She's a [Stella]ar Shooting Star
By: InspiredxWords
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Disney Channel's JONAS LA, any of the show's characters or plots. I just like to write out the little scenarios in my head between couplings in the show. This is purely a fanfiction story meant for reader's enjoyment and nothing else.
Authors Note: So I'm a Nacy fan now, but I've always been a Joella fan. I love Stella and Joe. So while I really want to write more Nacy stuff, I first had to get a Joe and Stella story out for all the fans like me. Please comment and review and give me some feedback on what you thought of it! I'm still a little rusty on my writing skills, so bear with me!
The date didn't go as Stella Malone had planned. What was she thinking when she accepted Ben's offer to go on a date? Or a more appropriate question would be who was she kidding?
Ben was a good guy, but the entire night Stella couldn't stop thinking about her best friend, Joe Lucas. Joe and his goofy thick rimmed glasses, his sense of humor and his overall friendly personality. There was no denying that he was handsome and the whole date while she was listening to Ben talk and eating pasta at the nice restaurant he had taken her to, Stella kept picturing Joe's face in her mind. At the end of the night when Ben was bringing her home, he told her that he had a great time on the date and leaned in to kiss her. Stella backed away and shook her head in shame.
"I'm so sorry Ben, but I don't think it's fair to keep going out with you when someone else has my heart," Stella told him solemnly. The memory of Joe surprising her with a kiss in the middle of their argument back in New Jersey brought a smile to her pained lips as she battled the guilt of hurting Ben's feelings. Ben understood though and gave her a friendly hug before leaving her at the steps of the beach house. That all took place just five minutes ago and since then Stella had walked inside and thrown her purse down on the kitchen counter before switching the lights on in the house.
No one was home yet; Nick and Macy were 'hanging out', but Stella had an instinct that it was actually a date. She couldn't prove it, but it seemed like their was something going on between the two friends these days. Aunt Lisa had told Stella earlier that she was going out to attend the concert of one of her ex rockstar boyfriends to ask him for some possesion or another back that he apparently had kept from their time together. Kevin was gone for a drive in his 'baby' as he liked to call his new car he had bought on a whim. Then there was Joe. Stella wasn't sure where he was until she saw a paper tacked to the fridge by a magnet.
Rehearsing lines with Vanessa,
Be back later
Joe
With a sigh, Stella made her way to the room that had been deemed the boy's closet for the summer. They were playing a gig at a Hard Rock Café tomorrow night and had asked her to pick out their outfits. Naturally, she agreed and now seemed like just the time to clear her head as she put outfits together. It had long since been her stress reliever method. She started with Kevin because he was the easiest to pick out an outfit for of the three. Well she leafed through a rack of clothes, she tucked a strand of her now short blonde bob hairstyle behind her ear.
She didn't understand why Joe wanted to spend all his time lately with Vanessa. She knew that he had to practice his lines for his part in the movie and she was happy for him about that. However, Vanessa was not a nice girl; she was controlling and her voice could annoy just about hear her talk for more than a few minutes. Sure, Vanessa was a good actress, Stella loved to watch her shows and movies, but she envied the girl for stealing her Joe away from her. They had barely spent any time together lately. Okay, so maybe Stella was a little jealous of Vanessa. In fact, she was a lot jealous. The girl just waltzed right up to Joe whenever Stella and him were having a conversation to steal him away. At first Stella thought Joe was annoyed with Vanessa, but now he tolerated it and the way they were always together seemed like they were dating. Stella had been selfish and thought that going out on a date with Ben would make Joe jealouse like last time, but her plan had backfired and now she was the jealous one.
She had finished putting together out fits for Kevin and Nick, but couldn't bring herself to piece together something for Joe. She fingered a few shirts of his and the leather jacket that looked so good on him. Perhaps if she found herself something to wear first, she could come back and find something for Joe. Stella grabbed some of the fabric she had in her closet and sat down at the sewing machine in her room. She was a skilled seamstress and sewing was one of her favorite activities to do when she was bored or angry or needed time to think. She was going to make herself a beautiful sundress for the gig tomorrow, that Macy and her were invited to. She let her mind go blank as she worked on the dress. About halfway through she heard a knock on her open door and looked up to see Joe standing there. She looked quickly back down at the fabric.
"Hey Stell," he spoke after a few silent seconds.
"Hi." She answered shortly.
"How was your date?" Joe asked as he stood with his back supported by the door frame.
