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That car alarm that’s going off right now is probably the worst noise Nick has ever heard and he sends a silent prayer up to God for him to miraculously drop a piano on it or something to shut it up. When it doesn’t happen right away, Nick realizes that he won’t be able to go back to bed so he sits up and starts rubbing his temples.
The gentle press of his fingers against the slightly hairy sides of his face feels like heaven and he’s so lost in the sensation that he almost ignores the fact that the sheets shifted.
Holy shit. The sheets just moved. And he’s only moving his hands.
Nick’s eyes instantly pop open. It’s bad enough he has this pounding headache but to possibly have someone else in his bed that he doesn’t even remember doing anything with will just be the icing on the cake that is this morning. He slowly turns his head to the other side of the mattress and that’s when he sees her peacefully sleeping beside him.
He may be hungover but still knows that that’s Demi Lovato; a girl he’s had a few classes with since middle school. The two had talked on occasion, but probably wouldn’t classify themselves as friends, just acquaintances…maybe not even that. They may not know each other too well, but Nick has heard all the stories about Demi. She doesn’t have the greatest family life - people say that her dad beats her and her mom - which explains why she’s always found at parties getting drunk, high, or both.
Nick’s eyes drift away from Demi and he starts looking all around the room. It’s not his room but his clothes from last night are scattered all around. Two days ago was their last day of high school forever and yesterday a mutual friend had thrown a party to celebrate. Normally Nick doesn’t drink enough to get him drunk, but last night was probably one of the last times he’d ever see most of those people so he figured why not?
And now he’s in what he figures is Demi’s room with her asleep beside him. He draws his eyes back to her and watches her sleep; she looks so peaceful and Nick can’t help but smile. She really is a beautiful girl and he wishes he could remember last night better because he’s sure the sex was incredible. Part of him wants to ask her to do it again when she wakes up - how else is he supposed to get rid of this damn morning wood? - but he shakes his head to himself in protest. In less than seven hours he’ll be a high school graduate. Then there’s the Senior All Night Party and after that he probably won’t associate with a majority of his graduating class ever again.
This hangover headache is killing him, so Nick finally gets out of the bed - quietly so he doesn’t wake Demi. He pulls on his boxers and then walks into the kitchen. Luckily no one else is home, so he makes two cups of coffee; one for him and one for Demi and if she doesn’t like coffee then he’ll gladly take it. Caffeine always seems to help his hangovers, so he’s almost done with his cup when he walks back into Demi’s room.
She’s up and when she sees her door open and Nick comes through she raises an eyebrow in confusion. “What the hell?” She asks, pulling the blankets up to cover her whole body. Nick’s not sure why she does that because the sheet was already covering her.
"Morning to you too." Nick remarks sarcastically, walking back over to the bed. He takes a seat on the edge and motions towards the cup he intended for her. "Coffee?"
She silently grabs the mug and takes a sip. Nick watches as her eyes close as the warmth slides down her throat. Demi lowers the mug, but keeps her eyes closed for a second longer. She inhales the smell of the coffee and then her eyes slowly. “So we had sex.” She states more than questions.
Nick shrugs and answers with an “I guess.”
"Well don’t sound so excited. What? Were you a virgin?"
"No, I just planning on not having sex again until I got married."
"So you were a virgin."
"No! Go ask Miley Cyrus."
"Alright, fine." Demi lifts her free hand as if to defend herself. "Sorry to ruin your little plan there." They both take a drink of their coffees. "Why were you doing that anyway?"
"Because that’s what God wants."
"Don’t you think there are a bunch of other stuff God wants other than just your purity, Jonas?" Nick raises an eyebrow at her question. "Like, why don’t you concentrate more on the ‘love thy neighbor’ stuff other than you?"
"How do you know about all this?"
"Just because I like to get drunk a lot doesn’t mean I don’t know a thing or two about religion. I used to go to church," and Nick heard her mumble "before everything got fucked up."
"What do you mean ‘used to’?" Nick asks, positioning himself on the bed so that he’s facing her, setting the coffee mug, the beverage inside long sing finished, on the floor.
"It’s hard to believe in something when you pray endless for Daddy to stop hitting Mommy but nothing happens. And soon he’s hitting you and you just stop praying." Demi explains, rubbing her arm and looking down at the tangled sheets.
Nick sits silent for a moment, not sure how to respond, but when he does open his mouth to speak, Demi takes her hand off her arm and raises it to stop him. “I have to get ready for graduation anyway, so just leave.”
