CHAPTER THREE

Weirdo.

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His cell phone was mocking him. It was just sitting on his bed, laughing at him. And the tiny piece of paper that was sitting on his desk wasn't helping that much.

Do it, do it. He could basically hear them telling him what to do. Materialistic objects weren't supposed to talk – it just wasn't possible. So why were they encouraging him?

Call her. They shouted once again.

"Joe! Call her!"

Snapping his head up and widening his eyes, Joe's heartbeat quickened. They were talking to him! Literally, completely, talking to him!

"Joe!" There was a pound on the door and Joe looked up to see his younger brother standing in the doorway, an annoyed expression painted on his face. Nick's eyes were narrowed and his eyebrows were knitted.

So it hadn't been the phone talking to him, but instead his brother.

"Call who?" He asked, averting his eyes back to the tiny slip of paper.

"Mom. Who else would I be talking about?" And with that, he stomped down the stairs, and finally there was a slam of the garage door signifying that he was back to practicing the song the three boys had written only yesterday.

From his desk chair, Joe leant forward to grab a hold of his cell phone. Holding the silent object in his hand, he let out a sigh. It had been three days since the movie with Lilly, and three long days with her phone number just sitting on his desk, waiting to be punched into the phone. Part of him knew it was wrong to call her, for the fact that she had a boyfriend and all. But the louder, more dominant side of him was telling him it was fine. It's wouldn't be like they having random hook-ups or anything like that.

But did she know he had her number? Was she expecting a call from him, or would it be an utter surprise?

555-3857.

His finger hovered over the number five, just itching to press it. As he debated with himself over weather or not to call, Nick's very… encouraging words popped into his mind. "Joe – just grow a pair already," He would snarl, before breaking out into the guitar riff that would show off his 'skills', as he liked to call it.

Punching in her number quickly, before he could back down, Joe could suddenly hear his heartbeat in his ears, and feel the blood rushing to his cheeks.

"Hello?" Her soft voice filled his ears, causing a tiny smile to appear.

"Hi Lilly, it's Joe. From the movies the other day," He stated, standing up from the black desk chair and starting to pace in front of his bed.

"Oh, um hey?"

Now what? He had no clue what to say to this girl. They had nothing to talk about – there was nothing to talk about. Mentally kicking himself for calling, Joe stopped pacing and looked around his small room for something to trigger his memory.

But there were only so much two beds, a closet, and a desk could let you talk about.

"So how's it going?" He asked, stalling for a little more time.

She paused, and he could hear her breathing through the receiver. "Pretty good I guess. You?" Her voice sounded confused, like she had no idea why she was talking to who she was.

"Great. So hey, I knew we only met like three days ago and we didn't exactly get to talk and stuff, but I was wondering if you wanted to go out sometime?"

"Go out, like on a date?"

He nodded, and then the words sunk in. "No, wait! I didn't mean go out since you have Oliver and all. I meant like… just hang out. You know."

She laughed. It was a soft, girly laugh that Joe had never heard before. It was such a cute, adorable laugh that all he wanted was to just hear it again.

Joe started pacing once again, waiting for her answer and reminiscing on her laugh. It was ringing in his ears, and he didn't want it to stop.

"Sure, that'd be great. How about like Starbucks or something? I've never been there before, and Oliver hates coffee… so yah," Her voice trailed off as a large, dopy grin spread across Joe's face.

"Coffee, sure! How can you not like coffee, coffee is like a drug. My brother's obsessed, it's scary. So tomorrow? Like around… twelve?" He asked, just as Kevin, his older brother walked into their shared room.

Flopping down onto the bed, Kevin grabbed the pillow that was under his stomach and chucked it at Joe, hitting him square in the side of the head. Without moving his eyes, Joe flipped his brother off just as Lilly agreed to their little 'coffee hangout.'

Saying their goodbyes, Joe dropped the phone down onto his bed as he jumped up and began spinning and jumping around, like his younger brother Frankie did when his favourite hockey team won.

"She said yess!" He sang out, in a sing-song voice, bouncing from one side of his bed to the other.

"Date?" Kevin asked, his voice flat as ever as he picked up the magazine that had been lying on the floor.

