Brighter

After only minutes inside the bus with Anny and the four Jonas boys, Michelle could understand how even the happiest couple in the world could begin to resent one another. In such close corners and a small area, there was no such thing as privacy and even though Michelle had only been involved in two relationships before, she know how important space was.

She sat between Kevin and Nick in front of the television screen, trying to concentrate on what buttons Kevin was instructing her to click on the console in order to kill Nick’s team, but all three of them kept exchanging worried expressions as Joe and Anny yelled at each other behind them, shouting out cheap shots and snarky remarks like they were oxygen.

When Michelle and Kevin first spoke on the phone the night before, she figured he was overexagerating things, but she could really sympathize with the brothers having to listen and watch as Joe and Anny destroyed their own relationship.

Huffing and puffing, Anny stomped past the three of them playing video games, swiping her canvas bag off of the space on the bench beside Nick and then slammed the bus door behind her, only a millisecond after her, the door to the master bedroom on the bus sounded and Joe was gone, too.

"I’ll take Anny, she’s a little more pleasant." Pausing the game, Kevin stood up from the ground that he was sitting on tee pee style and slowly headed to go console the crying girl.

"Do you want to rock, paper, scissors it for Joe?" Nick asked, seriously, setting the controller down between his legs and already preparing his hand into a fist.

"I’ll go." Sighing deep into the pits of her lungs, Michelle cracked her knuckles together and headed fearlessly to deal with the friend she didn’t seem to know anymore.

She knocked on the door with one fist and let herself half way into the frame before he could answer whether or not, he actually wanted company. He scoffed at the sight of Michelle’s innocent smile while she closed the door behind her and stood in the line of the illuminating sunlight peeking through the pulled down blinds.

"So," She decided to just get it all out in one big breath while making herself a spot right by his bare feet on the edge of the bed. "You are really giving Prince Philip a run for his money." She grabbed both of his feet in one and gave them a friendly squeeze. "Seriously, every time you compare Anny to a mental patient," Michelle took one hand off of him and covered it over her heart, dramatically and sighed. "I get so jealous. Where do I buy me one of you?"

"Ha-ha." Joe finally turned over onto his side to get a better look at her, glaring his dark eyes at her through a squint. "You’re a real Sarah Silverman, Mich, and I believe it’s Prince Charming, not Philip."

"No way. I always had a soft spot for Philip, he could dance. What was so great about Prince Charming? He didn’t even go looking for Cinderella, he sent his wing man to go find her."

"He was probably busy." Joe stood up for the cartoon character while flattening out his back and tightly weaving his arms together over top of his chest. He didn’t even know why he was defending a Disney character to begin with.

"Being a rockstar?" Very pointedly, Michelle tested the waters.

"Come on, you think this all my fault? Don’t you hear the things Anny says?"

"Yeah, but as they say, it takes two to belly dance."

"Tango." Looking at her like she was half in the bag, Joe corrected her.

"Whatever, all I know is last time I saw you and Anny together, you were gorgeous." She stopped pacing in front of the foot of the bed and told him straight on, slapping her sides with both of her bare arms. "You were the envy of everyone when you two walked into a room, and you spoke to her like you respected her. What is going on, man?" She jumped back onto the bed, crossing her legs right in front of him and shaking his side slightly. "You don’t know want to be mean to your girlfriend. That’s not the kind of guy you are."

He tried to look like he was more interested in the bare white ceiling above him, but Joe was listening to Michelle’s words intently and taking them all into account. There was a time, only months ago, when Anny and he were just like a dream. He didn’t have much of an alibi to sell for why things had gotten so bad, just somewhere along the line things got routine, boring, and broke.

"Do you feel, like, maybe, you’re the reason she and her mom don’t talk anymore?" Michelle ventured a guess. She wasn’t sure if she was correct or not until she saw Joe’s eyes shut and his chest sink inwardly as he inhaled sharply, then she knew that Joe had toyed with that thought. "She made her own decision, Joe. Anny’s a big girl."

X

Knees tucked under her chin while she hugged herself tightly like her body was her own security blanket, Anny had her aback against the back of the bus. She lowered her head, letting her hair fall into her face while she closed her eyes and tried to think positive thoughts.

She was back in her hometown with her best friend, even if only for a day, she should be on top of the world and smiling, but instead she felt a real need in her chest to just cry. Especially, when the idea that her mom was only blocks away kept entering her mind. She might’ve been an adult in her own mind, but she wished her mom was there to hold her right then and there.

"Hey." Letting her know that he was there, Kevin quietly whispered while sliding down next to her. He tried to dust any dirt from the ground before fully putting his butt down. He leaned foreword with his elbows on his knees, holding his curls in both hands and just gave her a moment to cry.

