Imperfectly Beautiful

Even after two years of having the freedom to walk down the streets of Texas without being mobbed by teenage girls, I still hadn’t gotten used to the fact. Nick and Kevin were on either side of me, staring idly into the shop windows that we passed.

From the corner of my eye, I thought I saw a flash and turned hopefully in it’s direction. It was just the glare of the sun reflecting off of a door that was getting pushed open across the street. Two teenage girls, both dressed in similar clothing, walked out of the store. Making eye contact with one of them, I saw her turn to her friend, whispering something quietly into her ear. By the way they threw their head back in laughter, I could tell she had said something about us. Us, the Jonas Brothers…the boy band of the past.

“Joe, what are you doing?” Nick asked, bringing me out of my haze. I craned my neck to see my brothers through the crowd of people pushing past me. Kevin was leaning up against a window, sliding his sunglasses onto the top of his head. Nick was glaring at me impatiently.

“Sorry,” I pushed my way gently to them. “I thought I saw something.”

“Phantom flashes, again?” Kevin laughed shortly, shaking his head full of curls. “Joe, this is getting out of hand.” I shot a look at my older brother and kept walking down the sidewalk.

I had never known the true reasoning on why everything fell through for us so suddenly. I don’t think anyone knew the real reason why. The tabloids has made their own theories, which varied from us being over exposed, to one of us being gay. Things began to fail at the worst possible time, when we had absolutely everything we could ever imagine. We had the dedicated fans. The number one CD release. A new world tour, being sold out internationally. A second season of our comedy show in progress. And the filming of another movie ahead of us. Everything was looking up, until things just started to go down hill. In my opinion, our music was okay, nothing horrible enough to have our entire career dropped at the first sign of failure. But, that’s what seemed to happen, and everything happened too fast for us to comprehend.

"Stop daydreaming and walk please." Nick broke me out of my thoughts again, and I rolled my eyes as both Kevin and I picked up the pace, staring down at my old beat up vans. Nick checked his phone for the tenth time, blurting out that we were already ten minutes late.

"We know, calm down." Kevin murmured, turning onto the block of Rupture, the small restaurant which we discovered a couple years back. It was the place we would relax and unwind after a long day of interviews and photo shoots, which just seemed to be a distant memory now.

The rush of cold air as I opened the door was refreshing, compared to the hot climate of Texan summers. Nick and Kevin were trailed behind me as I walked up to the hostess, who has worked here from the first day we've came. She was older and always seemed to give us the best table in the house, right next to the back windows.

"Excuse me?" She was still startled, even though I tried my best to speak softly.

"Sorry," She smiled, "Can I help you?" Her voice was polite, and I smiled her
way. "Party of 5, under Jonas." I explained, as she smiled back. "Two guest have already arrived, I'll take you to your table." I motioned for Nick and Kevin to follow me, and she escorted us to the same table as always.

"Hello, gorgeous." I whispered as I kissed Camilla's cheek hello. She smiled quietly as I took the seat directly next to her, placing my hand on her thigh underneath the table.
Nick took his seat quietly on the other side of Camilla as Kevin and Danielle embraced in a tight hug before taking a seat next to each other.

A group of teenage girls at a table close by caught my attention. Nick couldn't tear his eyes away from them, as they giggled and whispered while staring our way. I felt a touch of hope and pride as one of the girls locked eyes with me and blushed, turning back to one of her friends. I laughed lowly and turned back to Camilla, who was staring down at her menu contently, her hair pushed behind her ear.

"I'm sorry to bother you." A girls voice snapped my vision away from Camilla, as I turned my eyes up at the same girl who had locked eyes with me. I smiled brightly at her, finally experiencing the well missed feeling of being recognized. "But, I really love all your movies, and was wondering if I could get your autograph." My heart stopped briefly, and my smile faded quickly.

"No problem." Camilla's voice was cheery, as she signed a small piece of paper with her bubbly handwriting, a small heart at the end of her name. I glanced down awkwardly, my hands starting to sweat. "Thank you, so much." The fan thanked my girlfriend, and she smiled politely.

I tried to control myself, as everything sunk in. This always seemed to happen when ever I was out with Camilla. As our fan base and fame depleted, hers just seemed to become stronger. It's hard when you're girlfriend has the one thing that you miss so much, and will probably never get back. A hand was placed onto of mine, which caused me to look up into her amazing brown eyes.

"I missed you," I explained to Camilla, who's been in Mexico filming yet another movie. She laughed shortly and smiled my way, "I've missed you more, babe." I shot a look at Nick as he groaned loudly.

“We get it, you two have missed each other.” He pulled a menu out from the middle of the table and stared at it angrily. “Can’t we just get over the fact-You know what I miss? I miss sitting at a table in a restaurant without having to be disgusted to tears with you two professing your love for each other-”

“Nick.” Kevin spat, giving Nick a look from across the table. He folded his menu and set it in front of him, not saying another word.

