“Demi, come on! You told me you would be ready an hour ago. What are you doing up there?” Yelled Joe up the De Le Garza’s stairwell.
Ignoring the sniggering of Madison and Frankie coming from the living room he climbed the stairs. Leaning against the wall, he called through her bedroom door.
“Demi? Are you on Twitter again? Geesh, I don’t know why you go on that thing. It just takes up your time.” Resting his head against the wood he tried to be patient but almost fell through when Demi opened it quickly. Suddenly he was face to face with his best friend.
“Okay, I’m ready. Come on.”
Grabbing her purse from the doorknob she closed the door but not before he got a quick look at half her clothes strewn across her bed and the floor.
“Couldn’t find the perfect outfit?” He asked, his eyebrows raised in a questioning look.
“No, that’s why I asked you to go shopping with me today. Selena’s busy or else I would have asked her to go.”
“So, I’m like your last resort? Demi, you can’t treat me that way. You know I‘m Joe Jonas, right?”
“Get over yourself. I’d rather shop with you anyways.”
“Score!”
“You’re such a dork.”
“Look whose talking.”

Following her down the hallway and to the top of the stairs he couldn’t help but think how perfect she looked to him.
“What? Do I have a stain? Cause I could have swore I washed these jeans.” she said looking down worriedly.
“Oh, no. Everything’s fine,” he said chuckling nervously and pushing the hair out of his eyes.
“Let’s get going. I want to try and miss the lunch rush at the food court.” he said as he trudged down the stairs. Looking back to make sure she was following.
“Always thinking of your stomach,” she said, rolling her eyes.
“I’m a guy. It’s greasy food. Do the math.”
“You seriously need to stop watching Hannah Montana.”
“I can’t help it. That’s one of the only shows that Frankie will watch on Disney Channel.”
“Besides mine and Selena’s,” she teased.
“Well, yeah.”
“He has a thing for older women.”
“Ha! Poor little guy doesn’t know who he’s up against.”
Entering the living room, Demi kissed her mom’s cheek.
“Bye sweetie. Have fun.”
“ Thanks for keeping Frankie, Diane.”
“Oh it’s no problem,” she said as she stood from her seat on the couch. “He’s always welcome to come over.”
Demi’s mom proceeded them to the door, opening it for them as the exited the house. Making their way out on to the sidewalk he pushed the unlock button on his key ring before opening the passenger side door of his Mercedes for Demi, then jogging around the front of the vehicle to hop in the driver’s seat. Putting the key in the ignition, after buckling himself in, he checked to see if Demi was buckled before turning the key to start the engine. Backing out the driveway he slowly pulled onto her street as they made their way to the interstate and ultimately, the mall.

Turning the volume up on the dash stereo, the sounds of Paramore’s Crushcrushcrush filled the vehicle’s cab.
“Oooh! I love this song.” Bobbing her head to the beat Demi sang and jammed along until they had reached their parking spot in front of one of the mall’s many entrances. Picking up her purse she dug through it looking for her sunglasses. After an extensive search through all the pockets she gave up.
“Problem?”
“Yes, I must have left my sunglasses on my dresser in the rush to come here.”
“Well they aren’t going to do much good for your disguise sitting at home, are they?”
“We’re going to have to make a very important stop at the Sunglass Hut aren’t we?”
“Correct! Important people such as us can’t go around sunglasses less,” he said waggling his eyebrows at her so she knew he was teasing.
Slipping his Ray Ban aviators on to his nose, he exited his side and met Demi at the rear of the vehicle. Slinging his arm around her shoulders he glanced around making sure no paparazzi were around before casually walking towards the mall.

As they made their way through the mall Joe gave a sigh of relief as it seemed that the fan girls weren’t very observant today or they were occupied with other things. As the mall crowd became thicker he grabbed Demi’s hand and weaved his way through the swarm of mom’s with their children and teens goofing around with their friends until they reached the Sunglass Hut. Walking through the door they were greeted kindly by a salesgirl who looked at him curiously. Joe being cautious of anyone recognizing him he had kept his sunglasses since they had entered the mall. Hoping he wouldn’t garner any more attention from the salesgirl he walked to the nearest kiosk and grabbed the first pair of sunglasses he could find. Turning towards Demi he placed them on her nose.

“How about these babe?” he said, referring to Demi. They tried to use very inconspicuous names for each other when they were out together. They didn’t want their names to draw more looks that were necessary, not that they were that famous or that they didn’t love their fans but they like to have these days to themselves. It was just about them spending quality time together as friends. Shaking her head, she scrunched up her cute freckled nose, laughing he took them from her hand and handed her a pair of white Ray Ban Wayfarers.
“You got to rock your sunglasses!” she mimicked laughing at the memory of the Dress Like A Rockstar bonus clip on the DVD of Camp Rock.
“Hey, don’t laugh at me,” he said as he knocked his shoulder against hers, “you know that sunglasses make an outfit.” Grabbing the white sunglasses from her hand he placed them on his face instead.
“Much better,” she nodded in approval. “But don’t you already have 39 pairs and a pair of white ones just like those?”
Shrugging he put them back in their slot.
“I know. Try on these while I get mine.”
He watched her walk toward the other side of the store before he changed in to the ones she had tossed him, checking himself out in the mirror he saw her in the exact same purple Wayfarers as him. Leaning her head against his shoulder, she kissed him on the cheek.
“Perfect,” she said with one of her trademark grins.
Grinning back at her in agreement, he held out his hand for hers and headed toward the register.
“Joe! I’m perfectly capable of buying my own sunglasses.”
“I know but I’m the reason you had to rush from the house, leaving your sunglasses at home. It’s the least I can do.”
“Fine, but this is the only thing you are allowed to buy for me while we are here.”
Handing them over to the older man at the counter, he told him to leave the sunglasses out, they would wear them out the store. Placing the sunglasses he wore in a protective case he placed it in the bag.
“Ready?”
“Yep!”
Grabbing his arm she lead him out of the store, eager to start her spending spree. The young woman and the older man turning to one another and shaking their heads at the silliness of the two teenagers wearing matching sunglasses.

