweetie. How's your dad?" her mom beamed.
"Great." she replied blankly staring at the guy, also known as Jake, who relaxed back onto the couch. As much as she wanted to rush up to him and smack the hell out of his gorgeous face, she didn't. She was too stunned by the fact that after what he had done, he had the nerve to appear in her home.
Joe watched as Jake's dirty eyes looked Bailey up and down. He saw the satisfaction in his eyes; Joe was disgusted. Protectively, Joe grabbed Bailey's hand and squeezed. He wanted her to know that he was still here. He wanted her to know that Jake wasn't going to do anything with him here. But he also knew that there was only so much you could interpret from a simple squeeze of the hand.
"Rise and shine." she grinned, then walked away.
"Mom." Bailey groaned, then wiped her face on the tiny blanket that she slept with. "What time is it?" she yelled to her mom who was now in the kitchen.
"9am." she called back.
'Last day with her for two whole months!' Bailey cheered in her mind, but then stopped once she smelled her mom's pancakes. 'Two whole months without good home cooking.' she frowned to herself.
"You look a little rough." her mom stated as she entered the kitchen and hopped up on the stool to the counter bar. "What time did you kids get to bed?"
Bailey shrugged her shoulders and wiped her eyes, "Not too long after you." she lied.
""Why don't you go wake the boys up for breakfast."
"Let them sleep. This is the last time that they're going to be able to sleep in for a while." Bailey stated.
"Too late." Kevin said as he entered the kitchen, wiping the sleep from his eyes.
"See, if you weren't yelling he'd still be in bed." her mom complained.
"Well, maybe if you hadn't squirted - " Bailey was cut off.
"Smells good." Nick smiled, stretching his arms up above his head as he joined them.
Bailey rolled her eyes at her mom before heading upstairs to get dressed. She knocked on her bedroom door incase Joe was already up. Once he popped up into her head, she remembered last night.
She waited a moment with her ear up to the door; there wasn't any movement inside. After slowly turning the handle, she entered to see Joe sprawled out under her covers. She held back a smile before making her way to her closet and picking out a pair of blue, teal and mint green Bermuda shorts and a tight, white tank top. She heard the blanket behind her rustle, causing her to turn around.
"Hey sleepy head." Bailey smiled as she saw Joe looking up at her from the pillow. He was curled up in the blanket all the way up to his nose. She could only see his gorgeous, brown eyes. "How'd you sleep?" she asked him. He pulled the blanket down off his face so she could see him grin, making her chuckle. "Well, my mom made pancakes, so hurry down." she informed, then left the room.
Joe just stayed there in the bed without any intention to move. He'd never been this comfortable in a long time and he wasn't about ruin it for himself. He sunk down further under the blanket as his mind went back to Bailey. He inhaled the lovely smell in her pillow one more time before slowly sliding off the bed and out of her room to join everyone downstairs.
"It looks like you slept well." Kevin joked, looking up from his plate at the table to Joe. His hair was going every which way and there was a pillow imprint on the left right side of his face.
"Woah, I didn't know we were having company." Bailey's step-dad stated with a smile as he finally made his was into the kitchen and kissed her mom on the cheek.
"Guys, this is my step-dad Bill. Bill, these are the guys." Bailey introduced poorly.
"Bailey!" her little brother Connor exclaimed as he ran into the kitchen, grasping onto her leg.
"Hey buddy." she rustled what little hair he had on his head. Joe found himself smiling at how Bailey interacted with the little guy.
Everyone met everyone and made small talk during breakfast. Nothing interesting was said. Before they knew it, it was going on 11 'o clock.
"Bailey hun, how about you take a trip to your father's house before you leave to Philly. I'm sure he's wondering what you've been up too since you last saw him 2 weeks ago." her mom stated, Bailey nodded. "Yeah, and why don't show the boys the downstairs. I'm sure there's something down there to occupy them while you go."
Bailey waved for the boys to follow her out of the kitchen and down into their finished basement. There was a large, plasma TV with Guitar Hero and DDR set up, there was a ping pong table on one side of the room, air hockey on the other, and the room was covered in posters and random pictures.
"Vwa-la!" she exclaimed. "Have fun, I have to run to my dad's house real fast. I'll only be a little bit, I promise. Then I'll take you guys someplace when I get back, ok?" Bailey asked, Kevin and Nick were already at the air hockey table looking for the 'on' switch.
"Yeah, yeah. We got you." Kevin said, a little distracted. "You're going down!" he told Nick.
"I'll go with you." Joe said, looking over at her.
She looked in his eyes with relief. "Really?" he nodded. "Alright." she replied, a little happier than she was moments ago. "Let's go."
With that, Bailey and Joe headed back upstairs. He changed back into the clothes he had on the day before and they were off.
"Mom's not in the car." she exclaimed as she backed out of the driveway, blasting her mix CD featuring a few of her favorite local bands. Joe admired the fact that she knew when to be serious and she knew when to relax and have fun. He watched her as the wind blew her hair all over the place. The warm sun made it glow as they sped down the highway.
"Aw, I love these kinds of houses." Joe stated after she put the car in park next to a bright blue Dodge Ram.
He followed Bailey up to her dad's split level home. It was dark and looked somewhat like a log cabin. There were bushes and various colored Pansies growing in a pot in front of the porch that wrapped around the entire house. There was a 'love seat' swing chained up to the ceiling of the porch near the front door that was 100% Oak. To be honest, Bailey was in love with the house herself. Once they got to the door, she stopped and turned around to look at Joe.
"Ok, I'm letting you know that my dad is kind of. . . indescribable." she stated, Joe couldn't help but laugh.
"I think I'll be able to handle him." he smiled reassuringly.
"Yeah, I mean, it's not like I'm walking in saying 'Hey dad, meet my new boy- " she stopped as the front door opened to reveal her dad decked out in a pair of old jean shorts and an beaten in Big Dogs shirt. "Hey Daddy." she said, then gave him a warm hug.
"Hey sweetie. Your mom just called and said you were coming over. You get here pretty quick, you better watch your speed." he said fatherly with a stern look. "Alright, my father-ness is done for today. Who's your friend?" he stepped back, looking at Joe.
Bailey tried to read her dad's face, but she couldn't. He had on his normal smile and all his polite greetings planned out.
"Joe Jonas, sir." he introduced himself and extended his hand. Her dad looked down and took his hand. Joe shook it with a nice, firm grip.
"You can call me Bob." her dad responded with a smile. "Please, come in." he stepped out of the doorway and motioned for Joe to pass him. He nodded a thanks then disappeared into the living room.
Bailey looked up at her dad, her eyes looking for his approval. He nodded his head at her with a smile; he was impressed. "He passed Level One." he whispered playfully behind her. He did this with every friend that was a boy of hers that she brought over. That's what she tried to warn Joe about. "-But will he make it past Two?"
"Daddy! Stop it." she couldn't help but laugh. Her dad was taking advantage of something that wasn't even there yet. "He's just a friend."
"That's not what your mom told me." he took a mental photo of his daughter's dropped jaw before entering the dark, open living room where Joe was standing, taking in all the objects that surrounded him. "Hey Bailey, why don't you go out in the back and get us a few drinks." he said with a smirk.
"But -" she started, but her dad's stern look won every time. Bailey shot Joe a warning glare before exiting out into the backyard through the sliding glass door and into the shed where her dad kept an extra refrigerator.
"So, how do you like it here in Delaware?" Bob asked Joe, making him turn his attention away form the photos on the mantelpiece above the stone fireplace.
"I like it so far. We drove up here last night and this is the only other place I've been to, besides Bailey's house." he informed, not really knowing what her dad expected him to say.
Joe tried to impress the man in any way possible. He made sure to keep his back straight and reminded himself to act cool. He didn't know why he was trying to hard. Maybe it was the fact that he was a heavy man standing at 6'2" with a short, prickly beard that was already making its way to a shade of grey.
