"So...who's the one all the girls love?" I ask the boys, trying to get a conversation started while we're in the van.
"Nick," Joe and Kevin say immediately, in unison.
"Really?" I giggle.
"It's the red sunglasses," he explains, pointing to the sunglasses on his face.
"Ah, I see," I play along, and roll my eyes. "I should've noticed that right away!"
"So what did you notice right away?" He asks, flirtatiously.
"The eyes. The hair. The clothes. The Alex-ness," I tell him.
"Alex-ness?"
"Yeah! Alex!" Erin screams. "That guy your bros thought was Nick in the theaters! Ellie's luvah!"
"He's not my luvah!" I roll my eyes again, and gain an uncomfortable feeling in my stomach.
"Mmhmm..." She looks away from me, disbelievingly.
"Well, then..." Kevin buts in, but not in a rude way. "I'm pretty much completely lost right now."
"Oh, she was just talking about this guy I like and how he kinda looks like Nick," I tell him.
"Kinda?!" Erin laughs quietly.
"Uh, no...I meant I'm actually LOST," Kevin points out the front window, implying the roads.
"Alright!! Who has an atlas?!" Joe waves his arms, trying to turn around from his shotgun seat to look at us in the back.
"I don't think we need an atlas, Joe!" Kevin laughs at his weirdness. "There's a book of road-maps in the glove compartment. Can you get it for me?"
"Depends...there's a chocolate bar in your pocket," he imitates Kevin. "Can you get it for me?"
"Yeah, yeah, I will, Joe," Kevin whines. "Just get me the maps."
"Bro, you drove us there!" Nick comes into the conversation. "How do you not know how to get back?!"
"I smelled a Starbucks, so I zoned out, and I guess I got a little sidetracked..."
"Kevin has a Starbucks radar in his head," Joe informs me. "We'll be on the road, and he'll be like: two miles...Starbucks. He can smell it...and every time he's right!"
"Word."
"Yeah, we were in a mall, and Kevin started saying Starbucks, and just ran 'til he found it," Nick agrees.
"That's like me!" Erin laughs. "Except for me it's Dunkin Donuts. I'm gonna have to disagree with you on that one, Kevin!"
"Yeah, right!! Starbucks is so much better!" Kevin opposes.
They get into this whole dispute about which coffee place is better, when Joe finally finds the map book.
"GOT IT!" Joe thrusts the book in Kevin's lap.
"Gee, thanks," Kevin says sarcastically, then glares at Joe when he steals his chocolate bar.
It takes us about 15 minutes to get back to the Jonas' house, from which we all say our goodbyes, and go our separate ways. I stay a little bit longer with the brothers out front of their house to catch up on everything; to learn a bit more about each other and how much, but still, how little we've all changed.
"Kay, bye guys!" I wave at the three of them after we're done all of our talking for now. I start walking towards my own house.
"Wait!" Nick quickly walks over to me and I stop in my tracks.
"What is it?"
"We'll hang out again soon, okay?" He hugs me.
"Of course!" I say, as if it's obvious, and wonder why he'd say that. I hug him back, tightly. "We only live so far apart...it's not like we won't see each other tomorrow or the next day!"
"...Wicked," I can hear the smile in his voice.
*
5:57 PM
"??????????"
That's how I'm feeling right now, as I'm lying on the couch in my bedroom.
Why is Nick so worried and uneasy that he won't see me in a day or two?
Why did I suddenly get uncomfortable when Erin mentioned Alex like that in the van?
Why do I feel like I'm 12 again...?
5:59 PM
Of course, of course...they're celebs. Any girl would feel like this when she's first meeting them.
6:00 PM
But not when she's already known them for eight years...
6:00:32 PM
But has only been in their company for six out of those eight years.
6:02 PM
Still -- six years is a long time knowing somebody.
*
A few minutes later, my father comes in.
"Oh, Elise, you're home!" He laughs."I didn't even hear you come in!"
"Yeah," I say, still somewhat zoned out.
