Okay, ever since I first heard this song a little over a year ago I knew I wanted to do a one shot, a particular one shot with a certain couple. Lately I've been feeling a lot of writers block, so I sat down tonight and decided to write this (finally) since I listened to it a few times today and the rough outline of what I wanted it to be suddenly had more shape to it.

When I started though, I changed everything a little. I gave it less detail, leaving things more open to your imagination... including the couple. The guy is very obvious, but... well, I'll let you read it ;-)

The song is: OCEAN AVENUE by Yellowcard

BTW, in case you missed it, this is a oneshot songfic, okay?

Oh, and just to let you know, this a record for me. It only took an hour and a half to type :-) normally it takes me like four to write one chapter... haha, lol.

italics- joe, italics and bold- joe, nick and kevin

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The beach had always been my favorite place in the world. I couldn't really explain how or why, but the smell of the salt air, the winds blowing in off the water, and the rhythmic crashing of the waves always managed to calm me down and, no matter what, make me feel that sense of contentment. Like the tide rolled in, than when it rolled back out it took all of my problems, stress, and insecurities with it, leaving me free and clean.

Only one thing managed to make the beach even better, turning that sense of contentment into one of pure joy. Unfortunately, I hadn't seen her in three years, and wasn't likely to see her anytime soon… if ever again.

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Sitting on the olive green couch pushed against the wall in the greenroom, Joe Jonas nervously drummed both of his heels against the carpeted ground to the beat in his head. His older brother, Kevin, was sitting on the floor across the room, his back against the wall and his acoustic guitar resting in his lap as he strummed random chords and hummed along to the mix-matched tune. Their younger brother, Nick, was sitting on the same couch as Joe, leaning against the opposite side with his Ipod blasting into his ears so loud that Joe could make out a wailing guitar solo. Scattered around the rest of the room were the remaining members of their band, their youngest brother Frankie, and their parents. Everyone prepped themselves for a show their own way, and for once, Joe was thankful for the fact that for the most part, everyone wanted to be left alone right now.

Sighing, he pressed his face into his hands and increased the tempo of the song in his head; his heals now drumming twice as fast. His stomach was twisting up in a very unwelcome fashion, and he was both confused and repulsed by it. Joe didn't feel like this, Joe Jonas didn't get nervous. He should be excited about their show, jumping around the room and throwing punches at thin air, using his littlest brother as a free weight and seeing how many times he could lift him up. He knew he wasn't the only one confused by his one-eighty, but he also knew that unless he gave them a reason not to, they would leave him alone until afterwards.

For that he was grateful, because he couldn't really see himself explaining the situation, even if he wanted to. How could he explain why he was so nervous? Sure, playing a new song for all their fans was an okay reason to be a little unsure, because who knew how they would all react, right? But being nervous about it because he knew the one person he wanted to hear it never would? That didn't even make sense! Of course, that really shouldn't be surprising, seeing as nothing about this girl had ever really made much sense.

She had been Joe's 'summer' friend since the summer between sixth and seventh grade, when they had met each other on the beach. Kevin, Joe and Nick had all gone to buy ice cream, but on their way back had passed a girl arguing with what appeared to be her older brother because she had dropped hers and he refused to take her to get more, and Joe had offered to share his cone with her instead. Even at twelve years old he'd been a flirt, and the girl was pretty. Of course, after she'd told him her name – her unusual name – something had just seemed to click. For the rest of the summer they spent every day together, at the beach, the amusement park, even convincing their families to make plans together.

They lost touch over the school year, and while Joe was upset, he was only twelve after all, and she was just a girl. Of course, when his family had shown up for vacation the next summer and he'd found her in the hotel lobby, they'd instantly clicked – again. And so went every summer, the best of friends for the month of august, until they had to go home and back to the real world and school. That is, until the summer between his sophomore and junior year … his family hadn't gone to the beach that year, or any year after that, and he hadn't talked to her since the last time he had seen her – three years ago.

It wasn't really his fault, it was just that he'd gotten too busy, and that really was a valid excuse. He'd formed a band with his brothers (after his younger brother Nick had released a solo album) and his family had been too busy focusing on their contract, and their album, to worry about anything else. He had never really talked to her much during the school year anyway – aside from telling her Happy Halloween, Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year – and while he had missed her that first year they hadn't gone, the next two were easier. Of course, between being dropped from one label, picked up by another, and sky rocketed into fame with the release of their second album (named after their band), he hadn't had much time to miss an old friend from the beach.

