Blink Our Eyes Life's Rearranged

“It’s about time,” Nick Jonas said, holding his hands in the air to catch the football Joe threw at him. “What took so lo… hi.”

“Hi,” I said waving, a slight blush rising to my cheeks. I saw Kevin and Frankie look over at me too and suddenly I felt very self-conscious.

“Typical Joe,” Kevin chuckled, shaking his head and I turned to Joe, raising an eyebrow.

“He doesn’t mean that,” he said, turning to Kevin and glaring at him. “Guys, this is Rachel McCarthy. I accidentally hit her with the football. She’s a fan of ours.”

“Cool,” Nick said walking forward, holding a hand out. “I’m…”

“I know who you are,” I laughed, putting my hand in his and shaking it. “Joe told me you guys will be staying here all summer.”

“Yeah, we’ve only been here an hour and already we love it. Will you be staying all summer too?” Kevin asked.

“Yes, it will be cut just a tad shorter than the past six years though.”

“Why?” Frankie asked, speaking for the first time.

“I’m going to college at the end of August,” I explained, smiling down at him.

“Oh cool,” Nick said. “Where are you going?”

“The University of Connecticut.”

“Are you nervous?” Joe asked.

“A little, yeah, but I’m also excited,” I said and he nodded his head in understanding. “Hey, I just got an idea.”

“Shoot.”

“Do you think your parents would like to come over to my place for dinner? I know my parents won’t mind, they love meeting new people.”

“I’m not sure, we could ask,” Kevin said.

“I think Mom would like to not have to worry about cooking tonight,” Joe said. “Come on, we can go ask now.”

As we walked I noticed some girl around my age and younger would stop and stare at the boys. Either they were trying to figure out if it was really the Jonas Brothers or they knew and were too shocked to say something. I couldn’t blame them, though. If I hadn’t known before and I had just walked by them I wouldn’t have believed it. Because… why would the Jonas Brothers be at Lake Metawee? I gave a slight giggle and Joe turned to look at me.

“What’s so funny?”

“They’re all confused,” I said quietly and to my right I heard Nick laugh.

“Well, they’ll figure it out sooner or later,” Nick said, shrugging his shoulders. “But it is kind of funny to see their reactions now. We knew this would happen though. That’s why Dad talked to the owners.”

“What about?” I asked.

“Any visitors to the camp have to be verified so no paparazzi can get in. If people here start asking questions they are going to give honest answers and explain that we don’t want to be bothered much. A couple fan pictures here and there and all that but if it gets out of hand they will do something,” Kevin explained and I let out a low whistle.

“Wow.”

“Yeah, it’s not easy to just want to relax for a summer,” Frankie piped up and I gave a sympathetic smile that only Joe saw.

“Do you mind if we stop at my cabin first just to double check with my parents? It’s right over there,” I said, pointing to my left. From where we stopped I could see Cory and my Dad back there uncovering the boat.

“Yeah, sure,” Joe said, starting to walk over. I sped up a bit so I could be the first person my Dad would see with the boys following behind me. As we got closer I could hear Cory asking if he could drive the boat without Dad giving him backseat driving instructions this year.

“Hey,” I called, waving when they looked up at the sound of my voice. Dad’s eyebrows rose when he saw I was with three guys and a younger boy.

“Hi,” Dad said, climbing off of the boat and walking towards us, running a hand through his dark hair. “Who do we have here?”

“Dad, Cory, this is Joe, Nick, Kevin, and Frankie Jonas,” I said, pointing to each of them individually. The boys waved and Joe stepped forward, holding a hand out for my father to shake.

“It’s nice to meet you Mr. McCarthy,” he said, as my Dad and Cory just looked from the boys to me. Their mouths were slightly open and their eyebrows were scrunched together. They looked like mirror images of each other except Cory had Mom’s blonde hair.

“Uh, Rach?” Cory asked, his eyes drawn back to the boys who were standing behind me. Joe had backed up and crossed his arms over his chest. His head was turned to look at Kevin and Nick. All four boys looked uncomfortable.

“Yes?” I asked.

“Aren’t they…”

“Yes, they are.”

“But…” Dad said and I couldn’t help but smile a little at how confused he and Cory were. “Why… How… What?”

“Dad, these are the Jonas Brothers. All four of them,” I said, turning to smile at Frankie.

“I thought there were only three.”

“In the band, sir. Frankie’s our little brother,” Kevin said. Frankie smiled up at my Dad and waved.

