Being a Army brat has it's ups and downs. On the upside you got to travel a lot and see a lot of the world. On the downside, You never stay in one place for too long. It always seems like right when your getting ready to settle into somewhere. You get right up and leave. I'm 17 years old and I've lived in 10 states and 3 different countries. My dad gets stationed everywhere. Last year he told us that he was going to resign when it came back around in August, but now we are packing up and heading for Germany.
"Now I get to stay here with you forever." I smiled looking up at Joe's beautiful brown eyes. I couldn't believe that I was actually going to be staying here forever. I would actually be able to keep my friends. My younger sisters would actually be able to stay in one town to grow up in. "I know," He said pulling my face up to his and leaning in for a kiss. I smiled, I loved being in his arms. We laid there in the back yard of his 50 acre farm under the old oak tree, staring at the stars. We sat there and breathed in the summer air. "This is perfect." I heard Joe sigh. I looked up. "Your mine forever." he said looking in my eyes. I laughed. "Whoa buddy! So I'm staying in New Jersey and that automatically means I belong to you forever?" I questioned teasingly.
He pulled me into his arms big strong arms. "I know you don't want to get married until your done with college and everything. But that's fine with me. I'll wait for however long it takes. Abigail I love you, and I know I want to spend the rest of my life with you." He said staring into my eyes. "Joseph. Are you trying to propose to me?" I didn't expect the conversation to take such a turn. I don't know why but that made me nervous. I loved Joe, and I knew that I would want to spend the rest of my life with him. But I'm nowhere ready to get married or engaged, I'm only 17! "Yes, well no. I want to wait for that. I need to save up for a nice ring and plan out a more romantic way." He laughed kissing me quickly. "But what about a promise ring?" he asked. I could hear the hint of nerves on the edge of his voice. "A promise ring." I said quietly, I thought to myself. "Yeah, you know like a promise to be with each other forever. A promise for marriage." He said looking down. He seriously was the cutest boy in the world. I smiled at him. "Of course Joseph!" I said throwing my arms around his neck.
"Abby" My mothers voice bringing me back to reality. "Sweets, you better start packing up some things. We have to be outta here by Wednesday. I noticed a tear rolling down my cheek, I quickly wiped it away. "Abigail. What's wrong?" My mom asked sitting beside me on my bed. "Nothing I'm fine. I'll start packing." I said standing up pacing back in forth not knowing what to do. "Have you told Joe yet?" she asked. I had my back towards her facing my vanity. I try my best to hold my feelings in. Which were all mixed up. I didn't know if I was more mad or hurt by my dad's lies. My anger was rising. I picked up my hair brush and slammed it into the mirror of my vanity. "No!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. I took my arms and slid them across my dresser sending all my make-up, candles, and pictures crashing to the floor.
"Abigail stop it!" I heard my mom say from behind my putting her arms around me trying to restrain me. That's when dad walked in.
I ran straight over to him screaming and crying, "Why?" I kept screaming and punching his stomach. He put his arms around me crushing my arms between me and him. I kept crying asking why over and over again. "I'm sorry." He said. "Your not sorry! It's not fair. I've never said anything about moving around all my life. But I'm sick of it! I finally move somewhere I love, with people I love and You promise your gonna resign and now this! I love New Jersey! I don't want to leave, I don't want to leave Joe!" I said sobbing. "Abigail I know I promised to resign but the economy is getting ready to get bad and I need to support this family. I need to keep my job secure. Germany was the only option." He exclaimed. "Please!" I begged. "I'm sorry Abby." He said again. I stepped back and sat on my bed. "Have you told Joe yet?" He asked me. "No!" I shouted. I could feel the tears burning in my eyes. I threw my hands over my face and laid back on my bed.
