A/N: Jhi is Joe/Rhiannon, Levin is Laken/Kevin, and Lick is Leonie/Nick
Narration POV
A week has passed, and relationship problems have gotten pretty much nowhere progressive. Jhi still wears a solemn face, and in Rhiannon's case: defensive face. They talk, they put on a laughing expression sure, but things aren't how they once were. Whenever Joe tries to see inside, Rhi shuts him out and pushes him away. He's beginning to grow tired of being rejected, but only time can tell if this affects anything in their relationship.
Levin has been facing problems of their own, most of them revolving around Laken. Kevin knows he can't give up on her, but she's being complicated these days. She's always had an air of stubbornness, but it's gotten out of control. Her once fashionable style has turned to baggy t-shirts and sweatpants, her complexion has gotten paler, and that's saying nothing of her behavior. She is irritable, extremely, whilst her eating habits have changed. She refuses to eat with the Jonas' or her girlfriends, but they haven't questioned that.
And lastly, Lick. Now, our perfect little couple has been sensing some animosity, merely because of a new face that seems to be looming quite a lot. She's become friendly with all three Jonas' throughout the week that they've been struggling with romance, but has taken a bit of an extra liking to little Nicky. She was a charming girl, her looks peeking average and Nick found himself being attracted to her. He ignored the warning glances Kevin and Joe had been sending him, and refused to lay his feelings away. If Leonie wasn't going to make a move, then why couldn't he make one? Only, on our new little lady. And lastly, the tour has been put off a week due to atrocious weather in the next tour destination, that means more time for drama to unfold.
Nick's POV
You know what sucks about being male? Not being female. Girls get all this easy shit, because guys are supposed to handle all the relationship moves. We ask out, we propose, sure a while later they lug around the weight of two for nine months, but that's nothing considering my purity ring restricts that from happening anytime soon. Anyway, we're all at the venue lounge. It's become pretty much a regular hang out spot for us all. Back to the real dilemma though, Charlotte. Her name just sent shivers up my spine, which I know I'd get murdered for. She was our managers niece, and had shown up at the studio with him one day, she like myself was fifteen. We'd hung around a lot, even sometimes with Leonie, but she's never suspected anything as far as I know.
Charlotte would send me smiles, a lot, and I was finding it hard not to fall for her. She was flirting openly whenever Leonie wasn't around, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't being 'seduced' by it. But then again, she knew she wouldn't have to worry about Leonie because we weren't officially dating, right? There was no restriction to me dating Charlotte, not that I had even thought that far.
The three girls had gotten a lot closer throughout the week, they'd only talk about real things to each other. Except for Laken, she kept quiet and only gave her opinion when she couldn't resist, I was worried about her; but knew she wouldn't want me to impose.
"Hey Char?" I couldn't believe what I was about to do, or how I was actually doing it.
"Hm?" She smiled, and I was reminded again why I fell for her. Her bright and smiley attitude, her charm, grace, and beauty, and lastly but kind of weird... her smell. She always smelt fruity and fresh, not that Leonie smelt bad, Leonie didn't have a smell at all.
"Look," Uh-oh, I knew the rambling was on its way, "I know we've only known each other for about a week, and it's too soon to assume anything. I was wondering though, would you maybe want to come to dinner with me? If you don't want to, that's totally cool 'cause I don't want to like put you on the spot or anything." I knew I was blushing, stupid bodily functions. She didn't say anything at first, which kind of ruined it. Had I asked her too soon? Stupid as this sounds, I wish I had asked Kevin or Joe... okay Kevin, about doing this first. Then her expression changed, and she smiled.
"I'd love to, actually I'd been planning on asking you but I wasn't sure what you and Leonie were," I could see her face was lit up, and I was sure as hell glad that I made it that way.
"What we were?"
"You know, as in a couple or just friends.." she trailed off, as if talking about Leonie would make me forget plans with her, and run to Leo.
