Forcing Love & Friendship - Chapter 5

Gabi tried to sleep until 6:27 AM. She couldn't sleep and went to the living room. She turned on the TV quietly. But on every channel, it was either something boring or something about, who else? The Jonas Brothers. She couldn't handle even looking at them at the moment. She sighed as she turned the TV off. She decided to get dressed and go do something. She dressed in a knee-length black skirt and a white t-shirt with the American flag on it with some white ballet flats. She also wore her glasses. She put her long, dark brown hair into a slightly messy ponytail. She grabbed her denim Pirates of the Caribbean purse and left a note on the TV saying she went to a place, she's got her phone with her, and she'll be back at 9:30 AM. She went out the door to do... something interesting.

Gabi got down to the lobby and went out the revolving door. She thought, This is too fun to put in normal doors. She looked around outside and wondered what to do. She walked around looking at the buildings all around trying to find something to do at 6:41 AM. For a minute, she wasn't paying attention to where she was going. Unfortunately, she crashed into someone knocking the other person down.

"Oh.. I-I'm sorry! I..." Gabi tried to apologize but eventually noticed who it was that she knocked down. He got up and brushed himself off. Gabi's eyes widened and she got really nervous. The sparkling eyes of Nick Jonas were staring at her and he was smiling politely.

"Hey! Aren't you Gab-" Nick started to say, but Gabi interrupted him.
"Um.. bye." She said flatly as she quickly walked away with her head down. Nick stared at her strangely as she hurried away. He was used to the really pretty girls being outgoing and scream-ish. But Gabi was different. She got his attention in a different way.

Gabi sped up as she felt a single tear run down her face. Why can't I just talk to the boy?! It's really not that hard. Then she found a store that caught her eye; The Disney Store! She entered the store and was amazed. She felt like a little kid almost. She looked around and her eyes glistened at everything. From the mountain of plush Disney characters, to the colorful toys, to the awesome clothes, to the giant screen that played Disney music videos. She hadn't been to the Disney Store in years. She wandered around gazing at the things that were actually suitable for her age. Then she spotted it. Put on a display behind a glass box was the very same medallion necklace that Elizabeth Turner wore in Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. She almost drooled but stopped herself and looked at the price. $50.00

"Oh my..." she whispered to herself disappointedly. She could never afford that before she had to leave. She would've let Sarah buy it with the credit card that Sarah's grandparents gave her, but she didn't like the idea of that. She sighed and looked at the other things. She looked at her watch. Only 7:19 AM. She was kinda bored but didn't really want to leave. She looked at the huge screen and watched Hannah Montana sing Nobody's Perfect.

"Loser." Gabi whispered. A little girl up to her.
"You called Hannah Montana a loser?!" she whined sadly. Gabi opened her mouth to say something but the girl started whimpering and tears started coming down. Then her mother came up to Gabi.
"What did you say to my little girl?!" she said harshly. Gabi opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by the little girl.
"Mommy! She called Hannah Montana a loser!"
Gabi hoped the mother would understand.
"Now you're not a very nice teenager, are you?" the mother said harshly as she pulled her daughter away from Gabi.

Gabi sighed as if this type of thing was normal. Actually, it was. Things like that happened to Gabi all the time. She looked back at the screen and saw the Hannah Montana video finish and a new video start. She recognized the tune that the guitar played. As the seconds passed she saw the Jonas Brothers in the video for Burning Up.

"Oh no." She muttered to herself. She felt her hand twitch and she ran out of the store. She looked back for just a second and... SMACK! She crashed into someone again! This time she was knocked to the ground. Her hair fell out of the ponytail she had put in, making her hair somewhat wavy. She rubbed her head and looked up. The person was blurry because her glasses fell of in the collision.

"Oh I'm so sorry!" The person said. Another person walked up next to the guy.
"Ugh. You're such a clutz, Joe!" He said. Joe... wait a minute! She recognized the voice. Oh great. How much Jonas can one take all at once?! Joe reached out his hand and Gabi hesitantly grabbed it. He helped her up and noticed she was squinting.
"Are you alright?" He asked.
"Can't see..." Gabi said quietly. She looked around for her glasses. Joe walked around looking for them, too, when... CRUNCH! Joe's eyes widened. He removed his foot and picked them up. He gave them to her. She looked at them in dismay. They been cracked all over and was bent into a weird shape. She was absolutely traumatized.

