Post by Joel Carter Foster on May 23, 2012 18:51:49 GMT -5
Joel shut the lid to his lap top, “ Alright.. alright I’m coming,” he said out of annoyance. He hated that he couldn’t talk to his friends for however long he wanted. But that was the price you pay , right? Besides once he took a step back to clear his head it just made more sense. Time to work, Joel. Work had always been most important anyways. Joel slapped his hand against one of the set techs as he gave him a head nod and answered back to him as he asked what was up. ‘ Hey man what’s up’ he said before he adjusted his jeans by pulling them up at the side. He stepped out onto the set, and lifted his hand into the air, waving at the crowd and couldn’t help but smile. He had to wait for a few moments to be able to hear over the screaming, before he could hear that it was a Maine song, Everything I Ask For. Usually they played music by the artists themselves, but it was pretty well known how tightknit him and Ryan were. Joel looked over at Ellen, smiling as he realized she was dancing, of course. Why not, Renner hadn’t spent hours sweating and dancing himself to teach Joel how to dance for nothing. He slid over to her and placed his hand on her lower back before he started to dance with her. She went along for a few minutes before she put her hands up and took a step back, keeping a serious face. ‘ Joel, please.. please.. The Foster I would prefer would be your sister,’ she said, causing Joel to laugh as he gave one last wave to the audience and then sat down, rubbing his palms against the knees of his jeans.
Joel licked his lips, relieved that the yelling was coming to an end and turned his head to look back at Ellen. ‘ Wow…’ she said , shaking her head and Joel nodded, agreeing with her. ‘Yeah,’ he said, folding his hands into his lap. ‘Does that ever get to you? I feel like you step out to pick up the newspaper and there are just screaming women’. Joel laugh and shook his head, “ Oh .. man. I don’t even really notice it anymore. Logan really prepared me for it though,” he said with a slight smile. ‘ How do you even prepare like something for that though?” she asked out of curiosity. “Well I mean it’s a lot of talks, it’s moreso mental preparation. He just wanted me to understand… I mean I still had these moments where I would panic and freak out. I’m not going to try and be manly and pretend it never happened I mean.. there were a few times where I just cried.” he said, causing a look of confusion spread across Ellens’ face. ‘ You cried? You cried because people love you?”. Joel scratched the side of his cheek. “ Well yeah. I know that it isn’t angry screams, but screaming sounds like screaming no matter what side of the coin it is. So I would just get overwhelmed and be like.. why are they screaming?” he said, trying to explain it before he laughed and continued, “ But yeah Shane Madden and Ryan O’Neil both sort of would scream .. at the top of their lungs.. when I would come into a room, charge me. “ he explained. ‘ Did that help?’ Ellen asked with a smile on her face, laughing at him. “ Oh.. yeah, absolutely. It’s weird though, Shane still does it. I think he’s just a fan. He cries a lot when I’m around and … faints. He faints a lot,” he said, adjusting his shirt as he sat back. He smiled as he looked over at her, and she placed her chin in her hand, clearly done with their current joking around. ‘Sooooo..what’s up?’ she asked , which made Joel smile again. Ellen was so funny.
