Right Place, Wrong Time

40. End of the Reel

"Everyone shut up," Lauren said, as she came into her living room carrying two large bowls of popcorn. People crowded the room, sitting on the couch and chairs pulled in from the table or stretched out on cushions on the floor. The whole cast was there, along with other friends from their class, and she barely had room to walk to set the bowls down on the coffee table before returning to her seat beside Joey. He squeezed up as much as he could, but she sat practically in his lap anyway, and she didn't hear him complaining.

They'd taken an hour to settle on a movie to watch, and it didn't seem likely that anyone would actually watch much of it with all the conversations going on, especially as they were still riding the post-show high. But at least they weren't ruining the lives of the servers at Denny's.

Lauren heaved a sigh, and Joey looked down at her and grinned.

"Why did we volunteer to host this?" she said, casting a quick look at Julia, perched on the arm of the sofa.

"Because it was supposed to be fun?"

"I don't even like this movie," she muttered.

Joey chuckled. "We'll defer to you on the next one."

"There better not be a next one," she said darkly, and Joey had to smother another laugh as the opening credits rolled and the chatter died down a little, if not to complete silence. She rested her head on his shoulder, comfortable enough to do that now without feeling weird, even if it still sent thrums of electricity through her.

"You gonna fall asleep?" he whispered teasingly.

"No way," she replied, though she wasn't sure. They'd left the room dark, only bathed with the glow from the TV screen, and she was already exhausted. And Joey's shoulder was so comfortable, his arm slipping around her shoulders to draw her even closer and stroke her arm gently.

She made it all the way through the movie though, voices rising again as the closing credits appeared, muttered apologies as people got up to refill drinks and stumbled over someone else in the dark. It was warm in the room, but Lauren was sleepy, and she slipped away to grab a blanket.

"Are you going to get hot?" she asked Joey when she returned with it.

"Mm mm," he said, with a shake of his head, and she wrapped both of them up in it.

After just a few minutes, she could feel his body temperature rising, and he wriggled to peel his sweatshirt off. But he made no attempt to move the blanket, so she said nothing.

"How about another movie?" someone said.

Lauren pulled Joey's wrist towards her and squinted to make out the time on his watch. It was almost 1am, and she was surprised she'd made it this far, but now she was beginning to push past the tiredness. Some people did get up to leave, saying their goodbyes; jaunty for a few, teary for most.

"Are you going to stay?" she murmured, looking up at Joey.

"For the night?" he asked.

She had meant for the movie, but found herself nodding.

He gave her the crooked smile that made it impossible not to fall a little more for him. "Only if I fall asleep."

Lauren was sure the chances of that were much lower than of her falling asleep. But, lo and behold, a couple of hours later, another movie through and everyone on their way home, Joey was fast asleep on Lauren's shoulder. She tucked the blanket up higher around them, and he made a sleepy noise but otherwise didn't stir. She only stopped gazing down at him when Julia sat beside her.

"Well, I'd say that was a success," Julia said quietly.

"This was one of the last times we'll see some of those people," Lauren said, the reality really sinking in now and not helped by the boy asleep on her shoulder.

Julia glanced down at Joey, then back up at Lauren with something like pity in her eyes. "You'll see him again."

Lauren could barely even nod, biting her lip.

"You're not going to wake him up, are you?" Julia said.

"How can I?" Lauren replied.

Julia nodded. "I'll bring your pillows down."

"Thank you," Lauren whispered. She didn't know how she could have navigated any of this without Julia.

With the pillows to make a night on the couch a little comfier, she carefully manoeuvred herself and Joey down onto them, wrapping her arms around him to keep him safe away from the edge of the couch. He murmured and she worried she'd woken him up, but he just nuzzled his face deeper into her. Then the murmur came again, and she realised what it was. 'Lo'. Spoken in his sleep. She had to close her eyes so tears wouldn't start falling and wake him up.

In the dark and the quiet, her exhaustion caught up with her, and she barely whispered a "goodnight, JoJo" before she was out.

She woke without the heat of a body against her, to the sounds of someone moving around the living room in an attempt to be quiet. Blinking her eyes open, she saw Joey picking up plastic cups and empty wrappers that had ended up littered around their floor from the night before.

"You don't have to do that," she said, rubbing her eyes groggily.

He smiled to see her awake. "I just thought I could help out."

"You're a guest," she said, standing and grabbing a trash bag from one of the kitchen cupboards so he could drop everything into it.

"And you were nice enough to let me stay last night."

"You didn't give me much choice," she giggled.

They kept making their way around the room clearing up. When they were done, Joey took the trash bag from her and tied it up, even offering to take it out for her, which she couldn't turn down. She collected the cushions from the floor, returned the chairs to their rightful place, traces of the evening slowly vanishing. She was glad she had Joey here to help with it, because the emotions she'd been feeling might have been overwhelming otherwise.

Joey came back in as she was washing the popcorn bowls, and gently placed his hands on her waist.

"I have to get going," he said. "I could really use a shower before I go take my final."

"A final," she said, whirling around and dripping soapy water onto his feet. "Today?"

"Yeah," he said.

"Oh my god, you were up so late last night."

"Not that late," he smiled. "Don't worry. I can afford to get a C on this."

"Well, good luck," she said, still unable not to feel anxious on his behalf.

"Thanks," he said. "I'll text you to let you know how it went."

"Please."

He squeezed her waist gently. "I'll see you," he said, and then saw himself out.

But as she turned back to the dishes, the water scalding her skin, she thought about her own final coming up, the last one of the year, of her degree, and how few times more she'd get to hear him say "see you".