Bob eyed him for a moment before speaking. "Come with me, I'd like to show you something." he said, motioning Joe to follow him. His heart started beating a bit faster as he lead him into a dark room.
"Dad? Joe?" she called out into the living room holding three ice cold Monster energy drinks. They were her favorite and that's all that was out in the fridge. "Guys?" she called out again, hoping that her dad didn't do or say anything stupid to Joe. She didn't want him scaring him off.
"And this one is for -" she faintly heard her dad's voice coming from his office.
"Shit." she mumbled before rushing through the house to see her dad showing Joe his Medieval weapon collection.
"Oh, hey Bails." Joe smiled at her to show he was surviving. "Oh, Monsters. Yum." he said as she handed him and her dad a can.
"Ah, so you're in love with these things too?" Bob asked Joe.
He shook his head, "Na, I wouldn't call it love. I'm more of a Red Bull guy." Joe watched as Bailey scrunched her nose up at his comment. "What?" he asked with a chuckle.
"Monster beats Red Bull any day." she simply stated. Normally, Joe would've kept it going back and forth, but instead he just added that to the long list of things he admired about her; she was able to stand her ground when she was with him and didn't give into his opinion. Unlike other girls he used to be around, they would agree with him just because he said it, not because that's how they really felt.
"So, I was just showing your buddy Joe here my collection." Bailey's dad said proudly while looking up at the weapons mounted up on the walls. "Believe it or not, he knows a thing or two about history, unlike Ja-" he started to say. "-I mean, other friends you have brought over." her dad caught himself, then gave her an apologetic smile. Unlike her mom, her dad seemed to actually watch what he said. He seemed to care a lot more also.
The three of them ended up making their way back into the living room, conversing about a few random subjects of life. After a while, Bailey placed her empty Monster can on the table in front of her as Joe finished up the subject of how life was on the road to her father.
"Here, let me throw that out for you." Joe offered, standing up and grabbing her empty can along with his own. "Mr.Bob?" he questioned, motioning to the can in his hand.
"Thanks." his deep voice replied. Joe nodded then walked off towards the kitchen. "Level Three: Cleared." her dad stated.
Bailey barely heard her dad as she sprung up from the couch. "Joe, wait!" she called out. He turned around, looking a bit confused. "Save the tabs." he laughed, then continued towards the kitchen to the trash can.
"Good kid." her dad stated. "I like him. Boy knows his history."
"Dad, nothing is going on, if that's what you're thinking. You always told me to 'consider my sources' after I hear information." she stated. "- and you heard yours from Mom. What's that say?" she grinned, knowing she had stumped him. That was a rare occurrence. Her dad always had some sort of comeback.
Without a word in response, her dad just nodded in agreement as Joe came back into the living room.
"Well, I think we're going to head back now." Bailey informed while standing up from the couch and looking at the clock on top of the fireplace. "Holy poop, it's going on 2! Kevin and Nick are probably dying back at the house." she chuckled.
"I think they'll manage." Joe added. "It was nice meeting you." he said, extending his arm down to her dad who was still sitting on the couch.
He quickly stood up and gave him a manly hug instead. Bailey stood there, a bit shocked at her dad's openness. She refrained from commenting about it as she went in for her hug.
"Have fun, honey." her dad said after pulling away. "You kids stay out of trouble. You hear? I've got eyes and ears all over the place up there." he stated, referring to the Philadelphia area.
"Alright, alright." Bailey replied with a chuckle.
Minutes passed and Joe and Bailey were already on the road.
"Sorry if my dad freaked you about a bit. I tried to warn you." she glanced over at Joe who was staring out with window, lost in his own thoughts.
""Oh, no. It's cool, really." he gave her his famous Joe smile, causing her stomach to do a flip-flop. That seemed to be the daily routine now.
"You sure? You seem a bit distracted." he laughed at her comment, shook his head, then found another object outside to focus on. "What?" she asked, becoming a little worried.
"You know what your dad told me?" he paused. "He said if I ever hurt you, he'd demonstrate how those old weapons were used." Joe replied, looking over into her eyes. She looked terrified. "Wanna know what I said?" all Bailey could do was nod her head. She could barely gather the words in her mind. "I told him that I'd use them on myself before I hurt any girl." his voice was filled with sincerity.
"Aw, Joe." she replied softly. That was probably one of the most adorable things anyone has ever said, even if it wasn't directed at her. It was a sweet comment in general.
"I also said that if I was ever lucky enough to have that chance in the first place, he wouldn't have to worry about a thing." he finished, still staring at her. Bailey was speechless, she didn't know what to say, or what Joe even meant by that statement.
He watched her smile through the windshield, she kept her eyes on the road. He knew it was his fault that she couldn't look at him and he loved it. Her smile was all he needed to see that things were starting to pick up. He stared at the window, trying to think of his next move.
"Why thank you." Bailey said politely as Joe opened the front door of her house for her. He nodded, then followed her inside. "Hey ma, we're -" she started to call out as her and Joe entered the living room, but she stopped herself once she saw a familiar person sitting on the couch next to her mother, Kevin and Nick.
While standing inches behind Bailey, Joe felt her tense up. That's when he saw the boy from the crumpled up picture sitting in her living room.
"Hey sweetie. How's your dad?" her mom beamed.
"Great." she replied blankly staring at the guy, also known as Jake, who relaxed back onto the couch. As much as she wanted to rush up to him and smack the hell out of his gorgeous face, she didn't. She was too stunned by the fact that after what he had done, he had the nerve to appear in her home.
Joe watched as Jake's dirty eyes looked Bailey up and down. He saw the satisfaction in his eyes; Joe was disgusted. Protectively, Joe grabbed Bailey's hand and squeezed. He wanted her to know that he was still here. He wanted her to know that Jake wasn't going to do anything with him here. But he also knew that there was only so much you could interpret from a simple squeeze of the hand.
"Hey, Chuck!" Joe called out to the buff body guard that had smacked him in the head the night before. "Last night, you kept the headset after you stole it from me, right?" he asked. He had been thinking about it all day, he couldn't get Bailey's teary eyes out of his mind.
"You mean the one you stole from me first? Yeah. Why?" Chuck questioned as he stood there backstage moments before the show was supposed to start, untangling the chords from the hugantic speakers.
"What was said during the show last night?" he asked, looking up at the man that towered over him. Joe's face was full of sincerity.
Instinctively, Chuck would've told him to bug off, but he thought he'd give in this once. "Well, there was bickering back and forth between two ladies, I believe one was your girl, but the older one just cracked down on her hard." Chuck stated, then crossed his arms in curiosity. "Why do you ask?"
Joe shrugged his shoulders. "Bailey just looked upset. She wouldn't really talk about it, so I thought I'd ask around."
"Ah, so Bailey's the young lady you've been drooling over all night?"
"CHUCK!" Joe exclaimed with his mouth hanging open.
"Well, I think it has something to do with a guy. Your name was brought up along with some other kid. What was it, Jake?" he continued, then scratched his chin in thought. Joe quickly looked up. "If I were you, I'd stay out of it. Let her handle it." he eyed him.
Joe huffed in defeat, then waved before walking away.
- - - - -
"Thanks for coming out!" Kevin smiled. "It was great meeting you guys."
"You too." a girl who didn't look older than 13 squeaked, then scurried out of the room behind her two other friends.
"Meet and Greet Two: COMPLETE!" Nick burst out. "AND a day off tomorrow." he leaned back in his chair.
"Yeah, allll day tomorrow we get to stay here in Philly only to play this same show again." Joe stated in boredom.
"Not necessarily." Ross walked into the room where the boys and a few staff members were. "-And stop complaining Joseph."
"Hey Ross." Kevin greeted, Ross nodded in acknowledgement.
"Ms.Baker is actually making a trip down to Delaware tonight to drop her mother off so she can spend time with the rest of her family. You guys are more than welcome to tag along with her. I think you boys have earned a day away from all of this commotion."
