"Great rehearsal guys, there's about four hours until the show starts so go and do as you please. Obviously don't strain your voices or use too much of your energy." Julia explains cautiously to the group and then leaves them alone in the rehearsal room.
It's the next day and the group is currently at the venue in Atlanta; they've just finished running through the show and it went very well. They've done it so many times at this point Lauren could do it with her eyes closed.
"What do you guys wanna do?" Dylan leans against the wall and folds his arms. Everyone suggests stuff that everyone else shuts down, which is usually how deciding something goes.
"I say we play hide or seek!" Joe grins and no one objects. "Big scary theatre that we don't know our way around, a lot of time on our hands..it will be fun!" He pleads and there are a few murmurs of agreement in response.
"Yeah okay," Lauren stands up and smooths down her clothes. "but you're counting, Walker." She smirks at him and he rolls his eyes, while everyone else laughs.
"Okay, piss off and i'll count to 30." He calls as the six of them scatter from the room. Lauren is the last to leave as she was tying up her shoe lace and didn't realise they were starting. She runs down the corridor of this unfamiliar theatre, cursing to herself as everyone else is gone and she can't find anywhere to hide. She can hear Joe is almost finished counting which is just making her panic more.
Suddenly a door next to where she's standing quickly opens to reveal darkness inside. "Lauren, get in here!" A voice hisses and even though she doesn't know who it is, the girl has no other option and so jumps into the cupboard.
The mystery person closes the door behind her so it's pitch black and Lauren cannot see anything. She tries to squint as her eyes adjust to the darkness but it doesn't work. "Brian?" She whispers, and is met with a laugh in response.
"Nope." They whisper back.
Lauren's eyes suddenly widen and her heart feels like it's stopped as she realises who it is.
"Joey?"
He laughs again, but it's a deep, quiet sound at the back of his throat. "Well done genius." He says, and she can tell he's smiling.
Lauren exhales slowly and feels her hands get sweaty. She's in a tiny, dark cupboard with the guy she likes, who she is supposed to be staying away from. What could go wrong?
She clears her throat and tucks her hair behind her ears. "This is a dark cupboard.." She says quietly and then silently curses to herself; why did she say that? That's not interesting, or funny - that's just a fact that has nothing to do with anything.
Joey chuckles. "Well spotted."
She rolls her eyes and swings her hand across the air, attempting to hit his arm but clearly missing as she doesn't touch anything. Sensing what she was trying to do, Joey laughs again. "You missed." He states and Lauren can't help but smile.
"Yeah no shit." She giggles, and then they're both just quietly laughing together. It's nice, like how it used to be.
Once the laughter dies down, Joey falls silent again and Lauren starts to get scared; the dark has always been a fear of hers and she has no idea where he's standing. "Uh, Joey?" She asks hesitantly, feeling the embarrassment slowly rise inside of her.
"Hm?" He sounds close, but she still can't feel him anywhere near her.
"Can you come here? I'm kind of..scared.." She says quietly.
Joey sniggers and takes a step towards her. Lauren has her hands stretched out in front of her, ready to feel anything that comes close. Suddenly her hands make contact with Joey's chest and she yelps in fright and jumps back, but trips over a bucket that's on the floor, resulting in her tumbling towards the ground. Joey obviously realises what's going on and catches her, but Lauren has no idea how because they're literally in complete darkness. His hands grab her waist and pull her back to her feet like she weighs nothing. Lauren's heart is beating so fast as the shock from the fall plays in her mind. She laughs nervously and holds Joey's arms, as he's still holding her waist.
"Thank you," She says breathlessly, trying to calm herself down.
"No problem." Joey says under his breath, and it's only then does Lauren realise just how close to her he is. He's literally standing right in front of her.
She takes a nervous step back, but her head hits the wood of the door with a soft thud, which makes her gasp a little out of shock. Her heart is beating even faster now and various scenarios run through her mind of what the two of them could possibly get up to in this cupboard. And it's only then does she remember that he's still got his hands on her.
"Uh, I'm good now. So you could..you could let go of my waist.." She says slowly, her voice is kind of shaky and very nervous.
"You want me to?" Is Joey's response. His voice is husky and deep and Lauren fears her heart may stop just from the sound of it.
"I didn't say that.." She replies; her voice is barely a whisper.
They're both silent after that, still holding each other and Lauren is still up against the door of this cupboard.
There's so many emotions in the air it's almost too much to handle. This is like the perfect, sexy scenarios Lauren reads about. She wants to kiss him and have him push her harder up against this door, as if they were a part of one of those narratives. She feels her cheeks glow red as the images flash across her mind.
"You scared of me Lopez?" Joey's voice snaps her out of her daydream.
She swallows anxiously but tries to play it off in a calm way. "N-no.." She stutters; so much for calm.
Joey moves one of his hands to under Lauren's left boob and keeps it there for a second. She freezes, completely caught off guard and not able to react. He then lets go and bends forward so his mouth is right next to her ear. "The pounding in your chest says different." He whispers and right then and there, Lauren's convinced she stops breathing. She's surprised she hasn't passed out. It feels like all the air from her lungs just vanished. She had no idea Joey could act in this way, and it's turning her on big time.
