Joe's P.O.V.
I'm sitting alone in a cafe somewhere familiar when a mob of known curls walks in and sits across from me.
"It's been a while." She says with a smile. "Yeah, I hope for no interruptions today." I respond, returning the smile.
"I hope so too. Have you ordered already?" Philippine asks me. I nod."Didn't know what you would have liked though. You can put it on my tab." She nods and gets up to order by the bar.
When she returns, we sit there, knowing we are both going through a lot.
I'm sure neither one of us wants to talk about it, but that also makes it a little awkward I guess.
"I saw the interview you and your brothers had the other day." Is what she breaks the silence with.
"I know. It went horrible." I said.
She shrugs. "I didn't say that. I liked the song and she was way out of line with what she said about your other siblings." Philip explains.
"Yeah, she was. I just hope Frankie and Pippa won't take it to heart." I sigh.
"I'm sure you'll figure it out. This time the attack was from outside. I'm sure it'll work out." She tries to help.
"I know. We'll take care of her." I say.
"Are you scared she'll try something like running away again?" She asks, her voice laced with concern.
I shake my head. One of the waiters walks over with our drinks and sets them on the table.
"No. I don't think she'll try something. She's going to be an aunt soon, she's too busy with that to be thinking about something to screw that up." I explain with a slight smile.
"How's your brother's wife holding up? Pregnancy going well?" She asks me. "Yeah, she's about to become a mom. They're both really excited and scared at the same time." I laugh.
"Yeah, I'd be scared too. I'll probably drop my child if I'm ever going to get a child." She laughs.
"I don't think you'll drop your child." I tell her. "Oh! Before I forget. I brought you something for your niece or nephew." She grabs a package from her bag. It seems to be a present.
"Do you need me to give it to Kevin?" I ask her. She shakes her head. "Go ahead, open it." She urges me.
I carefully rip the paper of the gift she got me and it turned out to be a t-shirt with the text "Joe is the coolest uncle ever!" on it.
"Did you make this?" I ask her unbelievable. She blushes a bit and nods. "Yeah, do you like it?" She asks me.
"Like it? I love it!" I thank her for the gift.
"They'll be a happy little family." She beams.
"Oh, I'm sure of that." I grin. After we finished our drinks, we ordered ones to go and decided to go for a walk.
"I was scared to ask you, but I'll ask anyways. How is your brother doing?" I ask her.
"He's okay for now. He's still on the waiting list to get lungs, I hope he'll get them soon. And if not... I hope his suffering ends soon. He's hurting and I'd rather see him at peace. It sounds horrible when I say it like that." She laughs nervously.
"That's not true. You want what's best for him and if he can't get new lungs in time. You don't want him to be in pain. I think you want what's best for him. And if he can get peace that way, then that's okay." I tell her.
She nods. "Yeah, he told me he wants it too. He doesn't want to be in pain anymore. Not if he can get lungs anytime soon." We walk in comfortable silence until we both decided to go home.
I walked her home like a real gentleman. We said our goodbyes and I was off to go home myself.
I'm in my room when Frankie enters.
"Where were you?" He asks me, sitting down at my desk.
"Out." I answer.
"OOH, with a girl?" He taunts me.
"Yes, Frankie. With a girl." I respond. "What's her name?" He taunts me even more.
"Her name is philippine. But can you please go?" I ask him. He turns to look at me.
"Come on... Can't I ask more questions about her? You barely ever talk about girls." It's not even normal. I don't like for him to be on my case.
"Leave now. Before I do something I regret." I might look murderous right now.
His face turns serious. "Sorry. I'll stop." I nod gratefully.
"Why?" He asks me. "Why, what?" I return the question.
"Don't you like her?" I let out a sigh. "It's complicated, Frankie." I try to get him to stop talking.
"Explain it to me. I want to understand it." He gets up and sits on the side of my bed, where I'm lounging.
"I don't have a lot of friends, who are female, that want me for me. They are all out for the fame and for the money or whatever. She talks to me like I'm a normal person. She supported me through the Nick and Pippa times and she talks to me when I can use it. Same goes for her. When she needs someone to distract her, she calls me up. I'm not ready to give any of that up. It's too precious." I try to explain.
"Alright, I'm sorry for taunting you. I didn't know." He gives me a small smile.
I return the smile, not wanting to make him feel bad about himself. "It's alright. It's what brothers are for, right?" He grins and nods.
"You just wait. Someday soon others are going to taunt you about it." He says.
"How do you know that?" I ask him.
He shrugs. "Think about it. I'm not your only sibling. Maybe the one who pays the most attention to it right now, but I'm not the only seeing it." He smiles and walks out of the room to let me think it over.
Hope you liked it 😊