Saturday, July 31, 2010

Tabs

Rise and shine. Time to get up!"

Bailey groaned at the sound of her mother's voice. She pulled the covers up over her head and rolled over in the small bunk.

"Now is this how it's going to be every morning? Because we can call Ross right now and tell him that they'll have to find a new assistant on this tour." her mother's hands were now at her hips.

"Alright, Mom. I'm up." she said from under the blanket.

"Like hell you are. Now get dressed, Ross already has some stuff for you to do."

After Bailey heard the tour bus door close, she slowly rolled out of the bunk that was about 4-feet up from the floor and crashed to the ground with the lack of coordination.

"Ow." she murmured before pulling her hood off her head in frustration to reveal a messy, dark blonde bun of hair. She looked up at the sound of the door opening.

"Bailey?" the voice called out. She watched as Kevin Jonas glanced around the bus.

"Down here." she waved up at him.

"Oh, hi." he looked a little confused. "Ross wanted me to give you this." he handed her a VIP/Backstage badge that was on a lanyard.

"Thanks." she smiled.

"I'm Kevin by the way." he leaned his hand down and she shook it with pleasure.

"Nice to finally meet you."

"Same here." he stated nicely. "So, um. . . Do you need help?" Kevin asked uncertainly as he eyed her on the floor.

"No, no. I'm fine. Morning stretches, that's all." she lied.

Kevin nodded, not believing her. "You fell out of bed?" Bailey nodded. "Yeah. Joe did the same this morning. Pretty hilarious. Anyway, I'll see you around." he stated, then left with a wave.

She gave him a weak smile, then shot up once the door closed. She got dressed into an orange tank top and a pair of light, tight jeans with a growing hole in the knee. While fixing her hair and makeup, she thought of how stupid she must've looked in front of Kevin. 'First impressions last, you know.' she thought to herself. 'One brother down, two to go. Hopefully I won't look as stupid.'

After finalizing her appearance in the mirror, she picked up her cell and VIP pass and exited the bus.

"Hey Jake, it's me again. Just call me back when you get this. I need to know what's going on." Bailey said into the phone, then hung up as she continued walking towards the venue.

"Boyfriend?" a voice behind her asked. She turned around to see two dark eyes looking at her.

She chuckled, "I don't know. It's a bit complicated."

"Relationships. . . I never was good at them." he said with a warm smirk. "Joe Jonas." he extended his hand in front of her.

"Bailey Baker." she smiled as she shook his hand.

"So I hear you're Ross' new assistant. Well, here on the tour and junk."

"Is there a newsletter that everyone gets or something? Because everyone seems to know already."

Joe laughed. "Well, we get text messages every time something happens. Like this one time, Nick found this puppy, and everyone -" he stopped once he caught her eye again. "I'm kidding." he said, making her smile. "Oh, speak of the devil. -NICKY POO!" he jogged up a few yards ahead and jumped on Nick's back.

"What'd I do now?!" was Nick's reply.

"Nothing, this time. I want you to meet someone." Joe stated, then turned Nick around. "Nick, Bailey. Bailey, Nick."

"Hey." we both said in unison, then shook hands.

'Three in the same 20 minutes. Not bad.' Bailey thought to herself.

"I guess we're going to be seeing you a lot on this tour thing, huh?" Joe asked.

"Oh no! I'm not going to be with you guys a lot, am I?" her voice was packed with sarcasm. "I don't think I can deal with that. I might have to talk to Ross about this." the three of them chuckled.

"Talk to me about what?" a deep voice asked. The three of them turned around to see the big boss in front of them.

Joe and Nick stared at Bailey expectantly, hoping she could come up with something good. "I just wanted to talk to you about what I need to do today. I mean, it's the first show on the tour and all." she looked up at him.

"Ah, yes. Let's get you settled." Ross said, then motioned her to follow him into the building. She took a glance back at the boys to see Joe standing there with his thumbs up and Nick shaking his head in amusement.

"She seems cool." Nick said once they disappeared.

"Yeah, she's different. I think they finally found someone who doesn't freak out every time they see us."

"Ha ha. Like that Ashley girl?" he asked.

Joe shuddered. "Just like that Ashley girl." he laughed. "Oh, look." he bent down and picked up a cell phone off the ground. "She dropped her phone."

