Nemi Fic Request: I Can’t Accept That We’re Estranged

Title: I Can’t Accept That We’re Estranged
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2,481
Pairing(s): Nick Jonas/Delta Goodream & Nick Jonas/Demi Lovato 
Summary: It’s been two years, but at a Camp Rock reunion party hosted by all their old friends, Nick and Demi finally reunite.
Author’s Note: So I got the request to write a Camp Rock reunion one-shot that incorporated Delta in it so if you’re wondering why she’s in it, that’s why. Don’t worry, she is shed in a good light (: 

Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect. Would it be awkward? Uncomfortable? Most social gatherings were. But this one? I mean, my friends would be there. My beautiful super mega hot girlfriend would be right by my side, smiling her insanely bright smile and making me feel more at peace than I ever have with anyone. And Demi would be there. Demi, who I hadn’t seen in almost two years now. Demi, who I had only casually texted since she’d come home from her “break-down”. And I quote that lightly because I’m one of the few who really knew what went down in those last few months. But it would be fun, right? All however many of us… And Demi. It had been two years now but for some reason she was all I was focused on for this party. Maybe because it had been two years… And just so much had occurred.

To be honest, Demi was beyond repair way before we’d even met her that first day of the Camp Rock table reading. I guess that’s a little harsh to say, but it was true. And it’s not like she could help it or anything – she’d been through too much, struggled with too many people and suffered emotional havoc in her own head. I felt bad for her the first time we all (Kevin, Joe, Demi and myself) sat down and she told us her story.

She talked about her dad, about her cutting and eating disorders. It kind of felt like a mini therapy session except that she was the only one talking. Well and me. I could only barely relate to her with my diabetes, but still. It was better than nothing. Joe and Kevin just kind of sat and listened. Not that I blamed them or anything because what do you say to the girl you’ve just met who’s pouring out her deep dark secrets over a movie and pizza? They just didn’t know how to respond. I mean here’s this newly hired Disney girl who’s got a million people waiting for her to do everything right and she’s already broken down and worn. It looked like Disney should have been more careful with their background checks. But then again, maybe not. Because if they had been more careful, I might not have ever known Demi. And what a disservice that would be not only to me but to the entirety of the world.

Just sayin’.

Anyways, the party; J-Man and Alyson and a couple other people decided to throw a little extravaganza in LA on the fourth anniversary on the first Camp Rock premiere. And even though it was celebrating the first movie, people such as Chloe and MDot were there to celebrate with us. And it made sense because there would be no Camp Rock 2 without a one, right? Right.

I talked with Kevin and Joe and they were both going (Kevin was bringing Dani and Joe, according to himself, was bringing his awesome), so I figured I might as well. It wouldn’t be too many people and the less the paparazzi knew, the better. It would be big, but not huge. And fun, but not “let’s have everyone get drunk off their asses and forget what happened tonight”. I’d been to a few of those parties. They were… interesting to say the least. I never stayed for the whole time. It wasn’t really my scene or whatever.

I didn’t even find out Demi was going to be there until the day before and by then it was too late to back out. Not that I would have if I had known earlier, it’s just… Well like I said, it had been two years now. And there are some things you share with people that make your relationship more intimate. Not like sexually or anything. But once you take away your brother’s ex girlfriend’s bottle of vodka and shatter it in rage and then a few tears shed and suddenly you find out all these things you never know, things just change. Like knowing about what really went down when she and Joe were together and when they broke up and how she felt about Ashley and all her unresolved issues coming back to her. Not to mention the drinking and the drugs being snuck on her tour bus. Finding that stuff out changes your relationship. And we were already pretty intimate.

Again, not sexually.

I can’t really explain it, but seeing her sob over a bottle of vodka – which I know isn’t exactly why she was crying, but it’s what started it all – and seeing how hopeless and defenseless and scared she’d become… Everything was different after that. Especially since she left tour not even a week later. All her issues, everything that I could have helped her with, it was all going to someone else. Which was somewhat relieving but at the same time also disappointing. I don’t know, I like helping people. I liked being able to help her for that small window of time when I knew what it was all actually about. So seeing her at this party, I just didn’t know how I would respond.

I’d seen pictures, of course. I’d read interviews, I’d listened to her album and texted her some congratulations here or there and she’d responded with a cute smiley face and a thank you that ended in a bazillion exclamation points. But that was pretty much it. Two years and after all we’d been through together, that was it. Of course I could have reached out more, but I just wanted to give her space away from the Jonas Brother’s name. I knew she needed to be who she wanted to be back when she was fifteen – her own unattached person who didn’t have to rely on some other band to help her out, as grateful as she was for it all. I needed to let go, so I did. 

It wasn’t easy, because honestly I’ve always felt something for her. At one point I wanted more than just a platonic relationship, but that didn’t ever even begin. Well unless you count some things that happened on tour, but I doubt she does so I won’t either. So end of discussion there… Either way, it happened and now we’ve both moved on. So there shouldn’t have been anything to worry about, right? Wrong. There’s always something to worry about with an ex, even when they just an ex best friend.

So this party was on some random Wednesday night at JMan’s place, which was a decent sized apartment on the top of a dance studio he and his sister taught at and apparently planned on buying one day. I know this because JMan told me and Delta in intricate detail all about his plans the second we stepped foot in the door.