"What do you mean 'a day'? It's already 10 'o clock at night." Nick asked as Joe stared up at Ross from his seat, waiting for him to continue.
"If you would've waited for me to finish, then you'd know that you'd be staying the night with them in their home." Ross straightened out his shirt. "I expect you boys to be on your best behavior." Joe rolled his eyes then wiped his sweaty face on his towel; he sounded just like his dad right then.
"Well, what if we don't want to go?" Nick asked.
"Speak for yourself!" Kevin quickly snapped, then shot him an apologetic look after realizing that he was a bit loud.
"Yeah, I wanna go." Joe informed.
"To Delaware?" Nick continued, Joe nodded. "Why can't we just go home for the day?"
"Delaware is only 40 minutes away, compared to the 2 hours it takes to get to Wyckoff from here." Ross stated. "Plus your parents are on vacation with Frankie down in Florida."
"Without us?!" Joe shouted in disbelief, making Ross laugh.
"Apparently." he huffed. "Bailey's mom is getting her stuff together, so be ready to leave in an hour." then with that, Ross exited the room.
"I CALL SHOWER!" Joe yelled, then rushed out of the room, making his way to the bus.
"Since when does he get excited about taking a shower?" Kevin asked, then walked with Nick to the door.
"Since he met Bailey."
- - - - -
"You ready, Ma?" Bailey hung in the doorway of the bus with Ross' car keys in her hand along with her cell phone and a water bottle. She had changed into a pair of dark sweatpants and a form fitting tank top. Her long, dark blonde hair was up in a messy bun and she had on very little eyeliner. She didn't think she'd be seeing the boys before she left, so she didn't care what she looked like.
"Coming, coming." her mom called out with her travel bag slung over her shoulder. "Why are you in such a rush. I'm not going to see you for a whole two months!"
'I know! Isn't it great?' Bailey thought, then took her mom's bag, popped the trunk to Ross' yellow 2007 Chevy Cobalt and tossed it in.
"Hey, don't leave us!" Joe shouted as he ran up to the car with Kevin and Nick close behind him. "Well don't you look nice." he complimented in full seriousness. He admired the fact that she still looked gorgeous in sweatpants and a shirt.
"Ha, you're hilarious." she took it as a joke. "But what do you mean 'don't leave us'? I'm just taking my mom home."
"Ross said that we could go." Kevin said with a smile.
"Oh, ok." Bailey replied. "That's cool. It's gonna be a little cramped on the way there though." she motioned to the backseat.
"You're driving?" Joe asked, sounding a little scared.
"Hey! I'm a good driver" Bailey snapped back.
"Alright, then could you drive me home now, please?" her mom piped in, she nodded.
Bailey flipped the driver's seat up so the boys could slide in. It was Kevin behind the passenger seat, Nick in the middle, then Joe behind Bailey who was obviously driving. Only moments passed before they were on the highway.
Throughout the car ride, Bailey would glance in her rearview mirror, only to steal a glance at Joe. Most of the time his attention was occupied by the various cars they passed on the road, but every once and a while they'd make eye contact. That resulted in the two off them instantly looking away, leaving a smile on both of their faces.
After about 30 minutes of driving, her mother started up. "Take this exit." her mom stated.
"Ma, it's not this one, it's the next one." Bailey replied, glancing over at her.
"No no, take this one."
"This one will turn us around. We want to go home, not back to Philly." she stated.
The interaction between the two caught the boys' attention.
"Bailey Lynn, if I have to say it - "
"MOM! It's the wrong exit." she said loudly as her grip around the steering wheel tightened. Seconds later, they passed the exit her mom told her to take. If it was anything Bailey was sure about, it was her sense of direction. Not to mention she's been back and forth from Philly about 109 times.
"So, uh, Delaware seems pretty nice." Kevin stated, trying to kill the awkwardness. The only thing that responded was the soft music of John Mayer's 'Daughters' that played on the radio.
About 10 more minutes of driving, Bailey took the next exit. About 3 songs on the radio later, they pulled into the driveway of an elegant, 2 story home. It was big, but not Orange County big. It was just the right size for her, her mother and her step-dad who had a few extra bucks.
"I love your home." Kevin stated as they entered the living room. Nick put his finger on his nose as if to say he was brown nosing. He received a smack on the arm for that one.
"Thanks." Bailey's mom said. "Alright. I'll just see you kids tomorrow or whatever. I'm going to bed." she waved off, then headed up the steps.
"You guys hungry?" Bailey asked, then walked into the kitchen with the boys on her tail.
- - - - -
"Sweet, you have a pool?" Joe exclaimed, looking out the back window as he put his dirty plate in the sink.
"No Joe, that's just a big rain puddle with clear blue water." she replied without a hint of sarcasm. He narrowed his eyes at her as she smiled back at him.
"I don't know about you, but I'm ready for bed." Kevin stated.
"Me too." Nick added.
"Wimps." Joe mumbled, he was still wired.
Bailey took Kevin and Nick upstairs and into the spare bedroom. "Make yourselves comfy. Bathroom's at the end of the hall and it's a queen sized bed, so you two will be fine." she waved before returning back downstairs to Joe.
"You're gonna be up for a while, huh?" she asked as she hopped up onto the kitchen counter. Joe did the same except he hopped on the island across from her.
"Yep." he grinned. "You?"
"Yeah, I've got a few hours left in me."
"Wanna go swimming?" he asked, smiling mischievously, hoping to God she said yes. The last thing he wanted to do was play the, 'Well, what do you want to do?' 'Oh, I don't know, what to you want to do?' game, and then ending up having to watch a lame movie because no one would decide on something. No, he wanted to spend time with the girl and get to know her even more.
"Sure." Bailey replied, wondering if he had just read her mind. "We have extra swim trunks for when people, like you, unexpectedly come over."
"You mean amazing, unbelievably awesome people like me?" Joe asked excitedly. All she did was laugh and walk away to retrieve a pair of trunks and her own bathing suit.
After the two got changed, they headed out in the darkness to the in-ground pool. Bailey self consciously held her towel close to her as she made her way down the concrete to the water. When Joe's back was turned, she tossed her towel on the nearby chair and jumped in. After hearing the splash, Joe followed suit and made his own.
"It's nice out tonight." he said as he leaned backwards and floated on his back to look up at the starry sky.
"Mhm." was all she said as she began to float on her back also. She couldn't believe that he was so willing to hang out with her. Everything and anything seemed cool to him, there were no issues what-so-ever. She loved his company, he made her forget about everything.
Joe's mind drifted as well. The silence between the two of them was comforting, and not the least bit awkward in any way. He loved being around her, even if he had only met her a day and a half ago. He lifted his head up to see if she was still floating; she was. Her face, chest and flat, tanned stomach were the only parts of her body that surfaced from the dark water. He couldn't help but steal a glance. He was falling hard.
"You know, - " Bailey started. "- we click." she said simply, then bit her tongue once she realized she had said it out loud.
"Yeah, I love it." he replied, making her heart do a flip flop.
The chemistry was there. They both knew it and so did everyone else. 'Stop it.' Bailey started shouting in her mind once again. 'You're leading him on. You're bringing this on yourself.' she shut her eyes and thought. 'Maybe I want something to happen.' While on the subject of feelings in her mind, an image of Jake popped up. 'Fuck Jake, Joe's better.' Her own thought made her smile and even let out a chuckle.
"What?" Joe asked.
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing."
After floating around for a few, they headed back inside and upstairs to Bailey's room. It was quite nice; mint green and dark aqua walls with various pictures nailed up all over. She had soft and poofy brown and pink bed sheets with a big comforter to top it off. It was as if it had called Joe's name, he ran up and sprawled his arms out, falling onto the bed. Bailey laughed at little, but then stopped once she saw the picture of her and Jake on her surfboard collage next to her dresser. Instantly she approached it, slipped off the photo, crumpled it up and then tossed it in the trashcan. Joe acted as if he hadn't seen.