"Hold me, hold me. If I were to. I can't, can't, I swear I can't let you. It's all in your hands now I'll do what I can to you." The Audition sang from her phone as it began to vibrate.

"Are you going to answer it?" Nick asked. Joe looked down at the phone, it said 'Jake'.

"Uh, I don't know if I should." he replied.

"Why not? It could be important, just do it."

"No, Nick, I can't."

"Do it!"

"No!" Joe exclaimed as the phone stopped. "I'll just give it to her later. I don't want to get into it" he slipped it into his back pocket. Nick just stared at him. "What?"

"Nothing. . .yet." he replied, eyeing his brother. Since when did his brother not want to interfere with anything?

- - - - -

After getting an overview of what was going to be happening during the next few months on the tour, Bailey was free to go. Ross told her that the first day she should basically get familiar with everyone and just chill. Of course she was fine with that.

"Hey, how was it in there? Ross can be kind of. . . Grrr." Kevin appeared next to her with a smile.

"Not bad. I pretty much get to hang out the whole day." Bailey said, slipping her hands into her back pockets as they walked through the bus and car filled parking lot.

"Awesome. I was going to head over to our bus and see what the guys are up to. Wanna come?" he asked, then looked at her expectantly.

"Sure. Sounds cool." she replied, trying to hide her excitement. She wasn't a crazed fan or anything, but everyone and their grandma knew that these boys were just pain gorgeous.

With that, she followed Kevin to the bus. It felt like a gigantic weight was lifted off of her shoulders. She was extremely relieved that it hadn't been awkward at all. She thought meeting the guys for the first time was going to be a drag, she wasn't expecting to get along with them so well. It was going great so far.

"Hey Kev." Joe glanced at the door as he walked through. "HEY Bailey!" he added at a second glance, his face lit up. Bailey gave him a little wave.

"Ah, Guitar Hero." Kevin exhaled with some force as he plopped down on the floor next to Nick who had a cherry red guitar controller in his lap. "Bail, you can have the couch." he motioned his arm for her to have a seat.

"Sweet. Thanks." she replied gratefully, admiring his kindness, then sat down next to Joe on the couch who held a silver wireless guitar controller.

"Wanna play?" he asked her. She eyed him for a moment, debating on whether or not she really wanted to.

"You'll get the hang of it after a song or two." Nick piped in, trying to convince her. "There's an easy level. You should do fine."

"I guess I'll try." she gave in, even though she already knew how to play.

"Here." Joe handed her his guitar. "Now, all you do is just hit the colors when they come up and click the strum bar when the colored notes get to the line."

"Alright, I think I got it." she replied.

Joe pulled his hands back as if he was offended, "Ok, champ. Let's see how you do."

Nick picked an easy song, a really boring one on 'Easy'; "Surrender". On Nick's side of the screen, there were notes all over the place. On Bailey's, there was one note on every 5 seconds in the song on the TV. Clanks and screeches came form the speakers as Bailey messed up on purpose. Joe and Kevin couldn't help but laugh.

"What you have to do is," Joe placed his hands over hers on the neck of the guitar where the buttons were. "Move your fingers and press when the colors go over the line, then-" he moved his arm around her and place his over hand over hers on the strum bar. "-click this down while holding the color in as it comes up on the screen." he played through her hands for a few moments.

She didn't pay attention to a thing that was running on the TV screen. She was too busy feeling the warmth of his body against hers, captivated by the faint scent of his cologne.

"There you go, you got it." Kevin said with a little excitement in his voice. Bailey's eyes instantly adjusted to the screen as she zoned back into what was going on, not understanding why she lost focus in the first place. "Um, Joe. She's got it." he said again.

"Aye!" he exclaimed, looking down at Kevin. "I'm just trying to pass on my skills." After receiving a glare from his older brother, he pulled his arms away and let her play by herself.

"Hold me, hold me. If I were to. I can't, can't, I swear I can't let you. It's all in your hands now I'll do what I can to you."

"Oooh." Joe popped up out of his seat and pulled the vibrating cell phone out of his back pocket. "You dropped it earlier, so I picked it up." he looked at the caller ID as she continued to play the game. "It's Jake?" he read. Bailey tossed the guitar on the couch and snatched the phone. "Woah, killer."

