Even Better
Chapter one

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Seeing her every day would be even better if I didn't have to see the way he looked at her. He loved his brother, don't get him wrong. His brother was someone he really looked up to, even though he was pretty sure that-if someone asked-his brother might say the same thing about him. Even though he was younger, the youngest to be exact. At least, he hoped his brother looked up-or down-to him like he did to him. He just wished they didn't look at the same girl in the same way.

He had already been pegged as the sensitive one, so he wasn't going to try to sweep the girl his brother wanted off her feet. That wasn't his style. Even though it killed him to watch his older, the oldest to be exact, brother's lips twist into a smile every time he saw her. Even with all the injuries she caused, he still had that same look on his face every time she walked into view. It was heartbreaking to say the least.

"Hi Kevin," She said, returning his smile with something that looked manufactured and nervous before tagging, "of JONAS." of her greeting. Kevin's smile always faltered at that. He was torn, he knew Macy adored him, but he didn't know if she adored him because of the band he was in or because of the person he was.

"Hi Macy," he said, returning her greeting, counting out how long she had paused before adding the "of JONAS" to the end and giving her the same courtesy by adding, "of school." to the end of his greeting. Macy swooned, the "of school" comment wasted on her as she swung her hockey stick in such a way that it almost made contact with the side of Nick's face. Nick, being apt to her klutzy ways, ducked it with ease.

"Hi, Nick," Macy said next, same swooning fangirl smile on her face. Nick sighed, waiting for her to add the "of JONAS" to the end of his greeting. She didn't.

"Hi, Macy," he responded after a long moment of silence. She smiled at him, but it wasn't the same smile she had given Kevin. It was then, at this moment, that he knew he didn't have a chance with her. Kevin already got her best smiles, her first greeting...He guessed it was for the best, Macy deserved someone like Kevin and Kevin deserved someone like Macy.

Nick Lucas, always the martyr.

He watched in dismay as Macy turned back to Kevin, almost whacking him in the face with her hockey stick again. Luckily he dodged it. Again. And neither of them noticed that he had just narrowly avoided getting hit. They were too busy laughing about something he had missed out on hearing when he was dodging her hockey stick and recovering from the initial shock of almost being knocked out.

A second later, he checked his watch, waved to them and stalked off down the hallway. It was painful standing there and watching his brother and the girl he wanted flirt. This wasn't like Maria and not just because Joe wasn't involved this time. Macy was their friend, a girl they had known longer, a girl they had formed connections with. This one hurt more, but Nick, being the sensitive one and knowing that his brother had been interested in her first-at least, he had mentioned his interested in Macy first-so he took a back seat and watched his worst nightmare begin to unfold.

Around the corner he ran into Stella and Joe. They were talking about something he wasn't close enough to hear yet and holding some kind of orangey colored fliers. He had never been so relieved to see them in his life.

"Hey, Nick," Stella said, handing him a flier. Nick took it and looked down at in in confusion.

"What this?" He asked, looking back up and directly at Stella.

"Some kind of Cinderella ball," Joe said, flipping his hair and rolling his eyes, "Stella conned me into helping her out."

"It's a costume party slash masquerade slash Cinderella tribute!" Stella said excitedly, handing a few more kids that passed by a flier before leaning close to say, "And I hear JONAS might perform," very loudly into his ear so everyone around them could hear as well.

"Where'd you hear that?" Joe and Nick asked together, surprised that she would insist they perform without their permission.

"From me," she responded, smirking. Nick looked down at the flier and checked the date. Lucky for Stella, they would be in town then. But she already knew that, she went with them on all their appearances. After all, what was a band without their stylist?

"I dunno, Stells," Joe piped up, "I think we might be out of town that weekend." Stella shot Joe a glare.

"I know your schedule, moron," she responded, pointing to herself with her free hand, "Stella Malone, stylist to JONAS, remember?" Joe grumbled something under his breath and rolled his eyes again.

"What if we went on a family vacation that weekend?" Joe asked, obviously getting ready to spark and argument between them. Stella glared at him, one hand on her hip. Nick took that cue to check his watch again and point down the hallway, walking in the direction he pointed.

He really needed to find something to get his mind off of Macy and writing a song just wasn't going to cut it this time.

. . . . . . . . .

I'm going for fairy tale here. I really am. I've got another one I'm writing that is fairy tale esque as well. Sorry for the kind of angsty beginning. I feel bad for Nick. It's like, Joe and Stella have the hots for each other and Macy and Kevin like each other. Who does Nick get? This makes me sad.