“ Oh you know… middle of a tour… no big deal,” he said, clapping his hands together once and leaning forward to put his elbows on his knees. ‘ Yeah.. middle of a tour, you’re on the cover of Forbes magazine, woke up from some silly coma.. you graduated high school. At your age my biggest accomplishment was drinking an entire bottle of maple syrup at the Waffle House” she said, causing Joel to laugh out loud. ‘ But seriously.. You’ve taken over the world in such a short amount of time. Do you… Do you truly realize how much comes along with just being..you?” she asked and Joel nodded, “I think any success I have truly comes from the hands of Logan Renner…and the fans, of course. He could have taken anyone off the streets and given them this opportunity. I just happened to step on the right desk at the right time,” he said genuinely. ‘ So you and Logan, that’s a true friendship? Not just him being your boss? How did you two even start out.. tell us the story of Joel Foster,” she said as she leaned back in her chair. “ Well I’m sure you have all seen music videos from Logans past, and.. him and Madeline hit it off and became really good friends. She sort of became a part of their circle, she met this silly lanky kid that no one really liked, Ryan. And uh.. sort of cemented herself into their world. Then I just decided I was ready to come to the states from South Africa and I knew I wanted to do music, but only if I could do it with Logan Renner. So I lied about who I was and got into his office.. I didn’t want him to sign me because I was his friends little brother. And um.. I got a little over excited. I jumped on his desk while I was singing,” he said, cracking his thumbs as he spoke, “ You jumped on his desk?” she questioned and he nodded, “ Yeah I mean.. people think … I don’t know what people think about it. Logan still talks smack about it. I don’t think he understands. I was a kid, am a kid. I had every emotion in the world going on and I’m standing in front of my hero. I didn’t even have any control of what I was doing,” he said flatly, shaking his head. ‘ And now you two are best friends?” she asked, Joel smiled and nodded. “ Yeah he is one of my best friends. We work hard, play hard..” he said before he bit the edge of his lip. ‘ Last time Blake was here she said that she can always tell when you are in the house because you both are so loud,” Ellen said as she crossed her legs over one another. “ I don’t know why she always says that.. “ he said quietly as he turned in his seat. ‘ So what’s it like when you two are both in the studio then? Do people just sort of say, oh… don’t bother talking to Logan, he’s with that Foster kid,” she said, waving her hand off like she was actually in that situation, “ Haha, actually uh.. yeah I mean. Kind of,” he said scratching the back of his neck as he tried not to smile too brightly.
‘ And you get along with your labelmates… You make it well known that you’re best friends with Ryan O’Neil, Shane Madden…. You get pictured with Blake, Logan, Braison, Natalia.. and what’s the other one.. what was her name.. I just forget…” Ellen said as she tried to pretend like she was thinking. Joel rolled his eyes as he smiled. He turned to look over his shoulder to see if there was a picture up. ‘ What are you looking for?” she asked before Joel turned back ahead. “ Usually that’s when you put up a picture of Dani and I making out,” he said , ‘ Oh like this one’ Ellen said quickly, pointing back to a picture taken at a basketball game in California a few weeks ago. ‘ Yeah.. Dani. That’s her name. I’d ask her but it seems like she’s always kissing somebody.’ Ellen said sarcastically, making Joel smile. ‘ But this was a few weeks ago.’ she said, looking at Joel who offered a nod. “It was. We were doing a show out in Cali and uh we decided we wanted to go to a game. Got put on the kisscam so you gotta do it,” he said, “ Well you could have pecked her, and not swallowed her.” she said, looking back at the picture. “That’s not how it works,” he said with a slight laugh. “ How does that effect your friendship with Jake then? When you’re making out with his girlfriend every five seconds?”. Joel took in a deep breath and popped his neck. “ Dani and I.. “ he started offm trying to think of how to explain it. “ Dani and I have a really close friendship. We were new at a label, starting out. We’re kids that sort of got thrust into this lifestyle and we went through a lot of stuff and she was just great. She’s an old soul. There’s a reason she’s taken so well to Ryan. But um.. we’re close. I have no qualms about going in and giving her a kiss. But we aren’t dependent. Being close and being dependent are two different things. She and I don’t drop plans last minute for each other unless it’s an emergency. Neither of our worlds revolves around the other. Um.. I mean. You’ve got celebrities out there who are a part of a normal group of friends.. and it’s almost sort of like they can’t even be themselves in their own group because they have people that are sort of obsessed with them. Their own friends are obsessed with him, and to me that’s just.. weird. It’s a lot more strange to me to be friends with someone that is obsessed with you, than it is for me to go into Jake and Dani’s home and give her a hug and kiss. No friendship is going break out into a perfect cookie cutter mold. And as far as Jake goes… look, their relationship is weird too. I think he understands that. But if he ever came up to me and said yo bro… knock it off. Yeah, absolutely. Respect boundaries.” he said, before quickly adding, “ Plus I think Jake knows he could kick any of our ass if he needed to. He’s not threatened.” he said as he licked his lips, ‘ Alright well we’ll just have to ask him about that the next time he comes on the show’ she said with complete seriousness as she teased him. “ Yeah go for it,” he laughed.
