Post by socrbritney on Aug 19, 2008 9:41:22 GMT -5
Chapter Seventeen: Drastic. Action!
Here I go,
Scream my lungs out and try to get to you
You are my only one
I let go,
but there's just no one that gets me like you
You are my only, my only one
-“Only One”, Yellowcard[/center][/i]
“Livin the dream, baby! Livin the dream!”
Joe gave one last yell with the huddle before slipping on his sunglasses and following Kevin to the lift that would reveal them to the crowd. They still had a couple minutes before going on stage, which for Joe, was a bad thing. He didn’t want any downtime. His mind wanders when he has time to think, and the last thing he needed was more head-spinning thoughts about Jenna. Here. Wanting him. Waiting in his bus bunk perhaps?
Knock it off, he scolded himself. He heard the roar of the crowd, and instantly got calmer. He felt a tap on his shoulder, and he turned to see Kevin lean in and shout in his ear over the music and the yells from the audience.
“Before we go on, I just want to remind you what a huge mistake you’re making not listening to Jenna!” he yelled. Joe rolled his eyes and turned away, bumping right into Nick, who was unusually close to him.
“Yeah, man! She came all this way just to get you to listen to her! You should’ve heard her out in there!” Nick screamed. Joe felt a surge of anger pass through him.
“I did hear her out! I told you, it’s not enough for her to just show up and tell me it’s all gonna be ok!” Joe yelled back at the two of them.
“So, you’d be willing to hear her out again if she did something more…drastic?” Kevin asked, smiling. Joe gave him a confused look.
“I don’t know, dude! I’m kind of sick of just hearing her tell me she loves me! I wanted the whole world to know how I felt about her! Her being here...it’s not enough!” Joe screamed, barely able to get his voice over the crowd as they reacted the flames shooting up from the stage. Joe got down on the ground, quickly getting in his push-ups. He glanced up while doing them, and he swore he saw Nick and Joe exchange a knowing glance.
They loaded up on the elevator, and Joe did some last minute stretches. Kevin and Nick seemed to bounce with a bit more energy than usual. Joe was now officially suspicious.
“What’s going on?” Joe shouted at them. They both shrugged.
“Nothing!” They both yelled at the same time. The elevator started to rise, and Joe forgot all about Jenna, his brothers’ weird behavior, and the fact that his heart was still in pieces over his conversation with her in the green room.
……………………
Jenna was hyperventilating.
Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God, she thought in her head, panicked. I can’t believe I’m doing this.
Jenna thought about Joe, and suddenly got angry.
Why couldn’t he just listen to me? He’s so stubborn!
But when she thought about the look on his face while he yelled at her, she remembered why he was so angry. He was trying to protect himself. From her.
Maybe I should just leave him alone, she thought miserably. She glanced around the dark room with the glowing monitors and at the man who was operating the controls during the boy’s first couple of songs. She watched Joe perform a flying kick onstage, and she smiled. She was brought back to a couple months ago, before they were together…
“Ok, one, two, three…kick!” Jenna instructed Joe.
Joe ran, jumped, kicked out his leg and then immediately fell onto the mat she had laid down for him. Jenna put her hands over her eyes, afraid to watch.
“Owwww. That did not feel good,” Joe moaned while he rolled around on the mat. Jenna ran over to the stage and hoisted herself up. They were putting the finishing touches on the stage before the tour started, and Joe wanted to demonstrate his stage moves for Jenna. She stood over him, holding out her hand.
“Maybe you shouldn’t do moves so dangerous, Joe,” she offered. He looked up at her with shock.
“But, danger is my name, ma’am!!” he insisted. Jenna laughed and wiggled her fingers, urging him to take her hand. He put his hand in hers, and she immediately felt a shock.
“Ouch!” she yelped and instantly pulled back her hand. Joe immediately fell back down on the mat, accidentally tripping Jenna in the process. Down she went, right on top of him.
“Geez, woman! Are you trying to kill me?” Joe said as he broke her fall.
“I’m sorry, you shocked me. I wasn’t expecting you. I mean, that! I wasn’t expecting that,” she rambled, blushing uncontrollably. Joe gave her a smile.
