Cracked Heart

The Realisation

Demi walked into the arena ready for early morning sound check. The journey to the venue was a 7 hour tour bus ride. She hadn’t seen anyone but her band since she kissed Nick.

She didn’t breathe a word of it to anyone.

She was deprived of sleep due to her guilt but she didn’t know how to tell Joe. Part of her wanted to call him and tell him to avoid the yelling and seeing his expression but she knew it had to be face to face. However, unknown to Demi, Joe already knew.

Demi expected just her band and the Jonas brothers’ band in the arena, setting up on stage; however, things don’t usually work out in Demi’s favour.

She saw the usual: her band talking to the Jonas Brothers’ band, the crew setting up the lighting, the stage being rigged with trapped doors for the performance.

Her heart sank into her lungs when the brothers walked through the white, double doors.

Nick was the first one to walk in and to Demi’s concern he showed a clear black eye. Joe had walked right passed Nick to the opposite end of the stage whilst avoiding turning his head to see Demi. Demi didn’t notice Joe’s sudden dash for separation as she was focused on Nick’s injury.

“Oh my God what happened?” Demi said as she rushed over to Nick but he made no effort to maintain eye contact. Kevin walked over to Nick and Demi and pulled Demi aside from Nick.

“It’s best to stay away from Nick, Dems.” Demi looked at Nick who began tuning his guitar and then back at Kevin, confused.

“Joe knows. We all do.” Kevin said.

Kevin liked Demi. Kevin had always known that during the first camp rock movie, when Demi was developing feelings for Joe, Nick was developing feelings for Demi. Nick would always talk to Kevin about liking her but he could never do anything about it because he knew Demi liked Joe. When they made it official Nick knew he would never have a chance in hell with Demi. It broke his heart.

“Wait, Joe did that to Nick? Because I kissed him? It wasn’t Nick’s fault I— Demi couldn’t finish her sentence as she saw Nick rub his temple where his head must have been hurting. Demi didn’t like the fact Joe hit Nick, but she saw something else. Sure most people would have hated Joe for what he did, but Demi knew that what she did was worse and she understood where the violence came from within Joe.

Demi was playing with hearts.

She knew that the sign of Joe’s jealousy and rage about what happened showed her that Joe really loved her. She knew that if Joe didn’t love her, he wouldn’t be so heart broken. She had made up her mind, and she needed to speak to him.

All eyes during sound check were on Nick and Joe. They stayed well away from each other and avoided eye contact. The fans that had bought tickets for the sound check party even noticed the tension. When the obvious tension was mentioned by a fan Kevin would laugh it off and change the subject quickly.

After sound check Demi was in the dressing room with the camp rock 2 dancers and cast.

“So what’s going on between Joe and Nick?” Ana casually asked. There were a few murmurs of ‘I don’t know’ or ‘must be a Jonas thing’ or ‘do you think Joe gave Nick that shiner?’ but all Demi could think about was how Joe quickly exited the arena to his personal dressing room without talking to her or Nick and only saying “later bro” to Kevin.

“Demi?” Demi faintly heard as she snapped back into reality.

“Demi?” Alyson called from the other black, leather couch in the spacious dressing room that the camp rock 2 cast on tour shared.

“What’s up with you?” Ana giggled as J-man finished his conspiracy theory about how Nick and Joe stopped talking because Nick said he didn’t like the style of Joe’s hair today and Joe got offended.

“I kissed him.” Demi let out with no emotion but regret.

“Joe? Yeah he’s your boyfriend. It’s normal.” Alyson laughed as M-Dot imitated Joe’s hair flip.

“Nick—I kissed Nick.” Demi said slowly and quietly. The room’s atmosphere changed drastically as every conversation stopped. Every giggle ceased and M-dot put his hat back on from doing the ‘Joe Jonas hair flip’

Everyone looked at the dull expression on Demi’s face as she searched through her thoughts trying to find the best words to describe what happened.

“Tell us everything.” Someone demanded. Demi needed to tell someone as she had been keeping it in all night and all day.

“It was like 3am or something and we were in my tour bus, alone. We weren’t doing anything wrong. We were writing songs. We had just finished a song called ‘Stop the World.’ when it happened. We just got caught up in the moment. You know what’s funny? The song was a love song; for Joe.

I find Nick intriguing with his silence and his passion for music but Joe. I don’t know. I love the way he laughs at my corny jokes and –as cliché as it sounds– I just love the way he likes me for me and not looks or for publicity.

I was the one who kissed Nick but– well Joe saw us kiss and I guess he interpreted it wrong. He thought Nick kissed me and when Nick was walking back to his tour bus Joe confronted him and—“

“He punched Nick.” J-Man finished.

Someone asked Demi if she loves Joe and her face immediately changed as she went into deep thought.

“The funny thing about love is that it can be given out in different ways. I’ve always loved Nick. I have, it’s true; however, it was as a best friend. The feelings I thought I had for Nick last night was the over tiredness taking over my mind. When Nick pulled away and apologised and said he couldn’t because Joe was his brother, I realised that Joe was more important.

I love Joe like a lover. I love his smile and his eyes and his hair and the way he tickles me even when I beg him to stop. I love how he can make me smile when I’m in a dark place. I trust Joe with everything. “ Demi gathered all of her thoughts and stared at the ground. She looked at all the staring faces in the room one by one searching for an answer to the love triangle she found herself in.

Demi finally added up all of the moments Joe was there for her when she needed a kiss and a love and the times Nick was there for her when she needed a hug and escape. She realised how perfect Nick was for her. She realised that Nick and herself were so similar.

I–I love Joe.” Demi concluded.

Nick was a best friend and a brother to her. Joe was the love. He was the one who would cradle her when she cried and would wipe away any tears that escaped. He would make excuses for Demi as to why she was locked in her dressing room sobbing instead of at rehearsal. He made any excuse for Demi if she was upset. He could be as hyper as a hyena, high on candy and life when Demi was. They were both crazy about each other and just borderline crazy.

No one in the room knew that around the corner there were three brothers of dark, brown locks listening in. One with short brown hair and wide lensed glasses, one of the same height with brown, insane curly hair; and another of similar curls, taller but with a black bruise around his eye.