‘ Speaking of Dani’s exes, it was in the news that Logan Renner’s younger brother, Lance Renner who was on the show Wizards of Waverly Place, was one of the victims of the school shooting that happened just a few weeks ago, obviously that’s something that hits very close to home,’ she said, “ That day hit close to home for everyone, the entire state.. nation. It was something that we just weren’t prepared for. He’s doing great. He’s home.. he’s staying with Logan. Um.. yeah.. he lost his eyesight, but he’s alive. So that’s all we can really ask for,” he said, ‘ He went blind?’. Joel nodded, “ Yeah the way the bullet hit the side of his head, I guess.. I mean I’m not a doctor so you’d have to ask one of them. But like you said.. he’s just one of the victims, obviously he’s one I care about a lot, he was my roommate, he’s family.. but there’s so many people out there still suffering from this and it’s something that is going to haunt them every day,” he said before he licked his lips, ‘ So you and Logan Renner paired up and did a benefit concert with a few artists where the money went to victims and their families to cover medical expenses and to sort of just help over the next few months should they decide to stay at home”. Joel nodded again, “ Yeah this country has sort of embraced me like family and taken me in, I just want to treat them the same way,” he said, giving a small nod at the applause that came from the audience. ‘Absolutely, it’s definitely an event that strengthened our population and made us more of a family. And you’re family is just… exploding. I mean we’ll get to that in a second, but you’re even hanging out with more friends. You’ve got Chace here with you today, from Wizards of Waverly Place..” she said. Joel nodded , looking over his shoulder. “ Yeah he’s been hanging out with me for the tour so far, just having a lot of fun,” he said before he cleared his throat. “ So you know him through Dani.. can’t you find any of your own friends?” she asked jokingly before Joel laughed and shook his head, “ No apparently not,”
‘ But honestly, with your family expanding.. is it an exciting time right now, getting ready for the marriage between your sister and one of your best friends? Or is that weird?” she asked and Joel shook his head instantly. “ No no no it’s not weird at all.. I mean, and he’ll hate me for saying this. But anyone that knew Ryan before he met Madeline can tell you that the moment they met he was lovestruck. He had a girlfriend so he was obviously respectful and I think that.. I think he honestly didn’t understand the relationship between the two of them. I don’t think he understood his own feelings. But everyone else did apparently, I hear it a lot. It was easy to see that he was wrapped around her finger day one. And he still is, and it’s vice versa. They’re an amazing couple. I can’t really speak for how he was before they met.. but I met him when he came to South Africa with Madeline. They’d known each other for a short time and we were sort of going through something as a family and.. Ryan O’Neil got on a plane right with her. It’s…phenomenal. What he has done for our family, strengthened it.. it really is great. But I knew he was something special for all of us when I met him. At the time I didn’t really want to talk to anyone or be social so we didn’t really get to know each other very well but once I came to the states we really just hit it off. He’s family. He always was, always will be. The only thing that’s different is that him and Madeline realized that they are soul mates and are putting it on paper. It’s not weird at all. It feels natural, normal.” he said. ‘ And the rest of your family? They feel the same way? Because your parents are backstage. I don’t think I have seen so many interns afraid of one man’s mustache , while at the same time all of them are smitten over your mother. She came straight from a 1950’s catalogue that one.. and she gets along with Ryan?” Ellen asked quizzically.
“ It’s so funny when Ryan is hanging out with our parents. But he is… he’s one of the kids. And um, she’ll call him and be on the other end of the phone. ‘Ryan sweetheart, I saw your interview and I was watching it with ladies from my book club. Could you find another way to express yourself without using THAT swear word?’ It’s pretty.. It’s cute. He handles it pretty well with her. Madeline is a carbon copy of our mother, if our mother was sort of.. modernized. So he’s used to it. I mean he knows how to handle himself. He apologizes, if it’s in person they share a hug,..she goes to go make him a sandwich. Life is good. Couple hours later she’ll mention his tattoos. He’ll give her another hug. Then he’ll get some dessert or something out of it. Honestly he has a pretty good system going.” Joel said with a laugh. ‘ And your dad? He seems very military, and him and Ryan get along too?” she asked. “ Yeah, my dad is pretty grizzly, but he’s a teddy bear under it all. For some people. He grunts a lot instead of talking. He has the mustache. Chace was trying to explain hip hop dancing to him earlier, and dad just stared at him until he walked away. They’re a great balance.. I love watching tall lanky Ryan sit down in our dads den in one of his leather recliners, smoking a cigar, drinking a glass of scotch next to our dad. He just… he really strangely fits in. Like a missing puzzle piece.” he explained. ‘ And you gave your sister some advice for their marriage,” she said and Joel laughed, “ Yeah, I told her that she needed to start having a baby a month or two before the wedding date. I really want to be an uncle. Their kid is going to the most gorgeous ridiculous thing alive. I want a niece or a nephew really bad… and she’s thinking about not being an Angel next year, so.. I mean tick tock. Ryan’s tour will wrap up.” he said enthusiastically.
