The Two of Us: A Richpez fanfic

Chapter 7

Lauren's PoV

I feel so bad about ditching Joey yesterday, but I couldn't pass up meeting with JD. JD was the guy from New York. He had been so nice and sounded very promising about maybe finding me some acting work. I was already at Kofenya waiting for Joey. I started scrolling through twitter and when I looked up, he had almost made his way to the table. I jumped out off may chair and gave him a big hug.

"Oh Joey I'm so sorry I missed yesterday! It's so good to see you" I said, squeezing him and enjoying his scent and the feeling of him holding me.

"It's good to see you too Lo" he laughed. To my disappointment he let go and took a seat. "Don't worry about yesterday though, not a problem"

"Okay good" I smiled back at him.

"So what was this important meeting you had to be at?"

I didn't want to tell him yet and make him worry about the possibility that I might move when I really had no idea myself so I just brushed off the question saying, "Oh it was nothing, really. Just some prospective stuff, no biggie."

"Oh, okay then" he said. He didn't sound too curious, I think it worked.

"So anyway what's up with you? How have you been the past two weeks?"

He sort of looked down. "Um I've been okay, I guess. Mariah and I sort of got in a big fight" he said quietly. A big fight? What happened? Are they still together? I need to know more.

I tried to play it down though simply asking, "Oh, sorry, what about?"

He blushed a little bit as he stared at his coffee. "You" he almost whispered. Me? A fight about me? What could this mean? Did Joey have feelings for me? I felt bad about the fight, but couldn't help but be a little excited about the thought.

I hid my smile though and just apologized for anything I caused.

"Don't worry about it Lo, it was more my fault than yours." That made me feel better, but he cut into my feelings with "but she didn't come home last night. I haven't seen her since yesterday afternoon. I'm not worried about her, I just didn't think she would be mad at me for so long over something so small."

"Oh, Jo, don't worry about it. If it's meant to be, it will. But to be honest with you I think you could do so much better. You deserve more than someone who goes off like that." I was hoping this wasn't too obvious about how much I didn't care for Mariah. And I hoped it was even less obvious that I meant I would be better for him. I felt my cheeks get a little red at this, but Joey didn't seem to notice.

"Yeah maybe you're right." It made me feel good to think maybe agreed that Mariah wasn't the best for him. We talked a little while longer before he said he said he was going to go try to figure all this out. I was sad to see him go, but gave him a small hug and watched him walk away, eventually slumping back into my chair with my head down.

Joey's PoV

Gotta go, gotta go. Gonna be late to meet Lo. I rushed on my way to meet her. When I got there I saw her sitting at the table looking down so I started to walk over. When she looked up and saw me, she hopped out of her seat and gave me a huge hug saying how much she missed me and how sorry she was. It felt so good to have her this close and her hair smelled so good. I didn't want to let her go, but I thought I might have held on too long already so I let go and took my seat, reassuring her not to worry about yesterday.

"So what was this important meeting you had to be at?" I asked her.

"Oh it was nothing, really. Just some prospective stuff, no biggie." Why was she being so weird about the details? Is there something going on she didn't want me to know? She didn't seem like she was hiding anything though, so I decided to drop it.

She then asked what had been up with me and I told her all about the fight with Mariah. She was a little upset that it was about her and wouldn't stop apologizing. I told her not to worry about it.

When I explained I hadn't seen Mariah since she said, to mu surprise, "Oh, Jo, don't worry about it. If it's meant to be, it will. But to be honest with you I think you could do so much better. You deserve more than someone who goes off like that." Did this mean that Lo didn't want me to be with Mariah? That she wanted me to be with someone else? With her?

"Yeah maybe you're right" I said.

We chatted a bit, but I couldn't keep her or Mariah out of my mind. I didn't know what to do. I had to get this cleared up in my mind. Maybe Bri would be able to help. Yeah he always gives good advice.

"Hey Lo, I think I should get going. I need to try to figure out what's going on with Mariah." She looked a little disappointed which made me sad to see her sad, but happy that she didn't seem to want me to go. She got up and gave me a small hug and then I left. When I got to the door, I turned around to look at her. She was slumped in her seat staring at the ground. Maybe she did like me after all. I walked out into the windy Chicago day and headed to Brolden's apartment.

qV