Joe Sugg | Imagines

Harmless Kisses

"You are the reason they pull this shite" I say, settling back into bed.

"Ugh," Joe climbs back in and this time he shows no restraint as he scoops me against him and tucks his face into my neck. I remain stiff as I wait for Joe to let go but his breathing slows so I relax too. I snuggle in with him and fall asleep.

•••

We explore the city and its pubs the next day, eating the local cuisine but I'm checking my phone constantly, expecting a call from my university. I had applied for a grant and my financial situation depended on it.

"You're on bloody vacation stop ruining it by being all stressed out," Joe takes my phone from me and puts it in his pocket. I have no shame in trying to reach in and grab it back but Joe swats my hand away, turning red as he pushes his chair back. "Easy tiger."

That makes me blush, realising how close I was to accidently brushing something else. "You're giving that back to me," I try to play it off.

"I'll give it to you before bed," Joe says and it's final as he turns away from me. Ugh.

Joe gives it to me earlier instead while we all hang out near the pool as the sun goes down. I open up my email first thing and scan the words "Congratulation Ms.Y/L/N we are pleased to grant you..."

"I got it!" I holler. All that hard work and extra essays I had to write. "Joe!" I yell to him where he's inside mixing drinks. The boys are slightly confused but they shout encouragement anyway. Joe comes out and I run to him yelling. He puts down his drinks as I crash into him and he twirls me around.

"I knew you could do it!" He shouts and in the moment I don't even realise but I slide back down so my feet touch the floor and I kiss Joe in the excitement. And he kisses me back.

It's the silence in the back that clues me in. I tear myself away from Joe and he looks at me, slightly dazed. I turn back to the boys who have a similar expression on minus the lipstick smudges.

"I got my grant!" I try to play if off but the boys aren't having it.

"You two just kissed," Conor points to both of us.

"On the lips," Caspar says.

I pout my lips and walk towards them, "Anyone else want one too?"

Caspar pretends to fumble out of the seat and everyone laughs.

"Okay but what the hell just happened?" Jack asks.

"We were celebrating," Joe finally says. He shrugs and walks down to me where he puts his hand on my waist. "Just a harmless kiss."

"Yeah," I smile. I was glad Joe wasn't making it a big deal. Or...did I want him to? But we continue the night like nothing's happened. And when we go to bed we cuddle like we did and it's awkward at first but then it isn't.

The next night, Conor takes us all to a very hush nye party with his musician connections. And a hush party obviously meant it was very loud and stuffed with people. I keep a drink in my hand for most of the night, catching the boys every so often and dancing with a few of them. As the clock begins to tick closer to midnight I get more and more drunk, realising I had nobody for new year's. I was in a house full of people but nobody was mine.

I grab another drink and stand near the door of where the projector counts down to midnight. There was 1 minute left. I take a long sip of my drink and watch the numbers get smaller.

"16, 15, 14..." Through the voices I recognise Joe's nearby and spot him. His eyes are alight with enthusiasm and he has on a permanent half-smile which meant he was as smashed as I was. I squeeze past people and try to call out but the sounds are too loud.