Love Like Winter chapters 2-4

Chapter 2

Nick's eyes widened as Josselyn's gaze caught his. He didn't know why, but the previous night, all he could do was think about her. He couldn't even keep his mind focused on the meeting he and his brothers had with Hollywood Records that day. He hardly paid attention to anything that was being discussed, merely nodding his head every time he was addressed. He just sat there, staring off into space, rolling her name over in his mind. Something, or someone, was trying to tell him something, otherwise he wouldn't have ended up face to face with her again. Especially since he was pretty sure he'd never see her again.

"NICK!!!!!" Mandy's shouting caused Nick to snap out of his trance. She quickly threw her arms around him. Josselyn watched as they squeezed each other and giggled.

"Oh, I almost forgot," said Mandy as she and Nick pulled apart, "Nick, this is…"
"Josselyn," Nick said, flashing Josselyn a smile. Josselyn looked over at Mandy and suddenly realized who she was; she was Mandy, the one from the song.

Josselyn looked back over at Nick. "H-hey, nice to see you again," she said quietly. Mandy looked from Josselyn to Nick and raised and eyebrow.

"Wait, the two of you know each other?" she said skeptically.

"Yeah, kind of, this is the girl I told you I ran into in Starbucks."

"Ohhhhhhhh." Mandy looked as if she wanted to burst into another fit of giggles.

"Oh my gosh, it's you!" Joe said mockingly, jumping up and down and clapping his hands like a schoolgirl while pointing to Josselyn.

"Stop that, you look mentally challenged," said Kevin, "although its not like that phrase doesn't fit your personality." Joe glared at his brother and shot him a rude hand gesture.

"Joseph Adam, if I ever see you do that again, I will cut off both of your hands," said an averaged height woman with dark curly hair. Seeing as she somewhat resembled the three boys, Josselyn assumed that the woman was their mother.

"Denise, is that you?"

"Oh my goodness, Jackie! It's so good to see you!" Josselyn watched as her mother and the woman embraced in a tight hug. Both pulled away to find their children in a state of confusion.

"Boys, this is Jackie, she was my old roommate back in college," said Mrs. Jonas, addressing the group's confused looks.

"I see you've met my daughter Josselyn."

"Yeah. Actually, we kind of ran into each other yesterday," said Nick.

"Well, you ran into her, "said Joe with a smirk.

"Shut the hell up," Nick said quietly through clenched teeth.

"With pleasure," Joe said tauntingly, batting his eyes.

"But we didn't know that you guys knew each other," Kevin said, addressing their mothers, "wow, talk about coincidental…" Kevin's voice seemed to fade as Josselyn's eyes found Nick's again. Slowly, she seemed to lose all her inhibitions…


Josselyn tried unsuccessfully to push the memory into the back of her mind. At that moment, she wanted to forget her first meeting with Nick; she wanted to forget that they had a relationship… she even wanted to forget that he existed. Josselyn turned and buried her face on the seat. She was sitting in the backseat of her mom's SUV. Her mother didn't dare utter a word as they drove over the Walt Whitman Bridge. Josselyn looked up to see the familiar huge sign that flashed the yellow words "Welcome to New Jersey" on them. Usually, she got excited whenever she saw that sign, mostly because she and Nick had made up an inside joke involving the sign. But now, the sight of the sign only gave Josselyn a sinking feeling. Minutes later, Josselyn and her mother pulled into the driveway of their house. Her mother opened her mouth to say something, but Josselyn had already gotten out of the car, slamming the door in the process. She was not interested in hearing what her mother had to say. It was her fault that this was happening in the first place…

"So you're just gonna let her dictate your life?"
"I'm not letting her dictate anything"
"She only wants you to visit so she can convince you stay and forget about me."
"That's not true."
"Yes it is. If she convinces you that it's better for you to go back to Jersey and give up dancing, then she'll have it her way and I'll never see you again…"

Josselyn tried her hardest to stifle the voices inside her head. But the more she tried to protest, the louder the voices became…

"Look, if you're gonna be a prick about this, then maybe it would be best for me to go back to Jersey."

"Fine then, if that's what you want, leave. I'm not going to try to stop you anymore. But leaving is not gonna solve any of your problems…"








Chapter 3

Josselyn walked into her house, ignoring the greetings of her father and younger sister Kyrsten. She stormed up the stairs, went into her bedroom, and slammed the door. She threw her bag down into her computer chair and laid back onto her bed. She felt worthless and void of all emotion. She tried not to, but she couldn't help but think of how Nick was feeling at that very moment. If she could only imagine, maybe she could erase the thoughts swimming around in her brain…



3,000 miles away, Nick was sitting slumped in a wheely chair. He couldn't think of anything else except the fact that he may have lost the only girl he ever really loved. You should have tried harder, his mind told him. Nick was sitting in a recording studio with his brothers. They were trying to focus on writing songs for their next album. But the events that had taken place earlier in the day had dampened the mood.

