𝑻𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕 | 𝙹𝚘𝚎 𝙹𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚜

CHAPTER 12

''I'm not here to attack you, Joseph'' she teased him using his real name, knowing it used to get on his nerves, and it still did, judging by the playful glare he sent her way. ''In all seriousness, I just wanted to let you know, that I'm doing what I can to make them stop spreading shit about us. I don't want them to see you as the bad guy.''

Joe felt touched that they were on the same page and that there wouldn't be any animosity between them in the future. Although they would always have to deal with rumors and have their story commented on, they knew they would at least be able to move on.

Sophie stared at him, giving him a weird look as she studied him. Something seemed off. ''You seem different.'' She paused for a few seconds. ''What's her name?''

Joe, who had been playing with his to-go cup, stopped abruptly, surprised by his ex-wife's question. Of all the things she could ask him to catch up? And most importantly, what made her think that there was someone in his life? He didn't even know there was someone else.

''Is that a woman intuition thing? There's no one in my life. Not like that.'' Joe asked her.

''Maybe. Or maybe it's the fact that you seem lost in your thoughts, you look at your phone a lot or... I'm just boring the shit out of you. I'm hoping it's not the latter.'' She joked, her accent coming out stronger.

''Nah it's... not like that. It's complicated.'' he admitted.

''It's complicated...'' Sophie mocked him with a deeper voice. ''What's complicated? The media? Us?''

''I just don't want to screw things up, alright? She doesn't spend her days in the spotlight and she's a family friend. Whatever it is, we'll see where it goes.'' Joe told her honestly.

''But you wouldn't mind it going somewhere, do you?'' Sophie asked, or rather confirmed. ''Must be something pretty special if Joe Jonas is sitting in front of me, shitting his pants over a girl.''

The comment made him roll his eyes – he definitely recognized the british bluntness in the woman. But he had to admit, she wasn't totally wrong.

___

Did you see her looks, though?

I heard she's from New Jersey. A nobody though. Might be using them.

I saw her paintings. My 8-year-old brother could do better!

Back home in Denville, Riley was struggling to get those comments – amongst many, out of her head. It'd been a few days since she'd been back from New York, and it was impossible for her to go on her social media or even on her website without getting some form of hate.

After searching for the cause, she'd soon come to realize that the combination of Joe posting stories of her art gallery and stories posted on Danielle's Instagram of their weekend probably hadn't helped.

She had to give it to their fans though, they had been rapidly able to discover things about her. She knew that no matter the band or artist, some fans could be intense. And the fact that she was friends with the boys would probably mean that she would receive some hateful comments at some point, or at least would make people curious about her. But she never thought that they would stoop so low and aim for what really hurts.

Not even her parents could support her, I guess.

That comment was what hit her the most. Normally able to ignore people on the internet – knowing that it usually brought the worst out of people, this time she couldn't just shrug it off. Riley had no idea how they were able to find out about her parents, and she really couldn't understand how people could be this cruel.

So, to forget about it, she'd stayed away from her phone all day and busied herself with cleaning her house thoroughly. It was something she had in common with her mother – cleaning to give herself a form of control. And every time her phone rang or beep to notify her of a new message, she'd just ignore it, afraid that it was once again another fan coming at her with more hurtful words.

After 10 minutes of her phone ringing consistently, Riley started to lose the last bit of patience she had, and grabbed her phone left in the living room, ready to give the interlocutor a piece of her mind.

''What the fuck do you want?!'' she almost yelled, without missing a beat.

It was silence for a few seconds, and Riley started to think that it was someone pranking her. But she was proven wrong when she heard a sweet and delicate voice.

''I was calling to see you if you were okay, but I have my answer.'' Danielle finally said.

Riley sighed. ''I'm sorry, my nerves are just all over the place right now.''

''I know, I saw the comments on my stories... I just didn't think it would reach you. That's why I didn't say anything.'' Danielle admitted, feeling remorseful.

''They went for my parents, Dani.'' Riley said quietly. ''Is that how it's going to be? I'm not trained to handle comments like that.''

Danielle sighed on the other end of the phone, not knowing what to say at first. She knew how fans could be – she'd been there before. And still was, sometimes. ''It gets better, sweetie.''

Riley ignored her, another thought crossing her mind. ''What about Joe? Did he see this?'' A part of her wished that he didn't.

''Well Kevin knows. He saw comments on the Jonas Brothers page so I'm guessing Joe probably does. Or will. They'll handle it, don't worry. Joe knows about... your parents.'' Danielle admitted to her friend.

Surprised at first by the confession, it was soon replaced by a feeling of anger. Suddenly, it all made sense – why he had been acting like a jerk, dare she say it, during their first night at the cabin and started acting sweet soon after. It was right around the time she'd had the conversation with Priyanka about her parents. He probably felt pity, she thought to herself.

''Ri? You still there?''

She remembered that her friend was still on the line and nodded her head, although the brunette couldn't see her. ''Yeah. You know what, I don't think it's a good idea to see him anytime soon.''

For some unknown reason, she was really mad at him.

Danielle let out a laugh. ''Good luck with that. Joe can be really stubborn.''

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Hope you still enjoy! :)
Next chapter will probably arrive either saturday or sunday.
(All I can say is... brace yourself for the next chapter. ;) )
Once again, thank you for the love and votes!
xo