‘And he isn’t the only O’Neil engaged, his younger sister is as well to one of you and Jake’s friends,” she added and Joel widened his eyes like it was the first time he heard it. “ Isn’t that insane? They never even went on a date. They literally went from friends to engaged. But fuck.. I mean, sorry.. wow, sorry. I just.. it’s insane. They belong together. I’m really happy for them. It’s completely insane, but it’s amazing.” he said as he thought back to when Felicia had told him. ‘ More and more women in your family.. including Rosie Madison who has been missing from New York,’ she pointed out. “ Yeah she’s back in England with her family to just sort of get away from everything. You have to otherwise you’d suffocate.” he said, before quickly adding. “ But she’s a part of the family. Her and Madeline have been visiting each others families.. back and forth from South Africa and England,… they’re definitely sisters. And Rosie has a sister Libby,” he added, ’ Is she a fan of yours?’ Ellen asked. Joel shook his head side to side, “ Probably not… at all..” he said while laughing before he cracked the sides of his knuckles.
‘ Okay we actually have a surprise for you, before your performance we put together a little graduation ceremony for you since we all heard that you are going to be graduating high school, or that you officially did.. congratulations… but we also have someone on the phone that called in to speak to you, so we’ll grab that first.’ she said before she looked back towards the audience. “ Someone called here?” Joel asked, pointing downwards towards the stage as he sat up, wondering what was going on. ‘ What in the world are you yapping your mouth about’ Dani’s voice came through the speakers. Joel smiled and looked at Ellen. “ Is this real?” he questioned, still not sure whether or not Dani was on the phone or if this was pre-recorded. ‘ Hi Dani, Ellen here.. so you heard about the interview huh?” Ellen asked as she bounced her knee. ‘ Something like that……I’m actually calling from home. Joel forgot to point something out about him and I kissing, when he so naively pointed out the fact that I’m living with Jake so I figured it would be fair of us to both air dirty laundry,” she said into her phone coyly. “ You’re going to air my dirty laundry on national television?” Joel said, though he was smiling as he questioned her. ‘ Mhmm. ‘ she said into the phone before her voice, still audible became a bit more quiet like she was speaking away. ‘ Jacob Daniel Russo I said that dinner was going to be in two hours, put that away or I’m done cooking and you can eat frozen meals for the rest of the week’ she said before clearing her throat and returning to the phone, ‘Hello?’ she questioned. ‘Still here, so what was the dirty laundry’ Ellen asked enthusiastically. ‘ Joel Foster has found himself an actual girlfriend,’ Dani said satisfactorily before she continued, ‘ Well not actually a girlfriend. But come on.. it’s on the way. Her mom was his nurse when he was in a coma, and I know for a fact that he fell for her on New Years Eve.. fairy tale stuff right? It’s probably all going to be covered in Parker’s next cd. But yeah.. he’s got love in his life. And she shouldn’t think that there is something going on between us. Pictures can be misleading. Ask him about it. And I’ll see you soon Ellen! Joel call me later I need to talk to you before your show… love you guys!” she said before she hung up the phone.
Joel tapped his hands against the seat before he looked at Ellen. “ Well it’s not that surprising. I said in a radio interview a while back that I liked a girl, but now she has a name to the face” he said with a grin. ‘ So you are dating this girl?” Ellen asked and Joel brought his hands up to his face, pinching the bridge of his nose. “ Yeah I’d say she is the closest thing I have to a girlfriend. It’s hard.. I’m on tour. I went to her school though and sort of interrupted her class.. asked her if she would join me for dinner,” he said, feeling a slight blush on his cheeks. ‘ And did she say yes? You guys went to dinner?” she asked. Joel shook his head, “ No we haven’t had dinner yet. Lots and lots of skype sessions.. which for me is a lot. Carving time out of my work schedule,.. it’s not an easy thing for me to do. But I’m trying..” he said honestly before Ellen questioned how pretty she was. “ Oh she’s gorgeous. Absolutely beautiful.” he said, before he shifted in his seat. ‘ And you’re going to sing a song for us today that you performed for the first time at the Billboard Music Awards, was it inspired by her?” she asked. Joel weighed his options before he tried to figure out how to respond to that one, “ It’s.. it was inspired by where I’m at in my life. Simple as that,” he said before he geared up to start singing ‘Boyfriend’. ‘ Alright well, we’re going to take a quick commercial break and as soon as we get back we’ll have a performance from Joel Foster,” Ellen said, wrapping it up quickly.
