Brighter

Using only one bootie covered foot, Michelle was kicking a little tarnished trunk that held all her folded clothes into the cupboard underneath the crew bus that she was going to have to sleep on, grunting and struggling to fit it in next to her other bags.

"Could you, please, just do this for me? I’d really appreciate it." She pleaded to her father over the phone. He didn’t understand why Michelle had to actually join a rock tour to help her friend out. He was convinced she was giving up on her culinary dreams and selling her body to rock stars for money or something heinous along those lines. "Dad, I swear, they are wholesome Christian boys. If I did offer to pleasure them, they’d just want to play UNO with me. There will be no sex having." Michelle couldn’t believe that she was actually having to convince her dad that she wasn’t a groupie. "No, UNO is a card game, not a type of blow-job." Spinning around to give her foot a rest from all the work it was doing, her heart nearly jumped out of her chest when she noticed Kevin standing behind her.

His warm and neighborly smile was tilting off his face after he heard the last thing to come out of her mouth. Avoiding making eye contact with her, he shifted his hazel pupils across the bus behind her and waited for her to hang up her cell phone.

Embarrassed, Michelle spun around to finish her conversation at the speed of light.

"Just call me once you’ve talked to Uncle Donnie, thanks. I love you, too." She puckered together her lips and made a smooching noise before shoving her nearly broken cell phone into the pocket of her cranberry colored shift dress. "Hi." In a tone much chipper than usual, she spun around to greet Kevin, who was illuminating in the powerful morning light, by clapping her hands together and knocking her head against her shoulder.

"Do you need some help with your trunk?" Kevin nodded behind her shoulder and noticed the brown case poking out the metal door sharply.

"Actually, yes, please." Spinning around, she watched Kevin kneel down to try and fit all of her luggage into the single compartment. She tucked a few strands of hair out of her face and behind her ears in order to get a better look at his trunk, lifting one eyebrow as she let her imagination get the best of her. She didn’t even notice, but she was leaning over with every move he made and felt her throat clench up dryly as he tugged at the back belt loop on his jeans since they were falling off, slightly.

What would anyone ever have to yell about on this tour? Michelle thought to her, nibbling like a rabbit on her index finger’s knuckle. Joe and Anny should just look at this boy’s cute ass every time they’re mad. She was instantly feeling more at ease about being on tour with the boys. Giving up her coaching position that she had held tightly for three years, as well as a job that could’ve been a great learning experience, suddenly didn’t feel like such a sacrifice.

"I think we’re good to go." Kevin slammed down the compartment’s metal door, scaring Michelle out of her dirty fantasy. He spun around to face her, pushing his big sunglasses off of his curls and over his eyes to block out of the sun that was now dancing in the sky behind her. "So, that was your dad on the phone?"

"I wasn’t picturing you naked, I swear!" The words bubbled up in her throat so quickly that she didn’t have time to stop herself and leave them to stay in her head. Though she couldn’t see his hazel eyes anymore, she imagined they had dilated into huge circles. Her hand clapped over her open mouth and all she wanted to do was run in the other direction.

It had been seven months since Michelle had been in a relationship, so she was definitely rusty when it came to male contact. She’d gone on a few dates here and there, but they’d all been huge duds. She even considered letting her friend hook her up with a guy that she met at the Dungeons & Dragons store, that’s how desperate she was feeling.

"Yeah, that was my dad. He’s looking for someone to rent my condo to while I’m away." She tried to recover as best as she could, breathing deeply and combing through her pin straight locks of sleek hair. "So, where are we off to today, huh?" Walking away, she slapped her hands against her upper thighs and headed towards the boy’s bus where she knew Anny would most likely be still sleeping. "It’s so weird that I’m on tour right now at all. Let alone with, like, the hottest band since Hot Hot Heat" Bathing in her dorkiness, Michelle let go of her skin and jabbed Kevin’s ribs with her elbow and drumming up a little laughter from him.

"Oklahoma City." Kevin said, still chuckling at how her cheeks puffed out like a cartoon chipmunk’s did when she was laughing at her own joke. "You ever been?"

"No, this will be brand new for me." She nodded, watching as he opened the door to his bus open for her. She had to mentally coach herself to lift her feet off the ground and walk up the stairs. She wasn’t used to a boy ever acting like a gentlemen. The two boyfriends she had had in the past both made her pay them gas money whenever they came to pick her up and also thought that drunk phone calls were looked at as romantic gestures. "Thanks." Softly, she murmured under her breath.