"Congratulations, Joe. You actually broke a girl's glasses." The guy next to Joe said sarcastically as he shook his head.
"I'm really sorry!" He kinda had a dismayed look, too. "Do you have another pair? Or contacts?" Gabi shook her head. Joe smacked his forehead and shut his eyes tightly.
"You're not gonna sue me, are you?" He asked semi-seriously. Gabi shook her head and tried her best not to laugh.
"Well, then... I guess I'm gonna have to buy you some new ones..." He said rather slowly.
"Good luck!" The guy who was with Joe said as he hurried away.
"Yeah, thanks a lot, Kevin!" Joe yelled back to him. "C'mon, the opto-mole-ology-ist...uh... person's office is right over there." He led Gabi to the ophthalmologist's office to get get some new glasses. Luckily, she had her prescription with her, since she was a clutz. So she picked out some frames that were exactly like her old ones; plain brown and a rounded rectangular shape. They went up to the counter lady and (Joe) explained.

"Well, you're in luck! We have exactly what you need right here!" She went to the back and brought brand new glasses. Gabi tried them on and they fit perfectly, and everything looked clear again. The price came up to $89.64 and Joe (semi)happily paid.

As they left, Joe started asking Gabi questions.

"So you never told me your name." He said.
"Ga..."
"Wait! Let me guess!... Gabriella, right?"
Gabi stopped walking and stood there a bit shocked.
"I recognized you from last night." Joe said. Gabi continued walking.
"So, Gabriella, do you live around here?"
"No..."
"Oh. Where do you live?"
"K-Kentucky."
"Wow... that's really far away. Are you here on vacation?"
"...Sorta..."
"Sorta?"
"Yeah..."
"Where are you staying?"
Gabi brought out room key and showed it to him. It said,
Fantasy Hotel
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Floor 3, Room 49

"No way!" Joe said loudly. "Our room is right across the hall!"
"Wow!" She acted like she didn't already know. And she was pretty good at it.
"So, do you know anyone named Sarah? Just wondering..."
"Yes..."
"Really?! Black hair? About as tall as Nick?" Gabi's stomach felt weird after Joe mentioning Nick. But she answered anyway.
"Um, yeah. Sh-she's my best friend."
"So she's in the same room as you?"
"Yes. Why?"
"Oh. No reason, really. Just curious. Kevin mentioned something about her." Gabi remembered Sarah saying she met Kevin the other day.
Joe and Gabi talked all the way up to their rooms. By then it was exactly 9:30 AM when she said she would be back. Gabi was now really comfortable around Joe, and could talk to him without stuttering. Kevin and Nick, however, she would still be nervous around; especially Nick. The worst part was that Gabi had no idea why she was so weird around Nick!

Joe hugged her as she entered her hotel room. She went inside to see Keila and Sarah with excited faces.
"What?" Gabi looked at them confused. When the door closed, the girls immediately started squealing and shouting, "No way, no way, no way!!"
"What!!" Gabi yelled.
"We saw you and Joe through the peephole!" Sarah yelled.
"Oh... yeah, see, what happened was..."
"Wait! Over on the couch!"
"Okay..." They sat on the couch and Gabi told them what happened.
"Holy crap!" Sarah yelled. Then she got a sort of an evil-ish look on her face.
"...What?"
"You can find out if he likes me!" By then, Keila had left the room to get dressed.
"Well, he did ask about you..."
"He did?!" She grinned.
"Yeah. He asked if I knew a Sarah and described you. I said that you stayed in the same room as me. He asked about you because he said Kevin mentioned you..."
"Holy crap part 2! Oh my gosh!" Sarah's grin was from ear to ear now.
"Yeah, um that's all he said, though. But I think he might."
"Alright! And this is only the first stop!"
"Yeah, um, what are we gonna do on the next stop?"
"Well, you'll find out what hotel they're gonna stay at. Then we'll bump into them (not literally) and act like it's coincidental."
"Okay, I guess. Well, go get dressed and we'll go do some stuff."
"Alright, Mom."