Bound To You (Richpez)

Chapter Seven

After breakfast, Joey busied himself making the dinner, trying to push all thoughts of the current situation out of his head. A little while later Lauren emerged from her room. She looked upset again, like she'd just been crying. She walked over to Joey and sat down at the table watching him as he cut up the vegetables. Joey barely acknowledged her presence, and continued his task. Suddenly after a few moments of silence, Lauren spoke up softly.
"I'm sorry." She said quietly, more tears were rolling down her eyes again, and she looked up at him from her place at the table.
"No you have nothing to be sorry about. I'm the one who's sorry." Joey told her, still not looking at her.
"I forgive you." She said quietly. She was still silently crying but she managed to steady her voice.
"How's Darren." Joey asked, he looked at her this time, a hint of annoyance in his words. Lauren was slightly taken aback at his question as she looked at him confused.
"Darren?" She repeated trying to understand what he was trying to say.
"Yeah you were talking with Darren." Joey reminded her.
"Oh. Did you hear that?" Lauren said her eyes widening slightly, she was suddenly very nervous.
"Yeah I heard you laughing with Darren." He let out a fake laugh mirroring what Lauren had done earlier. Lauren glared at him slightly.
"Why do you care if I was talking to Darren?" She said defensively narrowing her eyes at him.
"I don't care." Joey lied rolling his eyes slightly.
"No you do care. Your jealous." She concluded triumphantly. Joey shook his head furiously at her.
"I'm not jealous. Why would I be jealous?" He questioned, but Lauren still continued.
"Is that why you've been so annoyed and ignoring me?" Lauren said laughing slightly through her tears.
"I have my reasons!" Joey snapped back.
"And here was me thinking, and hoping that the kiss at the party meant something to you." Lauren said, more to herself than Joey, fresh tears started to roll down her eyes again. She bought her hand up to mouth realising what she had just confessed. Joeys eyes widened at her confession. So she had known she was kissing him that night. Lauren looked at Joey for a second before she turned and made an attempt to run from the room, but Joey grabbed her hand, spinning her back round to face him.
"You remember that?" Joey questioned quietly. Lauren nodded her head.
"Of course." Lauren said laughing again slightly.
"But I thought it was an accident. I thought you were drunk." Joey said his eyes widening again.
"I wasn't even that drunk. I knew what I was doing, I just wanted to know if you felt that same way." She said quietly not looking him in the eye.
"But I guess I now have my answer." She concluded, her voice wobbling slightly as she tried to keep her self together and not break down crying again.

Joey don't know what made him do it, but he did. He reached down and kissed her lips, lightly at first. Lauren was taken aback to begin with but slowly she began to kiss him back. It felt different than the party like, there was a new sense of passion that was missing from the last time. Her face was still wet from tears but it didn't matter, as for what felt like years, the rest of the world melted away, and it was just Joey and Lauren and the unbreakable bond that kept them together. Eventually Lauren pulled back breathlessly and looked Joey in the eyes, beaming through her tear stained eyes.

"Is that a good enough answer for you?" Joey asked her grinning down at her face. She started to cry again, but this time it was tears of relief and happiness that rolled down her cheeks. She nodded her head enthusiastically and she jumped up and down on the spot, pulling him into a tight hug.
"I thought you didn't like me." Lauren whispered quietly. Joey laughed.
"Lolo, I knew I liked you from the day I met you, I didn't know you liked me." Joey shrugged. Lauren pulled back from him, smiling.
"I legit wore the tiniest outfits, hell I even stole one of your t-shirts, which your never getting back by the way." Lauren said giggling.
"I don't want it back, it looks way better on you anyway" Joey told her giving her a small wink. Lauren blushed a slightly darker shade of pink, and looked away from him giggling. Joey thought she looked adorable.
"Soooo." Joey said dragging out the 'o'. "How about I ask you on a date, tonight?" Joey said catching her eye. Lauren smiled. "I'd like that." She said quietly as she reached over to hug him again.

Joey's heart filled with joy as he wrapped his arms around her small body, thinking how stupid he had been to think she liked Darren. That still didn't explain why she was laughing on the phone with him earlier.
"Lo?" He asked her, not breaking the hug. She made a small noise to indicate she was listening and Joey continued.
"Why were you laughing on the phone with Darren this morning?" Lauren pulled away, looking slightly nervous.
"Um, well, I told him about, erm, well you, and everything, and erm yeah, I just sort of cried at him for a few hours, because I thought you like, hated me, and he was trying to cheer me up." She said looking at Joey nervously. He pulled her back into a tight hug, cradling her head against his chest.
"I could never hate you Lo."