"Noo," Joe replied, his voice still sing-songy.

"Then stop, you're making the roof below shake."

Stopping, Joe glared at his brother and jumped off his twin bed. "Kevin you freaking fun sucker, get out."

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Smoothing out her yellow Plain White T's t-shirt, Lilly sucked in her breath as she looked down the street, afraid of whom might turn the corner and see her walking with Joe.

"I can't believe you've never been to Starbucks," He shook his head, a chuckle escaping his vocal cords. It was crazy sure, but it was true.

Oliver didn't really enjoy coffee – he said it messed with his head. So Lilly just never really thought of going to the local Starbucks. But when Joe called her last night, it was the first place that popped into her mind.

She shoved her hands into the pocket of her purple hoodie and laughed as well. "Nope."

As they walked down the busy street, their arms swinging, Lilly started to relax. She wasn't cheating on Oliver, and she knew it. Everyday people went out with friends of the opposite sex – it didn't mean a thing.

Reaching the front door that lead into the small corner coffee shop, Joe pulled it opened and motioned for Lilly to walk in. Giggling, she entered the room and instantly her nose was filled with the sweet smell of coffee and cinnamon. Looking around, she instantly felt a wave of happiness wash over her. What was there not to like about Starbucks?

In the far corner there were three chairs spread out, with a dark brown wooden table in the middle, where tons of magazines and books rested. Lining the walls were round white tables, and black chairs. Sitting at the very back of the room was a thin man with black rimmed glasses, typing away furiously on his laptop. Everyone in here looked so… so sophisticated.

"Wow," She breathed out, unaware of the fact that she had actually said that aloud. Blushing instantly after hearing Joe's chuckle, they got into the long line.

"So this is Starbucks," She smiled, crossing her arms across her chest.

He nodded. "Sure is. So what do you want?" Jerking his chin in the direction of the large three panel menus hanging on the wall, Lilly cocked her head to the side. It was just like reading French – she had no idea what anything was.

"Vanilla Bean Frap?" Averting her eyes up to his, she furrowed her eyebrows. "Is it any good?"

Tilting his head to the side, Joe pinched his fingers together and brought them up to his lips. "Perfecto."

Much to her surprise, Lilly let out a few very girlish giggles. Looking down at her feet in embarrassment, she tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear before looking back up at Joe.

Once their order was complete, they walked over to an empty table for too, and took a seat. Lilly looked around once more, checking over her shoulder just to make sure Oliver wasn't watching her.

Whenever she went out in public, she always felt like someone was watching her. Was it just paranoia, or was someone actually watching her? Miley was always joking around how Lilly was so afraid of people, but really she wasn't afraid of anything. Well besides what that one person would do to her if he caught her with Joe.

"You're not running from the FBI or something are you?" His deep voice broke the silence between them.

Laughing, Lilly shook her head gently. "No, no. Nothing like that."

"Then what is it? All day you've been looking over your shoulder like at any given moment someone's going to jump out and grab you," He lifted his elbows up onto the table and crossed his arms.

"It's nothing," She sighed as he knitted his eyebrows. "Ok fine. I have a little problem. I like to know who's watching me," She raised her hands into the air in defeat, and looked down at the brown table.

Joe was silent as he fixed his eyes on Lilly. She was so… weird. But a good weird. A weird like him. Because Joe Jonas was definitely a good weirdo.

"Oh kayy," His eyes widened as he chuckled to himself, and took a long sip from his Caramel Frap.

"You think I'm weird," Lilly stated, her voice deflating. She hated it when people thought she was weird. She didn't want to be different from people – she liked blending in with the crowd. Standing out was Miley's job. Lilly was just the sidekick – the one that people really didn't notice.

Shaking his head, Joe sat up straight. "No I don't."

"No?"

"Nah. You're not weird. I'm weird… but you're definitely not."

She let out a quick sigh of relief. "Good." Raising the green straw to her lips, she paused. "You think you're weird?"

He nodded.

"How come? You seem pretty normal to me."

Joe chuckled, and set down the plastic cup. "Then you don't know me at all."

"Then I guess I'll just have to get to know you."