Joel licked his lips, relieved that the yelling was coming to an end and turned his head to look back at Ellen. ‘ Wow…’ she said , shaking her head and Joel nodded, agreeing with her. ‘Yeah,’ he said, folding his hands into his lap. ‘Does that ever get to you? I feel like you step out to pick up the newspaper and there are just screaming women’. Joel laugh and shook his head, “ Oh .. man. I don’t even really notice it anymore. Logan really prepared me for it though,” he said with a slight smile. ‘ How do you even prepare like something for that though?” she asked out of curiosity. “Well I mean it’s a lot of talks, it’s moreso mental preparation. He just wanted me to understand… I mean I still had these moments where I would panic and freak out. I’m not going to try and be manly and pretend it never happened I mean.. there were a few times where I just cried.” he said, causing a look of confusion spread across Ellens’ face. ‘ You cried? You cried because people love you?”. Joel scratched the side of his cheek. “ Well yeah. I know that it isn’t angry screams, but screaming sounds like screaming no matter what side of the coin it is. So I would just get overwhelmed and be like.. why are they screaming?” he said, trying to explain it before he laughed and continued, “ But yeah Shane Madden and Ryan O’Neil both sort of would scream .. at the top of their lungs.. when I would come into a room, charge me. “ he explained. ‘ Did that help?’ Ellen asked with a smile on her face, laughing at him. “ Oh.. yeah, absolutely. It’s weird though, Shane still does it. I think he’s just a fan. He cries a lot when I’m around and … faints. He faints a lot,” he said, adjusting his shirt as he sat back. He smiled as he looked over at her, and she placed her chin in her hand, clearly done with their current joking around. ‘Sooooo..what’s up?’ she asked , which made Joel smile again. Ellen was so funny.
“ Oh you know… middle of a tour… no big deal,” he said, clapping his hands together once and leaning forward to put his elbows on his knees. ‘ Yeah.. middle of a tour, you’re on the cover of Forbes magazine, woke up from some silly coma.. you graduated high school. At your age my biggest accomplishment was drinking an entire bottle of maple syrup at the Waffle House” she said, causing Joel to laugh out loud. ‘ But seriously.. You’ve taken over the world in such a short amount of time. Do you… Do you truly realize how much comes along with just being..you?” she asked and Joel nodded, “I think any success I have truly comes from the hands of Logan Renner…and the fans, of course. He could have taken anyone off the streets and given them this opportunity. I just happened to step on the right desk at the right time,” he said genuinely. ‘ So you and Logan, that’s a true friendship? Not just him being your boss? How did you two even start out.. tell us the story of Joel Foster,” she said as she leaned back in her chair. “ Well I’m sure you have all seen music videos from Logans past, and.. him and Madeline hit it off and became really good friends. She sort of became a part of their circle, she met this silly lanky kid that no one really liked, Ryan. And uh.. sort of cemented herself into their world. Then I just decided I was ready to come to the states from South Africa and I knew I wanted to do music, but only if I could do it with Logan Renner. So I lied about who I was and got into his office.. I didn’t want him to sign me because I was his friends little brother. And um.. I got a little over excited. I jumped on his desk while I was singing,” he said, cracking his thumbs as he spoke, “ You jumped on his desk?” she questioned and he nodded, “ Yeah I mean.. people think … I don’t know what people think about it. Logan still talks smack about it. I don’t think he understands. I was a kid, am a kid. I had every emotion in the world going on and I’m standing in front of my hero. I didn’t even have any control of what I was doing,” he said flatly, shaking his head. ‘ And now you two are best friends?” she asked, Joel smiled and nodded. “ Yeah he is one of my best friends. We work hard, play hard..” he said before he bit the edge of his lip. ‘ Last time Blake was here she said that she can always tell when you are in the house because you both are so loud,” Ellen said as she crossed her legs over one another. “ I don’t know why she always says that.. “ he said quietly as he turned in his seat. ‘ So what’s it like when you two are both in the studio then? Do people just sort of say, oh… don’t bother talking to Logan, he’s with that Foster kid,” she said, waving her hand off like she was actually in that situation, “ Haha, actually uh.. yeah I mean. Kind of,” he said scratching the back of his neck as he tried not to smile too brightly.