"I think I have a pair of sweats that'll fit you." she redirected her own attention as she started looking through her dresser drawers. She pulled out two pairs of sweats and two oversized t-shirts.
"Ew, cooties. I'd rather sleep naked." Joe joked, looking up from her with a funny face as she slipped on her clothes overtop of her bathing suit. She was too lazy and tired to take her suit off.
"Ha, not in my bed." she was serious, at least for now. "I'm taking the couch downstairs, so if you need anything or anything, get at me."
"I'll get at you, son." he gangsterized that statement and smiled at her reaction.
"Promise me you won't say that ever again?" she laughed for the millionth time that day because of him.
"Maybe." he said, getting up off the bed, she playfully rolled her eyes.
"Well, I'm gonna go. It's almost 2am and my mom is probably going to wake us up early." she groaned.
"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow then." he said, then extended his arms for a hug. Without hesitation, she wrapped her arms around his bare back, because he still had his bathing suit on, and squeezed hard. He kissed the top of her head before pulling away. "Sweet dreams." he said with a smile.
"You too." she smiled back before walking out of her room and closing the door behind her. 'He's so perfect.' she closed her eyes as she tried to take everything in.
Joe sighed to himself once she left. He didn't know what he was getting himself into. He knew that there was more to this girl than anyone could possibly imagine, but in a good way. As he got changed his clothes, he glanced all around her room, but not in a snooping way. He admired the quotes and random pictures of her with friends scattered all around. Her room expressed who she was and who she was about. He chuckled to himself as he looked at the collage of pictures on her surfboard that was attached to the wall that was made into a corkboard thing. There were dozens of pictures of her with friends making obscene faces, ones with immature gestures and actions.
'She's perfect.' he thought, then remembered the picture she had tossed away moments ago. He reached in the waste bin an pulled out the photo. He un-crumpled it to see Bailey sitting with a well-built, shaggy brown-haired boy. His muscled arm was wrapped around her as he kissed her nose. Her eyes were squeezed shut and she had on the biggest smile he had ever seen. Her smile made him smile right then, but then he realized why she tossed the picture in the first place; the guy must've been Jake.
Joe sighed again, then dropped the picture back into the trashcan and slid into her soft bed. He clicked off the light on the table next to him and then sunk his head into the pillow. After rolling over on his stomach and breathing in, he received a light scent of some sort of perfume that was embedded in the blanket. He grinned into the pillow in satisfaction, then slowly drifted to sleep with Bailey on his mind.
"You mean the one you stole from me first? Yeah. Why?" Chuck questioned as he stood there backstage moments before the show was supposed to start, untangling the chords from the hugantic speakers.
"What was said during the show last night?" he asked, looking up at the man that towered over him. Joe's face was full of sincerity.
Instinctively, Chuck would've told him to bug off, but he thought he'd give in this once. "Well, there was bickering back and forth between two ladies, I believe one was your girl, but the older one just cracked down on her hard." Chuck stated, then crossed his arms in curiosity. "Why do you ask?"
Joe shrugged his shoulders. "Bailey just looked upset. She wouldn't really talk about it, so I thought I'd ask around."
"Ah, so Bailey's the young lady you've been drooling over all night?"
"CHUCK!" Joe exclaimed with his mouth hanging open.
"Well, I think it has something to do with a guy. Your name was brought up along with some other kid. What was it, Jake?" he continued, then scratched his chin in thought. Joe quickly looked up. "If I were you, I'd stay out of it. Let her handle it." he eyed him.
Joe huffed in defeat, then waved before walking away.
- - - - -
"Thanks for coming out!" Kevin smiled. "It was great meeting you guys."
"You too." a girl who didn't look older than 13 squeaked, then scurried out of the room behind her two other friends.
"Meet and Greet Two: COMPLETE!" Nick burst out. "AND a day off tomorrow." he leaned back in his chair.
"Yeah, allll day tomorrow we get to stay here in Philly only to play this same show again." Joe stated in boredom.
"Not necessarily." Ross walked into the room where the boys and a few staff members were. "-And stop complaining Joseph."
"Hey Ross." Kevin greeted, Ross nodded in acknowledgement.
"Ms.Baker is actually making a trip down to Delaware tonight to drop her mother off so she can spend time with the rest of her family. You guys are more than welcome to tag along with her. I think you boys have earned a day away from all of this commotion."
"What do you mean 'a day'? It's already 10 'o clock at night." Nick asked as Joe stared up at Ross from his seat, waiting for him to continue.
"If you would've waited for me to finish, then you'd know that you'd be staying the night with them in their home." Ross straightened out his shirt. "I expect you boys to be on your best behavior." Joe rolled his eyes then wiped his sweaty face on his towel; he sounded just like his dad right then.
"Well, what if we don't want to go?" Nick asked.
"Speak for yourself!" Kevin quickly snapped, then shot him an apologetic look after realizing that he was a bit loud.
"Yeah, I wanna go." Joe informed.
"To Delaware?" Nick continued, Joe nodded. "Why can't we just go home for the day?"
"Delaware is only 40 minutes away, compared to the 2 hours it takes to get to Wyckoff from here." Ross stated. "Plus your parents are on vacation with Frankie down in Florida."
"Without us?!" Joe shouted in disbelief, making Ross laugh.
"Apparently." he huffed. "Bailey's mom is getting her stuff together, so be ready to leave in an hour." then with that, Ross exited the room.
"I CALL SHOWER!" Joe yelled, then rushed out of the room, making his way to the bus.
"Since when does he get excited about taking a shower?" Kevin asked, then walked with Nick to the door.
"Since he met Bailey."
- - - - -
"You ready, Ma?" Bailey hung in the doorway of the bus with Ross' car keys in her hand along with her cell phone and a water bottle. She had changed into a pair of dark sweatpants and a form fitting tank top. Her long, dark blonde hair was up in a messy bun and she had on very little eyeliner. She didn't think she'd be seeing the boys before she left, so she didn't care what she looked like.
"Coming, coming." her mom called out with her travel bag slung over her shoulder. "Why are you in such a rush. I'm not going to see you for a whole two months!"
'I know! Isn't it great?' Bailey thought, then took her mom's bag, popped the trunk to Ross' yellow 2007 Chevy Cobalt and tossed it in.
"Hey, don't leave us!" Joe shouted as he ran up to the car with Kevin and Nick close behind him. "Well don't you look nice." he complimented in full seriousness. He admired the fact that she still looked gorgeous in sweatpants and a shirt.
"Ha, you're hilarious." she took it as a joke. "But what do you mean 'don't leave us'? I'm just taking my mom home."
"Ross said that we could go." Kevin said with a smile.
"Oh, ok." Bailey replied. "That's cool. It's gonna be a little cramped on the way there though." she motioned to the backseat.
"You're driving?" Joe asked, sounding a little scared.
"Hey! I'm a good driver" Bailey snapped back.
"Alright, then could you drive me home now, please?" her mom piped in, she nodded.
Bailey flipped the driver's seat up so the boys could slide in. It was Kevin behind the passenger seat, Nick in the middle, then Joe behind Bailey who was obviously driving. Only moments passed before they were on the highway.
Throughout the car ride, Bailey would glance in her rearview mirror, only to steal a glance at Joe. Most of the time his attention was occupied by the various cars they passed on the road, but every once and a while they'd make eye contact. That resulted in the two off them instantly looking away, leaving a smile on both of their faces.
After about 30 minutes of driving, her mother started up. "Take this exit." her mom stated.
"Ma, it's not this one, it's the next one." Bailey replied, glancing over at her.
"No no, take this one."
"This one will turn us around. We want to go home, not back to Philly." she stated.
The interaction between the two caught the boys' attention.