"Thanks." she said before answering the phone. "Hello?" she asked as she exited the bus.

"Who's Jake?" Kevin asked once Bailey was out of earshot, Joe shrugged his shoulders.

"She said 'it's complicated', but I didn't get any details. Potential boyfriend maybe?" he stated, a little disappointed, the noticed that Nick was next to him on the couch, peeking out the window at Bailey who was pacing back and forth. After glancing at Kevin, Joe was right next to Nick, looking down at Bailey on the phone unnoticed. Kevin was next to the two within seconds.

"Joe, can you read lips?" Kevin asked.

"Somewhat." he squinted his eyes as he watched her talk. "I met this guy Joe today, and he's pretty amazingly hot. Sorry, but he has my heart, you don't Jake." he said as her lips moved.

Kevin elbowed him in the side. "Not funny." Nick laughed.

"You two are unbelievable." Nick added. "Can't you tell? She's really upset.."

"DIBS!" Joe exclaimed, then rushed to the front of the bus, knocking Kevin over in the process. He smirked before stepping off the bus. Kevin looked up at Nick in disbelief.

"Are you kidding me? Like he isn't making it obvious or anything." Kevin said. Nick shrugged his shoulders, then continued to watch Bailey out the window just as Joe came into sight.

"Hey" Joe said after she closed her phone. Bailey's back was to him, but he could hear her sniffling.

At the sound of his voice, she spun around and quickly wiped her teary eyes. Joe didn't say a word. He just approached her with his arms open. She walked right into him without hesitation and wrapped her arms around his torso for comfort. His arms were squeezing around her back as her head nuzzled into his neck instinctively. After a moment of Joe's hand caressing her back, he finally spoke.

"Do you want to talk?" he asked lightly.

Her mind raced for what felt like hours. She thought about what Jake had just said on the phone, how Joe was holding her right now, how she had to have looked extremely pitiful right now as her eyes continued to water. Bailey thought again about Jake, then slowly came to the realization that he didn't matter anymore. She was better off without him and he was better off with his new girl. When Joe's grip around her tightened, she redirected her attention to what was going on at the present moment.

"No, I'll be fine." she said, getting over what had just happened as she slowly pulled away from him. He opened his mouth to say something, but she stopped him. "Really, I'm fine." she gave a weak smile, then wiped her wet eyes that had stopped leaking almost as quickly as they had started. "I just needed to let it all out, that's all."

"I don't believe you." he said, staring at her in shock. He had no idea what was said on that phone or who Jake even was, but he knew a few moments ago that this girl was torn apart.

"One thing about me is that once I stop and actually think, I can get over things a lot easier." Bailey stated. The puffiness in her eyes started to go down a little.

"But Jake -"

"Jake what? He's an asshole. I'm better off without him." Joe was taken aback by her bold statement. "Plus, it finally sank in that I'm going to be helping out these three amazing guys on tour for a couple months while touring all over the country. Now, I think that's a bit better than being hung up on some other guy who is miles and miles away that doesn't care."

"You seem to understand a lot, don't you?" he chuckled, but his voice full of seriousness.

"For the past few years I've learned to ignore and forget the things or people that don't matter or have a negative effect on my life." she shrugged her shoulders. "A few tears and bad words and then I'm cool."

Joe just stood there for a minute and stared at her. "And you're sure?" he asked as he admired her long, layered dark-blonde hair that was lightly blowing around in her face from the slight spring breeze that was coming by.

She smiled, making him bite his bottom lip. "Yes, I'm sure."

Joe was finally convinced. "All right then. Ready to go in and rock out?"

"If you're saying that holding a huge chunk of colored plastic while listening to old, random songs on the TV is 'rocking out', then sure. Lets go."

"Ready to get spanked?" Nick challenged once Bailey appeared in the backroom on the bus.

"Are you ready to get blown away by my mad skills?" she replied, then grabbed the silver guitar that she tossed on the couch earlier. Nick couldn't help himself, he busted out laughing, causing Kevin and Joe to add their laughs as well.

Bailey chuckled herself as Nick picked the song "Girlfriend" on Hard. "You sure, little buddy?" she asked, he just looked at her like she was crazy. "Alright, alright." she chose Hard herself.

"Are you sure, little Bailey?" Nick retorted.

