Chapter 4 - Just a Movie Day

"One more math question, and then I'm taking you out of the house for a break" said Nick, glancing over at Macy as she stared at the equation in front of her. Mackenna lay against Nick's chest, her breathing even as she slept yet again. Nick didn't think it was possible for one person to sleep as much as she did, but Macy assured him it was normal.

"Do I have to get it right to go for a break? Because we'll be here all day" she joked, smiling over at him.

"You can do it just...focus. I'll go and put her in her crib, and by the time I'm back, I want you to have finished it." She nodded, and Nick carefully stood up, walking through to the nursery. It had been like this for a few weeks now. Macy was still distant to everyone at school, and taking lots of time off when her mom couldn't cope with the baby, but Nick had been coming by whenever he could to tutor her in what she was missing, and to give her the breaks she obviously needed but would never admit she needed. Kevin had told the others that Nick had left school with Macy the afternoon Nick found out, and Nick could tell he was annoying the others by not admitting he found out anything. The cover story was that he was there to help her with her homework, and that was all. Stella tried to get him to do some snooping while he was at her place, but Nick refused to, especially considering he knew just what kind of secret Macy was hiding.

"Nana will be here when you wake up, little one." He said, crouching down until he was eye-level with the mattress. "Your mommy needs her breaks every now and again. And who knows? Maybe one day your mommy and Auntie Stella'll take you out shopping with them," he chuckled. "Though Stella would probably die from excitement at the idea of dressing you." He watched her breathing for a few minutes more, before grabbing the baby monitor, switching it on, and walking out of the room.

"Done!," Macy announced, passing him her math answer. He looked over it, ran through the calculation a few times in his head, before nodding.

"Looks good to me, now let's go."

"Where are we even going?" laughed Macy, taking the baby monitor from him, planning on giving it to her mom in the store before they left.

"I thought...maybe we would hang out with the others." Nick watched as Macy's face fell.

"Nick..."

"Macy, come on. Please? They're really worried about you. And Mackenna's being taken care of so you have nothing to worry about."

"But—"

"If they ask you any questions, just tell them nothing's wrong, or that you don't want to talk about it, or some other way that'll stop them asking."

"You know Stella'll never stop asking." Macy sighed.

"Macy... Just one afternoon? If it's really bad, you don't have to do it again, I promise. But you need to be a teen too. To hang out and goof off with your friends."

"...Fine" muttered Macy, rubbing her eyes. "If it does go wrong, you know that I'm blaming you, right?"

"Go for it" he laughed, taking her math book away from her. "Go and change, I'll wait out here."

Stella, Joe and Kevin were sitting at the firehouse, Stella lazily picking at the seam of a pair of pants she needed to re-sew, while supervising Kevin and Joe as they made ice cream sundaes and banana splits.

"Ten bucks says he shows up Macy-less" said Joe, as he passed Stella a spoon.

"He said he would so I believe him!"

"...Still say he shows up Macy-less."

"Still say you're an idiot, and you haven't proved me wrong yet" mocked Stella, smirking slightly. "Make it twenty."

"You're on" Joe shook Stella's hand, and careful to keep the ice cream scoop away from the pants. He knew his life would not be worth living if he got a single stain on them, Stella would make sure of it. But he loved teasing her at the same time. To tease her and annoy her was to get her attention completely on him, and that's what he wanted: her. They'd dated once, a few months ago, but Stella had broke it off, deciding that they were better as friends, but it frustrated Joe that she couldn't see the chemistry they still had between each other. They were much more than friends, and he couldn't see why that was so obvious to him, but she was so blind to it. He was about to pass the scoop to Kevin when they heard the front door unlocking.

"We're back, guys!" Called Nick, walking in, followed by Macy, who kept her head a little low, not wanting to meet any of their gazes. Joe rolled his eyes as Stella smirked at him, before squealing, and rushing over to wrap her arms around her.

"Macy we've missed you so much!" She said, grinning. "I have so much to tell you about the tour, and the new designs I'm working on – Jonas fan wear! I'm gonna start selling it, and I wanted to know if you'd sell them on the site and you'd still get a profit and—"

"Stella, air?" said Macy, meekly. She looked up at Stella's face, full of concern, and her stomach twisted slightly. "We can...talk about it later okay? Ooh! Are those banana splits? I love those!" Macy moved out of Stella's way to walk over to the kitchen area.

"Yep! This one has your name on it!" Kevin said, passing her one.

"It literally does...he wrote it in chocolate syrup" said Joe, laughing.

"So what's the plan guys? Are we gonna watch a movie or something?" asked Nick, hovering over to where Macy was now sitting at the kitchen table, scooping up the cream from the top.

