Elections over here. Pretty wild. Thought I'd just mention it.
Title and story is based on the song 'She's Got You High' by Mumm-Ra. Should've probably mentioned the first time, but, oh well. Give it a listen, it's a killer song. This chapter's more of a really long conversation between brothers, it wasn't supposed to be, but I guess I went overboard again.
Hope you enjoy it anyway, I worked hard on it.
It's her. That's definitely her.
Brown hair, slightly wavy and framing her oval face perfectly; slighlty tanned skin, a little darker from when I last saw her; bright, shining almond eyes, and a petite figure, complemented perfectly with a dark yellow burdois sort of top and a short leather tulip skirt with a black studded belt. A little casual and hardcore for a wedding, but she's gorgeous anyway. She's always been beautiful, in her own unique way.
"Macy?," Stella abruptly says, shoving me to the side. I stumble, and almost fall flat on my face, which I thank God no one saw. She doesn't know her own strength. As I get back on my feet, I look back up at her, and her mouth is wide open, her eyes are probably bigger than the 'O' that is her mouth, and breathing is a little shorter and quicker than usual.
The girl smiles, and squints her eyes slightly as she tilts her head to the side. Of course I would note everything that she would do.
"Hi Stells," she says in that addictingly gentle, angelic voice of hers, "sorry I'm late."
Stella shrieks, in joy, I guess, and attacks her with a big bear hug and several vague-sounding squeals. Macy calmly replies with a grin, and hugs back with almost as much force.
"My turn, sweetie," Joe says, carefully pulling his new bride away from her best friend, and then he gives Macy another hug, except a little more back-breaking, to which she answers with a soft "oof", before attempting to hug back as hard as she can.
"Glad you were able to make it, Misa," he says once he releases her, patting her shoulder gently.
"Glad you two finally tied the knot," she said, grinning as she brought the bouquet to her face, as if she was trying to catch it's scent.
"Macy of school?!," Kevin finally comes into the picture, pushing me aside (which everyone seems to enjoy doing so much now) to get a better view of the newcomer. I have to hold in my laughter, because he has that look of weird cluelessness on his face that I haven't exactly seen since high school.
"Kevin of JONAS," she says cheerfully, giggling that infectious little laugh of hers when Kevin proceeds to hug her as well, though not as hard or rough as the other two.
As I watch her go on to hug Frankie, my parents, who have finally gotten out of their seats, Stella's mom, and everyone else she recognizes, the more and more I want to grab her hand, pull her close to me, and wrap my arms around her. I want to breathe in her perfume, bury my face into her soft hair, kiss her forehead, and tell her I missed her, and how much I want her back.
But I can't. No matter how much I tell myself that I have to do this, I can't.
I walk away from the scene reluctantly, intending to go back to the tables, but I am once again pulled to the side my oldest brother, who still watches me with apprehension and seriousness.
"Don't wrinkle the plastic," I say, trying to pull my arm away from his surprisingly strong grip. He finally loosens his hold after a few minutes, and I am able to step away from him, but his stare doesn't falter. Funny, because he was acting like a teenager again a little while ago; now, he looks pissed as hell.
"Are you mad at me, or anything, because-" I try to say, but he waves his hand, shaking me off.
"No, no, just a little concerned for you," he says, putting his arm around my shoulder to direct me away from everyone, "I think I did have a little too much to drink, after all."
"You might have," I reply, desperately trying not to look him straight in the eye, "and what do you mean concerned? I'm doing fantastic."
"You know you never look me in the eye when you're lying, right?", he says, and he's smirking at me.
"You're one to talk," I say, glaring at him, "at least I don't sound like I'm part of Alvin and the Chipmunks when-"
"Okay, okay," he says, waving his hand again, "I get your point."
I stare at him, spinning the garter around my finger. And then, I ask him, pretty absent-mindedly, "what were you doing here again?"
He glances at me, then he rests his arm on my shoulder, takes a deep breath, and says, "I think, I forgot."
"Good to know," I reply, trying to leave him, but again, he grabs my arm.
"I was kidding," he says, smirking,"you should know that out of all the people to take seriously, I'm not exactly one of them."
"I don't really have a lot of time for this-"
"No, I think you do," he says to me, "Stella's introducing her to everybody on the guest list, and you should know how long that is."
I freaking planned the list; of course I know how many people there are.
"Then why are you here?"
"I would think," he begins, rubbing his chin like the drama queen that he is, "that if someone had seen a person they hold very close to their hearts for the first time in quite a while,
they would either be immensely hurt, angry like the devil, head over heels in love, or majorly effed up."
"Still not using the F word, huh?"
"I have a kid now, Nicholas, I wouldn't be the best dad if I did," he replies, waving his hand again, but with more flourish, "so, which is it?"
"Why would I want to tell you?," I ask him, trying to give him the most serious face I can.
"You're effed up," he says, giving me a knowing look, "you have all the symptoms."
