It's Not Cool | Jonas Brothers

Chapter 28

Joe's P.O.V.
Tomorrow we are going to celebrate Nick and Pippa's birthdays together in one.

I wish by now we'd have been able to move out again, but Nick isn't ready yet. He is still struggling. Pippa has been doing great, she's back at a healthy weight and eats healthy, but enough to live on. She's slowly learning to enjoy food again and makes requests for dinner and restaurants.

But Nick... He's not getting any better, but luckily not getting worse either.

These last few days have been better considering his birthday is coming up and he's looking forward towards the party we're going to throw the both of them with family and lots of friends.

I put on my running shoes and tie them. I'm going for a run to get some fresh air and to clean up and reorganize my thoughts.

I get my phone, my earbuds and some money.

I also grab my keys from the kitchen counter and exit the house, locking the door behind me. Safety comes first.

After a few miles, I decide to treat myself with a cup of coffee. I enter the line behind a girl. A few other tables are filled. An elderly couple, a man in his thirties working on a laptop and another teenage girl, who looks to be obsessed with books.

"Mister?" The girl behind the counter grabs my attention. The girl that had stood in line in front of me giggled from a few feet away.

"Sorry." I apologize. I give her my order and pay.

"So dreamy boy. What are you up too?" The giggly girl asked me. "Well giggly girl, I'm treating myself a cup of coffee after a long run." She acts to be impressed.

"How many miles?" She asks me. "Approximately two." I tell her. "But I'm not finished yet, I'm going to go way further, but the coffee here is the best in this area." I explain.

"Alright." We both get our order, but I can sense that the both of us want to continue our conversation.

"Should we sit down?" I take the initiative to invite her to sit down with me. She nods. "Sure."

"I didn't quite catch your name?" I question her as soon as we sat down.

"I'm Philip." She says. I probably look confused. "It's short for Philippine, but I'm not very fond of my name." She says.

"You're not? I like it." I tell her. She nods. "It's fine. My parents could have done worse." She giggles again.

"You have a cute laugh." She starts blushing. "Thank you. Not many people compliment me on my laugh."

"What are you up too? Do you live around?" She nods.

"I live a couple blocks down with my parents and my little brother." She looks sad and hesitated when mentioning her brother.

I don't want her to tell me something she isn't comfortable with.

"What about you? Being sportsy for fun?" She asks me. She obviously knows who I am, but she's cool.

"Yeah, just clearing my thoughts."

"Your life also a mess?" She asks me. I nod.

"Something like that yes." I can't tell her about Nick or Pippa. What if she spills something to the media? I'm hoping she's not that kind of girl, but you can never be too careful.

"Same. Life sucks. But coffee makes it better for a couple of hours." She smiles holding up her cup when mentioning the coffee. She starts drinking it slowly.

"Any specific reason?" How and when did our conversation turn so dark and depressive?

"It's my little brother. He's dying basically." She tells me. "I'm sorry to hear that." She nods, accepting my sympathy.

"Cystic Fibrosis. He's been living with it for about five years now. He was doing well until a couple of months ago. He's turned for the worse now and it's basically a waiting game. There's nothing we can do anymore, except to wait for transplant lungs, if he has got that long left. Lungs are very rare." She opens up.

"I'm sorry to hear that."

She held up her hand to stop me. "It's going to be hard to lose him, but I've accepted it. There's nothing anyone can do about it. He's going to die. No one can deny that. Even if he gets lungs in time, his life will only be extended for about five years until he needs new lungs again or dies before that."

"I don't know if I even want that for him. He's in a lot of pain and suffers through the days. It's horrible to wish for and I wish it could all be different, but maybe, if he's done, he can rest. He'll get the rest he deserves. He's suffered too much."

She sighs deeply and puts a smile back on her face. "How about you? You said your life was something like a mess." She obviously tries to get out conversation away from her brother.

I nod in response. "I'm sorry, but I don't think I'm able to share that information with you. It's not that I don't trust you, but in this world, I've got to be careful with everything I share and I don't think my family would appreciate it if certain things end up in the media."

She nods. "I get it. Don't worry." She doesn't press the matter any further.

We have a little more small talk. I could see us become good friends. She's really cool and doesn't act weird around me. She's told me she's a fan of our music, but that that is it.

I asked her if she's got a favorite brother, but she refused to answer that. I'll get that out of her someday.

If I ever see her again.

We bid our goodbyes and I feel really stupid for not asking her number, but I had a text from Frankie telling me to hurry home.

I freaked, is Nick okay? What did he do? Or is it Pippa. She was doing so well.

When I got home, none of that seemed to be the case. We've got a party to prepare for!

Helloo!! Thank you again so much for reading!! I really need your help though if you want me to continue.. I'm walking towards a writers block and I really need some inspiration to help me continue the story, because I don't want to give it up.. So if you have any advice, anything you'd like to see happen, really anything could be of great help!! Let me know! Thank you!