"Well I thought that'd be fun. And also yknow...us sitting around...talking..." Said Stella, slowly. A sense of protectiveness came over Nick as he saw her looking over at Macy, who was busy pretending she hadn't heard her, and that she was way more engrossed in the banana than she really was. But there was a twinge of guilt in the corner of Macy's eye, which Nick knew well. It was the same glint she got every time she left to go to school, or whenever Mackenna cried and her mom went to get her instead of Macy.

"I seriously did not bring Macy here for the Spanish Inquisition, Stella." He replied, in an authoritative tone. Stella stared at him, speechless, her mouth dropped open in shock.

"Earth to Malone." Said Joe, taking her by her shoulders, and leading her towards their TV room. It had been set up with various genres of movie, ready for Macy to pick what she wanted to watch. For Nick, this was to reassure her, and remind her she was just like the rest of them, and for the others, it was an attempt at loosening Macy enough to get information out of her, or Nick.

"Hmmm...Casino Royale." Macy said, passing it to Nick, and sending a little smile his way. Nick's favorite, of course, and Nick couldn't help but laugh.

"We have a choice of every girly teenage movie out there, and you pick this? Really?" He smirked.

"What? A girl can't like an action movie once in a while?" She giggled, and the others stared at them, not knowing what to say about their obvious flirting. After Nick put the DVD in, Stella, Kevin and Joe took seats on the recliners, and Nick sat on the couch, Macy tucked into his side tightly. Her eyes were drooping a little as Mackenna had kept her up all night, so Nick stroked her arms and eyelids gently.

"You can sleep if you want," he whispered, trying to keep his voice low so that the others couldn't listen. "I know you didn't get much sleep last night, your mom told me."

"No I can't...The guys...Stella..." She murmured, yawning against the back of her hand.

"I'll deal with it." He said, kissing her hair, and holding her closer.

"They're so together!" Hissed Stella, leaning over to Joe's recliner, and nearly toppling out of her own.

"You break it, you pay for it." Said Joe, leaning in towards Stella a little more. "And you're crazy, no they're not. Nick is Nick and Macy is...well....Macy."

"Who knows who Macy is anymore, Joe, really!" Joe rolled his eyes at Stella's melodramatic answer. "But seriously, have you seen them? The hugs, the standing with her, the head kiss. A head kiss Joe!"

"...You're crazy. Yep, that must be the answer." Joe nodded slowly, turning his head back to the TV. Stella narrowed her eyes at him, and if looks could kill, Joe would be dead by now. She was more determined than ever to find out what was going on with her best friend. Standing up, she walked over to where Macy was half asleep. "Okay, girl time while the guys watch their guy movie, okay? I can do your hair, and nails, and we can talk, and—"

"Stella..." Nick said warningly, keeping his arm around Macy.

"Macy, please? Just us girls. It'll be fun." Stella pouted at Macy, a face she could never say no to, and Macy sighed, stretching.

"Alright, for a little while." She nodded, standing up. She caught Nick's eye, a hint of worry in it, before Stella grabbed her hand and ran up the stairs with her, shutting the guys bedroom door. Macy walked over to Nick's bed and settled on it, enjoying the familiar smell.

"Okay, spill sister. What is going on between you and Nick?"

"What?" Said Macy, her mouth hanging open. "Me? And Nick Lucas? There is nothing going on. For starters, he's a huge rock star, what would he want with me..."

"He spends every second of the day with you, Mace. He does homework with you. All signs are there. He's a member of Jonas! Aren't you excited?"

"He's just a guy, Stella." She muttered, looking down at her lap.

"A guy in your favourite band."

"Just a guy." Macy repeated, looking up at Stella, imploring. "Stella please, can you drop it? There is no me and Nick, he's just helping me with...situations."

"What situations? Why can't you talk to me about what's going on? You're my best friend, Macy, and it feels like I don't know you at all anymore."

"...I'm fine." Macy lied, rubbing her temple. The mixture of being tired, and now being stressed was taking it's toll on her, and giving her a headache.

"'Fine' people don't walk around the school like a zombie, and ditch their favourite band, and their best friend, for a whole summer like you did, Macy. Something's happened with you, and to be honest, I'm getting a little mad that you won't tell me."