“Oooh! There’s Urban Outfitters. Can we go in Joe?”
“I guess…,” his words trailing off as he was grabbed by the arm and was swiftly dragged in to Demi’s favorite store. It wasn’t that he really minded U.O., he actually liked it a lot, but every time he was in here with Demi the salesmen were always trying to flirt with her. Demi being the sweet girl that she was just had to be nice and flirt back.
Trailing Demi around the store he gave his opinion on dresses, tops and even hats but halfway through he knew he had to take a restroom break. Giving the store a cursory glance he only saw one female cashier and one dressing room attendant so he figured Demi was safe from any would be suitors. Excusing himself he exited the store.
Finished with his business he made he way back to Demi. Hearing the ding of the buzzer as he passed through the door he expected a sweet, feminine voice to “welcome” him to Urban Outfitters but instead heard a deep voice that definitely didn’t belong to a person of the female persuasion. Of course the owner of the manly voice was occupied chatting up his girl, err best friend. I’m just not used to feeling this jealousy. Removing his sunglasses he walked up to Demi, touching her intimately on the waist he looked her in the eyes.
“Hey babe. Would you mind putting these in your bag?” he asked as he handed Demi his Ray Bans.
“Oh, sure. Give them here.”
Out of the corner of his eye Joe noticed a growing look of recognition cross the salesman’s face before he hurried away.
“I think he got the memo, Joe.” Demi said as she whacked him in the stomach.”
“What?”
“You know what.”
“Can we go now?
“Yes, but no more using your celebrity on unsuspecting people.”
“Fine. Do you want me to carry those bags? And would you hand me back my sunglasses, please?”
“You’re something,” she said, sighing in exasperation but she couldn’t help but let a small smile cross her face. She really did love her best friend no matter what shenanigans he was up to.
Grabbing her shopping bags with one hand he took his sunglasses and put them back on before grabbing her hand once again.

“I’ll buy you Coldstone if you’ll shop for electronics with me,” Joe said staring at her with his puppy dog eyes.
“Are you trying to bribe me?” she said with her eyebrows raised.
“Well, yeah,” he said as he tried to gauge her reaction to his statement by the look on her face.
“Well it’s working. Let’s go. Coldstone closes soon.”
Laughing he tried to catch up with her as she rushed through the corridors. When he was once again alongside her he spoke.
“You caved so easily. I knew it. You can’t withstand ice cream. Although Pinkberry is way better.”
“Whatever. You will never get me to eat that ice cream imitation.”
“Don’t knock it ‘til you try it.”
“You can just give up now. You won’t convince me.”
“Well you are pretty stubborn.”
Stopping in her tracks she turned to him.
“Take that back or I’m not going to Best Buy with you,” she said as she crossed her arms over her chest and pinned him with a “don’t mess with me” look.
“Oh come on Demi. Don’t be like that. I was just teasing.”
“Not until you take it back or I’m not moving from this spot.”
Glancing around he noticed several people watching them curiously. Probably wondering why this “couple” was having a spat in the middle of a busy intersection where a number of people were walking in to the bathroom and getting sips of water from the water fountain.
“Dem, people are starting to stare.”
“I don’t care. Say it!”
“Fine, fine. You aren’t stubborn. You’re actually really easy to get along with. Happy now?”
“I am actually. Now let’s go. You’re causing a scene.”
He followed her, rolling his eyes as he went. Sometimes you just have to give in.

Demi eating her ice cream was a real distraction for Joe. She just had to unknowingly, order a cone because that was the way she liked her Coldstone ice cream served. The constant licking of her chocolate ice cream was driving him crazy but he would not let Demi or the craziness of L.A. traffic cause him to wreck his brand new vehicle. Undoing the collar of his shirt, he turned up the air conditioning and self consciously cleared his throat.
Of course he had been attracted to girls before, his lineup of girlfriends was something that many tabloids and teen magazines has written about when a lack of news had driven them to digging up nonexistent dirt, but never mind that. He had never felt so attracted to someone before, and this was his best friend for crying out loud.
“You okay over there Joe?” she asked innocently, a worried look puckering her brow.
“Uh. Sure. Why wouldn’t I be okay? Do I not look okay?” he gulped, shifting nervously in his seat and fiddling with the radio dial so he wouldn’t have to look at her.
“It’s just you look a little sweat and your about to freeze me with the air condition turned this high. Do you have a fever? Let me see.” Reaching over she placed her cool palm on his forehead. Keeping it there for a few seconds she removed it.
“Huh, you don’t feel hot.”
“It must have been something I ate.” Joe said, blurting out the first thing that came to his mind.
“I don’t doubt it. The way you inhaled your food at lunch would make anybody sick, including me. Maybe we should hold off on the electronics shopping for another day. I think you should go home and get some rest.”
“If you insist,” he said, eager for any excuse, “I’ll pay you back with some extra quality time next weekend since we had to cut this short.”
“Okay. Selena’s got another thing next weekend anyways. I’m free on Friday afternoon if you want to come pick me up then.”
“Sure. That sound great.”
Making a U-turn at the next intersection they headed for her house. Joe needed to pick up Frankie from her house anyways.