"Ok, I'm gonna take 5 and go down to McDonald's," exclaimed Joe, "anybody want anything?"

"We can come with you," said Kevin.

"You guys go ahead, I'm gonna stay here," Nick said drearily.

"You're not hungry?" replied Kevin in a concerned tone.

"Not really. You guys go on, I'll be alright." Nick watched as Kevin and Joe exited the room, both throwing him looks of concern before shutting the door behind them. As soon as Nick was sure they were gone, he flipped open his cell phone and pressed the play video button on the left side of the screen. Nick silently watched the video that played before him.


"I see yooouuuuu…"

"Nick, you nerd, what are you doing?"

"Filming yoooouuuu…pretending you're a stranger I've never met before."

"What? Dude, you are seriously being creepy…"

"Get naked."

"WHAT?"

"GET NAKED YOU STRANGE WHORE!"

" You watch way too much Family Guy. It's completely brainwashed you."

"I'm just messing with you. I thought you said you wanted to make a stupid YouTube video to put on your MySpace."

"I told you we would after I put my face on."

"My bad. Would you like me to get it out of your closet for you?"

"Shut up you retard."
Nick couldn't help but smile at the memory. He sunk back into the chair, closed his eyes, and allowed his mind to go into flashback mode…



"You're such a jerk, you know that?" said Josselyn, as Nick continued to film her. It had only been two months since they first met, but the two of them had already become like best friends. Josselyn and Mandy had made it through the audition process and were now taking summer courses at the Alvin Ailey School. The boys had a little downtime from their summer tour, so they went to visit the girls in New York. After a few seconds of silence, Nick plopped down on Josselyn's bed.

"Sooo, um, there's something I wanna ask you," Nick said. Josselyn sat up straight and looked at him. She was really beginning to like him a lot, and she was hoping that he was feeling the same way. After all, in the short time that they had known each other, they had become tight like glue. She had become tight with all the boys, including their 6-year-old brother, Frankie. And she had become especially close to Mandy, who had become her best friend.

"Go on," said Josselyn with a smile.

"Well, we'll be going to the Teen Choice Awards next week, and ummmmmmm…well I wanted to know…"

"Spit it out, mister," Josselyn said playfully.

"I wanted to know if you wanted to, you know, come with us. I mean Mandy's coming too, and it wouldn't be right if she goes and you don't, I mean you're our friend too." Josselyn smiled and blushed at the same time. It wasn't what she had expected him to ask her, but it would do for now.

"I'd love to go," she said.


The following week, Josselyn and Mandy were sitting in the pavilion where the awards were taking place. Josselyn couldn't believe her eyes. Two seats down, the cast of High School Musical were sitting in a group chatting. She wanted desperately to go over and talk to them, but seeing as she had never been to such an event, she didn't know if she was allowed to.

"Hey guys," said Nick coming up behind them," there's someone I want you to meet." Nick's eyes lit up as a girl with medium brown hair stepped from behind him. She was wearing a short sequined blue dress that had splashes of pink on them and gold heels. Josselyn couldn't help but think of how unattractive the dress was. She didn't understand why Nick felt the need to introduce the girl. It was as plain as the night sky who the girl was.

"You guys, this is Miley Cyrus, or should I say Hannah Montana," Nick giggled. Miley's eyes caught Josselyn's. Josselyn wasn't the type of person to judge a book by its cover, but she just had a feeling Miley wasn't all she appeared to be…




Chapter 4

Josselyn silently watched as Nick and Miley talked and giggled throughout the show. She couldn't help but feel as if her heart had been ripped out of her chest. She could see how into Miley Nick was. She didn't want to be jealous, but the more she tried to suppress her feelings, the more she wanted to slap the ridiculous smile on Miley's face off. Two hours later, they were inside the celeb retreat tent behind the pavilion. Josselyn had not said a word to Nick since he had introduced Miley. It was becoming difficult for her to ignore the unsettling feeling at the pit of her stomach.

"You ok?" Nick said, " You haven't said a word to me since the show."

"I'm fine," Josselyn said in a low voice. Nick turned around to face her. She could clearly see that he did not believe her. Before he could stop himself, the question poured out of Nick's mouth like a waterfall.

"Do you have a problem with Miley?" Josselyn froze. She did have a problem with Miley and she knew that Nick could see right through her. But she was not going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he was right.

"How could you ask that? I just met the girl, why would I have a problem with her?"

"I'm dead serious. Now would you kindly give me a straight answer?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"Don't play games with me Joss. I'm not in the mood." Josselyn felt a sudden surge of anger rise inside of her chest.

"Ok, you wanna what I really think of her? I think she's bad news. I think she'll use and abuse you until she finds another idiot to toy with."

"You don't know what you're talking about." Nick's voice sounded almost demonic.