‘ And you get along with your labelmates… You make it well known that you’re best friends with Ryan O’Neil, Shane Madden…. You get pictured with Blake, Logan, Braison, Natalia.. and what’s the other one.. what was her name.. I just forget…” Ellen said as she tried to pretend like she was thinking. Joel rolled his eyes as he smiled. He turned to look over his shoulder to see if there was a picture up. ‘ What are you looking for?” she asked before Joel turned back ahead. “ Usually that’s when you put up a picture of Dani and I making out,” he said , ‘ Oh like this one’ Ellen said quickly, pointing back to a picture taken at a basketball game in California a few weeks ago. ‘ Yeah.. Dani. That’s her name. I’d ask her but it seems like she’s always kissing somebody.’ Ellen said sarcastically, making Joel smile. ‘ But this was a few weeks ago.’ she said, looking at Joel who offered a nod. “It was. We were doing a show out in Cali and uh we decided we wanted to go to a game. Got put on the kisscam so you gotta do it,” he said, “ Well you could have pecked her, and not swallowed her.” she said, looking back at the picture. “That’s not how it works,” he said with a slight laugh. “ How does that effect your friendship with Jake then? When you’re making out with his girlfriend every five seconds?”. Joel took in a deep breath and popped his neck. “ Dani and I.. “ he started offm trying to think of how to explain it. “ Dani and I have a really close friendship. We were new at a label, starting out. We’re kids that sort of got thrust into this lifestyle and we went through a lot of stuff and she was just great. She’s an old soul. There’s a reason she’s taken so well to Ryan. But um.. we’re close. I have no qualms about going in and giving her a kiss. But we aren’t dependent. Being close and being dependent are two different things. She and I don’t drop plans last minute for each other unless it’s an emergency. Neither of our worlds revolves around the other. Um.. I mean. You’ve got celebrities out there who are a part of a normal group of friends.. and it’s almost sort of like they can’t even be themselves in their own group because they have people that are sort of obsessed with them. Their own friends are obsessed with him, and to me that’s just.. weird. It’s a lot more strange to me to be friends with someone that is obsessed with you, than it is for me to go into Jake and Dani’s home and give her a hug and kiss. No friendship is going break out into a perfect cookie cutter mold. And as far as Jake goes… look, their relationship is weird too. I think he understands that. But if he ever came up to me and said yo bro… knock it off. Yeah, absolutely. Respect boundaries.” he said, before quickly adding, “ Plus I think Jake knows he could kick any of our ass if he needed to. He’s not threatened.” he said as he licked his lips, ‘ Alright well we’ll just have to ask him about that the next time he comes on the show’ she said with complete seriousness as she teased him. “ Yeah go for it,” he laughed.
