I'll Fill the Empty Pages of the Story of Your Life

“Wow I love what you’ve done with the place,” Demi said as she put her stuff down in the room I had just showed her. We had just finished the tour of the house. And I had just showed her where she can settle in.

“Thanks Dem,” I smiled. “It’s really nice to have you here.”

“Yeah I’m sure Tom is just ecstatic,” Demi rolled her eyes, smirking.

I laughed and shook my head. “Don’t worry about him. He promised he’ll be on his best behavior.”

“So are sharks known to be that behavior altering creatures?” she asked.

I sighed. “Demi, come on. He’ll be great, promise.”

“Okay, okay,” she put her hands up, knowing how I felt when they went off at each other. “Anyways, what’s for dinner?”

“Meatloaf,” I told her and laughed as her eyes twinkled.

“Please tell me it’s the family recipe,” she begged.

“Of course,” I laughed.

“Great, I know the boys will love It,” she grinned.

“So who are these friends of yours?” I asked, sitting on her bed as she unpacked.

“Oh just this boy band,” she put her clothes into the armor. “But they’re really cool. You’ll love them.”

“A boy band?” I asked. “Have I heard them?”

“Probably,” she shrugged. “They’re pretty famous, especially amongst the kiddies.”

“What are they called?” I asked.

“The Jonas Brothers,” she said. “Kevin, Nick, Joe, and Frankie. But Frankie isn’t in the band. He’s too young.”

“Hmm interesting,” I said, wondering why that sparked something in my mind. I just wasn’t sure what that reminded me of. “Aren’t like little girls obsessed with them or something?”

“Pretty much,” Demi laughed. “But yeah, they’re really nice, and hot too. Kevin’s married, but Joe is your age and he’s single.”

I rolled my eyes. “Taken, remember?”

Demi pouted. “You’re no fun.”

I laughed and got up. “Okay finish unpacking. I’m going to go finish up dinner.”

She nodded and I went downstairs, putting the meatloaf into the oven. Everything was basically done. I sighed and poured myself a glass of wine. I knew Tom hadn’t promised anything, and I seriously hoped I wouldn’t regret telling Demi otherwise. I finished the glass and poured myself another one. Demi came down soon after. “Joe just called, they’re parking now.”

“Great,” I smiled, and set my glass down. I noticed Demi look at it questioningly. I had never been much of a drinker, and Demi knew that. But as of late, I had found myself taking more and more comfort in the bitter drink.

We went to the door when the bell rang. Demi excitedly opened it, throwing her arms around a curly haired boy. He looked around her age. I smiled, waiting tentatively until she introduced me. “Nickie,” she grinned. “I’ve missed you!”

She hugged the other, older curly haired boy and a pretty girl next to him, and then jumped into the arms of the other guy. I froze upon seeing his face. My hand went to cover my mouth. That was him! That was the tingly handshake guy! What was his name? Joe, yeah that was it. I remembered how he had been amazed at first when I didn’t know who he was. He was famous!

“Charlie,” Demi grinned, locking her arm with mine. “This is Nick, Kevin, his wife Danielle, and Joe.”

“Hey,” Joe looked surprised when he saw me, but then he looked at the house and looked like he was mentally kicking himself for not realizing it before. “Glad to see you don’t have any life altering scars.”

“You guys know each other?” Demi looked between us.

I nodded, and noticed Nick watching me, a smirk on his face. I wondered what that was about. “He’s the guy I was telling you about, the one who’s dog ran me over today.”

“Sorry about that again,” Joe laughed as we went into my living room. “I blame Nick. He’s the one who trained him.”

“Hey, don’t blame it on me,” Nick said. “Elvis did exactly what he was trained to do.”

“Run women over with grocery bags?” I laughed.

“No, run over beautiful women with grocery bags,” Nick winked. “I mean how else am I supposed to meet girls?”

“And using the fact that you’re an international rock star never crossed your mind?” Demi asked, shaking her head.

We all laughed as Nick shrugged, smirking. “That comes after Elvis does his thing.”

“So your house is really nice,” Kevin said.

“Thanks,” I grinned. “We just had it renovated recently.”

“We?” Danielle asked.