"Save it for the screen, Nicky Poo." she replied, Joe smiled at the fact that she used the nick-name he had said earlier.

The first 10 notes came up in the screen and Bailey didn't have an issue at all. Back home, she practically owned Guitar Hero. She could school all of her friends, except one; Chuck. Let's just not even get into that.

"Jeeze." Kevin barley got out as she murdered Nick by hitting almost every single note on the screen.

"Shi- I mean, poop." she said quickly after she missed a cord.

Joe sat back and watched, then thought of when he had his arm around her earlier as he 'taught' her how to play. He chuckled to himself as she finished the song with a 98%, Nick with an 86%.

"So Joe, I think I need help on that one solo. You think you could show me?" she flickered her eyes at him as he shook his head with a smile.

"Is there anything else we should know about you besides that you're a Guitar Hero beast?" Kevin asked.

"Hm, well," Bailey tried to think of something witty to say as she relaxed back onto the couch, but nothing came to mind. "I'm a myspace addict." the three boys laughed. "Hey, I'm serious. Yeah, it's kind of sad, but it's how I keep in touch with my friends back home."

"Where's home?" Joe asked with interest. He didn't really know a lot about her and he was looking forward to learning more.

"A little place called New Castle, Delaware." she stated.

"Oh really? That's only like. . . 2 hours away from us." Nick added.

"I think I read that somewhere. . . Wyckoff, New Jersey, right?" they nodded.

"You really don't know us, do you?" Kevin asked, she just looked at him. "I mean, you're not a hardcore fan or anything."

"Does that upset you?" Bailey asked with a little laugh.

"Well, no." he replied. "It's just, sometimes. . . Oh, I don't know." Kevin became flustered with himself for a moment, then sank into the couch across from her and Joe and gave up on the words he was trying to find in his head.

"No, this is pretty cool actually. This can start out as a real friendship." Joe informed. "'Usually, it starts out with people looking up our bios online and junk, then when we meet them, they know our whole life story while we know nothing about them, you know?" Bailey nodded. "I mean, it's not like we can Google their name and find out their favorite movie or food or something." he rambled, making her laugh. "Ok, that sounded kind of bad?" he questioned himself out loud.

"It depends how you look at it. But see, you could always look 'em up on myspace if you really had to and get their info off there."

"You say that as if you've had experience." Joe joked.

"She did say she was addicted myspace." Nick added.

"Harsh much?" she asked with a chuckle. "But yeah, I guess this is kinda cool. We both get to start fresh I guess." Bailey loved talking, even if it was about random nonsense that didn't mean a thing. She could talk for hours and hours at a time without a care in the world, but now she had the opportunity to do that and make friends at the same time. "So where do you guys wanna start? Give me a brief overview of yourselves so I don't look stupid out there."

The brothers gave her the lowdown on pretty much everything; how they became a band, about their parents and Frankie, funny pranks that had been pulled in the past.

When the tables were turned, they learned that Bailey had a younger brother who was 3 years old, she has really close friends back home, and how she's kind of excited that her mom is going to go back home in a few days, leaving her by herself on the tour. Well, not necessarily by herself, but without her mom nagging at her the entire tour. The boys learned that she was in fact 17 and had received her license to drive right before she came on tour with them. They were amused at her excitement.

With every word that Bailey said, Joe's insides felt fuzzier and fuzzier by the second. Not only was he attracted to her physically, but he loved how she thought. He liked how they had similar taste in music, but also disagreed with a few bands at the same time. He loved her ability to see things from a different perspective when they told her a story. She'd make a comment on something that no one had noticed before.

Kevin and Nick exchanged glances every-so-often because of Joe. They couldn't get over the fact that he was so attentive to everything that Bailey said. Yeah, there were some things that sparked their interests too, but Joe was into it too much.

"Hey kids." Bailey's mom said with a smile as she walked onto the bus. "Is she making your skin crawl yet?" she asked, veered towards the guys.

"Mom!" Bailey whined.

"No Mrs.Baker, she's cool." Kevin replied with a smile.

"Alright, well I'm going to steal her for a few." her mom smiled, then motioned to Bailey to follow her.

"I'll see you later guys." she said before waving to the boys, then followed her mom off the bus.

"Joe, we've gotta talk." Kevin said, looking his brother in the eyes

Written By: Jenno

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