Forcing Love & Friendship - Chapter 7

They arrived at That Arcade Place and decided to have a challenge. Boys vs. Girls. They would all tally up who beat who, (you had to play with someone opposite your gender) and then whatever team won overall would pay for pizza.

Keila destroyed each of the Jonas Brothers at every game she played with them. Sarah was surprisingly not that good; she only beat each of them twice. And Gabi, well, she was half and half. Overall, thanks to Keila, the girls won and the Jonas Brothers had to buy the the pizza.

During that time, Gabi didn't talk that much, or even look that much at Nick at all. She tried to sort of avoid him politely and not that much. Nick did recognize her, though, and wanted to talk to her, but felt she didn't want to talk to him. So he ignored the matter, or at least tried to.

Joe certainly seemed to take a liking to Sarah. Although he wasn't exactly sure. And he thought that he and his brothers would be leaving in the morning, and wouldn't be able to see them again. Sarah definitely liked him. Or she wanted to. She wasn't sure either. But Sarah knew that they would be seeing them sooner than they expected.

They went to the pizza place next door and sat at a large-ish booth. The seating was:

Kevin, Joe, Gabi
Table
Keila, Sarah, Nick

Gabi was half comfortable and half uneasy. She sat next to Joe who she could talk to as much as her younger sister, Hilary (who was 13). On the other hand, she sat across from Nick. So she felt a bit uneasy, and tried to keep her eyes looking at something else. She didn't completely ignore him, she talked to him a little bit. Nick was quiet, too, as usual. But he kept looking at Gabi.

"She is so pretty..." he kept mumbling to himself.

The night went on pretty normal. Just six friends hanging out. After dinner, they all hung out at Kevin, Nick, and Joe's hotel room. They watched one of the girls' all time favorite movie, At World's End. Nick, Sarah, Joe, and Kevin sat on the couch. Gabi and Keila sat on chairs. By the time the movie was half over, Sarah was asleep on Joe's shoulder. Kevin went to bed. Nick left to get sodas with Keila, and they came back all angry; nobody found out why. Gabi just sat there, staring at the TV silently. She felt left out, but didn't know why. She looked out the window. She saw couples holding hands while walking. Then the sun set fully and she turned back to the TV. By then, it was the scene where Will and Elizabeth were getting married during a mad swordfight.

"Just kiss!" Barbossa yelled after clanging his swords against another. Will and Elizabeth kissed passionately.

Gabi looked over at Joe and Sarah. Sarah was still sleeping on Joe's shoulder. Joe had wrapped his arm around her. They were both smiling. She sighed. Was the world telling her something? She looked over at Nick, who she noticed was looking at her, and he smiled at Gabi. Her eyes widened slightly as she turned her head back facing the TV. Her attention was fixed on something else, though. She couldn't stop wondering. Her and Nick? Nick and Her? She could barely talk to the boy without getting nauseous! Plus, she was considered the super nerd at school. No boy had ever talked to her. Not more than a sentence or two. A boy like Nick could never be interested in a girl like Gabi. At least, that's what she thought.

Sarah didn't wake up even an hour after the movie ended. They tried to wake her up, but she was such a heavy sleeper, nothing would work. So they debated whether she should sleep there, or be carried into the girls' room. They decided that Joe should carry her to her bed. So he (kinda awkwardly) carried Sarah over to Room 49 and into her bedroom and onto the bed. He smiled at her. She looked so beautiful when she was asleep, he thought.