"We're just friends, I think she's even had her eye on Joe," that was entirely untrue, but from what I'd gathered about the opposite sex, she wouldn't rest assured if I only told her me and Leonie were just friends.
"Oh, well that's good," her face started to get really red, for a reason I didn't know, and then I did. She leaned across the seat, and kissed me square on the lips. I was a little bit stunned by how forward she was being, but I played along with it. She wasn't a bad kisser, I just hoped I was up to par. The mood didn't change, and the kiss didn't grow more intense. It just felt nice as it went on.
Leonie's POV
"Rhi, I don't know what to do," I attacked her, with a sad look on my face.
"What's wrong, Leo?" she seemed concerned, I guess it wasn't normal for me to wear a disappointed frown.
"Nick, what am I supposed to do about him? We've been flirting like idiots, but I don't know how to take it to the next step. But lately though? We've gotten more distant, and it's killing me because he probably thinks I don't want to be near him,"
"Calm down, Leo. We all can see that Nick likes you, you should go like... ask him to dinner or something," her voice was reassuring, so I took Rhiannon's word for it. Big mistake.
So I got up, and walked outside, and set off in search for Nick. I heard two voices coming from up in front of the building, probably on the bench that decorated the front lawn. Then the voices became silent, so I thought a bit of investigating was in order. I wish I had never thought that, because the reason the voices ended pretty much caused my heart to break. Nick and that new girl, the pretty one who I'd felt intimidated by; Charlotte, were making out on the bench. Unfortunately, I'd gotten a little too close because Nick's head jerked up and then he saw me.
"I'm so sorry guys, I didn't realize I was interrupting anything!" I could tell my voice was cracking, but at least I hadn't burst into tears in front of him, maybe my cover wasn't blown. I could play the cracked voice off as shock, or guilt for walking in on them.
Nick just stared at me, I kind of wish he would say something. Charlotte wouldn't look at me, which I didn't get, I don't think I'd been that obvious with my feelings for him in front of her. I didn't know what to do, so I turned on my heel and ran out of there. The tears started pouring out by the time I reached Rhi, who was waiting with open arms when she saw me through the door. Laken was by her too, looking at me with a motherly expression on her face.
I practically jumped into both of their arms, my eyes were red and blurred by my tears. My breathing was labored, as all my sobs had worn me out. Why was I so hurt? I had just started to develop a crush on Nick, it was practically nothing.. right?
"What's wrong?" Their concerned voices rung out in unison.
"Sweetie, you don't need Nick. He probably just doesn't want a love interest right now, hun you just need to wait a little," Rhiannon said, boy was she off.
"Yeah, he probably doesn't want a love interest. That's why he was macking on that Charlotte girl," I was barely able to get out, as I was overcome by sniffles and sobs. Their eyes got wide.
"I knew I hated that skank! What a slut, it's obvious that you like Nick, bitch'd have to be blind not to see that!" it was Laken's turn to speak. She was mad, definitely fired up. But the mad fire in her eyes wasn't there, or more the flame was very dim. Something was wrong with Laken, and it was really concerning me.
"Leo, you want us to take you out for some double fudge ice cream or something?" Rhiannon had the cure packed down, plus I think she was in the mood for some Rocky Road.
"Depends, can I get extra hot fudge?" I said, winking at her. She smiled, glad I was feeling a little bit better, and we all walked out the front door to get our ice cream. Joe caught up with us, and I noticed Rhiannon tense up a little. I didn't get that, what happened between them?
"Where're you guys going?" He was trying to look at all of us, but his gaze was mostly focused on Rhi.
"We're going to get some ice cream, thanks to your idiot of a brother! Little Nicky isn't as bad with the ladies as you thought, Joseph," Laken snarled at him, I almost had to laugh.
"Woah there Laken, I'm not mad at Nick!" I lied, I was furious at him. "And don't bite Joe's head off, he didn't do anything wrong!"