"I was just coming in to get your laundry," he says as he walks over to my laundry bin.
"How was your day?" He asks while transferring my dirty clothes from my bin to the basket he's holing in his arms. "You look beat."
"Oh, yeah," I say, snapping out of my thoughts. "It was really good. Even though the Jonases have changed, they're still so much like they were a few years ago!"
"I noticed that!" He laughs and shakes his head. "Especially Joseph!"
I laugh too.
"You know, Nicholas looks a lot like one of the boys who's been over here before."
Ah, why did he have to bring up Alex?!
"Yeah, I kind of noticed that," I fake an extremely realistic smile. "We saw Alex in the theaters and they thought it was Nick."
"Well then, you'll have to introduce them eventually, won't you?" He laughs again, and leaves me alone...stuck with my thoughts again.
I actually have considered introducing them to each other...but I saw the way they looked at one another at the theatres. Plus, Alex and I have that kind of relationship where I'm afraid he'd think I'm some sort of stalker if I came to him with a guy that looks almost exactly like him...not to mention him possibly avoiding me for a very lengthy amount of time, or not even talking to me ever again. I don't think I'll take those chances right now...and yes, I am a little paranoid about that, thank you.
Hmm...the Jonas Brothers...I wonder if the guys (mainly Danny and Evan) have heard of them... Danny probably has... Evan? Probably not. He probably thinks they're some boy-band...are they?
Wow, I hadn't even thought of looking up their music! Well, I had...no wait, that was just looking up pictures...but that was before I re-met them. My STML is acting up again; Short Term Memory Loss. I guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow. I'm way too tired to function today.
A day later, I get out of bed, and go into the room next to mine straight away. It's the computer room and game room. It's also the room that holds the pinball machine. I log on to my computer, go on their website as well as YouTube and MySpace, and drown myself in Jonas Brothers music... It's about time!
Nick's prepubescent voice comes flooding out of my computer's speakers. That sweet, strong voice is so familiar to me. I wonder how his singing voice sounds now? Much deeper, obviously. I wonder if it's still as good as it used to be. A lot of guys loose their singing voice once they hit puberty. Hopefully he still has a somewhat good voice... The Jonases told me that Joseph is doing a lot of the singing recently, rather than Nick. They also said they're coming out with a new, self-titled album around the time of August. I search for more recent, live videos of them on YouTube. Preferably videos of them singing some of their newer songs. I finally find some videos of concerts from April and May, and I put about ten on my QuickList. I click Play All...
Uh-MAZING. That's all I can possibly think right now. My eyes are wide; my jaw is dropped. I think I can even feel a little drool coming on... How did Nick get so good?! He is possibly even better than he was a few years ago! He has definitely gained a lot of style in his voice, that's for sure... Joe's voice is possibly just as amazing. It's gotten much better since the last time I heard him. The boys are wayyy more famous than I thought! Erin was right! Wow. This is insane. I can't believe I'm friends with them!! ...I'm calling them right away.
Nervously, I dial their phone number... Three rings, and still no answer.
"Hello?" It's Denise.
"Denise! Hi, it's Ellie," I say, relieved. "Are any of your sons home?"
"The only son of mine home right now is Frankie."
"What about the other three?" I ask, confusedly.
"I'm afraid they're not home at the moment," Denise tells me. "They've gone with their father and your father to play a local show."
So that's what my dad was talking about when I was half-asleep earlier this morning...
I sigh, "How long do you think it would take to get there?"
"What's so urgent that you need to speak to them right now?" She asks in a totally non-nosy way.
I just found out how famous they are, so I really, really want to see them again just to talk to them about how cool it is that they're so famous. Oh, and also to drool over them like a crazy fan-girl... How lame would that sound?
I tell her a little white-lie instead: "It's a long story..."
"Well, it's a 15-minute drive to get where they are."
I sigh again, "How long before they get back home?"
"Hmm, it's 12:30 right now...they finish the show around 1:45...unless it goes a bit longer, which it probably will...so let's say 2:00 the latest."