"What's that ring on your finger?" I heard my mom ask. I sat back up and found both of them starring at me in confusion. I hadn't told them about last night. "That sure as hell better not be an engagement ring!" My dad said one step down from shouting. "Your way to young to get married or even been thinking of getting married. Your 17 for God's sake! You don't even know what love is!" he said In the same loud angry tone. "It's not and engagement ring! It's a promise ring Joe gave me last night. And I do know what love is and I love Joseph! I love him with everything I have." I shouted back. He just rolled his eyes. "Started packing." He said simply walking out of my room. My mom sat down and hugged me. "Abby, You should tell him." She said looking over at my phone that was vibrating on the floor surrounded by all my other belongings I threw to the ground. She gave me one last squeeze and stood up and walked out of my room.
Joe had been calling me all day. But I couldn't bring myself to answer it. I didn't want to tell him. I laid back down on my bed and curled up with the teddy bear that Joe had won for me on our first date at the county fair. I cried for what seemed like forever and drifted off to sleep. I woke up about three hours later to something at the window. I looked at my clock and it was 12:14. I walked out of my room to look over the banister to make sure no one was still awake. I walked back to my room and pulled my curtain back and saw Joe heaving pieces of mulch at my window. For a minute it felt like everything was okay. Seeing him smile as I open the window. Then I remembered what I had to tell him.
"Hey" He said pulling me in for a kiss after making his way onto my balcony. "What's wrong?" He asked after examining my face. "I have some…..bad news." I said already fighting back tears. "Abby?" He questioned concerned. "We're moving." I said tears running down my face. "Well that's not necessarily that bad. Where are you moving to?" "Germany." I answered sitting down on my wood loveseat that me and Joe had painted over the summer. "Germany? …Germany!" He shouted. "Shhh!" I whispered. "Keep it down everyone is asleep." "I thought you said he was going to resign." He said, still in a loud voice. "He lied. He told me all this crap about the bad economy and needing to keep his job secure." I said sobbing. "So we are moving to Germany." "Shit." He sighed pacing running his hand through his dark brown hair and resting them on the top of his head. Then he turned around and punched the wood railing of the balcony as hard as he could.
"Joseph stop it! Your going to hurt yourself!" I said still sobbing. He came over and sat next to me. He took me in his arms and let me cry into his shirt. I could feel him running his fingers through my hair and tracing my back. I kept telling him how sorry I was and he would just say "Abigail it's not your fault." He laid back in the chair and let me rest my head on his chest. We laid like that for a very long time. Neither of us wanting to get up. "What are we going to do?" I asked. "I have no clue, I'll figure it out though." He said kissing the top of my head. Then as I listened to the rhythm of his heart I feel asleep.
The next morning I woke up in Joe's arms around me and him laying next to me. I giggled a little bit at how awkwardly we fit on the little loveseat. "Good morning beautiful," I head Joe say. I looked up to see him awake and smiling. "How was your night?" I asked with a laugh. "Mine was wonderful with you by my side, and I open my eyes to see your sweet face it's a good morning beautiful day." He sang. I absolutely loved it when he would sing. Joe and his brothers were amazing musicians. We laid their for a couple minutes when I realized the flannel blanket on top of us. "Oh gosh, Joe you have to go. If my parents find out you slept here I'll be dead." I said in a hushed tone. "Okay, I'll go home for a bit. I'll be back later. I thought me, you, Nick, and Kevin could all go out and do something." He said on the other side of the balcony holding on to the railing. "Okay," I sighed. "I'll see you guys later." He kissed me then jumped down of the balcony and ran to the next street over.
I took the blanket from the chair and folded it. "I don't remember running inside to go a blanket." I said to myself walking to my room. I put the blanket back on the end of my bed. I looked down and saw that I was still in the clothes I was wearing yesterday. I never changed into pajamas, so I quickly threw on a pair of shorts and a hoodie Joe had let me borrow a while back. I went downstairs to find my sisters watching Nickelodeon and my mom making pancakes. I walked into the kitchen and sat at the counter. "Ella and Lucy, your pancakes are done." My mom called for my sisters. Ella was eight and Lucy had just turned fourteen a week ago. They came into the kitchen grabbed their plates from my mother and went into the dining room. "Would you like some pancakes Abigail?" she asked. "Yes please." I said. Dad must have been out and about the little town we lived in, probably having coffee with my grandparents like he did every Sunday.
