Hey everyone! As the title says, this is my new Joe one-shot. I got the idea for it yesterday, then was up all night last night writing it. Let me know what you think. Also, if you get a chance, please check out my other work - links are in my siggy. Thanks!
BASED ON THE SONG
"I KNOW YOU WON'T"
BY CARRIE UNDERWOOD
I know you don't mean to be mean to me.
Because when you want to you can make me feel like we belong.
“Kate, listen, I have to call you back.”
“Joe, it’s important. I---”
“Not now. I’ll call you later.” Kate heard a click, and knew Joe was gone. No ‘I love you’, no ‘goodbye’. He just simply disconnected. She stared at the cell phone in her hand, a tear inching its way down her cheek. She knew he wouldn’t call. Her boyfriend had gotten swallowed up in the rockstar life, and Kate wasn’t sure Joe knew how to keep a promise anymore.
It wasn’t always like this. For as long as she could remember, Kate had always been number one in Joe’s life. They’d grown up together, next-door neighbors in their rural New Jersey town. Best friends until the eighth grade, when Joe finally had mustered up the courage to ask Kate to be his girlfriend.
They conquered their freshman year of high school together and shared first kisses. When Joe's younger brother, Nick, was getting started with his musical career, Kate was the only person who knew about Joe’s own passion for singing. And when the three eldest Jonas boys got signed to a record deal, Kate was nothing but supportive. She attended every show, always cheering Joe on from the front row. Even at the young age of sixteen, they knew they were meant to be together. Joe needed Kate as much as she needed him.
One was nothing without the other.
Lately, you make me feel all I am is a backup plan.
I'll say I'm done and then you smile at me and I'll forget everything I said.
I’ll buy into those eyes and into your lies.
Joe shoved his iPhone into his back pocket as he rushed after Kevin. The Jonas Brothers had just gotten done with a show in Philadelphia, and now it was on to Indianapolis for the next. Everything about Joe’s life was rushed. For the past year, it had been one show after another, one tour after another. Their days off were spent doing endless interviews and photoshoots. The energy that Joe had always possessed was now dried up, and lately it took extra time in the hair and makeup department to cover up the dark circles and bags under his eyes.
Kate had called just as the brothers’ show had ended. Joe had longed to talk to her, but he knew he had to hurry out to the tour bus so they could depart for Indiana. Joe missed Kate more than he thought imaginable, and it killed him that he rarely had time to speak to her. He had inadvertently put her on the backburner. While he loved his career and loved performing, he wished that there was someway that he and Kate could go back to the way they used to be.
Joe stared out the window of the tour bus, gazing at the neon signs as they drove through Philadelphia. He was exhausted from the performance, and his aching body urged him to sleep. But he couldn’t stop thinking about Kate. He knew that his career was putting a strain on their relationship. There was no denying it. Joe still loved Kate more than ever, but he felt like he was on the outside of their relationship looking in. Things were spiraling downward, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
As if on cue, Joe felt his phone vibrate from his back pocket. He pulled it out, and opened the new text message from Kate. A lump formed in his throat as he read the screen.
I love u, but I can’t do this NEmore. I’m sry. We’re thru. – Kate.
Joe exited out of the message, and leaned his head against the window of the bus. He loved Kate more than she could ever know. I have to talk to her, he thought. I can’t let her go. Joe began to dial the familiar number. Before he could finish entering the digits, he heard Nick shout from the back of the bus.
“Joe! Get back here! We’re going over the new songs we’re debuting in Indy!”
Joe wiped his now-damp eyes with his shirt and stood. He wanted so badly to talk to Kate, to tell her that everything would be okay. But, once again, Joe’s personal life would have to be put on hold. There was business to tend to.
You say you'll call, but I know you.
You say you're coming home, but I know you.
You say you'll call, but I know you won't.
You say you'll call, but I know you won't.
Kate’s shoulders shook as she sobbed into her hands. She had been forced to break up with Joe through a text message. It wasn’t like she’d had any choice. He never made time to talk to her anymore, and she’d snapped when he blew her off again tonight. She really did love him, but she was sick and tired of trying to pretend things were okay.
As if it wasn’t bad enough breaking up with Joe in a text, he hadn’t even bothered to text or call her back. If he wouldn’t even contact her after the text message she’d sent, Kate knew it was completely hopeless. Sure, she hadn’t seen him in months, but she had assumed that she still meant something to him.
Kate lay back on her bed and thought back to the last time she saw Joe. It was the first of July, just before he’d left to begin the Burning Up tour. They had spent the entire day together, picnicking at their favorite spot by the river. The sun had set too soon, and they had slowly made their way back to Kate’s house, where a car had been waiting to pick Joe up.
“Please don’t cry,” Joe had begged Kate as he wiped her tears away with the tips of his fingers, trying to keep his own emotions under control. “I’ll be back before you know it. I’ll come visit you when I can, and I’ll call you every day.”
“Promise?” Kate had asked shakily.
“I promise,” Joe had assured her, wrapping his arms around her in a warm embrace. “I love you.” He then kissed Kate softly, tenderly, as if solidifying his feelings for her. All too soon, the kiss had ended, and Joe hugged Kate one more time before he told her goodbye and jogged to the awaiting car.
“Goodbye,” Kate had whispered through her tears as the car drove off.
That was nearly five months ago, and Kate hadn’t seen Joe since. He had called her each day for the first week of the tour, but the phone calls soon became less frequent until finally he stopped calling altogether. Kate was the one who had to dial his number and then hope and pray that he would have time to talk to her. These days the only time she heard his voice, it seemed, was when one of his songs came on the radio.
