First Glance

Chapter Five

"Jenna, come on!" I called from the door. After spending the whole day with my sister shopping and walking around the campus and city, we were off to have dinner at Connect Three's suite. It was my first time meeting Shane's bandmates, and I was really nervous.

"Coming, Meggie, chill," Jenna said as she rounded the corner. She finally looked ready to go. "Ah, wait, wait," she said, turning around and going back into her room.

I took advantage of the delay to check myself in the mirror again – I wanted to make a good first impression. I had straightened my naturally sandy blonde hair again, and the layers gave my just-past-shoulder-length 'do a polished look. I was wearing white short shorts and a green babydoll top that flowed away from my stomach from just below my chest.

I grabbed my cell phone when Jenna was finally ready to go, slipping it into my back pocket. Her halter-top was the same style I'd seen a lot of California girls wearing, except that the sheer material added a touch of sophistication and intrigue to the outfit, and the bold red color was guaranteed to get attention. Her top was paired with a flattering pair of faded denim shorts and a pair of silver gladiator sandals. Her hair matched mine in color, but was twice the length and had gentle ringlets making their way through each strand.

"Alright, let's go," Jenna said finally as she opened the hotel door. I followed her into the hallway, but then I took the lead since I knew where the room was.

The suite was on the other end of the floor from ours. When we reached their room, I realized why Shane had accidentally come to my door on my first day in California – his suite number was exactly 200 numbers ahead of mine (mine being 231 and his being 431).

I took a deep breath and rung the doorbell (what kind of a hotel has doorbells? I'll tell you what kind: the fancy smancy kind…and that's exactly what kind of a hotel we were in.)

The door sung open, and Jenna and I were greeted by Shane's smiling face.

"Hey, Dawson! Hey, Jenna!" He said, giving each of us a hug. "Come on in."

We stepped into a huge foyer. I could already tell that their hotel room would make ours look like a shoebox.

Soon, two curly haired boys came into the foyer, and I heard Jenna's quiet gasp. I had to agree with her reaction; the boys did look hotter in person.

"These are my boys--Nate and Jason," Shane pointed to each boy as he introduced them. "Guys, this is Jenna and Dawson," he gestured toward each of us, smirking slightly when he introduced me incorrectly.

"Meghan," I corrected, glaring at Shane as I shook his friends' hands. Shane winked, and I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Nice to meet you guys, finally," I said, turning my attention to Nate and Jason and smiling politely. Nate and I made eye contact, but I broke it quickly with a blush.

Goodness, that boy's gorgeous, I thought. It's really not fair. We need a guy at least half that hot in Virginia Beach.

"Yeah. It's okay, though. You guys wanna head on into the living room?" Jason was saying when I refocused on the conversation. Oh gosh, how long was I zoned out?

"Okay," Jenna complied with a friendly smile.

Shane gave me a look with his eyebrows raised, as if he knew I had zoned out, staring at the boy I had promised I wouldn't date. He offered me his elbow with a crooked grin.

"Shuddup, Jonas," I mumbled, pushing away his elbow. He laughed through his lopsided smile, his eyebrows raised.

"I didn't say anything," he pointed out.

I punched his shoulder playfully and led the way into the family, but not before he slipped his arm through mine.

-x-

"I'm gonna go check on the food," Shane said with a sly smile. Huh? Since when does cooking imply slyness?

"Never trust Shane alone by the oven," Jason said, following Shane into the kitchen.

"Hey Jenna, come here for a second!" Shane called from the kitchen a second later. I started to get up to follow Jenna, but she motioned for me to stay.

"I'll be right back," she said with an eye roll.

I looked over at Nate, my only companion in the living room with an uncomfortable smile.

"Sooo…" he said, trying to break the awkward silence. I wished Jenna would come back—I wasn't any good at making small talk.

"I hope you're hungry…Shane made, like, three pies."

"Shane's cooking? Got a fire extinguisher on hand?" I joked. Nate laughed, and it was unlike any laugh I had ever heard before. It made me want to try anything to hear that laugh again.

When his chuckle died down, he said, "Shane's not that bad of a cook, actually. He's an excellent cereal maker." More laughter. Gawd, his laugh was contagious.

"No, but really, we're just ordering from the restaurant downstairs. I dunno why it takes three people to check on a pie."

It was silent for a minute after we burnt out our first small talk topic. What was taking Jenna, Shane, and Jason so long?

"So, what're you and Jenna up to in Cali?" Nate asked.

"Jenna goes to California State. We live in Virginia, so I'm visiting her for Spring Break."

"And you guys are sisters?"

"And best friends," I said with a nod.

Nate nodded slowly as we realized that our first conversation piece had burned out; however awkward it had been, it was better than silence

"What're you guys doing here? Don't you live in LA?" I inquired after a minute, realizing that I had never asked Shane about that.

"Yeah, we do. We're on vacation right now, but we couldn't go too far because we still have press obligations. So, here we are, enjoying a couple of weeks of anonymity; plus, you can't really complain about the pool, golf course, tennis courts, and gym they've got here."

After another minute of silence, Shane, Jason, and Jenna came back in the room and sat back down.

"You guys ready to order?" Shane asked, an amused smile playing around his mouth and his eyes laughing.

Okay! Thanks for reading, guys...don't forget to review!

Again: I highly reccomend that you head on over to fictionpress(dot)com for the better version of this (under the same title and penname) if you're interested...It makes a LOT more sense :)

Thanks!