"Did you read Cosmo again-"
"Dani never let's me buy Men's Health anymore," he replies indignantly.
"Well, what makes you think that you're the one I need to talk to?," I ask him.
"Well, Mr. Prez, for one, dad is way too busy thinking about the expenses for this wedding; we're over the budget by around ten thousand bucks, did you know that? Joe would never take you that seriously, and he would probably just make fun of you by posting this up on Twitter or something. And let's face it, Frankie's making the rounds. He's had more girlfriends than the three of us combined; he obviously wouldn't know how this feels. So, you're stuck with the married dude. You really don't have any other choice."
"What about Stella?," I suggest randomly.
"Do you want to die, Nicho-"
"Nevermind, forget I ever mentioned it," I cut him off, swinging the garter around my index finger again. What the hell am I doing?
He just stares intently at me, his hands deep into his pockets. He's never going to leave me alone.
"Do I have to do it?," I finally say, because his staring is just starting to creep me out, "I mean, I don't really have to put this thing on her, right?"
"You may be Nick Lucas, but you're not that powerful," he answers with a smirk. He's probably just upset that his stare just made me scared instead of making me think he knew something, "nothing will change ther minds."
"It's not like we have to do it," I say, but instead of coming off convincing, it appears to be more desperate than anything, "we looked it up in WikiAnswers to be sure, and it says there that it's not exactly a real wedding tradition-"
"But we all agreed that it would be fun," he reminds me, giving me another smirk, most probably just to get me pissed off, "and we wanted a fun wedding, remember? Well, actually, Joe wanted the fun wedding, but what the hell, right? It's his day."
"But-"
"You were all for it then-"
"I didn't know then that I was the one who was going to catch it," I tell him matter-of-factly, though I am sure it has no real effect on him. "Or Macy, for that matter."
"Well, what are you going to do about it? No getting out of this one, Nick."
"But I don't really feel the need to pull that stupid thing up her leg," I mutter, looking off again to the side.
"Nick?"
"What?"
"Not only are you lying," he says to me, shaking his head discreetly, "but now, you look like you've had as much to drink as I did. You're making this officially the best day I've had in a long time."
Damn him for taking such great joy in my personal downfalls. "I hate this stupid garter," I tell him, holding up the piece gingerly, "and I hate that stupid bouquet, no matter how pretty it is."
"Well, we did it at my wedding, and look at the people who caught them now," he says, then he nods slightly to my right. I turn my back to see Joe and Stella, giving one another quick pecks every thirty seconds to please the crowd. They still have no shame.
"I still think that was rigged," I tell him after seeing them kiss one more time.
"They still ended up getting married," he added.
"But I don't want to get married, much less to Macy," I reply, but even I'm not entirely convinced.
"If you're gonna keep looking away from me, I'm afraid I can't exactly help you-"
"Well, what are you going to tell me to do, Kev?"
"Well, for one-"
"That was a rhetorical question-"
"Too late, I took you seriously," he says, holding up his hand to shut me up, "why don't you just try talking to her?"
"I was afraid you'd be saying that," I say, running my hand through my wild curls.
I have great hair, don't I?
"Hear me out," he says, grabbing my arm so I am forced to withdraw my hand from my locks, "maybe she wants to talk to you too, but she's probably just nervous because she thinks you don't feel so accomodating to her right now. Why don't you save her from the agony, and just start up a conversation?"
"Why do I have to-"
"You honestly expect her to come up to you when the last time you two talked was a shouting match at the airport five years ago?," he points out, waiting for my reaction.
Oh, he's good.
"I just wanted her to stay," I tell him in the softest tone I can give, and I glance back behind me. Carl's doing his stupid clumsy robot walk behind her, and she's laughing along with Joe and Frankie. Am I the only one who finds that irritating?
"Well, there she is now. Take whatever chances you have, right? You might not get another one," he says, nodding his head again towards her.
"What if she doesn't want to talk, you know I don't like being rejected," I say, turning my attention away from her and back to him.
'Macy isn't the type to hurt someone on purpose," he comments.
"Doesn't make it any less painful," I reply, "but if ever I do go walk over to her, what are we going to talk about? She'll probably just go on and on gushing about how her new boyfriend is so much more buff than I am-"
"How are you so sure that she's fallen out of love with you, and she's fallen in love with somebody else?," he says, and for once, he makes me ponder and think, but not for the reason he thinks.
"Since when did you get so deep?," I ask him, and he grins toothily. I think he took it as a compliment.
"When you have a wife and a kid, it tends to affect the way you think a little," he informs me, grinning even wider.
"Huh," I contemplate after hearing his answer, "I thought it would be the high amount of alcohol in your system."
"It might be that too," he replies, patting my shoulder gently, "but it still made you think, right?"
