Under Contract - Joe Jonas

Chapter 38: Plushies

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—Eva's POV—
I groan as a hand touches my shoulder. It's been like five minutes why is Kara even waking me up? My eyes slowly open as I use the blanket to block the sun coming in through the blinds, "Go away," I beg to try to get comfy again. A hand pushes hair out of my face and I scrunch my face up feeling a man's hand. I slowly open my eyes and see Joe lying in bed beside me.

I open the blanket for him and he snuggles next to me, "It's too early to wake up," I tell him. He laughs as he tells me it's almost 4 pm. I hug his torso as he rubs the back of my head, "How was the flight?" I ask. He's in comfy clothes so he must have showered here before waking me up. His hair is wet and a couple of strands are falling in his face.

He makes an 'eh' sound as I smile against his chest, "I made those cupcakes you like there should be some left," I tell him. He takes his phone out and starts showing me pictures of the show. The shift looks good on him, "How has your fanbase reacted to the shirt?" I ask.

"A lot of people are confused but a lot of the fans are calling you an icon for branding me," he muffles in my hair as he kisses my cheek. Every time he does something like that my heart hurts. Is he like this with all his friends? What are we? I don't want to ask in case I'm reading too much into it. I'm overthinking this. We were friends with benefits but could we be more, "You're overthinking. You're doing that thing," he says making me pull my head back confused.

"That thing? What thing?"

He points to my eyebrows and I swat his hands away, "Whenever you're deep in thought your eyebrows pull together and you bite the bottom corner of your lip," he says making me realize I'm doing it right now. I release my lip and he just smiles knowing he's right, "What's going on up there? Some smokes coming out you're thinking so much," he jokes as I roll over and cover myself with the blanket.

"Go back to LA," I groan as he lifts the blanket. He moves over the top of me making my palms sweaty. I'm weak, "Enjoying yourself?" I ask as he looks down at me. I put my hands on his jaw as he hovers above me.

"I wish we weren't here. Our house would be so much better for stuff like this," he says. Our house is enough to have my knees wobbling. He slowly leans down planting a kiss to the side of your lips. A spark runs through my body as he moves down my neck. My legs stretch beneath him as his lips trail the sides of my neck. I lift my head giving him more access but he stops. I can feel his smirk as he pulls away leaving me a flustered mess, "We should probably join the group before they leave for dinner without us," he says.

He slides off the bed and stands by the door leaning against it as he shows the clothes Kara's lending me. I blush at the way he's staring at me as I grab the clothes, "Eva," he says making me turn my head. I groan in surprise as he pulls me closer, his lips moving against mine making me wish everyone in this house would disappear, "Go get changed," he whispers as he opens the door with his hand behind his back.

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"Aw, Nick won you a stuffed animal?" I ask as the two of them walk over. Nick just sighs as Kara happily walks over showing off her new Duck plushie.

"He sucks at crane machines. I won this bad boy all by myself," she says as Nick takes a long sip of his soda, "Take that gender norms".

"I'm going to pretend you didn't sound like a very cliche teen movie," I tell her as she laughs. Kevin walks over with tickets strung around his neck. He looks like the king of the arcade. After dinner, we decided to go to this local place that looked fun down. Turned out to be the best decision we've ever made. Kara and I have successfully forced everyone into a Photo Booth with us. The pictures with Joe have to be my favorite. I always freeze up when coming up with poses but he managed to figure some out.

A hand snakes around my waist pulling my attention to my right. A straw to his slurpee is pushed into my face making me smile, "Let me guess, cola and cherry?" I ask.

"And?" Joe asks. I take another sip and think about it before confidently answering, "Mountain Dew". He looks at me flabbergasted but he doesn't have to know I saw the flavors earlier so I had some assistance at this guessing game.

"You're a beast," he says as he snags the drink and takes another sip. As Joe and I wait for the others to cash in their tickets for prizes I decide to show him all the pictures I got. He's standing behind me with his arms wrapped around my chest. It's the classic pose couples do when waiting in line for rides at an amusement park. Thankfully it's just us in here tonight so I don't care how we look.

"This one's my favorite," I show him. It's a picture we took where it's the three brothers but we mixed up the girls. Danielle is with Joe, Kara is with Kevin, and I'm with Nick. It was very stressful getting everyone in and out in the short amount of time it gives, "You look good in this one," I point out showing him the one of him sticking his tongue out.

"I love photos," he says sounding very excited, "Can you send me pictures of all of them?" He asks. I shake my head and tell him I will when we get home.

Danielle runs over with a giant stuffed animal Frog with the derpiest face making everyone laugh, "I love him so much," she says as Kevin smiles at his wife. I fully believe Kevin was written by a woman. I mean all of them give that vibe. I have to thank their parents if I ever meet them. Joe squeezes my hand as we start heading out to get our Ubers. Kara and Nick arrive first. We hug them goodbye and wave as they get into the car.

"I forgot to mention earlier. Your necklace is so pretty," Daniella says as I reach up and touch it subconsciously.

"Thank you. I got it from this guy," I tell her nudging Joe's side, "I'm really bad at remembering accessories besides earrings but I always manage to remember this necklace," I tell her with a small smile. The four of us talk about our plans for New Year's as their car pulls up. In a couple of minutes, it's just Joe and I standing on the side of the road.

"I like hanging out like this," I tell him always missing playing Dance Dance Revolution with Nick, "I do too. Before you and Kara we all rarely got together. We would always do our shows and maybe get dinner but we would always be too busy," he says making me frown.

"I thought you guys were always close like this?" I question.

"We were but in a different way. Like I'd jump in front of a bullet for them but you met me. I wasn't the easiest guy to get along with," he says with a sad laugh, "I'm just saying thanks...ya know for inadvertently making this happen".

"You're a very sappy person when you are comfortable around people," I tease making him playfully roll his eyes, "Nothing wrong with a little sap, but maybe that's the hopeless romantic in me," I shrug.

His eyes linger on mine for a second as I shiver in the freezing weather, "I like your hair like this," I tell him as he pulls me into his coat for extra warmth. I reach up and play with his curls as he looks down at me with a hidden smile.

"It didn't do anything to it," he says as the car pulls up in front of us.

"That's what I like about it. It's just you and it works," I tell him as he opens the door for me. He stands behind me and waits until I'm situated to climb in. His hand immediately finds mine as the driver pulls off.