‘ Speaking of Dani’s exes, it was in the news that Logan Renner’s younger brother, Lance Renner who was on the show Wizards of Waverly Place, was one of the victims of the school shooting that happened just a few weeks ago, obviously that’s something that hits very close to home,’ she said, “ That day hit close to home for everyone, the entire state.. nation. It was something that we just weren’t prepared for. He’s doing great. He’s home.. he’s staying with Logan. Um.. yeah.. he lost his eyesight, but he’s alive. So that’s all we can really ask for,” he said, ‘ He went blind?’. Joel nodded, “ Yeah the way the bullet hit the side of his head, I guess.. I mean I’m not a doctor so you’d have to ask one of them. But like you said.. he’s just one of the victims, obviously he’s one I care about a lot, he was my roommate, he’s family.. but there’s so many people out there still suffering from this and it’s something that is going to haunt them every day,” he said before he licked his lips, ‘ So you and Logan Renner paired up and did a benefit concert with a few artists where the money went to victims and their families to cover medical expenses and to sort of just help over the next few months should they decide to stay at home”. Joel nodded again, “ Yeah this country has sort of embraced me like family and taken me in, I just want to treat them the same way,” he said, giving a small nod at the applause that came from the audience. ‘Absolutely, it’s definitely an event that strengthened our population and made us more of a family. And you’re family is just… exploding. I mean we’ll get to that in a second, but you’re even hanging out with more friends. You’ve got Chace here with you today, from Wizards of Waverly Place..” she said. Joel nodded , looking over his shoulder. “ Yeah he’s been hanging out with me for the tour so far, just having a lot of fun,” he said before he cleared his throat. “ So you know him through Dani.. can’t you find any of your own friends?” she asked jokingly before Joel laughed and shook his head, “ No apparently not,”
‘ But honestly, with your family expanding.. is it an exciting time right now, getting ready for the marriage between your sister and one of your best friends? Or is that weird?” she asked and Joel shook his head instantly. “ No no no it’s not weird at all.. I mean, and he’ll hate me for saying this. But anyone that knew Ryan before he met Madeline can tell you that the moment they met he was lovestruck. He had a girlfriend so he was obviously respectful and I think that.. I think he honestly didn’t understand the relationship between the two of them. I don’t think he understood his own feelings. But everyone else did apparently, I hear it a lot. It was easy to see that he was wrapped around her finger day one. And he still is, and it’s vice versa. They’re an amazing couple. I can’t really speak for how he was before they met.. but I met him when he came to South Africa with Madeline. They’d known each other for a short time and we were sort of going through something as a family and.. Ryan O’Neil got on a plane right with her. It’s…phenomenal. What he has done for our family, strengthened it.. it really is great. But I knew he was something special for all of us when I met him. At the time I didn’t really want to talk to anyone or be social so we didn’t really get to know each other very well but once I came to the states we really just hit it off. He’s family. He always was, always will be. The only thing that’s different is that him and Madeline realized that they are soul mates and are putting it on paper. It’s not weird at all. It feels natural, normal.” he said. ‘ And the rest of your family? They feel the same way? Because your parents are backstage. I don’t think I have seen so many interns afraid of one man’s mustache , while at the same time all of them are smitten over your mother. She came straight from a 1950’s catalogue that one.. and she gets along with Ryan?” Ellen asked quizzically.
“ It’s so funny when Ryan is hanging out with our parents. But he is… he’s one of the kids. And um, she’ll call him and be on the other end of the phone. ‘Ryan sweetheart, I saw your interview and I was watching it with ladies from my book club. Could you find another way to express yourself without using THAT swear word?’ It’s pretty.. It’s cute. He handles it pretty well with her. Madeline is a carbon copy of our mother, if our mother was sort of.. modernized. So he’s used to it. I mean he knows how to handle himself. He apologizes, if it’s in person they share a hug,..she goes to go make him a sandwich. Life is good. Couple hours later she’ll mention his tattoos. He’ll give her another hug. Then he’ll get some dessert or something out of it. Honestly he has a pretty good system going.” Joel said with a laugh. ‘ And your dad? He seems very military, and him and Ryan get along too?” she asked. “ Yeah, my dad is pretty grizzly, but he’s a teddy bear under it all. For some people. He grunts a lot instead of talking. He has the mustache. Chace was trying to explain hip hop dancing to him earlier, and dad just stared at him until he walked away. They’re a great balance.. I love watching tall lanky Ryan sit down in our dads den in one of his leather recliners, smoking a cigar, drinking a glass of scotch next to our dad. He just… he really strangely fits in. Like a missing puzzle piece.” he explained. ‘ And you gave your sister some advice for their marriage,” she said and Joel laughed, “ Yeah, I told her that she needed to start having a baby a month or two before the wedding date. I really want to be an uncle. Their kid is going to the most gorgeous ridiculous thing alive. I want a niece or a nephew really bad… and she’s thinking about not being an Angel next year, so.. I mean tick tock. Ryan’s tour will wrap up.” he said enthusiastically.
