Beware • Joseph Quinn

"If Only'

Joseph's pov-

    I sat in the car outside of the 'Water Grill' waiting for Lana to finish up dinner so I could take her home. I see Lana storm out the grill with Joe and Maya behind her. She gets in the car and slams the door. She puts her head in her hands "please just drive me home" she chokes out. I nod and start driving her home. "Do you want to talk about it" I look at her for a second, she looks back at me. "Let's just say I saw people that I didn't want to see." She had tears in her eyes. She looked out the window the whole time and was silent. "turn here" she spoke up, sounded like she was crying. I turned into the apartment complex she told me to turn into. "it's the first one up here" I stopped the car. She wiped her eyes then opened the door. "Thank you, I'll see you in the morning" she says to me, "No problem. Hey, I'll be here at 6:50" she nods her head and closes the car door. I start the car and drive myself home. 

Lana's pov-

(TW) 

*earlier at the 'Water Grill'* 

    I walk in to see Maya and Joe at a table sitting with a girl with red hair. I've seen her on set but never really talked to her, she seems nice though. I walk over to the table and sit in the empty seat next to Maya and the girl "Hey Lana, I don't think you've met Sadie yet, have you?" I shake my head "No, I haven't" I stick my hand out for Sadie to shake "It's nice to meet you, Sadie" she takes my hand "it's nice to meet you too! I've heard a lot about you around the set, ya know" I raise an eyebrow "really?" I ask, she nods her head "yeah! Mostly from these two sitting right in front of me, but Gaten talks about you a lot. He tells everyone how nice you are" I smile and nod my head. "That's awesome." We keep talking and having random conversations. The waiter came up to us "Hi guys, my name is Vanessa, I'll be your waiter this evening. Can I get you started with any drinks?" I went first "I'll just have a water please" She nods and writes down in her note book, then Sadie goes next "I'll have a water as well" the waiter writes down in her notebook once again, Joe speaks up next "I'll have a pepsi" that's weird he usually buys a beer or wine but I guess he has to drive tonight and we have work tomorrow. Maya was the last one to order, "I'll have a pepsi as well" Vanessa nods and finishes writing in her notebook "Okay, I'll be right back with you guys drinks" she smiles and then walks away. We continued our conversations "So Lana, are you seeing anybody, talking to anybody?" Sadie turns to me and asks, I look at her "uhh well, I'm not really looking but I think I found someone" I smile to myself, in my head I think of Joseph. "Ooooo do we know him?" Maya questioned as she rested her elbows on the table "umm yeah, you all do." Maya slams her hands on the table and stands up, scaring all of us "IT'S JOSEPH" she yells, then she realized that we were in a restaurant "sorry" she said to everyone and sat down. I laugh and shrug "I don't know, maybe" Joe speaks up "I'm telling" he says in a kid voice, everyone starts laughing their behinds off "Oh my gosh what are you, five??" I manage to get out in between laughs.
I hear loud footsteps behind me, chairs moving around "Lana, you've grown up so much" I turn around, my eyes widen. "d-dad" was the only word I managed to get out. He had a beer in his hands, he was wasted. Why was he here? Why did I have to be here when he was here? I stand up facing him "I see your attitude hasn't changed" and there it is "what are you talking about all I said was dad." he takes a sip of his beer "see this is why I left, it was because of you. Not that your mother was any better but you….you just had the nastiest attitude" I got angry "Why are you here, dad" he trips over himself a bit "what does it look like I'm doing, I could ask you the same thing ya know" I shake my head "Hows your mother by the way" I look him in the eyes "she's dead" I say quietly, he laughs a bit "oh, well she had it coming" he took a sip of his beer again "trust me, I'm surprised you're not dead yet. and don't talk about mom that way. Don't worry you have death coming your way to" he laughs, "is she giving you a hard time derik" said a guy walking up behind my dad, he turns around "oh Nathen, you remember Lana right" I heart starts racing, I start shaking. Nathen laughs "yeah I do, we used to date" I look over at Joe, Maya and Sadie with tears in my eyes. "That's it I'm done" I grab my stuff and leave the Grill, Joe and Maya follow behind me yelling my name. I walk out of the grill, I see Joseph's car. I get in, putting my head in my hands. I could feel Joseph staring at me, "please just drive me home." I managed to choke out, he started driving. 

