So, this is the one-shot I wrote for the One-shot competition and I'm making a thread for it because then it's easier for me to put in my Archive. (Yeah, I know I'm weird)
So if you've already read this. I guess you have to right to ignore it. lol. But even if you have read it or you haven't comments would be appreciated. But not necessesary I guess.
~Belles <3 [is currently baby sitting her little siblings]
What We Were Searching For
Nick stared idly out of the tour bus, watching the scenery whiz by so fast, it was nothing more than a blur. It was in these quiet moments when Nick's mind wandered, contemplating on the past, the present, even the future.
Right now he was thinking about his life about how different it was from others. When other little kids were making new friends and learning how to read and write, he was practicing to perform on Broadway. When other kids were nervously approaching their first day of Junior High School and were just starting to gain crushes and first girlfriends or boyfriends, he was recording his first solo album. And now, when other kids were just ending their freshman year of High School, he was touring the country in a band with his family. He was playing to sold out venues for vast amounts of screaming girls. He was Living the Dream.
But what if the Dream turned into a nightmare? That's what Nick was currently worried about. What if he began to lose interest in music? What if he didn't feel the need to play anymore? He was already beginning to feel a little restless about playing. The intense passion he had always had for music had begun to fade away. Songwriting wasn't coming as easily as it had. It didn't seem fun anymore. It was more like work.
Nick sighed resting his head against the cool window pane. This seemed to be an exact repeat of his soccer experience as a child. When Nick was six he convinced his mom to sign him up for a soccer team. When his first practice came around he was a little nervous, but that soon went away. He ended up having a blast learning how to pass the ball and make a goal. And as the season went on he found himself having even more fun. They won some games. They lost some. But it didn't seem to matter either way.
So when the time came around to sign up again next year, Nick was eager to do so. He remembered how much fun it was and couldn't wait to do it all again. His second season of soccer proved to be almost as much fun as his first. There seemed to be a little bit more focus on improving your game and winning, but other than that it was fun. So of course when his third season came around, Nick signed up for that too.
But that season proved to be different from the rest. The coach found out that Nick seemed to be a natural on the soccer field and used that for the team's benefit to win more games. The coach worked him harder than anybody else, teaching him tricks meant for people older than him, but Nick caught on quickly. That season brought a whole lot less fun, and a whole lot more work. His team was nearly undefeated, but not quite and that made some of them very sad.
When the next time to sign up for soccer rolled around Nick's old teammates begged and pleaded for him to sign up again, so he did. He seemed to have a silly hope that this year might be different, this year might be fun again. It wasn't. The coach worked him even harder, and there was even more focus on winning. Nick didn't disappoint them. He worked as hard as he could and scored a lot of goals. It was safe to say that Nick was the team's Golden Boy.
Every passing year soccer became less and less fun and Nick's urge to quit grew larger and larger. He found solace in his music and his Broadway practices. Being on Broadway meant he couldn't make all the soccer practices, but he still made it to most of the games. And when he made it to the games he always dominated, because that's what soccer was all about now. Not just winning, but demolishing. It wasn't enough to beat the other team, you had to beat them so bad they wouldn't know what hit them.
By the time Nick had acquired his first record deal he had made the big decision to quit the team. He hoped that they'd be understanding if he told then he had to quit because juggling soccer, school, a record deal, and family life would be too much. They were a little upset, but understood.
After that Nick refused to even touch a soccer ball. Not even his brother's could convince him to play a short game, because whenever he saw that ball, memories of how awful he felt during the last few years of playing entered his head.
And now he was afraid the same thing was going to happen with his music. What if he woke up one day and couldn't play at all? What if he couldn't write anymore songs? What if he had no choice but to quit? Would his fans still love him then? Would his family still love him?
Nick wasn't so sure. And that scared him.
He ran his fingers through his curls as if to get rid of all his depressing thoughts. Just then a loud bang could be heard and the bus jumped. Nick didn't have any time to question what had just happened before another loud bang sounded and the bus jumped again.
“What was that?” He finally got out.
“I think two of our tires just popped.” Joe said, unsure.
“Yes, that's what happened. Unfortunately we only have one spare, so we can't change them until we get to the next town.” Nick's dad explained.
