Unexpected //Jack Gilinsky

Chapter 1

     L.A was surely different, I knew that for sure. Though I'd been here for around 10 minutes, I saw a massive change. Gone were the quiet streets of Oregon, and replacing my home town was now hundreds of people on either sides of the road. Some were ordinary looking, some had green hair, some were yelling at others and some were just trying their hardest to get to their homes without any trouble. Nonetheless I loved it already, so so much. In a way, L.A was exceptionally different from what I had imagined in my mind. In Oregon, I couldn't shake the images of famous people at every stop just running around as if no one else but well known individuals lived here, but had I realized L.A wouldn't exactly be like that I would've calmed down a little more before I flew here. I was so nervous to be in a city where I didn't know anyone, besides of course my best friend moving here with me, that I must've gotten sick hundreds of times before today.
     "Hello, earth to Lexi?" Eve breaks me out of my thoughts.
     "Hmm?" I whip my head from staring out the window to look at my gorgeous best friend. Her blonde hair and green eyes never failed to make me feel a little twinge of jealousy.
     "I was just saying how L.A is so different from home, isn't it beautiful!" Eve exclaims, throwing her hands up exaggeratedly. I giggle to myself.
     "Yes just absolutely perfect. More than I expected." I say in a sing song tone. I really felt that moving here was the best decision I could've made in my whole life. More importantly I had my best friend to back me up on it, which was a huge bonus all together. Warm weather, check. New experiences, check. Best friend, check. In all honesty I couldn't even foresee anything going wrong with this move. Currently we were on our way to our new apartment, Eve and I saved up our whole high school lives for this, and boy was it expensive. What we wanted more than anything for as long as Eve and I could both remember was to move to L.A together and live in a big fancy apartment, meet some famous people and possibly start a career. I remember us being around 9 or 10 years old and giggling until 2am and discussing just exactly who we would meet and how we were going to marry "the richest men in L.A". Silly as it is, here we are now, in L.A.
    "Alright ladies, looks like this is it. Your fee is thirty dollars, please." the taxi driver instructs us.
     "I'll pay, I got some extra cash handy." Eve says, digging through her wallet and handing over the money.
     "Thank you very much." the driver tells us as we exit the taxi. I was very pleased to be out of the car because unfortunately it wreaked like a gym.
     "Wow, this apartment building is huge!" exclaims Eve, already opening her phone to snapchat to update anyone and everyone she knows about this.
     "Definitely nothing like this in Oregon. Let's go in, now. I'm so anxious to see our place in person!" I practically squeal, zooming to the front door, with Eve right on my heels. We take the elevator four floors up, and of course because we are so mature, we jump as the lift is shooting up. Once we reach our stop, we confidently walk out and into the hallway. The hallway was fancy itself, the carpet was red and on both sides of the hallway the walls were covered with gorgeous photography of various L.A views.
"I've only seen the hallway leading up to our apartment and I'm in love." laughs Eve. I nod my head in a silent agree, it was already pretty amazing. It sounds weird to think about, I mean how could a hallway be exciting, but it seriously was. We finally reach our apartment after what felt like hours of walking, number 244. Eve and I take a deep breath in, and glance at each other, readier than ever to finally start a new life, one of our own. Opening the door to our new apartment is just the start of it. Eve opens up her purse and searches for the key, but I pull mine from my back pocket before Eve has the chance to find hers. We laugh in sync and I shove the key into the hole, struggling to turn it fully. When finally I manage to unlock the door, Eve and I give each other one last glance. Here we go. I push open the door and take my first steps into my new, independent life.

     "White marble counter tops, dark wood flooring, the whole kitchen is white with a silver fridge, dishwasher and microwave, and there's little accents of blue everywhere it is so cute mom." I tell my mother over the phone.
"It sounds lovely honey, are you safe?" she worries, as usual. This move was probably hardest on her.
"Yes mom, perfectly fine. I don't feel unsafe where I am at all!" I beam, truly satisfied with my situation.
"I'm so glad, have you started searching for a job yet?" she wonders.
"Not today, but tomorrow first thing I'll do is go out with Eve and search for places hiring. I'm thinking about maybe applying for a clothing store somewhere or a coffee shop or something." I state, fiddling with my hands.
"Well that's nice, but remember you need to eventually get into some more serious work." she informs me, I can almost see her hand on her hip and the shaking of her head.
"Yes I know, hey I gotta go I have so much to unpack but I will call you tomorrow, love you." I tell her through a yawn.
"Okay, I love you very much honey." and with that I hang up the phone. Truth was Eve and I had already unpacked most of our stuff, I mean it wasn't like we had that much stuff, but I was getting tired and I felt it was necessary to let Eve know we had to order a pizza for dinner. For celebratory purposes of course. I finally felt as if I was my own person, it was frightening yet refreshing. I didn't have my family to lean on or make choices for me, but I also didn't have anyone breathing down my back making sure I was doing what they wanted instead of what I wanted. Enough overthinking though, I needed pizza, even my stomach mumbled in agreement at that. So, I left my somewhat fulfilled bedroom and skipped downstairs to find Eve. "Eve where are you at?" I yell through our new home
"I'm right here silly." She laughs from behind me, in the kitchen.