“Um, you’re still on top of me, Jenna,” he said in a low voice. Jenna blushed even harder, if it was possible. She quickly rolled off of him and scrambled to her feet. Her heart was beating hard against her chest.
“Sorry about that. Why don’t we try that again? This time, without the embarrassing fall on your butt?” Jenna said, trying to make light of the situation. Joe nodded and stood back up.
“Prepare to be amazed!” he yelled while jumping again. Jenna put her hands over her eyes as Joe fell back down on the mat.
Now, watching on the monitors, Jenna rememberd exactly why she should stick around. Because she was in love with him. And she had been for a long time.
No, I’m not going anywhere, she decided. She closed her eyes, and remembered what her mom always used to tell her.
“Love is giving someone the power to destroy you and trusting that they won’t.”
Jenna trusted Joe. Even though she had nearly destroyed him, she knew that he wouldn’t destroy her. And she was willing to do ANYTHING to make sure he would trust her again like he used to.
She looked directly into the camera in front of her.
Anything, she reminded herself.
“Alright, Jenna. Are you ready for your close-up?” the stage manager asked her, clipping a microphone to her collar. He talked into it, testing it in his earpiece. Jenna took a deep breath.
“I think so,” she muttered. He gave her a pat on the shoulder and quickly ran through the plan again.
“When the red light goes on, talk into that camera. You’ll be able to hear the boys through your ear piece, but not the crowd. So, just say that you gotta say and shut it off whenever you want,” he said. Jenna tried to swallow the lump in her throat. The stage manager smiled at her and put his finger over a button.
“And here we go…”
………………………..
“Music's in my soul
I can hear it everyday, every night
It's the one thing on my mind
Music's got control
And I'm never letting go, no no
I just wanna play my music
All night long
Yeah!”
Nick finished the song with a flourish and smiled at the crowd. He glanced over at Joe, who was making his way up the stage to get ready for the drum beats before “Burnin Up”.
Kevin nodded at him and ran back to the microphone that was placed in the back of the stage just for the boys to talk to each other and to the crew.
“Love Bird?” he said into the microphone, using the nickname he gave her when coming up with plan B. They knew Joe would be able to hear their conversation, but he seemed to be too preoccupied with setting up for the next song to notice. He waited a moment, listening. He didn’t hear anything.
Did she change her mind? He wondered, panicked for a second. Suddenly he heard some static and then Jenna’s voice floated into his earpiece.
“Yep, I’m here Kev. Did I tell you how much I hate that name?”
Kevin breathed a sigh of relief.
“Yep, you told me about six times already. Ok, you’re on. Good luck, babe,” he said and quickly jogged back onstage.
Joe stood next to Nick by the drums, waiting for the band to cue up the opening music. Nick stood next to him, microphone in hand. Joe looked around confused.
What was everyone doing? he thought to himself, worried. Nick smiled at him, and brought the microphone to his lips.
“How you guys doing out there? Enjoying the show?” he asked the crowd. They roared back in response.
“Good, that’s so awesome to hear. Well, before we continue, me and Kevin have a very good friend here tonight. And she wants to talk to you all. So if you guys could give her a couple of minutes to speak, that would rock,” Nick said. The crowd applauded and yelled, eager to meet the friend. Joe glared at Nick.
“What is going on? What friend?” he said to Nick under his breath. Nick shrugged. Suddenly every television screen on the stage and in the audience went black. The crowd let out a confused cry, but Kevin put his hands up to calm them down. After a minute, the crowd got quiet, waiting to see what would happen next.
“Um, hello? Can you guys hear me?”
The voice Joe heard over the speakers made his blood run faster. He looked out in the crowd, then to the side of the stage, looking for her. Nick tapped him on the shoulder and pointed up. Joe turned around and looked at the screen right above him.
There was Jenna, smiling and taking over every single television screen on the stage. Her beautiful face filled the screen and she waved to the crowd. They audience was in a frenzy, shouting, screaming and clapping. Joe stumbled back a bit, almost falling off the top ledge of the stage. All he could do was stare at Jenna.