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Pacing was never his thing. He didn't really understand why people did it in the first place. It's not like it would make the situation any better. It's not like it would calm you down.

So why was he all of a sudden pacing in his small, over crowded room?

The cell phone in his hand was a deadly silent. He had been waiting all day for her to call, but it seemed as if she had other plans.

He hated it when her plans didn't involve him.

Lifting the small, thin black cell phone up, Oliver punched in the seven digits that were imprinted in his mind. Holding it against his ear, he waited as patiently as he could until finally, a soft and gentle voice answered.

"Hello?" Lilly asked.

"Lilly, finally! I've been calling you all day. Where were you?" His tone was impatient as he dropped down onto his twin bed.

She paused. He could tell she didn't know what to say. "I was out shopping with my mom."

A wave of relief washed over him. He had assumed she had been out with that Joe Jonas again.

"Oh ok. Hey – so I was wondering if you wanted to hang out?"

"I would love to. But I can't – my dad rented this movie and he wants us to have a family night."

Oliver straightened up, as he rolled his eyes. Her dad was always doing those stupid 'family nights'. They had to have been the dumbest things he had ever heard. His father would never ever do anything like that, because he was always working. But hey, Oliver wasn't complaining.

"Oh ok, well maybe tomorrow?"

Her answer was quick. A little to quick, but he thought nothing of it. Her dad was probably breathing down her neck, yelling at her to get off the phone because the movie was about to stat. "Yeah sounds great. Bye Oliver."

And with that, the line was dead, and Oliver was left alone for yet another night in a row.

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"I can't believe I'm doing this!" Lilly squealed, as she clapped her hands together. Beside her, Joe was standing with his arms crossed and a bright blue gummy worm hanging from his mouth.

She had just gotten off the phone with Oliver, and was feeling a tiny bit guilty for lying to him. But she was just having so much fun with Joe, that she didn't want it to end.

"Believe it," He replied, his voice slightly muffled from the candy dangling from his pink lips. "Now go!"

Taking one last look at Joe, who was now bouncing on the balls of his feet, she took a deep breath before diving into the ice cold pool.

Emerging from underwater, Lilly began to tread water as she looked up at Joe, who had a smug look on his face.

"Hey, no fair! Get in here now!" She shouted, paddling over to the deck where he was standing. Reaching up Lilly grabbed his ankle and was about to pull him in, until he jumped over her head and landed with a splash into the water.

Laughing to herself, Lilly looked into the bubble infested water for Joe, but he was no where to be seen.

"What you doing?!" He shouted from behind her, his voice deeper than usual. Lilly let out a squeal as she felt her heartbeat quickening.

"Don't scare me!" She slapped the water, causing it to splash up into Joe's face.

"Oh no you didn't," He joked, adding in the special affect of the 'girl snap'.

"Oh no you didn't just do that!"

From a few feet away, Lilly noticed a light flicker on. "Joe! Someone's coming!" She whispered, grabbing onto his wrist and attempting to drag him through the water over to the edge of the pool.

A confused look took over his face. "No one's home Lilly, chill."

"We gotta get out of here! Look, the lights on!"

"Ok, ok come on. Hurry," His tone was light as he jumped up out of the pool, followed by a worried Lilly. They quickly grabbed their shoes and socks, and then hightailed it out of the yard as fast as possible.

Once at a safe distance away from the house, Lilly sat down on the bright green grass. Above them, the sun had already set and was replaced with a bright, full moon. Beside her, Joe sat down and extended his long, wet jean covered legs.

"Oh Lilly, there's something I forgot to tell you..." His voice trailed off as he crossed his arms behind his head, and leant down onto his back.

Looking at him from above, Lilly raised an eyebrow at him before lying down next to him.

"What's that?"

Joe turned his head, so his eyes were looking into hers. She smiled slightly as the moon reflected off his forehead, giving it a nice shine.

His face was serious, and it made the nervous butterflies start up in the pit of her stomach.

"That was my house."

She let out a long laugh, before slapping him on the shoulder. "You jerk!"

The seriousness seemed to dissolve as a large, toothy grin broke out onto his face.

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