As the dawn light pored over him, Nick pressed his head against the cool window in the back of Aunt Lisa's very small car.
The back of the seat was cluttered with bags which only amplified his claustrophobia. But the small brunette lying her head on his chest made it worth it. The vibration of her slight snore was almost rhythmic that he couldn't help but to grin and kiss the top of her head.
As he rested his head on her soft hair, Nick found that he'd truly started to fall in love with Macy. So much so, that he decided to ride to the airport in this miniature car with the girls instead of top-down cruising with his brothers. But how could he not love her? Macy was smart, caring, sweet and knew how to make him laugh; all the the things he was searching for.
Boy, was he glad that Macy grew out of her crazy fan phase.
The only problem that Nick faced was telling Macy that he loved her. His friends already picked at the couple by saying that they are in love and they never denied it, but they never said it to each other either.
His thoughts were interrupted by Stella sighing in the passenger seat, "Who decided to book this 8 a.m. flight?"
"...It was your idea, Stella," Nick recalled lifting his head from Macy's, "I distinctively remember saying that you wanted to get back to New Jersey before Joe changed is mind about filming the Forever April sequel."
Nick couldn't see her face, but he could tell that she was scowling, "I did not say that, Nick," Stella began, "Mona said she doesn't want to replace Joe, so they're going to do the sequel whenever he's ready. He chose to come back to New Jersey. Choosing to book the flight earlier is just speeding up the process."
"I was joking, Stell," Nick truthfully reminded her.
"It's hard to tell with you," Stella says as she rests her head on the head rest, "It's just..." she begins to trail off, "we decided to live for right now, but when does 'living in the now' become too much of a naive mindset?"
Nick was taken back. Stella never showed any type of doubt about his brother; at least not to him. Were these types of conversations always had among the girls?
He could only think if Macy has any doubts about their relationship. No, she couldn't. Macy knows he loves her... right?
"Nick," Stella said grabbing his attention once again, "Were you even listening?"
"Of course I was listening," Nick says lowly, trying not to wake Macy.
"He wasn't listening, honey," Aunt Lisa says tentatively keeping her eyes on the road and her hands on 10 and 2. Sure, Aunt Lisa has lightened up about the boys dating the girls, but she knows how boys are in general. She could see straight through Nick's fib.
"Maybe not the full way through, but I was listening when it counted."
Aunt Lisa snorts, "Ha! No such thing."
"Where do boys' minds go when your trying to have a conversation with them?" Stella asked her aunt.
"Through my experience," Aunt Lisa begins, "anywhere but in the same room as you."
Nick chuckles, "That was funny."
"It wasn't a joke." Aunt Lisa said as she pulled into the airport.
"Oh," Nick says regretting his chuckle.
Just as Aunt Lisa puts the car in park, Nick's phone springs to life with Joe's name printed across the screen and his Jonas ringtone fills the miniature car.
Macy jerks from the noise and slowly rises from Nick's chest, "Are we back?" Macy groans.
Nick smiles as he moves the strands of her hair from in front of her face, "No babe, we just got to the airport," he says as he swipes his thumb across his smart phone to answer his brothers call, "Our flight leaves in 2 hours," he says to Macy before pressing his phone to his ear, "What's up?"
"Ketch-up, mustards," Joe says on the other end of the call, "Me and Kevin had to drop the car off at the rental place and we still got here faster than you guys."
"I didn't know it was a race," Nick said getting out the car to help unload the bags.
"Well you should hurry up. Our plane is about to depart," Joe tells him casually.
"We have 2 hours until we're scheduled to take off," Nick reminds him passing Stella her bags from the tightly packed trunk.
"You see, little brother... When you have a private plane, all you have to do is talk to the pilot and the 8 a.m. flight turns into a 6 a.m. flight," Joe says matter of factly.
Nick rolls his eyes, "That's not how that works, Joe."
"Is too."
"Ask our pilot then."
"Fine, I will," Joe says. The line hangs silent for a while and then his voice comes back, "He said no."
Nick chuckles at his brothers stupidity, "See you in a bit Joe," he hangs up the phone and turns back to the girls who have already fully unpacked the car.
