A/N: Gah. I feel like an odd ball of mush and mud. I'm all mixed up. School does that to you. :( Anyway, here's chapter 9. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Jonas.

Chapter 9

It was after gym class that Thursday when I finally got the chance to talk to her alone. I guess she decided to stay at the benches after her football practice. I decided to walk up to her. She patted the empty spot on her right indicating she wanted me to sit down. She never even lifted her eyes off the horizon. She looked so pretty with the final rays of sunshine bouncing off her hair that it took me a few more seconds to process my thoughts and finally sat down.

We stayed quiet for a few more minutes until she spoke. "Thanks a lot, Nick."

"No problem, Mace. Glad to help." I tried to smile but remembering what happened it seemed kind of inappropriate. I sighed which she must've heard because she suddenly turned her gaze to look at me.

"Staring at me again, Lucas? That's been happening a lot these last few days." She said in a chummy voice then giggled.

"Damn, you caught me. I knew I should've just been contented with your picture on my locker." I told her in the most convincing way I could without laughing.

"Haha. Real funny, Nick. But seriously, I can tell you wanted to talk to me." She shot back matter-of-factly.

"That obvious, huh?" I asked her trying to call her bluff. We both laughed but hers was cut off short.

"I was being serious, Nick. I reckon it's about last Friday?" She said, her voice fading almost to a whisper.

"Uh, yeah. I-I mean y-you normally don't cry like that, right?" I stuttered. I've figured out why she was there a lot but I couldn't tell her that.

"N-no. No, I don't." She squeaked. "Do you wanna know why I was crying that day?" She asked. It was so straight forward that it caught me off guard. I was expecting her to threaten me to keep quiet about what happened but I was wrong about her once again.

"If you don't want to tell me, its okay, Mace."

"No, Nick. You've been such a good friend that you deserve to at least know why." She paused. "But I can't tell you that here. I might cry and that won't do well for my reputation as a football captain." She smiled crookedly. I was about to tell her that she doesn't need to tell me although I admit that I am curious but she spoke before me.

"Meet you later at the Thrift Store, Nick." She stood up then left. I just stayed where I was letting what she told me sink in.

"Reason why I was crying was because I broke up with Randolf, Nick." She said with sullied eyes when I came in their thrift store.

"When we got together that summer, it didn't feel right. We both knew it was coming but it affected me still."

"Sorry." was all I could mutter.

"Thanks again for being a friend, Nick."

She was about to go up to her apartment when I asked her, "Do you wanna go get some ice cream, Mace?" I remembered her eating ice cream when she was upset over not losing a bet last school year.

"I'd love to." She immediately pulled me out of the thrift store and when I looked at her face, it was like a child's on the first day of vacation. It was genuine and priceless.

We ordered our ice cream. Strawberry for her and Rocky Road for me. We talked like we were in our own world.

"I can't believe you're a Yankees fan!" I just laughed at her when she gasped the moment I told her I'm a big Yankees fan.

"Don't you think they're overrated, Nick?" She shot at me.

"No, Macy. And even I couldn't believe you're a Red Sox fan. You're from New Jersey!" I shot back at her.

"I'm originally from Boston, you know."

"That explains a lot, I guess." We both laughed. It was all so perfect. When we both finally stopped laughing, she looked at me like some star struck fan. I didn't find it annoying though.

"Nick." I held her gaze.

"Sometimes, I just wish you were my boyfriend instead." And with that we both smiled.

Was it just me or did my heart just stop?

Maybe she was just joking but her words sounded like music to my ears.

I couldn't sleep that night. What she said kept on playing in my mind over and over again. I got out of bed to get milk from the kitchen to help me sleep but I guess it doesn't work on me anymore. When I got back to our room, the lights were on and I could see Joe and Kevin sitting on my bed.

"What's the problem, Nick?" Joe asked in tone like this happened all the time.

"I believe the correct way to phrase it is 'Who's the girl?', my brah-ther." Kevin said in his Jedi voice, still as goofy as ever even after waking up in the middle of the night.

I scoffed. "What are you two talking about? What girl? There's no girl." I think I said that all too fast which gives me away, making my two older brothers smirk.

Joe stood up and ruffled my curly hair. "Nick, we've been around you ever since you were born. We know you well enough to tell that you can't sleep because of a girl." I'd totally find what Joe said endearing if he was wrong but he was totally right so I gave in.

"Yeah, it's about a girl but it's complicated." I told them.

"Aww. Nicky got bitten by the love bug again."

A/N: I love cheese. Gimme pick up lines for Nick and Macy? I'm rewriting chapters 10-15 this vacation.