"He’s so mean." She whimpered, finally looking up and staring off into the scorching Dallas sun, wiping the corner of her eyes with her fingertips.

"Anny," Tucking an arm behind her and trying to soothe her by rubbing her back, Kevin sighed and decided, internally, to be completely honest with his brother’s girlfriend. "You yell at him a lot." Softly, he admitted.

"He deserves it." She shot her big eyes into him like he was accusing her of being horrible wicked or something along those lines. If Anny had learnt anything from being in an unhappy relationship, it was how to defend herself at the drop of a hat.

"Nobody deserves to be put down, Anny." Kevin honestly did believe that. Considering, he’d been kicked around and insulted enough times to last him a life time, Kevin knew his words to be entirely true.

"You know, it’s funny," Swallowing the dryness in her throat, she rested her head on Kevin’s shoulder. "The last time I was this unhappy is when my mom was telling me that he wasn’t right for me, how messed up is that?"

"Do you regret coming on tour with us?"

"No. I really love certain aspects of it. I’m seeing so much of the world and learning a lot."

"Then, you didn’t make a bad choice, Anny. Should you, maybe, reach out and try talk to your mom? Yes, but don’t take your guilt out on Joe or resent him. He didn’t make you do anything."

Interrupting Anny’s revelation, they heard the bus door swing behind them and before they could turn around to look, Michelle was standing over them with a smile bigger than all of Texas controlling her face.

"Up, baby," She snapped her fingers together rhythmically and extended both her hands down to help both Kevin and Anny up from the gravel ground of the parking lot they were in behind the Dallas Stadium. "The boys got to go to the radio station to do some interview, so you and I are going to go drop my meager savings at the mall." Happily, Michelle linked her arm inside Anny’s and shared her plan of attack with both she and Kevin.

"Why? What do you need to buy?" Cluelessly, Anny asked while they walked Kevin back to the door of his tour bus.

"Well, I’m going to my first Jonas Brothers concert ever. I need to find something that just screams ‘fan girl’." Sarcastically, Michelle gushed in a burst of energy making both Anny and Kevin chuckle lightly.

"It’s usually the fan girl that does the screaming." From the open window of the bus, Nick mumbled, cringing at the thought of hysterical girls before puberty. There was nothing scary, not even the bird flu.

X

She had heard all their singles on the radio in her car on the way to her culinary classes or football practices, she had even caught a few of their vibrant music videos on TV before work, but Michelle hadn’t really ever experienced the Jonas Brothers to their full potential before watching their Dallas concert, even if their seats were behind the left wing’s curtains.

Slouched down in a plastic fold out chair, Anny glared at the boy she used to kiss madly while holding her head up. She was bored and alphabetizing a list in her head of all the other things she’d rather do then watch a show she’d seen countless times before. She was going to have to leave Dallas in exactly four hours, Anny wanted to go out and enjoy her small amount of time with Michelle, not waste it at the concert.

Even though the chorus of Burnin’ Up was pumping through the arena speakers and Joe’s impromtu runs were enough to make a grown woman wet her pencil skirt, Anny was really killing Michelle’s buzz.

She stopped dancing as soon as she noticed that Anny’s scowl hadn’t transformed into a smile and pulled her friend up by her bare shoulder. Michelle led Anny through the backstage door, past security, until they were outside where crickets were their only soundtrack and the night was beyond humid.

"Look, Anny," Michelle let go of her friend as soon as she breathed in the sticky air and turned around, disappointed by the whole scenario. "You don’t have to want to be here, you don’t have to sing along or dance, but this is what you do for the people you love, okay? You support them. You do love Joe, don’t you?" Careful not to shout, something Michelle very rarely did, she directed a tough question right between Anny’s beautiful eyes and stunned her.

If she had been asked that question a few months ago, she’d have said yes without thinking. There was no reason not to, Joe was the boyfriend who surprised her with cute gifts that held big meaning between them, tell her jokes when nothing else could even make her smile, and spend quality time with her. Now, Anny really wasn’t so sure how she felt for the boy that so many girls absolutely idolized.

"Not lately." She admitted, bitterly.

XXX

Towel hanging over his shoulders from behind his neck and a light still burning bright in his eyes, Joe was both surprised and delighted to see Anny standing against the brick wall backstage, listening to the roar of the crowd and smiling back at him.

"You came." He slowly stated the obvious once he was close enough for her to hear his voice above the noise.

"Yeah, I came." Anny walked away, still not forgiving him for anything else that had been said before and walked away from the group and headed outside.

"Great show!" Sincerely, Michelle shrieked like a pre teen with a front row view of the boys tight pants. She stood right in front of them with one hip jetted out to the side like a model on the runway and her hands thrown up in the air as if she was in a roller coaster cart that was about to reach a huge drop. "Who came up with that little brain baby Video Girl because I liked it." She congratulated the boys, skipping in front of them and leading them outside, even rushing in front of Big Rob and the rest of security team that guarded the boys like precious gems.