"So did you tell Joe last night." She said turning around to face me. I looked at her, not sure if she knew about last night or not. "Mom, It was completely, totally, really and accident. He came over because I hadn't been returning his phone calls. So I told him and we talked, lost track of time and we fell asleep. I promise!" I said waiting for her response. "I know Abby. I stayed up last night to pack a few thing when I saw him sneak past the window and saw him flinging mulch at your window. I thought it was cute so I didn't say anything. I turned off the lights so he wouldn't catch me. When he climb up your balcony I opened the window, just to make sure everything was okay, ya know." She smiled. "Then when I didn't hear you guys talking anymore I thought Joe had left. So I went up stairs to check on you, but when I went in your room you were gone. At first I thought you had took off with him." She laughed. " I walked out on your balcony and saw you two asleep on your little chair, You two were too cute to wake up. I knew It wouldn't hurt anything so I went back inside and got a blanket for you." She laughed, turning around to flip my pancakes.
"Mom." I said trying to keep my voice at a regular tone. "Yeah?" she asked over her shoulder. "I don't want to leave him." I said shaking my head and tears coming down both my cheeks like a raging river. She turned around. "Abby," She said walking towards me with the pan my pancakes were in. She flopped them on my plate and put the pan in the sink. " I know you don't, but your dad is right. Times are getting rough." She said cupping my face with one hand wiping tears with the other. "It's just not fair." "Sweetheart, nothings ever fair. Your dad just wants to support you guys. He loves you and your sisters so much. He really does hate doing this to you three. But he wants to keep you guys safe and support you, that's the only reason he took the job. He doesn't have a collage degree so military is really the only thing he knows how to do." She said trying to make me feel better. I understood her completely, I just hated it. "I really do love him, dad doesn't think I know what love is. But I love Joseph, I really do." I said thinking I would stand a chance of staying if I confessed my love.
"Abigail I know you love Joe, and your dad knows that too. He hates separating you guys but he also thinks that it's just a summer thing every teenager goes through. Just like a typical dad. But sweetie, I know you'll get through this. You and Joe both. You two are very strong people." She said walking to the sink and starting the dishes. She actually did make me feel a little bit better. "Thanks." I said giving a weak smile. "Your welcome." She said smiling back then went back to the dishes.
I ate my pancakes and went upstairs to take a shower. I let my dark brown curly hair that came down to my mid back air-dry while I applied some make up. I threw on my favorite blue Beatles shirt and my boyfriend jeans from American Eagle on and check my cell phone. Joe had texted me and said they would be over at noon. It was only 10:30. I looked in the cracked mirror, my blue eyes looked extra blue today. The Beatles tee shirt always did that to them. I looked around my room. It was still a mess from last night. I looked down and at my foot was a picture of me, Joe, Nick, and Kevin at Wildwood. We went there last Spring for Spring break. In the picture there was a sand castle we spent all day making. Me and Kevin were on one side of it and Nick on the other. Right before Mr. Jonas took the picture Joe had stood up and ran and jumped right on top of it. We all had the funniest expressions on our face. I was laughing uncontrollably and so was Kevin. Nick's was probably the funniest. He was always so serious. You could see how mad he was about Joe wrecking the castle. Joe was in mid air looking directly at the camera with his mouth open and his face all scrunched up. I laughed a little just looking at it. I looked around me, there were a ton of pictures that were on the floor. There was one of Joe and I at the Winter formal. One of me and Kevin eating ice cream at Rita's. One of me and my sisters in Seattle, Washington from two years ago.
I sat there and reminisced all the memories the pictures held. That took up about a whole hour so I had 30 minutes left to spare. So I decided to clean up a bit. I went downstairs and got a few boxes and started loading them with pictures, pillows, and some clothes. I was pretty much a pro a packing by now. As soon as I put the last box my mom yelled for me. "Abby, the boys are here!" I quickly put on some flip-flops and ran downstairs. Joe must have told Kevin and Nick about us leaving because I could read their faces to well. They both had a sad face on but were trying to cover it up, kind of confused weather they should say something about it or just keep quiet. I threw my arms around them. "We're so sorry." They said. I started crying a little bit, but I quickly shook it off with a smile and laughed "Hey, I'm not gone yet! Let's go out and do something." I said smiling. Joe grabbed my hand and we were off.