‘And he isn’t the only O’Neil engaged, his younger sister is as well to one of you and Jake’s friends,” she added and Joel widened his eyes like it was the first time he heard it. “ Isn’t that insane? They never even went on a date. They literally went from friends to engaged. But fuck.. I mean, sorry.. wow, sorry. I just.. it’s insane. They belong together. I’m really happy for them. It’s completely insane, but it’s amazing.” he said as he thought back to when Felicia had told him. ‘ More and more women in your family.. including Rosie Madison who has been missing from New York,’ she pointed out. “ Yeah she’s back in England with her family to just sort of get away from everything. You have to otherwise you’d suffocate.” he said, before quickly adding. “ But she’s a part of the family. Her and Madeline have been visiting each others families.. back and forth from South Africa and England,… they’re definitely sisters. And Rosie has a sister Libby,” he added, ’ Is she a fan of yours?’ Ellen asked. Joel shook his head side to side, “ Probably not… at all..” he said while laughing before he cracked the sides of his knuckles.
‘ Okay we actually have a surprise for you, before your performance we put together a little graduation ceremony for you since we all heard that you are going to be graduating high school, or that you officially did.. congratulations… but we also have someone on the phone that called in to speak to you, so we’ll grab that first.’ she said before she looked back towards the audience. “ Someone called here?” Joel asked, pointing downwards towards the stage as he sat up, wondering what was going on. ‘ What in the world are you yapping your mouth about’ Dani’s voice came through the speakers. Joel smiled and looked at Ellen. “ Is this real?” he questioned, still not sure whether or not Dani was on the phone or if this was pre-recorded. ‘ Hi Dani, Ellen here.. so you heard about the interview huh?” Ellen asked as she bounced her knee. ‘ Something like that……I’m actually calling from home. Joel forgot to point something out about him and I kissing, when he so naively pointed out the fact that I’m living with Jake so I figured it would be fair of us to both air dirty laundry,” she said into her phone coyly. “ You’re going to air my dirty laundry on national television?” Joel said, though he was smiling as he questioned her. ‘ Mhmm. ‘ she said into the phone before her voice, still audible became a bit more quiet like she was speaking away. ‘ Jacob Daniel Russo I said that dinner was going to be in two hours, put that away or I’m done cooking and you can eat frozen meals for the rest of the week’ she said before clearing her throat and returning to the phone, ‘Hello?’ she questioned. ‘Still here, so what was the dirty laundry’ Ellen asked enthusiastically. ‘ Joel Foster has found himself an actual girlfriend,’ Dani said satisfactorily before she continued, ‘ Well not actually a girlfriend. But come on.. it’s on the way. Her mom was his nurse when he was in a coma, and I know for a fact that he fell for her on New Years Eve.. fairy tale stuff right? It’s probably all going to be covered in Parker’s next cd. But yeah.. he’s got love in his life. And she shouldn’t think that there is something going on between us. Pictures can be misleading. Ask him about it. And I’ll see you soon Ellen! Joel call me later I need to talk to you before your show… love you guys!” she said before she hung up the phone.
Joel tapped his hands against the seat before he looked at Ellen. “ Well it’s not that surprising. I said in a radio interview a while back that I liked a girl, but now she has a name to the face” he said with a grin. ‘ So you are dating this girl?” Ellen asked and Joel brought his hands up to his face, pinching the bridge of his nose. “ Yeah I’d say she is the closest thing I have to a girlfriend. It’s hard.. I’m on tour. I went to her school though and sort of interrupted her class.. asked her if she would join me for dinner,” he said, feeling a slight blush on his cheeks. ‘ And did she say yes? You guys went to dinner?” she asked. Joel shook his head, “ No we haven’t had dinner yet. Lots and lots of skype sessions.. which for me is a lot. Carving time out of my work schedule,.. it’s not an easy thing for me to do. But I’m trying..” he said honestly before Ellen questioned how pretty she was. “ Oh she’s gorgeous. Absolutely beautiful.” he said, before he shifted in his seat. ‘ And you’re going to sing a song for us today that you performed for the first time at the Billboard Music Awards, was it inspired by her?” she asked. Joel weighed his options before he tried to figure out how to respond to that one, “ It’s.. it was inspired by where I’m at in my life. Simple as that,” he said before he geared up to start singing ‘Boyfriend’. ‘ Alright well, we’re going to take a quick commercial break and as soon as we get back we’ll have a performance from Joel Foster,” Ellen said, wrapping it up quickly.