"I guess it did," I say to him, and I'm pretty sure I'm fidgeting a little more than usual. Geez, since when did I fidget in the first place? "I still don't think I can do it-"
"Oh, come on, after that epic line?," he whines, and I'm sure that's a pout he's trying to make, "you're Nick 'gonna-be-president-in-thirty-something-years' Lucas! If you could survive in this music thing for more than ten years and still be busy, then I think you could survive a thirty minute chat with a girl."
"But this isn't just any girl, Kev," I tell him, shaking off what he calls his 'epic line', "this is Macy 'the-only-girl-who's-ever-caught-me-speechless' Misa we're talking about. I wouldn't even know what to say to her, and I'm not sure if she's really the girl that I really want to spend forever with, and forever's a long time, Kev-"
"Oh, she's the girl alright, Prez."
"That's just it, how are you guys so sure, and I'm not-"
"God, for someone who's three points from being a genius, you're pretty dense, Nick," he says, pulling me further away from the crowd before going on to say, "you yourself said that she's one of the few people who's ever had you speechless. Sure, you don't talk a lot, but you never have nothing to say. You say that she's the person you want to have kids with, so tell me, can you imagine a future without her in it?"
"Well, I-"
"No, I didn't think so," he finishes off before I can answer, "and we just know it, Nick. We saw it in you back then, when she first gave you that black eye that made you cancel the tour-"
"I didn't want to look like a pirate-"
"Don't interrupt, I'm on a roll," he says, halting me with his hand, "but you never really got mad at her, because you thought she was cute. We saw it when you guys were dating; you've never laughed as much as you did when you were with her, and you did your best work then. When she left, you were out of it for the longest time. I don't remember the last time you ever talked back at mom or dad like that since then. And Nick, admit it, you've tried, oh, God knows you've tried to get over her, but we all know how those attempts ended up. We're sure of it. Joe, Stella, me, Dani, well, Adam's not old enough yet, so," he says, ticking off his fingers, "mom, dad, God, even Frankie noticed. Trust me, Nick, we definitely don't want the Disney slut for you."
I look up at him, and I finally see that he's being serious. Deadly serious. But I'm just not buying it, even after what he'll call his 'epic speech'. It wasn't as life-changing as he thinks it is.
"Well, what am I going to tell her?," the pessimist in me asks out loud, "that I love her? That I miss her, and I want her back? That I'm sorry for being such an ass and making her want to leave in the first place?"
"Maybe you can do the last two, she'd probably agree-"
"Probably," I say, though I'm obviously not really comforted by it, "I don't really expect her to reciprocate any of my feelings."
"That's just it, younger brother," he says with a shake of his head, "you expect her to react a certain way. She's already proven that she's not one to follow the beaten path, right? You were the boyfriend, but she's the one who threw all those little surprises. Maybe she'll surprise you again."
A little more, K2. You almost got me.
"What if," I begin to say, "she doesn't surprise me, in a good way? I don't like losing; how am I gonna bounce back from that?"
He sets his eyes on me again, but this time, I really see the older brother and mature father in him. Deep.
"Then I'll figure it out with you," he replies simply, giving me a small smile. Almost, Kev.
"You would do that?"
"Why wouldn't I?," he says, his hands still stuck in his pockets, "I know you well enough to know that you're going to need someone on your side."
"You're willing?"
"There's no excuse for me not to be," he answers, smiling again, "and we'll have cake with Adam while doing it."
I'm sold. Nobody can say no to my nephew and cake.
I look back again, and watch her dancing around cheerfully with the flower girls. I must have been keeping everyone waiting, wasn't I?
"Staring at her won't do anything, but I have to say, I like that top she's wearing," Kevin observes randomly.
Time to get moving.
"Getting married was the best thing you ever did," I tell him, patting his shoulder, and he just nods knowingly, giving me a smile. I face back, take a deep breath, and-
"Wait, what kind of cake do you want?"
Really, now K2? "Do you really expect me to fail-"
"No, we just need to be prepared," he says, rather logically.
"Fine, lemon chiffon," I answer just at the top of my head. It's not exactly the best time to be picky.
"Not chocola-"
"Bye, Kev," I say, and then I leave him there.
I make my way through the crowd, ignoring a few girls, who are obviously not guests here, who tried to take a picture with me (how did they get through security?), and my very excited mother, and then, without me really knowing it, I'm right behind her. She giggles suddenly, and I forget for a split second for why I'm there. I could just stand there, and listen to her laugh and talk, like the way I used to.
Now, I realize how much of a sap I am.
But somehow, I'm okay with that.
I lean in a little, just enough to reach her ears, and then, I greet her the way I always do.
I blow into her ear gently.
She looks up, almost expectantly, and turns around slightly, enough for me to look intently at her. Aand then, a grin breaks out on her face, something I definitely did not really expect.
"Nick!"
"Hi, Mace."
I am the first to admit that the stuff I write doesn't really have much a story for a backbone. I rely more on lines from the characters, and I'm not really sure if I'm that good at it. Ah, well. It's still fun.
I like reading comments. I wish I had more to read though. :)) I'm new on the block, so be gentle.