Bound To You (Richpez)

Chapter Three

The next morning Joey was awoken by Lauren's singing again. Not that he minded. Her voice was a perfect alarm clock to wake up to. He stumbled into the kitchen to find Lauren sat waiting at the dinner table. She was wearing his t-shirt again and absentmindedly swirling the spoon around in her hand. When she saw Joey in the doorway, her face lit up and she shot him a small smile, gesturing to the empty seat opposite her. Joey gladly obliged, sitting down opposite her and shooting her a lopsided grin. She giggled cutely her button nose scrunching up at the top.
"Sorry I fell asleep last night." Lauren said still laughing. Joey laughed too.
"It's okay." He said reassuringly as he started to eat his cereal that Lauren had set out ready for him.
"So. What are we doing today?" Lauten asked as she set her spoon carefully back down on the table.
"We could explore the town?" Joey proposed shrugging.
"Sounds good." Lauren agreed dashing off to her room to get ready. Joey stared after her. It was strange, she'd only been here 2 days and yet it felt like she'd been here forever, and joeys small crush that had developed was only growing with every smile or giggle that appeared from her lips.

Joey was snapped out of his faze by Lauren appearing in the doorway. She was wearing a pair of high waisted denim jeans, accompanied by a white vest top and light brown and purple plaid oversized shirt on the top. Her hair was left in her natural curls, each one beautifully defining her face. Joeys stomach did a somersault as she smiled at him.
"Do you think the outfit matches?" She asked suddenly as she looked down at what she was wearing and then back up at Joey. Of course Joey thought she looked stunning, but he stuttered cleared his throat.
"Ah-erm, im no fashion expert, but I'd say it looks pretty good." Joey said quickly, deliberately not making eye contact. "Okay, good" Lauren said relaxing.
"You ready to go?" Joey asked her as he grabbed his phone and keys from the counter. Lauren nodded excitedly as she followed.

The tour of LA shouldn't have lasted very long, as Joey lived quite a while away from the town centre, but they still managed to spend almost an entire day exploring the different parks and eating ice cream by the lake.

It was around 6pm and the sun was begging to set in the sky. Joey and Lauren were sat on the bank of the lake, Lauren was sat cross legged on the grass making a daisy chain out of the flowers around her. Joey was trying to copy her, but failing quite miserably. Lauren finished her chain and placed it on Joey's head 'crowning' him. It fell down his head, to which Lauren let out a small giggle that made joeys heart flip. Joey held up his weak little daisy chain and placed it in her hair, tucking a stray strand behind her ear in the process. She smiled up at him, her cheeks blushing a slight pink colour.

"There, beautiful." Joey said clapping his hands together. Lauren smirked.
"What? Me, or the flowers?" She asked cheekily, smiling innocently up at him. Joey blushed deep red, his heart starting to beat faster.
"I meant the flowers." Joey said quickly. Lauren's face fell slightly.
"No- not that your not beautiful, because you are. You are very beautiful." He said desperately, mentally hating himself for not thinking before he spoke. Luckily, Lauren just laughed and leaned in closer to Joey.
"Well I think your flowers are very beautiful too." She whispered softly, her face far too close to Joey's for friends and he swore he was going to have a heart attack his heart was beating so fast. She reached up and straightened the daisy chain that was still on top of Joey's head.

Neither of them said a word about that conversation for the rest of the evening. As much as Joey tried to sleep that night, he found he couldn't. He just kept playing the afternoon's conversation in his head, and trying to understand it all.

It was 3 am, but Joey was very much still awake, when there was a tiny knock at his bedroom door.
"Come in" Joey called quietly through the semidarkness. Lauren slowly open this door and squeezed through.
"I couldn't sleep" Lauren explained apologetically.
"Me neither" Joey replied gesturing for her to sit next to him. She did, and she walked across the room and climbed into his bed beside him. There was a pause, before Lauren whispered quietly through the darkness.
"This might sound weird." Lauren started. "But, erm, can I stay here with you tonight?" she finish nervously, twiddling with her thumbs and refusing to look him in the eyes. Joey can make out her nervous expression through the dimly lit room and realised it must've taken a lot of courage to ask that question. He gave in to her request rather too quickly for his own liking.

Lauren relaxed, smiling as she snuggled in closer to Joey placing her head on his chest. Joey's heart was working overtime and he was honestly frightened she might hear it. But if she did she didn't say anything. He looked down to see her eyes closed, presumably asleep.
"Goodnight Lo." Joey whispered, the new nickname tumbling out his mouth, however, he didn't see the small smile that appeared on Lauren's face.

(This story moves pretty fast but it's a short story so there's not a lot of time for messing about soooooo sorry bout that guyssss)