Searching for Joseph Jonas

Chapter Three

"Are you sure you have everything?" Mom asked, placing her hands on my shoulders. Her blue eyes bore into mine with worry. "Where's your toiletry bag?" she panicked. I laughed and unzipped my suitcase to assure her that my light purple bag of tooth paste and junk was nestled safely inside.

"Are you sure you want to go?" she asked me. I nodded.

"Mom, I'll be fine. Don't worry."

She gave me a hesitant look before casting a glance out the doorway at my dad, who was lifting his suitcases in the trunk of my BMW. Her lips were pressed firmly into a line, as if she were completely reconsidering her decision to let me go. If one of the people who would be with me hadn't been clinically insane, she might have had an easier time with it. What else was to be expected from a worrisome mother?

After a painfully long, bone-crushing hug, Mom let us get in the car and drive off down the street, waving to us until we disappeared around the corner. After a few tries, I had finally convinced my dad to let me drive to where the Jonas Brothers' tour buses were parked, since he wasn't so blessed in the directions department.

"Are you excited?" Dad asked about five minutes after leaving home, angling his body toward me slightly. I shrugged and kept my eyes on the road.

"I don't know," I said, which wasn't true at all. I was very excited. Probably more excited than I had reason to be. I didn't want to tell him that.

"I think it will be fun for you, despite the boring lulls. Joseph's your age, you know."

I nodded, "I know. What are you saying? You iwant/i me to be friends with a crazy person?"

Dad sighed. "I told you I didn't think he was crazy."

I nodded, biting down on my lip to keep myself from saying, "That doesn't mean he isn't." At this point, I didn't want my dad to keep me from hanging around Joseph just because of whatever condition his mind was in.

"Cool," I said simply. We drove for the rest of the fifteen minute ride in complete silence, but I didn't mind at all. It gave me time to think, and that had always been valuable to me.

When I pulled into the parking lot, there were several long tour buses parked in a straight line. We got out of my BMW and walked up to a man I assumed Dad knew, because they shook each others hands with familiar smiles and didn't ask for the other's name.

"This is Kevin Jonas. Kevin, this is my daughter, Julie." We shook hands, but I stared up at him blankly in response to his warm smile.

"…You're one of the Jonas Brothers?" There was no way he was young enough to be one of the brothers, but I could have sworn that one of them had been named Kevin.

The man laughed, "No, they're my sons."

"Ah," I smiled, nodding.

"Would you like to meet them? I think they are still in the tour bus. I'm sure they won't mind you going in to say hello."

"That's okay," I answered. "I don't want to bother them." That was a lie. I would have given anything to say hello to Joseph, but I didn't want him to notice my unexplainable fascination with him. I didn't want his father to notice, either.

Mr. Jonas shook his head and chuckled lightly. He was far too friendly for someone who was talking to the daughter of a man who was analyzing his insane spawn's brain for a living. "They won't be bothered, trust me."

Mr. Jonas started leading us toward the first tour bus in the parking lot without another word, and I trailed after him and my father in silence. I could barely hear their conversation over the loud excitement buzzing in my ears, but I managed to catch a few words, such as "afternoon" and "show." Maybe they were planning a therapist session later in the iafternoon/i before the ishow./i

Mr. Jonas pushed open the door to the bus when we reached it and hollered, "Everyone decent?"

iMore than decent/i I thought to myself as soon as my gaze fell on Joseph, who was sprawled out on the sofa with his hands folded behind his head. He was wearing a form-fitting t-shirt that complimented the arch of his back and muscles on his chest perfectly, and I cowered behind our fathers' backs to hide my red face. That was the second time this week that I had checked the boy out shamelessly.

"Yeh," someone grunted. I peered around Mr. Jonas's shoulder to see his two other sons playing some video game with intense expressions on their faces. I smiled lightly and stepped away from the two men slightly.

"Can you pause that? You have company," Mr. Jonas said. I was impressed by how prompt the oldest brother was in pausing the game. He was a strangely good, obedient son, a quality hard to find in teenagers nowadays.

"Hey, Dr. Beckham," Joseph said from the sofa, standing up.

"Nice to see you again, Joseph," Dad said, nodding his head at him.

I watched carefully as Joseph stretched his arms up above his head, letting the bottom of his t-shirt raise just enough to show off his toned abs. I coughed to hide my infatuation, and he looked at me, as if just noticing there was a girl in the room. In fact, everyone in the bus turned to stare at me. Lovely.

"Boys, this is Joe's, um…" Mr. Jonas paused awkwardly. "This is Dr. Beckham and his daughter, Julie."

"I'm Kevin," the oldest brother grinned, shaking my hand eagerly. The boy next to him – the one with an insane mop of wiry curls on his head – shook my hand and introduced himself as Nick with a faint smile.

"I'm Joe." I looked at Joseph in alarm, not realizing he had joined our close circle to say hello. I slowly reached for his hand and took it in my own, letting it rise and fall in slow motion. His hands were soft, but had a rough strength to them at the same time. I smiled up at him, trying in vain not to lose control, and avoided looking into his brown eyes, for obvious reasons. He gave me a small half smile that sent the butterflies in my stomach into a panic.

"I'm Julie," I said, forcing myself to let go of his warm hand. He nodded and let his arm fall to his side. Automatically, he turned his back to me and laid back down on the couch.

He stared at the television, his jaw set firmly, and didn't glance at me once.

As the rest of us continued light chatter, the other thing on my mind was the question of his sanity. At this point, I still had no idea.

And that bothered me a lot.