C h a p t e r 3

B a c k s t a g e

Alexa watched with sorrowful eyes as Nick, Joe, and Kevin did their little Goodnight and Goodbye dance. One of her favorites to watch. "Hey Alexa," Denise said softly. "Do you think you could take Frankie back to the bus? He's a bit tired."

"Sure thing," Alexa nodded, oblivious to Frankie's poor attempt at a protest, leading to a large yawn instead.

Frankie grabbed Alexa's hand and they walked back to the bus. Frankie immediately changed into his pajamas and jumped into his bunk, only to return minutes later. "I can't sleep." He complained.

"Let's watch a movie." Alexa suggested. "Then you'll fall asleep."

"How do you know that?" Frankie asked curiously.

"If you're anything like your brothers, then you'll be sleeping right after the movie starts." Alexa answered with a small smile. "Now which movie?"

Frankie let out a tired laugh and shuffled through the movie choices, finally deciding on Transformers. "A classic," he smiled.

"After three years you've finally got that Jonas suave." Alexa laughed.

"I've always had that….sua…what was that?" Frankie grinned sheepishly.

"Suave, tankster." Alexa rolled her eyes. "It means, like, smooth and charming."

"Ohhh," Frankie nodded. "Well, I've always had that too." he declared.

"Whatever you say, tankster, whatever you say." Alexa shrugged as he shoved the DVD into the player and pressed PLAY.

Within moments the famed Bonus Jonas had partially fallen asleep on her stomach as watched with her hands behind her head and almost an hour and a half later everyone returned. Nick smiled and sat down not too far from Alexa. "Transformers?" He smirked.

"A classic," Alexa mimicked Frankie's exact words from before. "How was the rest of the concert?"

"Amazing as usual," Nick nodded his head in approval.

"Awesome," Alexa sighed, leaning against Nick's broad shoulder.

"You can't be tired already?" He taunted.

"Shut up," Alexa murmured, blinking tiredly.

"We should get you to bed," Nick decided. "And it won't be long before Miley's bus leaves."

"Then I'll stay here for tonight." Alexa said, stifling a yawn.

"C'mon Lexa," Nick chuckled softly. "You need rest and I'm pretty sure ---" he stopped when he saw how tired she actually was. "When was the last time you've slept?"

"Not for a while," Alexa admitted. "He scares me. You won't leave me, right?"

"Never," Nick promised. "Now get some sleep, you if anyone needs it the most."

Alexa sighed before closing her eyes, the last thing she heard was Nick humming. "You know when the sun forgets to shine, I'll be there to hold you through the night. We'll be running so fast we can fly...tonight. And even when we're miles and miles apart you're still holdin' on to my heart. I promise it will never be dark, I know we're inseprable..."

"You're awake," Kevin observed with a small smile, his morning curls still intact.

"What time is it?" Alexa questioned, sinking back down with a heavily exaggerated sigh, noticing that she was in a bunk, instead of the lounge floor.

Kevin snorted. "Do you really want to know?"

Alexa winced. "Is it that late?"

"As I said, do you really want to know?" Kevin shrugged carelessly. "But I'd say it's around 3 in the afternoon. I'll get Nick, he'll be wondering about you." And without another word, Kevin got up and disappeared.

Alexa blinked before sitting in the upright position as Nick strode through the door with a satisfied smile. "She's awake!" He declared with a triumphant gleam. "How're you feeling?"

"Better," Alexa admitted. "A lot better."

"That's good," Nick nodded approvingly. "I called your uncle not too long ago and told him you were still sleeping, so you might want to give him a ring so he knows your still alive and breathing."

Alexa smiled wryly. "Thanks Nick."

"No prob," He nodded, producing his iPhone.

"No, seriously, thanks," Alexa said with the upmost gratitude towards Fro-bro Jonas. "I mean it, you've been nothing but...amazing since you forced me back to the venue with you guys."

"I wasn't going to leave you there after I saw you." Nick said with a firm, serious look. "You looked horrible and underweight and the Alexa I knew wasn't like that. I knew something was up," he paused, biting his lip in mid-thought. "And I missed you like crazy, I wanted to find you and see you."

Alexa flushed and glanced sideways. "I can look in any store and see you guys, but it never seemed to be good enough."

"Of course not," Nick agreed. "Even after three years, Lex, I was determind to find you." He stated, setting the phone down and walking away.

Alexa's smoky gray eyes followed Nick before she picked up his iPhone and dialed her uncle's number, waiting for a few moments before he answered. "Hey Nick, is she up yet?" He questioned cheerfully.