Once Kevin and Michelle were inside the bus, waiting for it to take off, they noticed everyone was tucked under their covers and sleeping soundly. Except for Joe, who snored like a bear in the wilderness.

"It’s so rare to have this moment of peace." Kevin whispered as he put his sunglasses back on top of his head. He grabbed her wrist with one of his hands to keep her from moving further through the bus and waking up Anny. "Just let it be." He joked, his voice still low and raspy.

They stood their side by side and breathed in the silence with their eyes shut, but it quickly became too much to handle and they both bursted into a fit of stifled laughter. They tip toed onto the bench that Kevin had been sleeping on since there were only four bunks and sat cross-legged, across from one another, on the blankets he used to help give it a more "bed-esq" feel.

"So, do you have a plan of attack yet?" Not wasting a minute of valuable time, Kevin clapped his hands together and asked his new partner in crime.

"Kind of." Michelle hadn’t given Anny and Joe’s rocky relationship as much thought as she knew Kevin wanted her to. She had been preoccupied with calling every little player on her football team to let them know that Barry would be the new head coach, turning down her new job, trying to find a new tenant for her condo, and packing up her main belongings into bags and one trunk. Also, imagining Kevin naked had wiped a lot of energy out of her.

"Alright, what do we do?"

"Well, I think they need some time apart." Michelle looked around the small living area on the bus and tried to imagine even breathing on it without disturbing another person. When she finally brought her eyes back to Kevin, she had to settle them down onto his surprised face. "Who died?" She asked, not sure why he looked absolutely scandalized.

"You think they need time apart? Aren’t we playing for the same team here, Michelle? We’re trying to bring them back together."

"Yeah, well right now, they don’t want to be together!" She hissed, leaning in closer, so she didn’t wake any of his sleeping family up. "They have to miss one another and actually want to see one another."

Finally, Kevin backed up slightly and understood her fully. He figured that her idea was logical, but he didn’t have anything better to suggest anyway.

"So, tonight, while you guys are rocking Oklahoma City, I’m going to go out with Anny, and you guys can do whatever the hell you want."

"Good plan. What are you and Anny going to do?" Kevin nodded along and followed her smoothly so far.

"I don’t know yet. I’ll check online to see what people do in Oklahoma City. Maybe, there will be some kind of show going that we can check out."

"Sounds good." Kevin smiled, hoping that this would send a foot in the right direction.

When Anny and Joe first got together, Kevin really believed in them and thought that Anny was something Joe needed, so he didn’t want to see her walk away just because Joe couldn’t get his shit together. However, as badly as he wanted to see them reconcile, he also just wanted to constant nattering between them to stop. It reminded Kevin too much of the way his last girlfriend treated him, and he absolutely hated it.

Michelle was nothing like his last girlfriend though, he could tell that already from the few moments they’d spent around one another. She had a freedom about her that allowed her to be herself through out every moment. She smiled a lot more than Astrid ever did and there was no way that Astrid would rearrange her whole life to help a friend in need.

Interrupting his pleasant thoughts and comfortable silence, one of the boy’s publicists rushed onto the bus to wake everyone up onto their feet, so they could prepare for a radio interview.

XXX

"Tell me again, why you decided to join the tour?" Standing in a pair of faithful black sweatpants with just her bra on over top, Anny asked her friend who was digging through her trunk like a wild bandit.

The two girls had taken over the one empty dressing room underneath the Oklahoma City stadium, getting ready to hit the town and paint it every shade of fun there was.

"Oh, I don’t know," Keeping her face buried in her belongings, Michelle racked her brain for an excuse. She knew that Anny would see right through most of her lies. She had to think of something that was fool proof. "I just thought you seemed kind of homesick, so I thought I’d be your own personal Dallas." She faked up an overdose of laughter while finally pulling the shoes she wanted that were way at the bottom of her trunk.

Anny mulled over Michelle’s answer privately and finally just shrugged her shoulders and accepted it. She was surprised that her friend would just leave her steady life to come along with her, but she did appreciate it. She hadn’t had a girl’s night in what felt like eons.

"So, I think I’m just going to wear jeans tonight." Anny announced while heading towards the mirror and staring over the large collection of make-up the girls had combined onto the table top. There was an overwhelming amount, but she decided to just go with her usual choice of onyx eyeliner.

