Bound To You (Richpez)

Chapter Eight

Later that evening, Joey stood in the living room, waiting for Lauren to emerge from her room. He had planned the perfect place to take her, and he just knew she would love it. Eventually Joey heard Lauren's bedroom door open and spun round. As soon as he saw Lauren his jaw dropped open. She was wearing a cute white top with a bow at the bottom and black skirt complete with a light blue denim jacket. Her chestnut brown hair fell in gentle curls down her back and somehow, to Joey, her eyes seemed brighter as they sparkled in the light of the room.

"Lo, You look... stunning. Truly." Joey stuttered. Lauren smiled at him.
"Thanks. You don't look too bad yourself Richter." Lauren said linking her arm with his.
"Now where are you taking me? I'm dying to know!" Lauren asked excitedly as they stepped out of Joey's apartment and set off down the road, Lauren still clutching Joey's arm tightly. Joey smiled down at  her, and put his finger to his lips.
"You'll see." Joey replied. Lauren groaned.
"You're so annoying. I hate surprises."
Lauren said impatiently dropping his arm.
"It's just down that pathway at the end of the street." Joey said pointing to a little alley way across the road. Lauren picked up the pace and started walking quickly towards the alleyway, dragging Joey behind her. They practically ran through the alley way and stopped at the other side. Lauren gasped at the view.

They were at a fairground, it was a kaleidoscope of light that seemed to absorb the darkness. Lauren looked at Joey, her eyes full of excitement.
"What do you want to go on first?" Joey asked her. Lauren squinted so she could see every ride and pick her choice.
"That one." She said pointing at the carousel in the distance. She giggled and grabbed his hand again pulling him towards the carousel. Joey laughed at her enthusiasm.
"You know we've got all night?" Joey reminded her laughing. He turned around to look at her and found Lauren no longer beside him. He spotted her staring up in wonder at the stand filled with plush toys. She turned to Joey her mouth open and pointed at the plush toys hanging from the top of the stand excitedly bouncing up and down
"Jojo! We need to win one!" She said excitedly. Joey laughed and ran over to her side.
"I gotta warn you Lolo. I'm terrible at this."
Joey admitted as he placed a dollar on the table.

Joey was true to his words, useless. He missed by a mile but nevertheless kept placing dollar after dollar on the table. Lauren found it very amusing as she stood back watching him until eventually, after five failed attempts from Joey, she pushed him aside to take control of the wheel. She expertly lined up the water pistol, Her eyes fixed on the target, and shot the button, hitting the bullseye first try. "Yass!" She shouted glancing over to Joey and laughed and shook his head at her in disbelief. She collected her plush unicorn, still laughing at the look on Joey's face.

Finally, after they had been on every ride in the Carnival at least twice, they began to walk home, candy floss in one hand. "Tonight was fun" Lauren said suddenly, looking up at Joey through her candy floss. Joey smiled. "Yeah. You even won that unico-" Joey started before his eyes started scanning Lauren's person, to find no unicorn in her arms. "Where's your unicorn?" Joey said gasping at her. Lauren shrugged. "I gave it away to a little girl. She was looking at it in wonder, so I gave it her." Lauren said looking up at Joey with a shrug. Joey smiled. That was another thing he loved about Lauren, her kindness. Well to be honest, he loved everything about Lauren.

When they got home, they were exhausted. It was already one in the morning, so Lauren and Joey went off to bed. Lauren didn't even sleep in her own room at all today, just followed Joey into his room and cuddled him close. "Thank you Jojo." Lauren said smiling up at him. Joey squeezed her hand that he was holding. "Your welcome, Lo." Joey replied kissing the top of her forehead before she drifted off to sleep.

And from that moment on they woke up next to each other everyday, and neither of them could be happier. And 8 years later as Joey got down on one knee, Lauren knew that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with this boy, every complication, every mistake, every reward, she wanted him to be there with her every step of the way. And you can bet he was.

(This is the end 😭 I know it's quite sudden and abrupt ending but I think I got bored writing it at this point and i didn't know where else it would go from here on so... thanks for reading guys 😊)