Touch My Hand

“Dylan, can you take any longer?!” I looked up the banister of our staircase, hoping to see my older brother coming down. No luck. “Dylan, I swear if you’re not down here in 30 seconds, I’ll-”

“You’ll what?” my brother challenged, slowly walking down the stairs.

“It’s about time! I’ve been ready for the past half hour! What were you even doing up there so long?” I questioned as he reached the bottom steps.

“Don’t worry about it,” he replied coolly. I just rolled my eyes at him. He is so annoying. Why do I even like him again? “And you might want to watch the attitude sis. Especially since I’m being nice and driving you and Jackie to this concert,” he added as he dangled his keys in my face. Oh yea, that’s why.

“You know you’re the best brother in the world,” I said, throwing my arms around him in a hug. I quickly pulled away and said, “Now let’s go before Jackie has a coronary over at her house.” All I heard was Dylan’s laughter as I dashed out of our house. After a five minute drive, we pulled into my best friend’s house. Before I could even text her that I was outside, she darted out of her house and towards our car as if the devil were at her heels.

“Gun it,” she said as she strapped herself into the backseat.

My brother chuckled softly as he backed out of her driveway and said, “Gee, it’s so great to see you too Jackie. I’ve missed you terribly.”

I turned to look at Jackie and giggled slightly at the light crimson color in her cheeks. “My bad Dylan. It’s good to see you too. How’s school treating you?”

“Good, good,” Dylan replied as he took the highway. “So, remind me again why I’m bringing you guys at 12:00 when this concert doesn’t start till 7:00?”

“Hello, it’s the Jonas Brothers,” Jackie replied as if the answer were obvious.

“Is that supposed to mean something to me?”

Jackie let out a sigh. “Elle, talk to your brother. Please. I can’t deal with this.”

I chuckled at her dramatics. “They’re the biggest band right now. Traffic to their concerts start, like, the day before,” I explained. Dylan’s mouth turned into an ‘O’ as understanding hit.

“Not to mention my dad got us meet and greet passes as well as passes to see their sound check,” Jackie added with a shriek. Dylan merely rolled his eyes. I took that as my queue and turned on the radio, popping in their latest album. Jackie and I sang every song the rest of the way there.

As we approached the venue, Dylan let out a low whistle. “Wow, you weren’t kidding when you said that things get crazy at these concerts,” he said as he got in line with the rest of the cars. “I don’t get what the big deal with these dudes is.”

“Hello, have you seen them?! They’re HAWT!” Jackie interjected from the back seat.

“Plus their music is beyond amazing,” I added. My brother just shook his head at us.

“Aren’t you guys a bit too old to be into Disney?” he teased. Jackie and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes, as if that were the first time we had heard that one. Our friends constantly teased us about it, but we didn’t care. I mean, we weren’t the only 16 year olds who liked them. Nick Jonas himself was 16 going on 17 this coming September, so they were pretty much our age. I don’t get what the big deal is.

“Whatever,” Jackie mumbled (she didn’t exactly like being teased about this) as Dylan finally pulled up in front of the venue.

We quickly got out of the car and before we could walk away, Dylan yelled out, “Text me when you want me to pick you up.” I waved at him in acknowledgement as Jackie and I dashed to the entrance.

When we reached the doors, a guy that looked no older than 20 stopped us. “Sorry ladies, doors don’t open until 5:00.”

“Oh. We have passes to see the sound check,” I said, fishing them out of my purse and handing them to him. He surveyed them and after deciding they were authentic, opened the gate and let us in. When we got into the lobby, we saw a group of about 30 plus people, most of them girls who looked around our age. “I guess we have to wait until the sound check starts,” I said, sitting down right on the floor.

“Well, it better not take long,” Jackie huffed, sitting down next to me.