"I'd rather not talk about it," Stella said somberly as she slid her fingers across the neat stitches of the hem of the dress.
"Alright, well do you want to have a movie night? We could make fruit smoothies and put those fun little umbrellas in them," Joe offered. He was concerned about Stella and the mood that she was in. He wished he could read her mind and see what had gone wrong on her date with the Ben guy. If he hurt her in anyway, all hell was about to break loose.
"No thanks Joe, not tonight. I am really tired, I think I might just go to bed," Stella told him throwing in a yawn to make her statement more believable. Joe looked crestfallen for a moment, but nodded in understanding.
"Okay good night then," he told her before he turned around to leave. He hated to see her like this though and wanted nothing more than to hold her in his arms, stroke her hair and comfort her. He wanted to be her protector and shield her from any of life's hurt. For now though, until he could prove to her that they were meant to be more than best friends, Joe had to wait on the sidelines and support her in whatever path she wanted to take, whatever boys she wanted to date, however she wanted to live her life, and whatever else because he was her friend.
After Joe left, Stella changed into her pajamas and walked over to the window seat of her room. She could see the ocean and the waves calmly lapping at the shore. However, the water wasn't what had captured her attention. It was the stars in the sky. She watched as each one twinkled brightly in the sky. They almost seemed magical and they instantly cheered Stella up. She was just turning away from the window when out of the corner of her eye she saw a shooting star. She sucked in a breath and wished with her entire heart.
'I wish that I didn't have to fight these feelings for Joe anymore.'
"Stella, you look so pretty in that dress," Macy Misa said as she surveyed Stella's newest creation. The strapless champagne colored dress complimented Stella's sunkissed skin just perfectly.
"Thanks Macy, you look absolutely stunning yourself in that dress, are you hoping to impress a certain someone tonight?" Stella asked playfully as she raised a eyebrow in curiosity.
"Only as much as you are," Macy answered, smoothing out her cheetah print cocktail dress. She knew that Stella was dressing her best lately to catch Joe's eye, but if she wasn't so oblivious, she would know that she had already caught more than just his attention. Stella's smile vanished from her face at Macy's comment because she knew it was true. She didn't respond to Macy's comment, but instead grabbed her best girl friend's arm and lead her into the café where the boys would be playing soon.
They headed backstage and Stella sat on a amp system waiting to double check the boys outfits to make sure they were clear of any wardrobe malfunctions. Nick came by first and Stella picked a piece of loose thread off from his sleeve and sent him on his way. Kevin came by needing help with the cuffs of his jacket, which Stella had no problem fixing. Then came Joe, whose outfit after much deliberation looked perfect. She gave him a half smile and spotted that his collar was off centered. She got up from her spot on the box and reached up to adjust his collar. They were so close that Stella could hear his and her own heart beating rapidly. His cologne was driving her wild; she just wanted to wrap her arms around his neck and stay there forever. He coughed though and she snapped back to reality, setting his collar right and then stepped back.
"Thanks Stell… Can you just tell me what's wrong though because I can't take all this awkwardness lately," Joe said. It caught Stella off guard.
"Nothing's wrong Joe," she said firmly.
"Stella, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that you're upset." Joe told her.
"I'm not," she responded, denying any of the claims.
"It's Vanessa isn't it?" Joe asked her. Stella suddenly felt like salt was being rubbed on her wound. She couldn't stop the pained expression from taking over her calm composure. She had to be honest with him because it was eating up her insides.
"As matter of fact Joseph, it is Vanessa Page. The girl walks all over you and she's rude, conceited and never stops talking," Stella exclaimed. Joe knew that she was angry because she never used his full name in conversations.
"Stella Malone… Are you jealous of Vanessa Page?" Joe asked incredulously. He couldn't believe it. She was jealous. He knew the feeling.
"No, I would never be jealous of her. Look, you wouldn't understand." Stella said in frustration.
"I wouldn't understand?"
"No. You wouldn't."
"You're wrong."
"Don't tell me I'm wrong Joe."
"You're being ridiculous."
"Fine, you know what? I shouldn't have even come tonight. I'm sure Vanessa's sitting in the front row waiting until after the show to hang all over you and I wouldn't want to infringe on your time with her. I'm going home." Stella said angrily before she stormed off looking for the nearest exit. She had to tell herself to wait until she got outside before she started to cry. Tears were already beginning to form in her eyes though.
"Stella!" Joe called after her, but it was no use. He had to go put on a show even though his heart was anywhere but the Hard Rock at the moment.