"Uncle Ray, it's me." Alexa smiled.

"Oh, good." Robby Ray grunted in satisfaction. "How're you feelin', bud?"

"I'm loads better," Alexa told him proudly, leaning against the pillow in the bunk.

"That's good to hear." Robby Ray said. "Hungry at all?"

"Um...a bit," Alexa said. "But I'm sure there's some food on the bus or we could stop for three seconds and grab something."

"Ok." Robby Ray chuckled. "I've got some girls who want to talk, can you spare a moment?" he added teasingly.

"Sure thing," Alexa laughed.

"Put it on speaker, daddy!" Miley exclaimed in the background. "Is it on speaker? Lexa!" she shrilled.

"Hey Miles," Alexa rolled her eyes. "Is Lil there too?"

"Hey Lexa!" Lilly said happily. "Still tired?"

"Not really," Alexa shrugged, then paused, pricking her ears. "Is that...crying I hear in the background?"

"Huh, what? No crying here!" Miley declared.

"Ha! I heard it again!" Alexa protested. "Tell me!" she demanded.

"Fine, you have a half cousin," Miley giggled.

"No way!" Alexa squealed. "Awww...I wanna see her...him...it?"

"Her," Lilly giggled. "Her name is Samantha Rose Stewart and she's already got a nice pair of pipes going for her."

"What does she look like?" Alexa cooed wistfully.

"She's gorgeous," Miley stated defiantly. "She's almost two and she's got brown hair and blue eyes."

"Adorable!" Alexa squealed. "Next stop, I'm going to run over there and see my baby half-cousin."

"You'd better!" Lilly laughed. "Or else we might have to do something to you."

"Yeah, yeah." Alexa rolled her eyes. "I'll call you guys later, I'm starved."

"Oh, go eat." Miley urged. "We'll see you later Lex."

"Bye guys," Alexa said cheerfully before hanging up with a broad smile.

Alexa got to her feet and shuffled her way up to the front of the bus where she gave Nick his phone back and sat down at the little table.

"You look cheerful this morning," Denise observed. "What happened?"

"I just found out about Samantha Rose," Alexa laughed.

"Oh!" Denise exclaimed. "She's adorable."

"So I've heard," Alexa commented.

"Cereal?" Kevin offered.

"Not cereal, dude." Joe shook his head. "It's mereal."

Alexa turned to Joe with a WTF?look. He gave a lazy shrug and added. "It's mereal and cilk," he declared.

"That's nice Joseph." Kevin rolled his eyes. "We've got Corn Pops, Fruit Loops, and...where'd the Cinnamon Toast Crunch go? Joe, did you take it?" Kevin glanced around, his gaze landing on Joe who was shoving cereal in his mouth, chewing loudly.

"I'll just take Corn Pops," Alexa said as Kevin passed her the bright yellow cereal box and Nick tossed her a bowl and a spoon.

"Hey Lexa, you wanna take a quick walk?" Nick asked. "No ones around," he added. "We could...talk and stuff?"

"Sure," Alexa nodded, tying her short, layered black hair in a ponytail before she followed Nick off of the Gibson tour bus. "So what's on your brilliant mind Nick J?"

"Um...you know, stuff?" He offered in complete bewilderment, was it the right time to tell Alexa how he felt? He shook his head, it wasn't. She was still getting over his older brother. Damn him.

"That is the worst slice of bologna I have ever heard." Alexa rolled her eyes with a small smirk.

"Bologna, huh?" Nick snorted with a mocking look of hurt.

"Yeah, bologna." Alexa nodded with a quick laugh as they reached the grassy area.

"Bologna this Alexa Rae." Nick grinned before he lunged forward and Alexa sidestepped with a squeal before she took off at a run. When Nick finally caught up to her, he wrapped an arm around her waist, spinning her in circles before they both fell, feeling dizzier than before.

"You're such a dork, Nick." Alexa claimed breathlessly, prodding his stomach with her index finger.

He chuckled tiredly before propping himself up on his elbows, a curl covering his sweaty forehead. "I'm a dork? I think not, Miss Grace."

"That reminds me of our freshmen year at Seaview." Alexa squealed.

"How can you be so giddy about that?" Nick cocked an eyebrow.

"I was with you guys!" She exclaimed with a bright expression. "Although it wasn't our best year of school, it was all of us. We had some crazy times there."

"Like Spain?"

"And the Amber and Ashley thing."

"And the razor thing." Nick nodded.

