JOE’S POV
I watched as Nicole moved around the room picking and choosing what to put in each box.
“Are you mad that I agreed to move in with David?” Nicole asked looking over at me.
“No,” I said with a dry laugh. “I was just thinking that you’re a much better packer than Demi. Do you remember when we took her camping for the first time?”
“Yeah,” Nicole smiled. “She packed three rolling suitcases.”[AN: My friend actually asked me if she should bring rolling suitcases the first time she went camping. She was none too pleased when we explained the concept of hiking.]
“And then we had to explain that we cooked dinner over the campfire,” I started laughing. Demi had been so upset it was hilarious. It had taken me twenty minutes and the promise of smores to calm her down.
“I won’t be gone forever,” Nicole said as she sat beside me on the bed. “I’ll still be around at school. I’ll just be Nicole Anderson instead of Nicole Jonas.”
“So where does that leave us? Are we still brother and sister? Friend?”
“No matter what you’ll always be my friend,” Nicole said. I smiled at her as she looked back at me. The light from the bedroom window circled around her head like a halo. She looked so beautiful and innocent sitting there. I thought back to what I had said to Demi the other day at school. Nicole was special to me. Would it be so bad to see her as more than my sister? I leaned in and softly met my lips to hers. When I pulled away Nicole blinked at me in surprise.
“You just kissed me,” she said softly. “Are you allowed to kiss me?”
“I’m sorry,” I said with a laugh. “I don’t know why I did that. We can just pretend that it never happened.”
“No, it’s okay,” Nicole said touching her own lips in amazement. “It wasn’t bad really. Just different. Unexpected.” She laughed before falling back onto the bed. I lay back as well, and she curled up to my side. I heard her give a hefty yawn in between her giggles. As Nicole fell asleep my mind drifted off to another girl. Nicole’s laughter faded away and was replaced by the deep rich laugh of my memory. I closed my eyes and pictured a beautiful oval face surrounded by long dark hair with laughing deep brown eyes. There she was laughing at me from across a campfire as we roasted our marshmallows.
“Demi,” I whispered softly before falling asleep with a smile.
[AN: Oh Joe, you are so confused as to who you want.]