Kate rolled over and screamed into her pillow, attempting to release the sadness and anger that had built up over the last few months. She silently prayed to God to make things they way they used to be. No matter how hard she tried to convince herself otherwise, Kate knew without a doubt that she still loved Joe. And no matter how frustrated and upset Joe caused her to be, she knew that she would always love him. Not caring that her pillow was now stained with black mascara and salty tears, she curled her knees up to her chest and softly cried herself to sleep.
I wish you were where you're supposed to be – close to me.
But here I am just staring at this candle burning out.
Still no sound of footsteps on my stairs
Or your voice anywhere.
“Joe, get it together.”
Joe looked up when Nick said this, but then diverted his gaze back down to the floor. They’d been trying to perfect the new songs for an hour, but Joe couldn’t concentrate. All he could think about was the text message from Kate, and his voice was suffering because of it. Never had he had such a difficult time reading music, and never did he go off-key this often.
The song they were currently trying to conquer was one that Joe had written about Kate. He’d been able to sing half the song before breaking down in tears. Joe wasn’t sure he’d be able to make it through the song tonight, let alone perform it in front of a sold-out crowd tomorrow.
Joe stood up, wiped his eyes with his sleeve and walked toward the front of the bus. He stopped suddenly and swung wildly at the wall, his fist connecting hard with the faux wood panel. He was angry at himself for allowing his career, albeit one he loved, to overtake his life completely. He’d focused too much on trying to please the thousands of female fans that came to see him perform every night, and because of it he’d lost the one girl he’d cared about most. He turned to his brothers, who both wore dumbfounded expressions.
“I have to go,” Joe stated.
Joe’s father, who had witnessed his son’s out-of-character outburst from the couch, stood up. “You’re not going anywhere. For one, the bus is still moving and I don’t want you become roadkill on I-76. Secondly, you have a show to do tomorrow night.”
“I’m serious, Dad,” Joe insisted. “At this point, there’s no way I’ll be able to go onstage and perform tomorrow night, whether I leave or not.”
“Are you really suggesting we cancel the show?” Joe’s father asked.
“I might make it back in time,” Joe said. “But even if I don’t, it will be okay. Dad, we’ve done five to six shows a week for practically the past year. There are times where I have no idea what day it is, let alone what city I’m in. Tell the fans the truth; they’ll understand. Please, I need to do this.”
Joe’s father looked into his son’s bloodshot and swollen eyes, and then turned to face Kevin and Nick.
“Let him go, Dad,” Kevin said, and Nick nodded his head in agreement. Their father looked back at Joe, then pressed the intercom button and told the driver to head back to Philadelphia.
You say you'll call, but I know you.
You say you're coming home, but I know you.
You say you'll call, but I know you won't.
You say you'll call, but I know you won't.
“Shhh! We’re being stealth!”
Kate sat on the couch in the living room of her apartment, her body numb as she crammed Cherry Garcia ice cream into her mouth and stared at the TV screen. Normally eating fattening foods and overdosing on “The O.C.” cured her depression, but this morning they were having no affect. She stared at the Ben & Jerry’s container in her hand, and then quietly cursed at herself for eating ice cream for breakfast.
The doorbell rang and she set the ice cream on the coffee table. Who on Earth is here at seven in the morning? Kate asked herself as she got off the couch and walked to the front door. She swung the door open and for a moment, she forgot how to breathe.
Joe stood on her doorstep, and he looked terrible. He had dark circles under his eyes, and his clothes were wrinkled as if he’d slept in them. He’s lost weight, Kate noticed. She suddenly realized that she probably looked no better than he did, and she self-consciously ran a hand through her tangled hair. Kate’s inner-shrew came out as she remembered that yesterday’s mascara was probably dried on her cheeks from crying over the man standing in front of her.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded, folding her arms across her chest.
“I came to see you,” Joe said, sadness in his eyes. “We need to talk.”
“You could have called,” Kate told him.
“You and I both know I’m not very good at that,” Joe replied, but regretted bringing it up when he saw the scowl on Kate’s face. “Sorry, bad joke.”
Kate turned on her heel and walked back into the living room, leaving the front door open. Joe slowly walked into the house after her.
“Kate, I---” Joe started. Kate spun around to face him.
“Why do you do this?” she asked, tears falling down her cheeks. “You act like you don’t care, like I don’t exist, and then as soon as I’m out of the picture, then you act like you care. I don’t get it, Joe.”
“There was never a time I didn’t care, Kate,” Joe said, a lump forming in his throat. “You have no idea how much I missed you, how badly I wanted to call you and hear your voice. I’m so tired, completely exhausted, and I feel like I have no control over my life anymore. We’re probably going to have to cancel our performance tonight because I flew out here, but I don’t care. Seeing you is worth it, and I’m so sorry that it took me this long to realize that.” Joe stepped forward, wrapping his arms around Kate. “I love you, Kate. I always have, and I know I always will.”
“I love you, too,” Kate sobbed into his chest. She pulled back and looked up into his eyes. “Promise me that things will be different this time. I can’t do this a second time, Joe. Please, promise me that this is going to work.”
“I promise, baby,” Joe assured her. “I promise.” He leaned down and pressed his lips to Kate’s. He kissed her eagerly, putting every ounce of emotion and passion he had into it. He kissed her as he’d longed to every day for nearly five months.
Kate sighed softly into Joe’s mouth as she kissed him back with fervor and wrapped her arms around his neck. Somehow, she just knew that things would, indeed, be different this time around. Maybe he’d find time in his schedule to call her. Maybe he wouldn’t. Either way, she knew that everything would work out in the end. Even at the young age of nineteen, they knew they were meant to be together. Joe needed Kate as much as she needed him.
One was nothing without the other.
You say you'll call, but I know you won't.
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