Who Says Love Has to Be Left up to Fate?

Chapter twenty two- Insulting much!

Demi had to laugh. She just had to. The situation was much too ridiculous for her not to. She was sitting in the car with the rest of the family all who were doing the exact same thing- except for Annabelle and Olive. They had finally arrived to the restaurant front entrance that was situated off a main road and had a long green emerald carpet that trailed from the curb to the double door and was decorated tastefully with a row of green mini evergreen pot plants –immaculately groomed- and accessorized with two identical looking porters on hand to open the doors of the customers cars that pulled up. Unknown to the family the restaurant had made sure to brief their staff of the nature of all their rich and reputable clientele. And to make sure to compliment them as much as possible to get into a good mood, the key to a great restaurant. These two doormen therefore had been told that this was the Jonas family arriving- a big deal and great publicity for the restaurant, but also Annabelle Denton. An even bigger deal. However there was a hitch.

The doors opened and Olive blinked several times to try and block out the large amount of light the flashes were sending her. Smile and look pretty, is what she told herself she would do. Smile and look pretty but don’t look at the cameras. Smile and look pretty but run into the restaurant and don’t make any eye contact. However she forgot all this when a gloved hand was extended to her and proposed the help her step out of the car with a chirpy,

“Good day Miss Denton, how ravishing you look today. I hope you enjoy your time here.” A second man continued on opening the door wider.

“Looks lovelier every time I see her. The real face of youth, yes.”

Olive mouth dropped open as she watched these men make a fool of themselves by throwing false compliments on to her. She could feel Annabelle fuming because actually they were sitting right next to each other and the men would have seen her. But it seemed that they hadn’t been able to recognize her or they didn’t know what Annabelle Denton looked like. The horror.

“You find me lovely? Truly?” asked Olive as she jumped down from the car her hand reluctantly letting go of Joe’s warm and comforting one. The men nodded eagerly and escorted her off toward the door, with unbelievable excitement happy that who they thought was a world renowned celebrity was talking to them. Most of the time they never got even a smile, but now here this lovely girl was talking to them as they escorted her into the restaurant and past all the confused reporters unsure if they should be taking a photo of this unknown person. They parted and let her walk past eying her up and down and then quickly taking photos of her, but not taking the chance of interviewing her in case she was just a no body. They had greater fish to fry, with the Jonases in the car right behind her. The Jonas Brothers and Demi had been keeping a low profile and most often than not it meant that something was cooking and they wanted it out of the headlines. The Reporters were just dying to know what. So unless this girl was more than one of their many friends, she wasn’t worth their time.

Back in the car the whole family was bent over laughing as they watched Olive walk off won over by the amazing complements the men were giving her. Of course one person wasn’t able to see the bright side. Annabelle got out of the car and growled at Olive’s disappearing figure that slipped past the double doors. Who was that Olive to impersonate her, and those two men were blind as bats to not notice her there and then to go and call that Olive lovely and gorgeous and Oh it made her so mad.

“Hey, Annabelle, chill okay? It’s funny.” Joe said rubbing her back to calm her down, it would be bad if she was going to make a scene while still outside in front of all the reporters. But she shoved him off and threw him a look of disbelief.

“Funny, funny? It was insulting. And how dare she go and lap it up, taking my compliments.”

“Aren’t you overreacting, it was a mistake. We all know you look nothing like Olive.”

“Thank god for that!” and she stomped of and rushed passed Demi and Nick who were posing together for a photographer. Joe walked up to them and ran a hand through his hair. He led the two inside after his parents and tried to avoid their questioning eyes.

“Joe, what was up with Annabelle? Why did she just storm off?” Nick asked now looking over to where she was standing next to a table. Olive was there as well and was chatting excitedly with the group of people that was already sited at their pre-booked table. A smile found a way to his lips as he looked at her talking happily with people she had just met and not even been introduced to. She glowed and radiated by far the most. On the other hand Annabelle sat as far away from her with her arms crossed and a furious stare heading in Olive’s direction.

“I don’t know. She’s just blew a fuse for some reason. Didn’t want Olive to go on with the men’s mistake I guess.” He too watched Olive as she talked to the people at the table filled with people twice her age and over all leaning at the edge of their seat, eating up whatever she was feeding them. Annabelle was trying to talk to the one of the directors of Hollywood record, but he brushed her away before laughing heartily at something Olive had just said.

Annabelle sniffed and scowled and decided to pull out her compact and re-powder her nose instead. Joe told himself that she looked great, she did. Annabelle could fit under the definitions of the best adjectives. However his eyes kept darting back to Olive and her dress. It was such a change to see her dressed up and polished. More often she had been wet, in his brother’s clothes, covered in grass, then dirt. Her hair always got windblown at some point.

The boys had to agree with the doormen’s complements, they were all too true. Realizing that they had been standing there the both of them for some time now (everyone else had gone and sat down) they suddenly snapped out of their trance and hurried to sit down, wondering what had made them lose it.

“What did I miss?” Joe whispered to Demi when he slid in his sit between her and Annabelle.

“What? You mean when you were staring at Annabelle like a lovesick puppy?” Joe rolled his eyes, he could have been, because he knew he had barely been looking at Annabelle, so his expression couldn’t be lovesick. “You missed a great retelling of Olive’s last few days here. They asked her how she knew you, and so she explained all our little adventures. You should have seen the impression she did of that guy at Double Take. She’s really good.”

“So Olive, it was great to meet you. You sure keep our boys busy don’t you.” Demi looked up to see that the speaker was a beefy looking man in his late forties that had his twin sitting next to him. Demi’s face dipped. Nick and Joe’s managers, how she hated them. They were the reason behind why she and Joe had never worked out.