"Oh okay, well I've decided we are ordering pizza so what kind should we get?" I ask her, my stomach growls again.
"Too late, I already did. Hopefully Hawaiin is okay, sounded good to me." Eve tells me, smiling because she knows it will be perfectly fine with me.
"Of course that's a good choice, I would've chosen it myself yum." I inform.
"Good because I ordered about 10 minutes ago shouldn't be too much longer!" Eve excitedly says, we both had an undying love for pizza so of course, we were majorly excited. Both of us were were perched on our counter, because we didn't yet have a couch. We didn't have quite a few things yet, but we had lots of money saved up and then some extra from both of our families. We planned on purchasing a couch, tv,coffee maker and also we each needed cars. While other kids in high school wasted their earnings on clothes or random new gadgets we had always just saved almost every last dime up, besides that Eves father was mad rich, so it helped.
"I think we should get a white couch, we could throw some faux fur blankets on it and cute pillows!" I state happily.
"That sounds cool, also I want a Kurig coffee maker, blue probably. It'll match our kitchen cute!" Eve chirps, lowering herself off the counter as the doorbell rings.
"Got it." She lets me know, as if she thought I was going to run to the door before her. I joke about it to myself. About a minute later we both have two slices of steaming pizza on napkins and we are yet again sitting on the counter.
"Mmm this is so good!" Eve moans into her bite.
"Agreed. What is that pizza place called? Don't forget we'll order here often." I joke, causing us both to giggle a bit. We both sit in silence as we both devour our food, this really probably was the best pizza I had ever tasted.
"Okay so I think tomorrow we should call a cab and go to some shops, we can have a couch delivered to our apartment and then we could go out and find a coffee maker, can't live without coffee for too long. Also, we need to stalk up on some groceries!" Eve instructs me, motioning with her hands wildly.
"Yes I agree, but we also need to search for jobs, cannot forget about income." I tell her in a boring tone, throwing away my napkin. Eve nods and takes out her phone, to make a list. I knew this was what she was doing because she always did it, typical. I take my phone out and scroll through my social media apps, and check my messages. I had various texts and snapchats from people wondering how my flight went and how L.A was, but I didn't feel like answering people so I didn't reply to everyone, just closest family and friends.
"Everyone is wondering how it is, no one talks to you unless something exciting happens." I joke to Eve.
"Yeah same here." she answers in a monotone voice. It was already nine at night, and I was feeling groggy.
"I think I'm going to get some sleep, we should get up pretty early tomorrow to get ready and go." I mention, slowly urging myself off the counter top.
"Yeah, same here. Up by eight how about? Leave by nine?" She questions me, hopping off her spot on the counter and leaving her napkin in her place. I roll my eyes and throw it away for her.
"Leave by nine, got it. Goodnight!" I tell her, racing upstairs. Once up there, I throw pajamas on and wash my face. I hadn't been getting breakouts so I was very pleased, and I wasn't wearing much make up because I didn't see a use for it anymore. Just the usual mascara and sometimes concealer. Only on special occasion I wore eyeshadow and some lip color, otherwise I stuck to my chap stick. I brush my teeth and then crawl into bed, I didn't realize how exhausted I actually was, as soon as I set my alarm for eight and put my head on my pillow, my eyes couldn't stay open and I dozed off right away.

     I hated alarms, they ruined everything. I was still tired somehow, I went to bed considerably early for me. Nonetheless I wanted to sleep some more, but I knew I couldn't because Eve liked to get up and do things early and as planned. So, I dragged myself out of bed and walked to my bathroom on the cool wood floor, shivering ever so slightly. I decided to shower so I could freshen up, I'd just have to blow dry my hair so it didn't dry frizzy. I hop in the shower and let the warm water soak into my skin for awhile, then unwillingly wash my hair and body quickly and step out into the cold bathroom. Wrapping the towel around my damp body I search for an outfit, since it was mid September and I was in California, I expected it to be pretty warm. I chose a baby blue casual dress that stopped mid thigh, and paired it with some brown sandals. After throwing that on and drying my hair I apply mascara and call myself good. I wasn't perfect but I wasn't the worst, I had to work with what I got. Skipping down the stairs I hear Eve come out from her room.
"Good morning! How did you sleep?" I ask her, turning around to face her.
"I slept good." I could barely make out from her, she was brushing her teeth. Which I forgot to do, so I zoom to my bathroom to brush and then grab my bag and phone, I may need those.
"Okay ready now, I forgot to brush my teeth." I inform her, making her giggle.
"Of course you did you blonde." She messed with me. I roll my eyes very dramatically.
"I'm not even a blonde though. So you can't say that to me!" I fight, jokingly.
"Well whatever, I'll still say it. Just let me, it'll make me feel better about myself." she answers, putting her shoes on. Eve had chosen to wear black shorts with a purple cropped tank top, and of course her adidas. She couldn't live a day with out her adidas shoes. She looked cute, and I suddenly felt insecure about what I had chosen.
