A/N: I'm having one of those days where everything is just going wrong, and for some reason, this was more of a Joe thing than anything else. After finding out that we might move, failing a math quiz, seeing JONAS/WOWP crossover fics in the normal section while mine hides in the crossover section, and looking in all the teenybopper magazines at the drug store only to find that there are no Jonas posters, only freaking Justin Bieber ones (i hate justin bieber), I needed something to vent on.
Stella and Macy both have brown eyes. True fact.
Disclaimer: this was inspired by the songs "if everyone cared" by nickelback and "vanilla twilight" by owl city. the one-shot was written by me, snowfallxo. the characters belong to all the joes of the world. (and disney.)
He remembers the day they met, but he doesn't want to. Memories of her, the nostalgia, it's painful, even to this day. He remembers her dorky pigtails, the ones she didn't want to wear, her big brown eyes and brand new dress, and his heart. The day he fell for her. Was it his first love, the one and only true love? Somehow he'd managed to dismiss the feeling as something else. Somehow he hadn't realized the mistake he'd made.
If he could redo anything in his life, it would be that moment. He would try to do something different, something to win her over. Anything to change what would be his future, what was now his past.
from underneath the trees, we watched the sky
i never dreamed that you'd be mine.
but here we are, we're here tonight.
Now, Joe Lucas stares at the sky and wonders how on earth every single glowing speck of light, firefly and star alike, could seem so perfect. And looking over at the girl on his left, he sees the very reason why.
The stars, the lightning bugs, her smile – the only lights in paradise. For once, everything just seemed so perfect. Alone? No. Together. Yes. Forever? Not yet. But the dark-haired boy hoped and dreamed about that one moment when his forever came. It wouldn't be a forever, he thought, if she wasn't in it.
He hears her laugh, and her brown eyes meet his own. He smiles that goofy, silly, half-smile he has when he gets nervous, and her own grin gets wider. "You have a cute smile, Joseph," she teases, and he laughs too.
And as soon as anything can seem perfect, when Joe sees someone else's hand entwined in hers, perfection shatters like a mirror and he's walking on all the broken glass. As she turns away to face the curly-haired boy holding her hand, he finds that tears come to his eyes. Brushing them away does no good. They only flow faster.
"You're crying," she says softly. He shakes his head rapidly, unable to speak. The tremble in his voice would give him away. "Joseph, don't lie to me."
"I'm not," he says, trying to sound like he wasn't, but a small sob escapes from his throat. She pulls him in close for a hug, not even caring why he was crying, not asking why. It was what friends did.
if everyone cared and nobody cried
if everyone loved and nobody lied
if everyone shared and swallowed their pride
we'd see the day when nobody died
What good did wishing, dreaming, hoping do when everything just fell so short?
She walks the hallways at school, talking to that boy who Joe has come to secretly hate. It's hard, because, well, he's his brother. Somehow, he finds his way around life, narrowly avoiding every pothole that could cause him to let go. His brother has her heart and her hand in his, and all he has are those spaces between his fingers, empty. And she waves as she walks by, and he waves back, managing a small smile, the first in days.
He's not Joe anymore. At least, he doesn't feel like Joe. He feels like the empty shell of someone who used to be Joe. One more tear runs down his cheek, and he lets it fall. His image means nothing anymore, not to him.
He watches her in biology, still by his traitor brother's side.
He watches her in his home, as he helps him with his math.
He sees her, watches her at her senior prom, as his brother dances with her.
Graduation comes, and he's there, watching as she receives her diploma. His means nothing, hers means everything.
Two years later, he sees something small on her finger. And the sad reality of his life finally fell into place. As he watches her walk down the aisle, he can't help but wish she was his. He looks to his left, to his brother, the groom, then back to her, the bride. And he cries.
One year, two years, three years, four years, and he's under the stars with her once again, this time, alone.
"Joe," she whispers softly. "Are you okay?"
He hasn't realized he's been crying, but he has, soft silent tears. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"Liar." She squeezes his hand; he relishes the touch. "What's up?"
The truth would only break her. He decides to try. "Have you ever been in love with someone you could never love?"
After knowing him for so long now, she thinks she knows what he means. "Like Romeo and Juliet," she says slowly.
"Worse." He turns his head to look at her and wipes one more solitary tear from his eye. "She'll never, ever love me like I do to her. She's never realized that I've fallen head over heels from her."
"Maybe she has," she replies softly, her eyes meeting his. He looks into them, deep into their chocolate depths, and in the honest innocence of them, sees that she has no idea that it's her that breaks him.
He shakes his head. "She hasn't. She never will. She…" He chokes on a dry sob. "…loves someone else."
"Then there's nothing like time to heal a broken heart," she says softly. "Sometimes, the best thing to do is to just move on."
He opens his mouth to reply, but the sound of crying pulls her away from him. "The baby's awake," she says quietly, and gets up off the dewy grass, disappearing into one of the tents.
and as we lie beneath the stars
i realize how small we are
if they could love like you and me
imagine what the world could be…
A solitary lightning bug in a million-starred sky.
After countless years, he spreads his wings and flies.
She was in his forever, his fate entwined with hers, but never quite the way he wanted. She'll never know, he'll keep it that way.
Forever, he thinks, is a word never to be used lightly.
~*~*~*~*~*~
for•ev•er (fə-ˈrev-ər)
n. a limitless time; eternally.