"Thanks for coming." Laughing at how big Michelle’s smile was growing and how free she was to just be herself, Kevin caught up with her, Nick close behind. "You really liked the show?"

"I totally understand the whole Nick J is off the chain thing girls say now. It’s true." She slapped the young curly haired musician’s chest and giggled. "You are, indeed, off the chain."

"Thanks, I guess." Never quite sure how to take a compliment, Nick mumbled and itched at his head that was dripping sweat like rain.

"And you," She turned around, stopping Kevin before he could reach their destinations. She pressed a single finger into his stomach, still smiling like a little girl in her mother’s high heels. "I’m sorry, I thought I was going to a Jonas Brothers concert, not a Kevin Jonas concert. You are incredible and I don’t use the word ‘incredible’ often.." Michelle assured him.

"Thank you." Kevin accepted her gushing speech with a gracious smile and nod. He wasn’t foreign to hearing girls compliment him or even bow down at his feet like they weren’t worthy to be around him, but for some reason, knowing that Michelle wasn’t a fan to begin with or even someone who bothered with things she didn’t care about, it meant a lot more to him.

For a moment, Kevin felt guilty though, considering his eyes hadn’t left Michelle’s since she stopped him in the parking lot. Inside the bus, his brother was miserable and losing one of the greatest girls Kevin had ever seen Joe with, and he was outside picturing Michelle naked and contemplating asking for her number for his own cell phone’s contact list.

"So, uh, did you talk to, uh, Anny?" Kevin had to pry his eyes away and focus them on the moonlight high in the sky, which was nowhere near as captivating as the girl’s face in front of him. He itched at his sticky wet skin and stiffened his chin like they business men having a conversation about marketing and money.

"Yes, I did." She reported back to him, looking around to see what he was staring at, so intensely.

"Yeah, and what did you find out?"

"Well, you definitely have your work cut out for you." Since the moment had come and gone between the two brunettes, Michelle reached up from the balls of her feet and patted Kevin’s shoulder, then headed back towards the bus where she had left her purse.

"What do you mean I have my work cut out for me?!" Not understanding exactly what she meant, Kevin frantically followed the girl who was so much shorter than him, chasing after her the way girls usually chased after him.

"Well, you and Nick are the ones who have to deal with them, I only got to play therapist for a day."

"What? Michelle, you know as well as I do, Anny is only going to listen to you. She trusts and confides in you. I don’t know it’s like a sisterhood thing." Kevin wasn’t even going to try and wrap his head around the wily and mysterious ways of women. It only gave him a thumping migraine every time he tried.

"I’m sorry, but what do you want me to do? Join you guys on tour and work my magic?" Laughing, Michelle joked, but once she noticed Kevin’s ears perk up and his head begin to nod at her like she was a genius, her face went stale. "That was a joke, dude, not a suggestion!"

"Come on, she’s your friend. She needs you."

"I can’t just leave. My life is here in Dallas and my life isn’t the kind that you can just pack up in a suitcase. I have obligations and...things, I have a lot of things." She rambled, but Kevin didn’t seem to care one bit. He was exhausted of being awoken up in the middle of the night by screaming matches or hearing Joe rant about how annoying Anny can be and vice versa. He looked at the pint sized brunette in front of him as the answer to all his problems, his very own Dear Abby, and now that she was there, he wasn’t going to just let her slip away.

"Come on, I know finals are done, you can’t be in school now."

"I had my last exam on Tuesday, yes, but..." Michelle didn’t have to write exams or go through any huge stressful University tests, since she was enrolled in a three year culinary program at the junior college down the street from her condominium, but she had just agreed to take a job interning at a local seafood restaurant that had a great reputation in her neighborhood.

"Then, you have no reason to stay back."

"I coach summer football, actually, and I work. Oh, and yeah, I have friends and family here."

"Michelle," He reached out both of his hands and shook her, pleadingly, by the shoulders. Kevin was desperate, she was his very last hope. "Do this for Anny."

And that was all she needed to hear. Michelle’s soft spot was her best friend. If Anny needed one lung to survive, Michelle would pull out both of hers, if Anny wanted a chocolate cookie, Michelle would bake a dozen, if Anny’s relationship was falling apart, Michelle was going to play fairy godmother.

"You Jonas’s are too convincing for your own good." She grumbled, shimming her shoulders to shake off his hands and then rolled her eyes around. Right when she was going to walk away and announce her decision to join the boys on tour, Kevin grabbed her back and consumed her in a giant bear hug, an unbelievably large smile over his face.