- - - - [Later that Night ] - - - -
New txt msg from Macy:
Call me ASAP
Stella hit the call button as soon as she saw the got the text. Something seemed urgent about the message. She had texted Macy earlier to explain why she had left and Macy had texted back saying that she understood, so this had to be about something else entirely.
"Hello?" Macy answered her phone on the first ring.
"Hey Macy, what's the emergency?" Stella asked.
"Well um… Joe took a little spill over one of the electrical cords when he was exiting the stage and we had to take him to the hospital." Macy told Stella as she braced herself for her friend's reaction.
"WHAT?" Stella screamed into the phone. She had to sit down so she didn't faint from a panic attack. "Is he okay? Oh my God!"
"He's fine Stells, he just sprained his ankle and he's got to use crutches for a week or two."
"That's not 'fine' Macy! Fine would be if he wasn't in any pain at all. I can't believe I just walked out of the Hard Rock earlier. I'm a horrible person... a horrible friend." Stella groaned into the phone.
"Tell her that she's not a horrible person or friend," Stella heard a voice speak up in the background. Was she on speaker phone?
"Joe said that you are neither or those things and it's true Stella… Listen we'll be home soon and I think that you and Joe need to sit down and talk over your earlier argument. See you in a bit," Macy said before ending the call. Stella paced the floors of the beach house for a while and an idea struck her. She walked all over the house finding and gathering things for a surprise for Joe and was still grabbing things when she heard Kevin's new car honking from outside. She rushed outside still in her stilettos and her heart almost broke as Nick and Macy were helping the injured Joe from the car. Stella rushed up with a worried look on her face.
"Joe! Are you okay? Are in you a lot of pain?" She blurted out the questions at him. Nick and Macy handed him his crutches and Macy quickly elbowed Nick trying to hint at him to leave the two alone for a bit. Nick understood and then followed Macy inside. Stella did a double take as she watched them leave because she was almost positive that she saw Nick reach for Macy's hand. She shook her head though and turned her attention to Joe.
"I'm fine Stella," Joe said acting all tough even though Stella could tell that he was in a lot of discomfort.
"I'm so sorry Joe… It's all my fault." Stella said.
"How could it be your fault? You weren't even at the café when it happened," Joe told her.
"I know, but I got mad at you and we were fighting and if I hadn't stormed out of the café you probably wouldn't be on crutches right now." Stella blamed herself.
"It would have happened regardless if you were there or not Stells." He said in a soothing voice.
"I just feel like a horrible friend. I'm sorry I shouldn't have gone off on you earlier," Stella apologized.
"You're a great friend Stella. You're talented and kind; you're beautiful and you're all I can ever think about. I love everything about you," Joe confessed.
"You're making this 'just friends' agreement really hard right now, you know that?" Stella asked him. The fact that he was hurt added another great deal of points to the matter too.
"I never wanted to be 'just friends' with you Stella. At the beginning of the summer I was going to ask you to be my girlfriend, but what I wanted more was for you to be happy." Joe said truthfully. Stella absorbed this confession and was speechless. Just then a shooting star flew past them in the night sky and Stella grinned.
"Look it's a shooting star, you should make a wish." Joe said nonchalantly.
"That's okay, my wish already came true." Stella said. Joe was just about to ask what her wish was when she surprised him by wrapping an arm around his neck and the other under his arm before sweetly kissing him on the lips. It felt just like their first kiss and left her dazed and in awe. Joe got over the surprise fast enough to kiss her back while trying to keep his balance on his crutches. It looked like his wish was coming true too. This time maybe she'd accept his request to be his girlfriend. Maybe soon he'd be able to tell her straight up that he was in love with her, but for now this was enough.
"So since I passed on last night's offer for movies and smoothies, I thought I would make up for it." Stella said when they had pulled apart. "Come with me."
She led Joe as he crutched his way over to the side door of the beach house and led him into the living room where she had two smoothies waiting complete with the small umbrellas that Joe had mentioned, a bowl of popcorn, tray of other snacks and tons of movie choices. She had made a spot with pillows and blankets for Joe to put his sprained foot up on with ice packs and everything else he needed to feel comfortable.
"This is perfect Stella, thank you! Ah man! Look at the mini umbrellas!" Joe said as he hobbled over to the coffee table and picked up a fruit smoothie. Stella stood there smiling and shaking her head at his cheesy obsession with the umbrellas. Everything worked out just fine and she owed it all to a shooting star.