It's Not Cool | Jonas Brothers

Chapter 14

Joe's P.O.V.
Next week is my birthday. I'm so happy we can all spend it together. I remember when we were little, it was the only day mom allowed Pippa and I to create this massive fort in my room.

We used to build forts all the time, but on my birthday we were allowed to build a fort around the whole room. We'd always spend lots of hours to clean those up.

We'd use everyting there is to find in a house. Chairs, blankets, plaids, lots and lots of pillows and of course lots of snacks. I ate way too much in those forts. I laugh at myself remembering the memories.

"What are you laughing at?" Kevin asks me. We're currently at practice, but taking a short break.

"Remembering the forts I used to build with Pippa." I tell him.

"They were fun." He laughs with me. "Yeah, they were huge on my birthday." I smile.

"They were immense." Kevin laughs.

His smile disappears. "Man, my baby brother is going to turn 24 years old. Who would have thought."

"Not me with my clumsiness. I'm almost 24, but Nick is turning 21 next month. Legal age to drink. And Pippa. She's going to be 19. Before we know it she's out to build her own life. Maybe travelling the world. I'd see her doing it. And Frankie. Our little Frankie. He's going to be 13 next month." I count their ages.

"Don't speak to me like that. I'd rather have you all still little and in your big brothers arms." Kevin exclaims and it makes me laugh.

"The older we get, the sooner everyone will be out to do their own thing. I don't want us to go back to a few months ago where I would only speak to mom and dad." I tell him.

Kevin nods agreeing with me. "I don't want that either. It was horrible. And with Danielle being pregnant... I want you guys to be there when your little niece or nephew is born and to be able to share the moment with me and to also hold him or her."

I nod again. "I want to be there Kevin." We do a little handshake. Nick enters the room. He looks pale.

"Hey, you okay?" I ask him. I see Kevin looking at him with the same worried expression.

Nick nods and sits down on one of the chairs with his head laid back. He rubs his eyes for a bit.

"You don't look okay to us." I reply.

Nick sighs and sat back up. "I'm fine." He says.

"Have you tested?" Nick shakes his head. "Maybe you should do that." I tell him. He nods, knowing I'm right.

"Stay put. I'll do it for you." I get up to get his kit. I prepare the meter and the lancet device before testing his blood. I wait for the meter. He's really low.

"Shit Nick. You're really low. Why didn't you test sooner?" I ask him. He doesn't respond.

Kevin gets up to get him a juice. "Do you think one will.." I cut Kevin off to tell him to get two.

I receive a groan from Nick. "Don't Nick. You're so stupid sometimes." I tell him. "I'm sorry." He apologizes. "Don't. Fix it by drinking the juices." I tell him.

Kevin hands him the first. He slowly finishes it. I take the empty one from his hands and give him the next.

"You better sleep it off while Joe and I go practice some more." Kevin tells him. Nick wants to protest, but I'm not letting him. "No Nicky. We'll help you on the couch. You are going to sleep it off and we'll test you ourselves until you're back up. Have you slept last night?" I ask him.

Nick shakes his head. "A couple hours, maybe three." He responds. I sigh. "Come on." I put his arm around my shoulder and I hoist him up. Kevin helps me get him over to the couch. We even get him a little blanket.

"You." I point to Nick. "Sleep it off. I'll be back in a few minutes to check on you." But Nick doesn't even hear me. He's already asleep.

I turn off the sound in the booth before Kevin and I head back into the studio. We can see Nick through the glass. At least we won't wake him up with our practice.

We played for about thirty minutes before I went to check up on Nick. I tested him again to get the same result. I get worried. Juice usually does the trick. Why not now?

"Uuh, Kevin? Why isn't the juice working?" I ask him. "What?" Kevin asks me concerned of Nick's health. "He's at 43. Just like before. He should be at least be above 70. The juice hasn't done anything." I feel like he's only dropping even more.

"Get him a glucose tab. We'll help him with that." I go get one of those tabs from his backpack. "Uuh, Kevin?" I ask him.

"What now?" Kevin turns to see me with the backpack. "There are no glucose tabs." I tell him. I start freaking out. What if we can't help him? What do we do? "What do we do Kevin? What if he goes into a coma?"

"Stop freaking out. I've got some in my bag for emergencies. Get one of those." Kevin tries to calm me while he softly tries to wake up our little brother. I go over to his bag to find a complete kit with glucose tabs. Why does he have this?

Without thinking about it, I grab a glucose tab and hand it over to Kevin, who in his turn forces it down Nick's throat. I look away when he does that. I can't bare to watch that happen. It's horrible. Having your older brother shoving something down your little brothers throat who is so out of it that he doesn't even acknowledge it.

This is obviously a low he can't handle alone. What if he had been alone in his apartment. Would he have called me before it got this bad? Or would I have entered his apartment to find him dead?

This is not how I wanted to spend the week before my birthday. I went out this morning in the hope to have a nice practice with my brothers.