And She Made the Shape of My Heart With Her Hands

Today my brother’s band and I happened to be in Jackson, New Jersey for today’s show. All I heard about was how we were going to Six Flags Amusement Park afterwards.

“Six Flags!” Kennedy and Pat yelled together. “Six Flags, Six Flags, Six Flags!”

“Wow. If this is how you two are now, then I can’t imagine what you were both like when you guys were like six,” I commented through a couple laughs.

“Well,” Tim piped in as he stepped up next to me, “Pat was pretty much the same, except his voice was a little squeakier and he was an inch or two shorter. There’s not much of a difference.”

I chuckled a few times, trying to cover my laughs with my casted arm. “Aw. You’re so mean, Tim,” I said with a smile.

“Yeah, but it was funny. You know it, too,” he said smugly with a grin.

“Tim doesn’t like to admit that I was the cuter child,” Pat chirped while falling into step next to my other side. “And I still am,” he muttered in my ear.

I giggled. “I’m sure.”

“Shut up. You’re only saying that because you’re somehow dating him. Key word here is somehow,” Tim spoke, flipping his light hair from his view. “Now if you were going out with me and not this kid over here, your answer would’ve been more like, ‘Oh, Tim! Pat is totally wrong. Not only were you the cuter brother then, but you’re the hotter brother now,’” Tim finished in an awful girly voice.

I laughed hard, bending over at the waist slightly. “Oh, yes. That’s exactly what I’d say, Tim.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m the smarter one, too,” he added falsely arrogantly.

I chuckled a few times and turned my head towards Pat, who had a slight smile on his face. I grinned widely at him. “It’s okay. I’d much rather be with the dumber, not-as-cute, younger Kirch brother,” I joked.

Pat’s face spread into a large, goofy smile. He leaned his face into the crook of my neck and kissed it before letting out a stupid-like noise that sounded like ‘der.’

I chuckled and ran my fingers through the one side of his brown hair a couple times. “And besides, I think he’s charming,” I pointed out before kissing Pat’s cheek sweetly.

“Yeah, charming as in a poor retarded puppy,” Kennedy added, sharing a haughty look with Tim.

I gasped loudly and whipped my head around to Kennedy. “Kennedy! Take that back!”

“Oh, come on. I-”

“Take it back, damn it!” I shouted at him.

“Okay, okay! I take it back!” He then lightly sighed before he noticed the stern look I was giving him. He sighed exasperatedly. “And I’m sorry, Pat.”

I smiled. “Good job,” I praised Kennedy.

“Wow, Pat. It’s a good thing you have her here or you’d be getting picked on 24/7,” Tim said, opening a door that leads to the backstage.

“Hm. Yeah,” he agreed. This caused the rest of us to chuckle.

“So how long do we have until we have to start doing productive stuff around here?” Jared asked, taking a few more steps into the building to let John and Trevor in.

“A little over an hour and a half until sound check,” Tim answered, taking out his cell phone and pressing some buttons.

“Oh. Wow. I’m going to go do something stupid,” John said bluntly, walking straight ahead of us. I stared after him with an odd swirl running through my stomach.

“Same here,” Garrett added, following John’s trail.

“Eh. I might as well, too,” Kennedy replied, also going along with John and my brother.

Pat and I were across from each other, nearly a foot apart. Jared and Trevor were hanging out somewhere and Tim was off doing ‘Tim-kind-of-things’.

“So an hour and a half,” I stated airily, swaying my weight on my toes.

“Yep!”

“You know what that means, right?” I said slower and lower than normal, almost trying to act seductive with a sly smile.

Pat’s brown eyes widened for a moment and then resized to almost their normal extent. I could see from his throat that he gulped. “U-Uh, no. What d-does that mean?”

I giggled softly and leaned up a little to attach my mouth to Pat’s in a tender kiss that lasted a few moments. When I pulled away a little, Pat kept moving towards me with his eyes still closed.

