It's Not Cool | Jonas Brothers

Chapter 31

Nick's P.O.V.
I've just spoken to Frankie and dad about the small barbecue we have for the snacks. I'm running around, inside and outside to help mom as much as I can with catering our guests.

She told me to take a break and enjoy, telling me she'll get Kevin to help her and that I should enjoy some quality time with guests like Pippa is.

I haven't seen her at all today. I hope she likes the party. She's been a bit upset the last few days, I hope she's okay.

Looking around, I can't seem to find her. I run up to her room, to see if she's there. She's not, but as I want to walk out, I stop.

I turn around to look around her room. There's a lot of stuff gone.

Gone...

She's gone!!!

It dawns on me that she's gone. Running downstairs, I find Joe first. I put my hand roughly on his shoulder and he flinches away, not knowing what just happened to him.

I'm all out of breath, both from running downstairs and stress.

"Woah, easy Nick. What's going on?" He asks me. He looks concerned, seeing me hunched over trying to catch my breath.

"Gone." I manage to get out. "What?" Joe doesn't understand.

"She's gone. She's away. I don't know where she is." He still looks confused.

"Pippa. She's gone." I yell at him. It causes a few others to look at us.

"What? Where?" I shrug. "I don't know. I went to look for her, but I can't find her. Her room misses a lot of stuff. I put one and one together." I explain to Joe.

"Let's go." He takes me by my wrist, not realizing the cuts that are there and are hurting tremendously from his firm grip, and drags me inside to where mom is.

"Mom!" Joe yells. "What?" Mom yells back jokingly.

"Pippa's gone. We can't find her." She stops doing whatever it she's doing right now.

"What?" She quickly calls dad, Frankie and Kevin from outside. Danielle sees, but doesn't follow. She can sense it's a family thing.

We explain to them all what I've seen. Dad starts making phone calls immediately. Kevin runs outside without saying a thing. Joe and I follow him quickly, not wanting him to do something stupid.

He gets into his car, but as he is about to drive off, I jump in front of it, so that Joe can ask him what he's doing.

"Get away, Nick! I'm going to look for her!" He rolls down his window.

"No! We're going to make a plan first." Joe tells him.

"Fine." He surrenders quickly, knowing we can search more ground if we split wisely.

We quickly tell each other where we'll go, not caring about the party going on in our backyard.

Joe goes inside quickly to retrieve my car key and his motor stuff so he can take his motor.

"Call when you find her." We simultaneously call before all driving off. Kevin and Joe going one way, splitting at the end of the street, while I go the other way.

"I don't know what trick you're trying to play, but it's not funny." I say out loud, my thoughts carrying me away.

Where would I go if I were Pippa? I knew all her hiding spots when she was little, but now I don't know. She could have gone everywhere. She could have gone to a place that I don't even know off.

Later that night, we're all back. It's dark. We won't find her in the dark. She's so smart.

We're all in the living room, but the tension can be cut with a knife. It's terrible.

"I'm going upstairs." I say to no one in particular before going upstairs. I shudder when I'm walking upstairs. I really had to get out of there.

Not a minute later, someone knocks on my door. I let out a sigh. So much for a minute alone.

"Come in." I decide not to ghost the person, remembering what happened last time I went up alone. No matter how much I want to do it again, I can't put my family through that amount of pain again.

Joe enters the room. "Hey, little bro." He greets me. He sits on the side of my bed. "I'm sorry. I couldn't stand it downstairs." I run my hand through my hair.

"I get it. I couldn't stand it either." He says.

"I'm so worried." I loop up to look him in the eyes. "I am too. But she probably had her reasons to do this. She's smart, she's probably prepared herself in ways we couldn't even think of." He says, shifting his position on the bed.

I scoff. I know he's right, but I wish she would come back home. It's not like I can force her to come home, but I want her to be safe. I want her to call me to tell me that she is safe.

I form the words in my mind, and I open my mouth to speak them, but nothing comes out.

"What is it, Nicky?" Again, with the stupid nickname. I guess I deserve it with this request.

"I know it's stupid..." I pause and look up at him. "but will you please hold me?" I ask him.

He freezes up on my request, not really knowing how to respond. "It's not stupid, Nick." He scoots himself over closer to me and wraps his arms around me, making me feel safe in his hold.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I shake my head.

"No, please no talking for a while. Just this. I need this." I sound desperate.

I really don't like what I'm doing right now. I'm such a weakling. I can't help it; I know I'm going to hurt myself if I don't have Joe or Kevin here to stop me from doing so.

I think Joe has catched on, but he's staying strong for me. He knows I need him. I don't even have to ask him for it anymore. He knows.

Thank you so much for reading!! Please let me know what you think, feedback is welcome!