Suicide Doors

Chapter Three

By: Jondy Macmillan

Joe didn't believe in miracles. People promised them too often for them to be real things. The news offered miracle cures to diseases; ones discovered in exotic locales, like the Himalayas. The internet claimed that he could lose up to sixty pounds on this miracle diet. Infomercials told him he could increase his penis size with miracle pills.

Miracles weren't really miracles; they were fucking gimmicks.

But it seemed to him Friday night, the first Nick-free Friday he'd had in months, was kind of a miracle. Or at least, it promised to be. Joe hadn't been so psyched for a day to come since their last tour began, and he left for school that morning feeling good. No, better than good.

Amazing.

"What's with the shit-eating grin?" Stella asked him at lunch, "You look like you just snuck into the girls' locker room and got away with it."

"I," he announced, spreading his arms, "Am having an excellent day."

Stella rolled her eyes and muttered, "You're a rock god. You always have excellent days."

Joe frowned, "True. But this one's more excellent than most."

"Why is that?"

"Nick's date's tonight."

"The infamous date. Ah," Stella grinned, "I heard Nick's been talking about nothing else all week. Must be really pissing you off."

Well, it was true that Nick couldn't stop telling him about Penny. And maybe it had been a little annoying to hear his little brother go on and on about the girl with the angel's smile or some shit, muttering half formed song lyrics and crap poetry; but anyone would be annoyed if they heard Nick wax poetic about the same subject for hours on end.

Totally normal.

Stella didn't buy his half-smile and shrug, asking shrewdly, "Not lonely yet?"

"How could I ever be lonely when I've got you?" Joe replied, poking her in the side.

Stella giggled and squirmed away on the cafeteria bench. Joe took that as incentive to keep doing it, even as Stella laughed and shrieked, "Stop it! I'm serious, Joe!"

Joe didn't stop. Not until Stella accidentally spilled half her orange soda on his pants. Oops. She was way too ticklish for her own good.

Oh well.

He ended up changing into his gym shorts for the rest of school, anticipating his brother's reaction at the end of classes. Nick would definitely mock him for this. He always did when Joe wore shorts, telling Joe he had chicken legs and knobby knees.

Sometimes Joe missed having Kevin around as a buffer, with his dopey jokes and his silly way of looking at the world. He was such an easy target, and took most of the heat off Joe ninety percent of the time. But no, he had to be all smart and graduate.

Joe scoffed at the word in his head. What good was a high school diploma to a rockstar?

Okay, maybe education was good and all, and the members of JONAS were really trying to be good role models in the media, so graduating would come in handy for that. Still, it wasn't like graduating would do him any good personally.

Public image was just that; a disguise. Just another mask in Joe's huge repertoire. He organized it somewhere between 'good big brother' and 'innocent son'.

He was anticipating Nick's reaction so much that by the time the last bell rang he'd prepared a whole array of witty comebacks about how shorts made his legs look vaguely like a supermodel's, if you squinted. Except, after school, he waited and waited for Nick to no avail.

When the younger boy didn't show up, Joe was left wanting. Where the hell was Nick? His date wasn't until seven. Had he and Penny snuck off somewhere? The idea that Nick had ditched Joe for Penny didn't sit quite right, but Joe dismissed it.

Shouldering his bag, he began to trudge to his car, the only indulgence he'd been allowed for his eighteenth birthday. It was flashy, beautiful, and a total reflection of its driver, in Joe's immodest opinion.

Nick was missing out on a great ride.

Joe expected his little brother to be home by five, at least, so he could do that whole flurrying around and checking his hair thing he always did before dates. Joe had already pinned down all the different ways he would make fun of Nick in retaliation for his baby brother's missing out on a prime mocking opportunity earlier that day.

Instead Joe was left with Kevin and Frankie, who had decided to have a rousing Xbox tournament. The squealing tires and crappy music emanating from the game gave Joe a headache, but it wasn't like he could retreat to his room. Not when he shared the whole stupid place with his brothers. Seriously, wasn't privacy crucial to a rockstar's life?

He resolved to talk to his father, who might have been kind of an airhead, but at least was sympathetic to the needs and desires that went in to making his sons' millions of billions of dollars.

"Joe, dude, could you like stop pacing? It's distracting," Kevin told him, just as Frankie won the game for the eighteenth time. Joe seriously doubted his movement was distracting Kevin enough that he got beat by a kid whose age wasn't even double digits yet, but Kevin got kind of touchy when someone insulted his gaming prowess. Joe just nodded and fled to the kitchen, figuring he might be able to find some peace and quiet there; and maybe wait for Nick to arrive so the kid could be greeted by Joe's spectacular jokes.

The clock was ticking towards the seventh hour more quickly than clocks should have any right to move, but still no Nick. Waiting was starting to wear thin as a fun way to spend a Friday night. Finally, Joe fished his cell phone out of his pocket and punched in Nick's number.

Nick picked up on the third ring, his voice lazy and happy, "Joe? What's up?"

"Nothing," Joe muttered back, "I just- when are you coming home? Don't you have a date tonight to get ready for?"

"Yeah, dude. I'm on it already," Nick laughed, and Joe could imagine his perplexed expression. He was wondering why Joe was calling him; no, checking in on him. It was kind of out-of-character, and the thought made Joe's cheeks heat. He was acting like their mom.

"Oh. I was just-er, wondering," Joe replied quickly, and in the background of the phone he could hear Penny inquiring what was going on. Her voice was really annoying. Joe clicked his cell shut, feeling like a loser.

Wasn't it Nick's job to track Joe's every move? Not vice versa? The entire thing left a bad taste in Joe's mouth.

Then it dawned on him. Friday night, and no Nick to be seen.

Joe ran upstairs to grab his keys. Yeah, he was going to the city.

A/N: Aww, reviewers! Yay. I'm so excited that this thing's gotten reviews, so thanks to all you who did so! I also want to thank you people who are favoriting/alerting, just because seeing that little email in my mailbox makes me happy and lets me know people are reading. So. Yes. Keep up the good job, guys!