The Two of Us: A Richpez fanfic

Chapter 11

Lauren's PoV

Julia was sitting on the couch when I got back to the apartment. When she looked up and saw the look on my face she rushed over and wrapped her arms around me, holding me tight. I couldn't stop the tears that were now pouring from my eyes and my body was shaking with sobs. She walked me over to the couch and sat me down. I laid my head in her lap and stared at the wall while she soothingly stroked my hair and calmed me down. After probably 15 minutes I had calmed down enough to say, "Julia, I want to get everyone together as soon as I can to tell them all the news."

"Okay, I'll make it happen don't worry" she said. I sat up and leaned my head against her shoulder. "Lo?" she asked. "I know Joey's your best friend and I get that you're sad to leave him, but I didn't think you would be so upset about telling him."

I knew I would probably regret this, but I decided to tell her how I had been feeling about Joey lately. I explained every detail finishing with, "...and today when I told him I was going to New York, I guess I'd just hoped he would tell me to stay..."

"Oh my gosh Lauren I'm so sorry you're so upset about this, but first things first, I must say finally."

I was confused. "What do you mean finally?" I inquired.

"It's been so obvious to me that you had feelings for him. You always try to look nice when you're going to see him and I don't know if you've realized it or not, but you flirt with him nonstop."

Oh my god. Was it this obvious to everyone that I have these feelings? "Well, I personally think you're over exaggerating a bit, but that's beside the point. He obviously doesn't feel the same for me so it doesn't matter anyways."

"I don't know Lauren. Maybe he didn't tell you to stay because he knows how good an acting job would be for you. He could have feelings for you. He did break up with Mariah after all. After a fight about the time he spends with you. That means that he wasn't willing to give you up to be with her."

"I didn't think about it that way..." I replied. Maybe Julia was right. Maybe he did like me. "Anyways I still need to tell everyone so if you could get them together that would be great. Tonight would probably be best."

"I'll get right on it" she assured me.

--

Julia go everything squared away and a few hours later, people started arriving. Person after person, I kept waiting to see Joey, but he still hadn't shown. Finally, almost half an hour late, Joey knocked on the door. I opened it hopefully, but he just looked past me into the apartment and walked in without saying a word. I hated that he was so upset with me, but all he had to do was tell me to stay and I would. Maybe I should tell him about my feelings. If Julia was right, he would tell me he felt the same and then I could stay here with him. I didn't particularly want to do that at the risk of being vulnerable, but I kept it in the back of my mind as a possibility.

I got everyone into the living room and stood on one end, asking for their attention. "Alright everyone," I said. "I've got some news to tell you all." There were some confused faces, but I continued. "So over the past couple weeks, I've had a few meetings with this guy named JD. He's in show-biz over in New York and... well, he booked me for a job... in New York. I'm moving there indefinitely in 2 weeks."

Some of the gang looked shocked, but everyone was very congratulatory. I got a lot of hugs and we'll miss you's, but overall everyone was very excited for me. Everyone except Joey. I hadn't talked to him at all yet since he got here so once everyone had gotten their chance for congratulations, I walked over to him.

"Hey Jo. What's up?" He turned around and started to walk away. I grabbed his arm to stop him. "Joey come on, how are you?"

"What do you want me to say Lo?" he asked. His breath smelled awfully of alcohol.

I was a bit concerned so I asked, "Have you been drinking?"

"So what if I have?" was his response.

"Okay, geeze, it was just a question. No need to get all fired up."

"I don't know what you expect me to say to you Lauren. I don't understand how you could be leaving us like this. What the hell are we supposed to do without you?" He was near screaming now. I could feel the tears swelling in my eyes. My cheeks were getting hot with a mix of anger and sadness.

"Joey I think you need to calm down." I said shakily.

"Oh I need to calm down? Calm down!?" at this point he was yelling and everyone else fell silent. Joe and Brian walked over to confront him.

"Joey you need to cool off, man" Joe said.

"Yeah. Why don't we head outside and I'll walk you home." Brian offered.

They walked Joey out of the apartment and after that the mood was sort of dampened so everyone else started to leave as well. I was very upset about what happened with Joey, but the night being cut short didn't bother me. I was glad to have time to think about everything that had happened.

I had really thought that Joey might have had feelings for me, but not so much anymore. When he was drunk, the most truthful a person is, he had said "How could you leave us, what would we do without you." If he truly felt something for me, his drunk self would have only been concerned with his individual feelings of me leaving, not the whole group's feelings. Maybe this is better though, to go to New York with some closure.

Joey's PoV

Lauren was the one to answer the door when I arrived, but I couldn't even bear to look at her so I just pushed past her into the apartment. It seemed like I was the last one to arrive because before long she called for everyone's attention. She made her announcement about the move and, although some were a little disappointed, everyone was so excited for her. Why didn't they care that she was leaving as much as I did? How were they all okay with this? I practically drank my weight in beer before I came here and that still hadn't numbed the pain of Lauren leaving. I sulked into the corner and leaned up against the wall.

After a few minutes of me staring at my feet, Lo came up to me. "Hey Jo. What's up?" she asked. I didn't want to deal with talking to her right now so I tried to walk away, but she grabbed my arm and persisted.

"What do you want me to say Lo?" I angrily asked her. She must've smelled the alcohol on my breath because she asked me if I had been drinking. I rudely asked her what she cared. She looked a little frightened and asked me to calm down. At this point my drunkenness took all control of me and I lashed at her, "Oh I need to calm down? Calm down!?" I must have scared her because I saw tears starting to fall from her eyes and she was shaking. I felt bad but I was too intoxicated to think of a way to apologize. Joe and Brian cam over telling me it was time to go. I let them lead me out.

--

I woke up the next morning with a pounding headache. Never again will I ever drink that much. I laid in bed for a few minutes before I shot up, nearly falling off the bed. I just remembered what went down last night. How could I have been such a jerk to Lauren? She probably hated me now. I made her cry. I'm such an asshole my god. What is wrong with me? I quickly grabbed my phone to text her.

"Lauren I am so sorry for what a jerk I was last night. I had way too much to drink before I got there and I wasn't thinking straight. I really need to see you. Can we please meet for lunch today? I really want to apologize in person. I'm so sorry, Lo."

Much to my surprise, she responded almost immediately.

"Yeah we can meet. Pick me up at 2" was all it said. Maybe this would be a second chance for me to tell her how I felt. I got out of bed and went to shower