“How long until we get there?” Frankie asked.
“Not very long.” Mr. Jonas answered.
Everybody in the bus fell silent hoping that the next town was close, because the bus ride was getting bumpier and louder with every passing second. The seconds turned into minutes which seemed like days and years until they finally reached the next town.
While Mr. and Mrs. Jonas were talking to the mechanic about cost and time Nick sat down and tried again to write his song. He'd been working on it for almost two weeks now and it was frustrating him with every passing second. Usually it took him about a day to write a song, granted the song was never perfect or complete at the end of that day, but all the basics were there: the melody and lyrics. But this song, this song wasn't coming together as quickly. In fact it didn't seem to be coming together at all.
Whenever he thought about the song snippets of a melody and words of incomplete phrases would slip into his mind while slipping out just as quickly. It was like no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't grasp even the edges of the song that continued to dance playfully right out of his reach.
He growled in frustration, hating the fact that he was trying so hard for something that should come so easily to him.
“Hey Nick. Mom and Dad said it'll be a few hours until it's fixed and we were going to walk around the town. You in?” Kevin asked, breaking Nick out of thoughts.
“Sure. Why not.” Nick replied following his two older brothers out of the shop and into the stifling summer heat.
They walked around for a bit finding the quaintness of the small town quite comforting. “Hey look! A candy store!” Joe exclaimed pointing to the cheerful looking store in front of them. “Let's go in.” He said excitedly already pushing the door open. Nick could hear the small bell ring signaling the entrance of a costumer.
“You coming Nick?” Kevin questioned, one foot in the door, waiting for an answer.
Nick debated for a few seconds. To go or not to go? “Nah,” said. “I think I'll just walk around a bit more.”
“Ok. We'll call you if we need to.” Kevin answered walking into the store, leaving Nick all alone on the sidewalk.
Nick stared at the store for a few more seconds before continuing his journey in search of something to keep him entertained. A little while later Nick found himself staring at a field full of teenagers. He wasn't exactly sure when he had made the transition from sidewalk to green grass, but that seemed of little relevance. Right now, all that mattered was figuring out who these people are and what they were doing.
It didn't take long to answer those questions. They were random people playing soccer.
Nick stared at the group before him. There seemed to be a huge age range. The youngest around 10 and the oldest possibly Kevin's age. The best part of it all was, they seemed to be having fun. He couldn't stop staring at them, but all the same, it came as a surprise to him when the traditional black and white soccer ball came flying towards him.
Nick head butted it as if on instinct, but did nothing else as it gently flew through the air landing just a few feet in front of him. A petite girl with honey blonde hair in a high ponytail came running from the field over to the ball. She picked it up and held it with one arm against her hip staring at Nick.
“Do you wanna play?” She questioned as if they were old friends and not complete strangers.
“You don't even know me.” Nick replied, dodging the question.
She thought for a bit before saying, “Doesn't matter. Do you want to play?”
Nick didn't have an answer for that. Did he want to play? Usually the automatic answer would be no. But they seemed to be having so much fun and he was so bored. And besides he hadn't touched a soccer ball in years and his feet were itching to see if he would be able to still perform his old tricks. His mind was racing but his mouth said nothing.
“Hey Sarah!” A pretty brunette girl from the field yelled. “Would you please stop flirting with the cute stranger and get your butt over here with our ball?! We're getting kinda bored!”
The girl in front of me, whose name I figured to be Sarah, blushed a pretty delicate pink and without breaking eye contact with me yelled back. “Jenny! I'm not flirting! I'm asking him to play! He hasn't answered yet so just CHILL!” She gave me a small smile and said. “Sorry. That was my best friend Jenny. She's a little outspoken and really impatient. So, you got an answer yet?”
“I'm Nick.” He blurted out, feeling the need to tell her his name.
She just raised her eyebrow at him, her smile never faltering.
“And I'd love to play.” He finished, smiling unsure of what he'd just done.
Sarah's smile grew bigger as she said, “You can be on my team. I'll point out our people on the field. Just try to keep up, 'kay?”
