second-hand | joe jonas

chapter 1

Birds are chirping and the sun is rising, yet I still can't find a reason to get up. That is until I get a call from my best friend, Vanessa.

I answer after about 3 rings, not being in a talking mood, "Hey, why are you calling so early?", I say in my morning voice. I'm not a big calling person, I prefer to text as it gets the job done and it's easier to ignore what the other person says.

"I'm so sorry for calling so early, I know that you hate that," Vanessa starts, "But you have to understand that what I'm about to say could be life-changing." She keeps rambling on without getting to the point.

I sigh, just wanting to go back to lying down and staring at my ceiling. "Okay, yeah? What's up? Is everything okay?"

Vanessa takes in a deep breath before letting out a long but fast sentence, "Maria, the Jonas Brothers are having a concert and I know that you stopped listening to them, but I got us both general admission tickets."

I'm at a loss for words. I did stop listening to the Jonas Brothers but that doesn't mean I stopped loving them. As a kid, I was a huge Nick girl, but then as I got older, my perspective changed a little and I suddenly had a thing for Joe. It was weird because I would always call Vanessa basic for liking him, though now she's a Nick girl through and through.

I let out a scoff, not knowing what to say.

"Please don't be mad, this could be your chance to finally fulfill your childhood dreams, maybe even touch his hand." She says teasingly.

I roll my eyes when she says that last part, regardless if she can see me or not, but I still laugh. "Very funny, you just wanna go so that you can try and get Nick to notice you and fall in love. News flash, he and Priyanka are the cutest married couple I've ever seen."

She stays quiet for a second before speaking up, "You're lucky I can't say the same about Joe because he and Sophie got divorced in October." She continues, "But that doesn't mean we shouldn't go to the concert, regardless if we're eye-fucking them, we still love their music."

I let out a defeated sigh, "Okay, when's the concert?"

Vanessa squeals, almost leaving me deaf in the ear where I had my phone held up. "It's on Friday, so you need your concert outfit like, yesterday."

"So, you're telling me I have 2 days. 2 whole days to find a concert outfit," I say, exasperated.

She laughs and hangs up on me. I lay back down, so many thoughts all at once. Why did I stop listening to the Jonas  Brothers? Is Joe still in DNCE? Will Joe even notice me if I go to the concert?

These are all valid questions when your teenage self was convinced you were gonna marry Joe and that he was the love of your life. Sure, he's really attractive, but that doesn't change the fact that he's 12 years older, and will most likely not go for someone that young.

I stay in bed, and I feel myself growing nervous. 

I haven't felt this way in years. I remember needing to unfollow Joe because whenever he would post something and a girl was included, I'd get so upset and jealous that I'd take it out on my friends and family. It wasn't healthy at all.

I thought I'd grown out of it since I'm no longer that 14-year-old girl, I'm 23.

I sigh and hop out of bed. I live with my roommate, Kayla. She's always either at work or in the living room watching TV. Today just happened to be one of those days where she was working. Since she isn't here, I decide to play music on the TV.

"New Jonas Brothers album..." I say, talking to myself. I look through all the songs, then finally look at the album name. "The Album," I chuckle.

I play it on a loop in hopes I'll remember the words to these songs because I tried to forget about them for a good 2 years. Listening to all these songs was such a rollercoaster though, as I went from blushing when Joe yells out 'Jersey' in Miracle, to crying during Little Bird.

I decided to do all the house chores while looping their songs, as it gave me more motivation than I've had in months. Recently, all has been a blur so this may be the one consistent thing I could have. It's 10 A.M. and I've already gotten more than half of the chores done, just want to get it over with and catch up with the Jonas Brothers lore, the only reason being because I didn't know Joe and Sophie got divorced. It was news to me when Vanessa told me.

I wanted the setlist to be a surprise because I know that no matter what, I'll always remember the lyrics to their music, well, apart from their most recent album. 

I throw myself onto the couch and pull out my phone from my pocket, searching for 'Joe Jonas' on TikTok. Let me just say, he has changed. A lot. His DNCE days had him with a slicked side part, which I won't lie, was pretty sexy, along with colored hair, and even a buzz cut. I open up his profile and it's him with loose curls and a jawline sharper than my kitchen knife. He's promoting his new single called 'Work It Out', and he looks so good doing so. Suddenly, his song Body Moves is on my mind, knowing that those old feelings are coming back.

I try to calm myself, getting up and grabbing some water to hydrate and get rid of these unholy thoughts. As I feel the heat rise to my cheeks, Kayla walks in.

"Hey," she says plainly as she places her keys down on the counter, "you okay?"

I looked at her with a weird expression, "I might be obsessing over Joe Jonas again.."

She facepalms because she was there with me when my obsession first started 10 years ago. Oh, how time flies. Though I refrain from saying anything else, not wanting to annoy her like I did all those years ago. She looks at me with a funny expression and then walks away to her room.

The rest of the day consisted of me taking shots of Vodka, completely unprovoked while replaying Much Better and Year 3000 over and over, with an occasional Work It Out, like there's no tomorrow

Though let me just say, there's always tomorrow.