Joey takes a step towards Lauren so their bodies are basically touching. He softly places his hand under her chin and tilts her head up so she's looking in his direction. He moves his face closer and closer to hers until Lauren can feel his warm breath against her lips.
Her heart feels like it's beating out of her chest and the butterflies in her stomach are going crazy. "I can't do this anymore," She breathes, desperately.
Joey shakes his head. "Neither can I. I don't give a fuck that you're moving to New York; I can't stop thinking about you." He mutters into her mouth.
Lauren wets her lips and closes her eyes. "I can't stop thinking about you," She murmurs, feeling an intensity inside her to kiss him. She needs his body up against hers.
"What power do you have over me, Lo?" He says under his breath and just as he's about to close the distance between their lips, the door to the cupboard is flung open and the pair jump away from each other.
Lauren squints as the light from the hallway fills up the dark room. "Found you both!" Joe is standing there, grinning triumphantly.
Joey is the first to speak. "Fuck sake Walker." He shakes his head at him with a smile and Joe laughs before running down the hall, going to find the next person.
Lauren's still standing there, silent and stunned. She feels like she can't move. Joey steps out of the cupboard and gives her a brooding look before disappearing down the corridor.
Lauren finally exhales and covers her mouth her hand, still not recovered. There's so much tension in the air she feels like she's going to be sick. She slides down the door until she's sitting on the ground with her knees up to her chest. This is getting to be way too much.
They very nearly almost just kissed and if Joe hadn't burst in on them, they definitely would have. Lauren closes her eyes and tips her back in frustration; that was the hottest thing that has ever happened to her and honestly if they weren't interrupted she would've been ready to do more than just kiss Joey. The way he acted; she's never seen him like that before. He was so intense and dominant and Lauren loved it.
She doesn't know how much longer of this she can take because if they get into another situation like that, at this point very few things will stop her from ripping Joey's shirt off.
***
It's a lot later on in the day now and the group have just finished the show. The audience was great and everyone did really well, including Lauren even though she was thinking about Joey the whole time.
She keeps sneaking glances at him and whenever he catches her and looks back, her heart stops every time. Right now they're all in the dressing room, congratulating each other on another good show and preparing to go and meet the fans.
"Great job Lo!" Brian grins at her and ruffles her hair.
Lauren scowls at him and the gesture but then rolls her eyes and smiles back. "You too Bri," She pats his shoulder and takes another sip of her water. "You ready to go out there again?" She smirks at him and he laughs.
"Ready to meet another room of screaming teenagers that I don't know? Always." He jokes sarcastically and Lauren laughs again.
It's unfortunate that the time they're scheduled to meet the fans is after the show because it's when they're usually the most tired and cynical, but to see the people who support them through all of this and make all of it possible is pretty amazing, no matter what the mood.
The seven of them make their way out to a big room, filled with people. There are chairs and tables at the front and the fans are lined up at the door of the room. As soon as the group walks in, the screaming starts.
Lauren smiles to herself as she takes her seat; this is all still surreal to her. Unfortunately she's sitting far away from Joey but, if she peers over the table far enough, she can see him; which is enough for now.
***
As the last few fans disperse from the room, Lauren rubs her eyes and finally allows herself to yawn. She's exhausted and honestly just wants to get to bed.
Everyone starts packing up the tables and chairs and all the stuff they brought with them, so Lauren joins in. As she's picking up her bag, Joey comes over to her. "Hey," He smiles warmly.
Lauren inhales sharply; she didn't see him coming and wasn't really expecting it. "Hi." She replies and smiles back. Joey subtly bites his lip as he stares at her, discreetly enough that she shouldn't have noticed, but Lauren did. She feels butterflies appear in her stomach once again as he doesn't break eye contact and keeps that fixed stare on her.
"What are you looking at?" She finally asks with a slight giggle; it was getting too awkward.
Joey's expression gets even softer. "You." He mumbles and puts his hands in his pockets.
Lauren's heart aches at his response. She continues to look at him for a moment longer, her eyes filled with longing, and then she looks down and plays with her fingers; trying to hide her burning cheeks and the smile that's gradually forming on her face. As she's fidgeting around, she drops her water bottle in front of Joey's feet. He goes to grab it but Lauren gets there first.
She kneels down and picks up the bottle from the floor, but she went down so fast that she has a little head rush and becomes dizzy. She grabs onto Joey's thigh for support and then realises that was a little forward and looks up at him through her lashes, slightly embarrassed. "Sorry." She smiles and slowly gets back to her feet.
Joey's eyebrows are raised once Lauren is standing up again and he looks pretty flustered. He bends down to whisper something in her ear. "You can't just kneel in front of me and look at me like that Lo, are you trying to turn me on?" He mutters. Lauren's eyes widen and she goes to apologise but Joey just laughs at her and walks away.
That's completely not what Lauren had intended, and now she's even more embarrassed than before. The two of them have so much unresolved tension that's going to boil over sooner or later, and now because of that cupboard incident, Lauren fears it may be a lot sooner than planned.
//THESE TWO FUCKING HORNY TEENAGERS NEED TO GET A GRIP ON THEMSELVES. lol i'm kidding i am loving all the sexual tension. we're getting there guys, we're getting there! thank you for reading xxx//