[jake] come and get it

[Dani Marie Cooper]

Dani kept quiet as she maneuvered her hands over Jake’s tie, readjusting it so that it fit perfectly over his shirt. “ There, perfect” she said quietly before taking in a deep breath. She was a bundle of nerves. The nausea had hit her stomach, and it felt like she constantly had a lump in her throat that would just not go down. She knew she probably came off as distant from Jake. All day long she had said maybe five words to him. She knew it looked bad, cold. It was just.. her mind was so overloaded with what tonight meant, that she didn’t know how to process a lot of it. Tonight was make or break. They would be done, or they would both know that moving forward…this was it. By each other’s side, no matter what, through absolutely anything. Forever. And the idea that he might not want that, was making it difficult for her to breathe. What if the time apart had made him realize that he didn’t need her. “ Jake, Dani! Over here!” the interviewer called out, causing Dani to look over her shoulder. She took Jake’s hand, placing on a smile as she walked over to them. “ Jake, Dani.. you guys look amazing. We were wondering for a while if you were playing peekaboo with us, it’s been a while since you’ve had a chance to be out together,” he said before holding the microphone towards them. “ It’s hard enough trying to get this guy away from the gym. Plus he’s working really hard on some screen-writing and some documentaries that I think are really going to shock people with how talented he is. And um.. I mean I’ve been working really hard on this album, so I think for us to actually have a night off and be able to come out and enjoy everything is such a blessing,” Dani said. She could feel her nerves overpowering her, her knees starting to shake from nerves. Subconciously she was tracing her thumb over the back of Jake’s hand to try and calm herself down. “ It’s hardly a night off. Your performance is said to include four songs, we’ve only heard three on the radio… Jake how has it been to see someone you love transition from a Disney icon to what her image is today?”. Dani narrowed her eyebrows slightly, speaking up first about her show so that Jake could take a few moments to collect his own thoughts before answering. “ Right, well tonight is.. I mean it’s not really work. It’s something I’m passionate about. The first three songs are on the radio, and doing really well. But the song I’m performing tonight is .. what this whole album is centered around. It’s what all of the late nights in the studios, dance rehearsals, wardrobe fittings… it’s a fruition of what this album means to me, and the purpose of why I’m doing it, who and what it’s for. And um.. it’s something I’m really proud of, and really excited to share with everyone. And I’m hoping it does well as the other tracks,” she said before taking in a deep breath and looking down at her shoes as Jake took over his portion of the question.Dani took in breaths, slowly, trying to listen but at the same unable to focus on what was happening around her – which happened to be how she was all day today. People were talking to her and she sort of just stared at them. She’d never had to deal with being nervous about Jake before, and now it was throwing her completely off guard. She didn’t even know how to function – she’d never been nervous with him through dating, moving in..anything. The slight possibility that he might not want to come and get it.. was throwing her for a loop. She was more silent about this than she had been when she found out that he was responsible for her fathers’ death.



Once the interviewer was done asking them questions, Dani felt Jakes hand gently leading her away, causing her to look up at the interviewer with a smile and wave at them. She hadn’t caught that it was over. The walk inside felt painfully slow, which was minimal compared to the awkwardness she felt about finding their seats. Dani took a deep breath, in and out. It was becoming more and more difficult to breathe, to the point where she realized it was nausea. In fact, she was so zonked out and in her own world, that it took a half hour into the show, for her to realize that she hadn’t even looked at Jake once since they had their interview. The entire time sitting down had been her bouncing her knees and gripping her clutch so tightly with both of her hands that her fingers had turned bone white. “ Miss Cooper, we need you backstage” a production assistant said from the aisle. “ Miss Cooper?” he questioned, causing Dani to sort of snap out of her zombie like stare at the stage. “ Hm?” she hummed with a lift of her eyebrow. “ We need you backstage… to get ready…. For your performance?” he repeated again. “ Oh,” Dani said, feeling like the wind got knocked out of her. “ It’s already time?” she asked again. Now or never, right? Dani nodded, looking down at her hands while slowly taking in a breath. She stood up, looking over at Jake for the first time since they came into the theater. “ Would you…” she started off questioning him, before simply holding out her clutch to gesture for him to hold it if he didn’t mind. Dani licked her lips nervously before she turned to go with the production assistant and headed backstage.



