Inclined to Recline

“I would give it all, just to let you see, that all I want for Christmas is the girl of my dreams!” I grinned and stopped dancing as the song drew to a close. The boys had been practising all day for the Disney Christmas Parade; we’d barely had chance to look around the parks since Julia and I had arrived two days ago because they were so nervous (Joe tended to hide it better than Nick and Kevin, but I knew him well enough to know that when he made more jokes than usual, he was nervous.)

“Maybe we should run it one more time,” Nick said, turning to look at his brothers who nodded in agreement. Julia and I looked at each other and then shook our heads.

I walked over to Nick and wrapped my arms around his waist, resting my chin on his shoulder, or as close to it as I could get to it from my height, “Guys, it sounds perfect okay? Now, can you whisk me off to Disney World please? I didn’t travel to Florida for nothing, baby!” I giggled, and Nick chuckled in response.

Nick was my best friend up until a year ago, when my Mom decided to move me from Texas to New York and Nick and I realised we loved each other, and then as all tragic love stories would have it; we got together, and I moved away. Nick and his family, my second family, had come to visit a few times over the year, and I’d gone back down to Texas too. On one visit up in New York, the boys’ band the ‘Jonas Brothers’ got signed for a record deal and had an album released, but got dropped by the label. They got picked up another, and signed to Disney, and now here they were, shitting themselves, getting ready to perform to thousands of people (at the parade and the live broadcast) at the happiest place on earth.

He nodded, placed his guitar up against the wall, and then turned back to wrap my tightly in his arms, “You’re right, I’m going to take in to the parks today,”

I smiled up at him, and then turned to look at Joe and Kevin. Julia was fixing Joe with puppy dog eyes and he cracked immediately, and finally Kevin agreed too, and placed his guitar beside Nick’s up against the wall.

Since changing their label, there had been a couple of changes to the band. Joe still sang, Kevin still played guitar, but Nick now did both, and they had a couple of our Texas friends to help them too; Jack, Garbo, and John. They weren’t here today though, and only Jack was playing with them at the parade.

“So, are we agreed that were going to have sun fun in the Florida sun today?” I grinned.

“If that’s what you want,” Nick replied, pressing his lips softly to mine, “But it’s December, so it’s not going to be warm enough for fun in the sun, darling,”

I shrugged and grabbed his hand, before following Joe, Julia and Kevin out to Joe’s car. Nick’s Mustang wasn’t big enough for all of us, whereas Joe’s car was. Kevin looked slightly out of place without Danielle, as she was joining us tomorrow, but there was no awkwardness between us as we all chatted happily on the way to Julia’s chosen park; Hollywood Studios (I was secretly hoping she’d choose that one!) We parked the car, and then travelled to the entrance in the tram. The boys had donned glasses and hats to disguise themselves (they weren’t huge, but we’re still well known by now), and as we stepped up to the entrance, Nick pulled out his wallet.

“Five adults please,” Nick said to the man inside the little hut. He turned to tap away at his computer, and then glanced at Nick, and then at Kevin and Joe, and then back at Nick, his eyes narrowing. Finally he nodded, printed out the tickets and passed them through the hole in the glass window. When Nick made to pass over the money, he shook his head.

“Just go right in, Mr Jonas,” The man said and Nick raised his eyebrows, before saying thank-you and leading us away and towards the ticket barriers.

Once we’d all successfully passed through the barriers, we huddled together to discuss what to do. Julia shook her head, “That was so weird,”

“I feel awesome,” Joe grinned, “I’m a VIP.” Julia scoffed and he glared, jokingly, at her, “Hey, just remember how you got in here for free, yeah? I could have decided to bring any girl with me today,”

She gave him ‘the look’ and then snapped, “Keep going the way you’re going and next time, you’ll have too,” before stalking off. He cursed under his breathe before chasing after her; we watched him following her until she got lost in the crowd, and then the three of us turned our attention back to the conversation.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to you guys being treated like that,” I shook my head and they both chuckled.

