Dreaming Of You

Chapter 8

"Okay so let's play a drinking game." Jon suggested after we had been at the bar for a bit.

"Knowing your history with those games, that's probably not a good idea." Joe chuckled.

"Aww I love drinking games." Rebecca supported Jon.

"Why not, it can be fun and it gives me a chance to get to know you all better." I added, backing them up as well.

"See even your girl wants to play." Jon pointed at me with a wink to let me know that he was joking.

"She is not my girl." Joe rolled his eyes with a sigh which was true but still felt a bit rude, especially since Jon had only been joking but I decided to shrug it off though

"If you say so" Rebecca said.

"So what game are we playing first and who wants to explain it?" Matt asked, directing all of the attention back to the game instead of at Joe.

"Let's play truth or drink, which is basically truth or dare but with some slight changes so it's still different. We basically take the rules of truth or dare but we leave out the daring part. This is a truth questions only game. So for example if someone asks you an embarrassing question, you can choose to either be honest about it or you can choose to drink." Jonathan explained.

"Wait, but that doesn't sound hard at all. Drinking games shouldn't be as easy as answering questions." I thought out loud

"Okay so in that case, you wouldn't mind answering a question." Jon raised an eyebrow at me.

"Of course I don't mind." I replied.

"What is your deepest secret, something not even matt knows?" Jonathan asked.

Well then, I guess this game was going to be harder than I thought. "Okay I get your point." I said and I drank a shot.

"Wait, you have a secret that I don't know about?"

"Yep, there might be one or two things you don't know."

"Like what?"

"I'll tell you when you need to know. Now can we please go on to the next question?" I asked, wanting everyone to focus on anything else.

I didn't know if it was out of some silent understanding but luckily for me everyone focused back on the game instead of my secrets

Much to my surprise though, at the end of the game I wasn't the one who had drunk the most. Joe had answered the least amount of questions. He also seemed to be distancing himself from everyone on an emotional level, like he had pulled up a wall. I had started to worry a bit and apparently I was not the only one.

"Joe, buddy, is everything okay? Why did you answer way less questions than normal?" Jonathan asked curiously. "You seem a little off tonight"

"I'm fine Jon." Joe tried to convince him, something he didn't succeed in by a long shot,

"That's bullshit man, why are you so closed off?"

"Not everyone needs to know everything." Joe grumbled in annoyance before walking outside.

-

Even though we were stunned by Joe suddenly storming out it wasn't long before Matt spoke up.

"Raychel, please?" Matt asked me with a worried tone in his voice.

"Yeah of course." I said while standing up.

"I'm confused, why don't you go after him?" Rebecca asked Matt with a frown.

"Raychel is probably the only one here that can calm Joe or me down when we are angry, upset, frustrated or sad. Besides Raych, only our folks and in my case Evelyne can do that." Matt explained while I walked outside to find Joe.

Once outside I looked around me in the hope he had stayed close to the bar, he had and luckily he wasn't really hard to spot either. I saw him sitting on a bench just a little up ahead.

"Mind if I join you?" I asked gently as trying not to startle him, sitting down after getting a small nod in reply.

"Want to talk about it?" I asked after a moment of silence.

"I don't, but I probably should. I can't really explain but I just became a little upset after that game." He sighed.

"That happens to the best of us. I don't believe that you got so upset without reason though, do you want to talk about that part?" I really wondered what he was thinking about.

"Not really, I don't feel like thinking, let alone talking, about that." Joe explained.

"That's okay." I really could see he struggled with something.

"No it's not okay, I want to tell you why I freaked out but.. I can't." he sighed.

"Because you think I won't understand." I finished his reasoning for him. "Believe me I used to have that same feeling quite a lot, but lately that feeling started to fade away slowly and I did confide in people. It honestly helped me feel better"

I wanted to say whatever it would take to make him feel better, to let him know he wasn't alone in his feelings of doubt. Luckily it seemed to work as well.

"Yeah exactly, you know I'm happy that you are really here for me." He said already happier.

"Good, because world knows that being here for you and Matt isn't an easy task." I said as seriously as possible. He saw right through the seriousness though and after a few seconds we were laughing so hard that we had a hard time breathing.

I shivered suddenly, making me realize that, in the hurry to get to Joe, I had left my coat inside. "Want to go back? I'm getting a little cold."

"Yeah that's probably a good idea, let's go." He agreed.

It was only then that I noticed that he had left his coat inside as well.

When we were inside again I saw that Rebecca, Colby and Jon were about to leave

"Going home?" I asked Rebecca.

"Yeah the guys offered to take me back to the hotel with them" She confirmed. "You'll be okay with just Joe and Matt right?

"Course, I'll be just fine."

After she left, Matt turned to me with a frown "Now can you please tell me the secret I don't know?"

"Someday, maybe." I chuckled, knowing that I just wasn't ready to tell him about it yet. "So, how about we go back to the hotel?"