“Here’s the thing,” He said, putting an arm around my shoulders as he led me inside. “The owners now are these dumb ass out dated dancers who don’t even know anything other than a simple plie, which is like, get with it, you?” I just nodded like I knew what he was talking about, waiting for the right moment to slip away. But he kind of just kept talking about these jumps I can’t remember the name of and how he’s gonna one day coach for So You Think You Can Dance or Dancing with the Stars or something like that. I kind of just tuned him out. Thankfully Delta vaguely had an idea of what he was talking about so she found a nice segway to get us over to the drinks. I don’t know how she did it, I just know that one second I was standing with JMan in between us and the next second I was walking away with Delta. 

It was confusing to say the least.

Delta just laughed at my expression, which is kind of something she does a lot. “I’m guessing he likes to talk?” She said in that smooth Australian accent that I couldn’t ever resist.

I nodded with a smile and picked up a diet coke. “He loves to talk. I swear, I knew the first five years of his life within knowing him for less than fifteen minutes. Not that I remember any of it.”

She laughed again, that light and airy laugh, and pushed back her blonde locks. Thankfully she was wearing flats tonight so I had a very slight advantage to her. And by very slight, I mean we were pretty much the same height. But hey, she’s gorgeous so there’s no complaining. And it’s obvious by a simple glance around the room that everyone’s taken a notice to her beauty.

It was also due to the fact that she wasn’t even in Camp Rock so when people saw a glimpse of a tall blonde, they wondered what she was doing in the room until they realized who she was. Yes, it was a big skeptic, but I’d stopped caring about our age difference after a few months of dating. And if I didn’t care, neither should anyone else.

I took a sip of my drink, sinking in the music and the familiar atmosphere. Before the can had even left my lips, I saw her. Her dark red hair was flowing down her back and as long as I’d ever seen it. She was smiling brighter than the sun and her laugh echoed from across the room. I couldn’t help but smile at the sight. She looked good, really good.

And not just, like, physically or whatever. But emotionally. I could tell she was actually good. Maybe because I was trained to notice her fake smile and laugh or something, but I knew she was genuinely happy. Which made me happy because, well, she deserved it. More than anyone in this room, she deserved all the happiness in the world.

Delta must have noticed me staring because I heard her laugh and then saw her glance back and forth between myself and the new object of my affection. “Hello?”

I shook my head a bit and looked back to her, raising my eyebrows. “Yeah?” I took another sip of my coke casually and she just smiled at me.

“You should go talk to her.” She knew about my sort of, I guess you could call it a past, with Demi. In our two years of dating I’d told her a lot and Demi wasn’t excluded from that. Although I didn’t really say much on the subject of her until I got the invite to the party, but that’s not the point. She knew I used to have a thing for her, about my being there for her and trying to be a distraction on tour with the secret hopes that she would fall for me. It was a little messy, but she treated it no differently than she would have if none of that had happened at all. That’s what I loved about her – she didn’t care about my ex’s and she wasn’t bitchy or bitter about any of it. She was genuine, which is what I needed most.

But I shrugged it off and shook my head. “Nah, she’s busy. I’ll talk to her later.”

Then she just sort of gave me this look. It said, I know you want to talk to her so go do it before I make you because I don’t want you to leave here disappointed. She kind of knew me perfectly so that one look did it. I smiled a bit and gave her a quick kiss. “Be right back.”

“I’ll guard your drink.” She said with a smile and I nodded, slowly turning towards Demi.

And suddenly I was back in 2008. I had an afro and she had these short over cut bangs that the makeup artist has to add extensions to. And I was going to say hey for the first time and she had this brilliant smile and my palms were sweating and everything was just so –

“Hey, Dems.” I said it before I could stop myself, a small smile forming as my lips recreated her old nickname. At the sound of my voice she turned and I swear, her smile got brighter, if that was even possible.

“Nick!” She laughed a bit. “Ohmygod, hi!” She set down her drink and gave me a big hug. I’m not gonna lie, it was nice to hug someone who was shorter than I was.

Not that I’m complaining about Delta – she’s gorgeous, remember?

But Demi and I – we kind up just stood there for a moment, pressed together and holding each other as if it was the first time in a million years. And in a way, it was like that. We were both two completely different people who stood on completely different pedestals than we did two years ago. And it was like through the hug we were realizing that – because our bodies felt the same (except she felt more real, if that makes sense) but we both just knew nothing was like that anymore.

“Hey,” I said again with a light laugh both at her enthusiasm as well as the fact that we were still hugging. “How are you?”

She sighed a bit as we pulled away at last. “I’m good.” She nodded, her smile looking even brighter (again, um… How is that possible?) as she pushed a piece of loose hair out of her face. “I’m really good, actually.” She glanced to her right and I noticed that the group of people – probably dancers because I hadn’t recognized them – had disappeared. It was a good thing, though. I didn’t like people who lingered into new conversations.

“Yeah… You look good, really you do.” I nodded, trying not to make my glance over of her figure too obvious. But it was Demi and things suddenly were comfortable again so it was OK that she did noticed.

“Yeah, thanks. You look… Ohmygod, is that facial hair?!” She asked, laughing out loud and reaching out to touch the little tuffs that lined my chin and jaw.

I laughed. “Oh yeah, yeah it is. Can you believe it?”

“No!” She grinned. “My little Nicky is a man!”

“Hey! I haven’t been ‘your little Nicky’ in a long time, alright?” I laughed, expecting the same repercussion. But… she just did this thing where she tilts her head to the side and her smile softens. It’s a loving look, really. But at the same time, this look seemed sad. And I didn’t understand why until what she said next.

“I know.” She nodded. “I’ve missed it.” She said it so simply, so casually and yet so full of meaning that it was as if it only dawned on me then. 

God. I missed her so much.