The Closest Thing We Have To Magic

I slammed the door to my cabin and collapsed on my bed. Without even taking my jacket off, I snuggled under the covers from exhaustion.

Pure hell. That’s what I went through today. Since this morning, today had gone from bad to worse. Last night I had achieved all of three hours of sleep from being on the phone with Caitlin all night. I had gotten off the phone with her about one in the morning. To top that, I had abdominal pains from being on my period which kept me up. I had finally fallen asleep about four before having to wake up at seven to film.

Dancing on merely three hours of sleep was impossible. Barely functioning, I had gone on auto pilot when filming. There was once when I had closed my eyes for just two seconds when I was rammed from behind introducing a bruise on my back. I had seen Nick today on set, but we weren’t even filming the same scene so the closest I got to him was a wave and a wink from afar.

I was almost asleep before my phone buzzed with a text. I groaned and flipped to my side reaching for my cell phone.

Hey love. Want to come over tonight at around 7? Everyone’s coming over to hang out.

I quickly replied with a yes and turned my phone off. The much desired and needed sleep was catching up to me and within a few seconds I was gone into paradise.

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My eyelids felt heavy as I attempted to open them from my nap. They immediately shut themselves again. I lied down for a couple more minutes before lifting my head up. My legs were stiff from sleeping jeans and felt like heavy wood. Picking myself up, I half asleep started walking towards the bathroom. Hopefully a shower would wake me up.

The steamy hot shower did the trick. Forty-five minutes later, I was completely dressed and ready to go. Rue 21 jeans were snug on my hips matching my beige Hollister full sleeve baby doll top. My hair was still slightly damp with water and smelled like peaches and strawberries. It fell a little past my shoulders curling at the very ends. Spraying a tad bit of hairspray I was completely done. The makeup on my face was flawless causing my eyes to shine.

When I stepped outside my cabin, the evening’s chill immediately hit me. Canada’s weather was the only aspect of being here I hated. I myself was a summer girl and all for warm weather. Canada in the fall was just like back home and the weather back in Cincinnati was unbearable. I hurried along the pathway to the Jonas’ cabin in hopes of keeping somewhat of the warmth inside of me.

Finally reaching the cabin, I gently pushed open the door and entered the cabin. I strained my ears to hear where everybody was. Sounds of laughter reached me a few seconds later from the living room. I gave a small hello to Mr. Jonas who was reading on the small couch with Elvis next to the door. The sounds of laughter became louder and louder as I approached the living room. I turned the corner and saw the sight of everyone crowded around a laptop on the coffee table.

“Hey guys.” I greeted everybody. Their heads turned to the direction of my voice and each said hello before giving their attention back to the laptop and giggling again. Nick stood up and sauntered over to me. I wrapped my arms around his neck as he set his face into my hair. “Hey there. Wow you smell good.” Nick murmured.

I smirked and took my arms away from him. Giving him a sweet smile I leaned up and pecked him on his cheek before walking over to the couch.

“So what’s all the fuss about?” I asked. A red Dell laptop was set on coffee table and everybody was huddled around. Alyson and Joe sat on the couch while Kevin and Roshan looked over their shoulders. Demi and Meghan sat on the floor with their arms resting on the table.

Kevin looked back at me and explained what was going on. “Joe found a YouTube video of all the funny things he’s done. And he’s trying to defend himself but it’s not working.” He added much to the annoyance of Joe.

“Hey! I’m not a total klutz all the time. You’re talking about the guy who graduated with a 4.0 GPA” Joe retorted.

“Yeah whatever.” Kevin snorted.

I took my place next to Demi and sat down. Nick left my side and went to sit next to his older brother who was the center of attention in the video. I peered close at the laptop and watched the video along with them.

“I don’t even remember doing half this stuff!” Joe exclaimed.

I scoffed. “Well your fans do. Us obsessed fans spend our evenings looking up these videos. I used to watch these all the time before coming here to Canada.”

Kevin and Nick turned their heads towards me. “Really?”

I nodded. “Yeah. Most of your fans have these lines memorized.”

Joe smirked. “Good to know. That just proves I’m the favorite Jonas.”