“But I’d appreciate it if they stayed out of trouble from now on. We wouldn’t want anything to happen to them now would we? A night in the woods is not something appropriate. Not when you’re worth millions. “

“Of course you’ll also refrain from signing them up with any more companies and ordering anymore photo shoots without our approval. It’s most unorthodox to do so. You are in no position to put them in any health risks or give them bad publicity, the mall fiasco will never happen again. Understood.” Said Nick’s manager in the same dry tone of his brother.

“Yes, sirs.” Answered Olive meekly. She felt so ashamed to be lectured in front of everyone at the table. What they said was right, she had been out of line but they shouldn’t have told her this way. All eyes were on her and there she had been thinking she had gotten on the good side of these people that seemed to be important family friends (she was sure that the old couples were grandparents).

“What!” chocked out Demi and Kevin at the same time. Danielle displayed her discuss at the two men’s accusations by dropping her fork with clattered around her plate.

“It’s not Olive’s fault at all. What are you implying? That she forced us to do all those things?” asked Nick his voice rising. He felt protective of some reason, he didn’t like seeing her suddenly turn bleak and loose her cheerfulness. Plus it simply wasn’t her fault.

“Well, it’s just that none of this sort of thing used to happen. And now its all very condensed.”

“Half of those thing were our own decisions, I was the one that fell asleep in the woods first, and it wasn’t me that broke my ankle, but her. Why aren’t you getting mad at me?”

“Mad? We’re not mad. Just preoccupied. It just seemed that you were going down a road we warned you not to take if you wanted to stay out of the headlines this summer. You promised no performances as long as there was no mischief.”

“That’s completely unrelated we were just having fun!” Joe cried his voice having trouble staying controlled.

“Yeah, Olive’s fun and I missed having fun,” inputted Frankie before being hushed down by Mrs. Jonas so that her husband could speak.

“Boy’s calm down. Now what I think they are all trying to say is that Olive did not mean any harm-“

“Oh like she didn’t mean any harm by pretending to be me just then. Who knows what she told those men and what will be on the headlines tomorrow. I don’t know how you can defend her. I agree your managers are only giving her a fair warning, like they would to anyone.”

“But Olive’s not just anyone. She’s-“ Nick stopped when he felt Olive’s hand on his. She gave him a warm smile, but something was off. He wasn’t sure what. It should have fooled him as it did everyone else but he managed to see through it. She was painfully hurt and insulted.

“Enough! I am deeply sorry for the risk I have unintentionally imposed on everyone. I will refrain from doing so in the future.” Demi blinked, impressed not only by the formality of Olive’s words but the easiness in which she used them.

“I have something I was preparing to show you all for the meal as a surprise. Here is the finished posters from the shoot. There are five in total chosen by the head CEO of Sector one himself. He loved the shoot idea, but most of all he loved the models. He wants the photos to represent more than just that Dallas Shop but nationwide. He has plans to have these on build boards in the major cities and perhaps international. And you would all get a lot of money for it. Not to mention mind blowing publicity. Here is his contract, he asked me to pass that on to your managers.”

The whole table sat mouths opened as Olive told them how they had basically become sponsors for one of the biggest clothing brands. It was like the Coca Cola of clothing. They looked at the photos, four of them as a group in their characters, but one of just Olive lounging on the couch looking every inch like any other model out there. Annabelle was shocked to see this.

“Secondly, fan response from the mall incident wasn’t so bad if you look at comments and articles. They found it hilarious and entertaining and were glad to see the boys and Demi and Dani. Thirdly, Annabelle I wouldn’t worry so much you know. The two doormen, Richard and Benjamin promised to report a lot of positive comments about me, I mean you. They said they liked how ‘down to earth’ you were, and since reporters were always snooping around here, they’d tell them how different you are from all the other celebrities.” Annabelle blanched now along with the managers as Olive threw back at them all their claims of being a risk towards Demi and the Jonases.

“Now I must go back to the car because I think I will puke any moment now from humiliation, sorry to be so depict.” Mrs. Jonas was the first to react with a small gasp and the table came back alive.

“Nonsense. You’re our guest. Sit right back down. You have done nothing round sweetheart. If anything a fantastic job on these photos.”

“Simply brilliant!” Added another table guest.

“Stay,” whispered Nick pulling her back down towards him. “You’re making being here bearable.”

“Oh please!” cried Demi.

“Okay,” said Olive looking at the two managers. “As long as I am welcomed by a certain three people here.” The table again went quite as they waited for the response of the three most unpopular people in the world at the moment. When there was a nod from each of them, Olive gave a big smile and as if nothing had happened went back to talking with everyone and having fun celebrating the fourth of July for the first time in a long time, and enjoying the rich costly food she was getting.

Joe sat back and tried to get comfortable again. It was hard however with Annabelle emitting an evil aura and whining that she wanted to go home. He just wanted to move away from her and sit between Demi and Olive like Nick. That were all the fun seemed to be. He was growing more and more exhausted by Annabelle’s behavior, ever since she went off shooting she had changed. Sure she had become even prettier and her hair shimmered and she had a body to die for. But he felt he was choking more and more often, not only could he not sleep in his own bed but he was consistently defending her after she had made a particularly rude comment –innocently of course. Plus it was even harder to bare with Olive there, she was so much more relaxing and a breath of fresh air. He could imagine being friends with her for the longest amount of time. But for some reason not the same kind of relationship of best friends he had going on with Demi. Something else. He couldn’t wait to get away from this up tight restaurant and get to speak to her later on. Until then, he contended himself to watch her enthralled, while his girlfriend breathed down his neck.