“You can’t get used to it?” Kevin shook his head, “We can’t even buy orange juice without girls fainting and buying an identical carton for us to sign! It’s crazy,” Nick and I nodded in agreement and then Kevin spoke again, “Anyway, you two have a good day, and I’ll catch up with you later,”

Nick frowned, “Well where are you going?”

“John and Garbo are here, coincidentally, so I’m gonna hang with them for the day,” He explained, “Don’t wanna cramp your style, bro,” He winked, “And Emma, if he does your head in, just give me a call and I’ll come and whisk you to safety,” He grinned.

I nodded, “I’ll keep that in mind,” Once he’d walked away, I turned to look at Nick, who was fixing me with the same look that Julia had given Joe. I grinned and wrapped my arms around his neck, “I’m kidding! I’ve missed you too much to get sick of you, and we haven’t been able to spend anytime together since I got here because you guys spend all of your time working on that performance,” I pressed my lips to his and tilted my body back slightly so that he had to lean in further to keep his hold on my mouth. It was all very romantic until we heard a girlish scream and broke quickly apart as two teenage girls ran towards us.

“My cover has been blown,” His sighed, but I knew he was only annoyed that our moment had been ruined; he knew how lucky he was to have a career and fans that support him and his brothers, and he is always more than happy to meet his fans. So he signed their autographs, took photos, and then we made a quick getaway in the direction of the Tower of Terror.

**

Nick continued to laugh at our photo from the Rock n’ Roller Coaster as we sat in one of the Disney restaurants to eat our lunch. I glared at him; I’d hated the photo. He’d looked perfect, as always, whereas my mouth was open in a scream (not of terror, I love roller coasters, although the photo would beg to differ) and my hair was whipping back in the most unattractive fashion. I’d sulked and stamped my feet when he’d mentioned buying the photo, which had only made him laugh more and buy the photo. Now I was sat across the table from him, glaring at him as he looked at the photo for the millionth time and continued to laugh.

“I hate you,” I mumbled as I tossed a fry into my open mouth.

“Aw,” He smirked, putting the photo away and eating one of his own fries, “You look cute,”

“I look hideous,”

“Cute,”

“Hideous,”

“Emma, you’re beautiful,” He argued. I glanced up from my plate nervously, checking for any signs of amusement in his eyes. There was none; he was being serious. I felt myself blush, and cast my gaze down to my food again, “And crazy expression or no crazy expression, I’m never going to believe otherwise, okay?” He said, and then smiled, “These are some good fries,”

I nodded, “They are that,” And then stuffed about five into my mouth at once to show my agreement. “Now boy, hurry up and eat because I want to go to the Star Wars ride!”

**

We ended up going to Star Wars, and then Toy Story Mania, and then every other ride that we passed, before meeting up with Joe and Julia for the last showing of Beauty and the Beast - Live on Stage. After that we wandered around for a little while longer, myself moaning that Chip and Dale weren’t there and being reassured by all three of them that they would be at the Christmas Parade at Magic Kingdom tomorrow.

Once darkness had fallen, we made our way over to the Hollywood Hills Amphitheatre and met up with Kevin, John and Garbo for Fantasmic! I’d seen the show on a vacation here before, and I loved it; Disney never stopped amazing me, no matter how old I got. The theatre was packed, as always, but Kevin had apparently been here a while and had managed to secure us good seats.

Nick grinned at me as I squealed with excitement when Chip and Dale went past on the boat, and then he leaned down to whisper ‘I love you’ in my ear. I blushed and whispered it back.

After the show, we said good-bye to John and Garbo and then all made our way back to Joe’s car, making a detour for pizza on the way back to the hotel. Nick and I were sharing a room, and after eating our share of the pizza in Joe and Julia’s room, we managed to drag ourselves down the corridor to our own, and into bed.

I don’t know how long it took Nick to fall asleep, but he laid and tickled my back, most likely worrying about the parade the next day. I think I conked out as soon as my head hit the pillow.