Bound To You (Richpez)

Chapter One

It was late on a Friday night. The rain was bouncing off the pavement, Joey's car screeched to a halt outside his apartment building, having just come back from his late night shift, Joey turned the engine off and sighed as he observed the rain outside. He squinted through the blurry raindrops on the window and spotted a figure sat on his front doorstep, illuminated by the streetlight outside the door. Joey quickly got out of his car, slamming the door behind him. The sound of the car door slamming caused the girl to look up from her hands where her face had been buried a few seconds before.
"Lauren?" Joey shouted, confused, through the rain, jogging to her side.

The girl in question was sat on what looked like a suitcase, and had very obviously been crying as her eyes were red and her mascara had run down her face, leaving black streaks under her eyes, and her curly brown hair was soaked from the rain. She didn't say anything, just stared up at him, still sobbing.

Joey made his way up the stairs, her suitcase in his hand and Lauren following closely behind. He got to his apartment and turned the key in the lock.
"I'll go get you a drink, So just have a seat" he said gesturing to the sofa. Lauren didn't reply.
"Oh, and here, so you can call your roommates or something" he said handing her his phone. He was walking towards the kitchen area when he heard her small voice.
"I can't" she said quietly, staring up at him, her eyes still glassed over by her tears. It was the first time she'd spoken since she'd been there.
"I didn't live with any roommates." She explained, her voice breaking slightly. "Then how did you afford to pay that much rent?" Joey said confused. Lauren let out a small sob, more tears welling up in her eyes, as she began to cry again. Joey realised what was wrong and rushed to her side.
"Stop, Stop, it's going to be okay." Joey told her, in an attempt to calm her down, but instead she let out another small sob.
"You can crash here. Just please, please stop crying." Joey said as he stroked a tear off her cheek with his thumb. Lauren gave him a small nod. "Just one night, until it's light out, and I can figure out what to do next." She told him, her voice breaking with every syllable.

"I have a guest room. It was Brian's room, but he's in Chicago seeing family for a few weeks. You can stay there?" Joey said kindly as he picked up Lauren's suitcase and carried it into the hallway. Lauren nodded quietly.
"That's my room." Joey said pointing to the room at one end of the hallway. "That's the bathroom" he said gesturing to another door opposite his own room. "And this is Brian's room." He said as he pushed the door open to reveal a rather plain looking room. Evidently Brian had taken most of his things with him, as the room was pretty empty. Lauren had stopped crying now and looked over at Joey thankfully.
"Thank you for this." She said quietly as she pulled him into a tight hug.
"Hey no problem, that's what friends are for." Joey told her hugging her back.

(I haven't proof read this for spelling mistakes and I wrote this ages ago don't come @ me okayyyyyyy)