He had to say what hurt more, wasn't what he wasn't seeing, it was what she was. Not to sound conceited, but Joe knew that he and his brothers had gotten pretty big (two U.S tours, a world tour, a movie, guest appearances … how many awards was it again?) so he didn't really think it was possible that she hadn't at least heard of what had happened to the three boys she used to spend every August with. And, as much as he had told everyone he didn't, he wondered how that had made her feel, if she thought they had dumped her for something else. What he wondered more though, was what she was doing now, where she was, what she was like…

… if she was going to be here tonight.

Because they weren't just premiering any new song, no. They were premiering the song he had written just three days ago, when they had all arrived at the same hotel they used to stay in when they were younger, during family vacations to the beach in August. He hadn't been able to sleep, probably because being here and not talking to her, not spending every minute he could with her, just didn't feel right. Instead, he had gone down to the beach, knowing that the roar of the waves and the smell of the salt air could usually calm him down.

After a while it had, and he had started back towards the hotel, feeling suddenly exhausted. Unfortunately, he'd gotten halfway back down the beach when the sight of two fourteen year olds (one boy and one girl) playing in the shallows had caught his attention. Maybe it was their age, maybe it was the girl's hair color, or maybe it was the way they acted, but the whole scene just made him miss her even more. As soon as he got back to the hotel he had taken up residence in the small lounge room just off the main lobby, scribbling words down on one of the white paper napkins with the stupid golf pencil they left with the 'please leave a comment and tell us how we're doing' surveys that they had to know no one ever did. The next day he had shown the song to Nick, and his younger brother had helped him figure out how to match the music to the words and the way Joe had felt when he was writing it.

At the time, it had seemed perfect. He had been missing something, he wrote about it, and afterwards he felt much better. Like how he used to let the ocean water wash away his stress and insecurities with the tide (hanging out on the beach at night had been one of their favorite things to do), he had let the chicken scratch lyrics do the same. Of course, now – three days later – when he was about to play the song in front of all those people, he wasn't so confident anymore. Sure, he still loved the song whether they did or not, but did he really want all of them getting this close of a look into his mind? This intimate?

It had been hard enough letting first Nick than Kevin read it, not to mention Garbo, Jack, John, and everyone else, but now a bunch of people he didn't know? Joe wasn't so sure he could handle this, getting up there and singing those words. Even if he could get over the sickening feeling of singing this in a place that used to feel so special and now just felt empty (one guess as to why), he was afraid he was to nervous and would flub the lyrics, saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, and how embarrassing would that be? Of course, he'd mixed up lyrics during their concerts before, but those concerts weren't at the beach and those had been songs that every one of their fans already knew by heart. That was different.

Sighing, he ran his hands from his face up to the top of his head, squeezing the handfuls of his hair just hard enough to feel a tug but not hard enough to really hurt all that much. It was more like a distraction than anything else as their body guard informed them they only had a few minutes before show time. Standing up, he released his hold and silently figure combed his hair back into place as best he could, meeting Nick's eye and returning his brothers encouraging smile with a fleeting one of his own. He knew, one way or another, this was going to be a concert he wouldn't forget anytime soon.

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Stepping back from everyone else, Joe bounced on the balls of his feet a few times in an effort to pump himself up. After hearing the roar of everyone waiting for them, and having just completed 'campfire', he was feeling a little bit better than he had in the greenroom, but not all that much. Standing behind the makeshift stage they had built and waiting for his cue to run up the metal steps with his brothers, the sand beneath his shoes, he felt the urge to take off across the sand and throw himself into the ocean, swimming as far out as he could. Luckily, he managed to resist the urge.

Swallowing quickly, and gripping the microphone in his left hand tightly, he glanced up when he noticed Nick discreetly – and quietly – trying to get his attention, not able to help smiling a little when his brother mouthed 'Are you okay?', while simultaneously watching for someone to throw their arm down and give them the 'go' signal. Knowing that he had Nick and Kevin there with him, backing him up, Joe felt himself relax just a little more and didn't feel it was a complete lie when he nodded in response. Nick smiled, offering a quick thumbs up before moving to take his place behind Joe just as the stage managers started waving their arms wildly through the air.

Sucking in one last deep breath, Joe plastered a smile on his face and grabbed the metal railing for support, launching himself up the steps behind the stage. Passing by the stage managers in a blur, Joe couldn't help but notice that they both looked like convulsing chickens.

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"How are you all doing tonight?"

Joe forced himself to keep smiling as Nick talked to the crowd, everyone taking up their positions around him while they prepared to play his song. It was nine o'clock, and the sun had just set over the water, making the colorful Christmas lights wrapped around everything in sight that much brighter. He didn't even know what this concert was for or why they were here (there were many acts performing, doing one song each and not all of them all that famous), but found himself too preoccupied with not leaping off the stage to really give that much thought.

