Sunshine in my Heart

Mishti tapped her foot impatiently as she leaned against the wall. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Emily join Nick, Joe, Kevin, and Ryan in the radio booth. Both Emily and she had woken up at around six to go to the Popstar shoot. Mishti had watched fascinated as Emily changed out of the gorgeous clothes and model against the bright white canvas.

They ended up leaving the photo shoot earlier than expected giving the opportunity to join the Jonas Brothers in their interview with Ryan Seacrest. Emily told her that he had already requested an interview but she had to turn it down because she already was scheduled for the photo shoot.

Emily had just walked out into the radio booth for the conjoined interview while Mishti stayed behind the glass with everyone else. Pushed against a corner, Mishti turned her head back to the interview.

“Welcome back to the show! Now with me here, I have the cast of JONAS, the hit series on Disney Channel featuring the one and only Jonas Brothers. We talked to them before, but now joining us is their costar Emily Gims,” Ryan introduced. “How are you doing Emily?”

“I’m doing good,” Emily answered with a smile. “It’s summer and I’m having fun.”

Ryan laughed. “Well that can be expected. You’re a teenager after all. Everyone is wondering Emily, what are your plans for the summer?”

“We’re going to finish the second season of JONAS in a couple of months and after that I’ll probably be doing some small projects here and there. Actually, my best friend is visiting me for the entire summer so I’m pretty stoked,” Emily replied sending me a wink.

“Is she also from Ohio?”

Emily nodded. “Yeah. We grew up together. Our high school just let out last week so she’s going to stay with me for the summer.”

“That’s great! Now about your role on JONAS…” Ryan launched into a different topic.
Mishti grinned to herself. Emily mentioned she was going to tell everyone that her best friend was in town. Something about showing her off. Mishti sighed causing her bangs to blow off her face before letting them settle again. She let her eyes wander around the confined area before landing on Nick’s face.

He was talking to a fan and for a second Mishti thought she saw a trace of irritation on his face. She blinked and saw it was gone. She squinted her eyes peering closely at him, studying his face features. Last night’s conversation was still fresh in her memory. All the things they talked about rolled through her mind.

Nick seemed like a deep, thoughtful person. But he also had the sweet, charming, teenage side to him. Mishti continued to observe Nick pulled in by the personality that radiated off of him.

Suddenly, Nick lifted his head making eye contact with Mishti. A small smile appeared on
her face as the gaze lingered in the air. He broke off the gaze when Joe pinched him on the arm. Mishti giggled as Nick sent Joe a glare. Nick turned back to Mishti giving her a grin before focusing his attention back to the interview.

Mishti finished watching the interview and waited for them to exit the booth. She went straight to Emily who was still talking eagerly to her friends. “I told you I would talk about you,” Emily said cheekily.

“I didn’t ask you to, but thanks to you I’m going to be followed by stalkerish people,” Mishti teased.

Emily laughed. “It won’t be that bad, I promise. So are you guys on for the party tonight?” Emily asked turning to Nick and his brothers.

“What party?” Mishti asked slowly.

Emily sent her an alluring smile. “Party at our house tonight, chicka.”

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Mishti scanned the living room one last time before walking into the kitchen only to find Emily frantically trying to set the food on the trays. “Have you seen the potato chips anywhere?”

Mishti sighed. Right after they left the radio station, Emily, Laura (Emily’s mom) and herself went straight to the grocery store. Laura had been reluctant with Emily going into the store afraid that all of them would be followed by paparazzi. Mishti had offered to shop for them while they both sat in the car. She had zoomed in and out of the grocery story following the list she had been given.

They had gotten home where both Emily and her attempted to set up for the party but had been quickly distracted by the new stack of movies next to the TV. Which explains why they were now hurrying to get everything together.

“They’re right behind you,” Mishti pointed out.

“Thanks,” Emily said gratefully. Looking around, Mishti could see trays food set up in various places around the kitchen. Mishti eyed the huge amounts of food warily.

“Emily, are you sure we need all this food?”

