chapter 2
“Thanks.” he blushed . “You're welcome.” she smiled. “So, are you having fun so far?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m having a lot of fun.” he smiled. She smiled back.
Amanda’s and Joe’s conversation lasted about 20 minutes until Nick appeared with Lauren beside him .
“Hey, Nick.” Amanda looked at him.
“Hey.” he said as he sat down next to Amanda. “How are you?” she asked.
“I’m good, you?” he replied. Nick and Amanda were good friends for about a year, pretty mich since he's known Lauren.
“Great, I was just talking to this guy I just met.” she said while pointing at Joe. He was sitting there playing with a loose thread on his shirt, not paying any attention to what the two were talking about.
“Have you ever seen him before? Like at school I mean.” she asked Nick.
“Well, yeah, I kinda live with him.” he answered.
“Oh...” she looked over at Joe. “So you're brothers, then?” she asked.
“Yeah, didn’t I tell you that?” Lauren cut in . She looked at Amanda. Joe suddenly looked up from what he was doing.
“Told who what?” he asked with a clueless look on his face.
“Nothing, Joe” Nick laughed.
“Tell me!” He looked at Nick.
“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.” Lauren told him.
“Wait, why are you guys over here? No one invited you!” he looked at Nick.
“Invited us to what?” He looked confused.
“To join in our conversation !” he answered annoyed.
“Well, Lauren can talk to her sister anytime she wants!” Nick glared at him.
“What? Her sister isn’t here!” Joe exclaimed. Now he was the confused one.
“Actually, I am.” Amanda smiled.
“OHHHH.” Joe felt his face turn red.
Nick smiled “You didn’t tell me she had a sister. ” he said to Nick under his breath.
“YEAH I DID .” he said laughing.
“Whatever.” he sighed and looked over at Amanda who was talking to a few of her friends who showed up just a few minutes ago. He sat there for a while, pretending not to know anything they were talking about.
“Who’s that guy sitting over there?” one of them asked, pointing to Joe.
“He’s cute.” another one added. He smiled to himself, while going through his phone looking for Kevin’s, his oldest brother, number, he hadn’t heard from him in a while.
“So...” she asked. “What are you doing?” he leaned closer to him.
“Nothing.” he said while putting his phone in his back pocket.
“Well you were obviously doing something.” she looked at him.
“Was not!” he said in a playful tone.
“Were too!” she added.
“Was not!!!” he stuck out his tongue.
“Danger!” Nick yelled.
“What?!” he turned around to see his brother, Nick just standing there.
“Stop doing that.” Nick glared at him.
“Doing what?” Joe retorted.
“Acting like a two year old!” Nick scolded him. “I mean, Frankie acts older than you.”
Amanda laughed. “Nick, don't embarrass him!” she laughed jokingly. “What’s Danger?” she questioned, still laughing at Joe and Nick.
“It's Joe’s nickname bu--” Nick said, but Joe cut him off.
“I’ve practically had it since birth.” he smiled with his straight white teeth showing.
“Well, it fits you, I guess.” she added.
“Yeah, it does.” Nick turned around and started walking back to where his girlfriend was sitting.
“Sorry about Nick, he has... issues.” he whispered. “Don’t tell anyone though.” he smiled.
“Don’t worry... I won't.” she returned his smile.
*************************
Nick walked back over to Amanda and Joe, followed by Lauren.
“What now?!” Joe looked up at his brother who was standing over him.
“We gotta go...” he told him. “Mom said we had to be home by 10:45, but now its like 11:00.”
Joe smiled. “I have an idea, why don’t you drive yourself home since you wanted to drive so bad earlier, and I'll get a ride with Amanda?” he put his arm over her shoulder.
“What if I hit another poor innocent squirrel?” he looked at Joe, saying to him, afraid.
“You killed a squirrel?!” Lauren and Amanda asked in unison.
“Yeah.” Joe added. “He didn’t have a chance, poor thing.” he frowned. Nick started to blush.
“Sorry!” he looked down. “It was an accident!” he said clenching his teeth, nudging Joe with his elbow in the stomach.
“Well if it's an accident, I forgive you.” Lauren said laughing. She walked over to Nick and gave him a hug.
“See you on Monday” she told him while hugging him. “Call me later, okay?” she said pulling away.
“I will.” he smiled. She walked over to Emily and started talking to her.
“Well, I guess I gotta go, since the brat wants to go home cause he's afraid of mommy!” Joe said jokingly. Amanda laughed.
Joe took his arm off of Amanda’s shoulder “It was nice meeting you though.”
She got up. “It was nice meeting you too, Joe.” she smiled and stood up off her chair she walked over to give him a hug. She pulled away and put a piece of paper in his hand. “Call me later?” she asked.
