Right Place, Wrong Time

34. Under Your Skin

While Lauren enjoyed Christmas with her family, what she really looked forward to was the New Year's Eve party when she returned to school. And the primary part of that was seeing Joey.

Outside, a thin dusting of snow covered the ground, but her eyes were fixed up, on the window opposite. Curtains open, light on, she could see Joey inside. She watched him rifle through his closet and pull out two similar shirts, holding each up in front of him in the mirror. Silently, she sent a signal across the space between them to pick the one she favoured, and smiled to herself when that was the one he pulled off the hanger. But the smile froze on her face as he tugged his t-shirt over his head and she was left staring at his bare chest. Not the first time she'd seen him shirtless, but in the privacy of his own room she felt witness to something she shouldn't. But if she moved, he might see her.

"Are you spying on him again?"

She spun around at the sound of Julia's voice, her back now pressed against the wall.

"I'm not spying on him," she hissed, as though Joey might hear her across two panes of glass and a street.

"You're crouched below the window so he won't see you."

That probably should have been the sign she was doing something she shouldn't, even before he started undressing. Sticking to the sides of the room where she'd remain out of his sightline if he did look over, Lauren edged out from under the window and over to her dresser.

"You're not even ready yet," Julia said.

Neither is Joey, she thought. "Almost. What's the rush?" From their box, she lifted one of her new earrings, sliding it into her ear.

Julia stepped over and picked up the other. "These are nice." She handed it to Lauren to complete the pair.

"They're from Joey," she replied, as nonchalantly as she could, as though the gift hadn't taken her breath away.

"I see."

Reflected in the mirror, Lauren could see Julia's smirk. "What?" she asked sharply.

"Nothing!" Julia backed off, closing the closet door Lauren had left open. "I'll be waiting downstairs."

Lauren swiped on another coat of mascara before creeping back to the window. The room was now empty, the light switched off, a contrast to the liveliness of the party getting into swing below. Giving herself one last glance over in the mirror, she followed Julia downstairs.

"You do look really good, by the way," Julia said as they approached Joey's front door.

Lauren shot her a sidelong look, waiting for what was coming next. "Thank you."

Julia laughed. "I mean it. I'm saying nothing else."

"Uh huh." She didn't need to say it when the implication was clear enough. But it wasn't a crime to look nice.

With the front door unlocked, they headed straight in, Lauren's eyes scanning the room for Joey and finding him with laser focus. She threaded her way over.

"Hey," she called over the music, beaming.

"Hey!" he replied, his face lighting up as he turned to her and pulled her into a hug so tight she only stayed on the ground by her tiptoes.

"A gift," she said when he released her, holding out the bottle of wine she'd brought. "From me and Julia." She turned over her shoulder, having assumed Julia to be following her over but now nowhere to be found. "Who's somewhere," she shrugged, turning back to Joey.

"Thank you." He took the bottle from her, appraising it. "We're classy now?"

She smirked. "Always have been."