And Our Lives Are Forever Changed.

I rounded the corner of the stage entrance and was going to check out the stage when I heard a sound coming from the stage. I knew I wasn’t supposed to interrupt anyone sound checking on stage, but it wasn’t anything I’d heard before. I know Kevin and Nick are back at the bus, hanging out and eating lunch. The strings portion of our crew hadn’t arrived yet and the only thing left on stage right now was the piano for Nick to sing ‘Black Keys’ later on with.

I was curious now and made my way to where I could see the stage better. The noise was keys being stroked on the piano by short, red nailed fingers. I don’t know why it surprised me it was Olivia, but she told me that she had went to use the bathroom, not raid our stage. I didn’t want to interrupt her playing though and stood there while she played the soft hymn. I remembered the song “Sweet Beulah Land” from church when I was younger and hummed along. She played softly till the song ended and picked right back up with another soft hymn, like she was playing out of a hymn book from church.

This was a more popular one, “Amazing Grace,” so I thought it be appropriate to join her playing in a lower octave, since I knew the song so well. I walked slowly, not to scare her, and sat down beside her, playing hands on keys I hadn’t played in a while.

When the music was just beginning to flow she looked at me finally and smiled, “If you keep playing, I’ll sing for you.” She said over the keystrokes I was now making alone. I nodded and kept my fingers going, having trouble remembering some of the notes, but I found them quickly.

Her voice rang out like a bell and would instantly give someone shivers at the sound. She hit the notes like a professional and was comparable to any diva out on the market today. I had to look at her to make sure she was actually producing that booming voice. She quivered in her singing when I looked at her and I smiled at her small mistake, so she stopped.

“Sorry…you make me nervous.” She chuckled and covered her mouth with her hand.

“Why?” I laughed, “You have an amazing voice.”

“You’re Joe freaking Jonas…you make a lot of girls very nervous.” She reassured me, “Besides, are you high on Sharpie fumes from signing autographs? My voice really isn’t that great, Sunday morning church good, but not amazing.”

I laughed at her small joke and began my spill, “Your voice is good enough to sign, honey, and I know. I’m Joe.” I did the double guns with my fingers and winked, but she just rolled her eyes at me with a smile.

“Fine, I sing well, what does that mean?” She shrugged.

“That means that I’m going to bug and annoy you until you let me record you singing something.”

“You realize I only have a week on tour left with you guys, right?” She asked me, “It’s not like we can pop into any ol’ recording studio and just bust out a track.”

“I’m aware, we’ll find a way, for sure though.” I chuckled at her and kissed her forehead. We exited the stage, in hopes of grabbing lunch together somewhere, and got one of the concert hands to drive us to a good burger joint.

We sat down in the 50’s dive looking place and chatted for a long time ago her singing and making it into a career.

“I just don’t think I can, you know…be famous. I’m a small town girl, it would wreck me! Plus, I’d be leaving all my girls at church behind, and-“

“Honey, calm down, we’ll get to that when we get to it!” I laughed and looked at our waitress that had come up. She didn’t seem like the type to know who I was, and I thanked the Lord for it. We ordered our burgers and giggled at each other’s choices. She’s too cute sometimes.

“Okay, so…” I sat on the couch of the tour bus, knowing Olivia was still asleep, to talk to my brothers.

“Yes?” Nick drew the word out and made it sound like I wanted him to go on a suicide mission.

“The other day, in Boston.” After I said it, I knew I had hit a sour note. Taylor and Nick never wanted to part ways with each other, but had to because of the tour. They’re still talking every waking moment, but it makes him sad that he can’t be with her all the time. “at the venue, I walked onto the stage and caught Olivia.”

“Doing?” Kevin had to ask…he was kind of dim to some details.

“Playing the piano.” I didn’t mean to be so cryptic, but I have smart brothers, they should understand what I’m getting at.

“So? It’s not hard to play, a lot of people do, you just hit the white keys a lot and the black ones not so much.” Nick shrugged like it was nothing and sighed heavily.

“No, she’s really good. And she can sing too.” I smiled wide at them, hoping they would get it now.

“Just how good can she sing? Like…what kind of talent are we talking here?” Nick seemed interested now, Kevin, I think, was still wondering what the hell we’re talking about.

“I’m talking, easily compared to the talents of most female singers on the market…or better.” I had to add the last part, because I’m a bit biased, she is my love object of the moment. Can I say girlfriend? No, I don’t think so, it’s too soon. Maybe I should ask her?

“Would she let us listen to her?” Kevin asked, now into the conversation.

“Probably, if I played piano while she sang. I’m not sure how shy she is about it all.” I really wasn’t, she never said if she does it at church or anything.

“Get her to sing for us, we’ll try to do something. Jonas’ first found talent, it would be epic.” Nick said, sipping out a small bottle of water and sat beside me.

“Yeah, Nick can write her first track, we’ll drop it, have a huge party to celebrate the drop, boom…celebrity overnight.” Kevin said, sitting back in his chair and I could see the gears turning in his head, but I couldn’t do all that that fast to Olivia.

“Not so fast…remember where she’s from and she’s got super responsibilities too.” I warned them both, because I knew what was going through both their minds. They want her to get as famous as possible, quick, so that she can spend more time with us. I mean, I want the time part, but I have to think of her situation.

I got up from the couch and wanted to see her, so I walked to the back where she was laying down. I opened the small door and watched her for a moment, just peacefully snoring and drooling. Most girls think we hate when they snore or drool, like it’s gross…we actually think it’s terribly cute.

I went to her side, laid down slowly beside her, and planted a small kiss on her nose. Just light enough for her to swat at her nose, thinking it was something else. I wanted to giggle, but I bit the inside of my cheek and let out a small grunt instead. I looked on to her face and watched one eyelid slowly tear open.

“Yes?” Her breath was a soft, breathy moan and it made my insides flop at the same time of making my manhood do strange things it’s never done before.

“Just wanted to see you. I’ve got some good news.” I smiled, brushing the stray hairs from her face to tuck behind her ear.

“I hope it’s worth waking me up.” She sighed the words and started her mile long stretch that she always does in the morning.

“It is, my brothers want to take a chance on hearing you sing and recording you.” After I said the words, her face went from being red patterns of the pillow to ghostly white.

“They want to hear me sing? And record me? They’re cool with it?! OH MY GOSH! THIS IS FREAKING AWESOME!” She squealed, and it wasn’t exactly the reaction I was expecting, I was expecting a slap across the face and some other random typically Olivia reaction.

“Yeah, Nick is going to hook it up to find a studio and lay a track down. He’s going to write you a song and everything.” I was smiling, just as giddy as her, but then her face shot up and her eyes grew to the size of baseballs.

“Okay, leave.” She was standing now, pushing me out the door. “I have to call my girls at church and tell them!”

I caught myself in the doorway and held my hands tightly onto the wood that formed it, “Whoa, whoa, whoa. That is where I draw the line.” I still felt small hands nudging me, but I had to stop her from telling anyone. “We want to keep this on the down low, see what happens before we get any one’s hopes up, okay?”

“Oh…okay.” She sounded hurt, and because I wasn’t sure of this fact, I turned and kissed her nose ever so slightly.

“I know you’re excited, but we need to make sure this can work.” I placed my hand on her cheek and she smiled wide, shaking her head to agree.