happiness begins [joe jonas]

23

It had been three days. Three painful days without speaking to Joe. Three days that dragged, a dull atmosphere lingering as Emmie continued to ignore him. She had received many calls from Joe, even Thea. But she didn't want to hear it. Eventually it got too much that she silenced her phone completely, avoiding any new notifications that came through.

Joe was stressed. He was worried about her. Many times he had tried to get through to her, but each time he failed. Emmie wouldn't speak to him. He knew she would be upset. He knew it would be much worse than that. He knew how badly she hated the attention, so having all of this closing in on her, Joe knew she wouldn't take it well.

He missed her. Joe missed her more than anything. He missed the way she would smile when he said her name. He missed the way she would laugh when he made a stupid joke. He missed the way she encouraged him, to keep going even when things got tough. He wanted nothing more than to hear her voice, reassuring him that she was okay. But what he didn't know, was that Emmie wanted nothing more than to reach out too.

But she wouldn't.

Emmie had many sleepless nights without speaking to Joe. But he was always in the back of her mind. She couldn't help but wonder how he was. She hadn't seen any new articles about him so she assumed he was keeping himself to himself. In a way she was thankful. Even with all the assumptions about her in the press, she was glad Joe hadn't got himself caught in anymore drama. She knew it wouldn't do him any good.

Joe may act like he had everything under control, but Emmie knew different. She knew how badly he was struggling with the relationship with his brothers, so there was no doubt he was also overthinking everything else. He put on a strong front but he couldn't hide forever. Eventually it would become to much, and Emmie dreaded to think what would happen when he finally broke.

Joe had hated these past three days alone. He had done nothing but drown in his own feelings. Feelings of guilt and regret. The only good it had done him, was knowing he would never put Emmie through that situation again. He hated that it had taken for him hurt her, to understand it. But he finally understood why she had been hesitant to open up. She had been hurt before, and Joe had only made things worse.

He'd spent hours on end in his bedroom, pouring his thoughts into his music. As much as he hated to admit, it had helped him clear his mind. He had managed to write an entire song, about the girl he let slip away. And it was his most heartfelt song. He truly meant every word. He just wished she knew how much she meant to him.

He currently sat beneath the sheets of music, humming to himself as he wrote down anything that came to mind. He was eventually broken from his thoughts when he heard his phone ringing, from the bedside table. Joe's eyes lit up, hoping it would be the one person he had been longing to speak to.

He rushed to the phone, to find a call from her friend instead.

"Thea?" Joe questioned, slightly confused.

"Hey Joe." A warm voice came from the other end of the phone.

"Is everything okay?" He asked. He secretly hope she had called to talk about Emmie. But chances are, she wasn't.

"Yeah everything's good." Thea replied. "Look, I wanted to say I'm sorry."

"You are?" Joe frowned. He was becoming more puzzled by the minute.

"Yeah." He heard her sigh. "I may possibly be the reason why you and Emmie aren't speaking."

Joe stood there in shock. He had no idea what Thea meant, but he wasn't going to let her get away without explaining.

"What do you mean?" He spoke, trying to keep calm.

"I sent her that article." Thea admitted. "I didn't mean any harm. I should've read into it properly, before assuming the worst."

Joe let out a breath he didn't realise he was holding. He couldn't believe that all of this was down to her. He didn't know what to say. He was hurt to say the least.

"Wait-" He began, but Thea cut him off.

"I'm sorry." She said quickly, before he could come to any conclusions. "I didn't realise half of it wasn't true."

"Stop." Joe spoke quickly, before she could say anything else. "What do you mean it's not true?"

Thea hesitated for a moment, unsure what to say.

"Emmie knew about those rumours. She knows I kept them a secret." Joe told her. "I don't understand what isn't true?"

"Joe." Thea mutters, and he could hear her sigh. "Have you even seen the article?"

He shook his head, but then remembered she couldn't see him.

"No." He replied. "Why? What's happened?"

"Maybe you should look." Thea suggested.

Joe frowned to himself, putting the call on speaker as he searched his own name into the internet. He had never done this before so he wasn't sure to expect. But shortly, many articles popped up. Some assuming things about Emmie - some being most. But there were other, claiming that Joe had spoken out about these rumours. When he definitely hadn't.

His eyes grew wide as he read it aloud.

Joe Jonas speaks out on claims over Emilia.

"Emilia is no one, The two of us are just friends. We may be close, but that means nothing. What you see is a friendship that has been blown out of proportion."

"Shit." He muttered, wiping a hand across his chin.

"I'm sorry." Thea mumbled again.

"So this is why she was so upset?" Joe questioned, his mind buzzing with thoughts. "Over something that never happened?"

"Yeah." Thea agreed. "I didn't realise it wasn't true until it was too late. I'm sorry Joe, I just wanted to look out for her."

Joe couldn't help the pain he felt in his chest, but he chose not to show he was upset.

"No, it's okay." He sighed. "You were just being a good friend."

"No, it's not okay." Thea denied, her voice desperate.

"How is she?" Joe asked hopefully. "Is she okay?"

"I don't know. I haven't spoken to her for days."

Joe's heart sank. He just wanted to hear that she was doing okay. But it turned out, no one had heard from her. It worried him. It wasn't like Emmie to go completely silent.

"I'll try and reach out to her." Thea promised. "I'm sure she's fine. She just needs a few days."

"Yeah." Joe said quietly, but he couldn't help but overthink.

The call ended a few minutes later. Joe let out a breath, trying not to think too hard. He couldn't believe this was the reason. Emmie had seen something she thought had come from him, and left. She had walked out on him because she believed he didn't care. She thought their friendship meant nothing to him.

But it was the complete opposite. Joe cherished their friendship more than anything else. Emmie would never understand how much she meant to him.

He didn't know how to fix things. Thea had told him to give her time, and eventually she would come through. He hoped that was true, but he couldn't help but wonder what would happen if she never did.

a/n: accidentally unpublished the entire book whilst trying to upload two more chapters. hope i haven't spammed everyones notifications too much!!

do we want to see longer, more detailed chapters? Or are these okay? I feel like i could add a lot more to the storyline and the chapters could be longer :)