Without saying another word Nick gets dressed and leaves.
And he doesn’t speak to her again for two more months. He’s leaving leaving a restaurant at two in the morning. It’s raining so he’s rushing to his car, but the sight of someone crying on the curb right by his car stops him. Peering under the edge of his hood, Nick recognizes the dark hair and small frame: Demi. He calls her name out in the rain and she looks up at him.
Demi laughs, but it’s not a cheerful one. It’s more of a ‘of-course-you’re-the-one-to-find-me-crying-on-the-curb-at-two-in-the-morning.’ “What are you doing, Jonas?”
"I was leaving Buffalo Wild Wings. What are you doing out here?"
Demi’s eyes dart all around as she tries to fight back tears, but they come back streaming down. She can’t answer at all, so Nick sits down beside her and wraps his arm around her for comfort. She doesn’t object to his touch, in fact she actually leans into him, cuddling closer to him as she cries on his shoulder.
"Let’s get out of this rain." Nick suggests and Demi nods. They stand and get into his car as Nick drives them both back to his place. She confesses to him that her dad had tried to rape her earlier that night, so she ran and she planned on never going back. Ever. Nick can’t blame her.
As good fortune would have it, Nick’s parents are asleep when he gets home which saves him from having to explain why he’s soaked and bringing a girl back home. Once they get into his room he pulls out an old baggy baseball shirt from high school and a pair of boxers for her. “Here, get out of those wet clothes. The bathroom is over - whoa!” Nick shouts but then covers his mouth as if that’ll stop his parents from waking up.
Nick had turned around to see Demi rolling down her pants. She laughs at the expression on Nick’s face. “It’s not like you haven’t seen this before.”
"I know it’s just I-I.." Nick can’t seem to finish his sentence.
"Am I that disgusting?" She asks with another laugh, this one is out of self pity though.
"No no no, you’re beautiful it’s just I wasn’t expecting.." He trails off again because Demi has taken off her shirt to throw his t-shirt on and he can’t remember what he was going to say let alone his own name at the moment.
Demi smirks. “Are you planning to repeat our last sleep over? Is that why you brought me home?”
Nick’s head shakes so fast that he gets dizzy. He swallows hard, trying to keep his cool before he responds. “I just thought you could use a friend.”
Her smudge expression drops. “You just…we’re friends?”
"I mean, yeah. We slept together so why can’t we be friends?" Nick smiles at the joke he just tried to make.
Demi stares at him for a second before bursting out laughing. Nick shushes her a few times but they both still laugh. They stop laughing and Nick watches as Demi walks over to him. When her arms wrap around his waist he stands there for a moment, taking in the fact that Demi is hugging him, and then his arms go to her waist. Demi’s head leans onto his chest and Nick rests his head on top of hers.
They stay in this position for a minute or two, just enjoying the company of the other. Nick’s the first to step away. He smiles down at her and clears his throat. “I’m gonna go sleep on the coach.”
He’s about to walk away when Demi gently grabs his hand. “Don’t you think it’d be a little weird if your parents found you on the coach tomorrow morning, so why don’t you just…stay?”
Nick takes a deep breath because his mind starts thinking of a million things that could happen while they’re in the same bed together. Not being able to speak he just nods and they both head over to the bed.
Nothing happens between them that night or the next few nights because Demi stays with him for a while.
After explaining to his parents about Demi’s situation, Nick’s parents allow her to stay and she becomes an honorary Jonas family member within the month. Even when Nick goes away to college she stays at his house and he comes home every other weekend to find his room has turned just a tad more girly, since that’s where Demi is sleeping - his parents have made Nick move into Frankie’s room.
He comes back for Christmas break and Demi tells him that she wants to go to school for the winter semester. She explains that she has gotten a job to save up for classes and Nick is immensely proud of her, so he offers to tutor her whenever he’s home to help her out.
With each passing studying session Nick finds himself starring at her from time to time. He starts thinking it’s adorable how she bites on the eraser of her pencil when she’s concentrating real hard or when her hair gets in her face and she moves it behind her ear - he sometimes wants to reach out and do it for her - and especially the smile on her face when she gets something right. Maybe he’s just falling in love with her.
He knows he’s in love with her when he finds her and Joe making out in the backyard the night before he goes back to college.
"It’s nothing official. We’re just…friends with benefits." Joe explains later that night and it’s takes all the will power in Nick to stop him from punching his brother.