"That’s fine, just make sure you’re comfy enough to dance." Michelle giggled, already shaking to and fro’ as if they already at the show she’d read about on a website.

"I’m so excited to be going out!" Anny jumped onto her feet and air danced along with her best friend, all while drawing a dark curved line over her eyes. "I try to get Joe to take me out, but he’s always too tired to do anything after a show or he just wants to wrestle with the guys and stuff like that."

"Well, let the boy’s have their fun, we’ll go out and do our own thing." Michelle cackled, looking herself over the mirror and deciding to just stay in the dress she’d been wearing all day. Maybe, she’d jazz it up with thin gold chains or something like that. "And if we just so happen to meet cute boys there, so be it."

"I agree. I’m in the mood to flirt." Happier than she’d been in months, Anny giggled and couldn’t wait to get going.

XXXX

It was no surprise to the girls that they had to stand outside in line at the restaurant. The band that was playing there that night was a local Oklahoma City group, but they were said to draw in huge crowds of all ages and have a large fan base. It didn’t faze Anny though, she kept her smile strong onto her face since it had been gone for so long before. The girls were swapping high school stories when Michelle’s eyes slowly began to draw off of Anny’s face that was vibrant with expression.

"Just hold that thought." She put up one finger and jumped over the black rope that was blocking the line of people from VIP. Michelle ripped her arm out of the reach of a security guard and rushed right over to the leather jacket wearing boy who was about to enter the establishment. "I knew it!" She yelled, drawing more attention than she meant to towards her.

"Michelle, what are you doing here?" Kevin hissed out of shock.

"Hey, Mich, what’s up?" Cluelessly, Joe wandered back over to Kevin and gave the little brunette a quick squeeze. "I didn’t know you liked Flyswitch."

"Flyswitch?" She pulled her narrowed eyes away from mentally slapping Kevin’s face and paid closer attention to Joe.

"They’re this great band, that’s plying here tonight. I listen to their MySpace all day."

"Dude, I’ll meet you in there." Brotherly, Kevin reached around and pat his brother’s gut down and sent him away into the only trendy hot spot in all of Oklahoma City. "Michelle, what are you doing here? Is Anny with you?"

"Yeah, I told you we were going out. This is supposed to be their night away from each other."

"I didn’t know you were coming here."

"Well, where else would we go? The twenty-four hour movie theatre closed two hours ago!" Michelle actually pulled her cell phone out of her black beaded clutch and checked the time. She knew that if she had to, she could convince Anny to ditch this place and head over to a movie for her.

"It’s a busy place, maybe, they won’t even see each other." Kevin shrugged. He and Joe would have to stay in VIP all night anyway.

Even though Michelle agreed and decided to go wait back in line with Anny, she didn’t fully believe in Kevin’s optimism.

XXX

Once they took their first steps into the restaurant, Michelle wasted no time, looking around the place and trying to spot the VIP area. Part of her felt like a detective on an episode of Crime Scene Investigators, but the other part of her just felt worried.

She spotted Kevin watching her from a railing above the rest of the place, he was sitting down at a small table with his brother and Big Rob and sipping on a soda through a bent straw. Once both they realized that one another had caught each other staring, they quickly pulled their gaze away.

"Let’s go get lost in the crowd." Michelle giggled like she was just in the mood to have a good time, but she really just wanted to try and make her and Anny invisible to any Jonas.

"This place is buzzing." Anny’s eyes bugged out of her face and she looked around at all the cute boys that were crowding around the stage like bees to a field of blooming daises.

"Flyswitch. are supposedly great." Mindlessly, Michelle grumbled, looking back up at the balcony and wishing Kevin was still watching her, but he looked to be talking back to their waitress.

"Flyswitch??" Questioned Anny, a little puzzled.

"That’s the band that’s playing here tonight." She shared the information that Joe had given her earlier and tried to pretend like she was just an avid fan. Thankfully, Michelle was saved from having to lie any further when a man who was as tall as he was built approached both of them and took Anny’s hand in his before she could even notice him.

"I’m Jason," He introduced locking his aggressively beautiful eyes into hers and stepping right in front of Michelle. "And I can see you coming home with me."

"Oh, yes, I wanted to stare at your back." Sarcastically, Michelle amused herself.

But, Anny was already lost in his charm. She wasn’t planning on actually heading home with him or even do anything besides talk and dance, but she felt it was totally acceptable and healthy to flirt, even if she was someone else’s girlfriend at the moment.

