Sunshine in my Heart

Mishti gently closed the door behind her and walked down the hallway with her heels clicking against the marble floor. The last of the visitors of the night had just left at a pretty decent hour of 11:45 at night. She walked into the kitchen and immediately sighed. Even after her and Nick’s effort in cleaning up the kitchen, it still ended up being messy.

Nick.

She tapped her fingers on the island as she stacked up the paper cups. That boy would not leave her mind. He was a constant nagging at the far end of her brain since she had arrived here in California a few days ago.

If someone had told her last week that Nick Jonas was going to offer to take her around California she would have laughed in their faces. But now, that situation didn’t seem so ridiculous.

It seemed a little odd and slightly uncomfortable that Mishti was in contact with celebrities. Well, she took that back. Emily was an uprising celebrity, but Emily was her best friend. It was different. Mishti always felt conscious of herself whenever she was talking to Nick because deep back in her head the two words seemed to light up every time: Celebrity Crush!!!

But just because someone was your celebrity crush didn’t really mean that you had a potential crush on them. Right?

Mishti shook her head to clear out her thoughts and quickly finished cleaning the kitchen. After closing the last cupboard, her Tweedy Bird slippers took her to the living room where she found Emily cleaning up as well. She joined her friend as she began to pick up a couple of opened DVD cases on the floor.

“That was an awesome party, Emily,” Mishti commented.

Emily grinned. “I know, right? You’re going to have so much fun here with them. We’ll be seeing a lot more of them the entire summer.”

Mishti nodded her head absentmindedly. “Good to know.”

The two girls chatted away as they picked up the last bits of trash here and there. As they climbed up the stairs, they could both hear their older brothers in Danny’s room. Peeking inside, Mishti saw Danny and Karthik battling it out on Guitar Hero. Mishti rolled her eyes. She didn’t see the fun in the game. Sure, if you’re a horrible guitar player like her brother
was, she could see where it came with an ego booster.

Mishti stepped into Emily’s room only to be met with a rush of cold air. Emily scurried to the open and window and jammed it shut. The smell of the salty ocean breeze could be vaguely smelt as they both changed out of their party clothes into more comfortable pajamas to
sleep in.

Emily quickly said good night before leaving and going into her own room to sleep. The two had of them had originally planned to have Emily stay in Mishti’s room for the night but they decided to do it a different night since both of them were tired from the day’s activities.

Nick’s offer kept replaying in Mishti’s head, despite her effort to push it out. He had obviously meant it as friends and probably only friends. Letting out a frustrated sigh, Mishti rolled to her other side and blocked out all her thoughts about Nick and went to sleep.

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The smell of pancakes met Mishti’s nose as she walked into the kitchen. Laura was huddled around the stove as she mixed the pancake batter and poured it on to the pan.

Mishti grinned as she set her elbows on the island and cupped her face with her hands. “Those smell amazing.”

Laura laughed. “They should. I got up early today and I thought I would make these for
everybody.”

Mishti looked around the kitchen. “Where is everybody?”

She shrugged. “Still sleeping. Could you go wake everyone up?”

Mishti nodded and began to devise plans on how to wake up her wonderful friends and especially her older brother. Laura sensed her ideas and quickly yelled “Nicely Mishti!” as Mishti was quietly climbing up the stairs.

She first entered Emily’s room and was amused to see Emily’s comforter all the way on the ground while Emily was sprawled out on the bed. Next to the tangled comforter was a little white stuffed dog that Emily slept with. Mishti smiled remembering how Emily had gotten the stuffed animal for her seventh birthday and how excited she had been.

Tip toeing across the floor, Mishti picked up stuffed animal and threw it at Emily’s head. She jerked up and slowly opened her eyes. “Rise and shine! Your mom’s making pancakes.” Emily mumbled incoherent words which Mishti took as an okay and made her way towards Danny’s room.

Peeking inside, Mishti made her way towards her older brother and his best friend. Bringing her hands up to their faces she slapped them both in their faces hoping it would revive them. “Come on boys! Wake up! There are pancakes downstairs.”

The last sentence made them open their eyes causing Karthik to slap his little sister’s hand out of their faces. Mishti skipped out of the room and ran down the stairs. Fifteen minutes later, Mishti was joined in the kitchen by the rest of the children of the household.

“Morning.” Mishti took a bite of her pancakes and tasted the sugary syrup on her taste buds.