Once they were in the back she heard someone yelling for wardrobe. For Birthday and Slow Down she was basically wearing the same exact outfits from the videos. For Undercover she was wearing this beyond ridiculously short trench coat with knee length boots and for Come and Get It she had a middle eastern inspired outfit. Dani tilt her head as she ran her thumb across the buttons on all of the outfits so that she could literally change in seconds on stage while hiding behind performances and little hideaways that Logan had devised in his plan for the performance along with Chace during choreography. Dani turned and looked at all of her boys that were backstage. Connor and Joel were dancing together with her for Birthday, Max and Tyler were dancing with her in Undercover, Logan was her partner in Slow Down. And then all by her lonesome for Come and Get It. Dani felt the nausea again, closing her eyes as she tried to will it away, praying it would go down. Nope. Maybe Jake didn’t want to be with her and this was all for nothing. Maybe he had used his time to wise up. Dani leaned forward, grabbing the trash can a couple feet away as she started to vomit into it. “ Do you have newb nerves?” Joel said with a slight smirk, coming over to Dani to offer her a bottle of water. Dani stood up straight, trying to catch her breath. He didn’t understand. Jake was her person, the only one. If she didn’t end up with him, she genuinely believed she would never love another person for as long as she lived. It was all or nothing. Her eyes scanned the group of men again before she spoke up. “ Can someone get Shane?” she questioned. Joel was the first to give a ‘wtf’ facial expression, “ Madden?” he questioned with a slightly disbelieving tone. Dani gave a tight nod, almost too nervous to move her body at all. “ Sure,” Joel said with a head nod in Logan’s direction as an offer to go get Shane before he turned on his Supra heels and headed out. “ Hair,” her stylist said, dragging her to a chair as she watched Joel run off after Shane. Dani sat back in her seat, trying to breathe and not puke all over the place again as about three different people started to attack her straight hair to force it into something curly with volume. When it was all finished and she had changed into her first outfit, she looked out into the hallway, standing on her toes as much as she possibly could to try and keep an eye on where in the hell Shane and Joel were. She sighed as she saw Shane following quickly behind Joel. Maybe it was strange that she had asked Shane. But he was the best person in the situation – all of the other guys were too close to the situation. Jake and Shane were friendly, but it wasn’t like they hung out every weekend. He could offer a more clear opinion, an outsiders take on things almost. And quite honestly, there wasn’t a better person to go to for relationship advice. Shane was all about grand gestures, whether he realized it or not. Flying across the country for a girl to get a ballet audition, searching the world for an engagement ring she had fallen in love with, proposing and getting married in Italy in a span of twenty-four hours. He was a romance at heart kind of guy. “ Shane,” she said out of relief, pulling him into the nearest side room so that they could talk. “ You have three minutes to get on stage, Dani!” the production assistant was yelling from outside the door, pounding on it about every fifteen seconds to yell at her about potentially being late. But the talk with Shane was quick, because he was a romantic guy at heart. Dani left the room quickly, telling Shane he needed to make himself noticed in the audience so that if she got nervous, she could find him and regain some confidence.