I chuckled again and pecked his lips once before pulling my face away. I noticed Pat was pouting a little.

“No,” he whimpered lightly like a little boy not wanting to clean up his toys yet.

I giggled at him. “Sorry, Pat. I thought it’d be fun to tease you.” I smiled innocently. “And it was,” I added mischievously. “But what I was talking about before was me getting a shower.”

Pat attempted to look angry. “You are an evil girl, Cara.”

I grinned from ear to ear. “That I am, sweetie.” I then pecked him sweetly on the lips once and spun around towards the showers.

“Cara feels like wearing a….” I stopped to think and I shut my eyes for a moment, letting my hand rest on the bag full of clothes. My eyes suddenly popped open. “Cara feels like wearing a classic white v-neck shirt, with beloved teal skinny jeans, and an ebony black vest. Yeah!” I quickly grabbed what I had stated, (plus the essential undergarments), and headed towards the glass shower with my towel.

While washing my hair, I started to hum a silly little tune that seemed to be combined with an All Time Low song and then a Metro Station one. At least that’s what it somewhat sounded like…

Within eleven more minutes or so, I was out of the shower with the towel around my body. There were still rapid drips of water sprinting down my back and legs.

Four more minutes passed. I now was surely dry and clothed, now deciding what I wanted to do with my hair.

“I’m thinking… pigtails? Yeah. Pigtails,” I stated to myself, grabbing the blow dryer and drying the few semi-wet pieces that were left. Once they were dry, I simply put my hair in two low pigtails that framed my face. I straightened them out a little more and did my bangs like they normally were.

After doing my makeup generally fast and cleaning up my things, I exited the showers and dropped my bag off at the van. I quickly checked the time as I rushed back to the backstage. The boys would have to start doing things to get ready for today.

As I walked through the building, I passed Mason Musso, who I waved at and got a large grin in return. With him was Trace Cyrus, someone I wasn’t too fond of. Don’t ask me why, but I didn’t get the best vibe from him, therefore I didn’t really pay attention to him.

Almost as soon as I had passed the two Metro Station members, there was an almost immediate turn, opening up into a wider room. There I saw no one but John and then a couple hustling stage members.

I took a few more steps forward, nearer John, and then paused. I quickly scanned the room and looked for a spot to sit or something so that I didn’t look so damn awkward.

John beat me to anything I was about to do.

“Hey,” John said to me with no specific emotion as he twisted the cap tightly on the water bottle.

I blinked as I study John’s rather blank, yet somehow friendly, expression. “Hey,” I returned softly, a small smile gracing my features.

I then noticed that John’s eyes left my face and they studied my attire and the rest of my appearance. It made me fidget. “Nice pigtails. They make you look all cute and innocent.”

I chuckled and felt a little blush coming on. “Um, thanks, John.”

“Whoa, I thought you disappeared,” my brother said as he walked into the open room, Kennedy and Pat following behind.

“Nope. I’m right here,” I responded lamely, taking the quickest side-glance at John, who was also looking at me.

Pat suddenly skipped over to me and swept my hand up with his, a big grin on his face. “Let’s walk around for a few minutes,” he stated happily.

I let out a chuckle. “Um, okay then,” I muttered as I let Pat drag me away, soon taking me out a door to the outside.

Pat soon got bored with just simply holding my hand, so he decided on sliding his arm around my waist securely yet comfortably.

“Wow. There’s already a crap load of fans waiting,” I stated as I observed the overexcited teenagers.

“Yep! Want to go out to them?” He asked rather warily.

I turned my head to him. “But I’m just Garrett’s sister. There’s nothing special about me.”

“Not true! You’re Cara Nickelsen and you just happen to be the younger sister of Garrett. And plus, I saw millions of girls and people getting tons of pictures with Trevor,” Pat pointed out with a chuckle.

I giggled, too. “Well, alright.”