Right Place, Wrong Time

51. Shooting Star

When Joey had hatched an escape plan for the party, it was under the assumption that Lauren might get overwhelmed and would need space away from it all. But apparently being away from her friends for a few months had put her in the socialising mood. He loved seeing her thriving like this, and felt selfish for stealing her away from it all when he had her to himself for pretty much the whole rest of her (albeit short) visit, but within a few hours he was missing talking to her, and he caught her on her way out of the bathroom.

"I've got something to show you," he said, leading her by the elbow into his room and shutting the door behind them. She had an amused smile on her face, like she would have gone with anything he said, and he loved her even more for it.

He went to the window and pushed it open, filling the room with the chill of the night air. When he turned back to her now, she looked a little more curious, but when he held his hand out to her she came over without question.

"It's actually really easy to get on the roof from here," he said.

"Do you spend a lot of time on the roof?" she laughed.

"To smoke, sometimes. After we almost had an unfortunate incident with my carpet." Her face pinched, and he knew she was thinking about the dangers of him climbing on the roof while high, so he continued before she could say anything. "I don't normally bring cute girls up there."

"Smooth," she rolled her eyes.

Joey's body felt flush with warmth. Maybe it was the few beers he'd had, but flirting with her tonight seemed so easy. Of course, he couldn't believe much had changed in terms of her feelings about a long distance relationship. But he would enjoy this while it lasted.

She leaned out of the window to check it out for herself, her skirt riding up her thighs, and he quickly averted his eyes.

"Are you sure it's safe?" she asked.

"Positive," he said. "I'd never let anything happen to you."

She looked at him and he got sucked into her eyes, all the lightness gone. He was standing close to her, looking down with the height difference. How easy it would be to kiss her, feel the warmth of her lips on his. Just looking at them told him how perfect that kiss would feel. But then she looked out the window again, and he remembered himself.

"You can probably get extenuating circumstances on your finals if I die," she said, by way of agreement to the escape plan.

"Don't even joke about that," he said, holding out a hand to help her from window to roof. She carefully shuffled over to make room for him to join her, and he only spilled half his drink in the process.

He huddled close to her, definitely only because it was cold. Out here, the music still drifted up to them, but it felt far away, voices just a buzz of noise. The two of them were in their own bubble, which part of Joey wished could be the way it always was.

"Want some?" he asked, holding out the drink to her.

She took it, wrinkling her nose as she took a sip.

"You don't like it?"

"It's not that. I think it's gonna be a while before it doesn't remind me of that date."

"Right," he said, not sure whether to feel awkward about her bringing it up or not.

"God, it was bad," she laughed.

"I can't believe you had to leave without dessert because of him."

"You would never do that to me."

He gulped, reminded of how difficult it was to be around her sometimes. "Damn right."