Dani pushed her hair out of her face again as she headed back towards the stage, trying to calm herself. There was no reason to be nervous. Most of her friends were literally dancing on stage with her. The only song she had to be nervous about… was Come And Get It. For the two obvious reasons ; new song all by herself, and the fact that Jake knew at this point what it meant for her, for them. Dani stood in the darkness of the stage, getting herself positioned for Birthday to start before feeling Joel lean down to kiss the side of her cheek and head off to his spot with his back turned to the audience. This was it. Dani closed her eyes one last time, taking in a deep breath before the music started to play and the light turned towards her end of the stage for the performance to start. Getting into the choreography for Birthday and singing a song that she knew had already done pretty well helped ease some of her nerves. But for the entire performance, she knew better than to look at Jake. Looking at him would cause everything to fall apart and for her to probably vomit on stage. Couldn’t have that. So she did, for all three songs, purposely avoided looking at Jake. She was too nervous. All of the guys were so confident in their movements and moved so well with her. But quite honestly, dancing with Logan was the hardest. He knew what every decision behind this album had been for – who it had been for. If she failed at a life with Jake, would Logan be disappointed in her, too? The heaviness of what she was hoping for to come out of this was coming to a head as she danced with Logan during the performance. But this was it, they were ripping the clothes off of her from Slow Down and basically strapping her into the outfit for Come And Get It, she felt like every nerve in her body was on fire. The music started, and her eyes locked on Shane instantly, hoping for one last ounce of confidence before she straightened her shoulders and found Jake in the audience, looking him dead in the eye before offering a flicker of a smile. The entire song was everything she had been wanting to tell Jake since all of this started, she just wanted to wait for a time in her life where she felt confident enough to deserve him. Which was now – she had to remind herself of that, to be confident. This love wasn’t over yet, she was addicted for life. Which is exactly what she was telling him…so come get it. Honestly she felt she was holding herself together a lot better than she had expected, she could feel her hands shaking, but the cameras wouldn’t pick up on that, not when she was moving around and dancing so much. Once the light shut out to a complete black out on the stage, Dani felt her body almost relax in instant relief. Whatever the outcome was, it was over. She no longer had to wonder ‘what if’ about the situation. She hadn’t been able to tell what Jake’s take from it was –when she had finally looked at him for the first time during her performance when Come and Get It started, he had looked so stoic. He had an amazing poker face. Maybe he didn’t want to react one way or the other, to give the media anything to talk about. He was smart and calculated like that. Maybe he didn’t want anything to do with her. Dani moved past everyone trying to tell her what a good performance it was, and how well they thought Come And Get It would go over. All she could see was Logan, and honestly she wasn’t trying to be rude – she appreciated the praise. But she knew that Logan knew in this moment, right now, she didn’t care what anyone thought about the song but Jake. Plus all of the awards she was up for werent being given out until after her performance and she didnt give two shits about that right now. As she finally reached Logan she stood in front of him, probably looking more defeated than she ever had in her entire life. “ What if he doesn’t come?” she said sadly, standing on her toes as she instantly wrapped her arms around Logan’s body, holding him as tightly as she could as she buried her face into the side of his neck and shoulder.

[Jacob Daniel Russo]

So dani was nervous, that much Jake could tell. He knew by the way she nervously adjusted his tie. And she had barely spoken to him all day. At first it had worried Jake. They had gone so long without being together, not having kissed or anything, and now not speaking, he had thought it was possible things had gotten worse. Maybe their time apart had showed Dani that she didn't need him. But he told himself that wasn't true. He'd heard one too many things through the grapevine from people like Chace to believe that, making it much more believable that she was nervous because this meant a lot to her. Possibly because it would mean something for them.

Jake sat beside her during the award show, applauding when expected, looking happy when the cameras panned over their seats to capture reactions. Things felt so awkward between them. She wouldn't sit still. She looked like she might vomit. The only thing saving them was the fact that they were both actors and put on happy faces when they were supposed to. Because aside from that, Jake wasn't sure how much longer he could take this. The not talking, the not being together, just not seeing her every morning when he woke up. On top of the constant guilt that maybe having her father killed had been detrimental to their relationship, and how it affected his relationship with his family. Life at the house wasn't really rainbows and butterflies at the moment either. The only thing he had going was his film projects and working out, not having a lot to turn to at the moment. Jake was just glad he had good friends. Lance, Chace, working out with Ethan. Without other things to focus on, Jake wasn't sure he'd have been able to hold out this long without begging Dani to give him a chance. But he was glad he did. If Dani needed time then she should have it.