Alexa blinked. "As I said, wasn't the best year ever, but we had some crazy times anyways, right?"

"Totally," Nick agreed, returning Alexa's persistant prodding, rousing the occasional giggle and squeal from her. He smiled before sinking back down and fixing his gaze on the clouds.

"So who'd you end up going to prom with?" Alexa prompted curiously.

"For junior prom I went with that one girl I was talking about, Rachael, and I didn't go to senior prom." Nick confessed.

"You didn't go to senior prom?" Alexa exclaimed.

"Did you?" Nick countered.

Alexa rolled her eyes. "No."

Nick made a noise. "Anyways, I stayed home and watched some movies with Kev and Frankie until Joe came home."

"Joe...went?" Alexa asked in surprise.

"With Lilly," Nick nodded and watched as Alexa's face fell. "Oh, please don't be sad...it's a perfect moment and..." he babbled anxiously.

"I should've known," Alexa shrugged. "But I'm lucky enough to have Nick J here, right Nicky?" she cooed.

Nick snorted. "Yeah," he nodded, still pretty aware that Alexa hadn't said anything about them being just friends, which was good, right? "Whatever you say, Alliekai."

Alexa glanced up at him with a curious look. "It's been three years, why do you still call me that?"

"I like it," Nick said simply.

Alexa smiled and kissed his cheek. "We should be getting back."

"And why's that?" Nick questioned, feeling a slight blush creep up the side of his neck.

"Miley's bus should be here by now and I've still got to meet Samantha Rose." Alexa said matter-of-factly as she pushed herself to her feet, brushed herself off, and held out a hand to help Nick to his feet.

Nick grabbed it and Alexa hoisted him to his feet. "What's she like?" Alexa asked curiously, glancing sideways at Nick, who was keeping in a close distance to Alexa.

Nick chuckled softly. "She's just like you."

"I can't wait until I have kids," Alexa sighed wistfully, twirling around in a quick circle. "I can live without the mood swings and stuff, but wouldn't it be nice?"

"Uhuh, sure," Nick nodded mindlessly, zoning in and out of the conversation.

Alexa giggled, catching his attention to see what he had done to embarrass himself in any way. "I can just picture little Fro-bro kids running around wildly."

"Where'd that come from?" Nick asked in surprise, bumping her shoulder.

"I dunno," She shrugged. "It musta been your spastic face and my rant about having kids."

"Spastic? You're an imp, Alliekai," Nick grunted with a bemused expression as they got closer to the bus.

"Leprechauns are cool too," Alexa grinned.

"You're so weird," Nick laughed, shaking his head at her antics. He now knew how Joe felt when he spent so much time with Alexa, getting to know her, becoming her boyfriend, and doing all that couple stuff. He now knew how they got along so well.

"They're here!" Alexa exclaimed happily, watching as Miley's tour bus door flew open and out flew Miley, Lilly followed moments later, but waved before making her way to the Jonases bus. "Miley!"

"Alexa!" She shrilled, throwing her arms around Alexa before dragging her back the way the perky brunette came.

"Bye Nick!" Alexa laughed before she got yanked inside.

Nick shook his head before he walked sideways and back in the direction of the Gibson tour bus, climbing aboard seconds later.

"Hey sweetie," Alexa cooed, exchanging a quick look with Miley. "I'm Alexa, I'm your...cousin."

"You? Alexa?" Samantha repeated.

"That's right," Alexa nodded, making a face as though she were playing with a puppy.

"She's adorable!" Alexa gushed to Nick as he fixed his tie in the mirror. "Ugh! I can't believe she's that cute!"

"You are one strange chick, Lex." Kevin chuckled.

"Why's that, Kev?" Alexa beamed, crossing her arms teasingly.

"As much as we like hearing you gush about your cousin, Nick's 19, he doesn't need to get any hornier than he is right now," Kevin informed her with a completely straight face.

Alexa's hands flew to her mouth to suppress her laughter while Nick blushed, prepared to go over to Kevin and whack him. "You're bad," Alexa said through giggles, shaking her head in disbelief. "And as much as I'd like to believe that, you should be telling that to Joe, who seems to be...uh," Alexa let out a fake gasp of surprise. "Missing!"

Kevin rolled his eyes and sighed. "Not too unusual," he mused aloud. "But you're right, I'll go look for him in a second."

"Check storage rooms first," Alexa snorted.

Kevin stared at her curiously. "I do know my brother, but I don't want to know how you'd know that," he stated, faking a shudder.

