Shining Through the Shadow of a Star

Half an hour after we had talked to Lauren and knew that they were still at the studio, we decided to head there. But of course not before we made sure that they didn’t leave yet. Who knows what could have happened? They might have finished planning, but no.

Mary had fallen asleep, and shortly after, Zacky came out with a pack of cigarettes, ready to probably smoke half of it to relieve himself. He wouldn’t smoke in her presence because she hated that, even more now when they were on the edge of breaking up, on a very high edge that would get both of them hurt, and crushed. He had to watch his actions around her, and she had to keep her opinions to herself if they wanted this relationship to work out.

We got the reassurance from Lauren; a simple text that read 'We're still at the studio. The boys are super busy xx'. So we decided to go there now that we had nothing to do at the hospital anymore. Mary wasn’t going to wake up anytime soon, after the amount of medication they just gave her to calm her down, and even she did, she would call me if she needed me. And besides, neither Jordan nor I really wanted to face the tension between Matt and Zacky. I could see how protective Matt was of Mary, a little more than an older brother even. "I bet you 10 that if Zacky even opens his mouth to sigh, Matt is going to throw a fit at him." Jordan had whispered in my ear, as soon as she saw Matt come out of Mary's room and walk in the direction that Zacky took, his hands in his pockets. The hallway that lead to the elevator, and then to the hospital exit.

"You think?" I said back with clenched teeth. Was Matt heading the same way because he knew that Zacky had gone there? Of course he knew, because if Zacky had really wanted to take a smoke, outside the hospital was the only place he could without getting in trouble. No matter where he hides, there are fire detectors in every corner of the white walls. But then it could be that Matt didn't even have that in his plans, and maybe he just wanted some of his own relieve whilst he had the time. Before the medication wears off… after all, Mary did mention it once that the whole band smokes and that it was one of the unhealthy habits that lead to Jimmy, the drummer's, death. God bless his soul, he was a great guy. And she also told me that no matter how much she tried with the remaining band members and no matter how many therapy sessions she took them to, they knew how wrong it was but they couldn’t bring themselves to stop drinking or smoking. They had all long stopped doing drugs though, even before Jimmy's death.

"Claire, come on," Jordan said whilst getting up. "Let's go before the Jonas Brothers leave the studio." Except that they wouldn’t anytime soon because based on what Lauren said, they were really busy preparing for the upcoming tour.
The tour was in three weeks and they hadn’t planned anything for it. Not only this but they also didn’t do anything but record a few songs.

Jordan and I decided to take a walk seeing as Kevin took his car when they left before us and we didn’t have another one with us. "So, what do you think they're doing now?" I asked.

"I don't really know. You're the one who has a superstar sister." Jordan said in her slightly there accent. Her and Lauren were originally from England, which is a very, very cool country if you ask me.
Their families moved here together when they were two.

"Yeah, but I never planned a tour with her you know. She's the one who goes on one, not me." I replied.

Another half an hour later, we arrived, a bit out of breath. The weather outside was really hot for taking a walk like this. We went to the check points and placed all of our metal belongings there before going in. We put them back in and went straight to the Jonas Brother's room they had here. Lauren told us that they were sitting there with their dad and Jordin's manager, Simon. I had met him once before. It was her record label that picked him for her because when she won American Idol, she didn’t have a manager ready. It was Simon, from the judges of American Idol, that picked him for her. And they happen to have the same name. Jordan raised her hand to knock on the door but before she could, we heard Nick's voice yell, "Actually yes, dad. " He has never rose his voice on anyone, let alone it being one of his parents or an older person; he was a really shy guy, even though he was almost nineteen.

"What's the big idea?" I whispered to Jordan.

She shrugged and rose her hand again, this time knocking. "The only way to know is if we enter, you know?"

We entered the room and I saw how Jordan instantly went to stand by Nick's side by instinct. She had told me, whilst we were still at the hospital, about how her and Nick were sort of together and about how they met. She also told me that Lauren is the only person to know, aside from Nick.

"Son, you know that we never allowed girlfriends to come on tour with you…" Mr. Jonas sighed.

"Yeah, but I think we're both missing out on how Kevin is bringing Lauren! This is insane, I mean what is she? Not a girl?" Everyone but Nick had now noticed that Jordan and I had entered the room. "And Joe has… well…"

"Joe what, Nick," Joe said through clenched teeth. "Huh?"

Nick lowered his gaze to the floor. But I couldn’t deny him that Mr. Jonas was being a bit harsh on him. Jordan placed her hand on his shoulder, rubbing slightly.

"And who do you plan on taking with you, Nick?" Mr. Jonas said in a softer voice. "You never told us that you have a girlfriend."

"Actually, I haven’t properly asked her…" Nick mumbled, with his hand on his neck. I knew now that he had felt our presence. "Can't we just…"

"Fine, you can bring her, just promise me to behave… the three of you." He addressed the guys. "Now girls, we kind of need your help. We want to see what you think of the official tour outfits." He added, as he laid a few brochures in front of him.