A/n: SUCK IT I'VE BEEN A NICK GIRL SINCE THE JONAS BROTHERS FIRST CAME OUT UGH! Keep in mind when they came out I was like seven or nine years old and I am now seventeen so this has been going on about ten years now. I held it in for long enough you can't judge me.

I had the worst sense of humor on the entire face of the planet. I could never get other people to laugh, and I'd learned over time to simply be quiet and enjoy the moment when others were cracking jokes and such. I thought almost everything was funny, unless it was an offensive joke in front of someone who was sensitive to the subject. Dark humor was golden but one had to keep in mine the audience in mind. Being a dick wasn't funny. Everyone could agree, though, that I also wasn't funny.

Well... almost everyone.

Nick cracked up at my most recent joke, his face breaking into that heart melting grin, accompanied by that stomach twisting laugh. His eyes locked on mine after a second. "That was a good one," he commented, still half laughing around his words. "Best one this week."

A smile, genuine and shy - unsure - rose to my face. I was so packed down by how horribly, painfully terrible my sense of humor was, it was almost impossible to believe that someone could also agree that I was funny on some level. In some way. The way that Nick's eyes shone and twinkled with genuine amusement and his face etched with appreciation in every detail of his smile and his laugh lines and the edges of his eyes, though... He was so open and honest that I couldn't help believe him. It was really nice. It made me warm and happy. I couldn't help but spend so much time creating one liners and dorky jokes and dumb pick up lines - or memorizing new ones - so that I had at least a few every time I saw him again.

"You really think so?" I asked quietly, my face burning. I felt good around him. It made me ecstatic to see him enjoying my lame jokes so much.

Nick nodded, grinning. "Yeah. I wouldn't lie to you," he reminded.

A little laugh bubbled out of me and I was smiling so wide that it hurt. "I know." Our eyes met and there was two or three beats worth of a moment as we just looked at each other before he cleared his throat and we both looked away. "What did the postman say to the...?" I began. He got ready for the next joke, a strong smile already on his face.

-

"You're literally the worst!" Demi complained, eyes closed as she sat back, laughing.

A proud smile on my lips, I laughed. "I got you to laugh though!" I bragged.

She glared at me, but it was broken by her grin. "That's WHY you're the worst." I winked and she laughed again.

Just then, Nick came in and I smiled at him, nodding. He smiled back and my stomach fluttered. He sat next to Demi on the three-person couch, a space between them. Demi smirked at me and I blushed. It was no secret that I'd had a crazy big crush on Nick since we were young. I'd been a stage hand on Hannah Montana and that had lead me pretty far as I was really hard working and pretty skilled in how everything worked. It helped that I'd been doing stuff like this since I was about four and that my uncle was a pretty popular stage director for Disney.

When they were having a hard time with Camp Rock since no one could seem to understand my uncle's vision, he called me in. That was when I met Demi. She was stressing out because she'd had a terrible night's sleep the last week and was having a hard time remembering her lines for some reason. I took her out for a fun day. My uncle didn't even stop me. He knew that I was the people person to his drill sergeant and he trusted my judgement when it came to keeping morale up. So I took her out, had fun, made her take a nap, and then we had a full out dance party to tire her out again so that she'd sleep well that night. She was relaxed and exhausted and fell right to sleep. I woke her up once she'd gotten her eight hours and then fed her a healthy breakfast. She almost didn't eat it and I realized that there was more going on with Demi other than just her not getting enough sleep. My terrible humor kept her distracted enough and between her cringing and her full night's sleep, I got her to eat slowly but surely. After the fun time, though, I returned to running lines. I goofed around, keeping her at ease as she memorized them again, working with her patiently.

When she'd gone in later to run a scene, she smiled more and was calmer, not being overly hyped up on adrenaline, and she did her lines and character really well. It was that incident which knocked me onto the path, leading me to where I was today.

It was my dream to be a director of great plays and musicals, having a vision of my own that I created with sets and costumes and actors. To see the things in my head come alive on a stage for an audience. What happened instead was that I worked with Disney as help, running into Demi time and time again until I found out that she was requesting to have me on set and pulling strings to get me a job wherever she was. When she find out that I had the BIGGEST celebrity crush on Nick, one of her super good friends, she introduced us.

Demi and I became really good friends and when she left the Disney scene to do music, I was right next to her, ready to help. Instead of directing plays, I directed stage performances for Demi and being supportive when she needed a friend, not a co-worker. It was when I got offered a job on a tour that I had to take, when I left, that Demi had a real breakdown. I went to leave the job, but Nick called me and gave it to me straight. He told me that I was being a crutch for her and if I didn't give her incentive to fix herself, she would always be crippled. I was babying her.