“DEFINITELY!” he said excitedly as he laughed like a nerd, watching Amanda walk away.
“Good.” she walked to join her group of friends.
“Good.” he said smiling to himself. He put the piece of paper in his pocket. And stood there watching her. "This could be the beginning of a BEAUTIFUL relationship..." he said to himself, staring at her in a daze.
“JOOOOOOEEE????” Nick said waving his hand in front of his face. “Let's go!” he sounded annoyed.
“Okay, okay.” Joe said, following Nick out the door.
Joe couldn’t stop think about Amanda, he was just about to open the door to his car.
“JOE!” he heard a familiar voice behind him. He turned around to see Amanda.
“Hey!” he smiled at her.
“What’s up?” he asked.
“Well... my friend who was supposed to take me home can’t anymore. Her car broke down.”
She looked at him, hoping he got the hint. “Sooo... I need a ride.”
He laughed. “Okay. Nick, you're sitting in the back!”
“WHAT?! WHY?!” Nick asked.
“Because Lauren's sister needs a ride home!” Joe replied
“FINE , whatever.”
Nick jumped into the back of his older brother's car and sat there with his arms crossed, today was just not his day.
Joe led Amanda over to the passengers side of the vehicle. He opened the door for her.
“Thanks.” she said as she go into the car.
“No problem.” he replied, smiling.
“No problem.” Nick mimicked Joe.
He got inside the car and started it.
“Where's Lauren?” Nick whined.
“She’s spending the night at a friend's.” Amanda answered him
She looked over at Nick. “Oh.”
He looked out the window
“She never tells me anything anymore.” he thought.
“Where do you live?” Joe asked.
"Where do you THINK she lives, Joe? She's Lauren's sister and you JUST picked Lauren up like 4 hours ago!" Nick answered him.
“Oh, well DUH." Joe answered, embarrassed.
About 15 minutes later, they pulled up in her driveway. By now, Nick was DYING of boredom in the back from listening to Joe and Amanda just flirt BACK AND FORTH ALL NIGHT. So he just fell asleep.
“Well, here we go...” Joe said hesitantly. "Want me to walk you out?"
“Sure." she said, blushing. They walked up to her porch, just facing each other, almost touching hands.
“See you on Monday.. hopefully.” Amanda said. "Just so you know, tonight's been the best night I've had all month." she smiled.
"Same here." Joe said back to her.
"Bye." she said, wishing she could have said more.
"Later." Joe said. He walked back to his car, opened the door wide opened and let out a hugeeeeeee "YESSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Nick jumped out from his sleep so fast as if an ammonia stick had just waken him up. "WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM?!?!?!" he yelled angrily at Joe.
"I have NO problem , my friend." he said as he backed out of her driveway.
******************************
Joe didn’t have enough nerve to call her all weekend, and before he knew it, Monday had come. He saw her Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and all they did was talk. He was getting VERY impatient by now, just DYING to ask her out. Today was Friday. Joe walked into his 7th period physics class and sat down in the very back.
“Hey, Joe.” said Massie as she sat down in the seat next to him. She was one of the most annoying people he had ever met. She was popular and all, and she had a lot of friends. But she has had a crush on him since sophmore year.
“Hey.” he responded, annoyed.
“How are you?” she asked.
“Pretty good.” he said, smiling, but it was a fake smile. He was just WAITING for 7th period to be over to see Amanda again.
“That’s great.” she returned his smile.
“Today class," started the teacher. "We will be watching a video. Please PAY attention, this is not naptime, you will be having a quiz on this Monday.” Mr. Quigley said as he turned off the lights and started the movie. Joe put his head on his desk and pulled out his phone to text his older brother.
“Mr. Jonas, is your cell phone out?” Mr. Quigley said from the front of the room.
“Uhhhh no sir.” Joe looked up and saw him standing over him.
“Now, Joseph, I’m going to ask you one more time. Was your phone out?”
He lowered his prescription glasses and stared at him.
“Yeah... it... was.” he looked up at his teacher.
“Hand it over, please.” he said holding out his hand, Joe handed him the phone. Mr. Quigley returned to his desk and put it in the top drawer.
“Your mother can pick it up on Monday” he said sitting in his chair.
“Whatever.” Joe said under his breath. He put his head back on his desk, and dozed off.
40 minutes later…
“Joe?”
He felt tapping on his back.
“It's time to go!” he woke up and saw Massie standing there, he smiled.
“Okay.” he walked with her to the parking lot.
“Bye.” Joe waved to her as he walked to his car
“BYE!” she replied in a very preppy voice. He got to his car to see Nick and Lauren waiting there.
“Hey guys.” he smiled.
“Hey” Nick said.
