Perfect Strangers

- 5 -

After five rounds of Mario Kart, of which Lauren only won the last - and she suspected that had a lot to do with Joey "accidentally" driving off the track a few times - she turned the console off and switched over to the TV.

"I really don't feel like cooking tonight," she said, leaning her head back against the couch.

"Pizza?" Joey suggested.

"Pizza," she nodded.

While they waited for their order to arrive, they got talking about the shows they'd done in college, a subject that came easily to them with the amount of stories they had to tell.

"One of the weirdest shows I ever did was Marisol-" Lauren started.

"Wait, Marisol? I almost auditioned for that."

"You did?"

"Yeah." Joey laughed humorlessly. "The only reason I didn't was because I knew my girlfriend at the time was too."

"I wish you had auditioned," she said, regret tinging her voice.

"Me too," he said, gazing at her. "I can't believe we didn't meet sooner."

Lauren thought about how different her life might be if they had met sooner. She might not have moved to Chicago, for a start. And who could say where she and Joey might have ended up in their relationship.

'Girlfriend at the time' was still playing on her mind, and she just opened her mouth to ask him about it when the doorbell rang and Joey jumped up to go and get their pizza. By the time he brought the food over, the moment was gone and Lauren decided to just forget about it for the night.

She noticed Joey kept looking over at her. "What?" she finally asked him.

"I know you can't have it," he said. "But a pizza without cheese just looks sad."

She laughed, relieved it was as trivial as that. "Trust me, you get used to it."

"Do you ever miss it?"

"All the time," she sighed. Joey put an arm around her shoulders, and she leaned into it.

"So if you could have anything in the world right now," he said, and paused. "Would it be cheese?"

He was trying to make her laugh, she knew. But the truth was that if she could have anything in the world right then, it would be him.

He must have noticed the expression on her face, because he frowned. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just tired," she lied.

He took his arm from round her shoulders, standing up. "We should both go to bed, get out early tomorrow," he said.

She took his outstretched hand and let him pull her up off the couch.

"You want the bathroom first?" he asked as they headed down the hall.

"Do you mind?"

"Hey," he grinned. "It's your house."

She smiled up at him, reaching out for the door. "Thanks. Goodnight, Joey."

"Night Lauren."

She brushed her teeth mindlessly, drafting up a shopping list of everything they needed to get tomorrow - and, for the first time since yesterday, not thinking about Joey.

She had a good night's sleep and was awake early, halfway through cooking them both breakfast before Joey was up. She turned around when she heard his footsteps, her breath catching in her throat as she took in his glasses and ruffled hair and that gorgeous crooked smile.