And The Storm Rages On (Part 2)

As you strum your guitar lightly, you start humming to yourself, thankful no one is roomed close enough to you. There’s a soft knock. You pause and listen, it’s definitely your door. You call to come in softly. Nick’s curly head pops through the door.  You smile and wave him in. “Can’t sleep?”  He shakes his head. “Jet lag. What’s your excuse?”  “Same,” You answer, patting the other end of your bed.  He looks at you strangely as he sits down. “Don’t you live here?”  You manage to hold back a laugh. “Here? No, I just got here, actually right before I ran into you guys.”  He nods, eyes watching you finger the strings on your guitar aimlessly. “Where are you from?”  You tell him, suddenly feeling a little bit awkward with your guitar. It’s one thing to play in front of friends, but to play in front of a national icon…  “Did I interrupt your playing?” He asks.  “What? No, I was just messing around.” You look down. “I was working on a song.”  “Can I hear it?  Your mouth opens, then closes again. “I, uh, I don’t… it’s not done yet.” There’s a moment of silence. You spend a second to weigh the consequences then decide to compromise. “I’ll play it for you, but I’m not singing, because the words aren’t done yet.”  He gives you a conceding smile. “I can live with that.”  You begin to play, shakily at first. Working through the more difficult verse. You glance up at Nick, expecting him to be watching you. Instead you find his eyes closed, his head dancing to the rhythm. By the time you get around to the chorus the second time you start to relax, without really thinking about it you start to sing quietly. “I’m bottled up. Hidden from view. Nobody knows how I really am. What can I do, What can I say. When I got nowhere to run.” You start in on the bridge, almost forgetting you’re not alone.“You’re right beside me through it all. You understand how I really feel. When I got nowhere to run. I hide myself in your embrace. I know I can’t do. I know I can’t say. Without you there to guide me through.”You finish letting the last note resonate softly. You keep your eyes down, feeling your heart beat widely. When you finally get the nerve to look up, Nick is staring at you, a small smile playing on his face.  “And you were nervous,” He says, teasing slightly. “When you’re done I’d like to hear it.”  You nod and set your guitar down. “You, want to play cards?”  He shrugs. “Sure, I don’t think I’ll be sleeping anytime soon.” You reach over to your bags and pull out a deck of cards, and begin to shuffle. You straighten out your comforter to make a playing space and sit cross-legged across from him. “Speed?” He smiles. “I’ll win.” You drop your jaw dramatically. “Well, aren’t you humble. You underestimate the girl?” He shakes his head. “No I underestimate the girl who boats across the lake in a storm.” You hang your head. “You have a point, but not a good enough one. So shut your mouth and back up all that talk.” You guys play for about ten minutes before it became apparent you were a little too loud when you yelled out speed and shoved the cards victoriously in Nick’s direction. “Your deal!” Nick starts collecting the cards. “You only won because I got distracted by the lightning.” You look up after hearing a cleared throat to see Joe leaning against your door frame. “Rockstar!” You exclaim rather loudly between laughs. “Come help me beat your brother up.” Joe rolled his eyes before pulling your chair over. Nick tries to defend his honor. “You only beat me two out of four, I say we’re even.” “I have winner,” Joe says, leaning forward to watch. ”Then I have looser,” Kevin’s voice interrupts through the doorway. “If you have another deck of cards that is.” You point to the desk across the room. “My aunt puts one in every room. A necessity in our family.” Kevin collects the deck and nudges Nick over to sit next to him.  You happen to loose, so you and Kevin play each other. Just as he's about to play his last card you get your ace in just before him, resulting in him hitting your hand rather loudly. "Ow!" You cry pulling your hand back.His eyes widen. "Are you okay?"You give him a convincing glare, while pouting lips. "Yeah, Punk." The four of you finish a rather intense speed tournament before the boys slowly start heading to bed until it’s back to you and Nick. He finally stands after you two have talked for a while alone. “I should head out,” He says, running his fingers across the strings of your guitar. He leans over to kiss your cheek “Goodnight, Dollface.” You give him a weird look and start to turn off your light when at the door, he turns. “____?” You look back up. “You shouldn’t be nervous.” You smile and blush, ducking your head to avoid his eyes. “Thanks.” He shuts the door after him, and you lean over, shutting off your light. “What a day.”