I giggled slightly at her as I took in my surroundings. There were teenage girls everywhere! And people say they only have young fans! As a few more girls showed up, Jackie and I chilled out on the floor listening to her IPod. Of course, we were listening to A Little Bit Longer (the album) and singing softly to ourselves. Before we knew it, the girls around us joined in. After that, it didn’t take much for the rest of the girls in the room to belt the lyrics with us. By the time we got to “Lovebug”, every girl in the room was singing along. We rounded up with “Live to Party” and the entire room was abuzz.

Singing along to the album had taken up a good hour and we were all antsy to see our favorite boys warming up their vocals. But of course, it was still a while until that happened. At the moment, members of the crew were bringing out boxes upon boxes of pizza and crates of drinks. I guess I hadn’t noticed just how hungry I was, but I ate my slice just like everyone else. That killed another hour and soon we were all being let into the seating area. There weren’t really “assigned seats”, so as soon as the doors opened Jackie and I dashed our way in to grab the best seats. At the end, we weren’t exactly up front, but I knew that I would have a very good view of Nick.

“God, why can’t they just come out already?” Jackie asked after ten minutes. We had quietly been conversing with a few girls by us when Jackie decided to randomly burst out that question.

“It’s almost three, so I’m thinking they should be out soon,” one of the girls we had been talking to, Maggie, said as she tucked her phone back into the pocket of her shorts.

“I hope so! I mean, if I have to wait any longer to see Joe, I think I might burst!” Jackie exclaimed. Maggie and I laughed at her. Seriously, the things Jackie said sometimes…you just couldn’t help laughing at her. She’s long grown used to me doing it by now, so she doesn’t take it personally. She tends to join in the laughter, which she did after a while.

“I know what you mean Jackie. I have waited my whole life to meet Kevin Jonas. Luckily my step dad was able to pull some strings and get me in here,” Maggie tried to comfort.

I merely continued to laugh at them. “You girls are nuts,” I stated.

“Oh please, as if you don’t feel the same way about Nick,” Jackie stated. “Don’t you dare try to deny that you’re in love with him, because I know better.”

“I am not in love with him!” I exclaimed defensively.

“Yea, okay, that’s why you spent weeks on that outfit,” she chided.

“Which is really cute by the way. I was going to mention earlier that I really liked your outfit,” Maggie interrupted.

I stared down at the coral blue top and white shorts that I was wearing. “Thanks. I made it myself,” I beamed.

“Really? That’s pretty cool. I like it. The color of your shirt really makes your eyes look blue,” Maggie said, giving me a smile.

Before I could respond, a wave of screams broke out in the crowd. The three of us looked up at the stage right as three figures started to walk out of stage left. My heart instantly went into overdrive when I spotted Nick’s curly hair. The guys were grabbing instruments, taking their positions on the stage, and waving to the fans in the audience all at the same time. Right when Nick got into position on the stage, he looked down at the crowd and smiled warmly. Then he caught my eye and his smile wavered a bit as he stared back for a long time. If my heart had been in overdrive before, then it was seconds from beating out of my chest right now.

Saw you from a distance
Saw you from the stage
Somethin’ bout the look in your eyes
Somethin’ bout your beautiful face

In a sea of people
There was only you
I never knew what this song was about
But suddenly now I do

We were currently somewhere on the east coast. I think in Virginia. I looked out the bus window and saw the big sign that said we were at the Virginia Beach Amphitheatre. Yup, Virginia. We were already running late. Someone told us that the girls who had come to see our sound check had been here for hours and starting to get restless.

So as soon as the bus stopped, we were rushed through the back doors, waved through the crew setting up backstage, and made our way over to the stage. Sure enough, the pit was already full of girls. Some of them were talking amongst each other, waiting until we arrived, and then there were others that were frantically looking around, hoping to be the first one’s to see us as we immerged. Sure enough, one of those girls caught sight of us and started freaking out. This sent the rest of the girls into a mass hysteria of screaming and soon enough, all the people in the audience were looking up at us.

