CHAPTER 2
“I can’t believe she thinks pretending her friend is deaf is going to make me feel bad,” Joe whispered to his brothers.
Kevin, who was sitting in the window seat, peered over his two younger brothers so that he could get a glimpse of the two girls. One sat, head leaning against the window, reading a fashion magazine while the other bobbed her head along with the music her iPod emitted. Then suddenly, the girl looked up from her magazine and tapped her sister on the shoulder. She raised her hands so that they were level with her chest and immediately began moving her hands about furiously. In response, the blonde girl did the same. Kevin tapped Joe’s knee and motioned for him to look at the girls he had patronized.
“Uh, Joe. I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure that’s sign language they’re using. I think she really is deaf,” Kevin pointed.
“Stop messing around Kevin,” Joe said. “Joke’s over.”
“You’re right, Joe. The joke is over. Look,” Nick chimed in.
He put one hand on each side of his brother’s face and forced Joe to look towards the girls, whose hands were flying rapidly about in the air, each of them bursting into laughter at something the other said. Joe stared at them wide-eyed and in a complete state of disbelief. It didn’t take long for one of the girls to notice. She stared at him for only a brief moment before she turned back to her friend. The ferocity in her eyes and a point in Joe’s direction assured him that they were, at that point, talking about him and Joe knew by the looks on their faces and their spurts of laughter that what was being said could not have been good. Joe found himself sinking lower and lower into his seat, trying to hide his embarrassment from everyone around him. He removed the airline provided blanket from its plastic covering and threw it over his head. Never in his life had he felt like such an idiot, but he knew he deserved to feel as guilty as he did.
The five hour flight was not only exhausting, but awkward as well. Joe couldn’t seem to keep himself from staring at the two girls as they signed to each other, constantly wondering if they were still talking about how moronic he had acted. He let out a fake cough with the intent to grab the hearing girl’s attention. She looked back at him, but only shot him a menacing look of disapproval. She had had enough of his immaturity and resumed her conversation immediately.
“Nice one,” Nick said with a laugh.
“I’m so stupid,” Joe said to himself.
He let out a sigh of frustration and covered his face with both hands.
“Can’t argue that one,” Kevin replied sarcastically as he flipped through the latest issue of Rolling Stone.
“What do I do?” Joe asked nervously. “You guys are smart. Help me out.”
“Do my ears deceive me? Joe ‘Ladies Man’ Jonas—asking his brothers for advice on how to talk to a girl?” Kevin asked mockingly.
“Don’t give yourself that much credit,” Joe replied with a smile. “This is different. If I try to fix this on my own, I’ll make myself look like even more of an idiot than I already do.”
“Not possible,” Nick responded matter-of-factly. “Just apologize. It’s not that hard. Either that, or pretend it never happened. You’ll never see them again either way.”
Joe nodded in reply as his eyes wandered over to the girls once more. Both of them were extremely attractive and knowing that fact only made him feel like a bigger fool. Never did he doubt his ability to talk to girls, but even the thought of trying to talk to these two and apologize to them made his stomach churn.
“When we get off this plane, I’m going to apologize,” Joe announced to his brothers confidently.
“You do that,” Nick whispered in reply, barely awake enough to care.
Joe looked at his watch and then back over to the girls. The blonde one had retreated back to her iPod and the other one had fallen into a peaceful sleep. Only two hours until the plane landed. Only two hours until he would relieve himself of his guilt or make himself look even worse, if that were at all possible. Quicker than Joe could believe, those two hours turned into one and then into mere minutes. With each passing moment, Joe got progressively more nervous. He rehearsed his plea in his head many times over in his head, but still feared that the girls would refuse to accept his apology or just ridicule him further.
“The captain has turned on the ‘fasten seatbelt sign,” in preparation for landing. Thank you for flying with us today and we hope to see you soon,” the voice of a flight attendant rang through first class.
Joe checked that his seat belt was fastened and rubbed his hands together. Fiddling with his hands was a nervous habit that he had developed in previous years. The landing was smooth and Joe watched anxiously as the two girls got up from their seats and reached into the overhead compartments for their bags.
“Here, let me help you,” he called to them.
“We got it,” the blonde girl scowled as she flung her bag over her shoulder, aiming it just right so it hit Joe in the stomach.
“Right,” he replied as he nearly doubled over, the girls both smiling with a sinister satisfaction. “See ya.”
Joe grabbed his own carryon without even looking at Nick or Kevin. He didn’t have to; he knew they were laughing at him. Their hearts went out to Joe as he crashed and burned yet again, but they couldn’t help but find it at least slightly amusing in a brotherly love kind of way. The boys exited the plane and tried to hide themselves from the swarm of girls that would inevitably be waiting for them at the terminal. They each signed a handful of autographs and gave a few hugs to adoring fans, but Joe never let the two girls out of his sight. He watched them as they claimed their luggage. He watched them as they made their way to the airport’s Starbucks. He watched the blonde girl order for both of them—a Mocha Creamice for herself and a Caramel Macchiato for her friend. He watched them take a seat at a table for two in the café and decided that this was his last chance to apologize. Perhaps with the right words, he could redeem himself. He ambled over to where they were sitting and stood over their table for a few seconds before the blonde girl finally gave in and spoke.
“Can I help you?” she asked sternly.
“Look, I know I was a real jerk before but—,” he began.
“Well that’s the understatement of the century,” she cut him off.
“I’m trying to apologize here,” he continued, signing an autograph for a little girl.
The blonde girl pursed her lips and folded her arms, clearly not wanting anything to do with Joe or his attempts to be apologetic.
“What I said before—I wasn’t thinking. I’m not normally like that, but my brothers were giving me a hard time and I was just—I wasn’t—I was in a bad mood,” he said, somehow managing to get the truth out. “And if you’ll let me, I’d like to make it up to you somehow. Name your price.”
“Forgiveness isn’t something you can buy, big shot,” she replied. “And we don’t need pity—especially from a selfish rock star such as yourself.”
She took a sip of her Creamice and signed to her friend, not acknowledging the fact that Joe was still standing next to their table.
“At least tell me your names and I will find a way to make this up to you,” Joe pleaded.
“If it will get you to go away,” she said, forcing herself not to laugh at her own joke. “I’m Riley.”
She signed to her friend who then signed in Joe’s direction.
“And that means…?” he asked.
“Emma. Her name is Emma,” Riley clarified.
Joe nodded, apologized once more, and was denied forgiveness. He turned on his feet and found his way back to his brothers.
“How’d it go?” Kevin asked.
“Emma. Her name is Emma,” Joe recited.