“It’s fine, Kevin.” I mumbled, smirking slightly up from my own menu. “Nick is just upset he can’t find a girlfriend of his own.” Mine and Camilla’s hands had fallen in between us now, and I squeezed hers tightly.

“Please.” Nick snorted. “I could get any girl I wanted in here. I just…don’t feel like it.” He retorted. I raised my eyebrows and nodded my head, the smile still playing across my lips.

“Alright, Nicholas. Whatever you say.” I mumbled, looking back down at the menu.

“So what is everyone planning on getting?” Danielle asked quietly.

“Joe should consider getting a life.” Nick mumbled from his seat. I leaned over so I could see past Camilla.

“Is that the best you have, Nick? I have a life.” I shot back at him. I ignored the cautious look on Camilla’s face. “She is right next to me.”

Clichéd, probably. But I still smiled over at Camilla and ignored the nonsense running out of Nick’s mouth. At the sound of silverware crashing against the wooden table, I tore my eyes away from her.

Nick was now standing up from the table. His cheeks were bright red at the top, a sign that he was really angry.

“I’m sick of this, Joe. Your so goddamn blind, and it sucks you can’t even see it.” He inhaled sharply and glanced quickly around the table. “Don’t you see it? Why cant you see it? She is the one that made everything change.”

“Don’t you dare bring Camilla into this.” I said, dropping her hand out of mine. Nick laughed shortly and threw his hands into the air.

“You bring her into everything else we do nowadays, what makes this any different?” Kevin had joined us in the back of the small restaurant now. I felt his hand push against my chest as I treaded my way to Nick.

“Because what you say isn’t true. Camilla had nothing to do with anything.” I glanced behind me at Camilla, who was just staring down at her menu in disgust. Danielle was holding her head in her hands, leaning her body up against the table.

“One day you’ll see it, Joe.” Nick said quietly, glancing around at the half empty table. “I’m leaving.” He informed everyone. Slowly backing away from the group, Nick grabbed his jacket he had draped over the back of his chair and walked to the front of Rupture. We didn’t have the attention of the small crowd in the café when we entered but after that little outburst, everyone’s attention seemed to be on the table of five at the back windows.

“Do you think we should make sure he’s going to be okay?” Danielle asked, not taking her head out of her hands. Kevin sighed and tore his eyes away from me, nodding at his wife.

“We’ll see you two later.” He said quietly, his eyes falling on me once again before he turned to grab Danielle’s hand and follow Nick’s tracks out of the restaurant.

I sunk slowly into my chair next to Camilla and sighed. “I’m so sorry, I don’t know what has gotten into him lately.”

Camilla sat stone cold at my side, staring down at the water that was placed in front of her before Nick and I had started arguing.

“Y-yeah. Me either.” Camilla said quietly, setting the napkin that was resting in her lap onto the table. She stood up slowly and straightened out the dress that fell to the top of her knees. “I need to use the bathroom.”

I nodded sympathetically and watched as she strutted her way across the room, ignoring the eyes following her so easily.

I grabbed a wrapped straw from in front of me and tore the thin paper on the top, running the material between my index finger and thumb.

At first, I didn’t see her standing next to me. I continued to tear small pieces from the wrapper, stacking them on top of each other on the table in front of me.

“Are you waiting for your party?” A quiet voice asked next to me. I glanced up from the pile and looked at the waitress standing in front of me, black book held open at her side. Her long blonde hair was gathered into a messy bun by a black hair tie that matched her uniform at the back of her head, random strands falling in front of her heart shaped face. Our eyes fell on each other and I noticed the strange color of hers-light green with a few blue specks.

“P-party?” I asked her back in the same volume. Her cheeks flushed and she nodded toward the table. “Your party. Are four other people joining you?”

“Oh.” I laughed shortly and shook my head. “It doesn’t look like it. My girlfriend is using the bathroom…” I trailed off at the slight uninterested look on the girls face. “…no. Can I just pay for what everyone ordered so far?”

She glanced down at her book and tore out the front paper, crumpling it up in her small hands. “It’s fine, we’ve got it covered.”

I looked at her incredulously and sat up in my chair. “Are you sure? I-”

“Don’t worry about it.” She smirked slightly and shoved the paper into the front pocket of her pants. “Have a nice day.”

I watched her slowly walk to the next table, the group of teenagers that had asked for Camilla’s autograph earlier. She smiled at this group and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. I hadn’t seen much of her, we didn’t even talk that much. The last thing I caught before she turned her back to me was her name. Peyton.

“Can we please leave?” Camilla had walked up to the table without me noticing it, and was now standing next to me. I tore my eyes away from the waitress, Peyton, and slowly stood up from my chair.

“Yeah, let’s go.” I said quietly, pushing in my chair before letting Camilla link her arm around mine.

I noticed a small display of brochures and advertisements right next to the exit of Rupture and paused slightly when my eyes fell upon a bright orange paper.

Westwood University Art Show. July 21st from 7-9 p.m.

Reaching past Camilla I took a single sheet of paper from it’s compartment and folded it twice, shoving it into the back pocket of my skinny jeans.