Half way through a paragraph you find yourself in need of own of your notebooks. Why you brought more than one, God only knows, but there you were sitting on the floor searching through five notebooks. You were just now flipping through the last one. “What could you possibly need in there at this time of night?” You look up, startled by Joe’s voice. You stand up, finding what you were looking for. “I couldn’t sleep. What about you, Rockstar? What are you doing up?” He holds up a half empty glass of water, choosing to ignore the name. “Jet lag.” He notices your still packed bags. “You too? You’re not from here?” You shake your head, easing the laptop back onto your lap. “Nope, first night.” He sits down on your bed and lies down across it horizontally so his legs are still hanging off at the knees. “The weirdest thing is, I’m really tired, but I can’t sleep.” You laugh. “Try having insomnia, it feels something like this.” He turns his head to you. “You have experience.” “Yeah,” You nod, glancing away from your typing. “At home I don’t sleep until about three or four.” “What are you typing?” Before you can stop him, he reaches over to grab your notebook. He reads it out loud, “They keep talking but I don’t understand. The world is spinning but I’m standing still. I cry in agony, and scream in anguish. My hands are shaking but they don’t even notice. Does anyone hear my cry, do they see my torture deep inside. How could they when:” He looks up. “When what?” You snatch the notebook from him. “That’s the first verse, the rest is in the chorus.” You glance sheepishly towards him. “You have a really good reading voice, by the way.” “So it’s a song?” He asks, then realizes you complimented him. “Uh, thanks.” You nod, not meeting his eyes. “Yeah, I write almost anything, but recently I’ve been on songs.”“Can I hear it?” You laugh slightly. “Uh, no, you don’t want to.” “Why would I have asked if I didn’t want to?” He asks, rolling onto his side to look at you. “Because,” You twist your mouth slightly. “You’ve never heard me sing, it’s not pretty.” He raises an eyebrow. “It can’t be that bad. Unless you’re tone deaf, which is unlikely since you write songs. Come on, I don’t judge, and this is really good.” You roll your eyes. “Fine, but I warned you.” You sing the verse rather quietly, so much so that he had to lean in to hear you. At the end of the verse your voice falters slightly. He looks up. “Why’d you stop?” You shrug. “I don’t know.” “You know what I think your problem is?” He seems to state, rather than ask. “Sounds to me like you’re going to tell me.” He smiles. “Yeah I am, I think you’re trying to sing in the wrong range. If you had some training I think you’d be pretty good.” You roll your eyes again, blushing slightly. “Whatever you say.” “You roll your eyes a lot,” He comments, before rolling back to stare at the ceiling. “So, is this what you usually do late at night? Write I mean.” You laugh. “No, usually I’m too lazy and just play solitaire on my phone.” He looks at you with a smile. “Do you know how to play Nerts?” “No?” “Well, it’s like a mix between speed and solitaire.” You pull out a deck of cards. “Teach me?” He sits up. “We’ll need another deck, I might have one.” “Check the desk drawer, my aunt keeps one in all rooms.” Sure enough he pulls one out while you flatten out your comforter. You sit across from each other while he explains the fast paced game to you. It didn’t take long before you had a score sheet pinned up on the wall next to you. Halfway through shuffling for your third game, Nick’s tired voice speaks from the doorway. “What are you guys doing?” Joe waves him in. “Nerts, come play!” The younger Jonas shakes his head in disbelief before disappearing again. Joe shrugs and continues to shuffle. Two minutes later, Nick returns with his own deck of cards. “I can’t play with out cards genius.” You laugh and move your cards over so he has room before writing his name on your score sheet. Just as you’re about to turn a card over you see Joe place his last up with flare. “Nerts!” He smiles sweetly at Nick he tosses his cards down in frustration. “I can’t believe it!” He grumbles. “You know what I can’t believe?” The three of you turn in shock at Kevin, standing in his pajamas at the door. You cringe. “We’re being too loud?” “Well, that, and, you’re playing without me? Jerks!” He pulls up your chair to sit between you and Nick, who is currently on the floor next to Joe."We're not Jerks!" You protest before adding. "Punk Child.""Punk Child?" He asks with a mouth wide. "Punk Child you say? What did I do to deserve that? You're the ones playing without me."Nick nods in agreement. “Don’t feel too hurt, they didn’t tell me either.” “Hey, now, I was trying to let you sleep!” Joe defends himself, or tries to. You just sit back and laugh at their brotherly bickering. “We playing or not?” Kevin deals out his cards. “Oh we’re playing, this is where you find out that they didn’t invite me for a reason.” “Oh please,” Joe scoffs. “You’ve never beaten me.” Kevin opens his mouth, then shuts it again. Leaning over to you he speaks just loud enough for the whole group to hear. “You know, he has a point.” You shake your head at them with a smile. “You guys are a crack up.” Joe gives you a clumsy bow, which didn’t really work out in the position he was sitting in, but it was entertaining none the less. After an intense game of Nerts, you finally end tied for second with Nick. Joe stands after his brothers have left and collects his cards. “Well, until next time you feel like having me beat you again.” You rolled your eyes at him. “Pride comes before a fall, Rockstar.” He laughs and pushes your head lightly with his hand. “Night, Doll.” “Doll?” You ask, only to have him shrug with a smirk and shut the door behind him.

