The next morning, I woke up to Joe dragging his fingertips along my upper arm. I slowly opened my eyes as I came back into consciousness and reveled in the feeling of his light touch. I hadn't moved in the night. Not even an inch. I was too wrapped up in having Joe back that even my unconscious mind didn't want to leave his side. I adjusted myself to let him know I was waking up.
"Good morning, hun," Joe whispered. He kissed the top of my head as I turned my head to face him. I squeezed my arm tighter around his waist and moaned softly.
"I don't want to leave," He let out a gust of air.
"Neither do I, but there's a big day ahead of us. We need to get ready." He patted my arm and started moving out from underneath me. If he had stayed there and waited for me to get up, he would have never left. As he left, my body flinched at the lack of warmth surrounding it, forcing me to wake up even more. I heard the water in the bathroom start running as Joe turned on the shower. He came back into the bedroom and placed his hands on the edge of the bed and stared at me. I sat up and looked at him.
"I'm getting up," I teased in a tired voice.
"Good. But, I need to tell you what to wear." I hadn't even thought about it. I probably needed to wear something specific to look like I was a normal member of a 1985 rock concert crowd.
"What?" I asked.
"Put on something that says 'eighties', but doesn't scream it. Nothing too over the top. You could probably wear a Queen shirt, but nothing too modern. You can wear makeup and do your hair too, but the same goes for that." I could tell he was still waking up and he was trying to remember and relay everything he had been told. I smiled and nodded.
"Okay, got it." He smiled and walked out of the room again to jump into the shower. I badly wanted to jump in there with him, but now wasn't the time. He needed to get prepared for his first day of filming, and I needed to prepare myself for a day of meeting actors and musicians I admired and being on a big movie set. I got out of bed and went over to the dresser that I had claimed as mine. I had unpacked mostly everything before Joe showed up yesterday and only left a couple things still in the suitcase. I rummaged through the clothes in the drawers and came up some items like would look enough like the mid-eighties to pass.
I grabbed some boyfriend jeans with rips that had patches on them and laid them on the bed. I rummaged through my drawers some more. Not knowing what I was really looking for. I moved to the closet to see if I would have any luck there when it stared me in the face. The perfect shirt. It was one that my mom had actually worn in the eighties and has become one of my favorite button down shirts. It was a light pink shirt with vertical blue and red stripes. It had a flared collar that was open until right above my chest. I grabbed the shirt off the hanger and threw it on over some underwear. I left the shirt open while I put my pants on.
I heard the water stop and Joe stepping out of the shower. I began buttoning up the shirt, starting at the top, while sitting on the bed. Joe came in with the towel around his waist. He grabbed a t-shirt and some shorts out of his drawer. While he was turned, I noticed his hair wasn't wet. I smiled.
"Your hair's not wet." I laughed. He turned around to look at me and he pulled his hand up to bounce one of the curls on his forehead.
"Yeah, you're apparently not supposed to-" I cut him off.
"I know. Because if you get it wet, you could deactivate the ammonium thioglycolate and ruin the curls." I said as a matter of fact.
"What?" He laughed. "How do you know that?" I shook my head at him.
"Seems like only one of us has seenLegally Blonde," I looked down at my buttons and kept buttoning. I was still waking up, so the process was slow. He scoffed and shook his head. He threw his shirt on and tried to pull the underwear on underneath the towel so he wouldn't expose himself to me, but he was struggling. "Why are you doing that?" I asked, finally finished with my buttons. He stopped and looked quickly between me and his towel.
"Are you going to be able to resist yourself?" He joked. I knew he meant it as a joke, but he was completely right. I wouldn't be able to and I would only make us late.
"Good point," I said as I reached to grab a pair of socks from the bed. "I'll be in the living room." I pointed with the socks and left the bedroom, allowing Joe to change without struggle. First, I made a stop in the bathroom, brushing my hair and pinning up my bangs so they wouldn't fall in my face during the scene. I also put on a little bit of purple eyeshadow, without eyeliner, and mascara. I threw on some chapstick that I put in my pocket to give my lips a little bit of shine.
