Best Friend's Little Brother

Chapter Three

Matt sat alone in the empty classroom, except for Mr. Diggs, waiting for the detention bell to ring and release him. Cursing himself again for getting stuck in detention on today of all days. If he was lucky he'd get to Tony's house in time to help them load everything up before they headed to the club where the show was at.

"Mr. McGuire, you look anxious to get out of here. Got some big plans for the weekend?" Matt returned the smile from the substitute, he'd always liked Mr. Diggs.

"Yeah. We've got a show tonight and if it all goes well I've got some more plans for the weekend."

"I'm sure Ms. Sanchez will appreciate all the effort if you get a chance to follow through with all your plans." Matt stared at him, mouth opened in shock.

"How did you. . ." He started to ask, but was interrupted by a wave of the hand from Mr. Diggs.

"Jon could barely contain himself in sixth period. He told me all about your plan for tonight and how you've worked up quite a weekend for yourself and Ms. Sanchez."

Matt rolled his eyes as he shook his head. "Jon's never been one to keep thing's quiet. Makes for great stage presence, even if it is extremely annoying to deal with as a friend."

"Well, it was slightly my fault. He invited me to the show and I asked what songs you guys are playing because you have a few originals I really like and was hoping you'd be playing them, and he took that opportunity to tell me about one particular song." Matt could not help but join in the soft laughter that followed the sub's words.

"That's Jon for you. Anyway, are you coming?"

"Have I ever missed a single show yet? Well, except for that time I had to take Ethan to the emergency room when he twisted his ankle by falling in a hole while chasing clouds again."

"Yeah, that's the reason we haven't played in the park again. We can't stop laughing long enough to actually play any music." Matt started laughing again just remembering how Ethan had been going on and on about how the cloud looked like the donkey from Shrek, even while wincing in pain from his ankle he'd tried to get someone to agree with him.

"I personally thought the cloud looked more like a frog than a donkey."

"Well, the only ass I saw was trying to keep his ankle from being shook around. . ."

"Language, Mr. McGuire." Matt turned around in his seat to find Ms. Ungermeyer standing just inside the doorway. "Your free to go though. Just try not to coat anymore jockstraps with icy hot, next time I'll let the basketball team come up with an appropriate punishment."

"Yes ma'am." Matt said with an innocent smile, trying to keep from laughing as he remembered the looks on the faces of the team as they sprinted through the halls towards the pool.

"The swimming team wasn't too happy about being jumped on either. Although, and you can never repeat this, I've never seen our team move so fast."

Matt let go of the laughter he'd been holding in. Smiling still, he grabbed his book bag from the back of the chair and quickly dashed down the halls and out of the building, running to Tony's house. When he was a block away, Jason pulled up beside him in his car.

"Four huh?" He rolled his eyes and waved Matt over. "Get in stupid, we've already got everything at Tony's mom's club, I was sent to see if I could find you somewhere."

Matt jumped into the passenger seat and they drove off to the show. Matt suddenly felt himself getting nervous as the number of hours until he put his heart out in front of everyone dwindled down.

"You okay, Matt? You're looking a little pale."

"I'm fine, just getting a little. . .nervous." He looked over at his friend and forced a smile.

"Wow, you've never been nervous. Not even for our first show. You must really like this girl." All Matt could manage in response was a slow nod. A minute or so latter they were pulling up in the back of the club and Matt was nearly tackled to the ground by Tony when he got out of the car.

"You just couldn't resist pulling a prank, could you? That's the Matt I know and love, and want to have his babies." Matt rolled his eyes at the huge goofy grin on the face of his friend. "Jesus, Jason. I knew you were a sucky driver, but he looks like he's about to hurl!" Tony said as he looked at Matt.

"Hey, that's not from my driving. Our little Matt is nervous about singing his song tonight." Jason said defensively. "And if you don't like the way I drive, no one ever said you have to get me to drive you places and waste my gas."

"Matt's nervous? Man, you've really got it bad then." Tony said, ignoring the rest of what Jason had said.