Joe unlocked his car and opened the doors and started the car, and drove towards their house.
“So, Joe” Lauren smiled from the backseat.
“What” he looked in the rearview mirror.
“My sister has been talking about youuuuuu!” she said in a happy voice.
“Really?” he seemed surprised, but wasn't really.
“Yeah.” she nodded .
“How do you know?” he asked.
“Well she told me, DUH. You're ALL she talks about , ever since that party.” she laughed.
“What did she say?” he looked at her but tried to concentrate on the road at the same time.
“She was like 'isn’t Nick’s brother adorable? He’s like the cutest guy I have ever seen!'" she smiled.
“Well you can tell her I’m flattered.” he said jokingly.
“Actually, you can tell her.” Nick stated. Joe’s eyes widened.
“WHAT?!” he asked.
“She’s coming over, like soon.” Lauren looked at him, Joe stepped on the gas, RACING to get home ASAP.
“DANGER?!?!” Nick yelled, “YOU’RE GOING TO GET US KILLED! SEE?! THIS IS WHY YOU HAVE THE NAME YOU HAVE!”
Lauren was laughing at the expression on Joe’s face, it was hilarious. But Nick’s was even funnier. “THAT’S MY MIDDLE NAME, DON’T WEAR IT OUT!” he laughed.
“JOE!” Lauren yelled. “RED LIGHT!” she pointed “AHHHHHHHH” Nick screamed. The car suddenly came to a fast halt, they were forced forwards, but they all had their seatbelts on, so no one was hurt-- seriously.
“Ouch, my seat belt it choking me.” Joe laughed.
“It isn’t funny, Joe, we could have DIED!” Nick said rubbing his chest.
“Nick’s right” Lauren said breathing heavily.
“Sorry.” Joe apologized, meaninglessly. The light turned green, and the were home in a matter of minutes.
“I'm taking a shower!” Joe said running up the stairs .
“Me and Lauren are going to watch T.V. until Amanda gets here...” Nick yelled after him.
“Okay!” he called back, closingthe bathroom door. Joe hoped into the shower for about 10 minutes, then walked into his closet and put grey skinny jeans along with a black undershirt and pulled a plaid blouse over it, he left the buttons undone. He put some of Nick's Abercrombie cologne on. Then walked down stairs to see the 3 of them watching T.V. as he sat on the railing and slid down it, nearly breaking it.
“JOE!” his mother yelled.
“Sorry!” they looked at him. He smiled.
“Mmm, what’s that smell?” Amanda said looking at him.
“It's me!” he smiled pointed to himself with both hands, laughing. He walked over and sat between her and Nick.
“Actually that's ME! Are you wearing my cologne?!” Nick asked wide eyed .
“Uh, maybe...” Joe smiled.
“Whatever.” Nick said. Joe turned to face Amanda.
“So, can I talk to you?” he asked her smiling.
“Yeah, sure.” she smiled back.
“Let's go on the porch.” he led her out the front door they sat on the swinging chair.
“So... do have a boyfriend?” he asked her.
“No. Why?” she looked at him.
“I was just wondering.” he smiled.
“Do you have a girlfriend?” she laughed.
“No, but I like someone.”
“WHO?” she seemed like she really wanted to know.
“Do you really want to know?” he asked.
“YEAH.” she said back, getting antsy.
“Are you SURE?” he smiled.
“VERY!” she smiled back.
"Okay.” he looked down. But one look into those bright green eyes, he choked up. "Uhmmm... my ex." he said, TOTALLY not planning to say that. OH MY GAWD, WHAT DID I JUST DO ?!?! Joe thought.
“Oh, wow ...” she said, confuse and CONFIDENT he was going to say "you".
“Uhm... yeah...” he said, just wondering how in the WORLD he was going to bounce back from this.
There was an awkward silence for about 10 seconds.
“Yeah, so...” he finally said.
“So...” she said.
"Ok, I lied..." he said again.
"Huh?" she asked. "What do you mean?"
"I don't REALLY like my ex. I just freaked for a second..." he explained.
"Oh, ok. Then what were you going to say?" Amanda said, hopes getting higher again.
"I like..." Joe said, freezing up AGAIN.
"Uhmmm... I like .... this weather ! I mean isn't it GREAT? It's so nice for December, not too hot, not too cold just right!" he said in a fast rapid voice. OH CRAP. Why the SNAP would she ever wanna talk to a loser like me ever again ?!
"OK then..." Amanda said, convinced he was crazy. "Why don't we just go back inside?" she said.
"NO!" Joe snapped at her.
"Are you OK ?! You've never acted like this before!" Amanda said concerned.
"Yes I'm fine... just fine..." Joe said, walking her back into the living room.