This cannot be real, he thought to himself.
“Hi everyone! I hope you’re enjoying the show! They rock, don’t they?” Jenna smiled as the crowd roared with agreement.
“For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Jenna. I used to be the media rep for the Jonas Brothers. Some of you might have seen my picture in the tabloids recently,” she continued. Joe winced as some of the people in the audience booed.
“Now, I’m probably not the favorite among fans. But before I get to the point of all this, I just want to let you guys know that, after working very closely with the boys for the summer, I can say 100% that you people out there will always be number one in their hearts,” Jenna said. The crowd cheered, and Joe finally relaxed. Jenna bit her lip and her eyes darted around the screen. She seemed to be looking for Joe.
“Sorry to interrupt the show, everyone. But I’m looking for a Joseph Adam Jonas. Is he in the arena tonight?” the crowd started chanting and pointing toward Joe, and he found himself being pushed by Nick to front and center. He knew there were cameras in the media room where Jenna was, so there was no way for him to hide. Jenna finally spotted him, and gave him a little smile.
“There you are, buttercup. How is the show going? Are you having fun out there?” she asked in an overly sweet voice. Joe narrowed his eyes at her and spoke into the microphone, knowing she could hear him in the ear piece she was wearing.
“I am having fun out here. I’m a little confused, though. I wasn’t aware of this change in the show,” Joe shot back sarcastically.
“Well, you didn’t want to listen to me in the green room, so I had to take drastic actions,” Jenna replied. Joe shot a look over at Kevin and remembered back to before the show.
“So, you’d be willing to hear her out again if she did something more…drastic?”
“I see you got the entire crew in on this. What is so important that you have to come over the jumbo screen and talk in front of thousands of people?” Joe asked. Jenna smiled wider. Joe was shocked to see her so calm. Usually any public display of affection sent her running for the hills.
“Just wanted to come on the screen and tell all your fans and anyone else who watches this on Youtube that I love you. And I’m not going anywhere. You asked me to fight, Joe. So here I am. I’m fighting. And embarrassing myself. And probably making thousands of those girls out there hate me. But I’m doing it for you. And now you have to listen to me, don’t you?” Joe was speechless.
“Wow, no words from Joe Jonas. Thought I would never see the day. Look, Joe. I’m not going to give a huge speech, here. Lord knows this crowd will get ugly if you guys don’t start singing again. But I’m doing what you wanted. I’m not running anymore. This is me, putting my heart on the line. Anything to get you back, Joey Joe,” Jenna said, getting serious. The crowd started getting louder and louder. Joe couldn’t tell if they were angry that she was interrupting the show, or if they were excited to be witnessing this. Either way, Joe was entranced by Jenna’s words. Nick silenced the crowd with bang on the drum in front of him.
“Short and sweet. Ok, here we go,” Jenna took a deep breath.
“Joe, I am head over heels, punch me in the stomach, can’t stop thinking about you, completely and utterly in love with you. I can’t imagine my life without you. I made a mistake leaving, but I’m back to fix it. To fix us. In front of all your amazing fans and in front of probably millions after they watch this online…I’m begging for your forgiveness. Can you find it in your warm, amazing heart to forgive me and take me back?” she asked, her eyes wide with hope.
Joe found himself laughing. He wasn’t sure if it was out of pure shock over what was happening or happiness that Jenna was going to these extremes, but he was laughing. She watched him, waiting for him to do something.
“Take her back, man,” Kevin said into the microphone. Nick nodded and started a beat on the drums.
“Take. Her. Back.” he half sang while he played. Joe thought he heard the crowd chanting. It was quiet at first, and then it built up to a loud roar. They were chanting along with Nick.
“TAKE! HER! BACK! TAKE! HER! BACK! TAKE! HER! BACK!” Joe felt tears sting the corners of his eyes. His amazing fans, supporting him in a very weak moment. He watched in awe as everyone put their cell phones in the air and continued to chant for the two of them. Finally, Joe looked back at the screen, and saw Jenna staring at him. Her green eyes were shining with tears, and his heart reached out to her. Every moment they had shared together, every laugh, every kiss, it was all running through his mind. With every happy memory, a piece of his heart healed itself.