*Back to present time* 

    I walk up the stairs to my apartment, I find my door number '213' I grab my house key from my lanyard, I don't keep my house key on my car keys because of situations like this. I unlock my door quickly, walk in and close the door behind me. All the tears rushed to my eyes, my back slid on the door, soon I reached the ground. I put my head in my hands and I quietly sob. I stayed like that for a few minutes, I wiped my eyes and stood up, I walked to my room and took off my lanyard and grabbed my phone and put it on my nightstand. I change and get in bed, I look on my phone,

'Maya: are you ok?' 

'Joe: please answer us lana, I know you see our texts' 

'Unknown Number: hey lana, this is joseph, I got your number from Maya'

    I click on the unknown number, and texted Joseph back

'Me: hey, you have the right number'

'Joseph: Good, are you ok?'

'Me: yea, I'm fine, just hard night, I'll tell you tomorrow' 

'Joseph: alright, well you should get some sleep, I'll see you in the morning. Goodnight lana :)'

'Me: Goodnight Joseph :) 

    I put my phone on the charger and put it down on my nightstand. I layed there staring at the ceiling, the memories of tonight played in my head 'this is why I left, Because of you'  I shut my eyes real tight, and pushed those thoughts aside then I finally fell asleep. 

*the next day*

    I woke up to my annoying alarm feeling way better than I was yesterday. I slowly get up and do my morning routine. I check the time, '6:49', I head out the door, and walk down the stairs to see Joseph's car in front of my apartment complex. I get in the car "Just in time, I was about to text you" Joseph says, I smile as he starts driving. "So you said you were gonna tell me what happened last night" I nod, I took a deep breath "well, it was all good at first but then I heard someone say my name and I turned around. It was my dad, he left me and my mom when I was like 13 and he was wasted and just talking about how it was my fault he left and this,that and the third." I saw Joseph's grip on the wheel get tighter "you were very lucky I wasn't in that Grill with you, or that dude would've been bleeding on the ground" I smiled, it was nice to know that he would've stood up for me like that "thank you, but it's over now" he nods and pays close attention to the road. I know I didn't tell him everything that happened but I feel like if I told him about my ex boyfriend he would ask about it and I'm not ready to talk about it fully yet. 

    We arrive at the set, and I get out of the car. "Thanks Joseph" I tell him with a smile, he nods while he closes the car door and walks by my side. "Do you want to get lunch later?" Joseph randomly asks me "uhh, yeah sure" I answer his question "alright, I'll text you when I'm free" I nod. We reach the trailers, I get to Maya's trailer "Alright I'll see you later Joseph" I say as I open the door to maya's trailer, he looks at me "Okay, love" he waves at me and I do the same. God, that nickname can make me melt. I push that thought aside for now and walk into Maya's trailer, "Lana, are you alright, you didn't answer my texts" Maya comes up to me and hugs me "yeah, I'm fine. I'm sorry I just wanted last night to be over." she nodded as I sit down on Maya's sofa, the door opens as Gaten comes in "hey guys, so they canceled filming today, the director is sick, so I guess today's an off day" me and maya looked at each other "what do you want to do today" maya questioned me and Gaten. "well we could all just hang around for the day, spend time together" I suggested "yeah, I mean Noah,Charlie, Finn, and Eduardo have to go to utah tomorrow to film a few scenes so that would be nice to spend time with them before they go" I smiled, "We could get dinner tonight" Gaten and Maya nod. "Alright I'll go tell the rest of them" Gaten said exiting the trailer. "I have lunch with Joseph later by the way" Maya looked at me "Ooooo okayyyy" I laughed "nooo, it's not like that. We are just going as friends…..I think" Maya smiled at me. 

......

    I walk into the picnic table area and sit down. I pull out my phone "What are you doing sitting alone" I hear a familiar voice say, I look up "hey Joseph, I'm just waiting for my prince charming to come and rescue me" I say playfully, he laughs "what do you mean, love? I'm right here" he did not just say that, I smiled at him and looked down at the table trying to hide my red face. Joseph gets up, comes over to me and sticks his hand out for me to grab. I look up at him "Come on, let's get out of here"