"Bailey Lynn, if I have to say it - "
"MOM! It's the wrong exit." she said loudly as her grip around the steering wheel tightened. Seconds later, they passed the exit her mom told her to take. If it was anything Bailey was sure about, it was her sense of direction. Not to mention she's been back and forth from Philly about 109 times.
"So, uh, Delaware seems pretty nice." Kevin stated, trying to kill the awkwardness. The only thing that responded was the soft music of John Mayer's 'Daughters' that played on the radio.
About 10 more minutes of driving, Bailey took the next exit. About 3 songs on the radio later, they pulled into the driveway of an elegant, 2 story home. It was big, but not Orange County big. It was just the right size for her, her mother and her step-dad who had a few extra bucks.
"I love your home." Kevin stated as they entered the living room. Nick put his finger on his nose as if to say he was brown nosing. He received a smack on the arm for that one.
"Thanks." Bailey's mom said. "Alright. I'll just see you kids tomorrow or whatever. I'm going to bed." she waved off, then headed up the steps.
"You guys hungry?" Bailey asked, then walked into the kitchen with the boys on her tail.
- - - - -
"Sweet, you have a pool?" Joe exclaimed, looking out the back window as he put his dirty plate in the sink.
"No Joe, that's just a big rain puddle with clear blue water." she replied without a hint of sarcasm. He narrowed his eyes at her as she smiled back at him.
"I don't know about you, but I'm ready for bed." Kevin stated.
"Me too." Nick added.
"Wimps." Joe mumbled, he was still wired.
Bailey took Kevin and Nick upstairs and into the spare bedroom. "Make yourselves comfy. Bathroom's at the end of the hall and it's a queen sized bed, so you two will be fine." she waved before returning back downstairs to Joe.
"You're gonna be up for a while, huh?" she asked as she hopped up onto the kitchen counter. Joe did the same except he hopped on the island across from her.
"Yep." he grinned. "You?"
"Yeah, I've got a few hours left in me."
"Wanna go swimming?" he asked, smiling mischievously, hoping to God she said yes. The last thing he wanted to do was play the, 'Well, what do you want to do?' 'Oh, I don't know, what to you want to do?' game, and then ending up having to watch a lame movie because no one would decide on something. No, he wanted to spend time with the girl and get to know her even more.
"Sure." Bailey replied, wondering if he had just read her mind. "We have extra swim trunks for when people, like you, unexpectedly come over."
"You mean amazing, unbelievably awesome people like me?" Joe asked excitedly. All she did was laugh and walk away to retrieve a pair of trunks and her own bathing suit.
After the two got changed, they headed out in the darkness to the in-ground pool. Bailey self consciously held her towel close to her as she made her way down the concrete to the water. When Joe's back was turned, she tossed her towel on the nearby chair and jumped in. After hearing the splash, Joe followed suit and made his own.
"It's nice out tonight." he said as he leaned backwards and floated on his back to look up at the starry sky.
"Mhm." was all she said as she began to float on her back also. She couldn't believe that he was so willing to hang out with her. Everything and anything seemed cool to him, there were no issues what-so-ever. She loved his company, he made her forget about everything.
Joe's mind drifted as well. The silence between the two of them was comforting, and not the least bit awkward in any way. He loved being around her, even if he had only met her a day and a half ago. He lifted his head up to see if she was still floating; she was. Her face, chest and flat, tanned stomach were the only parts of her body that surfaced from the dark water. He couldn't help but steal a glance. He was falling hard.
"You know, - " Bailey started. "- we click." she said simply, then bit her tongue once she realized she had said it out loud.
"Yeah, I love it." he replied, making her heart do a flip flop.
The chemistry was there. They both knew it and so did everyone else. 'Stop it.' Bailey started shouting in her mind once again. 'You're leading him on. You're bringing this on yourself.' she shut her eyes and thought. 'Maybe I want something to happen.' While on the subject of feelings in her mind, an image of Jake popped up. 'Fuck Jake, Joe's better.' Her own thought made her smile and even let out a chuckle.
"What?" Joe asked.
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing."
After floating around for a few, they headed back inside and upstairs to Bailey's room. It was quite nice; mint green and dark aqua walls with various pictures nailed up all over. She had soft and poofy brown and pink bed sheets with a big comforter to top it off. It was as if it had called Joe's name, he ran up and sprawled his arms out, falling onto the bed. Bailey laughed at little, but then stopped once she saw the picture of her and Jake on her surfboard collage next to her dresser. Instantly she approached it, slipped off the photo, crumpled it up and then tossed it in the trashcan. Joe acted as if he hadn't seen.
"I think I have a pair of sweats that'll fit you." she redirected her own attention as she started looking through her dresser drawers. She pulled out two pairs of sweats and two oversized t-shirts.
"Ew, cooties. I'd rather sleep naked." Joe joked, looking up from her with a funny face as she slipped on her clothes overtop of her bathing suit. She was too lazy and tired to take her suit off.
"Ha, not in my bed." she was serious, at least for now. "I'm taking the couch downstairs, so if you need anything or anything, get at me."
"I'll get at you, son." he gangsterized that statement and smiled at her reaction.
"Promise me you won't say that ever again?" she laughed for the millionth time that day because of him.
"Maybe." he said, getting up off the bed, she playfully rolled her eyes.
"Well, I'm gonna go. It's almost 2am and my mom is probably going to wake us up early." she groaned.
"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow then." he said, then extended his arms for a hug. Without hesitation, she wrapped her arms around his bare back, because he still had his bathing suit on, and squeezed hard. He kissed the top of her head before pulling away. "Sweet dreams." he said with a smile.
"You too." she smiled back before walking out of her room and closing the door behind her. 'He's so perfect.' she closed her eyes as she tried to take everything in.
Joe sighed to himself once she left. He didn't know what he was getting himself into. He knew that there was more to this girl than anyone could possibly imagine, but in a good way. As he got changed his clothes, he glanced all around her room, but not in a snooping way. He admired the quotes and random pictures of her with friends scattered all around. Her room expressed who she was and who she was about. He chuckled to himself as he looked at the collage of pictures on her surfboard that was attached to the wall that was made into a corkboard thing. There were dozens of pictures of her with friends making obscene faces, ones with immature gestures and actions.
'She's perfect.' he thought, then remembered the picture she had tossed away moments ago. He reached in the waste bin an pulled out the photo. He un-crumpled it to see Bailey sitting with a well-built, shaggy brown-haired boy. His muscled arm was wrapped around her as he kissed her nose. Her eyes were squeezed shut and she had on the biggest smile he had ever seen. Her smile made him smile right then, but then he realized why she tossed the picture in the first place; the guy must've been Jake.
Joe sighed again, then dropped the picture back into the trashcan and slid into her soft bed. He clicked off the light on the table next to him and then sunk his head into the pillow. After rolling over on his stomach and breathing in, he received a light scent of some sort of perfume that was embedded in the blanket. He grinned into the pillow in satisfaction, then slowly drifted to sleep with Bailey on his mind.
"Hey Joe, you alright?" Kevin asked as he plopped down next to him on the couch.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Joe looked at him funny. "Why do you ask?"
"Dude, are you serious? You've been staring down at your Sidekick for the past hour in flippin' silence."
"It hasn't been silent. I can hear Nick singing from the front of the bus."
"That's not my point and you know it." Kevin stated. "What's on your mind?"
"I don't know. I just can't decide whether or not I should text Bailey." Joe replied, a little unsure of himself.
Kevin looked at him stupidly. "What's so hard about texting her? Just do it." he paused. "Wait, you asked for her number? When did this happen?" he asked, gaining a little more interest in the conversation.
"It didn't happen." Joe stopped for a second, a little embarrassed. "When I found her phone, I just called my phone from hers and got her number." Kevin couldn't help but laugh. "And then I just saved my number into her phone. - Stop laughing at me!" Joe tried to sound angry, but he couldn't help but crack a smile. The situation was kind of funny.
