Right Place, Wrong Time

17. Missed Opportunity

For a birthday party she didn't want, Lauren certainly seemed to be enjoying herself. He'd caught her coming out of the kitchen alone with a pinched expression on her face and was about to go over to her, but she disappeared into a fold of her friends and he didn't want to interrupt. Now, she danced with them to the loud music, looking like she didn't have a care in the world. Her hair brushed her shoulders as she tossed it, still blonde but with the dark roots of her real hair beginning to show, and her cheeks were flushed pink with the alcohol and the dancing and the dense heat of the room packed with bodies. She was beautiful.

He thought he'd been inconspicuous watching her, but she turned her head suddenly and caught him staring, her face immediately lighting up with a smile.

"JoJo!" she cried, and he felt his body flood with warmth as she wove her way to where he stood and grabbed his hands, pulling him closer. "Dance with me!"

She didn't let go and he matched her rhythm, moving his hands in time with hers, thinking all the while about that nickname and whether it would return when she wasn't so drunk. He hoped so. He really, really hoped so. It wasn't the first time he'd heard it, but hearing it from her made it sound something entirely new. Like it belonged to her now. Like he belonged to her.

Without any indication of what he was about to do, he spun her, and she giggled, her dilated eyes focusing on his once she steadied herself. Right then, he knew he'd never loved anyone more, and never would again.

Throwing all caution to the wind, he decided he had to tell her. What better time than now, surely? Maybe when he wasn't so drunk, but she was drunk too, and it didn't change anything. He knew how he felt.

"Lo, I-" She held a finger up to his lips, and he stopped.

"Hold that thought," she said seriously, having to take care to enunciate. "I'll be right back."

He blinked. "Yes, ma'am."

She turned and made her way up the stairs, to the bathroom, probably, and he felt his heart sink. It had been so clear to him in that moment what he had to do, but now he was filled with nerves again, and he didn't know if he'd be able to work up the courage when she came back. He pressed his fingertips to his lips where her finger had just been, unable to stop himself imagining what it would be like to lean down and kiss her. But he couldn't do that. Not yet.

He was still standing in the middle of the room by himself, lost in thought, when he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Brian.

"Hey, man," he said, trying to keep one eye on the stairs so he didn't miss Lauren when she came back.

"I have a confession," Brian said.

He did look directly at him now, worried about the tone of his voice. "What?"

"I was kind of talking to Lauren earlier, and I might have said more than I meant to."

"About?" Joey said through gritted teeth, because he had a feeling he knew.

"How much you like her." Brian pulled a genuinely apologetic face. "I wasn't thinking, it wasn't until after I realised I probably shouldn't have said anything."

"Did she say anything?"

Brian stared at a point over Joey's shoulder for a minute like he was having to pull the memory out of the haziness of his brain, then shook his head. "No. Sorry, man."

Joey sighed. It wasn't like he hadn't hinted to her himself, but he had a feeling Brian might be downplaying exactly how much he'd told her. And he'd really wanted it to come from him.

When ten minutes had passed of him watching the stairs again, he thought Lauren must have come down in the brief moment he was distracted by Brian and he'd missed her. He began to make his way around the room, but there was no sign of her and no one who could tell him where she'd got to, shouts of "has anyone seen Lauren?" met with shaking heads and shrugs, until Darren said he thought he'd seen her in Dylan's room.

"Dylan? Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure. I went up to use the bathroom like five minutes ago and thought I saw her."

"Alright, thanks," he said, and started towards the stairs, his heart thudding heavily in his chest, wondering if he should really go up there. What reason did she have to be in Dylan's room? Briefly he wondered if Darren might be lying, if he held more resentment than he let on about the breakup and was trying to get to him now. But no, he wouldn't do that. And he hadn't seen Dylan in his circuit of downstairs either. He paused, his foot on the bottom step, hand on the bannister. But he couldn't leave without checking.

When he reached the landing, he stopped and took stock. There were four doors that he could see, three of them closed. He crept down the hall to the open door first, stopping to take a breath before he reached it. He really didn't want to interrupt anything... but he couldn't hear any sound from inside, and no light shone out either. Holding his breath, he peeked past the door frame.

There was a shape in the bed. Blonde hair splayed across the pillow. Blanket pulled up almost over her face, but it was immediately recognisable who it was. This seemed like a whole world, a whole lifetime away from dancing with her downstairs. 'I'll be right back'. He remembered the words so clearly in his head, the finger against his lip sealing the promise.

A door opened behind him and he whirled around. Dylan.

"Bathroom's that one," he said helpfully to Joey, pointing to the room he came out of.

"Yeah, thanks." Joey said. Then he couldn't help himself. "Lauren..."

"Found her asleep on the floor up here and thought she'd be more comfortable in the bed," he said, with a grin of real affection, and Joey had no reason not to believe him.

"Okay. Good," he said. He was glad there were other people looking out for her too.

Dylan stepped aside, as though to let Joey pass into the bathroom, but that wasn't what he'd come up here for. He took a deep breath, needing to put his fears at ease but not knowing how to do it. Jealousy wasn't an emotion he was used to, and it scared him how strongly he felt for Lauren.

"And... you're not... I mean, you don't..." He stumbled over the words, not wanting them to come out like an accusation.

Dylan just laughed. "I had a crush on her at first, who didn't? You did! But she's like a sister to me now."

Joey's breath whooshed out of him, the force of the relief shocking. Dylan put a hand on his shoulder.

"Everyone knows how much you like her, dude," he said kindly.

Joey felt his cheeks flush. "Everyone?"

Dylan carried on like he hadn't heard the question. "We all really care about her. And we care about you now too."

Joey gave a weak smile, filled with gratitude though he still felt the pain of everything that could have happened tonight, and everything that hadn't. He'd not just found the love of his life but also a family in the people here, and he didn't want anything to jeopardise that.

"It'll all work out," Dylan clapped him on the back.

Not the first time he'd heard that. "You really think so?"

"Totally. Come on, let's leave her to sleep."

Joey cast one last look into the room at Lauren, then let Dylan guide him back downstairs. The party still hadn't wound down when he found Brian and let him know he was leaving, unable to stand a birthday party without the birthday girl. The birthday girl he'd almost told he loved her.