Sorry this took so long!!! Enjoy!!!!
“Earth to Joe!!!!” Danielle practically yelled at him. “You ready to go?”
Joe just nodded. He got up and waited with Nick and Danielle while Kevin went and paid. He saw the waiter that waited on mystery girl. A fire of jealousy burned through him as he cleaned off and wiped down the table that they were sitting at. Lucky jerk, he thought bitterly. He got to talk to her, and she was halfway decent to him. More than that, she was full on flirting with him. Because HE’S not a rock star…HE didn’t blow up at a perfect stranger on the radio where thousands of people were tuning to…He probably even knew her name…
“Wait!” Joe whispered.
Nick turned to look at his brother. “We are waiting.”
Joe didn’t pay attention to what Nick was saying. He walked over to the waiter, and tapped him politely on the shoulder. “Excuse me?” he asked.
The guy turned around. “Yeah?” he answered.
“That…girl that you waited on, the one you were flirting with--”
“I wasn’t flirting with her,” he said defensively.
Joe put his hands up. “One, yes you were, and two, it doesn’t matter to me if you were or not. I just wanted to ask a question about her.”
The guy leaned in towards Joe. “I’m not supposed to flirt with customers,” he explained in a low, quiet voice.
Joe nodded in understanding. “Well, all I want to know is if you found out the girl’s name.”
He shook his head. “Nope, I didn’t. She paid with cash, or else I could look on the restaurant credit/debit receipt for you.”
“Okay. Thanks anyway, man.”
He went back to cleaning off the table. Joe turned around and started walking out with the his family, when the waiter stopped him with his voice. “She caught your attention, too, huh?” he asked.
Joe stopped and turned back to face the waiter. “Yeah, I guess you could say that.”
“I thought she was interested in me,” the waiter added, more to himself than Joe. “She did initiate the flirting…continued with it until…” He looked at Joe. “Until you and your group showed up.” A flare of hatred flickered in his eyes. “You made her stop.”
“Are you saying that we had something to do with her lack of flirting with you?” Nick asked, coming up behind Joe.
“Maybe she just wasn’t interested, buddy,” Kevin added, flanking Joe on his other side.
“If you ask me,” Danielle spoke up. “She could’ve been scared. I mean, from an outsider’s point of view, you did seem a little too forward.”
The waiter’s eyes went wide for a moment of fear and then he stuttered out his words. “W-well, I-I wasn’t-t flirt-ting with-th her that m-much.” He looked back behind the counter, no doubt checking for his manager.
“Riiiiight,” Nick said, unconvinced. “Well, we’re just going to go on our way.” He smiled a fake, toothy smile. “Have a nice day.”
They all walked out and climbed into the car.
“Thanks for the back-up, guys,” Joe said as Kevin pulled out of his parking spot and drove down the road.
“Anytime,” they all answered. Laughter filled the car instantly. Once it quieted, Kevin reached for the radio and turned the volume up.
Rebecca drove down the road, the California summer wind whipping through her hair. The volume on her radio was turned up so loud that she could hear through the howling air that flowing through the car. She sang along to the songs, and flipped to another station when commercials came on.
“I USED TO BE LOVE DRUNK, BUT NOW I’M HUNGOVER!!!!” Rebecca sang at the top of her lungs as she sped down the road. “LOVE YOU FOREVER, FOREVER IS OVER! WE USED TO KISS ALL NIGHT, NOW IT’S JUST A BAR FIGHT! SO DON’T CALL ME CRYIN’, SAY ‘HELLO’ TO GOODBYE!! ‘CAUSE JUST ONE SIP WOULD MAKE ME SICK! I USED TO BE LOVE DRUNK, BUT NOW I’M HUNGOVER! LOVE YOU FOREVERRRRRRRRR! BUT NOW IT’S OVER!!!!”
Rebecca rocked out to the rest of the song. As the song came to an end, she reached for the radio to change the station, expecting a commercial, when a new song faded in. She sank back and tapped her fingers against the steering wheel along with the guitars. A sexy, smooth, yet edgy, rock voice came through the speakers.
“I’m hot, you’re cold, you go around like you know who I am, but you don’t. You’ve got me on my toes,” the voice sang.
Another voice came in. It was noticeably from someone younger, and slightly whiny, but not to the point of annoyance, and had that similar quality that the previous singer had. “I’m slippin’ into the lava, and I’m tryin’ to keep from goin’ under. Baby, who turned the temperature hotter? ’Cause I’m burnin’ up, burnin’ up for you, baby.”
Then the sexy voice came back. “I fell so fast, I can’t hold myself back. High heels, red dress, all by yourself gotta catch my breath.”
The song continued, and Rebecca found herself singing along to the chorus by the end of it, being completely taken by surprise by the random rap in the middle of it. But she enjoyed it immensely. The DJ’s voice came in then, and she reached for the dial.
“And that was ’Burnin’ Up’ by the Jonas Brothers, and before that was Boys Like Girls with ’Love Drunk’…” but his voice drifted into the background and turned into nonsensical words as Rebecca’s mind focused on two words: Jonas Brothers.
“That was Joe!” she said aloud, turning down the radio all the way down. “That was his band…his voice…his sexy, perfect, rock star voice…” Her mind drifted off as she thought about Joe, and a huge smile stretched across her face. It took a moment for something to click in her head, and she shook her head to clear it. “Yeah right, don’t even worry about him, Becca. He’s a hot-shot rock star. You’ll never see him again.”
She turned the radio back up and changed the station. It seemed like a station that wouldn’t play something of his…er…theirs. They were just coming back from commercial, and the DJ started in right away on the next string of songs. A rock song, obviously covered with Timbaland’s “remix”, came on. “Well here we are again…”
“Are you kidding me?!” Rebecca exclaimed. Exasperated, she turned off her radio and listened to the sound of the wind rushing through her car. “Is there one freakin’ station that won’t play their songs?!”
“I’m going for a drive,” Joe announced, getting up from the couch and grabbing his keys out of the basket and opened the door.
“Are you okay, honey?” asked Mrs. Jonas
“Yeah, I’m fine, Mom. I just need to be alone right now.” He analyzed the worried look that was sprawled over his mother’s face. “I’ll be back for dinner, I promise.”
Her face brightened up a bit. “Okay, Joseph. Be safe. Drive carefully.” She walked over to him and kissed his cheek.
“Will do, Mom,” he replied with a smile. With a little wave to the rest of the family, Joe closed the front door behind him, got in his car, and drove down the street.
At the stop sign at the end of the street, Joe closed his eyes and sighed. “One more chance, Lord,” he prayed. “Give me one more chance, and I promise I won’t mess it up with her.” Hearing a honk behind him, he proceeded forward, taking the necessary streets towards the highway. Once there, he turned on the radio. The ending of “Tonight” with Timbaland’s remix played, and he smirked to himself. The next song faded in, and the smile instantly left Joe’s face. It was “My Boo” by Usher featuring Alicia Keys. Aka his and Camilla’s song. He quickly changed the station to some country one as the middle of Taylor Swift’s “Forever & Always” was playing. Irritated, he flipped off the radio and focused all of his attention on the road in front of him.
