Before the Fame

January 3, 2008
Miley and I hadn’t spoken to one another since New Year’s Eve, but Nick and I couldn’t stop talking to one another. Even when I thought we’d run out of things to talk about, Nick would do something spontaneous and make time pass by incredibly fast.

Currently, the boys, Miley, and I were doing a sound check, but Nick and I were talking about the colors he and his brothers should wear for the concert the following night.

“I was thinking maybe black, but what should go with it?” he asked adjusting his mic while I was adjusting my own.

“I don’t know. Maybe red? I love that red shirt you wear sometimes,” I admitted sheepishly.

“You do? I mean, you do?” Nick asked in a more calm tone. It was cute to say the least. I nodded in return as a sly smirk formed on his lips.

“Sam, could you sing a song Demi wrote?” Joe asked through his mic causing the crowd in front of us to go crazy.

Of course, this broke my attention from Nick to the small group of people who were allowed at the sound check.

“Sure, which one?” I asked after I turned my mic on. There were numerous requests from the crowd, but Joe had his mind set on one already.

“The new one you guys were working on,” he answered causing me to wrinkle my brows in confusion, but shrugged the matter away.

I closed my eyes taking a deep breath as I thought of the lyrics as they came to me.

“You guys know how to play it?” I asked looking back at Kevin, Greg, and the other bass players.

Some shook their heads while others nodded. Nick walked over and put on the guitar I got him and played some of the chords so the others could catch on and I readied my voice once by the time they finished.

“Mkay, um I think I’m ready,” I got out as a smile erupted onto Joe’s lips. He ruffled my straight hair then walked over elsewhere on stage while Nick walked back over to me speaking quietly.

“You know you don’t have to do this, right?” he asked.

“It’s just a song, Nick. No need to be scared,” I teased causing him to smile a small smile at me before taking his place on my right while Kevin occupied my left smiling brightly at me.

Nick started the song off with the intro instrumental when I opened my mouth and sung.

Oh, oh, oh

I don’t know why
I don’t know why
I’m so afraid.

I don’t know how
I don’t know how
To fix the pain.

We’re living a lie,
Living a lie
This needs to change.

We’re out of time,
We’re out of time
And still the same.

The chorus started up and Nick stared at me smiling as he sang into his mic.

We can’t stop the world!
but there’s so much more that we could do
You can’t stop this girl
from falling more in love with you
You said nobody has to know,
Give us time to grow and take it slow
But I’d stop the world
And it’d finally let us be alone
Let us be alone
Oh oh oh oh oh

We smiled at one another as I smiled over at Joe as he had a huge smile on his lips.

I’m hearing the noise,
Hearing the noise
from all around.
I’m on the edge,
I’m on the edge of breaking down.

Like Bonnie and Clyde,
Let’s find a ride
And ditch this town.
To keep it alive,
Keep it alive
Don’t make a sound

The crowd went crazy as we sung in harmony with one another.

We can’t stop the world!
but there’s so much more that we could do
You can’t stop this girl
from falling more in love with you
You said nobody has to know,
Give us time to grow and take it slow
But I’d stop the world
And it’d finally let us be alone
Let us be alone

I felt a blush come to my lips as the lyrics sort of defined how I felt towards Nick. I don’t know about love, but my feelings were strong. Nick and the others began playing softer as I sung softer as well.

I never wanna take that final look
I’ll turn another page,
Won’t close the book

Just like that, I sung with the same emotion as the other times I sung the chorus with Nick’s voice ringing throughout the stadium with mine.

We can’t stop the world!
but there’s so much more that we could do!
You can’t stop this girl
from falling more in love with you!
You said nobody has to know,
Give us time to grow and take it slow
But I’d stop the world
And it’d finally let us be alone
Let us be alone!

Let us be alooooooone!
Let us be aloooooone!
Let us be alooo oh oh oone!

The song came to an end and the small crowd clapped as an even stronger blush crept onto my lips, but I shook my head in embarrassment.

“The lovely Samantha Parker, everybody,” Nick said into the mic causing the crowd to cheer even louder than the previous time.

Then came the horror of question time. It’s not that it was horrible; it just didn’t start out horrible. The basic questions of if we’re dating anyone were asked, but what was asked by another fan caught me off guard.

It was a teenager obviously, but she had luscious brown hair like Miley’s and blue eyes as well. She was holding a sign that said “NILEY 4EVER”, but I could tell Nick didn’t pay attention to it. When she was picked to ask a question, it was referred to him and boy did things get awkward.

“Are you and Miley still dating?” she asked causing a high tension to fill the air seeing as Miley was over by the drums by this point trying to keep her distance from me and Nick.

“No, we’re not,” he answered after a bit. I couldn’t help notice the tension that filled him. It’s like he was mad about it or something.

The crowd’s “Aww’s” broke my attention from him as I smiled at how caring the fans were.

The girl then asked me a question.

“Sam, are you going to date anyone any time soon?” she asked. I felt like widening my eyes in shock, but I refrained from doing so.

I didn’t know how to answer that so I gave her a general answer.

“I don’t know. Only time will tell, you know?” I asked plastering a smile to my lips.

Joe came to my rescue, though.

“Well, we’ve had a great sound check with you guys, but we’ll see you guys tonight, right?” he asked causing the crowd to cheer in excitement.

I scratched my head as I began walking away waving occasionally. Once we were backstage, my mom stood there with her arms folded across her chest.

She was in business attire as usual, but had this look in her eye like she needed to tell me something.

The boys stopped and realized the same thing.

“Samantha, we need to talk now,” she said in a firm tone. I gulped as anxiety filled me.

It’s not like her to talk to me randomly about things. I turned to the guys and they gave me good luck looks except Nick. He was by my side and actually spoke.

“Good luck,” he said soothingly.

My face faltered as the nervous look remained so he pulled me close and whispered in my ear.

“Text me if anything happens, OK?” he asked before letting me go. I nodded in return feeling warm and fuzzy on the inside as I walked to my waiting mother.

She led us to the bus that she, Denise, Frankie, and Mr. Jonas stayed on. Confusion spread onto my face as we entered.

“You should know why I brought you here, Samantha, right?” she asked licking her lips nervously.

I shook my head in response.

“I came to talk to you about you and that boy,” she said relaxing a bit more.

“He has a name, Mom,” I said in an annoyed tone.

“Whatever,” she retorted causing me to get angrier.

“His name is Nick. Stop calling him that boy because he’s not some boy,” I said in a firm tone.

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. If you plan on seeing him, you’re going to have to wait at least until after you guys tour with Miley is over. You don’t really have my support, but you have my permission to date him,” she said reluctantly.

My mouth dropped open in shock. I stood my ground and she didn’t tear me to shreds with a “no” or worse? Wow.

“Why do you think he and I are gonna start dating anyway?” I asked out of curiosity.

She rolled her eyes at my question as though the answer were obvious.

“Oh, please, Samantha. The way you and-Nick are together and have been since you met the Jonas’ almost three years ago was evident even then that you liked each other,” she said blatantly.

My arms dropped slowly from their folded position as I frowned at her as though she were insane.

“Whatever, Mom. I don’t think so,” I said nonchalantly as I turned to walk to the car the guys were in.

“Is there anything else you needed to talk to me about?” I asked with my back turned to her, but my face turned to the right.

“No. That’s all,” she said before adding a, “for now” at the end. I sighed walking to the car, my mind racing with thoughts.

I had my mom’s permission to date Nick?! What? I didn’t even have her permission when I was dating Noel! What was going on with the world today?