Even now as the guy came over to tell her she was needed backstage, Jake thought back to the interview earlier on the red carpet. The guy had mentioned that Dani was performing multiple songs, which was a lot to have planned and asked Jake what it was like watching her go from Disney to now. Even a nervous wreck, Jake knew Dani had put everything she had into preparing for this performance. It had to be important. For them, for her career, her reputation. He had told the interviewer, "You know, Dani isn't the first Disney actress to have to grow up. It's been done. But it's also been done terribly, in the past and currently. I think Dani's matured with her audience while being able to stay true to a genuine image that she not only wants to portray to fans, but also an image that she IS. What you see isn't someone molded into anything, she's worked really hard to just be Dani while growing up in the spotlight. She did it with class, and with absolute grace. She should be proud of herself. I am.". Jake had looked over at Dani but she was anxious about getting inside and Jake wasn't sure she had heard anything he said. Maybe she'd catch it later or something.

Now as Dani left him to wait while she got ready for her performance, Jake sank lower in his seat. Maybe the cameras wouldn't show him when she went on. Doubtful. Even so, he was even nervous now. He hadn't even realized it was already time, hearing the music as her performance started. He obviously recognized everyone up there. He wanted to catch her eye, but it was no use. She was doing a great job nonetheless. The part that was frustrating was that she looked beautiful, he couldn't have been more proud of the projects she was working on with her music and yet he hadn't been able to tell her. He'd heard these on the radio. But when the last song came on he knew he didn't recognize it. And he realized she was alone. And then, finally she caught his eye. And smiled. And for some reason it felt like the heavens had opened up and granted him mercy because at that moment he felt things would be okay. This is what she had been waiting for, wanting to tell him. Jake wanted to get up and be backstage to meet her. But he also was very drawn to watching her entire performance. She'd put so much into it, he wanted to see the entire thing. It was conflicting though because she was like, dude I love you forever and always, come get it. He wanted to come get it. But he waited, eyes glued to her until the end, smiling foolishly until the lights went out and he stood up to go get it.

Jake didn't remember the walk from his seat to backstage, but it seemed people were getting out of his way. He just needed to get to her. Jake finally got to her, not having heard what she said to Logan but heard Logan say, "Well... What if he is right behind you right now...?" Jake stopped, Logan releasing her and stepped back to give then some privacy. Jake looked around at the nearest dressing room, walking closer to Dani when she turned around. Jake took her hand and led her inside, shutting the door behind them and then turned to face her, taking her face in his hands. Jake leaned down to kiss her as stopped short, resting his forehead against hers. For all that they had been through, together and apart, and to have made it to this point, still seemingly wanting each other, Jake knew there would be no end to this. Just a plethora of beginnings and new experiences they could share. From this moment on, this first kiss, there would be so many more. Jake had always felt that he and Dani had some sort of silent understanding that what they had was long lasting. But now- he had never been so sure they he'd found his soulmate already. "Dani, you are... More than I ever expected to have. The single most amazing human I have ever met. You are strong, and beautiful. I have never felt more sure that you're who I'm supposed to be with. I never meant to hurt you..." Jake shook his head, sighing, "I want us to be together. I want you, for however long I'm allowed to, for as long as I'm breathing, forever. I want to watch movies on our couch, fight over chicken wings, I want to marry you one day- if that's what you want." Jake smiled, shrugging slightly, "But, it sounds like you do." This time Jake leaned down and kissed her, after all this time, feeling like it was the beginning all over again. Like the first time those few years ago. He knew he could do this for the rest of his life. And maybe this time around, they wouldn't have anything holding then back.