I looked over at Joe and Kevin and rolled my eyes before stepping out of the stages wings. As we walked over to the spots that we usually occupied, we each grabbed our respective instruments. I was waving to the crowd and giving them my generic smile that everyone thought was genuine. Now that I was closer, I saw the same thing I saw every night. There were the overly obsessed girls decked out in our merchandise and/or home-made attire. Then there were those that had tried too hard and were too dressed up, trying to act cool in attempts to catch our eye. I let out a sigh as I plugged my guitar into its amp. When I looked up again, I let my eyes scan the crowd one more time.

That’s when I saw her.

Right in front of me, a few rows back. She was wearing a coral blue spaghetti strap shirt with white shorts. Her eyes were locked on mine, and I couldn’t help but get lost in the deep hues of blue. That top was doing wonders for that shades of blue. Her strawberry blonde hair—a bit more towards the red side of strawberry blonde—was a perfect contrast to her fair complexion. Everything about her was beautiful. Breath-taking.

I hadn’t noticed that I was staring at her for so long until John called my name. I looked up at him and he asked, “Are you okay dude? You blanked out for a second there.”

“Yea. Yea I’m fine,” I quickly assured. I quickly looked back out at the audience and saw her smiling ruefully at me. Her smile undid my nerves, setting an uncharacteristic swarm of butterflies loose in my stomach.

I shook my head slightly and started playing a few notes on my guitar. Jack set up a beat and we started our sound check. The audience wasn’t even full to its maximum capacity like it was going to be later, but the shrieks were still over whelming. All the girls seemed to be migrating closer to the stage, reaching out as they sang along with us. My eyes flickered over to where she was standing. She had also inched forward, but was too far behind to make any contact with any of us. Suddenly, I had an overpowering sense to touch her. It took me by surprise, but I just had to touch her hand. I noticed she wouldn’t be able to get close enough to do that, so I moved into the cat-walk, even though it wasn’t something we did during sound check. This sent the girls closer to the stage into frenzy. It seemed they were hopping over each other as they made a reach for my legs. A few succeeded to latch onto my leg, making me stagger a bit, but my pretty girl still didn’t stand a chance. I smiled meekly at her—even though I was growing frustrated—and made my way back to the main stage and away from the feverish grasps of the girls up front.

For the rest of the sound check, I couldn’t help but let my eyes travel over to her. Sometimes she would be dancing around and singing along to the lyrics of our songs like the rest of the people in front of her that were reaching out to us frantically, and other times she would be looking at me and singing softly to herself. It was during those times that I allowed myself to lose myself in her eyes, the music fading into my background. I couldn’t place it, but there was something about her that had me hooked. I knew that our sound check was soon going to be over, and I found myself dreading that moment. I had no idea where she was going to be sitting once the concert started, so I didn’t want our sound check to end. Once it did, I wouldn’t see her again. And I didn’t like that thought. Not one bit.

Trying to reach out to you, touch my hand
Reach out as far as you can
Only me, only you, and the band
Trying to reach out to you, touch my hand

Can’t let the music stop
Can’t let this feeling end
Cause if I do it’ll all be over, I’ll never see you again
Can’t let the music stop
Until I touch your hand
Cause if I do it’ll all be over, I’ll never get the chance again

I’ll never get the chance again
I’ll never get the chance again

“So, how are you guys enjoying the concert so far?” Joe asked the crowd. Before he had even finished his sentence, the entire amphitheatre was screaming, it seemed, at the top of their lungs. He smiled at them, making a few girls up front melt into each other. I chuckled to myself as I grabbed my acoustic guitar from Benji and made my way over to the center of the stage to meet up with my brothers. We sat down on the first platform, Kevin and I with our acoustics in our laps.

“We’re going to slow things down a bit for you guys,” I said, smiling down at the crowd. Kevin and I started playing the chords to the next song and the crowd immediately went crazy. I smiled softly to myself. This was the ballad from our latest album and had been a crowd favorite since it came out. As the three of us crooned out the lyrics, various people started to pull out their cell-phones and sway them to the soft beat of the song. As had been happening throughout the entire night, my eyes roomed out to the front row of my side of the audience.

