Through Your Eyes

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“Hey, let go of me!” Marissa shrieked as she laughed along with the playful move. Her hands grabbed onto the hands that were wrapped around her waist. The body behind her rocked the two of them back and forth as she kept on laughing.

A nose nuzzled into her neck as the grip on her hands tightened. “Nah, I think I’m fine,” Austin’s voice hummed as he smiled into the upper portion of her neck before giving her small peck.

Marissa allowed herself to stay in her boyfriend’s hold for a few more seconds before she unwrapped Austin’s arms off of her. She still kept her hands locked into his after turning around. She brought up their hands so they were parallel to the end of Austin’s shoulders and leaned up to give him a soft kiss on the lips.

“If your mom comes up here and sees that I’m not helping you with our French homework, then we’re going to have a problem,” Marissa stated after giving her boyfriend one more kiss.

Austin sighed and slightly tossed his head so his blonde hair was out of his eyes. “You’re probably right.” A thought occurred to him and his eyes mischievously lit up. “But technically, we were doing some French earlier.” He paused. “But not exactly the schoolwork type.”

Marissa laughed at his choice of words. “That’s true, but how about we start some of the homework?”

“Fine,” Austin gave in. He released his hands from hers and walked over to the small black couch that was squeezed into a corner of his room. He patted the seat next to him, indicating for Marissa to come over and join him.

She grabbed the textbooks that were lying on the bed before she went and sat next to him. The next half an hour or so actually consisted of them finishing their French homework. Even though it was a fairly easy assignment, it took them awhile longer due to some distractions.

Marissa had come over almost an hour ago to hang out with Austin and work on some homework. At least, that’s what they had both told their parents. In reality, there had been some homework done, more or less.

Even though they had seen each other throughout the week at school, they hadn’t really had spent time with each other for a few days now. Between Austin being busy with early conditioning for the upcoming basketball season and Marissa studying her butt off for her advanced classes, not much time had been devoted for each other.

Their relationship these past couple months had been great. They had been together now for almost eight months, but it didn’t really seem that long. She cherished every moment she had with Austin. Sure, they had their problems but they always got past it.

It was nights like these that made her content and happy. She’d been having a fun night with just the two of them catching up each other on their lives and just hanging out. Just spending time with him would put a smile on her face.

Her phone buzzed by her side causing Marissa to glance down to see her phone lighting up with one new message. She quickly unlocked her phone and opened the message. She read the message and proceeded to reply to the sender.

“Does your mom want you home already?” Austin asked in relation to the text message that Marissa had received.

She shook her head. “No, it’s just Nick.” She smiled at him before she tossed the phone back on the couch.

“You’ve gotten to be really good friends with him,” Austin commented cautiously.

“With who? Nick?” Marissa questioned. Austin nodded. She shrugged. “He’s just a friend. I thought you were okay with me hanging out with him?”

“I am,” Austin quickly defended himself. “I just find it a little strange that he’s one of your friends and I still haven’t met it yet. I know most of your friends.”

Marissa raised your eyebrows. “You want to meet him?”

“Sure, why not?” Marissa bit her lip. He had a point there. The bigger question now that occurred to her was why hadn’t she introduced Austin to Nick yet? He was a huge part of her life and he deserved to meet one of her good friends.

“Well, okay. I’ll talk to him and we’ll figure something out,” Marissa suggested.

Austin grinned. “Sounds great.”

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“Remind me again why I’m doing this,” Marissa groaned as she pulled out a light blue ribbon out of her jewelry box. She held it up to her shirt and tilted her head trying to decide if it matched or not. She turned her head to Leslie. “Does this match?”

Leslie shook her head. “Go with the white ribbon instead. And you’re doing this because Austin wants to meet him. I don’t get why you’re freaking out anyways.”

“I’m not freaking out!” Marissa explained. “I just, I don’t know.”

“Why is this such a problem? He’s just a friend,” Leslie replied. She paused and then looked at Marissa. “Isn’t he?”

“Of course he is!” she declared. “I don’t know why I’m like this. I never had a problem with Austin meeting any of my other guy friends. Maybe it’s because he’s a celebrity?”

