Chateau <Joe Keery>

8 - Goodbye, Joe.

After I got cleaned up, I slid on one of Joe's
t-shirts and my underwear. Joe was in the shower while I dumped out the now bad spaghetti and started boiling the new water. I couldn't help but smile to myself. In the moment I had completely forgotten about the fact that he had a girlfriend already. I was too busy with the happiness I had, nothing else mattered.

While I was waiting for the spaghetti noodles to cook I felt a pair of arms snake around my waist. I giggled and laid my head back onto Joe's chest as he started kissing my neck. "We already wasted one pot of noodles, Joseph." I said. "I'd say it was worth it." He spoke softly, pulling away and sitting at the island.

I plated the spaghetti and set it in front of Joe. I grabbed a serving for myself and sat next to him. As we ate I couldn't wipe the smile off my face and by glancing at him quite often I could tell he couldn't either. We went to bed that night all curled up with each other. We barely talked but it wasn't awkward. It didn't feel like it was quiet. It was as if every touch and every look was an entire conversation in themselves. But still no thought of how he had a girlfriend already.

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:· .·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:· .·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·

I opened my eyes and looked to my side to see Joe, still asleep. I smiled and moved the hair from his face to kiss his forehead. He slowly opened his eyes and smiled softly when he saw I was beside him. "Good morning, beautiful." He mumbled, nuzzling his face into my chest. "Morning, handsome." I replied, playing with his hair. He started to kiss my collarbone delicately, causing me to moan. His phone then dinged a second later. "Joe, your phone." I said. "It can wait." He said, still kissing my chest up to my neck. I let it go until it dinged again. "What if it's important?" I asked. "Nothing is more important than you, baby." He said, giving me butterflies. Then once more his phone dinged. "Okay, Joe, seriously, you should check your phone." He groaned and reached to grab his phone. He sat up quickly and said, "Shit." as he read the messages he got. "What's wrong?" I asked, sitting up with him. "Ashley is coming over. She'll be here like any minute." He answered. "Holy shit, I forgot about her." I said, standing from the bed and quickly grabbing my clothes. Just then there was a knock at the door. "Go get dressed, I'll deal with her." He said and I nodded.

I rushed to the room I was staying in, or supposed to be at least, and got dressed swiftly. I walked to the living room and saw Ashley standing in front of Joe. "Oh, hey, Olivia. Sorry to drop by like this. I was just worried about Joe. He wasn't answering my texts or calls so I wanted to make sure he was okay." Ashley explained. "Don't be sorry, I understand. His dumbass lost it last night and was too tired to look for it. I'm the one who ended up finding it actually. It was in kitchen by the way, idiot." I said. "Thank you, Liv. You're just too kind." He said with a smirk. "I actually do need to go, I have work but I'm glad you're okay. And it was nice seeing you again, Olivia." She said. "Yeah, you too." I said. She kissed Joe's cheek before walking out the door.

We stood there silent for a minute. I can't believe I actually forgot about her. How could I have forgotten? There was the guilt I knew would come. "Joe, this can't happen again. As great as it was, you have a girlfriend. And she's perfect. And I'm a horrible person for letting it happen." I said, shakily, wrapping my arms around myself. "You're not a horrible person, Liv." I cut him off. "Yes, I am. She has been nothing but nice to me and I in return slept with her boyfriend. Drunk and sober." I said with tears in my eyes, threatening to spill out at any moment. He silently stepped toward me, placing his hands on my cheeks. "Please, don't cry, baby." He whispered, wiping my tears away with his thumb. "You can't call me that." I whispered, looking up at him with my eyebrows scrunched together. He gives me a sad look and drops his hands to my waist, pulling me closer. "I don't think we can be friends anymore, Joe." I said. "Don't say that." He said. "I don't want to. But I need to. I'm sorry, Joe." "No, stop. I'm not losing you." He whispered, tears now in his eyes. "It doesn't have to be forever." "How long?" "Just until we can put this behind us. And go back to normal. Like we should've done the first time. Maybe then we could've avoided this." "Tell me you regret it." "What?" "Tell me you regret last night." I opened and closed my mouth, trying to find the right words. Joe leaned down and placed a light kiss to my lips. When he broke away from me I waited a second before pulling away and walking to my room.

I shut the door and quietly cried as I packed my things. I was already supposed to leave that day so I guess it worked out. I grabbed my suitcase and walked out to Joe's car. He walked out not too long after and started driving to the airport. It was silent the entire ride there.

When we arrived I got out, got my suitcase and started walking towards the entrance. "Liv!" I spun around and Joe was running towards me. As soon as he reached me he pulled me into his chest. I didn't fight it, I wrapped my arms around his waist. I wanted to be in his arms forever. I didn't want to let go. But I had to. So I pulled away and gave him a warm smile. "Goodbye, Joe.", is all I said before walking into the building and not looking back.

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:· .·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:· .·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·

I was finally home after what felt like the longest day of my life. I didn't unpack. I didn't do anything. I just laid in my bed and cried myself to sleep. Typically in moments like this I would call Joe. But I couldn't. I stayed strong and instead called my friend, Shawn. He could be trusted with this. He was the best at comforting me in moments like this out of my friends. Katie was good but she wasn't great in more serious situations all the time. Sam would have been good too but I feared she would result straight to insulting Joe and I couldn't handle that. Shawn was a listener. He didn't assume. He didn't insult. He listened and comforted. And he never complained. I would apologize a million times for bothering, he would always assure me that he was okay with it.

"So, you drunk slept with Joe, then sober slept with him and now you aren't talking to him because he has a girlfriend and you don't want to hurt her, right?" Shawn asked. "Yeah, that's the basic gist of it," I confirmed. "Did you ask if he would choose you or her?" "No, I didn't want him to have to choose. This girl is perfect. He deserves her over me any day." "What makes you think that?" "I'm just not as good as her. I'm not as pretty, smart, or funny. If I didn't basically choose for him, he would've chosen her anyways."
"Liv, you are very pretty, smart and funny. Don't you ever let anyone make you think otherwise. Honestly, you know what I told Sam and Katie after that night at the chateau? I said 'she's gonna marry him'. And I stand by that. Whether it's in 10 months or 10 years, you'll find your way back to each other. A bond like that doesn't just die. Take this time to heal and figure out who you are. At the end of the day, you need to be your biggest supporter. Because you're stuck with yourself so, you either love or hate yourself. And I think we both know what you would rather."
"You're right. Thank you, Shawn. I'm sorry for using you as my therapist. Maybe I need to get into actual therapy or something."
"Maybe you should but I'm always here for you without complaints. I love you, Livy."
"Thank you. I love you too, Shawn."

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:· .·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:· .·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·