"I've Never Cried" is one of the best Jemi stories I have ever written. There are so many twists and turns, love and hate, friendship and betrayal, all while still being a great read. This story has proper grammar and writing format, simply to make...
Demi and I left the hotel shortly after we'd finished drying ourselves, and if I were to be completely honest, I found that pretty strange. Usually, I'd leave Demi and head home after kissing her goodbye. But now we were engaged. We had to be a team, like I'd promised. Partners.
My gut was sinking at the thought of telling my brother, as I was fearful he would feel I'd abandoned him for Demi, yet again. After all, I had promised him essentially the same things I had promised Demi, so there was lots of room for assumed hypocrisy or seemingly intentional contradiction.
Demi sat beside me in the car, her left hand holding my right. My eyes remained on the road, my mind swirling with uneasiness.
"Hey," I heard her say, pulling me from my trance. "Whatcha thinking about?"
"My brother," I said, not moving my eyes from the pounding rainfall on my windshield.
"What about him?" She asked. I took a breath.
"Back when everything first happened, I made him a promise too, and I'm just worried he'll think I broke it."
"What did you promise him?" I swallowed, bringing the car slowly to a stop at a red light. Then I turned to her, looking down and squeezing her hand a bit more firmly.
"I promised him that I'd be there for him, and that I wouldn't leave him behind again-,"
"Again?" She questioned. "When was the first time you left him behind?" I didn't have to say anything. When I slowly brought my eyes up to hers and frowned, she knew.
"Oh I see," she said, looking away. Demi was silent for a moment after that; leaving the only sound in the car to be the static from the storm disrupted radio. I was fairly distracted by my thoughts as it was, but now her thoughts were concerning me as well. Finally, as the light turned green again, I spoke.
"It's just that I told Nick that he and I would be-,"
"Partners." She finished for me. I rubbed my thumb across her hand as I held it, agreeing.
"Yeah." I sighed.
The rest of the drive was silent, the air between us was peaceful, while simultaneously filled with my own anxiety. What if Nick got angry again? What if he thought I lied? What if he thought I traded him in for Demi, yet again?
We pulled into my driveway, and I put the car in park, turned it off, unbuckled my seatbelt, and sat back in my seat. The radio fell mute, and right then, so had I.
"Joe," she whispered.
"Yeah," I said, watching the rain pound the glass.
"I didn't mean to come in between you and your brother. I didn't even realize that I had."
"That's the thing," I said. "You didn't come between us. You joined us. I just think it's hard for Nick to think that anyone could take his place. But I'm his big brother, you know? He needs me." When I said this, Demi's eyes lightened, and a sincere, gentle smile appeared on her face. She placed her hand onto my jawline, her thumb brushing through the hairs on my cheek.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Don't worry so much. He might surprise you."
-----
I walked into the front door of my house, Demi following closely behind me. When we'd entered, Nick was sitting on the sofa, watching some football game.
"Hey bro," I said, shutting the door behind Demi. Nick hadn't looked up from the television.
"Hey Joe, how'd it go? I haven't seen you in like two days."
"I'd say it went pretty well," I said, cracking a grin and letting out a small chuckle.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Hi," Demi said with a small wave. At the sound of her voice, Nick's gaze parted from the television and fell onto Demi.
"Holy shit," he said, immediately standing. He smiled then, walking toward the both of us. "Holy shit you did it bro."
"Yeah," I said, grabbing Demi's hand. I turned to her then, and watched her face shift upward into a smile, her teeth gleaming.
"I've missed you, Nick," she muttered, releasing my hand and wrapping him in a hug. He hugged her back tightly, and I instantly remembered the bond that they shared during Demi and I's breakup. I was sure it was difficult for Demi to want to see Nick for support, knowing that I would always be near. So that moment, when they finally got to be friends in person, was pretty special. It gave my heart a bit more easiness about telling Nick of our engagement, and a large portion of my anxiety faded.
"What're you doing here?" He asked once she'd released him. She stepped back beside me, her face changing as she had to make up an impromptu answer.
"I just. . . got a little tired of being in that hotel room all day. And I didn't want to leave Joe's side just yet so, here I am."
"That's awesome," he said. "Well hey, I'm just watching the game, if you wanna join me."
"Who's playing?" Demi asked, which surprised me entirely.
"Cowboys," Nick said.
"Hell yeah!" She said, excitedly. She started to follow Nick to the couch, but I quickly nudged her with my elbow. She looked up at me, read my facial expression, and suddenly remembered.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Actually, Nick," I called out, and he turned back around to face us. "I wanted to talk to you about something, if that's okay."
His face became serious (understandably so, considering the last time I needed to "talk" to him ended in violence), and he responded.
"Sure, Joe."
JJDL
*****I usually wouldn't stop here, but I'm tired of writing. Plus, I'm super heartbroken about Christina Grimmie, so this chapter almost didn't happen. So.. cliffhanger.*****
