Forcing Love & Friendship - Chapter 6

Later that day, after they had lunch at Donato's, Keila, Gabi and Sarah went back to the hotel. Just then, the hotel phone rang.

"Who the heck could that be?!" Sarah asked.
"It must be hotel staff. Nobody we know would call our hotel phone." Keila said.

Gabi walked over to the phone and picked it up.

"Hello?...Hey, Joe!...Uh huh...Sweet!...Okay...We'll be there!...Bye." Gabi hung up.
"Get ready to practically worship me! That was Joe. He said they have the rest of the day off starting at 4:30 PM, and they wanna hang out with us! Before you scream and stuff, there's more. They're taking us to... um... man, I forgot!"

"Ohh! Ohhh! Is it Chuck E. Cheese?!" Sarah asked over excitedly.
"What?! No! It's... It's that arcade place... um... Oh yeah! It's called 'That Arcade Place'!"
"Seriously? What kind of name is that?"
"Hey, I'm not the one who thought of it!"
"I kinda like it..." Keila jumped in the conversation quietly. Sarah and Gabi looked at Keila strangely. Keila looked at them with a 'What?' face. They rolled their eyes and watched TV for three hours.

When the time finally came, there was a knock on the door. Sarah ran to the door and looked through the peephole.

"Ack!" She yelled. "Okay, there's a giant eye in the peephole!" The others laughed and opened the door to Joe, Kevin and Nick.

"Ready? Oh, of course you are! Let's go!" Joe was kinda hyper-ish. The girls walked out with them, ready to play some awesome video games. As they went out of the hotel lobby, Gabi stayed quiet in the back of the group, going a bit slower than the others. Just as she planned, Joe slowed down to see what was wrong with Gabi.

"Anything wrong?" He asked her.
"Well... Can I be completely honest with you?"
"Of course."
"Okay... well I kinda... um..." She took a deep breath. "I don't know why, but whenever I even look at Nick... I get sooo nervous! I just don't know what I'll do!"
"Well... maybe you should have him break your glasses!" They laughed.
"I don't think so!"
"Just be yourself. Just, you know, pretend he's someone you already know."
"I... I'll try." She sighed. "Thanks, Joe."
"Any time, Gabi." He wrapped his arm around her shoulder for a side hug.
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be flirting with your friend." Gabi playfully hit him in the arm and they both moved towards the front of the group. Maybe, just maybe, things will work out fine.