Rhiannon snorted at that, but made a pretty good attempt at covering it up. That meant I was indeed missing something. Joe just gave us all weird stares as we went to get in the car. But I ignored it as we all drove down to the ice cream parlor. We pulled in and a distant look hit Laken's face, she shook her head and nodded a few times, as if trying to decide something. When we were inside, Rhiannon and I placed our orders. We waited on Laken, but were stunned at her answer.
"Guys, I don't want anything. I'm just not in the ice cream mood, sorry," she looked down, avoiding our eyes. Uh, no ice cream? Laken, you feeling okay...
I was concerned now, whenever we'd eaten throughout the week she'd said she hadn't wanted anything. I knew she had to have eaten something though, otherwise she'd be under serious hospitalization. So, we decided to confront her, much to her dismay.
"Laken, you need to tell us what's up. Why aren't you eating anything with us, are you afraid to eat in front of others or something? That's not a good quality to have, what about dinner dates?" I started off immediately.
"I'm fine eating in front of others, Leonie," she snapped right back. I grabbed her wrists and dragged her to a corner of the store, Rhiannon followed suit.
"Laken, we know something is up. Just tell us!" Rhiannon prodded, demandingly.
"WILL YOU GUYS CHILL? THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH ME. I'M JUST NOT HUNG--" her voice cut off when her breathing became labored, and she clutched her hands around her throat.
"I can't breathe," she managed to sputter out, and practically collapsed on top of me.
"SOMEBODY CALL 911!" Rhiannon screamed, while I shook Laken lightly and frantically trying to get her to stabilize herself. An employee called the emergency number and we heard sirens flashing up moments later, when a man with a stretcher and an oxygen mask ran over to us. They strapped a barely conscious Laken to the stretcher and shuffled her out the door. Rhiannon and I followed, scared for Laken's life because we had no clue what was going on with her. We ran to Laken's car where Rhiannon took the wheel and sped off after them, thanking god that she had her license on her. I pulled out my phone and texted Kevin.
Kevin's POV
My phone started to vibrate in my pocket, and I pulled it out to see Leonie's name on the screen. I flipped it open and read her text.
From: Leo
433-555-7878
Kev, Lakens in hospital get over here.
The rest of the text included the address and name of the hospital, so I ran to the other room to tell Nick and Joe.
"Guys, something's wrong with Laken. I got a text from Leonie that said she's in the hospital, I'm going to go," I went to run out of the room, but heard footsteps behind me.
"We're coming," they said in unison, Charlotte trailing behind Nick. We all piled into the car, and I drove like a madman to the hospital that Leonie told me. Once I parked the car we all ran to the receptionists desk, where she told us Laken's room. Then we met up with a security guard.
"Where're you headed?" he questioned, stern look painting his face.
"To see a patient, she was just brought here," I answered, slightly perturbed at the hold-up.
"Are you family?" he straighted up, I could see he was not going to let us in, but thank the lord that Leonie and Rhiannon came running down the hallway towards us.
"They're with us! We're her sisters," she barely gave the guard any mind, as they pulled us down the hallway to Laken's room. She was laying on the bed, hooked up to an oxygen mask. She was asleep, and it killed me to see Laken lying on a hospital bed. She'd never looked so helpless before, I was freaking out.
"Leonie, what happened?" I was on the verge of shaking her for answers.
"We were getting ice cream, and she told us she didn't want any. So we questioned her and she started to get mad, then she just said she couldn't breathe and fell down on top of me. So we got her rushed here and the doctor said she hasn't been eating, and that if this went on she could be diagnosed as anorexic," Leonie said, spilling all the words out. I could see that she was worried, because she kept looking down at the floor and pacing. Rhiannon was sitting in a chair by Laken's bed, biting her nails nervously. I felt so bad, there was nothing I could do for Laken and that hurt.
