Hearts in Chains

The beginning of something sweet...

TW: Violence.

     "That Damien boy," Joey's father began to say. "He's a real charmer, isn't he?"

     Joey sat across from Ryan, sipping his drink slowly. He felt the liquid go down his throat as he gave a small nod in agreement.

     "Yeah," Joey said softly, a small and somewhat subtle smile on his lips. "He's a charmer alright."

    Joey's mother giggled, sipping her white wine and nodding.

     "I honestly think the two of you ended up getting off on the wrong foot. But, he's growing on you, I can tell," Lianne said, touching Joey's hand in a gentle manner.

  "Mom," Joey began to shake his head. "Its not like that," he protested quietly, a slight blush growing on his cheeks, though, he tried to hide it by turning his face away and covering his cheek with one of his hands.

     "No?" Lianne raised an amused, motherly eyebrow. "How so?"

     "We're just friends," Joey mused, continuing to divert his gaze. He knew how his mother could be--she was a HUGE pro-shipper when it came to him and his crushes and wanted to know his every move at all times.

     Joey's father listened on, glancing at his wife and giving her a knowing nod.

    "Just friends?" Lianne scoffed, more in a small sense of shock than awe at his denial. "Sweetheart," she offered him a loving smile. "I saw the way you two looked at each other that night," she paused. "And when he came over to apologize? Your father and I saw. Or at least..we heard."

     Joey listened, the blush becoming more prominent as he heard his mothers words. She had heard Damien's apology to him? Had heard their banter? His eyes slightly widened at the notion as an embarrassed sigh came from him.

     "The tone you used, the way you looked at him--both at the night of the dinner with his parents and the day afterward," she continued. "That's not how friends look at one another, not how friends speak to each other. You looked at him as if you loved him, as if something inside you was awakened the moment you set eyes on him."

     Joey let out a nervous whimper as he covered his face even further, the blush spreading to his ears. He couldn't deny that his mother was right; that he had begun to have feelings for Damien. But..hearing it from someone else aroused a certain type of feeling in him that he wasn't sure that he liked.

    "Way to be poetic, honey," Ryan leaned over and kissed his wife on the cheek.

     "Oh, shush," Lianne teased. "A mother knows when her son's in love. Doesn't matter how hard he tries to hide it."

   "Mom," Joey whispered out, his mind now full of thoughts of Damien. Now, he wouldn't be able to stop thinking about him, or that stupid grin of his, for a while.

Joey sighed and turned his attention out the window, staring out of it. He rested his head on his hands, listening to his parents argue back and forth about teen romance and other things relating to him and teenage-dom.

For a moment, Joey had blocked everything out. His mind was on Damien and his features and his voice that he was starting to miss so much. He wasn't sure how much longer he could go on like this before he decided to call or text him.

Suddenly, the sound of men fighting in the back of the restaurant sparked his attention. Joey and every other on-looker stared at the scene, eyes slightly going wide as people began to whisper and gossip amongst one another.