Joey Graceffa's Roommate?

Part 7:

It was only one week until my 22nd birthday. Typically, I would have been excited, I'd always loved my birthday and it should have been even more exciting to me now that I had Joey to celebrate it with. I was finally going to catch up to him, we would both be 22, at least for a few months.

I wished that I would be able to be around my family and friends for my birthday as I always had though; don't get me wrong, Joey was a great person to spend a special day with. I knew he would have something special planned, he might take me to a movie or shopping, maybe he'd plan a marathon of one of my favorite shows; no matter what, I knew he'd make the day special for me.

"Hey sweetheart, I'm at Shane's filming a collab, a What's in My Mouth challenge. Want me to pick something up for dinner on my way home," Joey text messaged.

I was in the mood for a pizza, but I knew that he rarely ate anything that unhealthy. I decided to tell him to get some chicken or something, but just as I was about to respond he messaged again, "Pizza sound good?" He knew me so well, maybe he could tell I had been down lately. I wished he hadn't gone to Shane's to film, I liked Shane a lot, but I wanted Joey to be with me; however, time alone could benefit me, especially since I was feeling down.

Quickly I answered and told him that indeed, pizza sounded great, and that I would get plates out for us, to which he replied that it wouldn't be necessary, we would just take the box to his bed and eat. I assumed he had had a long day too, because we usually sat down at the table to eat, sort of like a family would.

I decided to change into something a little more attractive than my sweats and Joey's giant- on me- sweatshirt, knowing that he had had a long day as well, and that I could make it up to him in this small gesture. I finally chose pink lace lingerie, hoping to 'wow' him.

***

I heard the door open as I waited for Joey in his bedroom, he must have assumed I was already in bed, because he brought the pizza box straight in. With one glance at me his eyes shot open and his jaw dropped. I hoped that was a good reaction.

"Damn," he managed to speak, "you look sexy."

That was the reaction I had wanted from him, although I loved having him call me beautiful or gorgeous, sometimes it felt even better to hear that he thought I was sexy. I knew that he didn't just appreciate my looks and so it wasn't offensive when he did make comments like that.

"C'mere," I whispered to him; he did as he was told.

"Jesus, are you trying to seduce me, Scarlet?"

He sat down on the bed and kissed me, first on my lips and then along my jaw until he reached my collarbone.

He knew just when to stop; I didn't want to take things to the next level yet, but I did enjoy the kisses. I knew one day I would be ready to go further with him, but I just wasn't yet and I was so happy that he understood that and felt the same way. I knew that a lot of guys didn't feel the same way he did, and they wouldn't care for me the same way that he did.

In that moment, I decided that I wanted to tell Joey about my life; he had asked me to before, but it was always hard for me to talk about. I wanted to tell Joey though, Joey was one of the only people I felt that I could trust and I knew he cared for me a lot, as I did for him.

"Joey, do you still want to hear my story," I questioned, partially hoping he would say, yet all the while knowing he'd say yes.

"Of course, if you're ready. I want to know everything about you," he answered, pulling me gently into his arms and kissing my forehead, "tell me everything."

"Well my mother got very sick when she had me, she was too small to give birth to a child, but there really was no other option at the time, so she had me and it caused a lot of problems for her. She was a great mother to me though, and she went through a lot when I was young. My father had a rare type of brain cancer; he found out about his cancer when he was a teenager. My mom knew about the cancer when she met him and she knew how bad it was, but they fell in love and she was willing to be with him even though she knew that he wouldn't make it to an old age," I paused, I was beginning to cry a little; I looked up at Joey.

Joey noticed my tears and took my face in his hands, softly wiping the tears away with his thumb. He pulled me into his chest, rubbing my back to soothe me.

"You don't have to tell the rest of the story right now if it's too hard to talk about, love. I don't want to see you force yourself through this pain just so I can know. Another time, perhaps?"

It sounds silly, but since I had already began telling the story I wanted to finish for him. I felt a weird kind of sadness, like I was sad to be reminiscing the memories that I had of my dad, but I also felt like I was okay, and I wanted to tell Joey all about it, because I wanted to make my own memories with Joey. I wanted to be the happy couple that my parents had been up until the day that my father passed away.

"No, it's okay, I want to keep going I think. So anyway, when I was young my dad was always in and out of the hospital until eventually they had to put him in an assisted living type of home, it was becoming to much for my mom to take care of him and me, and he was in the hospital so much that it seemed like the best choice. We went to see him every day after I got home from school. He was never really 'all there,' he would talk to me, and he remembered who I was but he didn't seem to remember anything else about me. It was really hard to see him like that; I think he knew he was dying though, some days he wouldn't talk at all, he would just stare out the window with this horrified look on his face, as if he knew that he would be leaving my mom and I alone. He passed away when I was nine. I remember my mom being so sad that I had to go to stay with my grandparents for a few weeks so that she could get better."

"Scarlet, honey, I'm so sorry that you had to go through that. I know it must have been hard to see your dad like that, I wish there was something that I could do for you, I wish I could take away all of the pain for you, I hate to see you hurting, sweetheart."

"But if you could take all of my pain away then I wouldn't be me. Life isn't meant to be easy, Joey, life is hard; but, when you spend it with someone you care for, it's worth living, and you are my someone."

"I love you, Scarlet. I want to be here for you and to share the pain and the heartache, but also the fun and the laughter. I want to spend my life with you."