Emily shrugged. “We can always eat the leftovers.”

Mishti laughed. Their heads suddenly turned to the sound of the doorbell ringing. Mishti
stayed in the kitchen as Emily walked down the enormous hall and opened the door. Mishti could hear loud voices as Emily lead them towards the kitchen. She looked up and saw them chattering with each other as they entered.

“Hi guys,” Mishti welcomed. They all greeted her as they noticed her presence. Kevin, Joe,
Nick, Chelsea, and Nicole all had surprisingly come besides their busy schedule.

“Food! Thank goodness you have some. I’m starving,” Joe exclaimed as he reached for the food trays. Emily snatched the food tray.

“Share,” Emily scolded. She set it down on the island and immediately stepped back as hands went for the food.

Mishti rolled her eyes. “Typical boys.”

“Where our brothers anyway?” Emily asked.

Nicole perked up. “You have brothers?

Mishti nodded. “I’m sure you’ve met Danny but my brother came with me for the summer.”

As Emily and her were best friends, their older brothers Karthik and Danny were also pretty close friends at the age of seventeen. Karthik had jumped at the chance to come to California along with Mishti. As soon as he had heard the words “hot girls” he was sold.

She hadn’t been exactly been keen at the idea of her older brother tagging along but she figured she wouldn’t see much of him anyway. Plus, her parents only let her travel to California if her brother came along. Honestly, he wasn’t that bad of a brother. True, he was annoying sometimes but he wasn’t as evil as some of her friends older brothers were.

“Karthik! Danny!” Both Mishti and Emily called out loudly to their brothers. After a slamming of a door, they all could hear two boys trampling down the stairs. Two teenage boys came into view as they rounded the corner.

The first one had a tan skinned body that you could clearly tell worked out with his muscular upper body. His shaggy black hair added to the effect. The second one had the whole surfer boy look with blond hair resembling Jesse McCartney next to him.

“Karthik, this is Kevin, Nick, Joe, Chelsea, and Nicole.” Mishti said pointing to each individual person as she introduced each of them to her older brother.

“Hey.” Kevin said. From there, all five boys seemed to be hitting it off talking about who knows what. Mishti, Emily, Nicole, and Chelsea leaned against the island talking while munching on the chips and the other appetizers.

It wasn’t till about a half an hour later that Emily suggested to watching a movie on the big screen down on the basement. Leading the way, Emily began walking to the basement door. Mishti eyed the mess in the kitchen.

“I’ll be down there in a couple minutes. I’m just going to clean this place up.”

Emily looked at her skeptically. “Are you serious?”

“It’s messy!” Mishti exclaimed. Emily gave her a look mocking her.

“Just two minutes,” Mishti assured.

Emily sighed. “Fine.”

She couldn’t help it if she was a slight neat freak. She liked her things orderly in places. Picking up the stray napkins, she tossed them into the trash can. Tiding everything up quickly, Mishti didn’t notice someone was still in the kitchen.

“Hey.” She swiveled around dropping the stack of cups in the process. Glaring at Nick, she bent down to pick up the plastic ups. “Gosh, don’t scare at me like that.”

“Sorry,” Nick apologized. “I just thought I’d stay up here and help.”

“Well then you can start by taking those plates and putting them into the sink,” Mishi pointed. Nick obeyed and began to walk to the opposite side of the island.

“So how do you like California so far?” Nick asked as he set the plates in the sink.
Mishti shrugged. “I’m having fun. I’m just glad that I’m with Emily.” A smile tugged one her lips as she thought about all the crazy adventures she was sure they would be getting into this summer. “I haven’t seen much of California though. Emily’s been kind of busy. But we did go to the beach a couple days ago.”

Nick leaned against the counter. “Well maybe I can show you around.”

Mishti raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Yeah. I mean only if you want to.”

Mishti debated for a couple of seconds. “Only if Emily is busy,” Mishti said slowly.

Nick grinned. Score one for him. “Alrighty then.”

As Mishti followed Nick down the stairs her head was swarming. What had she gotten herself into?