Leslie nodded. “Probably. I mean, Austin’s never really met anybody from the high class snobby people that your family knows.”

Marissa laughed and smacked her friend on the shoulder. “Hey, they’re not all that bad!”

“Right, because apparently nothing less than diamonds is acceptable for Homecoming. My bad.” Leslie scoffed.

She laughed at her best friend but couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. Leslie had more than once had run ins with people at her family’s social affairs. Marissa usually invited her along just so that she would keep her company, but she was quick to realize that her best friend and high society people just didn’t mix.

“Besides, I’ll be there with you tonight so if anything goes wrong, I’ll step in,” Leslie added.

The fact that Leslie was tagging along with her for the night was the only thing that was comforting her. Marissa had talked to Nick the night that Austin suggested that he finally meet him, and Nick brought up the idea for them to just come over to the Jonas house and just hang out.

She ran the idea past her parents while Nick did the same with his, and both had said it was alright with them. Marissa invited Leslie along just so that it wouldn’t be awkward and for also some back up.

If she was being honest with herself, Marissa really wanted Nick to meet Austin. He had become such a close friend of hers in the past few months that his opinion meaned a lot to her. Granted, she had known Austin much longer than Nick, and was of course much closer with him, but Nick was also a good friend.

About an hour later, Austin came over to her house and picked both her and Leslie up. Nick had given them directions to where the secluded neighborhood that he lived in was. After about a fifteen minute drive, they arrived at a huge gate that was guarded by two security guards along with a small booth in the middle.

It took them a couple minutes for them to pass through since the security had to call the Jonas’ household and check they weren’t some crazed fans. Which was slightly questionable since Austin was the one driving.

They were finally let through and pointed towards the direction of the Jonas’ mansion. And it wasn’t anything less of a mansion. It was hidden in a mass of trees and could only be accessed by going through another gate and down a winding driveway.

All three of them were in awe as they took in the setting around them. Marissa’s family was rich, and she had been to houses that were more magnificent than hers, but none as lavishing as this one. The three of them stepped out of the car as soon as Austin parked in the driveway.

Both Marissa and Leslie were whisper-talking about the expensive looking objects outside of them home before Austin pushed the doorbell. Even from outside, they could here the loud chimes going off inside. It took a couple seconds, but the door in front of them swung open revealing a smiling Nick holding onto the doorknob.

“Hey, come on in,” Nick welcomed as he opened the door even wider. They entered the house and immediately all three of them let their eyes travel around the mansion and take it all in. It was exactly as she expected it to be, very open with modern day furniture but still yet a homey feeling.

“I haven’t seen you in forever!” Marissa exclaimed as she reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck to give him a hug. And it was true. It had been almost two weeks since the dinner had happened. It seemed like that’s how it was always going to be with them, only seeing each other every couple weeks or so.

She cut the hug short because of Austin’s presence and turned around quickly. “Okay so this is my boyfriend Austin and my best friend Leslie.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Nick,” he introduced himself with an easy smile.

To Marissa’s relief, things seemed to go smoothly after the introductions were made. Austin and Nick were getting along, at least in her mind. Conversation was running and it wasn’t really awkward at all. Nick gave them a quick tour of the house before they ended in the gaming/arcade room.

A plasma TV hung on the wall with a couple couches pushed back on the opposite side. From the equipment set up, she could see Guitar Hero, Rockband, Xbox, everything that had been remotely a popular game for teenagers in the past few years was in here. Even a DDR was set up. Some pool games were set aside in another corner along a small mini fridge.

“Anybody want anything to drink?” Nick offered as he leaned down and opened the fridge and took out a RedBull.

“Diet Coke,” Leslie quickly replied.

“I’ll take a RedBull too,” Austin replied. He turned towards Marissa and asked, “Do you want anything?”

Marissa shook her head. “Nah, not really.” Her eyes shifted to the plasma TV and her eyes lit up. “Can we play Guitar Hero? I’m epic at it.”

Leslie laughed. “Are you serious? Honey, you can barely pass easy.”