I rolled my eyes. “Like I told your brother, don’t let that go to your head.”

I could hear footsteps behind me and I turned around to see who they belonged too. Mrs. Jonas came into the living room with a bowl of chips. She set the bowl on the table and squinted her eyes at the laptop. The boys at once reached out for the chips and stuffed their faces.. “Watching some videos?” she questioned.

“Mhm.” Nick mumbled.

A hand touched my shoulder and I looked up to see Mrs. Jonas smiling down towards me. “Hello Cady. I didn’t hear you come in.”

“Hi Mrs. Jonas.” I gave her a genuine smile. “Thanks for having me over tonight.”

“No problem sweetie.” Mrs. Jonas answered. Her eyes diverted to her sons. “Boys, I don’t want a mess in this room.”

“Yeah okay Mom.” They chorused giving their mom a look before giving their attention back to the computer.

She sighed and proceeded back to wherever she was before. For the next half hour they searched the web looking for hilarious videos of themselves. The perks of being a celebrity, or the downside some might say, is that pictures and videos were posted all over the web. They giggled and shrieked when something stupid or embarrassing was recorded on videos, playing it over and over and again. This eventually started to get old when they found some of the same videos again.

“Do you guys Google yourself?” I wondered. My friends and I used to do it all the time when we were completely bored. I hadn’t done it recently though.

Kevin shrugged. “Sometimes. I really don’t like to though because I usually find stuff that I really don’t want to see or read.”

“Yeah same here.” Demi agreed. The rest nodded in agreement.

“I mean, I find all these rumors about me and it’s really annoying when I read those knowing they aren’t true.” Meghan’s angelic voice chipped in.

“It’s crazy.” Nick commented quietly.

“Have you tried Googlin’ yourself?” Alyson asked before reaching for a potato chip. One chip was left and four different sets of hands went to grab in before ultimately destroying the chip into shredded pieces.

I giggled at the sight before answering her. “I used to. I haven’t done it recently. There are a lot of Cady Greens out there.” I pointed out.

“Let’s see what pops up.” Joe proclaimed. He took the laptop off the table and placed it on his lap. His fingers flew across the keyboard punching in the letters into the Google search engine.

“Nothing about me is going to come up. The name Cady Greens is too common.” I stressed again.

“Nonsense.” Kevin alleged. “Even a little fact of you should come up.”

“Nope. Nothing is coming up. Just random places and events around the country.” Joe responded.

“Search something like Cady Greens Cincinnati.” Nick suggested.

“What’s the big deal?” I interjected.

Joe shrugged. “Nothing. We’re just bored.”

Shaking my head, I stood up and walked towards the kitchen for a glass of water. Those salty chips made me crave for something to drink. I reached for a glass next to the sink and flipped the tap on. The cold water rushed down from the tap into my glass. I raised the glass to my mouth and took a sip of water. “Did you find anything?” I called out. Finishing my glass of water, I set it down in the sink and wiped my mouth on a nearby towel.

Silence answered me. I frowned. Did they not hear me? “Did you find anything?” I repeated a little louder. Silence again. I could see them huddled around the computer just staring at the laptop. I couldn’t hear anything playing from the laptop so I was puzzled at what they were looking at. They must have found something more interesting if they weren’t paying attention to me.

“What did you find?” I inquired as I walked up behind Joe. He jumped when he heard my voice and turned around quickly. He didn’t say anything and looked back at the laptop.

“Is that you?” Kevin asked hesitantly after a few seconds.

Alyson moved over so I could sit next to Joe to see the screen of the laptop. I gasped when I saw the website. My body froze. Myspace pictures. And these pictures I was very familiar with. The background of the pictures were too dark tell where I was but I knew where they were taken. My hair was in messy low ponytail with wisps of my bangs falling on my forehead. The picture was taken from above showing my full body. My shortest pair of shorts was on me along with a skimpy bikini top. Next to me was my friend Emily wearing almost the same exact outfit. In my hand was a small can of a drink that clearly had the label of Bud Light. The same can was in Emily’s hand while her other arm was above indicating she was the one taking the picture.