"Joe, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you're flirting with me."
“I would never let anyone hurt you. I will always catch you.”
“You saved me.”
“Turn that frown upside down, Joey Joe.”
“Your values are important to you, and that means they’re important to me.”
“I love you too, Joe. So much.”
The roar of the crowd faded within his mind until all Joe heard was Jenna’s voice. He opened his eyes and looked up at the screen. She smiled at him adoringly.
I love you, she mouthed silently to him.
That was all he needed. He took off running, nearly taking out Kevin, who moved out of the way just in time. He heard Nick yell into the microphone, and the crowd cheered louder than he had ever heard before. Joe barely noticed, he was tripping over cords, knocking over guitars, just trying to get to the media control room. He finally did, and he saw Jenna hunched over the screen, searching for him onstage.
“Joe? JOE? Where is he guys?” she asked frantically.
“Right behind you,” Joe answered. Jenna whipped around, her eyes wide with surprise. Joe gave her a smile.
“I can’t believe you did all this. You’re amazing,” he finally said. Jenna blushed and looked down at her feet.
“I had to get you to listen. I had to get you to believe that I was sorry, and that I needed you,” she told him. Joe just watched her, his pulse quickening. She looked up and into his eyes.
“I am sorry, Joe. And I do need you. You’re my best friend, my partner in crime, and the only one I ever want. And if you could just find it in your heart to forgive me…” she broke off as a sob escaped her lips. She put her hands over her face, embarrassed. Joe stepped forward and put his hand under her chin. He slowly brought her head up so that she was looking at him.
“What did I tell you from the beginning, Jbomb? I’ll always look after you,” he whispered. Joe kissed her forehead, her nose, and finally her lips.
Jenna sighed happily and wrapped her arms around his neck, completely falling into the kiss. Joe smiled against her lips and put his arms on her back, pulling her closer. It was as if she never left him. No more pain. No more tears. No more regret. Just the feel of her lips on his. Finally, he could breathe again.
He picked her up off the ground and gave her a spin, never taking his lips off hers. The crowd suddenly worked up into a frenzy, and Joe pulled back from Jenna in surprise. They both stared at the monitors in front of them, at the thousands of fans waving and jumping around.
“Oh, I didn’t turn the camera off!” Jenna realized with horror. Joe laughed.
“Oh well, they’re gonna have to get used to us anyways. Because I’m never letting you go again,” he told her. Jenna smiled up at him and closed her eyes.
“Then kiss me again my one and only,” she breathed out before bringing his head down to hers for another kiss. Joe felt this kiss from his lips all the way down to his toes. He brushed her hair off her face and kissed her back with everything he had. The crowd roared in response, and Jenna heard Nick and Kevin in her earpiece.
“Ok, guys. Get a room. Geez…” Nick groaned. Jenna and Joe finally broke apart, catching their breath. They giggled and turned towards the monitors. Nick and Kevin were looking at them from the center of the stage.
“We’re very happy you guys are finally back together, but we kinda have a show to finish. Joe? Can you finish kissing her later and get back out here?” Kevin asked. Joe leaned down to speak into the microphone on Jenna’s collar.
“Sure. I’ve got the rest of my life to kiss her. Be out in a second. Sorry for making you guys wait. Our fans are truly the best fans of them all,” Joe said, his voice heavy with appreciation. He turned off the camera, and they both laughed at the yells of disappointment from the fans.
“They don’t need to see this,” Joe said, grinning. Jenna raised an eyebrow at him. Joe suddenly grabbed her roughly around the waist and pulled her to him. She gave a yelp of surprise as he leaned down until their noses were touching.
“Just to last me through the night,” Joe murmured as he slowly backed her into the wall and crushed his lips to hers. Jenna willingly let the kiss get deeper, and she brought her hands up to his shirt to pull him closer. He finally took his mouth away, and slowly kissed a line from the corner of her mouth to her ear. Jenna shuddered.
