Us. | A Joe Jonas FanFiction | Book 3

twenty three.

It's as though my brain is rattling in my head at the noise coming from the crowd that we can hear backstage on the way back to Joe's dressing room from the bathroom. The closer I get; however, the sound of his music interrupts the chatter of what seems like a million voices out there. I take a deep breath, trying to hide my discomfort. Walking inside, I find him in the middle of the floor, doing push-ups as he always does before a show. I grab my glass of water, take a sip, and plop down onto the couch, admiring his arms as he does the workout.

"You're staring," he tells me through his breaths.

"I'm admiring," I correct him, a small smirk on my lips.

He chuckles, standing up and taking a swig of his water.

"What do you have left to do?"

"Well, we still have some time before we go on," he says, slowly creeping closer to me, the look on his face telling me exactly what's on his mind.

My eyes widen. "Joseph Adam."

He chuckles. "Fine," he says, sitting down next to me. "It sucks your parents couldn't come."

"I know, nobody could. I was so upset when Tori, Stella, and Hope couldn't come."

"I know, but they'll be at a show, I know it."

I nod. "I'll make sure of it. I just haven't really seen them or talked to them since the wedding. I miss them. Plus, this is a huge night for you, Nick, and Kev and I thought they might want to be here."

He sighs, lifting my chin to force me to look at him. "I have no doubt in my mind that they want to be here. I think the circumstances just didn't match up the way we wanted them to. And as for your parents," he sighs. "I think it's just really unfortunate that your sisters decided this week was the week to get sick."

I laugh, shaking my head. "It's really ridiculous. I feel like everyone else has an army here. Dani's whole family is here, Pri's family's here, of course, your parents and all are here and mine is the only one that didn't show up." I sigh. "Not that I have a lot of one to begin with."

"Hey," he nudges me, making me look at him again. "I've got you. That's all I need."

I grin, leaning over and kissing him. "Thank you."

"Plus, wouldn't you rather have the family you have now rather than the family you thought was yours?"

"A million times yes," I nod immediately. "It just sucks they live so far away. I was thinking about that the other day. I wish they could move closer."

"Or maybe we should just visit more," he shrugs. "Not that we have the time to do that now but after tour, one hundred percent."

I laugh, shaking my head. "How long do you have?"

"Roughly," he sighs, looking at the time. "a half hour."

"You're so calm," I shake my head again. "I don't know how you're so calm."

"I'm secretly freaking out on the inside," he admits, sighing as he gets up and begins to get dressed.

"What? Why?"

"It's the first show of the tour, you never know what's going to go wrong. Lighting, sound, one of us tripping or getting sick," he snickers before becoming serious again and shaking his head. "It's nerve-wracking. I could fall, again. Plus, it's the first tour back as the Jonas Brothers. I feel like there's more pressure."

I nod, licking my lips, standing up and taking his face in my hands, stopping him from putting his shirt on. "You three are going to kill it. You've been working so hard to make this tour as perfect as it possibly could be. And if there's hiccups? Oh well," I shrug. "I promise you those girls out there wearing your face on their t-shirts are going to remember it that much more because of the hiccups."