The three of them walked inside to find Jon running around in a frenzy trying to get everything set up. "Nice of you guys to decide to help me get this all set up." He growled before crawling under the three foot stage to find some cords or to run them somewhere.

"Who said we were here to help?" Tony asked before grabbing Jon's feet that were sticking out from under the stage and pulling him quickly back out.

"You jackass, you made me smack my head." Jon yelled as he stood up, rubbing the back of his head, looking about ready to kill someone. "And you'd better get to setting this crap up or I'm finding your mom."

Tony went to mock attention and saluted Jon. "In that case, where do you need me boss?"

Ignoring the sarcasm Jon started delegating tasks to the three of them before dropping back down to the floor and crawling back under the stage.

"Anyone remember what I was supposed to do?" Tony asked with a big grin.

"Drums! Set up your damn drums!" Jon's muffled shouts came from under the stage. With that they spent the next hour getting everything set and tested so they were ready for when the doors opened.

"Hey boys." They turned their attention to the woman walking out from the office door behind the DJ booth off to the side of the stage. "I'm gonna start letting in the kids in about ten minutes. You guys ready?"

"With me around, how could we be anything but ready?" Tony called from behind his drum set, smiling at his mother.

"With you around it's a miracle we get anything done at all." Jon replied from his seat on his amp.

"If you guys will shut up for a second, I think we should run through any songs anyone's not completely comfortable with." Matt said, adjusting his microphone again, trying to keep his mind off of thinking of Miranda.

"Aww, he wants to make sure he gets it perfect for her." Matt threw an annoyed glare behind the drum set. "Hey, sorry! Man, good thing you don't have lasers in those eyes or you'd be minus a drummer."

"Are we playing your song last?" Jason asked. "Cause no one wrote it down on the set list."

"Yes I did, it's the last song on the list." Jon said across the stage. "I made sure when I typed it up last night. I read through the list five times to make sure I had the right order and everything from Matt's list."

"Well, you got it wrong five times. The last song on my list is. . .Tony, you jerk. Stop switching out my set lists. I swear, every show!"

The rest of them just rolled their eyes at the smile that spread across their drummer's face.

------

Miranda sat on Lizzie's bed, watching her friend go through her closet, trying to find something to wear for the night. "Lizzie, come on! We're going to be late. It's not like you have to impress Gordo or anything. You could show up at his house in a paper bag and he'd think it was the most beautiful thing in the world."

"That doesn't mean I shouldn't still try to look my best."

Miranda collapsed back onto the bed with a groan. "If you don't hurry, I'll have to start telling you about all the things your brother does that are adorable and cute." When that got her no response Miranda rolled her eyes. "Okay, you leave me no choice. Have you seen the way your brother. . ."

Lizzie cut her off quickly. "Okay, okay! How does this shirt look with the jeans on your. . .umm, left?"

"They look great Lizzie, now let's go!"

Ten minutes later they were standing on Gordo's porch, waiting for him to come out so they could drive to the club where Matt was playing.

"Miranda, calm down will you? It's not like you're going to miss anything if we get there a few minutes late. I promise Matt will be on stage the whole night so you'll have plenty of time to stare at him."

"I do not stare at him. . .all the time, much. Oh, just shut up." Lizzie laughed at her friend and gave her a small hug.

"You guys ready?" Gordo asked, nearly colliding with them as he charged out the door.

"Yes, let's get there please!" Lizzie and Gordo shared a smile at their friend's reaction. Miranda was already sitting in the backseat of Gordo's car when they got to the passenger door holding hands. They softly kissed before Gordo walked around the car and they went on their way.

"Finally!" Miranda breathed, anxious to get to the club and see Matt. She had heard some rumor about something Matt was going to do tonight for some girl and she was both excited and worried. She was excited at the thought that it was her, but there was the building anxiety in her heart that it was some other girl, and she really hoped that after the way Matt had found out about her feelings that there wasn't another girl. It was embarrassing and awkward enough for her to remember how he'd been standing on the other side of the door and heard her joke about what she thought about doing with him in her mind. Even if it was true, it was not something she had ever wanted him to hear, unless she had a chance to try out some of those thoughts of course.