I'm Feeling Love Sick But I Don't Mind

The next day, I woke up around 10:30 since I was awoken last night, so I slept in. When I got out of bed, I pulled my hair back and went downstairs. I looked in Nick's room, he wasn't there. Kevin's room, he wasn't there either. I must be the only one who just got up. So I went downstairs and heard voices. Most of them sounded like the parents and Frankie.
Then I heard, "All my juice is gone!" that sounded like Joe.
"That's mine, yours is over there." that sounded like Nick.
Then there was, "Oh." Joe again. I laughed.
When I pushed open the kitchen door, my dad went, "There she is!" I gave a tired smile and waved. Then I sat on the closest chair nearby.
"Yeah, sure, you can sit on me," Kevin said. I looked down and saw I was on Kevin's lap.
"I thought this chair didn't feel right," I laughed.
"Jeez, are you awake yet?" Dad smiled.
"Mm-mm," I groaned.
"So, what are we gonna do today?" Nick asked.
"How about we go do some shopping?" Denise asked.
"I vote yes!" I shot my hand up like a nerd answering a Geometry question.
"Me too!" Mom said.
"Boys?" Paul said.
Kevin shrugged, Nick and Joe agreed, though.
"As long as I can go to Toys R Us," Frankie said, bulldozing his toy car through his pancake.
"Franksters, don't do that. Maybe they have a sale at Toys R Us we can see," Denise said, feeding Frankie a peice of pancake.

After we all ate, I went upstairs to take a shower but someone was already in there. Dang. So I got my clothes anyway and all that I needed. Shampoo, shaving cream, conditioner, all that. When I walked out, I saw Joe. But it wasn't the Joe I was used to seeing. He was wet, skin and hair, and wrapped around his waist was a towel. Oh god, I almost had a heart attack.
"Uh..." I was all I could manage out, and a stutter. I strained to keep a hold on my things.
"Oh, my bad, Abby. Hope I wasn't too long," He smiled, moving and going to his room.
"It's okay," I breathed, going into the bathroom. Once I closed the door behind me, I let out a big sigh and rubbed my eyes. "Oh my goodness."

When I got out of the shower I dried and put on my clothes. I wore a black pair of skinny jeans, a white long sleeve shirt that had black hearts on it with a black little vest over it. I smiled into the mirror and towel dried my hair as dry as I could, then collected my things and went into my room and put them away. After I blow dried my hair and straightened my side bangs, I was ready. I put on my black Converse and went downstairs.
Nick and Joe were there sitting on the couch. Nick was playing with Elvis. He was wearing a black and grey checkered long sleeve shirt and regular skinny jeans and Vans. Joe was wearing a black long sleeve shirt with black jeans and a white scarf and white sweater over the black shirt. That drove me crazy.
"Joe! What are you wearing?!" I exclaimed.
"What?" He asked me, eyes big.
"You need to take that stupid scarf off," I immediately went over to him and ripped the scarf off of his neck.
"What are you doing?!" He exclaimed, this time. I heard Nick start laughing.
"What is with his freaking sweater? You are not Mr. Rogers!" I tried to get the sweater over his neck but he was difficult and was trying to pull it back down.
"Get off of my sweater, lady!"
"Joe, you cannot wearing this sweater in public," I said, trying to raise his arm to get it over his neck.
"Would you stop?!" Joe grabbed my wrists and pulled him away from his neck. "Nick is wearing a sweater."
"So? It looks good on Nick. On you, it just looks ridiculous because you're wearing it over another sweater!" I rolled my eyes.
He sighed and pulled the sweater over his head. "Happy, Miss Vest?"
"Much better," I snatched the sweater out of his hand and threw it beside him on the couch.
"What's all the commotion down here?" Denise came down the stairs with Mom. When she saw me and Joe, her face fell. "Did you guys get in another slap fight?"
"No, Joe was wearing a stupid sweater and vest," Nick explained, patting Elvis's tummy.
"Oh, um...okay," Denise said, not getting it. Mom just rolled her eyes. "Let's get going, then. We have to warm the car up.

Then, Nick, Joe and I got in my parents' SUV. Joe, Nick and I sat in the back. Kevin, Frankie and Paul in the way back and Mom and Denise in the front seats. When we finally got to the mall, we all decided to go in groups.
"Abby, do you wanna come with me and your Mom to be with the girls?" Denise asked me.
"Um...I think I'll just hang with Nick," I said, then put on a preppy voice. "We can go to Forever 21 together, and I can try on a bunch of skinny jeans and he'll tell me which ones look best on me!"
She laughed at that. "Okay, you kids have fun."
I nodded and Nick and I started walking off, then I noticed Joe was with us. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, I didn't wanna go with Frankie and my Dad and look at toys," He rolled his eyes, I shrugged, not wanting to argue. I wanted to enjoy his presence.
First we went to Pac Sun because I didn't want them to dread about being in a girly store. Plus, I thought it would be fun to pick out clothes for them. I followed Nick and Joe to the guys' side. "Ooh, Nick," I said, picking up a white DC shirt. "This would look cute on you." I held it up to his chest.
"Cute? You want me to look cute? I'm a man, Abby," He said, flicking his head to the side to move a curl that wasn't there.
I laughed. "Well, sorry Mr. Man." I put the shirt back down and went to the girls side.

I was looking at the price of a plaid button-down shirt when Joe came by. 44.00. Psh, it's not that good looking.
"Hey Abby," Joe said.
"Hey," I smiled, going around the table to the V-neck shirts and tank tops.
"See anything you like?" He asked.
"Yeah but everything is just so expensive." My eyebrows creased together when I said that while looking at a black and purple Billabong shirt.
"Well, I'll be happy to buy you something if you want," He said sincerely.
I turned my head to look at him. "I can't let you do that, Joe."
"Oh come on, it's nothing," He smiled.
I sighed. "Well, okay."
I picked out two plaid shirts. He bought both of them for me, plus a shirt for himself. I saw Nick waiting for us in the corner of my eye, smiling. When the lady handed me the bag, I smiled too.
"Thanks," I said to Joe.
"No problem," He smiled back. "I'm glad we're friends, Abby."
"Yeah, me too." I said, and scowled at the word.

Friends.