So I stayed on the tour job. I was gone six months. When I came back, Demi was ecstatic to see me, and sat me down, demanding that I tell her all my terrible jokes that she'd missed and to share all the crazy stories she didn't get to participate in. She was a lot better. I had realized before, over the phone, that she spoke more and said more positive things and seemed more hopeful and happy over time, but seeing her style change. The way she held herself. Her body language. Everything.

After that, Demi brought her two best friends together and the three of us became a trio. When they went on tour, real magic happened. With them performing and me directing and all of us cracking up all the time, it was a total blast. We'd become the best of friends, and I'd gotten to know Nick really well over the time when he'd been a friend of a friend, and even my friend after that call when we had a heart to heart. My celebrity crush became a genuine crush, which grew to a like, and then to an infatuation, and soon to a very serious puppy love into-

Well, Demi said that I was in love with him. I heavily disagreed. Mainly because I wasn't his type, he'd never go for me, I was totally friend zoned, I wasn't some pretty model or talented singer or someone special who could do something special. I was just the girl who helped Demi and directed the stage and told terrible jokes. We were friends. Some days I even doubted the BEST friends thing. That was definitely more Nick and Demi. It was inevitable when people started shipping them, yet it hurt no less. Thinking of my closest, dearest friend and the guy I was totally head over heels for being together... I knew she didn't like him, not even in the slightest (mainly because she shipped the two of us so much, though I couldn't tell anyone WHY she was so vehement about it) and I was fairly sure he felt exactly the same. But still...

"Are you listening?" Demi asked, fake pouting. I looked up, realizing I was staring at my feet, frowning, expression tense and melancholic.

"Sorry," I apologized sheepishly. "I wasn't."

Nick leaned forward, his expression curious. "You okay?"

A nervous laugh quietly slipped past my lips before I could catch it and I felt my face heat up. Nothing like your crush asking you what you were thinking about that had you so upset - when it was him you were thinking about. "Yeah, totally. Thinking about this problem I've been having with one of the stage sets with the lighting. I have to go between both of you and my light guys seem to be having a hard time focusing on both of you, which makes no sense. I thinks it's the light changes. I may have made too many, or just too often." I shrugged.

"Isn't she adorable when she gets all dorky?" Demi teased.

Leaning back again, Nick laughed. "Talk nerdy to me."

My face heated up more but Demi and Nick laughed it off with ease. Platonic flirting had been a thing between the two forever, but ever since I'd fallen super hard for Nick, Demi had gone out of her way to get Nick to notice how "cute" or "adorable" this or that thing was about me. He'd started platonically flirting with me too, but only through her. "Thanks guys," I sighed, rolling my eyes. "I'm just being productive and making sure your lighting and stage looks great."

Both of them laughed. "You're just being the best person ever," Demi agreed. "Sorry for the teasing."

"You better be," I chided. "I may tell my spotlights to avoid you at all costs. Again." There was a day that Demi had been teasing em too much so I passive aggressively got the light guy to avoid her no matter what. Just during a practice of course. I would never publicly shame Demi. She cringed, remembering the occasion, but Nick busted up laughing.

"Oh my gosh I remember that," he admitted around his laughter, rubbing his face. "It was fucking amazing."

I laughed too."I was pretty proud of myself."

"Dude I was proud of you!" Nick gushed. "It was awesome!"

We settled down, but Demi was smirking again. I got the feeling she knew I'd been thinking about Nick again when I'd spaced out earlier, and I also got the feeling that she was thoroughly enjoying us bonding and laughing and having a good time together.

She moved and we both looked at her. "So," she said lowly. I rose an eyebrow; Nick was smiling, still amused. "I have a date tonight that I'm going on this weekend. It's a blind date SHE is dragging me on and I need some backup. Will you guys come?"

I immediately groaned. SHE was someone we all hated but Demi kept ties up with just to be a good person. SHE was rather dependent on Demi's advice and apparently reminded Demi a lot of herself. I thought SHE was a million times worse than Demi but... whatever. It was Demi's choice. Demi new that I hated her guts though. There had been far too many run ins with her messing with Demi and me being an overprotective best friend. SHE didn't like me either. She tolerated me anyway though because Demi treated me like a sister and we came as a package, as Demi had made very clear many times. Instead of complaining about the obvious - even if I hated her, Demi considered her a friend on some level and I didn't want to trash her too much - I sighed, pointing out the less obvious. "There's no way I'm going to get a date by tonight, Dee."

"Oh come on!" she complained.

There was a split second pause where I opened my mouth to tell her off for whining when Nick beat me, speaking up first. "We could go together." I looked over at him, surprised, but I saw Demi lean back in her chair and I knew that every little detail from going on a date with HER to telling us las minute she'd done to lead to just that. "I mean, I don't think I'll get a last second date either. And you know I hate asking people to do things last minute. If we're both up for it though, I mean, why not?" He shrugged casually and I swallowed hard.

"Yeah," I found myself saying, unable to come up with any excuse as to say no. Even if Ic could, I doubt I wouldn't have said yes anyway. "Sounds like a great idea."