“I’m Frank the Tank. The Bonus Jonas,” he said causing my Dad to laugh.

“Well it’s nice to meet you. All of you,” Dad said, finally shaking Joe’s hand. “But um… what are you doing here, exactly.”

“Every family needs a vacation,” Nick said, shrugging his shoulders, his eyes turning to the boat. “Is that your boat?”

“Sure is,” Cory said, smiling at him. “We sold our old one last year and bought this one. It’s about twice the size. It can hold twelve people. Want to see it?”

“Yeah,” Nick said, following Cory towards the boat and I shook my head.

“Like Nick said, every family needs a vacation,” Joe continued. “And we decided to stay here at Lake Metawee for the whole summer. We know it will be impossible to stay incognito but we talked to the owners and have things set if necessary.”

“Well that sounds very nice. How did you happen to meet my daughter?”

“He threw a football at me,” I said and I held back laughter as Dad’s face went blank and he turned to Joe who gave me a nervous look.

“No! No, it was an accident. I was throwing it to Kevin and I overestimated the distance and I accidentally hit her with it causing her to fall off the rock she was on,” Joe said quickly, his hands in front of him defensively. “But she’s okay! Nothing bleeding, bruised, or broken.”

“Joe, relax,” I said, laughing. “Dad knew I was joking by the way I said it.”

“Oh,” Joe said, letting out a nervous laugh as my Dad smiled at him.

“So, besides bringing them here to meet your fantastic father,” Dad said and I rolled my eyes. “What’s up?”

“I wanted to ask you and Mom if it was alright for the Jonas’ to come over here for dinner tonight. They just got here today and I think it would be easier on Mrs. Jonas to not have to prepare dinner today, especially since it’s already nearing five o’clock and they haven’t even been here two hours.”

"It’s fine by me but you’ll have to double check with your mother.”

“Thank you, Daddy,” I said, reaching up to kiss him on the cheek as I led Joe, Kevin, and Frankie into our cabin. Cory was animatedly telling Nick more about the boat as we passed.

“Nice place,” Joe commented once he stepped inside. “Looks just like ours.”

“Hardy har har,” I said as he smiled at me. “Come on, she’ll be in the kitchen.”

“Okay,” he said as they followed me through the cabin to the kitchen. My mother had her back to us as she sliced a few tomatoes on the cutting board on the counter.

“Hi Mom,” I said. She turned around the knife raised in the air to smile at me. Her eyes drifted behind me and the knife clattered to the floor. “Jesus, Mom! Are you okay? Did the knife hit your foot?”

“I’m fine,” she said slowly. “Rachel… why are two of the Jonas Brothers in our kitchen?”

“Technically there are three of them in our kitchen. Nick’s outside with Cory.”

“That still doesn’t answer my question sweetheart,” she said through her teeth as she bent down to pick up the knife. She smiled at the boys as she stood back up.

“They’re vacationing here this summer. I met them on the beach and I was wondering if it would be okay for them to stay for dinner and for their parents to join us.”

“Oh, honey, I don’t know. Dinner for ten on such short notice?”

“I was thinking something simple,” I said, shrugging my shoulders and batting my eyelashes. My mother’s weakness. “You know, hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad?”

“Well with something so simple how could I refuse?” she said, with a smile on your face. “Why don’t you go with the boys to their cabin and tell their parents to come on over whenever they want and we’ll have a fun time. We could even make s’mores later.”

“Great, thanks Mom!” I said, giving her a quick hug then leading the boys out of the kitchen and back outside.

“I love s’mores,” Kevin said enthusiastically.

“Me too,” Frankie said.

“Who doesn’t love s’mores?” Joe asked.

“Ok we get it, s’mores rock. Now can we please just go on over to your cabin?” I asked with a laugh.

“Chillax,” Joe said. “We’re going. You know… our Mom is going to love you.”

“Oh, how do you know?” I asked.

“Trust me. She will,” Kevin said. “She can just look at a person and know if she’s going to love them or not and you’re one of those people that she will love.”

“But how do you know?”

“Because you’re nice,” Frankie said.

“And you didn’t teenie on us when you met us,” Joe added.

“And you treat us normally,” Kevin said with a finish.

“Wow, if that’s what you guys think I can’t wait to hear what your Mom thinks of me!” I said with a laugh. I followed behind Joe as he continued to lead the way to their cabin, butterflies flying in my stomach knowing I would soon be meeting Kevin Sr. and Denise. This was not, by any means, a normal day in the life of Rachel McCarthy.