Nevermind Me

“I’m bored,” I sighed, sitting upside down and my head hanging over the edge while I scratched Milo’s head gently. MTV Hits was on and ‘Everything I Ask For’ was playing, willing my legs to wave around to the beat. I observed how much bigger Milo had gotten over the time that passed. He wasn’t my palm sized baby puppy anymore, but he was still as cute as ever.

“Well, we have a few hours to spare here. Wanna go shopping?” Nick asked as he was sitting right next to me on the couch, copying my posture. I looked at him and squinted in thought. “Sure.” I flipped myself over so I landed on my butt the ground and went into the back where I was sure Frankie was. And there I found him playing Guitar Hero. Wow, I could’ve sworn he was playing with Joe. But then I realized when I scanned around the whole room I noticed the keyword was was. Now the older brother sat in the corner, whispering something in Valerie’s ear that made her giggle and pat his chest.

I noticed how left out and lonely Frankie looked playing on his lonesome so I went and put my hand on his shoulder. His eyes locked with mine and I smiled at him. “Hey, Frankie. Would you like to come with me and Nick?”

His eyes lit up at the invitation, probably glad someone remembered him. It made me mad how Joe could just ignore his youngest brother while Frankie was obviously wanting to hang out with him. I had heard of the ‘Bros before Hoes’ thing and seriously, it seemed appropriate right now.

Then I thought about yesterday. Just yesterday, Joe was trying to kiss me. He told me I was beautiful. But the memory must not exist because now it looks like he’s trying to do the same with Valerie. So he goes from heartbreak, to swooning, to flirting with my sister? What is his problem? Did I upset him or something to cause him to do this.

No shit, Juliet A little voice told me. I pushed that away and though, Still, doesn’t he have enough heart not to take what I did out on his little brother for Pete’s sake?

“Maybe we’ll even stop at Pinkberry or something.” I took his hand in mine and was satisfied when I saw his sparkling smile shine towards me. The whole revelation got me a bit stirred up.

“Where are you guys going?” Joe asked and I decided against rolling my eyes when I turned to look at him.

“Nowhere important. You guys can keep doing whatever you want.” I said dismissively but Joe said something else.

“Wait. Would if we want to come? You can’t just forget about us.” I looked at Frankie, with a ‘you’ve got to be kidding me’ look. He subtly shook his head as if to say ‘No. I don’t want them to come’ I was happy to comply. I just looked at Joe for a minute and held Frankie’s hand in mine as we walked away without anymore words. “Let’s go.” I told Nick and he complied, leading the way off the bus.

“You look mad.” He noted and I nodded.

“Joe was completely ignoring Frankie. Like he wasn’t even there.”

“I thought him and Frankie were playing Guitar Hero.”

“Yeah, they were until Valerie became more important than spending time with his younger brother.” I spat and Nick looked at me, shocked.

“What? That’s utterly ridiculous and immensely rude.” I defended and he laughed. Laughed at me. Why?

“I’ve never seen you get mad before. It’s so different. Sort of cute actually,” He teased me and I rolled my eyes, huffing.

“Yeah, he just started flirting with her when she touched his butt or something. I don’t know exactly where, but I was sure it was his butt.” Said Frankie and I laughed softly. I loved his voice. After a few Frankie jokes the mood was lightened and we enjoyed our shopping trip.

&&

“Have fun, Frankie?” I asked the boy and he nodded, licking his ice cream. I held my own Cookie Dough cone, taking licks so it wouldn’t melt in the warm weather.

“Yep. And thanks for the shirt, Juliet.” He thanked me. It was the least I could do. I know what it was like to be ditched, but I didn’t have anyone to comfort me. If I could help it, I wouldn’t let someone like Frankie Jonas go through that.

He reached for my hand once we were on the bus again, leading me to sit on the carpet in front of the television so we could watch the new Hannah Montana episode.

“Finally you guys are back!” Joe yelled, coming from the bunks. He made his way over to me and saw that Frankie and I had ice cream, his eyes widening. “You guys went for ice cream without me?” He asked, more towards Frankie than me.

“Yeah.” The little boy shrugged and laughed when Miley spotted Ryan Shecklar on the slopes.

“What?! Frankie I thought we were buddies?”

“Yeah, so did I.” The younger boy retorted and began to ignore Joe, turning to speak to me. “Juliet close your eyes.” I giggled before closing my eyes and feeling cold lips press onto my cheek in a vanilla kiss.

“Oh yeah?” I laughed, sticking my finger into mine and swiping it onto his nose before kissing his cheek.

“Ha! She kissed me and not you Nick!” Frankie teased, causing Nick to roll his eyes. “It’s because she loves you and you look like a younger version than me.”

“Oh wow,” I laughed, “ Yep it’s true. I’m a fan of the original curly haired cuties.” I stood up to throw away my napkin and kissed Nick’s cheek also. Turning around I saw Joe glaring at me. I let out a barely audible gasp in surprise as his face looked at me like I’d done wrong. I was just playing around with Nick and Frankie. A kiss on the…

Oh, so he’s hurt by that.

“Do you want to t-“ I started to ask him, risking my own comfort zone to help his feelings but he cut me off.

“Don’t even worry about it,” He said roughly with a bitter laugh, “There’s nothing to say.” With that he walked away to the bunks to go to Valerie; I’m sure of it.

“What’s wrong with him?” Nick asked, concern in his eyes. I didn’t know what to say, my mood was also crushed. I just went to get Milo and sat on the couch to think.