"Here, let me see." Kevin snatched his phone, flipped it open, then hit a few buttons. Seconds later it started vibrating. "She's calling."
"Ha ha, very funny Kev." Joe muttered.
"No, really." he put the phone in his face. On the screen it read 'Baker'. "You gave her a nick-name already?"
Joe ignored his comment as his quickly snatched his phone back and answered it.
"Hello?" he asked, his heart rate increased.
"Joe?" she asked.
"Hey!" he got excited. "How are you?"
"Good, I guess." Bailey hesitated a bit. "Yeah, I found a contact in my phonebook that said 'Joe the Amazing', so I had to call it to see if it was true." she chuckled.
"Ha, that's funny." he panicked. "Yeah, I think Nick put a whole bunch of numbers in your phone earlier."
Joe looked over at Kevin to see a shocked expression on his face. "What's wrong with you!" Kevin hissed. "You totally blew it."
"Oh." Bailey said into the phone, a hint of disappointment was in her voice. Joe smacked his forehead from what he just said. "Yeah, so I hear we're almost in Philly."
"Yep." was all Joe said. Kevin fell back onto the couch, wondering what in the world his brother was doing. He was making himself sound stupid.
"I'm kind of excited, with my mom getting dropped off at home and everything after the show." Bailey tried to cut the small talk and actually start a conversation.
"Tell her you gotta go." Kevin whispered to Joe.
"What?" Joe snapped after hiding the phone in his shoulder.
"You're diggin' your grave man! End it now."
"You there?" Bailey asked.
"Uh, yeah. Sorry about that. Kevin was just being. . . Kevin." Joe glared at him. "But look, I gotta go. I'll see you when we get there?"
"Yeah, see you then." Bailey replied, then quickly hung up. 'God, why am I so stupid?' she thought to herself as she fell back onto the bunk with her phone resting on her stomach.
"JOE! WHY ARE YOU SO STUPID!?" Kevin exploded once Joe put his phone down.
"I'm sorry! I panicked. I didn't know what to say."
"Usually you're the expert with girls, you always know what to say. What happened?!" he vented.
"Yeah, what happened?" Nick came into the back room with a PB&J sandwich and a glass of milk. Joe waved him off.
"Joe's lost his mojo." Kevin stated.
"HA." Nick busted. "Since when has he ever had any mojo?"
"She's probably totally bummed right now because of you." Kevin continued to rant.
"Ok! I get it. I messed up" Joe looked down.
"Messed up? It was one phone call. Yeah, it may have been awkward, but it's not like the word is going to end. Make it up to her tomorrow." Nick said simply, then dunked his sandwich in his milk.
"Thank you!" Joe threw his hands up.
"Hey Nick, that jelly looks great on your lip." Kevin said, then motioned to his face. Nick stuck his tongue out at him then continued eating.
"It was only a little phone call. I couldn't have been that bad." Joe thought out loud.
- - - - -
'Stupid stupid stupid.' Bailey replayed over in her mind. She didn't even know why she called him in the first place. Maybe it was to see if 'Joe the Amazing' was really him.
"Ugh." she groaned in frustration and kicked the wall at the end of her tiny bunk.
She was moving too fast into this. She did that with every guy she was interested in. She'd take in something little that happened and then make assumptions from it. Like all the smiles and glances Joe gave her, she always looked too far into them and got her hopes up.
'Who am I kidding?' she thought to herself. 'He's famous, gorgeous and simply amazing. Why am I even trying?' Bailey was too deep into thought that she didn't notice that the bus had stopped.
"Anyone alive in here?" Joe's voice called out. Bailey instantly shot up in the bunk, smacking her head on the one above her.
"Ow." she mumbled, then lost control and fell out of the bunk and onto the floor.
"Ah, stop falling for me Bailey!" Joe joked, then helped her up.
She forced out a laugh at his ironic statement, then pulled away from his soft hands. He looked a little taken aback, but he shook it off as he remembered the phone call only hours earlier.
'Play it cool, Bails. Act normal. Pretend that he's not the most gorgeous person you've ever seen. Don't give in.' she told herself.
"So, uh, about the phone call earlier,-" he started, instantly her thoughts vanished. Her full attention was now on the boy in front of her. "Kevin and Nick were just messing around and I had to go." his eyes met hers. "I didn't want you thinking I didn't want to talk or anything."
"Oh, it's cool." Bailey responded with a smile, completely forgetting what she told herself moments ago.
"JOE! Let's go." Nick yelled onto the bus.
"Alright!" he yelled back as Bailey started walking towards the door. "No no, wait. I wanted to make sure you were ok. I mean, last night. . ." he drifted off, hoping she'd pick it up and spill.
"Yeah, about that. It's cool now. It was just my mom. Some Einstein gave her a headset during the show and she ended up talking about stuff and it got me upset, that's all. - But I'm fine now." Joe looked into her eyes as she spoke. He wanted to know what the 'stuff' was, but he stopped himself from asking. If she said she was fine, he believed her.
There was a moment before he spoke. "Well, alright then. I guess we'll be heading out now." he smiled, then put his arm out to the door. She nodded, then trotted off the bus.
Kevin shook his head as he watched Joe step off the bus behind Bailey with his thumbs up. "Let's go, Romeo." he stated, then started off inside the venue, motioning for Joe, Nick and Bailey to follow. Bailey acted as if she didn't notice Kevin's comment as Joe glared at him.
- - - - -
"Interviews?" Bailey repeated to Ross. "Individually?" he nodded. "That's odd."
"All you have to do is read the questions off of the sheet and kind of keep the conversation going." the big boss explained. "It'll be video taped, just so you know."
"Oh, I'm doing it?" she asked, a little surprised.
"Of course. I've seen that you guys get along well, so I figured you fit the part." he smiled, then left with a nod.
"OH MY GOD!" someone yelled as they grabbed her shoulders from behind. She jumped and spun around to see a laughing Joe behind her. 'Please, make it stop.' her mind continued to race as her stomach knotted up at the sigh of his gorgeous face.
Bailey didn't say a word to him, she was still a bit startled. She just stared into his eyes as she waited for her heart rate to slow down.
"Oh come on, you know that was funny." he laughed for a moment, then stopped once the glare she was giving him sunk in. "Aw, Bails." he stepped closer to her and wrapped his arms around her tiny frame.
Immediately her body was infested with goosebumps. 'Why is he doing this to me?' she wanted to scream, but instead all she could do was wrap her arms around his waist. She wasn't done absorbing his warmth before Kevin approached them.
"Uh, hey. When are we doing this interview thing?" he asked. Joe pulled away.
"You're interviewing us?" she nodded. "Sweet."
"Yeah. Ross said something about Nick, then you," Bailey pointed at Kevin. "-and then this crazy -" she turned to Joe but he was gone. "-person." she finished. "Ha ha, anyway. . ."
"Forget about him." Kevin laughed.
"I'm trying to." she muttered.
"What?" he asked, even though he heard her clearly.
"Oh, nothing." Bailey smiled. "Where's Nick? I'm ready to get this thing done."
- - - - -
There was a fire engine red couch sitting up against an extremely large window that took up the entire wall of the interview room. It overlooked a park behind the venue itself that was further in the distance. The sun was beating down at it was a lovely 75 degree day, but the jungle gym was abandoned.
"So Nick, how 'bout them Phillies?" Bailey asked after looking up from the paper with an odd expression on her face. She sat across from Nick in a metal chair while he sat comfy on the couch. The camera was set up next to Bailey, completely focused on Nick and the scenery behind him.
"What?" he chuckled.
"I don't know." she admitted. "It was on the sheet."
"Oh, um, skip?" Nick shook his head with a smile, not knowing what to say.
"Ok, the tour just started, how are you feeling?" Bailey asked, completely bored with the questions that she was required to ask.
