Thanks for all the views and comments, everyone! Sorry for the slow posting, for some reason I can only post chapters on my main computer, not my laptop!! Oh well, enjoy!!
--------------------------------------------------------Chapter Fourteen---------------------------------------------------------
I opened the door and walked back to my bed. I planted my face into the pillow and listened as Nick closed the door and made his way over to my bed. The bed shifted as he took a seat and started to rub my back. That's how we stayed for a while, me crying into my pillow and Nick comforting me. I knew that Nick and Kevin didn't care more about his career than me, that's just not them...it was Joe. How dare he say that to me, sure, I knew he was mad....but all he cared about was his music career.
"How long as it been going on?" Nick asked, still rubbing my back.
I rested my chin on the pillow, "Since we shared the kiss during the sketch."
Nick sighed and it was silent again for a while. I stared at my headboard as if it was the most intresting thing in the world, anything to not make eye contact with Nick.
"Why?" He asked.
"I don't know!" I got off the bed and went over to my desk on the other side of the room. I leaned on it and groaned.
This is not how I wanted them to find out, I didn't want them to find out at all! I ran my hand through my hair as I started to collect my thoughts.
"I like Chad....but not enough to be in a relationship with him. He feels the same way, so we thought this little arrangement would be the best for the both of us. But obviously, it's not." I chuckled a bit, trying to ligthen the mood.
"You two just kissed right? You didn't..." He widened his eyes.
I shook my head, "Oh jeez, of course not Nick!"
He put his hands up in a innocent way. Then, he got up and hugged me. I hugged back, feeling lucky that I had an amazing brother. Nick stopped the hug and held me by the shoulders.
"Don't you ever think that we like our careers more than you." He said in a kind yet harsh tone.
I nodded, "Okay."
He smiled and pulled me into a hug again. Nick muttured things such as 'We'll fix this' and 'New news will come soon'. I smiled a bit at his encouraging words, he was always the optimist of the group.
"I love you, Nick."
"I love you too."
XXX
Finally, the weekend was coming to a close. It was the slowest/worst weekened of my young life. Kevin and I talked and I pretty much told him the same thing I did with Nick, he hugged me close and did what big brothers are supposed to do. My parents also found out and we had a long talk about it, y'know, what any pair of parents would do. They just said it was time to quit the arrangement now...for the sake of my emotional stability and before the press found out. I agreed and told them I would talk to Chad about it tomorrow. Joe was a different story, we didn't say two words to each other. I'm mad at him and he's pissed at me. I'm not even going to try to communicate with him.
Monday morning approached, it was the last week of the show before we went on our Summer Hiatus. Even though I wasn't looking forward to spending time on a tour bus with Joe, I was excited to leave the studio. Sure, I love my job, but it's like a great school year, you have fun but then you're just done. I slipped on a cute short jean skirt with a yellow wedge top. I also put on yellow wedged shoes, I never really wore these before...but first time for everything.
I walked downstairs and smiled as my mom continued to flip some pancakes. Frankie was actually excited for the day to begin, it was his last week of school and he always woke up like had a shot of caffeine. Frankie knew I was in the news, but he didn't really know why (he also didn't care). This makes less work for me, last thing I needed was to explain my arrangement with Chad, it was already hard to do it with my older brothers. Luckily, my older brothers were still in bed, they finally got out of their time slump and could not get some real sleep.
"Aww, honey, you look adorable!" My mom smiled, handing me a pancake to go.
I smiled back, "Thanks." I took a bite of the hot cake.
"Are you going to talk to Chad today?" She gave me a 'You better' look. I nodded,
"Of course, mother." I looked at the clock, "I better go. See ya!"
She kissed my head and I ruffled Frankie's hair as I made my way to the door. Paparizzi weren't allowed in my neighborhood, since it is a gated community. Sadly, that didn't last, when I reached in front of the gates, flashes started to blind me as they screamed questions to me about the "scandal". One of the gate keepers got them out of the road and I zoomed past them. I looked in my rearview mirror to see them following me on the side walk.
This was going to be a long car ride.
XXX
I finally reached the Condor Studio lot. I did a little mocking wave to the camera men across the street who just continued to snap pictures and scream at me, as if I would answer. As I waited in the elevator to reach the 'So Random!' floor, I couldn't help but start to think how my cast members would react. Sure, Sonny knew, but the rest would be a wreck. I sighed and walked down the hall to the Prop house to see them all, minus Sonny who was eating her breakfast, glued to the televison.
"Well, it is the final week of taping for the cast of the hit show 'So Random!', but the action for Ms. Jenny Jonas is just beginning." Lance Heap, an anchor for 'Tween News Now!', said into a camera, "The young Jonas sister has been recently connected to 'Mackenzie Falls' star Chad Dylan Cooper, thanks to this picture." The infamous picture appeared on screen.
I quietly stepped more into the prop house, "Hey everybody." I said. "Traitor!" Zora yelled immedently.
Nico and Grady just shook their heads at me, obviously agreeing with the youngest cast memeber. I sighed and put my purse on the coat rack.
"What exactly is going on between you and Chad?" Nico asked as the group stood up.
I bit my lip, "It's complicated."
"Well obviously if he's on your roof!" Grady commented.
Sonny got off her bar stool and went in front of me. "Guys, just leave Jenny alone. She's going through a rough time, back off." She put an arm around me.
"Fine.." The cast muttured as they left the Prop House.
I smiled at Sonny, "Thanks."
"No problem, let's head to the writer's room." She kept her arm around my shoulders as we walked out of the prop house.
XXX
As we walked into the lunch room, it went quiet. All eyes were on me, I turned to the Falls table to see them all glaring at me, Chad was missing from the group. Chad. I needed to talk to him. Now. I told the cast I was heading to the bathroom as I went into the hall and texted Chad.