"Hey rockstar," Aunt Lisa calls, "thanks for unpacking one bag and leaving us to do the rest of the work."
"Sorry Aunt Lisa," Nick sincerely says.
"Was that Joe?" Stella asks referring to Nick's recent call.
"Yeah, and apparently, he's wants to go back to Jersey just as quickly as you do, maybe even quicker."
Stella tries to hide her joy, but fails miserably, "Well let's not keep the man waiting. Our flight is waiting for us to take off!" She says grabbing her bags heading toward the airport.
Nick, Macy and Aunt Lisa all laugh in harmony, "Stella, sweetie, that's not how private planes work," Macy's sweet voice interferes.
Stella bursts into laughter, "Mace, everyone knows all you have to do is talk to the pilot to get the flight times changed."
Macy and Nick exchange the same look to each other, "You and my brother are perfect for one another," Nick tells the blonde.
Stella shrugs and continues her stride into the airport followed by the rest of her friends.
"I can't believe me and Stella are going in to our senior year as a couple." Joe says as he reclines his seat in the expensive private plane.
Kevin comes from the plane's bathroom and claps Joe's shoulder with his hand, "And I can't believe that I graduated," he sighs, hopping over Joe's legs to sit down at the window seat, "Summer school was hard, especially with all the drama-"
"-Hey," Joe offensively interjects in between Kevin's sentence.
"-But I'm glad I pushed through," Kevin smiles at his statement.
Though he was barely seen doing his assignments, Kevin was adamant to pass his mandatory summer classes so he wouldn't have to retake his senior year. Operative word being 'pass.'
"Won't you be bored in the house while me and Nick are at school?" Joe asks his brother.
Kevin hums, "Hmm, I haven't thought about that. I'm pretty sure I could hang around school. Everybody loves me there, I'm sure no one would mind." he shrugs.
Joe scoffs at his brother's oblivion, "Yeah, everyone except for Principal Hannigan. He hates you, and calls you an insubordinate delinquent any chance he gets."
"No, that's just his nickname for me. I wouldn't expect you to understand, thats just our relationship."
"Kevin," Joe chuckles, "You failed half of your classes, but Principal Hannigan let it slide just so he wouldn't have to deal with you for another year."
Kevin's brows furrow; Joe did have a point. Kevin was questioning how he was able to graduate even though he had such a low GPA.
He shakes his head of the thought, "No, I'm pretty sure I'm right," he naively smiles. He truly believed that Principal Hannigan loved him.
Joe shakes his head, "Whatever, man," he says before he hears shuffling come from the jet's entrance.
He watches as his beautiful blonde girlfriend enters the plane with her bags hanging from either sides of her arms.
It feels as if his world stops when their eyes lock. Joe pulls on a content grin and she smiles back, unleashing her chin dimple which Joe always found adorable. Stella sounds a breathless, "Hey."
"Hi," He responds and stands from the comfortable position in his seat to help her with her bags.
"Oh, thank you," Stella says before handing one of her bags to Joe. As soon as he retrieves the deceivingly heavy bag, he plummets to the floor as if he was holding an anchor instead, "Joe!" Stella says before worriedly dropping next to him, "Are you okay?"
Joe groans, but smiles through the pain, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just didn't think clothes could be this heavy."
"Clothes?" Stella begins, "Oh no, honey, that was my sewing machine."
"Right... Well, it was worth the fall."
Stella smiles while chastely pecking Joe's lips with hers. She hops on her feet to help Joe up, then grabs her bags from the floor without trouble. Joe scratches the back of his neck in embarrassment, but sheepish smiles and helps Stella put her bags away.
"Well isn't that cute," Kevin gushes from his seat, "Only took you guys- what? Like 17 years?" He berates the couple for taking so long to get together.
Stella gives Kevin a stern glance before Macy and Nick enter the jet and immediately drop their- but mostly Stella's, bags to the floor.
Stella points to the bags, "See, Joe, now those are my clothes."
Joe makes an "O" shape with his mouth and nods approvingly, but Macy and Nick say nothing and drop to the floor in exhaustion.