"Well, - " Nick began speaking. Bailey looked attentive to every word he said, until something outside behind him caught her attention. She squinted her eyes to focus on what was running around. Nick didn't seem to notice. "But yeah, it's going great."
Bailey snapped back to the interview. "Right, right." she looked down on the sheet. "When's the last time you took a shower?" Nick looked at her with wide eyes. "What? It's on the thing." she shook the paper in front of her, then shot him an apologetic look even though she found the next few questions amusing.
"I'd have to say. . ." Nick drifted off, looked down at his watch, then looked up at the ceiling to count how many hours it had been since he had last showered.
Bailey then glanced behind him and watched as Joe approached the window with a pair of glasses that had the big nose and the mustache on it. She bit her tongue as she watched him dance randomly behind his brother.
"7.4 hours ago." Nick finally replied.
She laughed, then glanced down at the paper again. "If you could be one animal, what would you be and why?"
Her eyes then went back to watch Joe who was now making faces behind Nick as he spoke. The mustache glasses were now resting on his forehead which made him look even more ridiculous. Bailey covered her mouth, trying not to laugh, as Nick explained in full detail what animal he'd want to be.
"- Are you ok?" he asked, looking at her funny. Her eyes began to water from the laughter that was dying to escape as Joe pressed his face up against the glass, squishing his nose in a funky way as his lips continued to mimic Nick's.
"I'm fine." she squeaked out, almost losing it. The confusion on Nick's face made her blow it. Her lungs burst into laughter as the tears fell down her face. Nick turned around to see Joe making out with the window with his eyes closed.
"Are you getting this on film?" he asked, completely amused.
Bailey slipped out of her seat from laughing so hard and nodded slowly. It wasn't until moments later when Joe finally opened his eyes to see that he had Nick, and a few staff members', attention. Joe slowly pulled away from the window and waved, making everyone crack up.
- - - - -
"What kind of questions were those?" Kevin asked once the camera turned off.
"Stupid ones?" Bailey replied, a little unsure of herself.
"I swear, Frankie could come up with questions better than that."
She chuckled softly as Kevin got up and walked away. She couldn't understand why, but he seemed a little tense throughout the interview, even before the interview started he seemed a little. . .occupied in his mind.
"I'm ready for my close up." Joe exclaimed, then laid out on the couch.
"Ha, sorry, but I think you might just break the camera." Bailey replied instinctively. 'See, that wasn't so hard.' her thoughts started up again. 'Keep it cool. Treat him like you would any other guy. Put him down as much as you bring him up.'
"Ouch." he said sitting up and clutching his chest where his heart was. "Ok, lets get started."
"Alright." she glanced down at the paper. "HA. Joe, have you ever eaten a crayon?"
He chuckled with a smile, "What, a crayon?" she nodded. "Like. . .a Crayola 8 pack with red, blue, green, yellow, orange, black, brown, white, and pink?"
"Yeah, except you named 9 colors, smarty pants." she smirked.
"I don't know if I should respond to you calling me out, or to you using the expression 'smarty pants'." he smirked back at her with a flick of his eyes to go with it.
"Ha, you're hilarious, but really, have you ever eat a crayon?" she asked again.
"I believe I have." Joe geared into his joking mode. "Frankie tossed me a box once. Told me that if I ate one, it'd change the color of my poop."
"Joe!" she exclaimed, then pointed to the camera. She ended up laughing anyway.
"Oops." his cheeks turned a little pink. "I mean, yeah, I have. They made me really sick. Don't ever eat crayons kids." he pointed at the camera, then slouched back onto the couch.
Bailey shook her head, then moved onto the next question.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Joe looked at him funny. "Why do you ask?"
"Dude, are you serious? You've been staring down at your Sidekick for the past hour in flippin' silence."
"It hasn't been silent. I can hear Nick singing from the front of the bus."
"That's not my point and you know it." Kevin stated. "What's on your mind?"
"I don't know. I just can't decide whether or not I should text Bailey." Joe replied, a little unsure of himself.
Kevin looked at him stupidly. "What's so hard about texting her? Just do it." he paused. "Wait, you asked for her number? When did this happen?" he asked, gaining a little more interest in the conversation.
"It didn't happen." Joe stopped for a second, a little embarrassed. "When I found her phone, I just called my phone from hers and got her number." Kevin couldn't help but laugh. "And then I just saved my number into her phone. - Stop laughing at me!" Joe tried to sound angry, but he couldn't help but crack a smile. The situation was kind of funny.
"Here, let me see." Kevin snatched his phone, flipped it open, then hit a few buttons. Seconds later it started vibrating. "She's calling."
"Ha ha, very funny Kev." Joe muttered.
"No, really." he put the phone in his face. On the screen it read 'Baker'. "You gave her a nick-name already?"
Joe ignored his comment as his quickly snatched his phone back and answered it.
"Hello?" he asked, his heart rate increased.
"Joe?" she asked.
"Hey!" he got excited. "How are you?"
"Good, I guess." Bailey hesitated a bit. "Yeah, I found a contact in my phonebook that said 'Joe the Amazing', so I had to call it to see if it was true." she chuckled.
"Ha, that's funny." he panicked. "Yeah, I think Nick put a whole bunch of numbers in your phone earlier."
Joe looked over at Kevin to see a shocked expression on his face. "What's wrong with you!" Kevin hissed. "You totally blew it."
"Oh." Bailey said into the phone, a hint of disappointment was in her voice. Joe smacked his forehead from what he just said. "Yeah, so I hear we're almost in Philly."
"Yep." was all Joe said. Kevin fell back onto the couch, wondering what in the world his brother was doing. He was making himself sound stupid.
"I'm kind of excited, with my mom getting dropped off at home and everything after the show." Bailey tried to cut the small talk and actually start a conversation.
"Tell her you gotta go." Kevin whispered to Joe.
"What?" Joe snapped after hiding the phone in his shoulder.
"You're diggin' your grave man! End it now."
"You there?" Bailey asked.
"Uh, yeah. Sorry about that. Kevin was just being. . . Kevin." Joe glared at him. "But look, I gotta go. I'll see you when we get there?"
"Yeah, see you then." Bailey replied, then quickly hung up. 'God, why am I so stupid?' she thought to herself as she fell back onto the bunk with her phone resting on her stomach.
"JOE! WHY ARE YOU SO STUPID!?" Kevin exploded once Joe put his phone down.
"I'm sorry! I panicked. I didn't know what to say."
"Usually you're the expert with girls, you always know what to say. What happened?!" he vented.
"Yeah, what happened?" Nick came into the back room with a PB&J sandwich and a glass of milk. Joe waved him off.
"Joe's lost his mojo." Kevin stated.
"HA." Nick busted. "Since when has he ever had any mojo?"
"She's probably totally bummed right now because of you." Kevin continued to rant.
"Ok! I get it. I messed up" Joe looked down.
"Messed up? It was one phone call. Yeah, it may have been awkward, but it's not like the word is going to end. Make it up to her tomorrow." Nick said simply, then dunked his sandwich in his milk.
"Thank you!" Joe threw his hands up.
"Hey Nick, that jelly looks great on your lip." Kevin said, then motioned to his face. Nick stuck his tongue out at him then continued eating.
"It was only a little phone call. I couldn't have been that bad." Joe thought out loud.
- - - - -
'Stupid stupid stupid.' Bailey replayed over in her mind. She didn't even know why she called him in the first place. Maybe it was to see if 'Joe the Amazing' was really him.
"Ugh." she groaned in frustration and kicked the wall at the end of her tiny bunk.
She was moving too fast into this. She did that with every guy she was interested in. She'd take in something little that happened and then make assumptions from it. Like all the smiles and glances Joe gave her, she always looked too far into them and got her hopes up.
'Who am I kidding?' she thought to herself. 'He's famous, gorgeous and simply amazing. Why am I even trying?' Bailey was too deep into thought that she didn't notice that the bus had stopped.