“The last time I played against you in Guitar Hero, you made me play for an entire two hours till you actually beat me,” Austin reminded her as he chuckled.

“Hey, I’m not that bad!” Marissa retorted as she put her hands on her hips.

“Alright, let’s see if they’re right,” Nick said laughing. He handed her one of the guitars while he put the other around his own shoulder.

After a few minutes of arguing of what song and Marissa trying to convince everyone else that she could play on medium, they began the song. As much as she hated to admit, both Leslie and Austin were right. She was downright awful. She could barely keep with the medium level and Nick was dominating her and he was only on hard when she knew he could easily be on expert.

Marissa sighed in defeat. She turned around and pointed a finger at her boyfriend. “So I suck at this, but that doesn’t mean you can use this against me.”

“You don’t suck at the game. You’re just really terrible at it,” Austin laughed.

“Don’t feel bad. I mean, you are playing against me,” Nick justified with a grin.

Marissa scoffed. “Please. You’re not that great.”

“Um, yes I am.”

Austin interrupted the next argument that was between her and Nick. “What level do you usually play?”

“Expert,” Nick replied. “You?”

“Same.”

“Well, let’s see how good you are,” Nick claimed as he handed the guitar that Marissa had discarded on the floor.

Marissa immediately made eye contact with Leslie. She was hoping she wasn’t the only one feeling the tension rise in the air, but the questioning look in her best friend’s eyes told her otherwise.

There was nothing for her to do but just watch both Nick and Austin duel it out on guitar hero. Out of habit, she nervously drummed her fingers on the arm of the sofa. The song blasted loudly as she watched the boys’ fingers fly so fast on the keys.

When the score list popped up, she couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief when she saw that Austin had won. It was only by a couple hundred points, but nevertheless, he still had won against Nick.

“Not bad,” Nick commented.

The rest of the evening seemed to pass by without another hitch. Marissa had been nervous after the challenge by Nick. She knew that Austin had a competitive side, and that side usually came along with a jealousy side. She was used to these sides of Austin, they were one of the things that she had just become used to. Almost every boyfriend possessed these sides.

Marissa could tell that Austin’s mood had been elevated and had done well for his ego. But still, he would hold her hand or sneak in a kiss when Nick or Leslie wasn’t looking. That was one thing that Marissa loved about Austin, he wouldn’t try to brag about their relationship, but he would show his affection towards her.

They left around nine since Austin had to be up early the next morning for basketball conditioning. Leslie and Austin both said their goodbyes but Marissa hung around for an extra couple minutes so she could talk to Nick.

“I’ll be there in a couple minutes. Just give me a few minutes,” Marissa remarked as Austin and Leslie waited for her.

They nodded, but Austin looked skeptical. She waited for them to leave out of her sight before she turned back to Nick. He was the first one to speak even though she had just opened her mouth to say something.

“So tell me, is this how often we’re going to see each other now? Only every few weeks?” Nick questioned as he crossed his arms.

Marissa scrunched her eyebrows. “I know, I’m sorry. I’ve been busy and so have you. It’s been a little crazy with school and everything.”

Nick sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “I know. With Kevin’s wedding coming up and my solo project, everything has been hectic around here.”

She bit her lip. She really hated that they didn’t have much time to hang out. They were both so used to spending time together because of the Bahamas. But now that they were back in reality, the busyness of their lives was just out of control.

“I have an idea,” Nick said hesitantly. “We’re playing at the House of Blues next weekend. Why don’t you and Leslie come? We can hang out after the show too.”

Marissa smiled. “That actually sounds really great. I haven’t been to one of your concerts in awhile.”

Nick grinned. “Alright, awesome.” His eyes looked past her shoulder and Marissa turned around to see Austin’s car pulled up right in front of them, waiting a little impatiently. “Looks like you have to go.”

“Yeah, sorry,” Marissa apologized. “But I’ll text you later, okay?” She reached up and gave Nick one more final hug. Another smile crept onto her face as she hopped off the steps and ran towards the car. As she opened the passenger side of the car, Marissa gave one final wave before sliding into her boyfriend’s car.