That’s where she was sitting.

I had caught a sight of her during our second song of the set and been elated. She had smiled up at me and the whole space around her had been illuminated—to me at least. I had smiled back down at her, glad that she was in such close proximities again, closer than she had been this afternoon.

As I looked over again, it seemed that the area where she was sitting was shining brighter than the whole amphitheatre. I spotted her easily and saw that she had her cell phone out, swaying like the rest of her fellow fans, but the smile that was pulling at her lips was different than one I’d seen all night. This one seemed to radiate brighter than the rest. I figured it was for one reason—this must have been her favorite song.

Suddenly, seeing her warm smile, I got the same feeling as earlier. The music faded into my background and all I could focus on was her and the butterflies inside my stomach. The need to touch her surged through me again and I found myself getting up from where I was sitting. I walked over to my side of the stage and stood right in her line of sight, staring down at her. I knew that Joe and Kevin must have been confused—we weren’t supposed to stand until the song was over—but they went along with it. Kevin stood up next, walking to his side of the stage and then Joe stood, walking slowly down the cat walk crooning the chorus of the song.

We were all fairly close to the edge of the stage, and all the girls in the pit were reaching frantically for our legs. But my pretty girl still wasn’t close enough.

I see the sparkle of a million flashlights
A wonderwall of stars
But the one that’s shining out so bright is the one right where you are

Trying to reach out to you, touch my hand
Reach out as far as you can
Only me, only you, and the band
Trying to reach out to you, touch my hand

Can’t let the music stop
Can’t let this feeling end
Cause if I do it’ll all be over, I’ll never see you again
Can’t let the music stop
Until I touch your hand
Cause if I do it’ll all be over, I’ll never get the chance again
I’ll never get the chance again

“Dude, do you wanna tell us what that was all about?” Joe asked once we were off the stage. We had just finished the ballad and were going to change to come out again. Honor Society, our opening act, was currently on stage again.

“What do you mean?” I questioned as we dashed into the dressing room. We quickly started stripping out of our current outfits.

“Why did you stand up during the song? We’re supposed to sit the whole time,” Kevin answered, swiftly removing his shirt and replacing it with a black button-up.

“Oh,” I said. I thought for a moment, wondering if I should tell them about the crazy power that this one girl had on me. I opted for the truth and let out a sigh. “I don’t know how to explain,” I started. They both stopped their movements and looked at me. “When we were doing our sound check, there was this one girl in the crowd. She just caught my eye, and I had this overwhelming sensation to touch her,” I replied, not looking up from what I was doing—buttoning up my shirt.

“And this ties into you standing up how?” Joe questioned as he continued to change again.

“When we were singing the song, I looked over at her—she’s sitting right up front on my side—and she just had this smile on her face. I just knew that that must have been her favorite song. And then that sudden urge to touch her came back. So I went with my impulse and stood up. I walked over to her and,” I quickly stopped, not wanting to tell them this much. I was sure they would laugh—at least Joe would.

“And what?” Kevin asked as he looped his new tie around his neck.

“And I was sort of serenading her,” I confessed. We had all finished changing by then and they were both looking at me strangely. Kevin had a look of understanding in his eyes, whereas Joe was giving me an all knowing look. “I must sound like a complete idiot to you guys,” I said, shaking my head as I switched my shoes.

“Nah, this happens all the time,” Joe surprised me by saying. I stared up at him, my eyebrows knit together. “When you see one girl in the crowd who is insanely gorgeous and you just lock eyes with her for a while. We’ve all been through it before.”

“Not like this dude. This is different,” I insisted.

“So, what are you going to do about it?” Kevin asked. We were now sitting down on the couches, waiting for Honor Society to finish their three song set before we went back out for the final seven songs of our set, and then our encore.