"Anyone alive in here?" Joe's voice called out. Bailey instantly shot up in the bunk, smacking her head on the one above her.
"Ow." she mumbled, then lost control and fell out of the bunk and onto the floor.
"Ah, stop falling for me Bailey!" Joe joked, then helped her up.
She forced out a laugh at his ironic statement, then pulled away from his soft hands. He looked a little taken aback, but he shook it off as he remembered the phone call only hours earlier.
'Play it cool, Bails. Act normal. Pretend that he's not the most gorgeous person you've ever seen. Don't give in.' she told herself.
"So, uh, about the phone call earlier,-" he started, instantly her thoughts vanished. Her full attention was now on the boy in front of her. "Kevin and Nick were just messing around and I had to go." his eyes met hers. "I didn't want you thinking I didn't want to talk or anything."
"Oh, it's cool." Bailey responded with a smile, completely forgetting what she told herself moments ago.
"JOE! Let's go." Nick yelled onto the bus.
"Alright!" he yelled back as Bailey started walking towards the door. "No no, wait. I wanted to make sure you were ok. I mean, last night. . ." he drifted off, hoping she'd pick it up and spill.
"Yeah, about that. It's cool now. It was just my mom. Some Einstein gave her a headset during the show and she ended up talking about stuff and it got me upset, that's all. - But I'm fine now." Joe looked into her eyes as she spoke. He wanted to know what the 'stuff' was, but he stopped himself from asking. If she said she was fine, he believed her.
There was a moment before he spoke. "Well, alright then. I guess we'll be heading out now." he smiled, then put his arm out to the door. She nodded, then trotted off the bus.
Kevin shook his head as he watched Joe step off the bus behind Bailey with his thumbs up. "Let's go, Romeo." he stated, then started off inside the venue, motioning for Joe, Nick and Bailey to follow. Bailey acted as if she didn't notice Kevin's comment as Joe glared at him.
- - - - -
"Interviews?" Bailey repeated to Ross. "Individually?" he nodded. "That's odd."
"All you have to do is read the questions off of the sheet and kind of keep the conversation going." the big boss explained. "It'll be video taped, just so you know."
"Oh, I'm doing it?" she asked, a little surprised.
"Of course. I've seen that you guys get along well, so I figured you fit the part." he smiled, then left with a nod.
"OH MY GOD!" someone yelled as they grabbed her shoulders from behind. She jumped and spun around to see a laughing Joe behind her. 'Please, make it stop.' her mind continued to race as her stomach knotted up at the sigh of his gorgeous face.
Bailey didn't say a word to him, she was still a bit startled. She just stared into his eyes as she waited for her heart rate to slow down.
"Oh come on, you know that was funny." he laughed for a moment, then stopped once the glare she was giving him sunk in. "Aw, Bails." he stepped closer to her and wrapped his arms around her tiny frame.
Immediately her body was infested with goosebumps. 'Why is he doing this to me?' she wanted to scream, but instead all she could do was wrap her arms around his waist. She wasn't done absorbing his warmth before Kevin approached them.
"Uh, hey. When are we doing this interview thing?" he asked. Joe pulled away.
"You're interviewing us?" she nodded. "Sweet."
"Yeah. Ross said something about Nick, then you," Bailey pointed at Kevin. "-and then this crazy -" she turned to Joe but he was gone. "-person." she finished. "Ha ha, anyway. . ."
"Forget about him." Kevin laughed.
"I'm trying to." she muttered.
"What?" he asked, even though he heard her clearly.
"Oh, nothing." Bailey smiled. "Where's Nick? I'm ready to get this thing done."
- - - - -
There was a fire engine red couch sitting up against an extremely large window that took up the entire wall of the interview room. It overlooked a park behind the venue itself that was further in the distance. The sun was beating down at it was a lovely 75 degree day, but the jungle gym was abandoned.
"So Nick, how 'bout them Phillies?" Bailey asked after looking up from the paper with an odd expression on her face. She sat across from Nick in a metal chair while he sat comfy on the couch. The camera was set up next to Bailey, completely focused on Nick and the scenery behind him.
"What?" he chuckled.
"I don't know." she admitted. "It was on the sheet."
"Oh, um, skip?" Nick shook his head with a smile, not knowing what to say.
"Ok, the tour just started, how are you feeling?" Bailey asked, completely bored with the questions that she was required to ask.
"Well, - " Nick began speaking. Bailey looked attentive to every word he said, until something outside behind him caught her attention. She squinted her eyes to focus on what was running around. Nick didn't seem to notice. "But yeah, it's going great."
Bailey snapped back to the interview. "Right, right." she looked down on the sheet. "When's the last time you took a shower?" Nick looked at her with wide eyes. "What? It's on the thing." she shook the paper in front of her, then shot him an apologetic look even though she found the next few questions amusing.
"I'd have to say. . ." Nick drifted off, looked down at his watch, then looked up at the ceiling to count how many hours it had been since he had last showered.
Bailey then glanced behind him and watched as Joe approached the window with a pair of glasses that had the big nose and the mustache on it. She bit her tongue as she watched him dance randomly behind his brother.
"7.4 hours ago." Nick finally replied.
She laughed, then glanced down at the paper again. "If you could be one animal, what would you be and why?"
Her eyes then went back to watch Joe who was now making faces behind Nick as he spoke. The mustache glasses were now resting on his forehead which made him look even more ridiculous. Bailey covered her mouth, trying not to laugh, as Nick explained in full detail what animal he'd want to be.
"- Are you ok?" he asked, looking at her funny. Her eyes began to water from the laughter that was dying to escape as Joe pressed his face up against the glass, squishing his nose in a funky way as his lips continued to mimic Nick's.
"I'm fine." she squeaked out, almost losing it. The confusion on Nick's face made her blow it. Her lungs burst into laughter as the tears fell down her face. Nick turned around to see Joe making out with the window with his eyes closed.
"Are you getting this on film?" he asked, completely amused.
Bailey slipped out of her seat from laughing so hard and nodded slowly. It wasn't until moments later when Joe finally opened his eyes to see that he had Nick, and a few staff members', attention. Joe slowly pulled away from the window and waved, making everyone crack up.
- - - - -
"What kind of questions were those?" Kevin asked once the camera turned off.
"Stupid ones?" Bailey replied, a little unsure of herself.
"I swear, Frankie could come up with questions better than that."
She chuckled softly as Kevin got up and walked away. She couldn't understand why, but he seemed a little tense throughout the interview, even before the interview started he seemed a little. . .occupied in his mind.
"I'm ready for my close up." Joe exclaimed, then laid out on the couch.
"Ha, sorry, but I think you might just break the camera." Bailey replied instinctively. 'See, that wasn't so hard.' her thoughts started up again. 'Keep it cool. Treat him like you would any other guy. Put him down as much as you bring him up.'
"Ouch." he said sitting up and clutching his chest where his heart was. "Ok, lets get started."
"Alright." she glanced down at the paper. "HA. Joe, have you ever eaten a crayon?"
He chuckled with a smile, "What, a crayon?" she nodded. "Like. . .a Crayola 8 pack with red, blue, green, yellow, orange, black, brown, white, and pink?"
"Yeah, except you named 9 colors, smarty pants." she smirked.
"I don't know if I should respond to you calling me out, or to you using the expression 'smarty pants'." he smirked back at her with a flick of his eyes to go with it.
"Ha, you're hilarious, but really, have you ever eat a crayon?" she asked again.
"I believe I have." Joe geared into his joking mode. "Frankie tossed me a box once. Told me that if I ate one, it'd change the color of my poop."
"Joe!" she exclaimed, then pointed to the camera. She ended up laughing anyway.
"Oops." his cheeks turned a little pink. "I mean, yeah, I have. They made me really sick. Don't ever eat crayons kids." he pointed at the camera, then slouched back onto the couch.
Bailey shook her head, then moved onto the next question.
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