Nick grinned knowing that keeping up wouldn't be a problem. “Okay.” He followed the vibrant girl onto the field. She threw the ball watching as the other team ran to obtain possession of it.
The first fifteen minutes Nick spent playing closely near Sarah. Every now and then she'd point someone out and be like, “Oh that's Johnny, he's not on our team.” or “That's Dave, he's on our team, but his sister Bridget, the blonde over there, isn't.”
Even though Sarah made a point of telling him who was on what team Nick could already tell that none of this was taken to seriously. Sometimes Sarah had no clue what team someone was on. That's when she'd have to ask them and then wonder whether they were telling the truth or not. Either way she would just laugh and smile and continue playing the game she loved so much.
So far Nick hadn't been playing his best. He was playing decently enough, nothing too horrible, but also nothing shockingly amazing. He was keeping his cool, afraid that if he started to actually put his whole heart into it and play his best somehow it would become less of a fun game and more of a vicious competition.
There was a tense moment near the end when Nick had the ball and was going straight for the opponent's goal. The rush he got from dodging defenders and making it all the way to the goal was exhilarating, but once he got there he didn't know what to do. He could make a particular tricky shot that he had successfully executed during his previous years of soccer or he could pass it and hope for the best.
Nick decided on the latter. He gave the ball a swift kick to a youngish looking girl. There was a look of surprise on her face, but it was if her body reacted on instinct. She kicked the ball with all her might and yelped in delight as she watched it sail into the goal.
The rest of her team ran up to her hoisting her onto their shoulders while singing their praises of her. She was positively glowing as they walked her around the field. Even the opposing team joined in on the celebration. Nick stayed off to the side watching it all with a silly little grin on his face. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Sarah walking up to him.
“That was really nice of you.” She smiled.
Nick looked at her, waiting for an explanation of what she was talking about.
“It was nice that you let Crystal make the goal. She's been really down on herself, saying how she's never gonna play soccer again because of how much she sucks. But because of you she made her first goal and is truly happy with herself. That was nice of you.”
Nick grinned, “No problem.”
“Of course you probably only passed it to her, because you knew you wouldn't be able to make the shot from where you were standing.”
He raised his eyebrow, “Is that so?”
Sarah's eyes twinkled as she replied, “Yeah, that's so.”
“Ok, stand where the goalie was and we'll see whether I could've made that shot or not.”
“Ok.” Sarah walked over to the goal as the rest of the players began to pack up and head home, Crystal still on the shoulder's of her brother, smiling brightly.
Nick kicked the ball around a bit and then in a lightning fast move kicked it into the upper corner of the goal, missing Sarah's out stretched hands and hitting the white net.
She pouted a bit, “Lucky shot. Bet you couldn't do that again. Better yet, bet you couldn't get anything in with me as a defender and goalie.”
“You're that sure of yourself?” Nick asked doubtfully.
“You bet.”
He nodded his head and stopped the ball with his feet when Sarah kicked it to him from the goal. He stood there for a second before springing into action. Sarah proved to be a worthy opponent. She seemed to know exactly what to do and when to do it. She was blocking Nick's every attempt. After a few minutes he found himself becoming slightly frustrated over not getting past her so quickly so as she came towards him one last time to try and steal the ball, Nick pulled a fancy move to get around her and kicked the ball in the direction of the goal, watching in satisfaction as it hit the net.
“How'd you do that? Where'd you learn that? Why didn't you use that during the game?” Sarah asked staring at Nick in shock.
He just gave her a mysterious smile and said, “That's for me to know and for you to find out.”
Sarah stared at him as if that would help her solve the puzzle that was Nick.
“Bye, I gotta go.” Nick said eventually. Realizing how long he'd been playing soccer.
“Oh. Ok. I guess... I'll see you... well no I probably won't so... uh.. bye.” Sarah said.
Nick looked at her, both of them wanting to do something, say something, so that the other wouldn't leave without some sort of way to contact each other again. But both of them said nothing. Instead Nick turned and walked away as Sarah watched him. As he grew smaller and smaller she picked up the soccer ball and turned in the opposite direction to her home.