"She'll break your heart, Nick. I see through people as well as you do. I just don't think you should get mixed up with her."

"Is that so?" Josselyn couldn't believe that he had the nerve to challenge her patience.

"Yes. I don't want to see you get hurt."

"Well then, it's nice to know I have the support of my best friend." Nick turned on his heels and walked away.





Nick couldn't help but remember every detail of his first argument with Josselyn. After all, she ended up being right about Miley. Nick looked back over at his cell phone. The urge to pick it up and dial Josselyn's number became stronger. He was desperate to hear her voice. Nick leaned forward and put his head into his hands as his memories materialized themselves in his mind again…


It had been two hours since Josselyn and Nick's argument. Josselyn was sitting on the edge of the bed in the guest bedroom with Mandy. She was having a difficult time putting her mind back on track. She wanted nothing more than to settle the disagreement between her and Nick. He had not spoken to her, much less looked her in the eye, since walking away from her at the event. Mandy silently studied the look on Josselyn's face. She didn't know what to say or do at that point. She didn't want her two best friends to fight, but she also didn't know how to get them to forgive and forget.

"C'mon, let's go to bed," Mandy said in a soft voice. The next morning, the girls awoke to a yell.

"What the hell…" said Josselyn, her voice trailing off. They heard muffled voices, followed by two other yells.

"I think they're coming from the bathroom," Mandy said. The girls got up and made their way to the bathroom at the end of the hallway. They walked into the bathroom to see Kevin, Joe, and Nick huddled in a corner.

"What is going on? Why are you guys screaming?" Mandy asked with a puzzled look on her face. Joe shakily lifted his forefinger and pointed to the wall. Mandy and Josselyn turned around to see a tiny brown spider on the wall. The girls looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"Are you guys serious?" Josselyn blurted out.

"You see how huge that spider is," said Nick in a horrified voice.

"Awwwwwww, is Nicky scared of the itsy bitsy spider?" Josselyn said in a mock baby voice. She put the spider into the palm of her hand and walked towards Nick.

"Joss, come on, that seriously isn't funny. Joss, stop- OH DEAR LORD, GET IT OFF MEEE!!!!!!!!" Nick screamed as Josselyn put the spider on his shoulder. He shook the small insect off of his shoulder. It began to scurry across the floor.

"ONE OF YOU GUYS STEP ON IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" screamed Kevin. Mandy followed the little bug and scooped it up into her palm. Josselyn opened that window as Mandy threw the spider out the window. She watched as the spider made its way down the side of the house.

"Well, we took care of him," Joe said in a triumphant voice. Everyone looked at Joe as if he were speaking a foreign language.

"We took care of him," Mandy said, pointing between her and Josselyn, "I cannot believe you guys were afraid of a little spider."

"Joss, I am so not forgiving you for putting that thing on my shoulder," said Nick with a smile on his face.

"Well, that's two things you won't forgive me for." The smile disappeared from Nick's face.

"Ummm, we'll be downstairs," said Kevin while pushing Mandy and Joe out of the door. Josselyn looked away from Nick.

"Joss, I'm-"

"No, don't. I'm the one who should be sorry. I had no right to judge Miley."

"No, its ok. I just don't want to feel like I'm pressuring you to like her."

"You're not. Look, if you have faith in her, then I'll give her a chance. If you can see the good in her, then my jealousy must be overtaking my mind. I apologize for that."

"Its cool. Let's just forgive and forget about the whole thing." Nick leaned in closer to Josselyn. She thought that he was going to kiss her on the lips. Instead, Nick tilted his head and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Josselyn couldn't help but blush. Nick smiled at her.

"Come on," he said, taking Joss by the hand, "let's go downstairs…."



Nick opened his eyes as the memory rolled into the back of his mind. Before he could stop them, tears began to roll down his cheeks. The reality of ruining his relationship with Josselyn was resting on his heart like a weight.

"Nick, dude, are you alright?" Nick was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't hear Joe and Kevin walk in the door.

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Nick, wiping his tears on the sleeve of his Free City hoodie. Kevin walked over and picked up Nick's cell phone.

"Call her."

"What?"

"Call Josselyn."

"Why?"

"Because you guys need to talk this out."

"Look Kev, I know you guys can't stand to see me upset, but I think if me and Joss are ever gonna work things out, we need to do it on our own terms."

"Alright then. But we're right here if you need us." Kevin set Nick's phone back down on the table.

"I know, and I love you guys for that."

"We love you too dude." Kevin and Joe went into the other room to enjoy their meals, leaving Nick alone with his memories again…

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Helping you."

"By what, throwing away my only emotional outlet?"

"You're 'emotional outlet' is destroying you, Nicholas."Nick felt tears burning the back of his eyes again. He looked at his phone again. The next thing he knew, he was grabbing his phone and began dialing Josselyn's number…