[Dani Marie Cooper]

Dani kept her face tucked into Logan's neck the best she could. Which was difficult considering his heght difference. She wasn't sure how long she held him for - or how tightly. But the moment he suggested that Jake was already behind her, she dropped her arms instantly, almost disbelieving. Dani turned to face Jake, sniffling at the last of the tears that had formed. She hadn't realized how tightly her hand squeezed around Jake's as he took it, leading her elsewhere, away from everyone else. She stepped quietly into the dressing room, turning to look at Jake as he shut the door. Dani was already having to force herself to breathe, timing it in her mind on when she was supposed to inhale and exhale. Maybe he didn't like the performance. But he had to, right? He was here. "Coming to get it", supposedly. Or maybe it was the opposite, maybe he was wanting to break up with her, and didn't want to do it in front of a bunch of people and embarras her. That was curteous of him. He always was a gentleman. But it was quite the opposite actually. She held her breath as he placed his hands around her face. The last time a kiss had taken her breath away - was a few years earlier, when the two of them weren't supposed to be kissing at all. If anything, this felt like that experience times ten. His lips weren't anythign new, she'd kissed them a thousand times. Probably hundreds of thousands actually. But this felt so much more important, more life defining - like she actually needed to know that the only pair of lips she was going to kiss for the rest of her life would be his. Dani closed her eyes when he fell short of kissing her though, bringing her hands up to hold the sides of his arms as he pressed his forehead against hers. They might fight about a lot of tedious things, and scream at each other.. but the important things had always gone unsaid. It was quietly assumed that they would just be together for a long time. So hearing Jake say it for the first time made her knees buckle, and she was thankful that he was so close. She bit the edge of her lip, smiling at how comfortably he talked about their arguments, but still wanting to be together. A lot of people may not have been able to forgive their boyfriend for the choice he made. But she knew it wasn't one that had come easily. And, to his benefit, it had helped her be able to sleep at night. She wasn't afraid of this monster who was terrorizing her thoughts and dreams. He'd helped her. It had been a tough choice, and he had made it. He risked everything they had, to give her peace. Her frame of mind and safety was more important to him than the two of them actually being together. Which, had ultimately made her decision. She loved him, she needed him. He put her first, when no one else had. He was selfless with her. Dani felt a sense of relief as he finally leaned down and kissed her. It wasn't ever a doubt in her mind that she wanted to be with him - in her mind she knew all along he was the only person she would be capable of loving. But it had made her nervous.. not knowing whether he would think it was worth it. But, here he was. Just as in love with her as she was with him. And he was talking about their future. Because honestly, they had to both know what this meant. Getting back together at this point, after everything that happened - that had to be for good. " You are the only thing I've ever wanted," she said, leaning back slightly to push away some of the tears she hadn't realized had popped up. The good thing was, they had been through hell together and back. If they could make it out through this still wanting to be together, there wasn't anything realistically that could tear them apart. Dani brought her hands back around his neck, standing on her toes to kiss him again as she moved her hands down to his chest. It was like her hands were moving in reverse, doing their best to untie the tie that she had been so picky about earlier in the evening. She pulled at the buttons, surprised not only at the warmth of his skin but at the tightness of it. Dani made a face as she was kissing him before she pulled away, pushing the fabric of his shirt away from his chest. ".....What did you do?" she questioned at the serious amount of muscle he had packed on. Dani made a perplexed face, trying to figure out how he had hulked out so quickly. But his chest, the thing she missed most about it was being able to lay her head on it at night. And maybe tonight she'd be able to do that again. Dani unbuttoned the rest of his shirt, deciding to see if his abs had gotten the Hercules treatment as well before she smirked, shaking her head at him. Dani clutched her fingers tightly at the fabric of his shirt and pulled him back down to kiss her again. It was hard to get past the taste of his lips now that she had it again, like an alcoholic's first drink of whiskey straight out of rehab, every bit as addicting. Dani bit down on his bottom lip as roughly as she could, gripping her hands into the back of his hair so tightly that her knuckles had probably paled into white. She had a grip on him - and this time, she didn't plan on ever letting him go.