Beginnings Aren't So Simple

Later in the evening, Roxi was back at her hotel room, holding up jeans to her average figure, seeing if they'd fit. Aunt Caroline walked through the door.

"Hey, Roxi, what's up?" She asked.

"Nick and Kevin invited me to go to the beach ," she told her through the bathroom door, slipping on her jeans and a maroon shirt over rainbow long-sleeves.

"What about Joe?" Caroline inquired.

"Oh, yeah, him too," Roxi said, opening the door and brushing her long hair as the doorbell rang. "Sorry."

"It's okay," her Aunt said, sitting down on the couch. "Be home before twelve-ish, alright?"

"Can-do," Roxi replied, opening the door to reveal the three boys, then walking out and closing the door.

"Greetings, mortals," she spoke.

"Does that mean you're immortal?" Joe asked, smiling amusedly.

"Duh," Roxi looked at them as if they were stupid, and the boys looked at her oddly.

She got into what she assumed to be Kevin's black car. Although it was small, it fit all of them snugly.

When Nick got into the back left seat of the car, Roxi ran up next to him, her blond hair bouncing in the wind. "I call sitting next to Nicholas. He doesn't hate me yet."

She plopped herself down and patted Nick's head, while Joe and Kevin got into their places. "Must you call me by my full name?"

"Yes," she said smartly. "Just as I do with Paul and Joseph."

Joe raised one eyebrow while Kevin put his face in his hands.

"Don't call me that," he moaned. Roxi laughed. "I did research. I have blackmail information on you guys now. Be careful."

All the way to the beach, they acted idiotic and made fun of each other. Roxi was still a little stiff.

After pulling up at the beach, Roxi smiled. There was nothing like this in Las Vegas. The sun let a glaze of oranges and yellows cascade around pink and white clouds.

Her eyes lit up as they got out of the car, and her personality immidiately changed. "The sky is so beautiful here."

"Yeah," the brothers agreed. Roxi sighed and started again.

"There's nothing like this in Vegas. Everything's so lighted up, you'd never be able to see this. It's like 2 A.M. all around," she laughed. "So, who are we meeting?" She asked, snapping a few pictures of the sunset.

"Just us," Nick said.

"Awesome," Roxi said, walking down the beach with the others and sitting in the sand, letting it strain through her hands.

"I love it here," Joe mused, throwing a stray rock into the water. "We've been here once before. Remember last time?"

Kevin laughed. "Oh, yeah. Nick nearly got knocked out because we kept him underwater for so long."

As a result of saying this, Kevin got hit in the head by Nick. Roxi laughed, and it was quiet for a few seconds. No one had heard her laugh before.

"What do you wanna do?" Joe asked everyone.

"I dunno..." Nick answered, pondering the question. "Let's watch the sun set. I'm tired."

Everyone agreed. Even though they'd spent their whole day lazying around, they felt that they needed to relax before everyone headed on tour. Soon, everyone was sitting on their backs, propped up by their beach towels or bags.

Ten minutes later, they were counting down to the sunset.

"Five, four," they were all musing together and smiling. Joe looked over to his brothers and... well, newfound friend, smiling at one in particular.

"Alright," Roxi said quietly as the sky faded into blues and blacks and burning oranges.

"Yeah," everyone else agreed. Roxi looked over to Kevin and Nick to her right, who were smiling. She looked over to Joe, to find he was already locking eyes with her. They both looked away, slightly embarrassed for an unknown reason.

Just then, they all heard the soft vibrating of a phone. Everyone pulled theirs out, to check if it was theirs. It turned out to be Nick. He got up and started talking softly to someone. Roxi looked at Kevin questioningly.

"Girlfriend, Vanessa," he said. "She's a sweet girl."

Roxi nodded, but they all heard Nick say, "What?"

They looked at him, trying to hear what he was saying. After a rough minute, he completely took off into the trees and forest tucked away in the back of the beach. Without thinking, everyone got up and began yelling for Nick to come back.

They all attempted to follow him, but unexpectedly got split up. Roxi was afraid immediately; she hated being alone, and, plus, it was getting dark out. She heard Joe and Kevin screaming in the distance for Nick, obviously not knowing she'd gotten separated. She tried to run after them in a panic, but she caught the toe of her flats in a swarm of tree roots, gasping before scraping her bare knee. She cried out in a yelp and tried to stand up, but she knew her ankle was twisted, so she cussed and sat where she was.

She started to shed tears of fear. She could hear the yells, still, but much dimmer now. She sniffled on for about ten more minutes before finally screaming out in frustration. She continued to tear up like a child until she could hear someone's feet rustling up behind her, and she turned.

"Whoa, finally," Joe breathed, running his hand through his hair. "We thought we lost you--" he stopped when he saw the tears sliding down her face. "Hey, are you okay?" He asked, genuine worry plastered on his face.

Gorgeous face.

She closed her eyes tight, opened them again and nodded, as he reached out to help her up. Her face got warm when their hands made contact. After he helped her up, they were standing eye-to-eye. They were silent for a few seconds, each looking into the others eyes, like some cheesy movie.

Roxi started to open her mouth to say something, but Joe sighed first, somewhat dreamily, but saddened.

"Let's go. We found Nick, and Kevin's probably worried about us," he said, pulling her with him out of the trees.