The Web I Spin for You ~ Richpez & Rosenwalker

Chapter 1

Joey Richter ran a hand through his hair miserably. It was a particularly chilly day in November, and it had taken all of his energy to force himself to get out of bed this morning. He sipped his coffee as he walked down the hallway, approaching his best friend.

"Look alive good buddy," He said, yawning as he leaned against his own locker.

"I can't look what I don't feel." Brian mumbled tiredly, peering out from behind his locker door. "This cold weather is not helping me wake up in the morning."

"Alas, I come bearing the cure," Joey reassured, reaching out to hand Brian the iced coffee that he'd brought for him.

Brian glanced down at the coffee guiltily, before reaching into his locker to show Joey that he already had one. "Sorry..."

Joey raised an eyebrow at him. "You never get up early enough to get coffee before school."

Brian sipped his coffee awkwardly, a blush spreading across his face. "I uh, I rode with Joe to school today." He bit down on his bottom lip to stop himself from smiling like an idiot.

"Ah," Joey smirked, nodding his head in approval. "That makes a lot more sense. You won't get up early to buy your own coffee... but you will get up early for Joe Walker."

The blushing teen shrugged awkwardly, closing his locker as Joey set the coffee's he'd gotten down on the floor in order to free his hands. "He asked me if I wanted to ride to school with him."

"Bet that's not the only thing he asked you to ride." Joey teased as he opened his locker.

"Believe me when I say that I never in a million years would voluntarily wake up earlier than I have to on a school day," Brian said, ignoring Joey's comment completely. "That being said, obviously there was no way that I was going to tell him no."

Joey closed his locker, adjusting his backpack over his shoulder. "Well, tell your boyfriend that he needs to ask my permission before he takes you out on a morning coffee date. Like, what the hell am I supposed to do with that?" He asked, gesturing to the iced coffee on the floor. "I'm sure as hell not going to drink it, only your psychotic ass drinks cold coffee in the winter."

Brian reached down, picking the coffee's up off of the ground. "I have a better idea. Since my man who's not my man bought me a coffee, why don't you give this one to your woman who's not your woman?"

Joey looked at Brian sternly as he took his own coffee back from Brian. "I have no idea who you're talking about." He said sarcastically. "That terminology does not apply as well to my situation as it does to yours."

Brian playfully nudged Joey's shoulder as the two started walking. "How so? We came up with these code names together."

"Joe actually is your man." Joey said matter-of-factly as they marched down the hallway. "Lauren isn't my woman."

"Bullshit, she's just as much "your woman" as Joe is "my man" Joey." Brian teased as they stepped outside the building and into the cold, misty air of Hatchetfield.

"Joe actually likes you back and wants to be with you. You're the one that said no." Joey pointed out. "Whereas Lauren doesn't like me back, and doesn't want to be with me. If anything, our roles are reversed. You're Joe's woman who's not his woman."

Brian shook his head, trying to follow Joey's logic. "First of all, I like Joe back, so in order for that metaphor to work, you have to acknowledge that Lauren likes you back, which she does." He took a sip of his coffee despite the fact that it made him shiver, willing his brain to work. "Second of all, Lauren does want to be with you, she admitted that. She just doesn't know if she can commit to someone right now. Ergo, she's your woman who's not your woman." He handed the coffee back over to Joey. "Sack up and give this to Lauren. Also, why am I even holding this?" He asked with a laugh as they walked into their trigonometry classroom and sat down. "Lastly, I didn't 'say no,' to Joe. You know that it's way more complicated than that."

"I do," Joey reassured softly as he pulled his trigonometry textbook out of his backpack. "Things can't ever be simple for us, can they?"

xXx

"How many times do I have to say that I'm sorry!" Joe Walker yelled with a laugh as he walked down the hallway towards Lauren's first period.

"At least five more times," the short girl teased as they ran up the stairs. "You ditched me."

"I didn't ditch you! I... I innocently acquiesced!"
"You skipped out on our plans to rehearse our duet for Glee to go get a ride from your boy toy." Lauren stated confidently. "Those are the facts."

"Dude, it was a car ride, not a ride ride." He teased, sipping his warm pumpkin spiced latte. "Believe me, if I'd gotten the kind of ride that you're implying from Brian this morning, I'd tell you all about it." He whispered in a low voice.

"I'm going to pretend that I didn't hear that." Lauren groaned, fake vomiting into the air.

"Oh sure, now you're uninterested in my love life. Figures." Lauren flicked him off as they walked, a grin spreading across her face. "Forgive me, some of us are trying to get into a relationship with their crush instead of pretending that the feelings don't exist."

Lauren's grin disapparated off of her face. "You're an ass." She stated, attempting to march off ahead of him, but Joe put his arm out to stop her.

"See, there you again with the deflection. Come on, talk to me so I can continue putting off going to AP Law."

"Stating that you're an asshole isn't deflection, it's a scientific fact," Lauren responded, her smiling creeping back on to her face.

"Deflection..." Joe responded in a sing-songy voice. "Look, I'm not dumb. You and Richter have been acting weird ever since that night at Darren's. Granted I was little preoccupied at the time, but I know that something happened between you two."

Lauren raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure Brian didn't tell you anything?" She reached out and snatched Joe's coffee out of his hand, sipping it.

"He hasn't." Joe answered honestly. "But in asking me if he did, you just confirmed that something did happen, because evidently you're worried that Joey told Brian about it." He stuck out his chest with a triumphant smile as he took his coffee back.

"Joey tells Brian everything," was all Lauren responded, taking Joe's coffee once again. "Also next time you ditch me to get a ride, at least bring me a damn coffee!"

"Deflectioooon!" Joe sang again, making Lauren flush. "Alright listen, I won't push you on this—partly because I have to run to my class—but I'm just gonna say this. You miss one hundred percent of the opportunities you don't go for." The minute bell went off, and Joe scratched his head anxiously as they approached Lauren's class. "Maybe things will work out with him, maybe they won't. Maybe you'll leave Hatchetfield, maybe you won't. Maybe you guys can handle long distance while you're away, maybe you can't. But as long as you tell yourself no to all of those questions, you'll never find out whether or not they could work out." He pat her head gently, before skipping into a run. "Just dwell on that while you're in class!"

"Asshole." Lauren mumbled under her breath, watching her best friend run away.

Surprise! I know I said on Instagram that I was going to upload this on Friday but I couldn't wait! I've been waiting for Honey Queen to be uploaded to YouTube because there may be some potential spoilers in this story, but there aren't any in the first few chapters so I decided why not start now! Welcome back :)