To The Only Boy I've Loved Before

Trust Me

"Can we please leave?" Lauren asked as soon as they stopped outside the front door of the house the party was at.

"Nope, we're going, it's in the contract," Joey told her firmly.

She reached into her bag and pulled out a clip to put her hair up out of her face.

"What are you doing? Give me that," he said, reaching out and gently disentangling the clip from her hair.

"What? No, give me that back," she said, stretching her hand out for it, but Joey held it out of her reach.

"I'm keeping it, I like your hair down," he said, looking into her eyes sincerely. 

She looked at the floor bashfully, wondering how many more times he was going to compliment her that evening. It was nice, but it wasn't helping the mixed signals he was sending, and the mixed feelings she was experiencing.

"You look pretty. I'll prove it to you," he continued.

She put her face in her hands as he took a picture of her, saying 'aww' as he admired the photo.

He spun the phone screen around to face her, going "see?", and Lauren had to admit that she did look kind of cute.

"Fine. But don't lose that!" she said, pointing warningly to the hair clip.

He cocked his head to the side. "As if I would," he said, clipping it into his own hair which coaxed a laugh out of Lauren.

"Okay, now give me your phone," he said, holding his hand out.

"Why?" she asked, looking at him in exasperation.

"Would you just trust me?"

She handed her phone over, and stifled a grin as Joey took a dumb selfie.

"Alright, you need to make this," he showed her the photo, "your new background."

"What's your new background?" she asked cheekily as she took her phone back from him.

He clicked his teeth at her. "Lo, come on, you know I already got it."

He showed her his lock screen - the picture of her he had just taken - with a goofy smile, and she smiled a little back at him, partly because it was very cute of him, and partly because of the new nickname.

He held out his hand to her and after a split second she took it. "Let's go," he said, pulling her after him.

"Maybe we should just go back," she tried one last time.

"Come on."

As soon as they walked in Lauren knew this was a bad idea. Melissa was sat on the couch, and she called over to them.

"Come, Lauren, sit with us," she said with a fake smile plastered on her face.

Joey squeezed her hand, said "I'm going to get us some drinks", and disappeared, so reluctantly Lauren went over to sit with Melissa and her friends.

"So, spill," Melissa said as soon as Lauren sat down. "What's going on with you and Joey?"

"What do you want to know?" Lauren asked, reluctant to give away too much.

"Everything. When. How. Why," she said, her eyes sparkling maliciously at that last word as if she didn't believe someone like Joey could ever fall in love with her.

"How is that any of your business?" Lauren said sharply.

Melissa's eyes widened, clearly not used to anyone talking back to her, and she stood up haughtily.

"You know, I'm going to go and get a drink. Can I get you anything? A juice box, maybe?" she asked, her smile sickly sweet.

"Actually, Joey's gone to get me a drink. But thank you so much for offering," Lauren retorted.

Joey came back at that moment. "What's up babe?" he said as he handed her her drink. Melissa flounced away.

He sat down next to her, pulling out his phone to take a picture. She kissed his cheek, then pulled her signature model pose, and he smiled happily at her poses.

She sat there for a while talking to Joey, and then wandered over when he went to play beer pong with his friends. Soon Lauren had almost shaken off her reluctance to be there, she was making new friends in Joey's mates, and getting to catch up with some of her friends that she rarely saw.

At some point Joey excused himself to go to the bathroom, brushing his hand against hers on the way past, and to Lauren's dismay she saw Darren walking towards her, his face solemn.

"Hey Lauren," he said, sitting down next to her. Lauren shuffled away slightly so that his thigh was no longer touching her own.

"Hi Darren. It's a nice party, huh?"

"Yeah," he said, shaking his head at her preamble. "Look, I want to know. What's up with you and Joey?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you send me a letter saying that you like me, and you want to be wrapped up in my arms or whatever," at which Lauren flushed, remembering how embarrassing the contents of the letter had been, "but now you're hanging around with Joey? What's your deal?"

Lauren had no idea how to answer that. She realised that she'd made a mistake in allowing Joey to talk her into the fake relationship idea. She could have just told Darren that she used to have feelings for him but they were long gone, and they both could have moved past it and hopefully stayed friends. But now she was left with the choice of avoiding him forever or lying to him, both of which would push her away from her friend.

Just then she looked up and saw Joey disentangling himself from Melissa, who had clearly sprung on him as he came out of the bathroom and had one arm looped around his neck, twirling her hair around her finger. He shrugged her off, and thankfully came to her rescue. She'd have to face Darren eventually, but she was glad it didn't have to be tonight.

Melissa shot a look that could kill at Lauren as Joey walked over to her, and Lauren was grateful when he blocked her from view.

"Hey, you wanna get out of here, maybe grab some food?" he asked her, deliberately avoiding Darren's gaze.

She sighed happily. 

"You know the way to a girl's heart Joey," she said, grabbing onto his arm with a grin.