Emily grunted in reply while the boys didn’t even bother in talking back to her. Mishti rolled her eyes at their laziness and continued to eat her breakfast. “What are your plans for today?”

Emily looked at her mom for clarification as she responded. “I think I’m going to go down to the studio and rehearse some lines with Chelsea later today. Are you coming?”

Mishti opened her mouth to respond but was quickly diverted to the shaking of the island due to the fact of the buzzing of her phone. Apologizing, she opened the phone and saw that she had a new text message. She frowned when she saw the sender.

From: Mr.President
10:49 a.m. 6/12/09
Good morning. I’m free today. The offer is still open to show you around.

She glanced up towards the questioning faces and looked back down once again. Before she could process what she was about to say she replied back. “I think I’ll pass,” Mishti declined hesitantly.

Laura looked up from her cup of coffee. “Are you sure? You won’t be bored?”

Placing her phone on the island, Mishti shook her head. “I’ll be fine.” She tapped her fingers on her phone. “I have other plans.”

From: Mishti
10:54 a.m. 6/12/09
Good morning to you too. Sure. When and where?”

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Mishti pulled open the curtains to the window for the fourth time in the last five minutes. She walked back to the foot of her stairs and sat down at the bottom step and played with her cell phone in her hands.

The huge house was entirely empty. Laura and Emily were at the studio, Emily’s dad was out doing business for Emily, and Danny and Karthik had hit the beach. After sending the text almost an hour and half ago, Mishti had made plans with Nick to spend the day with
him.

She still had no idea where she was going. All Nick told her was they were going to see the city. She hadn’t pressed for details but she was curious to know where Nick was taking her. Mishti had mulled over for a few minutes to what to wear, but with the lack of information she had given Mishti wasn’t sure how she was supposed to dress. Finally deciding on dark denim jean shorts and a snug hot pink tank top, Mishti had gotten ready.

The loud chime of the doorbell startled Mishti. Nervously, she stood up and checked herself one more time in the mirror by running her fingers through her long hair before opening the door.

She came face to face with Nick as his eyes wandered around the fancy details carved into the doorway. He brought his face down and made eye contact with Mishti. He gave a small grin. “Hey.”

Mishti smiled. “Hi.” She stepped outside and turned around and locked the door with the key she had been given when she first arrived. Tossing it into her medium sized purse, she checked the other necessities she had to do before leaving the house.

Nick simply waited for her at the end of the wavy driveway and leaned against his car with his arms crossed. As soon as Mishti walked up to him, he opened the passenger side door for her. “Thanks.”

She slipped inside and was instantly hit with the new car smell that all cars seemed to gain when once being bought. Mishti watched Nick get into the car and put the keys into the ignition. Leaning down, Nick touched the touch screen above his other technical devices and turned the radio on causing the sounds of Rihanna filled the air.

“Where are we going?” Mishti asked as the car began to exit the neighborhood. She was still waiting for Nick to hint to where he was taking her.

Nick smirked. “It’s a surprise.” Mishti raised an eyebrow.

“It adds to the effect of seeing California!” Nick exclaimed.

Mishti shook her head but smiled at the time. She turned her head to her right and looked out the window. Nick contemplated for a few minutes before giving in.

“I’ll give you a hint. It’s not going to be the normal touristy places of California. They’re going to be places where I’m usually at.” Mishti shrugged. That seemed to make sense. She was sure Emily would take her to all those places eventually.

Both Nick and her talked the entire car ride there branching off the topic of who was better, Yankees or Indians. They had previously started their argument the other night when they were on the phone and still hadn’t been resolved.

A few minutes later, Mishti felt the car come to a halt. Looking outside she saw them at a very small parking lot. Squinting her eyes closer, she saw a sight that startled her. Paparazzi was mingling about ten feet away from her car. She was grateful for the fact that these were tinted windows and they couldn’t see her. Yet.

Hesitantly, Mishti turned to Nick with uncertain eyes. Before she could ask whether they should really be going out there, Nick handed out her an object. Breaking eye contact with him, Mishti glanced down at his hand. A dark pair of sunglasses. Slowly, Mishti reached for the glasses and put them on.

“Here’s what you do. Step outside and look down. Try not to make eye contact with them and don’t answer their questions. I’ll be next to you as soon as I can,” Nick searched her face. “Ready?”

Taking a deep breath, Mishti gave a small nod. They simultaneously opened their doors at the same time. Putting one leg out and letting her small feet touch ground, Mishti stepped out into the world of Hollywood.