“I don’t know, but I have to find a way to meet her, before this night is over.”

Saw you from the distance
Saw you from the stage
Something about the look in your eyes
Something about your beautiful face

“Oh my goodness Elle I am so jealous of you right now!” Jackie yelled into my ear. It was hard for me to peel my eyes away from the stage. The band had just come back out for the final part of the concert and I still couldn’t get enough of Nick. He was currently rocking out big time to ‘Inseparable’ another one of my favorite’s, but I reluctantly shifted my attention to the nutty brunette I called my best friend.

“What Jackal?” I yelled over the loud music and screaming.

“I said I’m totally jealous of you. Nick has been looking at you all freaking night!” she shrieked so that I could hear her. Everyone around us heard her this time. As if I needed her to point out the obvious. It was bad enough that the girls around us glared at me, having finally caught on that every time Nick stood in front of us, he wasn’t looking at any of them, but that he was staring directly at me. I didn’t need Jackie pointing that out.

“Yea, I know,” I said.

“He’s totally into you. I mean, will you look at the way he’s staring at you right now?” she asked, her eyes shifting quickly from me, to the stage, and then back again. I looked back up at the stage, and sure enough, Nick Jonas was staring at me again. When we locked eyes again, his smile broke out, and it seemed so genuine—nothing like the smile you saw in pictures or in interviews. I grinned back up at him, my stomach knotting up like a pretzel once again. That sensation was irritatingly unusual, but I couldn’t complain.

“Whatever, lets just enjoy the rest of the concert, please,” I pleaded with my best friend. She noted that I was serious and turned back to the stage, screaming her head off for Joe like many others around us. I let out a sigh and turned back to enjoy the show. Sure, Nick freaking Jonas had been staring at me the whole night to the point where everyone was aware of it, but so what? After tonight, I would probably never see him again, no matter how much that idea hurt.

Can’t let the music stop
Can’t let this feeling end
Cause if I do it’ll all be over, I’ll never see you again
Can’t let the music stop
Until I touch your hand
Cause if I do it’ll all be over, I’ll never get the chance again
I’ll never get the chance again

The show was over, and I seriously could not have been more confused by my emotions. On the one hand, this had been by far the best concert of my life. I had seen my favorite band and had caught the eye of my celebrity crush. But on the other hand, I was probably never going to be so up close to him as I had been tonight. I probably would never see Nick Jonas again.

“Elle, come on we have to go!” Jackie yelled at me.

“Jeez, what’s with the yelling Jackal?” I questioned, covering my sensitive ears with my hands.

“We have to get a move on so that we can get a good spot at the meet and greet line,” she answered, yanking on my arm and pulling towards an exit.

The meet and greet! I had totally forgotten about that. I was actually going to get to meet my idols. And Nick!

I quickened my pace so that Jackie would no longer have to drag me by my arm. While some girls were heading out the venue’s exit, claiming this to have been the best night of their lives, Jackie and I deviated and headed towards a big burly man standing by a door.

“Excuse me sir, but is this the way to the meet and greet?” Jackie questioned.

“Do you girls have passes?” the man asked. We both pulled out our passes from earlier and flashed them to the guard. He nodded once and allowed us through. We walked down a small hallway and then emerged into a room full of people. I felt my shoulders slump in defeat. It would take forever for us to meet them.

How come so many people have meet and greet passes? Jackie voiced my same question aloud. “You know, I was just thinking the exact same thing,” I replied. She heaved a sigh in frustration as we both stood behind the hundred plus people in front of us.

While we were waiting in line, Jackie and I started discussing all the amazing aspects of the concert. Inevitably, the conversation turned towards Nick and his fixation with me. “So, are you nervous?” she asked me.

“A little bit, yea. I mean, I don’t know what to expect,” I answered truthfully. We were a bit closer to the guys than when we had entered, and when I looked up this time, I had a perfect view of Nick. He and his brothers were posing with a group of small girls, no older than ten years old. I felt an unusual warmth spread evenly in my stomach.

