Joey groans as he slowly wakes up the next morning. It's actually bright outside, considering how cold this winter has been. He rubs his eyes and stretches as his body starts to wake up as well; it's pretty early and no one else seems to be awake.
The bus is moving steadily along the road as they travel to their next location, which is Cleveland. He swings his legs out of his bunk and jumps onto the floor, trying to be as quiet as he can. All the other bunks still have their curtains drawn across so he assumes he's the only one awake.
Still struggling to keep his eyes open, Joey stumbles towards the toilet and locks himself inside. He splashes some of the water from the tap on his face as an attempt to wake himself up more.
It's been a long couple of weeks and everyone is feeling the exhaustion, but today is the day that signifies that they're halfway through; few more weeks to go and then all this comes to an end.
It's sort of bitter sweet for Joey; he's excited to go back to his dorm and sleep in an actual bed again and see his friends and catch up on schoolwork, but at the same time this has been one of the best experiences of his life. He's got to do what he loves, with the people he loves, in front of massive audiences who adore them. Joey knows this is what he wants to do, but getting a degree is important to him as well and also to his parents and that has to take some priority.
Once he's done freshening up, Joey walks back along the length of the bus until he reaches the sofas; there's no one else there. He sits himself down and stretches again; he has no idea what the time is but he's assuming it's early judging from the fact that he's the only one awake.
As he sits there and eats some fruit from the mini fridge, Lauren jumps out of her bunk. Joey watches as she trudges over to the toilet; she's obviously too tired to realise that Joey is up as well because she didn't see him. He feels his mood lighten as he watches her and a small smile finds its way onto his face; after yesterday she hasn't left his thoughts for one second.
That incident in the cupboard was a dangerously close call, but Joey doesn't regret it. Not for a second. He finally has some conformation on the fact that Lauren isn't over him either, and that's a massive relief. There was so much tension between them yesterday, but it was a different type of tension.
Before they ended things, the energy between them was always very caring and intimate, but in that cupboard it was the opposite. Joey's never been so sure of anything. It was hot and passionate and desperate, like they needed each other in that moment. If Joe hadn't interrupted, which is still so annoying to think about, Joey's sure that something would've happened.
He suddenly snaps out of his thoughts when Lauren appears again out of the toilet and makes her way over to him; she looks a lot more awake now and she's smiling.
"Morning," She says softly and takes a seat on the sofa next to him.
Joey smiles back. "Good morning."
He doesn't take his eyes off of her as she sits down; he's still not over how gorgeous she is in the mornings. Sure, when she puts on a lot of makeup and does her hair and a cute outfit she always looks stunning, but there's something so beautiful about her appearance when she just wakes up. Her hair's either frizzy and over her shoulders or shoved on top of her head in a messy bun. Today she's gone for the second option. Her face is completely natural and so effortlessly breath taking. She's wearing shorts and a big hoodie and just looks comfortable and relaxed, which is what Joey loves to see.
He looks away after realising that he's been absentmindedly staring at her for the past few minutes and focuses on something else.
Lauren smirks at him. "You know, you are probably one of the least-subtle people ever." She states.