“Yeah my boyfriend and I,” I said, not looking at Joe. I think it was safe to say I had been flirting with him before and he with me. But I hadn’t told him about Tom, and that made me feel guilty.

When I looked at him slightly I saw him looking at Demi, understanding in his eyes. “So this is that sister?”

“What sister?’ I asked, confused. “Demi what have you been telling them about me?”

Demi turned red. “Nothing, just how awesome you are.”

“Right,” I rolled my eyes, though not exactly mad. I could guess what she had said though. “And I’m sure things about Tom just happened to come up?”

“Don’t take it the wrong way,” Nick smiled at me. “It wasn’t all bad.”

“Yeah,” Joe piped up. “It’s just that you’re not what we were expecting. When Demi told us about you, we expected someone—“ he looked at his brothers as to how to continue.

“Broken,” Kevin said finally.

I sighed. “Look I don’t know what Demi has told you, but let me be the one to clarify. Yes Tom is not always the nicest guy, but he loves me, and he needs me, and I need him. And he can be good, really good.”

The boys nodded, as if confirming something. I glared at Demi and she sighed. “Sorry Charlie.”

I just smiled. “It’s okay, I know how you feel about him Dem. So should I go check on dinner?”

I stood to go but the fire alarm started going off. Panicking, I ran to the kitchen to see it emerged in tick smoke. I ran to the oven and turned it off. “Shit,” I groaned. I had left it in there too long. It looked hard and charcoaled now. I sighed and opened the back door and the window to let the smoke out and I saw Joe was waving a towel under the fire alarm. When it stopped beeping, I smiled sheepishly at everyone. “So how about we go out to eat?”

---

I couldn’t believe that that was Demi’s sister. I mean, when I met her before and even now, she seemed nothing like what Demi told us. Well not completely unlike everything. For one, she was pretty amazing and funny and beautiful. I could see why Demi looked up to her and loved her so much. But I had expected someone broken, as Kevin had put it before. Someone so unsure of themselves that they had absolutely no confidence in themselves. In a way, I think that did describe her. But she hid it well. I honestly believed that she had no idea how messed up her life was from everything Demi told us.

Kevin and Charlie both drove so we wouldn’t have to squish in one car. I was in the car with Charlie, Nick, and Demi, and of course, Danielle went with Kevin. Nick and Demi were in the back and I was sitting in the front. I had offered to drive but Nick and Demi had adamantly argued against it. Ha, I could drive! See if they got any rides anymore. They were talking about Nick’s new album in the back in hushed tones so I turned to Charlie. “So how long have you been in LA?”

“About 3 years now,” she said. “I love Texas, but I love it here too, so much more I think. This fit so much that I saw no reason to go back.”

I nodded. “I know what you mean. I mean Jersey will always be home, but something about being here, it makes you feel alive.”

“Exactly,” she smiled.

“Did you come here because of Tom?” I asked.

She sighed. “No, I met him a year after I was already here through a mutual friend. But he is part of the reason I stayed.”

“You know he was one of the producers for our second album,” I said quietly. He had always seemed so cool but I hadn’t known he was the same Tom Demi would always tell us about. It made me regret ever thinking he was a cool guy.

“Really?” she asked. “I wasn’t with him then. He’s introduced me to all the bands he’s produced.”

“Yeah, it was a while ago,” I nodded.

She pulled into the parking lot and found a spot. I knew the restaurant well. We came here often. We piled out and met Kevin and Danielle, walking into the building. “Ms. Lewis,” the maître nodded in recognition. “How pleasant of you to join us today.”

“Thank you Pierre,” Charlie smiled.

“And how many is it today Miss?” he asked.

“Six actually,” Charlie counted really quickly. “So not the usual table today.”

“Yes well I’m afraid that table is otherwise preoccupied anyway,” he inclined his head.

He led them in and Charlie leaned in to whisper something to me. “We come here a lot,” she said. “But we usually sit,” she turned and froze. “T-t-there,” she said before turning back to follow Pierre. She didn’t say anything else as she took a deep breath and sat down, composing herself. I followed the direction she had been pointing with my eyes and felt sick to my stomach as I saw that guy Tom there, with some blonde girl.