It becomes an official relationship by the time Christmas break rolls back around and Nick doesn’t feel the Christmas spirit that year because he wants to vomit every time he sees Joe and Demi doing the things that he and Demi should be doing. He also drinks a lot more than he normally does.
Joe ends the relationship five months later, just when summer break is starting, and Nick’s the one there to help Demi, just like he always has been and always will be. He tries to keep her busy all summer and she seems to be fine when he leaves for school in the fall for his junior year.
With his work load at school, Nick can’t make it home as much as he’d like to and whenever he is home Demi seems fine. It’s when he comes home for Thanksgiving break that he notices her behavior is different, more like how she used to be in high school. His parents have seemed to notice too, so Nick makes it his job to find out what’s wrong.
"I’m fine!" Is always her response whenever he asks her, so he follows her one night and sees her getting God knows what from a dealer in an alleyway.
He doesn’t follow her into the alleyway, he just watches from afar and when she comes back on the main street that’s when she sees him. The scowl on his face tells her that he saw what went down. “Nick, I-“
"Why are you doing this?" He cuts her off with his question. "You know what, no, don’t answer that. Sure, my brother dumped you and I bet you feel like shit. I don’t blame you, but you can’t go back to this, Demi. You’re amazing and you don’t deserve to do this to yourself."
"Why not, huh?" She shouts back. Tears are already streaming down her face. "I’m not good enough for my dad and that’s why he kicked me out. I’m not good enough for your brother but he can’t kick me out so I just have to live with him each and every day and watch him date other girls. I mean, when do I get a chance, Nick? This makes me feel good just for a little bit."
"You’re never going to get a chance if you keep doing this stuff. This is what holds you back."
"I’m not holding myself back, Nick! I’m just not smart enough to go to school to do anything better with my life!"
"Yes you are!"
"No I’m not!"
"Demi," Nick holds on to her shoulders and forces her to look at him. "Yes you are. I wouldn’t still be here fighting with you if I didn’t believe in you. I know you can do this." He whispers that last part to her because half way through his speech she tried looking away so he moved his hands from his shoulders to her cheeks. His forehead is now resting on hers and her lips are just centimeters apart; it wouldn’t take much for him just to press his lips to hers and Lord knows he wants to do that so badly, but he keeps his hormones under control. He’s not going to kiss her like this.
Instead of kissing her, he removes his hands off her face and takes a hold of one of her hands a she leads her back to his house. They sleep in the same bed for the first time in years that night.
When Nick awakes the next morning, Demi has two mugs of coffee ready for them. They sit on the bed and drink their coffee in silence. Demi finishes hers first and when she’s done she sets the mug on the nightstand beside her. “Thanks…for last night.” She mumbles out, but Nick can see the sincerity in her eyes.
He nods as a response and takes another sip of his coffee. When he lowers the mug he’s surprised by Demi’s lips colliding against his. It’s a quick kiss, no tongue, but it’s deep enough that Nick even reaches for her again when they part but she’s off the bed immediately. She thanks him again and walks out the door.
They never speak of the kiss again, even when Nick has to go back to school and he makes it a priority to come home every weekend to be with Demi, they still don’t mention it.
Christmas break seems to be forever away, but it’s only a month and Nick couldn’t be happier to spend three weeks straight with Demi. It’s in the second week, New Year’s Ever to be exact, when Nick and Demi are home alone to ring in the new year. The rest of the family was doing separate stuff that night, so Nick and Demi decided just to stay in because they didn’t feel like going.
The ball is slowly dropping because it’s one minute until midnight and Nick can’t make up his mind whether to kiss her or not. He’s unsure as to what their relationship is at the moment because they hold hands every now and then, but they still refer to each other as friends. Kissing could ruin that entire thing and Nick doesn’t want that, but on the other hand Nick just really wants to kiss her and tell her he loves her.
The new year comes before Nick changes his mind. The people on the TV are cheering and Demi has a big smile on her face. He looks down at her and smiles back. That’s when she laughs. “What?” He asks.
"For God’s sake, Nick, just kiss me already!" She demands and presses her lips to his.
Their lips part long enough for Nick to say “Thank God. I’ve been wanting to do that for so long,” but then they’re back to kissing again. The eventually make it up to Nick’s old bedroom.
"I guess we’re right back where we started, huh?" Demi asks once her back hits the mattress.
Nick hovers over her and smirks. “Except this time we’ll actually remember it and we won’t be yelling at each other after.”
"I have a feeling there’s going to be a little yelling during it." Demi remarks with a wink and then reconnects her lips with Nick’s.