“I bet he’ll ask for your number,” Jackie whispered to me. She followed my stare and let out a wistful sigh. “I wish I had caught Joe’s eye the way you did Nick’s. It would have been like love at first sight, because we are meant to be together. I just know it,” she said again.

This definitely brought me out of my trance. I turned to look at her, and couldn’t help but laugh. Like I said earlier, it was impossible not to laugh at some of the things Jackie said. And, like usual, she joined in my laughter. We were both giggling uncontrollably, and I bet to others, we just seemed like giddy teenagers about to meet their ‘future husbands’. It was obvious we had caught several people’s attention because I looked back up at the three gorgeous guys we were approaching and they seemed to be staring in our direction.

My eyes instantly met Nick’s and my laughter died in my throat. He stared at me for a brief second before flashing me his radiating smile. There go those damn butterflies again.

Jackie stopped laughing and looked at what I was looking at. “Ooo, he’s staring at you again. I bet he’s just dying for all these people to leave so that he could meet you already.”

I reluctantly turned my attention back to her, my cheeks flaming from the intense look he had been giving me. “Jackal, will you please stop talking like that. Jeez, you make it sound as if we’re soul mates just waiting to meet each other,” I chided, rolling my eyes at her and her usual dramatic self.

She was about to open her mouth to protest to my remark when a deep voice spoke up behind her. “Excuse me ladies, but I’m going to have to ask you to step aside.” We both looked up and instantly recognized Big Rob. We stared at each other and then back up at him. Sure, many people said he wasn’t intimidating once you got to know him, but right now, he looked pretty damn intimidating to me!

I hazarded a quick glance towards Nick. He didn’t seem at all surprised or disappointed to see me stepping out of my place in line—when we were fairly close to reaching them—and being led all the way to the back of the line.

Can’t let the music stop
Can’t let this feeling end
Cause if I do it’ll all be over, I’ll never see you again
Can’t let the music stop
Until I touch your hands
Cause if I do it’ll all be over, I’ll never get the chance again
I’ll never get the chance again

Words can not describe how I felt when I saw my pretty girl standing in that meet and greet line. She looked even prettier up close and with lights illuminating her surroundings. I’m pretty sure the swarm of butterflies in my stomach had somehow morphed into vultures in the time I was staring at her. Those blue eyes of hers were just so entrancing; she seemed to have me under a spell.

When she looked away from me—her cheeks a delightful crimson color—I asked Big Rob to do me a favor. I continued on with the meet and greet, hazarding glances her way. I caught her eye as Big Rob pulled her and her friend out of the line and led her towards the back. I was going to make sure I got enough time to get to know her better.

“Hi, thank you so much for coming out,” I mumbled mindlessly to the girl in front of me. I shook her hand and posed for a picture. But it was very hard to concentrate on going through my usual motions when my pretty girl was right behind the other girls. The other girls finally walked away and the meet and greet was over.

I took a deep breath and turned towards my pretty girl. Her friend was already bounding towards my brothers, talking animatedly about how big of a fan she was and how much she had enjoyed the concert. But her friend—my pretty girl—was staring at the ground, her hair falling over her face like a curtain.

I cleared my throat as I approached her. She stared up at me, her wide, blue eyes even more gorgeous this close, her cheeks still flushed in embarrassment. I smiled ruefully at her as I stopped right in front of her. “Hi, I’m Nick,” I stated, sticking my hand in the small space between us.

She stared at it for a split second before placing her small, soft, warm hand in mine. I felt an electric jolt at the contact, and I’m sure she felt it too, but neither one of us pulled back. She smiled up at me, blinding me even further with her endearing smile. “Elle.”

Trying to reach out to you, touch my hand
Reach out as far as you can
Only me, only you, and the band
Trying to reach out to you, touch my hand
Yeah, yeah, yeah