Through Your Eyes

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The loud chimes rang throughout the Skyes mansion just as Marissa was passing the staircase at the upper level of the house. She ran down the stairs, almost slipping as her socks touched the slick wood. Turning the doorknob, she opened the door and the let the blonde girl in.

“Hey!” Leslie greeted with a smile. “Sorry I’m late, my mom’s car wouldn’t start and it took me forever to realize that I didn’t have any gas in it.”

Marissa laughed. “That’s alright. But we have to start getting ready now or we’re going to be late.”

The two girls bounded up the stairs and took a sharp right which led them to Marissa’s bedroom. Dark pink paint covered the medium sized room that matched the black and pink covers of her bedspread. She bent down to pick up a fallen sweater and tossed it onto her black couch.

Tonight was the night of the Jonas Brothers concert that would be at the House of Blues that Nick had invited her to a week ago. Both Marissa and Leslie had gotten permission to go to the concert. She had invited Austin who later told her that he would just meet them there at the House of Blues since he would have only gotten off of work an hour before it started.

They currently had about an hour to get ready before they had to leave for the concert. It only made sense for the both of them to get ready at Marissa’s house since it was her dad that would be the one taking them to the House of Blues. Leslie was to spend the night at her house after the concert.

Marissa had previously picked out her outfit a couple hours ago. She decided to go with a dark pair of skinny jeans which would be tucked into her Uggs, and a tie dyed purple tank top. It was simple, but it would work with the jewelry that she had chosen to wear with it. Leslie pulled out her clothes out of her Nike drawstring bag and set them down on the bed. She also was wearing skinny jeans to match her pink baby doll top.

About a half an hour passed by as the both of them got ready for the night. Marissa cranked up her iPod and both Leslie and her danced around to the music while they got ready. Time passed by quickly as the two girls chatted away.

Marissa glanced at the clock and saw that it was almost a quarter till six. The concert started at seven and she knew it would take around fifteen minutes to reach the House of Blues.

“We have to get going in about five minutes,” Marissa reminded her best friend. She looked over at her and nodded. She decided to also go remind her dad so they wouldn’t end up waiting another fifteen minutes for her dad to get ready.

She walked over to her dresser and began cleaning up all the makeup and jewelry that had been thrown onto it during the process of getting ready for the night. Just as she was shutting the top drawer close, her phone began to vibrate in the back pocket of her jeans.

Pulling out her cell phone, Marissa flipped it open and smiled at who the caller was before she answered. “Hey, you still at work?”

“Yeah, I get off in about forty five minutes,” Austin replied back distractedly. There was a pause in the conversation as she heard him in the background moving something around. She frowned at his response because it wasn’t like him. Usually when he called from work, it would be during his break and not while he was actually working.

“Why don’t I just talk to you later tonight? It seems like you’re busy at work,” Marissa suggested.

Austin hesitated before replying. “Actually, that’s why I called. Would it be alright if I skipped out on tonight? I’m already tired from work and I’d rather just crash at home.”

Marissa’s face fell in disappointment. As much as she felt sorry for him for being so wiped out, she had really wanted him there tonight to see Nick and his brothers perform. He hadn’t been to one of their concerts before and she had wanted him to see how good they were live.

“Sure, if that’s what you want to do. I understand.” Marissa glanced over at Leslie who was looking at her with a questioning look. She just shrugged and mouthed to her that he wasn’t coming tonight with them.

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow then, okay? I have to get back to work,” he replied. They quickly said their goodbyes and she hung up. She placed the phone in her back pocket once more and turned to Leslie.

“He’s not coming tonight?” Leslie asked.

Marissa shook her head. “Nope. He said he was too tired.”

“Are you two okay or is something going on?” she questioned.

She gave her best friend a confused look. “Everything’s fine between us, why wouldn’t it be?”

Leslie shrugged. “I don’t know, I just haven’t seen you two together that much recently. Come to think of it, was the last time you two hung out together last week at Nick’s?”

“He’s just been really busy. He’s been conditioning for basketball and I’m busy with school and helping my dad with the restaurants,” Marissa reasoned. “It’s no big deal; we talk every night and at school.”

“Just checking,” Leslie said with a smile. “Alright, so are we ready to leave?”

Five minutes later, Marissa found herself in the back of her father’s car along with Leslie on the way to the House of Blues. It was only then that she started getting hyped up and excited for the night. She loved going to concerts, especially to a Jonas Brothers concert. It was going to be low key too since it was a pretty small venue, if that’s what it was called.

It took them awhile for them to find a parking spot, but they finally were able to find one and make their way towards the entrance. Her dad made his way to the bar where the rest of the adults were sitting while Leslie and she looked for seats. Surprisingly, they were still able to get pretty good seats despite the fact it was general admission.

Marissa quickly texted Nick telling him that they were here. It only took him a few seconds for him to reply saying for them to enjoy the concert and to not forget to meet him backstage afterwards.

Most of the audience consisted of teenage girls and not nearly as many preteens and younger children that she expected. That was probably due to the fact that kids under age of 17 were required to come with an adult. The place was rushing with adrenaline and girls waiting to see one of their favorite bands perform.

There were two opening acts, one a solo artist and another smaller band. Some of the crowd had come for them mainly. Their style of music was a little edgier and more soulful. They were both out for an hour and half before it was time for the Jonas Brothers to come on stage.