"Perfect!" Demi announced. "Well, break's over. Let's go run it again once more, sound good?" She looked at me and I nodded silently. "We'll get ready afterwards."

"Sounds like a plan," Nick agreed, standing.

"Totally," I voiced in weakly. "Best plan ever."

Well, we did the run through again and this time I made some adjustments to the lights so that it worked out. I hadn't lied about that being a problem. Almost everything was perfect now and I let myself get lost in my job. It relaxed me and the time passed quickly. All too soon, it was over, everyone was packing up and going home, and Demi was whisking me off so that we could get ready.

"This is the worst plan ever," I snapped as she held up dresses from my closet to my chin.

Demi shook her head at the dress then rolled her eyes at me. "It is not." She put the dress back and then grabbed another.

I huffed. "It IS, Dee. I don't have any nice dresses and you know how good he looks in a tux. I'm going to be a misshapen potato next to him. And then HER and you and whoever you two are taking-"

Smirking, Demi cut me off. "I lied about her being there. I just wanted him to ask you. You and him and me and my date. She won't even be there. Turns out she bailed." She winked at me and I gaped at her, completely shocked. She giggled at my expression. "Oh come on! I'll be there."

"You better be," I grumbled.

After a second, she sighed. "You want to borrow one of my dresses?" I glared at her but she took my hand, laughing as she dragged me to her dressing room. She's going to be there, I told myself. It's not just going to be... me and Nick.

We got ready to go and then met Nick at Demi's car. She suggested that we meet there and then split, me and Nick taking his car. Something about it being a date and her wanting to prep herself to be able to focus on her date instead of excluding him by hanging out with her friends since the very second she was there. Nick agreed, but he seemed a bit distracted. I was in one of Demi's dresses and I had to admit it did look fairly good on me. Since I was really hard on myself, I'm sure that regular people who didn't overthink my faults and see everything wrong with me too often and too much, I looked really really good. Why Nick would notice or care, though, had no clue. We got there and Demi guided us to our seats. It was a small table. She lied about HER calling during the car ride over and deciding to not turn up after all and Nick made some mumbling about how it was such a shame, getting me to laugh quietly. Then Demi said something about going outside to tell her blind date where she was - apparently she actually had a date that she was bringing to the night, though I don't know how detailed she was being about this. We waited, keeping small talk, until it clicked.

"She's not going to be here," I whispered, eyes going wide.

Nick's face contorted in confusion. "What?"

I covered my face, completely embarrassed. "So, um, when I was younger I had this HUGE crush on you. Like... like a fan to a celebrity, ya know? And, um, I may have told Demi that I kind of had that still and that's why she introduced us and such. And, um, when I got to know you more and such, it kinda developed into a real crush, you know? Well, I mean I got over it," I rushed, my face blazing as his eyes widened. I couldn't tell if it was just surprise or awkwardness. He seemed to slump in relief and I smiled weakly. He really didn't like me after all. Silly Demi. She succeeded in getting me to hope. "I think she put this night together to try and get us on a date. I'm so sorry."

He paused for a second and then nodded. "Nah, no worries. It was a... nice thought." Awkwardness filled the air between us and I shuffled, coughing.

"You guys are ridiculous," Demi huffed as she plopped down next to us. My eyes widened. "Before you start, I already heard the conversation and yes I did do this to set you up so don't look like such a deer caught up in the headlights. Second, why would you say that? You, mar girl, are crazy about Mr. Nick Jonas over here. And Nick! You're as insane about her. Speak up, boy!"

Nick's mouth worked as we looked at each other in turn, eyes wide. "I..." Nick struggled.

"I can confirm," Joe added as he plopped down next to Demi, folding his arms on the table. They'd both pulled up chairs from a nearby table, one of them to each side of me and Nick. "You find a lot funny, but the fact that you consitantly find everything Miss Terrible-Humor over here says is hillarious enough to react each and every time? Definitely insane."

Nick lay his forehead on the table. "This is not how I wanted this to go down."

Demi laughed. "You were taking too long! What did you expect us to do?! Now, Joe and I are goI guess to actually leave you to your own devices. Kiss or eat or something. Seriously." They both stood and she shot me a look before the pair left the restaurant after putting heir chairs back.

I sat back. "Uh.... so."

He laughed, looking up at me. "So."

A small smile tickled my lips. "Do you have a map?"

One of his eyebrows rose. "Not a paper one. Why?"

"Because I keep getting lost in your eyes."

He bit his lip, amusement etching into his face. His grin light up the room and my insides warmed. "On a scale of one to ten, I have to say you're a nine." He looked up at me, his eyes glinting. "But don't worry, I'm the one you need."

I busted up laughing and the ice broke. The rest of night was full of flirting and eating and talking. And after...

Well, things were definitely different aftwards.

-

A/n: That was a vague ending but I really wanted to end this I've been writin it for like a month LOL