First Joe drove us back to their house where we went four wheeling. I didn't trust my self alone on one so I rode with Joe, which still scared the crap out of me. We went swimming in the little pond they had back in the woods behind their house. After that we laid in the grass and talked. "I can't believe your leaving." Nick said. "I know, what are we going to do here without you?" Kevin asked. "I'm going to miss you guys so much." I said. "Dido!" They all three said in unison. We all laughed. These boys were seriously my best friends in the entire world. I never felt more comfortable around three guys than with them. We all are so close. "You know what." Nick said. "What?" We all asked turning out attention to him. "We should all stay here tonight. We can have a bon fire, watch movies, ride the four wheelers. It'd be like a going away party." He answered smiling. "I'm in!" I spoke up first. It sounded fun to me. Kevin and Joe agreed, "Okay then it's settled. Call Ella and Lucy." I know it sounds weird. Hanging out with your little sisters but we actually all go along with our siblings. Ella and Frankie were best friends and so were Nick and Lucy. I think the reason Nick won't admit he likes her is because he thinks the age difference is weird. I knew Lucy liked him, but I never told anyone…. Except Joe. But he promised he wouldn't say anything to Kevin or Nick.
Me and Joe ran back over to my house in his old farm truck that was used for carrying hay around. We drove down the street and turned into my neighborhood. I ran inside and asked my mom if we could all stay all night over there. Of course she said yes. Again, you probably think that's weird too. But she knew we were all best friends and wouldn't do anything, she was the one that trust us. If it was my dad he would never allow it. He think every teenage boy is the same. But that's where my mom would put her foot down. She always made sure we had time to hang out with them. I ran and told my sisters to pack their bags because we were sleeping over at the Jonas'. "Yes!" Frankie said excitedly. "I'm bringing my Share Bear!" Ella shouted as she ran upstairs into her room. "That's a good idea!" Frankie said running after her. They both loved playing with Care Bears. I myself ran upstairs. "Hang on let me go grab something's and I'll be down." He said walking up to my room. I grabbed some pajamas threw them in a bag and grabbed a pillow and the flannel blanket at the foot of my bed.
"Okay you guys lets go!" I said walking down stairs. Joe and I walked outside with Ella, Lucy and Frankie behind us. I looked over at Lucy who had brushed out her long dark brown wavy hair, changed her outfit into some jeans and a cute blue flannel shirt that tied at the waist, which I recognized to be my own, but it made her blue eyes stand out. She even put on some make up. She only did that for rare occasions. I knew who she was trying to impress. I looked over at Joe and he smile. Lucy and I actually looked a lot alike. The only thing that was really different was a as a few inches taller than her and I had more freckles. Ella was the odd ball, well actually she just took more after my mom. She had bright blonde hair with brown eyes. Ella's hair didn't have one curl in it, It was as straight as a pin!
They all jumped into the back of the truck and we headed back to Joe's house. When we pulled out of the neighborhood and drove down the road a little bit we finally pulled into their gravel drive. When we approached the house Kevin and Nick were sitting on the porch swing. After seeing us Nick immediately stood up and started walking towards the truck. Joe parked and Ella and Frankie jumped of the side of the truck and took of running towards the house managing to give both Kevin and Nick high fives on their way. Lucy picked up here bag, "Here I'll take those," Nick said reaching in the truck grabbing her sleeping bad and pillow. "Thanks." she said smiling. She swung both her legs over the edge of the truck. Nick put his hand out and she grabbed it and jumped down. I swear, they were the cutest things ever. I couldn't help but smile. I looked to both my sides to see Joe and Kevin giggling. We all went inside to drop off our stuff in the living room. We walked in too the smell of Mrs. Jonas famous chicken and dumplings. I had forgot how hungry I had been. "I'm so sorry girls, Joseph told me about the big move." She said with a sympatric face. "Thank you Denise." We both said hugging here. "Ah, would you two like to joining us for dinner?" As she said that too us I had forgotten how hungry I was. We both answered "Yes!" Without hesitation. We all went into the kitchen to clean up then made our way to the dining room.