When they finally did come out, Marissa couldn’t help but scream along with the rest of the crowd. The concert went along smoothly as they played both old and new songs. They did a few covers here and there to keep the musical selection a variety.

Their portion of the concert lasted for a little over an hour of the entire show. They came back to do one standing ovation before the lights were dimmed on stage indicating that the concert was over.

Immediately after the lights were dimmed, it was chaos as everyone gathered their belongings and all tried to leave the House of Blues as quick as possible to avoid the mad rush and traffic.

Instead of following the rest of the people, Marissa and Leslie edged their way towards the front. It took awhile for them to reach the front, but they finally did after about ten minutes. They located the side entrance to the backstage once they saw plenty of girls trying to get past the security that were stationed outside.

They pushed their way to the front of the twenty or so girls that were waiting and gave their names to the security. The jealous looks and curious glances to who they were and why they were allowed backstage was enough to send the both of them quickly past security.

“Their dressing room is the second one on the right.” The middle aged security guard pointed down the hallway and to the direction of the dressing room. Marissa thanked him and the two of them scurried down the hallway and to the room.

Marissa knocked on the closed door and waited for a response. The door opened and she came face to face with Joe. “Oh gosh, I haven’t seen you in forever!” Marissa exclaimed as she reached up and gave him a hug. Even though she spent a lot of time with Nick at the Bahamas, there had been a couple times where she had hung out with the rest of his family.

“You’ve been spending all your time with my brother,” Joe replied laughing.

“Speaking of your brother, where is he?” Marissa asked.

All of a sudden, a pair of hands covered her eyes and cut of her vision. “Guess who?” a voice sang behind her with a laugh.

Marissa smiled and turned around to give Nick a hug. “Hey! You guys were great tonight!” As she let go, Nick stretched out his arms to hug Leslie also who had been talking to Joe till now.

“Thanks.” Nick glanced in the dressing room and seemed satisfied. “Come on, let’s go inside.”

Joe excused himself and left to go find a couple of his friends who had come to the concert. There was nobody else inside the dressing room as everyone else went and did their own thing afterwards.

“So what did you guys think of Joe’s little monologue?” Nick asked with a chuckle as he opened the mini fridge and took out a Redbull.

Marissa laughed. “It was probably the most stupidest but hilarious thing I’ve heard. He just kept going on and on and on.”

“We didn’t even know he was going to be talking for so long,” Nick remarked. “He was just supposed to talk for like only a minute so I could get situated for the next song but he went on for almost five minutes.”

“It was pretty entertaining though,” Leslie chuckled.

Nick rolled his eyes. “That’s Joe for you, he love being the center of attention.” He took a sip of his energy drink and then furrowed his eyebrows as a thought entered his mind. “Wait, where’s Austin? I thought he was coming tonight.”

“He was supposed too, but he’s been really busy with school and work so he skipped out on tonight,” Marissa explained.

Nick nodded his head indicating that he understood. “So you two want to go see the stage? Everything should be cleared about now.”

“Sure,” Leslie and Marissa agreed. They followed Nick out of the dressing room and into the hallway where the three of them made their way towards the stage. And sure enough, almost everybody had left the House of Blues. Only tech crew and staff were the only ones left inside.

Marissa’s eyes lit up when she stepped onto the stage. “Are those your drums?” she asked excitedly.

“Yes…,” Nick replied hesitantly as he saw the look in her eyes. “Why?”

Leslie laughed at his expression. “You don’t know about her love of loud things do you?” He shook his head. “We actually got banned this year from the school’s band room because we snuck in during lunch hour and messed around with the instruments.”

Marissa scoffed. “We didn’t get banned. All the band director said was not to come back.” She walked over to the drums and sat down on the seat behind it. She searched for the drumsticks and pulled them up. She held them in her hands and lightly tapped the symbols and drums.

The second time she hit the drums, her hands slipped and the drumstick from her right hand hit it and made a loud crash sound. Her eyes went wide and she quickly tried to quiet the noise.

Nick walked over to her and stood behind her and chuckled. “You’re worse than Frankie.”

Marissa looked behind her and glared at Nick. “My hand slipped.”

“Uh huh,” Nick laughed. “Look, this is how you play them.” He moved even closer to her than he already was and slowly reached for her hands. His chest was touching her back and she could feel his even breathing float down.

He picked up her hands and in a simple rhythm played the drums. But her mind was barely paying attention to what music was being made. Instead, her mind was rushing with the fact of Nick being so close to her and why it was having this effect on her.

But before she could even decide what to do, she felt her phone vibrating in her pocket. Nick slowly backed away from her and dropped her hands. She reached into her back pocket and answered the phone call. She talked into it for a couple seconds before hanging up.

“Sorry, we have to go now. My dad’s waiting for us outside,” she apologized.

Nick gave her a small smile. “It’s alright. We are probably going to be leaving soon.”

“I’ll call you later, okay?” Marissa promised. She stood on her toes and reached up to give him a hug. His hands snaked around her lower back as the hug lingered for a few extra seconds.

Leslie waved goodbye to Nick as she hopped off the stage. Marissa followed her and both girls made their way to the entrance. Just as she was about to leave, she turned around to see Nick still watching her and waving goodbye. She gave a smile wave and stepped into the cool evening air with Leslie.