"Anny." She told the guy right as the house lights were dimming and the sound a drum roll took over the room and prompted a roar of screams, applause, and cheers from all the patrons that filled the place.

By the time the lead singer was one line into the first verse of their opening song, Michelle had lost her friend in the sea of eager Flyswitch fans. Michelle stood up on her toes and prayed that Jason wasn’t some perverted ex murderer and that Anny would be safe swaying in his nicely toned arms.

She thought that maybe she had caught a glimpse of the top of Anny’s hair, which she had decided to curl right before they left the stadium, but someone grabbed her hand and brought her back down onto her feet.

"Where’s Anny?" Kevin shouted in Michelle’s face, desperately trying to his own voice above the music and the lively crowd.

"I lost her." Confessed Michelle, sending her head searching in every direction, but her view was constantly being blocked by jumping bodies and arms being thrown around.

"Well, Joe saw her from the balcony." Kevin announced. He looked frightened like every character in under-budgeted cult films right before they get brutally killed. "She was dancing with some guy and he’s...well....he’s not happy!" He poked one ear with his finger and tried to drown out the noise.

"Let’s find them before they find each other." Michelle kept hold of Kevin’s hand as she led him through the school of shaking girls and shouting boys, her dark eyes darting everywhere for either Joe or Anny. Kevin had every intention of finding his brother, but his stare was drawn to what was under Michelle’s dress, he couldn’t help it, though he really wasn’t trying to change his gaze.
‘

XXXX

"Hey, dude, that’s my girlfriend you’re touching." Even though Jason towered over Joe and bared a canny resemblance to Lurch from The Addams Family, he still let his jealousy rage through his bones as he tried to pull the jock off of Anny.

"Who the hell are you?" Jason nodded once Anny had wiggled out of his strong arms and pulled herself away from his oiled up skin.

"Her boyfriend. Who the hell are you?" Joe grabbed Anny’s hand, even though she was trying to walk away from both guys.

"The guy taking her home." Jason answered like a snot.

And even though Joe could hardly reach the guy’s face, he winded back his fist and threw it like a sucker towards Jason’s face and missed. Still, the intent was clear and Jason threw Joe down with one shove and dove over top of him.

"Fight!!" A bright bleach blonde screamed beside the two boys who were wrestling on the on the dance floor like little boys on the playground.

"Hey, get off of him!" Anny desperately tried to catch Jason’s attention, pulling on his hair to rip him off of Joe.

XXX

Kevin had decided to lead Michelle up to his table in the VIP section and let Big Rob go downstairs and search for Joe. If they had just pulled away from one another for a second and peered over the silver railing, they would’ve seen the huge fight that even the band had stopped playing for so they could watch, but Kevin was too busy trying not to say anything moronic to Michelle to even glance away from her.

"Don’t you ever get tired of traveling?" Michelle was still yelling since she didn’t realize that the music had died and the only other noise was coming from the fight underneath them. "I mean, I’ve been away from Dallas for less than twenty-four hours and I’m homesick."

"I think I’m just immune at this point." Kevin shrugged, putting his glass of iced Cola down on the table and weakly smiling. "Besides, we wanted this." He reminded her and sounded just like he did in the hundreds of interviews he’d done that month alone.

"Yeah, but don’t you get tired? You were on the road all day, practicing, doing phone interviews, a sound check, a local news interview, a huge show and now you’re out. I mean, how are you not on prescription drugs?" She half laughed, but was entirely serious.

"Yeah, it gets tiring, but I’m never bored." Kevin didn’t want to have to admit just how exhausted he really was and how really could use a break. He wanted to impress her with his never hindered happiness. Before, she could open her mouth to ask him more questions like she was a field reporter for Access Hollywood or something, Kevin held up one finger and asked her to excuse him while he answered his singing cell phone that was stuck in the pocket of his black pants.

"Hey Big Rob." Kevin’s voice even smiled when he answered the number he’d come to recognize instantly. "Who got in a fight?" He even sparked Michelle’s attention with his next question and they locked worrisome stares to try and figure things out. "What?! Yeah, we’ll be right down." Kevin didn’t even put his phone back into his pocket, he grabbed Michelle’s wrist like he’d been doing all day, unconsciously, and began to pull her down stairs with him. "Rob found Anny and Joe." He said, figuring he’d let Michelle see the damage herself.