I jerked the laptop out of Joe’s lap and pulled it onto mine. I scrolled down the webpage taking in all the pictures. Lot of the pictures showed signs of an all out high school party. I was in some of the pictures either making funny faces with my friends or dancing. But in every picture I was in had me with a bottle in my hand.

I clicked the top of the webpage to see who’s Myspace this was. I didn’t own a Myspace or even a Facebook so this had to be one of my former friends. Note the former friends. I should have known. Emily’s smiling face appeared on the main myspace profile.

Nick and his friends were taking this in as I was horrified that these pictures had made the internet. I whipped out my cell phone from my back pocket and frantically went through my phone book searching for Emily’s number. Pressing call I held the phone up to my ear listening to the callback ringtone.

“Hello?” A chirpy voice answered. I could hear loud voices in the background. I racked my mind trying to remember the day. Friday. Party night.

“Hey Emily. It’s Cady.”

“Cady!” She shrieked. “I haven’t talked to you in forever!”

“Yeah. But I need a favor Emily.” I pleaded.

“Sure, anything. What do you need?” She asked hinting in more than one way.

“Remember Sara’s party from the summer? The one where the guys from St.X and Moeller came?”

There was a pause while scuffling came from the background. She came back on the line out of breath. “Sorry about that. Yeah I remember the party. What about it?”

“Could you take down the pictures from that party off of your Myspace? I really don’t want to get caught by the school or my parent’s.” I sputtered.

“Okay sure thing. I’ll take them down by tomorrow. Listen I have to go. Big party at Seth’s tonight. I’ll talk to later love!”

“Thanks Emily. Have fun.”

Shutting the phone, I dropped it on the couch and fell back on the backrest and closed my eyes. This day just kept getting better and better. I had gotten no sleep last night, filming today was horrendous and these pictures were now known to my new friends I had met here in Canada. The type of friends who were strongly against any type of drinking and any other aspect of harming your body.

“So that was you?” Demi asked quietly. I nodded my head with my eyes still closed. I opened them and saw Nick staring right at me with a blank expression on his face. “Can I talk to you?” I asked almost afraid. He shook his head yes and I followed him to his bedroom for some privacy.

He shut the door behind and leaned against it. His arms were folded against his chest waiting.

“Before you say or ask anything, let me speak.” I stated hurriedly. “Those pictures were from earlier this year during the winter. My life then is completely different from how it is now. I’m not even friends with those people anymore. I had gone through some rebel phase. I was angry at my parents for no real reason and just about hated anything to with my family. I started hanging out with a different crowd because it gave me such an adrenaline rush and I thought it made me feel invincible. The pictures that you saw were actually the last party I went to. I woke up the next morning hung over so bad that I knew I couldn’t do this to my body or to myself anymore. I cut off contact with Emily and her friends, well except for today, and tried to reestablish the friendships I had before. It took awhile, but I was finally able to.”

I took a deep breath from my long speech. “And I don’t know what to say anymore. Just, please don’t think any different of me. I’m still the girl you met when were first came to Canada. I haven’t changed. That was the old rebel me and I’m never planning to go back like that ever again.”

Nick sighed. I could tell he was frustrated and he wasn’t really sure what to do. I jumped in again before he spoke. “Listen, if you don’t want to talk about it right now and you need time to think it through, I can leave right now and we can talk tomorrow.” I suggested. I didn’t like the idea very much but I knew it was for the best considering the circumstances.

“Okay.” He remarked quietly. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked at me with an unreadble expression.

“I’m going to go home now. It’s been a long day.” I finally said. He nodded and I brushed past him taking the nod as a goodbye.

I stepped into the living room before leaving the cabin. “I’m leaving now. I’ll see you tomorrow.” They said their goodbyes as I gave a small smile.

Walking home my phone buzzed in my pocket. I took the phone out and flipped it open. 1 New Text Message. I pressed read and waited for the message to pop up.

We don’t think any less of you Cady. Remember that =) –Meghan

My heart soared as I read the text message. My friends understood and I was grateful for that. But Nick was a different story. I screwed up and I knew it.