“I love you, Jenna. Always,” Joe whispered to her. He brought her into a hug, inhaling the smell of her hair. Jenna tightly hugged him back, and Joe felt everything in his life fall back into place. He had found the missing piece.
“Well, get out there! The fans await,” Jenna said, giving his butt a playful swat. Joe laughed and gave her one last kiss on the cheek before heading to the door. He stopped and turned back.
“I have an awesome idea. Since you apparently don’t have any stage fright…” Joe began with an evil gleam in his eye.
…………………………………..
Jenna squeezed Joe’s hand as she stood on the elevator lift. If she was nervous before, she was absolutely terrified now. She heard Kevin’s voice, and her heart kicked into overdrive.
“Ladies and Gentleman…and our wonderful fans. It is our pleasure to officially introduce, for the first time publicly as a couple., Joe Jonas and Jenna Freeman!” he announced loudly. The crowd cheered as the elevator lifted Jenna and Joe up to the stage. Joe turned to her.
“You said you weren’t afraid to tell the world, babe. Well, this is my world,” he said as he gestured to the crowd. Jenna’s breath caught in her throat as she watched the lights sweep over thousands of screaming people. She was so happy to see the fans support them. Joe took a step onto the stage, and pulled Jenna with him.
“I can’t tell you guys how important it is to see you approve of this girl. You fans are my life, and now, so is she,” Joe said into his microphone. Jenna wiped a tear away and smiled to the audience.
“Enough of this lovey dovey stuff. Hit it, guys!” Joe yelled, letting go of Jenna’s hand and taking a flying leap to the bottom level of the stage.
“I'm hot, you're cold
You go around like you know
Who I am, but you don't
You got me on my toes
I'm sinkin' into the lava
And I'm tryin' to keep from going under
Baby, who turned the temperature hotter
'Cause I'm burnin' up
Burnin' up for you baby
C'mon girl!”
The crowd sang along and Jenna watched from the top of the stage, her heart swelling with pride. She danced along, not caring that she probably looked like an idiot. She had never been happier.
She had the love of her life back.
She had her boys back.
And most importantly, she had her happiness back.
“Walk in the room,
All I can see is you,
Starin' me down
I know you feel it too…”
Joe beckoned her from his place at the lower level of the stage. She shook her head, but he just waved his hand harder. Finally, he ran up the steps and dragged her back down. He spun her around in an impromptu salsa dance, spinning her in and out and pulling her in circles.
“I'm sinking into the lava
And I'm tryin' to keep from going under
Baby, you turn the temperature hotter
And I'm burning up, burning up for you baby”
Big Rob came on stage and Jenna laughed as Joe spun her out into Rob’s outstretched arms. Rob put his arm around her shoulders and rapped his part, smiling at Jenna the whole time. The crowd went nuts and screamed louder. Jenna felt a surge of energy pass through her, amazed at how electric she felt in front of all these people.
The song was coming to a close, and Joe had found her again. Ignoring his part of the chorus completely, Joe threw his microphone down. He pulled her close to him and swayed slowly with her. She smiled up at him, never wanting to be out of his arms again.
“I'm slippin' into the lava
And I'm tryin' to keep from going under
Baby, you turn the temperature hotter
And I'm burning up, burning up for you baby
Burning up, burning up for you baby…”
Joe dipped Jenna slowly. The fans roared with energy and thousands of camera flashes went off. But Jenna saw only the face above her.
“So, I guess you’re stuck with me now, huh?” Joe asked her, smiling. Jenna brushed a lock of dark hair off of his forehead and smiled back.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she replied. Joe leaned down and kissed her.
The crowd grew louder.
Joe and Jenna heard nothing but their hearts beating together.
The End
…………………………………
There it is guys! The final chapter of Look After You! What did we think?
I can’t begin to thank each and every one of you for reading this story and giving me all kinds of great feedback. Your support kept me going when I wasn’t sure if I wanted to. I fell in love with this story, and I hope you did too!
Keep your eyes open for the epilogue! It will be coming sooner than later!!
Peace. Love. Jonas.
hehe
lol