"So they would be home around quarter after two?" I ask, hopefully.
"It takes 20 minutes at the least to pack up all of their band's equipment."
"Oh, yeah," I smack my forehead even though she can't see me. "I forgot about that part!"
She gives a small chuckle, but then continues seriously, "They'll be here around 2:30-3:00, but from here they're just getting a quick bite of food to eat, then going straight to the studio to record a few more tracks for some songs that they've been working on. I'm sure they'll be much too tired after that; they have a very early morning tomorrow as well. I'm sorry, sweetie, but you can come over tomorrow before their next show."
"When is their next show?"
"Tomorrow," she chuckles again.
"Oh -- of course!"
"You seem distracted today," she sounds concerned. "Is everything alright?"
"Yeah, I'm great actually!" I laugh. "I just had a few weird moments yesterday after I got home."
"Did it have anything to do with the thrills of meeting the Jonas Brothers?" She says overdramatically to get the point across.
Wow, it's like she read my mind...I can't lie!
"Well, it had a lot to do with zoning out; I'll tell you that!" I smile and giggle quietly.
"Ha! I'll see you tomorrow, hun!"
"You too, Denise," I click the phone off.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!
What should I do now...?
...Mandy.
As I turn off my computer, I change out of my PJ's and into some clean clothes. After I finish getting ready, I grab a quick bite to eat, grab my skateboard, and head out the door towards Mandy's house. I don't even know why I brought my skateboard...I guess it will be a better pick-me-up rather than walking. Either that, or it's just a habit now!
"Oh, hey, Ellie!" She seems surprised.
"You seem surprised!"
"Yeah, well you're usually the type of person that phones before coming over!"
I laugh, "I felt like talking to someone in person."
"Oooh, sounds intriguing," she laughs. I can tell she really is intrigued. "Come in!"
I laugh, and step inside her foyer. After taking off my shoes, and placing my skateboard in her hall closet, she leads the way up the staircase.
"So what's the secret?" She asks in a sing-song voice while I'm following her up the stairs.
"Ha! You can't even wait until we get into your room?!"
"Alright, if I have to!" She jokes.
She flops on her bed as soon as we enter her room. I sit beside her. She doesn't ask me to tell her anything, but just waits for me to start talking to her about it. I like that about her: she's patient. That's what makes her such a good friend. I should start hanging out with her more.
"...Since when did the Jonases get so famous?" I ask.
She laughs, but doesn't answer me.
"I'm serious!" I widen my eyes, but I'm smiling.
"Where have you been, Ellie?"
"Not in the same world I'm in right now, I guess..."
"I guess!" She laughs.
"I mean I used to know everything about them...about Nicholas...I was even there when he first got discovered, when he was getting his hair cut," I smile. "And of course he'd had his little tastes of fame with being on Broadway and all...but when it came to the Jonas Brothers, I had no idea. I felt like I had lost them...my little Jersey boys!"
"Your little boys are growing up!" Mandy fakes a tear, hilariously.
"Again, I'm serious! I looked up their band's biography and everything online this morning... Old songs, new songs, cover songs... I basically drowned myself in them!"
"You know, most of their fans would hate you for that!"
"What are you talking about?"
"Being best friends with the Jonas Brothers and not even knowing their music!"
"Hey! It's not my fault!" I giggle, defensively. "I used to be best friends with them. I just re-met them!"
"I know, I know. I was only joking! I'm just saying what most people would think."
"That's true...you were the Jonas Brothers' first fan, though!"
"I was!" She smiles again. "But you were Nick's first fan when he was solo!"
"Ha ha, yeah, I was...I still think that's pretty cool..." I shake my head in disbelief. "This is all too crazy... And the Jonases even wrote a song about you!"
Mandy slowly raises her head and looks up at me, straight in the eyes.
"...They wrote a song about you too."
prev chapter
Share This
Email
Facebook
Twitter
Read Request
My Library
Subscribe
Flag Writing