"Come on Kevin, I was his girlfriend for...what? Six months? I should know something by now," Alexa rolled her eyes, pushing her bangs to the side.

"As much as that info...helped, I did not need the images that you just forced into my brain," Kevin grumbled, closing his eyes briefly before he reopened them. "I'll be back," he declared as he walked out of the door in search of Joe.

"Finally alone..." Alexa said teasingly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Nick gulped anxiously, was she onto him already?

"You know exactly what that's supposed to mean..." Alexa murmured into his ear.

"W-what?" Nick stammered. "H-huh?"

Alexa grinned. "I'm just playing with ya, calm down," she laughed.

"Hey, can you grab Miley for me? I need to ask her something," Nick said, fumbling with his tie.

"Yeah, sure. Be back in a sec," Alexa nodded before she flounced away.

"Hey Nick, Lexa said you wanted to ask me something?" Miley asked, walking in casually, glancing ever so often at her fingernails.

"IthinkIstilllikeAlexa." He mumbled in one breath.

"Whoa, slow down there cowboy," Miley laughed. "Now one word at a time," she instructed.

"I think I still like Alexa," Nick sighed.

"Aw..." Miley purred, then stopped. "Wait, hold up. Still? As in, you liked her before? I knew you liked her as Allie, but as herself, I wasn't so sure of," she blurted, grabbing a strand of hair and twirling it through her fingers as she leaned forward intently.

"Well, yeah. I liked her as Allie, but when I found out she was actually Joe's girlfriend, the average girl next door. It was like 'Ok, I think I can deal,' but I couldn't. I started falling for her until the Amber and Ashley incident, but she was dating my older brother," Nick babbled anxiously, spilling everything to Miley. "And well, when she first came home, I kinda got jealous when I saw her and Joe on the couch, litterally, sleeping together and I think I'm loosing my mind!"

"Nick, slow it down," Miley let out a hesitant laugh. "And you haven't asked her out yet...why?"

"Because I think she's still confused about the whole Joe/Lilly thing," Nick grunted.

"I knew you were always the cute, sensitive one," Miley smiled brightly.

"Yeah, yeah," Nick mumbled.

"But Lilly and Alexa made up, right?" Miley prompted with a sly smile. "Which means she's on the verge of getting over that, but from the first time Alexa and Joe broke up, Alexa was bounced back really fast, like, she should start liking another guy soon."

"What happened to the cute, sensitive one?" Nick snorted.

"Stay focused Jonas," Miley clapped her hands together cheerfully. "If you want the girl, you're going to have to work for it..."

Two Weeks Later-

"Is it just me or is Nick acting weird?" Alexa papered her head to one side as she sat on the leather couch in Hannah and Alexis' dressing room.

Miley stopped brushing her hair and glanced at Alexa through the mirror. "Maybe he likes you?" She threw out as though the idea had just come to her.

"Nick? Are we talking about the same Nick Jonas?" Alexa asked skeptically.

"Yeah!" Miley exclaimed, prodding Lilly for encouragement.

"I think he does," Lilly agreed with a half shrug.

"Nick?" Alexa repeated. "Nick Jonas? You know, like, Nicholas Jerry Jonas of the Jonas Brothers?"

"Yes!" Miley squealed.

"You sure?" Alexa asked hesitantly. "I mean, why would he like me if I kinda sorta rejected him for his older brother as Allie and he knew it was me."

"I bet he's over that," Lilly assured her. "It's been forever since you told them and he's probably over that."

"What makes you two think he likes me anyways?" Alexa asked, folding her arms.

"Does he blush when you do that little kid voice?" Miley asked.

"Or glance down when he thinks you've fallen asleep?"

"Or follow you almost everywhere just to talk?"

"Or say weird things to make you laugh?"

"Or just randomly start tickling you and watch with a smile?"

"Is he the first one off the bus to see you?"

"Or first one on the bus to see you?"

"Ok!" Alexa exclaimed, holding up her hands. "I get it."

"Did you answer 'yes' to one or more questions?" Lilly asked.

"Yes." Alexa sighed.

"Nick Jonas is into you," Miley stated matter-of-factly. "All he's waiting for is the green light."

"Which is?" Alexa prompted, making a face at her cousin through the mirror.

"If he flirts with you," Lilly giggled. "You flirt with him."

"Easier said than done," Alexa mumbled.

"You've got enough time after the concert," Miley informed her.

"Are you going to make your move?" Lilly smirked.

"Yes," Alexa nodded with a coy smile. "I think I will."