LOVEBUG
“Lindsay, can you at least pretend to be paying attention?” Nick asked, and I immediately shook my head and glanced at the paper sitting in front of me. Sixty vocabulary words, all of which I needed to be able to spell. And on a lucky day, I was able to get half.
“I’m sorry Nick, I’m just, really out of it I guess,” I said quietly, sighing and dropping my pencil. I rubbed my hand over my forehead and through my hair. Nick sighed too, tossing his pencil across the table.
“You asked me to help you with spelling, not to sit here and watch you daydream about who knows what,” he said, smiling a little. “So tell me what’s on your mind, I’ll be like, your shrink for a day or something.”
“No Nick, it’s okay, really,” I replied, knowing fully that I didn’t want Nick to hear my problems. It was bad enough that I had to ask a boy who was 2 years younger than me to help me learn how to spell, but I really didn’t want him knowing the rest of my problems. “Let’s just get back to this stupid spelling stuff.”
“Whatever you say, but I swear to God, if you start daydreaming on me once more, I’ll be forced to take drastic actions,” he said, winking at me, causing me to grin. I had always had a soft spot for Nick, ever since we’d met when my Mom started working really closely with his parents. I’d been lucky enough to join them for some of the tour, but that meant doing a lot of school work on the bus as well. And on the days when Joe and Kevin would get to go out and shop, Nick and I would be stuck behind doing stupid schoolwork. And my worst subject was definitely spelling. It helped that it was his best though.
“Okay Nick, I promise I’ll pay attention to you and your wonderful teaching this time,” I said, and he laughed lightly.
“Alright, I know that you can get this word, seeing as you deal with it on a daily basis,” he said, glancing up from the piece of paper. “Please spell guitarist.”
The worst word that Nick could have picked came out of his mouth. It just brought my thoughts back to where they shouldn’t have been. I swear, Nick had a way of making me go crazy. But unlike every other teenage girl in America, it wasn’t because he was Nick Jonas. No, it was the way he incessantly seemed to talk about the one man that I loved. John Taylor.
Everything that that man did was amazing, it was just so incredible. The way he spoke, the way he laughed, the way he rocked out on stage. Sure, the three brothers always seemed to steal the show, but I was cheering just as loud for him as I was for any of them. I sighed as I looked out the window, back to my daydreams. Suddenly, I felt two hands on my stomach, tickling me in my worst ticklish spot. “Nick, stop it!” I yelled, but it was no use. He had me tackled to the floor.
“Not unless you promise to tell me why you won’t pay any attention!” He kept tickling me, in all of my worst ticklish spots. Finally, I had to cave.
“Okay, okay Nick,” I surrendered, and he pulled himself up from on top of me. “But you have to promise you won’t laugh,” I said quietly, thinking about what I was about to do.
“I promise Lindsay, we’re like, super good friends, and I’m not supposed to laugh at you when it’s a serious thing.” He had a warm, comforting smile on his face.
“Well, see, you always talk about John Taylor, and his sick guitar playing, and I, well,” I stuttered, searching for the right words. “I’ve been wondering if he could teach me how to play guitar, but I’m too nervous to ask him.” I sighed. Awkward moment successfully avoided. But Nick did laugh at this, however, and I shot him a mean glance.
“I’m sorry Lindsay, but that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” he said, closing the textbooks he had open in front of him and standing up. “Seriously, you and John talk all the time, why are you always so shy with him but not with me?” He gave me a strange glance, before he continued talking. “Come on, let’s head over to their bus and I’ll ask him to teach you to play guitar, okay? We’ll do more spelling on a day when you can actually pay attention.” He took my hand and led me out of the bus, and over to the one parked across the lot.
“John, open up, it’s Nick!” He called, and I held my breath patiently as I waited. Finally, the door opened, and there he was. Standing there, with a big grin on his face. He looked between me and Nick before he spoke.
“Well, it’s my lucky day!” He said, standing back so that Nick and I could walk into the bus. “I get two visitors! This is more than I got all of last week!”
“You’re a funny one, JT,” Nick said. “But anyways, Lindsay and I came over here because she couldn’t focus on anything school related, and since I have to get some biology done, so I was wondering if you’d mind maybe teaching her some guitar stuff for a while,” Nick said, turning to me and giving me a wink. I returned a smile, silently thanking him for not telling John Taylor why he thought I was really there. John smiled at me, making me go weak at the knees.
“Sure, I’d love to help Lindsay out,” he said, as Nick turned and left the bus. John turned around and grabbed two guitars, before motioning me towards the couch and handing me one.
“So, you want to learn some chords and stuff?” He asked, smiling as I nodded. He started showing me how to play, casually making small talk as he showed me different chords and notes. I picked it all up quickly, and before I knew it, I was playing the melody to Lovebug. “Now I’m speechless, over the edge I’m just breathless, I never thought that I’d catch this, Lovebug again,” I sang to myself quietly, strumming my guitar along with John, before I realized that he had stopped playing and was watching me sing, listening to my every word and note. I stopped playing, worried that I had done something wrong, as silence filled the air between us.
“You picked that up quickly,” he said, filling the awkward silence that had overtaken us. I smiled, blushing.
“I guess, but you really helped me out,” I said, setting the guitar down next to me as he did the same. “Is there any reason why you picked to teach me that song?” I asked, going out on a limb, trying to deepen the conversation a bit. He sighed, and turned away from me, facing out the window.
“Well, Lindsay, that song is such a great one, the boys did a great job with it,” he said, but I could tell there was more. I sat silently, waiting to hear him continue. “I guess, well, it’s hard for me to say this to you, but whenever I hear that song, I think of you.” My heart stopped beating for a moment, as it caught in my throat. I couldn’t really believe what I was hearing. I didn’t speak, didn’t move, and I could feel his gaze burning on me as I looked away. Finally, he stood up, heading towards the door.
“John,” I said quietly, finally managing to speak. “Whenever I hear that song, I think about you too.”