After everyone fell asleep in the hotel, Nick grabbed his guitar and walked outside. When he had come back from playing soccer he'd found out from his parents that while the mechanics were fixing the tires, they found something wrong with the engine. It wasn't too major, but the whole family would have to stay the night in this town until it got fixed. They'd still be able to make the show tomorrow night though, so that was good.
And now as night fell upon the small town Nick was hoping that he'd be able to finally catch the elusive song. He thought since he'd played soccer today and actually had fun, that he might be able to play the guitar and enjoy it again. He thought that he might be able to write the song that had been avoiding him.
As he came to the soccer field Nick sat down in the middle of it and pulled out his guitar. He strummed a few cords, getting the feel of it. Then proceeded to play random melodies. He didn't know how long he'd been sitting there trying to find the right sound and lyrics for his song, but he didn't care. If at all possible, the night seemed to be getting darker as Nick became more upset. It just wasn't coming together like it was supposed to.
Nick tried another chord, but it didn't feel right. He frowned, unable to decided what he should do now that catching the song seemed hopeless.
“Hey Stranger. Follow me.” A voice called out from behind me.
He turned around to find Sarah there a mysterious smile of her own playing on her lips. Without any words or questions, Nick followed her. She walked across the field and into the woods, following a path only she seemed to know of.
When she stopped Nick looked on in wonder. It was like a place from a book or movie. A small clearing in the forest with a delicate pond in the middle. The soft green grass surrounding it. Plants scattered around the pond and in the pond. And the dense wood surrounding all of it, making it a peaceful place of solitude. Making it almost magical.
Nick immediately sat down, pulling out his guitar once again. But there was a difference, he could feel it. As soon as his fingers found their place on the guitar and new melody seemed to come from within almost instantly. It was soft and beautiful, with a feeling of magic in it. A feeling of longing and need.
Then the unexpected happened. Sarah began to sing. Her soprano voice filled the small clearing, both of them feeling as if they were in their own little world. Her made-up-on-the-spot song fit Nick's music perfectly.
Moonlight shining through the tress
Reflecting on the water
Crickets chirping all around
Melodies forgotten
Soft, cool breezes race through the air
Tickling my skin
Haunted memories rise like ghosts
Let the magic begin
The magic begins
Magic of a starry night
Spent by a pond
Magic of remembering
What we all thought we lost
Magic of needs
To be so much more
Magic of finding
What we were searching for
Find myself staring at my reflection
Is that really me?
Is that person in the pond
Who I am? Or who I could be?
As thoughts dance freely around
Things come together
And things I once thought I knew
Break down, gone forever
But in this special place
The magic begins
Magic of a starry night
Spent by a pond
Magic of remembering
What we all thought we lost
Magic of needs
To be so much more
Magic of finding
What we were searching for
Oh, we were searching for
Searching for magic
Searching for that special place
Searching for magic
And we found it
As the song finished Nick and Sarah were speechless. Both of them had no clue what had just happened. It was just one of those unexpected moments where things happen that you just can't explain. Wonderful things happen. Things that change you forever.
Nick smiled at the song they'd just created. He stared at Sarah whose face was silhouetted by the moonlight. And then without a single word, he picked up his guitar and left.
For what was there to say? Any words they spoke would mean nothing and just ruin the magic of what had just happened. Besides how do you tell a person you just met that day that they had possibly saved your life? Nick didn't know how to do it. How was he supposed to tell her that in one day she had made soccer and music fun again. Had made them something that he could enjoy doing. She had potentially saved his career. Well, how do you tell a person that?
You don't. You just walk away and one day hope that you'll know the right words to say.
The next morning, before Nick and his family left, he ran to the soccer field hoping to find Sarah there.
She wasn't.
So Nick ran through the forest trying to find the clearing. Maybe she'd be there?
She wasn't.
But a note was. Nick picked it up and read it. It said:
Stranger (Nick),
If you ever need to talk.
I'll listen.
Call me. 562-2983
Nick pocketed the note and ran back to his family. He didn't call that number until about a week later. And that call was another life altering moment. That call started a beautiful friendship that may, or may not, lead to something more.
Nick wasn't thinking about what that first call would lead to as he made it though. He was thinking about how he couldn't wait until his next free day. He was planning on playing some soccer with his brothers.