You hook up your X-box to the tv across from your bed and start searching through your bags for halo. “Kind of late, isn’t it?” You look up to see Kevin at your door. “Huh? Oh, yeah it is, but I can’t sleep.” He nods. “Same here.” “Jet lag’s brutal huh?” You ask gesturing to your bag. “yeah.” There was a comfortable silence as you sat on the floor next to your luggage, and he stood at your door. You glance at him briefly. “You want to play halo?” He smiled. “Sure! Finding it, you sit next to him at the edge of your bed and slip the disc into the game system. The two of you played two rounds. You one the first one, but he managed to get lucky the second. “Grr!” You say, with a smile. “You cheated!” “How could I have cheated?” He asks pointing at the screen. “You’re a sore looser.” You laugh. “Your face is a sore looser.” He glares at you. “Leave my face out of this, it didn’t hurt you.” “Maybe not,” Joe’s voice interrupts from the door. “But it’s an offense to have to look at.” You both turn towards him. “Rockstar! Nick! Come play with us!” Kevin raises his eyebrow at you. “Rockstar?” You shrug. “Don’t ask.” Nick takes a seat on the other side of you, while Joe sits on the floor slightly to the side of Kevin. “I’ll go easy on you,” Joe was saying as he picked up a controller. “Since it’s not nice to hurt a girl.” Kevin’s eyes widen. “That’s what they said about Joan of Arc… you sure you want to do that?” You laugh, glancing over at Kevin. “Thank you, I take that as a compliment. Even if she was executed.” The oldest brother shrugs. “It was meant as one, execution aside.” “I like that whole execution thing.” Joe says with a smirk as he sneaks up on your player and shoots you. You laugh. “What happened to going easy?” “I lied.” You glance over at the silent Nick to see him smiling, but concentrated on not getting killed by Kevin. You lean over to nudge him a bit with your shoulder. “Do you speak?” He doesn’t look at you as he answers. “When I have something to say.” “What he means is,” Kevin starts just before Nick kills him. “That our conversation isn’t mature enough for him.” “Because he’s so much older and wiser than you?” Kevin laughs. “No, just more mature.” “Which isn’t hard to do,” Joe says as he achieves vengeance for Nick’s death. “Where are you?” Nick finally asks in frustration, having been searching for you since he died. You smile as you look down at Nick through a sniper’s scope. “I’ll never tell, but I’ll give you a hint.” “Okay?” He asks, instantly regretting it as your bullet finds it’s mark. “Hey, that’s my brother!” Joe growls in good humor. You give him a pout. “What, upset I got to him first?” Joe smirks. “You read my mind.” “Hey, _______, question for you?” Kevin asks. “What?” “How long do you plan on hiding right here? Because I’m getting bored watching you snipe my brother’s.” You stand your player up just in time to see Kevin shoot you. “Punk!” “I’m not a punk!” Kevin protests. “I beg to differ.” After several games, accompanied by more pointless banter, Joe concedes with several impressive wins as well as losses, and heads to bed. Nick stayed for a little longer, talking a little more with one less person in the room, but he too left after one more game. Kevin yawns as Nick shuts the door and slings a casual arm around you. “Looks like it’s just you and me again, Doll.” “Doll?” You ask shrugging away from him, albeit regretfully. He looks over at you and answers with the same roll of the eyes. “Punk?” You laugh. “Point taken.” With tied wins, Kevin bows a goodnight, and heads out as well.“Night, Punk.” You call out quietly as he’s shutting the door behind him. He pokes his head in just enough to answer. “Night, Doll.”You lean back on the bed from where you're sitting, too tired to actually crawl in bed. It isn't long before you feel yourself drift off to sleep.