"So are you guys excited for the big move?" Mr. Jonas asked. "Paul!" Denise said giving him a look. I quickly shoved a bite full of food to avoid answering the question. "Well we were actually looking forward to actually staying in one place for a while. I think Germany is way out of our comfort zones." Lucy laughed. "Oh, I could see how you would like to stay here, but you guys will enjoy Germany. I've been there once for missions. It's truly an amazing place. And so rich in history too!" He added trying to make it sound like a better place. The rest of the dinner flew by with small talk about the move, Joe's funny storys and plans for tonight. We finished eating and set our dishes in the sink and took off outside. Everyone decided to take off on the four wheelers. Kevin riding his own, Lucy on the back of Nick's and Ella on the back of Frankies little mini one. Joe took my hand and we began walking over to the horses stable. "We need to find someone for Kevin. I said looking back at everyone. They were all smiling, soon disappearing into the woods on the dirt paths. "Yeah, well he's got someone in mind." Joe said with a smile. "Who?" I asked. "I can't tell you I promised." He said. "I told you about Lucy." I stated. "So, I guess me and Kevin have a stronger bond. One where we don't tell each others secrets." He said with a smile. I punched his arm, "For you information me and Lucy are very close." I said now walking ahead of him.
I ran up behind me grabbing my waist and pulling me in. "Okay, I'll tell you. But you can't tell anyone." He said. "I promise." "Daniella" He whispered in my ear. I turned around in his arms, "Are you for real?" I asked excitedly. "Yes." He said with his oh so make my heart melt smile. I starred into his eyes, he was starring back. Then he pulled me even closer in his arms, he took his left hand, placed it under my chin forcing it up. Then he kissed me. It was a very passionate kiss, his lips urgent on mine but I could feel him smile under the kiss. When we pulled away for some air I asked, "What was that for?" "I love you." He said taking a strand of my hair behind my ear. "I love you too." I said giving him a kiss on the cheek. I grabbed his hand. "Come on if we want to go riding we gotta get going. It's gonna be dark soon." I said pulling him along. "I don't want this day to end." I heard him say and we began to walk again towards the stable.
We rode our two favorite horses, Skeeter and Big Black for awhile untill we decided we better meet back up with everyone else. We walked over to the pond and Kevin already had a fire going. We all sat around it, Me in Joe's arms, Kevin starring into the fire and Nick and Lucy sitting next to each other. For that moment everything was perfect. The whole day had been perfect. I hated thinking about the next few days. How hard it was going to be saying goodbye to everyone. We all started talking about random things that made us laugh. We stayed out there until two in the morning. We started to get a little cold so we went inside to the living room. We all layed out our sleeping bags and blankets and fell asleep.
The next two days were filled with packing, packing and more packing. Joe, Kevin and Nick came over to help us. This was my last night in New Jersey. How was I going to pull myself together tomorrow. "Oh well." I sighed to myself tuning my lamb off and curling up in my sleeping bag in my room. The next morning I woke up to the smell of pancakes and bacon. We all filed into the kitchen still half asleep. I didn't want to say anything in fear I might cry. After we ate Joe drove us home. When we pulled up the moving truck was already there. "Hey kids, go take showers and get ready. We're leaving in about three hours." My dad called from the garage. Lucy and Ella jumped out of the back of the truck and started running for the house. Lucy stopped for a second and shot a look over at me. I couldn't help let my stomach drop. I wasn't only going to be hard for me, but Lucy was going to have the hardest time saying by to Nicholas. She turned back around and walked into the house.
I turned my head to face Joe, we didn't say anything. I felt a tear slipped down my cheek. Joe stopped it with his thumb and kissed my lips. "I'll be back in about an hour," He said. "To help you pack and stuff." He said letting his hand drop. "Okay" I said getting out of his truck. I watched him pull away then I headed straight to my room, everything was practically packed.
To be continued later :)