"Cute outfit by the way!" she honestly spouts. And I'm confident again.
"You too! Let's go I'm ready." I tell her, and we both head towards the front door, while I grab my phone and call a cab.
Two hours into shopping. We had a couch already, it was a cute white leather "L" shaped one. We picked out some adorable pillows and a throw to put on it and I couldn't wait to sit on it later. After that we had successfully purchased a blue Kurig and a tv, where surprisingly both could be delivered to our apartment as well as the couch. Pretty convenient for us considering neither of us own a vehicle yet. Currently we were in the mall, for what reason I didn't know. Not like we needed to buy clothes or anything. But, it was our first formal day in Los Angeles so what harm could come of buying maybe just one outfit. The shops were so different from Oregons I was astonished, and in love. We leave the mall and decide to walk to the nearest coffee shop, happened to be Starbucks. We enter the delicious smelling shop and head for the front, my eyes catch onto someone who looks familiar but I can't quite decide who it is. A boy with dark hair and dark eyes, a well structured jawline and a very nice sense in how he dresses himself. He was sitting near the back with two other guys, but their backs were facing me and I couldn't see their faces. Eve catches me staring and looks over too, then she gasps.
"Oh my God you have got to be kidding me!" she practically leaps out of her skin. I jump at her tone a little and then laugh at myself.
"What?" I question, fixing my bag back onto my shoulder.
"That's Jack Gilinsky duh are you blind? Oh my God this isn't happening." She exclaims covering her mouth and looking away, wanting to go unnoticed. I gasp, and look over to the boy again, trying to get a better look. It couldn't be, it really shouldn't be..but it was. I wasn't too familiar with just exactly who he was, all I knew is he's attractive and in a band called Jack and Jack. He's damn good at singing too. I realized that the blonde he is with must've been Jack Johnson and I still wasn't sure about the other dark haired guy with them.
"Oh my gosh, cool." I state unfazed. I was kind of shocked but not that we wouldn't ever see someone well known here in L.A. So I played it cool, after all he's just a normal guy sitting in Starbucks drinking some coffee, or tea or whatever he was having. Just then, Eve is moving us up in the line and I snap my focus back onto what I'm going to order. Probably just my usual chai tea. How basic of me. Once we are finally up to the register, we order.
"Your total today will be six dollars and fifty cents girls." says the older cashier working. I go to pull my money of of my bag until a hand stops mine.
"No worries I got this." says an unfamiliar, deep voice. Startled, I look up and see the eyes of none other than Jack Gilinsky. God he was more beautiful up close.
"Oh, I-uh. Okay?" I give in and feel very awkward. Eve is standing on the other side of Jack and her jaw is practically on the floor. I'm trying to keep my cool and be calm but my chest is burning and I feel like I might throw up. Hopefully not. That would be so embarrassing. Jack slides a credit card over to the cashier and glances at me with a big cheesy smile. My heart melts. He looks back away and I take this chance to look at Eve. She's still standing there with her mouth open, I guess she was more of a fan than me. He finishes paying and escorts us over to where we wait for our drinks.
"Nice weather we have going on here huh?" Jack says smiling at me, waiting for an answer.
"Oh yeah definitely." I say back, I felt very nervous.
"I'm Jack." he extends his hand out to me, completely ignoring Eve, can't say I wasn't a little happy. I'd have bragging rights later.
"I'm Alexis." I answer, shaking his hand.
"It's so very nice to meet you, Alexis." my name rolling off of his tongue sent chills down my back. God.
"Likewise, you really didn't have to pay for our coffee's though, I-uh, feel bad." I say, fiddling with my hair, something I do when I'm nervous.
"No I wanted to, my pleasure really." he laughs it off. I try to giggle with him but it comes out sounding weird and forced, I didn't want it to.
"Well, looks like my friends over there are motioning for me to go, hopefully I'll see ya around." Jack says, grazing my arm with his hand as he says so. I wasn't sure why, but I wasn't complaining either.
"You just might, thank you again Jack." I say, trying my best to sound flirty and cute. Why was I acting so dumb?
"Bye Alexis." he says in a sing song voice, then walking away. I didn't have time to answer properly so I just let him leave. The atmosphere feels boring and sad once he walks through the doors to go outside, and I see him glance at me again as him and his friends walk away.
"Okay, what the hell just happened?" squeals Eve, she's almost jumping up and down.
"I have no idea, I-I'm so confused?" I question, then grab my drink because I realize it has been done. Eve follows my lead and we just decide to head outside.
"Well let me just tell you what happened then okay? So we just saw Jack Gilinsky in Starbucks okay? Anyways we shrugged it off and then he walks up to you and pays for your drink, well ours but he wasn't exactly interested in me so let's just say you. So, you just met Jack Gilinsky, a very attractive male, and he was so into you." Eve yells, parading her hands around. He was not into me, no way. How could he have been. He simply payed for my drink and said see ya around. Random act of kindness, pays off in the long run. Surely that's what happened. I didn't wanna think about it any longer, it would give me a headache. Too much overthinking is bad news, plus besides I'd most likely never cross paths with this boy again.