Where are you? We need to talk.
It only took a couple of minutes for a reply.
My dressing room.
I put my phone away and ran towards the elevator to head to the 'Mackenzie Falls' floor. My palms started to feel sweaty as the elevator climbed to the highest floor in the studio, what was I supposed to say? "We need to stop not really seeing each other"? Groaning, I stepped off the elevator and made the short journey down the hall to Chad's dressing room. I knocked our secret knock and waited. Chad opened the door.
"Hey."
"Hey." I repeated.
I walked into the room and listened quietly as Chad shut the door. I turned to face him as he walked closer to me. He formed a little grin on his perfect face. He held my hand.
"You look great." He leaned in to kiss me.
I started to lean in too but then stopped myself. I was here for a reason! This had to be stopped. Now. I pushed Chad away gently and yanked my hand away from his. He looked a bit surprised.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
My eyes went wide, "What's wrong? What's WRONG?! We're all over the news Chad! This freaking picture of you on my ROOF, it's everywhere! I had to tell my family about our arrangement!"
He gasped, "You told them?!"
"I had to! It was the only way I could explain that stupid picture. We need to stop."
Chad raised an eyebrow, "Stop what?"
"THIS. Our meetings! THE ARRANGEMENT." I pratically screamed.
Chad ran a hand through his short blonde hair. What was it he wasn't getting? This needed to stop. Just like my parents said, it was the best for both of us, personal and career life wise. Was it going to be hard? Yes, but what other choice did we have? Chad stayed quiet, so I took this time to make my case.
"This whole thing was stupid. We should have never even thought about doing this. It has to stop, today." I said in a hard tone that I wasn't expecting to come out of my mouth.
Chad turned to me, "I-we can't."
I gave him a cold/confused stare. What did he mean by 'We can't'? Of course we can! We didn't have a choice.
"What do you mean?"
Chad sighed and shut his eyes like he was thinking of something. Something important that he wanted to say, something he HAD to say. I waited patiently, preparing myself for what I was about to hear, even though I had no idea what exactly it was. He opened up his clear blue eyes again and looked at me.
"I can't," He put an emphasis on the 'I', "Because, I-."
He was interrupted by my phone ringing. I wasn't planning on answering it, but then Chad nodded. Sighing, I took out my phone to see a picture of Sonny and I taking up the screen, I slid my finger aross the 'Answer' button.
"Yeah?" I asked, failing to hide my exhausted/annoyed tone.
"Sorry to interupt, but Marshall needs us." Sonny said, obviously knowing I was with Chad.
I closed my eyes and nodded, "Okay. I'll be right there.....bye."
I ended the call then turned to Chad who was already by the door. I walked over and looked at him for a second, he opened his arms out for a hug but I just shook my head. I pointed a finger at him.
"We're not done talking about this." He nodded,
"I know."
I opened the door and left the dressing room. Wiping my eyes as silent tears started to come out.
XXX
"Now, I know there is some...drama going around with one of our cast members," Marshall eyed me when he said this to the cast and crew of 'So Random!' as we stood on the main stage, "but that doesn't mean we should let it distract us from our last week of taping. Let's make the last week at 'So Random!' season five the best!" He clapped.
We all went our seperate ways. Sonny and I made our way to the script table to grab our copy of this week's show. As I read through, I noticed I wasn't in a lot of sketches this week, only 'The Check-it-Out Girls', 'The Real Princesses of New Jersey', and 'Dolphin Boy'. It was obvious that they didn't want me to add to anymore drama.
Sighing, I sat in my chair as Sonny and Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson read from their script for the opening sketch. Dwayne was our host for this week, we always like to end the season by bringing a 'big name' on to host.
Sonny walked over to me and took a seat as Dwayne practiced his monologue. She gave me a sympathetic look then smiled.
"Guess who's the musical guest this week..." She said in a sing-song voice.
I perked up, "Who?"
"ME!!"
Now I perked up BIG time. I reached over and hugged my best friend,
"THAT'S AWSOME! I'm so proud of you!"
"Thanks! I'm thinking of doing 'Me, Myself, and Time', 'World Of Chances', and 'So Far, So Great'."
I nodded with a smile, "Sounds amazing."
Talking to Sonny about this week's show other than Chad was a great thearpy. I needed to take a break from the three named moron and just focus on something else. Sonny knew that and did everything in her power to make sure Chad wasn't mentioned throughout the rest of the day.
And that's exactly what she did.
XXX
I shut the front door and put my back agantist it. I didn't get a chance to talk to Chad, I'm pretty sure he was avoiding me. Whether he liked it or not, we had to talk...it was mandatory, not an option. I put the keys in the bowl, took off my shoes and walked into the living room, Frankie was watching T.V., no homework the last week of school. Lucky boy, didn't have a care in the world.
"Hey Frankster. Where is everyone?" I asked.
"Mom has her book club tonight and Dad and the boys are at a meeting with there boss." He answered, flipping through channels.
I nodded, relif washed through me as I realized I wouldn't have to make any kind of contact with Joe for a while. My phone vibrated in my pocket and I took it out to see a text from my mom.
Eating with the club tonight. Dad said the meeting is going to be running late, so you and Frankie are on your own for dinner. Love ya!
I put my phone back in my pocket and clapped my hands, "Okay! I'm in charge of dinner so I was thinking pizza?"
"YES!" Frankie put a fist in the air.
I laughed, "Awesome! I'm going to take a shower then I'll order it."
The boy nodded and I made my way upstairs. I honestly just needed to wash this day off me, the sad thing is, it's not even to the worst part yet.
I just know this whole week is going to be hell.