Joe's POV
We all came with Kevin to the hospital, where we saw Laken lying asleep on a bed. The latest news was that she hadn't been eating, and was on the verge of anorexia. That was serious, we all know something was wrong with Laken but we didn't know to what extent. Everybody was pacing nervously, waiting for something to happen. Kevin was leaning over Laken's bed with a concerned look on his face, while Leonie was pacing nervously in the hall. Nick was sitting down on a bench, with Charlotte latched onto him, her pointer finger playing with his palm. I'd have to question him about that embrace later, right now that was the smallest of priorities. I saw Rhiannon huddled alone into a corner, and decided to talk to her.
"Rhiannon, you okay?" I wasn't sure how she was taking Laken's ordeal.
"I think it's Laken you should be worried about," she snapped right back at me.
"In case you haven't noticed, there's not much I can do for her right now. I want to know what I did wrong, and why I'm getting such an attitude from you, Rhiannon" I was getting a little annoyed at this game she was playing.
"Maybe you should just leave me alone for a bit, you keep trying to intrude in my life!" she accused.
"You know what? Maybe I should just leave you alone all the time, Rhi," and with that I turned and walked away.
Nick's POV
Charlotte was practically falling asleep on my shoulder, and as much as I liked her I didn't want to deal with that right now. We were all scared for Laken, who I feel totally stupid for not suspecting something was up with! We should have figured something when she refused to eat at Tuesdays, and when she started to wear baggy clothes. I guess we were all so caught up in our problems that we didn't think about what was happening to Laken. I saw Leonie pacing back and forth through the hallway, and decided to make conversation with her instead.
"Uh, hey Leo," for some reason, I felt really awkward talking to her. She looked at me and sighed.
"Listen, Nick, I really don't feel like talking to anyone right now. Why don't you go find Charlotte and see if she wants to talk," then she muttered something under her breath that she thought I didn't hear, but I did, "or suck face." I pretended I hadn't heard what she said, and watched her walk away towards Joe. She started talking to him, though I do clearly remember her saying she didn't want to talk to anyone.
Leonie's POV
I had to get away from Nick, I just did not want to talk to him right now. There was too much to deal with, starting with Laken and then working on not bursting into tears in front of him. I saw Joe scowling in a corner, and decided I'd let him be my distraction.
"What's eating you?" I asked, referring to the dismayed look on his face.
"The opposite sex, that's what. And what about you? You don't look too thrilled either," he asked me.
"I wouldn't want to bore you," I knew he was going to pressure me into talking about it.
"Please, please do. I need some kind of distraction!" He begged.
I sighed, "Okay, well it starts with your brother."
"Jealous of him and Charlotte, eh?" He smirked at me, while I searched my mind for something to say.
"Wh—What? Where would you get an idea like that?" I started to stammer, while Joe snickered to himself.
"Don't worry Leo, he likes you. The idiot is always mumbling your name in his sleep," I saw an exasperated look on his face, and fought off the urge to laugh.
"Well, I think he's moved on. I guess I should do the same right? If he's willing to move on and mack on prim, perfect little sluts, then I should look for a change too right?" I was mad, and finally able to say it.
"Mack on? Woah, tell me what happened," and so from there I explained the entire story. Instead of a shocked look on his face like I expected, there was a hint of a smug smile.
"Would you stop applauding your brother's womanizing and pretend you have any sense of understanding?!" I teased him, but I was kind of annoyed at him. I really wasn't sure who else to turn to, and Rhiannon seemed distracted at the moment. Kevin was leaning over Laken's bed, as if doing that would wake her up any faster. And I did not want to talk to Nick, but I also didn't want to lose his friendship. This was such a chaotic moment in time, and I wish it all would just freeze until Laken was better.
A/N: I do realize that my dramatic scene was very similar to that of Degrassi: The Next Generation's, and I apologize for that. I just thought that was a very meaningful scene and was inspired by the way they played that out.