Lucky Shoes

“Demi, please! I’m begging you, you have to come with me. As my best friend, you owe me this. Please!” I sighed. My best friend, Alice, was BEGGING me to come with her to this weird show thing. I wasn’t even sure what was going to happen there.

“Alice, why?”

“Because if you don’t go, I’ll cry!” I rolled my eyes, but I knew she would turn on the waterworks and cause a scene. I sighed.

“Look, I’ll go-” She squealed and grinned.

“You won’t regret it! I promise! Be ready by 7:30, okay?” She stood up, and gave me a hug.

She walked away, towards her car. I rolled my eyes again, and smiled. She may have been a year younger than me, but she was still overly persuasive. I turned the other way, towards my car. I slid into it, turned it on, and turned up the music. I started singing along with the music blasting from my speakers.

“I’m hot! You’re cold! You go around, like you know, who I am, but you don’t! You’ve got me on my toes!”

I pulled up to a stoplight, and saw the people in the other car looking at me as if I had three eyes. I winked at them, and sang louder, driving off the moment the light turned green.

I pulled into my house, and walked in the door. “Hey Mom, I’m home!” I looked around, and there she was, cooking something delicious smelling.

“Hey, Demi! I heard your going somewhere with Alice.” Leave it to my best friend to call my mom to make sure I went.

“Yeah, she’s dragging me to some show thing.” My mom laughed. “I’m sure you’ll have fun.”

She winked, as if she knew something I didn’t. Now I was worried. I just nodded, and walked upstairs. I turned up the radio in my room, and started dancing around, singing at the top of my lungs. I looked over at the clock, and saw that it was already 6:45. Dang. Choir rehearsals ran late! I jumped over my bed, and ran to the bathroom, taking a shower so fast it belongs in the record books.

I ran back into my room, my dark brown hair dripping wet, my bangs all in a clump. I checked the clock. 7:00. I had only 30 minutes to get ready for this thing.

“Argh!” I shouted in frustration, and then I went to my closet, digging for something cute to wear. Wherever Alice was dragging me, I knew that there were going to be cute boys. She had been trying to get me to get over my last boyfriend, Jake, for awhile now, but no one seemed good enough.

I shook the thoughts out of my head, and focused on getting dressed. I pulled out a pair of bright yellow skinnies, and slid them on, and then pulled out a bright blue T-shirt that read ‘LOVE’ in white ransom note letters. I pulled on a pair of black Converse, and ran to the bathroom. I checked my phone. 7:15. I had 15 minutes left to straighten my long, curly hair.

“Forget it!” I said, and just straightened my bangs, letting the normal fringe cover the tops of my eyes. I pulled the rest of my hair back with a headband, and then quickly put on eyeliner and lip gloss. I threw on a yellow beaded necklace, and a chunky blue bracelet, and then my phone rang.

‘You say goodbye, and I say hello, hello hello! You say goodbye, and I say hello.’ I flipped open the phone.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Demi! Hurry up! We’re going to be late if you don’t get your lazy butt out of your house. Come on, come on!” My best friend’s impatient voice rang through the phone, and I laughed. “I’m coming, I’m coming. Bye.” I hung up the phone, and slid it into my pocket. I flew down the stairs, and kissed my mom goodbye.

“Be home before 10!”

“Okay! Love you! Bye!” I ran out the door, nearly knocking my dad over.

“Oops! Sorry Daddy.” I giggled, and kissed the top of his head. He laughed, and hugged me.

“Going out with Alice?” I nodded, and he did too. “Have fun, and stay safe.”

“Alright, Daddy. Love you! Bye!” I darted around him, and saw Alice’s car sitting in my driveway. She honked, and I slid into the passenger seat.

“I’m here, calm down.” Alice laughed, and pulled out of my driveway.

“I’m fine with being late, but Nick keeps bugging me. He says Kevin and his girlfriend Adrianna went off somewhere, and Joe is being whiny, so he wants us to hurry up. You look pretty.” She said, checking my outfit.

“Why thank you. I figured anywhere you drag me there’s going to be SOME cute guy.” She laughed again.

“You know me too well. But don’t worry, this should be fun.” She motioned towards the backseat of her car, where her familiar beat-up guitar case was sitting. I was confused for a minute, and then I realized what was going on.

“You’re making me sing, aren’t you?” She nodded, and grinned. “But don’t worry, you won’t be singing alone. Someone else will be there too.” She winked, and I rolled my eyes. What had she gotten me into this time?

We pulled into a very big carnival. There were Ferris Wheels, and rollercoasters of every shape and size, and tons of other amazing things to do. “This place is amazing!” I yelled, getting out of the car. A few people looked my way, but I just rolled my eyes. Alice grabbed her guitar out of the back, and slung it over her shoulders. “Come on, Demi. Let’s go.” I followed her, amazed by the sights.

“Alice?”

“Hm?” She didn’t look up from her phone, she was busy texting someone.

“Why did Beethoven kick out his chicken?”

“Why?”

“Because it kept saying Bach, Bach, Bach!” I cracked up at my corny joke, and she gave a small chuckle.

“Aha!” She pointed towards a giant tent. “That way!” Not sure what she was up to, I followed her.

“Nick!” She shouted, and waved. It wasn’t until then that I noticed what she was wearing.

