Jonas Affairs

Chapter 8: Late

"Let's go, Joe, come on, I'm not going to carry your suitcase down the stairs for you," Sophie snapped as Joe chugged a glass of orange juice. He rinsed the cup and placed it back in the cup drawer, "Don't carry it for me, babe, just put it down, we're not late."

"Oh, yes we are!" Sophie said, turning for the door as Joe rushed to pick up his suitcase.

"Aw, come on, no," Joe wailed as he tried to keep up with Sophie's long enthusiastic legs. He caught up and tried to get the suitcase away from her, but she had a firm grip on the handle and jerked it away from Joe.

They walked to the cab outside in silence and when they got in, Joe's phone rang and he picked it up;

"Hey, what's up?" he said, staring straight ahead.

"Hey, where you at?" Nick's voice on the other end said.

"Oh, we were just leaving now," Joe said, trying not to catch Sophie's glaring eyes.

Nick laughed, "Well, you should've left sooner, 'cause now Pri and I are just gonna go get some ice cream."

Joe gave a nervous chuckle, "Well, that's good, isn't it? Ice cream is... is great."

"Well, maybe not when it's about 5 degrees out," Nick said, chuckling. "Anyways, I'll see you by the jet. If you don't see us, just call."

"Yeah, no, it's okay," Joe assured his brother, "You guys do what you gotta do."

"Thanks, man, I'll see you on the jet, then," Nick said, hanging up.

Joe turned to Sophie, a finger raised at the ready; "Before you say anything, I just wanted to say I'm sorry, I didn't think we were running late on time," he said, looking Sophie in the eye.

Sophie looked at him, turned away, then sighed, "Ugh, it's fine. I don't even know why I'm in such a rush, anyway. I'm really sorry for speaking to you that way, Joe--"

"Soph, don't even get there," cut Joe, putting an arm around her, "You know it was my fault entirely for being such a late ass. Why don't we just... have some fun before setting off?"

"What d'you mean?"

"You know, wanna get some... hot chocolate before getting on the plane?" Joe suggesting, looking unsure.

Sophie smiled, "That would be lovely."

_ _ _

"Babe, you know you're gonna love it there," Nick told Priyanka as they walked side by side around the airport, hand in hand. It was snowing a little bit, but Nick and Pri didn't give a f**k.

"I know, but like-- what if I can't manage any of the cooking--"

"Babe you know my mom wouldn't let you cook, right?" Nick said, a smirk plastered on his face. 

He wasn't really able to stay with Priyanka the weeks before this, so he was savoring every moment of this unusual, but romantic, pacing around the jet.

"Would she not? I'm not sure," Priyanka said.

Nick grinned and leaned in for a kiss, but Priyanka pushed his face away and waved, randomly; "Oh, hi guys, you're finally here!"

Nick, who felt a little embarrassed at the rejection, glowed red and pretended to tie his shoe laces.

"Hey, Pri, haven't seen you in so long," Joe's voice over-head was saying. "Are you OK?"

"I'm doing good," Priyanka replied, looking at her feet and bouncing up and down like a little kid at a carnival. Talking to Joe did that to her. "Are you two um... happy?"

Sophie smiled, "Oh, we're OK, but Joe sometimes is a lazy arse, who is completely careless."

Joe looked quite offended, but Priyanka spoke in defense of him, "Well, I'm not expecting your relationship to be a straight line, but if there is anything I could do for you, please," she took Sophie's gloved hands, "I will be willing to... come over."

Sophie screwed up the end of her mouth, and when Nick looked closer, he saw that there was a glint of what looked like mocking pity. "Oh, it's OK. We don't even argue that much, but if we do, we're gonna sort things out eventually-- Right, Joe?"

She gave Joe a hard nudge, and Joe, who was completely unaware as he kicked a rock, looked up. Nick laughed at how innocent and dumbfounded he looked.

"What? Oh, um, yeah, yeah we... will." He grinned and Priyanka and Sophie burst out laughing.

Joe didn't see that there was anything too funny. "What?"

"Your face, Joseph, you should see your face," wheezed Sophie, kneeling on the ground with Priyanka.

"My face? What's wrong with my face, Nick?"

Nick, who was laughing slightly, covered his mouth with his hand and turned away, laughing in silent chuckles.

"You guys are bullies, if there's anything wrong with my face, don't laugh!" Joe said, looking at each one of them.

"Come on, the plane's leaving in like, five minutes," he said again, tired of people laughing at him. "We gotta get in there with our luggage, people. Nick!"

Nick drifted into silence, but he was still breathless from laughter.

"Help me get this bag onto the plane!" Joe said sharply.

Nick trudged over to help, and soon, they were all on the plane.

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