When I was satisfied, I went into the living room and put on my socks. Waiting for Joe to finish so we could head out. But, I didn't even know how we were getting to set. We didn't have a car yet. I got up and stood by the door of the bedroom.
"Hey, babe?" I asked through the door.
"Yep?" He answered.
"How are we getting to set?" There was a small pause on the other end.
"Michael's driving us. He's probably outside already, but he said not to be in a rush." I didn't like the fact that someone was waiting for us outside. It always made me uncomfortable to inconvenience someone like that.
"Ok," I said and walked back into the living room. It was extremely quiet as I sat there. Too quiet. I was one of those people who had to have something happening around me. And in quiet moments, I needed to have music. It calmed me to be doing something, otherwise, I just felt like I was wasting my time. I pulled out my phone and scrolled through my music. I found a song by Billy Joel called Miami 2017 and played it. It resonated through the apartment as I waited for Joe. Eventually, I heard the door open and he stepped into the living room. He was wearing similar clothes to yesterday; the Yankees cap, shorts, and a t-shirt.
"Ready?" He asked. I stood up and stopped the music. I walked over to him and I went in for a quick kiss on the lips.
"Ready, but nervous," I said.
"You don't look nervous," His hand came around to grab my waist as my hands laid on his chest.
"Then, I'm hiding it pretty well," I joked. He chuckled. "Also, it could be that you're here and if anything goes wrong, I'll just come to you." I smiled.
"Or vice versa." He said. I could tell he was a bit nervous. He had been waiting for this day for months and training for it for 6 weeks. It was a big day in his career and he wanted to get this exactly right.
"You'll do great. I know you will. And if, at any point, you feel nervous, just look at me and I'll give you a big smile." I mimicked the smile I would give him. Big, toothy, and warm. He gave me a small smile in return.
"Ok, I might do that." He replied. "But, we should really go."
"Alright," He took his hand off my waist and started toward the door. I grabbed my purse and keys and we headed out. Joe locked the door behind us and we walked down the stairs holding hands. That's how I knew he was really nervous, he was holding my hand. Now, he would kiss me and hold me in public, usually by the waist, but he never really held my hand that often when we were walking. He would hold it at dinner or in a movie or when we were people watching on a bench, but never while walking. I think he just needed to feel me near him as a comfort.
We walked outside and there was a black car waiting at the curb. I looked in the slightly tinted window and knew the driver. It was Michael. Joe opened the door and allowed me to scooch in first, then him.
"How are you this morning?" Michael asked.
"Good, real good," Joe replied. I stayed quiet. I needed to lay low and from this point forward, I was no longer Joe's priority. Deacy was. His dedication to acting and getting the lines and moves right were more important. I was number one at home, but not here and I was fine with that. As a Queen fan, I wanted the movie to be great and I had the power to control a small bit of that greatness if I interfered. So, I knew that I needed to lay low. But, I knew this day was going to be anything but dull, and in my heart, I knew that I wouldn't forget this day for a very long time.
(I wanted to update you guys on two things. 1. I am starting school today so the uploads might not be as frequent. This doesn't mean I am any less invested in writing this story, it just means that I might have a lot of work to do and can't write as much. But, I promise to continue the story because I have so many ideas for where to take this.
2. This story now has 10,000 reads. HOLY SHIT! I have never been happier with a story and the fact that people are actually reading it and loving it makes me so happy. Sometimes I think my writing is awful, but even chapters that I feel like could have been written better, you guys love. So, I thank you SO MUCH for actually reading and commenting and voting on the chapters you like because it means so much to me and I can't thank you enough. Thank you.
Plus, not only did we hit 10,000 reads, but the story just hit 70,000 words. That's so long! This is practically a novel at this point. Which is funny for another reason because I can never bring myself to finish reading a novel, and then I went and wrote one.)