Her shirt was a white short sleeved button up, and there was a thick black belt around her waist. Her skirt was bright yellow, like my pants, and it came to right above her knees. Her flats were ballet, except they were black, with a yellow bow. I looked towards where she was waving, and saw two guys standing by the tent. One of them had curly brown hair, and was waving back. The other one, I couldn’t see from this distance. They both looked slightly familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

“Come on, Demi, this way.” Alice started moving towards the two boys, and I followed, not knowing what I was getting myself into.

As soon as I walked over there, I was stunned. Really. I couldn’t move, that’s how shocking it was.

The guy’s hair was dark, and straight, and it fell across his dark brown eyes perfectly. He was tall, a bit taller than I was, and he walked over with such confidence I couldn’t help but think he was absolutely gorgeous.

“Nick, Joe, this is my best friend, Demi. Demi, this is Joe and Nick.” The younger looking one stuck out his hand.

“I’m Nick.” I smiled, not really paying attention.

“I’m Demi.” I shook his hand, and then turned to the other guy.

“Joe.” He nodded in acknowledgment, not really looking at me.

“My name is Dr. Platypus the III, it’s very nice to meet you James.” He looked up at me, confused. I laughed.

“I’m Demi. I was just seeing if you were paying attention.” He laughed, and the sound made me like this guy even more.

Remind me to thank Alice later.

“You guys were almost late,” Nick said, turning towards Alice. She rolled her eyes.

“Calm down, Jonas. We’re here now, aren’t we?” She smirked, and pushed past him.

“We’re in this tent, right?” He nodded, and followed her.

“We should probably go, too. I think they want us to sing.” Joe said, motioning towards the leaving pair. I blinked a few times while his words sunk in. I was going to sing with him. And then another thing sunk in. Jonas, Alice had said Jonas. Like Nick Jonas, this meant Joe Jonas. I would be singing with Joe freaking Jonas.

Remind me to hit Alice over the head with a newspaper, too.

“Do you know what we’re going to sing?” He shook his head.

“With my little brother and that little demon, you never know.” I laughed, and we walked into the tent. There were already a few people in there, talking amongst themselves. We walked up to the stage, and jumped on it. Nick and Alice were already setting up their guitars, and she handed me a mic.

“We’ll be performing in about 10 minutes.” She said, all business. I nodded, and started to do a few warm-ups so I didn’t sound horribly scratchy.

“What songs are we doing?” I asked, turning back around. Alice looked at Nick, who looked at Joe, who shrugged. “I’m up for anything, really. Whatever you want.” I thought for a moment.

“If I pick a slow song, will you pick a fast one?” He grinned. “Perfect. We’ll do Hello Goodbye, Jonas style.” I laughed, thinking of my ringtone.

“And for slow, we can do Lay All Your Love On Me, from Mamma Mia.”

Soon, the tent was filled to the brim, and I was in that performing state.

“Hello, Los Angeles! How are you today?!” I shouted in the mic, and got several shouts of ‘Good!’ and ‘Fine!’ from the crowd.

“That’s great! I’m so glad you could all make it today, my name is Demi, and it’s great to see you all here! Are you ready to rock?” They all shouted yes, and I motioned for Alice and Nick to start playing. They launched into the first notes, and I started singing. I was in my comfort zone, and I didn’t even remember that I was singing with Joe Jonas. At the moment, he was just a guy, I was just a girl, and we were just having fun. We started dancing together, and Nick and Alice did back-up, and it was a pretty amazing show.

As soon as it was over, and people had given us our tips, and everyone had cleared the tent, I flopped onto the stage, lying on my back.

“That was so much fun!” I shouted.

“Told ya so!” Alice said, packing up her guitar. “Joe, we’re going to go ride some rollercoasters, so take care of Demi, alright?” Nick said, standing up.

“Have fun!” Alice said, jumping off the stage. “I’ll meet you back here at 9:30, so you’re not late for curfew.” She hugged me goodbye, waved to Joe, and then left the tent with Nick, arguing which rollercoaster was better. It was just me and Joe.

“You have a great voice.” He said, breaking the silence.

“Thanks, that really means a lot.” I smiled, and he grinned back. “Wanna go ride some rides?” I nodded, grinning. I loved carnival rides. He grabbed my hand, and ran out of the tent, pulling me with him. He stopped for a few seconds, looked around the park, and then pulled me with him, towards a ride that looked like fun.

We rode that one, and another one, and another one, and the whole time we talked, and talked, and talked. We kept laughing, and joking, and getting to know each other.

Finally, we were sitting in the Ferris Wheel, relaxing from our rampage around the park. We were still talking about random things.

“So, Alice likes Nick, huh?” Joe asked. I nodded.

“She’s wearing her lucky shoes.” He gave me a confused look.

“She wears these shoes she thinks are lucky, because she’ll wear them whenever she likes a guy.”

“How long has she been wearing them?” I laughed.

“Ever since she met Nick.” He laughed, and it grew silent again.

I was searching my brain for a topic, when he asked, “Are you wearing something lucky?”

I was confused. I didn’t know if I had heard him right, so I leaned in to hear him better.

And then he kissed me.

The fireworks went off, both in my mind and at the fair. Sparks flew, and he reached up and held my face closer. We broke apart for air, and I looked into his big brown eyes, shocked and pleased at the same time.

I pointed to my beat-up Converse. “These are my new lucky shoes.” He laughed, and leaned in for another kiss, and it was just as good as the first one.