Instead, he stood center stage, and fixed his microphone in the stand while everyone took up their own positions. Through his ear piece, he heard Kevin say something about how many people had crowded down onto the sand, and Joe had to agree with his older brother's statement. For a regular beach concert, this sure had drawn a lot of attention. Clearing his throat, he scanned the crowd quickly, foolishly looking for just a hint, some small clue, that she was there in the audience.

He didn't find one, and he couldn't decide if that calmed him down or just made him more nervous.

Suddenly aware that neither of his brothers were talking, and they were both looking at him, Joe nodded enthusiastically as if someone had just said the smartest thing he'd ever heard, holding one hand up behind his back and gesturing to Jack, who waited three seconds before smacking his sticks against each other three teams, Nick immediately following with the opening chords of the song.

While anyone with half a brain would tell you that this song was different than anything else they'd done, Joe really didn't care. This song wasn't about that, it was about something different. It was about his days before being a Jonas Brother, about someone else entirely. And, thinking back on it, he had to say it was a perfect fit. The fact he was singing the song at this show was even better, seeing as he couldn't be anywhere in this town and not constantly be confused by the fact she wasn't right beside him.

There's a place off Ocean Avenue
Where I used to sit and talk with you
You were just fifteen and it felt so right
Sleeping all day, staying up all night
Staying up all night

There's a place on the corner of Cherry Street
We would walk on the beach in our bare feet
I turned sixteen and it felt so right
Sleeping all day, staying up all night
Staying up all night

Straining his ears, Joe managed to lock onto the sounds of the waves crashing against the shore, focusing intently on that as the music built and swelled around him, the lyrics pouring from his mouth as memories from chasing her down the beach to eating ice cream with her flowed through his mind like a never ending film strip.

If I could find you now things would get better
We could leave this town and run forever
Let your waves crash down on me and take me away

Smiling, Joe stood center stage and remembered how, the past few days, all he'd managed to think about was his missing surf partner. He felt lopsided being in this town without her, like some part of him had gone missing. Like his shadow had just disappeared one day.


There's a piece of you that's here with me
It's everywhere I go, it's everything I see
When I sleep, I dream and it gets me by
I can make believe that you're here tonight
That you're here tonight

Turning back, Joe strutted to the middle of the stage and leaned over to – lightly – brush his finger tips against a few of the girls in the front row, smiling at their reaction. Now that he was on stage, the nervous beach boy he had been the past few days was being replaced by the confident entertainer that lived in the spotlight.

If I could find you now things would get better
We could leave this town and run forever
I know somewhere, somehow we'll be together
Let your waves crash down on me and take me away

Letting the music stretch behind him, Joe turned to flash a bright smile to a girl off to the left holding a 'Joe will you marry me?' sign and waving it frantically, but his eyes didn't quite make it there. Instead, they stuck in the middle of the crowd, were a certain girl stood dead center, between a shaggy haired surfer and what appeared to be her best friend.

A certain – very familiar – blue eyed brunette, that appeared to have the brightest spotlight shining down on her. Stopping every movement of his body, Joe lifted the microphone to his mouth and held her gaze, intently, as the words flowed from his lips, this time going directly to her … and now she knew it.

I remember the look in your eyes
When I told you that this was goodbye
You were begging me not tonight
Not here, not now
We're looking up at the same night sky
And keep pretending the sun will not rise
Be together for one more night
Somewhere, somehow

Remembering the one time their relationship had been anything but friendship, the last night they'd spent together on this very beach, watching the annual end of summer fireworks, Joe forced himself to look away and lick his dry lips, remembering the way they'd felt against hers.

If I could find you now things would get better
We could leave this town and run forever
I know somewhere, somehow we'll be together
Let your waves crash down on me and take me away

He couldn't help himself. While the notes swam around him, hanging in the air, and the crowd roared with applause, he let his eyes drift back to the girl he'd been searching for since he had arrived days before, the girl he had thought he had no hope of finding. She was standing right there in the audience, having just heard every word of the song he had written just for her.

When she smiled, he couldn't help but smile back.

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Sooooooooooooooooooooooo..... what'd you think?

Okay, I'm pretty positive you all know who I picture the girl as (personally, I think it's VERY obvious). Now, I'll openly admit that I'm not really a big fan of hers (honestly, I kinda hate her at times), but ever since I heard this song I just pictured this one shot as being her and Joe, and it hasn't changed since I first thought of the idea about a year ago, so it's not like I could just go back and change it now.

And by the way, no, it's not one of my OC's, in case that isn't obvious enough. This girl is very real. And because of that, this fic is completely legit, one hundred percent legal. She's in it, they guest starred on her show. It's legal.