"Fine. Then I guess we can't be friends." Macy's response was shaky, and hesitant, but she looked up at Stella's shocked face. "You're looking for gossip, Stella, and I'm sorry that I can't be that gossip. And I can't believe that's what our friendship has been to you lately. Just something you can tell everyone else about." She didn't mean the words coming out of her mouth, not really. She knew Stella was someone she could do with having around, helping her out with Mackenna, mainly because she knew that as soon as Stella saw her, she'd fall in love with her. But she wasn't ready for that. Ready for too many people to know. And if that meant pushing her best friend away, she'd do that. Stella was too stunned to speak, just staring at Macy, before she wordlessly turned on her heel, and stomped down the stairs. Minutes later Macy heard the front door slam, and only once she was sure Stella had left the building, did she break down and cry.

"...Dude you know you have to go after her, right?" Said Kevin, remembering back to a few minutes ago when Stella stormed into the room, grabbed her bag, said a bitchy goodbye, and walked out.

"She's probably on her period or something." Joe shrugged.

"I'm pretty sure it's more than that, and if she's upset Macy—"

"She wouldn't do that to her. It's her best friend." Joe didn't look away from the screen for a second, then sighed. "Okay, okay...Kevin, you go after her."

"Why me?!"

"Because you're good at all that emotional girl stuff, I'm not – you know she'll end up hitting me."

"Well I'm not gonna go, Nick can go!"

"Except not." He said, standing up, and moving to stand in front of the television. "Joe, go after her. Now."

"But—"

"If you want her back like you had her before, you'll go and check on her." Joe hesitated, before huffing.

"Fine, fine. A guy can take a hint when his own brothers are turning against him!" He dramatically grabbed his jacket from the coat rack, and headed out the door, cell phone in hand to try and track her down. Nick let out a long sigh, and switched the DVD back on.

"So, what's it like?" Asked Kevin, randomly, causing Nick to pause the movie again.

"What's what like?" He asked, preparing himself for another Kevinism.

"Being around a baby." Kevin shrugged, not taking his eyes off the DVD box he was reading, while Nick stared at him, wide-eyed.

"Excuse me?"

"Macy's baby." Said Kevin simply. He looked over, and smiled at the way Nick was staring at him. "What? You think I've been around mom three times she's been pregnant and not learnt a thing or two?"

"Why would you think...that." Asked Nick, slowly, being careful to not give anything away.

"Her clothes got baggier before tour, and she had this kind of glow to her skin. And they weren't so baggy when we got back, but she wasn't super skinny like before. And she's tired all the time. Because she's being kept awake? Am I doing good?"

"...Why didn't you talk to me! You're not gonna tell Joe and Stella, are you?"

"Nope!" Grinned Kevin. "I didn't want to ask Macy. Yknow, in case I was wrong and she hit me or something. Girls don't like it when you say they look pregnant." He shrugged, and looked back at the DVD. Nick remained staring at him until he remembered Macy was upstairs. She hadn't come down after Stella stormed off, and he felt like an idiot for not realising. Rushing up the stairs, he looked around the room for her, and found her asleep on his bed. Smiling he went over and stepped down into it, lying next to her. The motion of the bed woke her up, and she yawned.

"Sorry..."

"No, I'm sorry for leaving you up here." Said Nick, rubbing her arm. "What happened?"

"Me and Stella are no longer friends." She said, looking away.

"Macy..."

"She wouldn't stop asking questions, trying to get the gossip out of me, and I just...snapped." Macy sighed, resting her head against his chest as he hugged her. "But it's fine, me and Mackenna don't need her."

"You do need her." Said Nick softly, rubbing her arm. "You don't have to be so brave all the time..."

"I'm her mom, Nick. It's up to me if I think Stella isn't good to have around her.

"Just think about it. Please." Nick said gently, brushing some hair away from her face. "By the way um...Kevin knows. He said he worked it out weeks ago."

"What?" She asked, looking at him.

"Long story." Said Nick, shrugging. He paused as he looked at her. He couldn't take his eyes away, and a part of him didn't want to. Macy was just as frozen, as he leaned in and gently placed a kiss on her lips, which she reciprocated, gently. Seconds later, she pulled away.

"Nick, no. I don't have time for this, I—" She was lost for words when her cell phone rang, and she answered without looking up. "Hello? ... Mom what is it, what's wrong?... N-no mom, calm down, shh, it's okay, I—" She looked at Nick, and swallowed. "Y-yeah I'll be there. Right now. No Nick...N-Nick can drive me." She hung up without saying goodbye, and Nick saw the tears rolling down her cheeks before he heard the sob. "The hospital. Mom...Mom called an ambulance. She had a fever, and mom couldn't get it down, s-so..." Nick wrapped his arms tightly around her as she broke down in tears, rubbing her back the best he could, even though he was breaking down just as much inside. Because he'd fallen in love with that baby just as much as he'd fallen in love with her mother.