Banana Girl: a thatcherjoe love story

Chapter 15- moving day

I had my hair up in a loose bun and no makeup on. I was wearing scruffy jeans and one of Joe's old shirts, and my red wellies. Moving day.
I shook Joe to wake him up, and put the shower on ready for him to jump in.
"Morning, Joe."
He grunted. He wasn't exactly what you'd call a morning person.
"Wake up!"
He moaned. This was about as good as his responses got before 10:00.
I clambered on top of him and pulled off the duvet.
"No!" he groaned. "Let me sleeeeep!"
"Come on, Joe! I let you sleep for like, 20 minutes extra, now you have to get up!"
10 minutes on, and I had got Joe in the shower and picked out some old clothes for him, when I heard someone knock.
"Hey!" Said Zoe as I opened the door to her grinning face, "we're here to help!" as she indicated to Alfie (who was stood behind her) to come in. She wore very little makeup and a baggy pink shirt with white paint splatters on it, with old black wellies and ripped white jeans. Even so, she managed to look lovely. Alfie wore overalls. He looked ridiculous.
"Alfie, you had nothing to wear except that. Besides, no one cares! Look, just come in, would you?"
He reluctantly walked in, cheeks red and hands in pockets, obviously embarrassed by his overalls. He muttered something along the lines of 'Hi.'
Joe came out of the bathroom with a towel round his waist and came over, before spotting Alfie in his overalls and cracking up.
"What," he laughed, "The f•ck, are you wearing?"
"Zoe! You said no one would notice!" Alfie whispered to her. She was biting her lip and smiling. He was blushing so much he looked like a strawberry.
I glared at Joe as if to say, leave it, babe!
He stopped, and a moment of awkward silence followed.
"So," he started, breaking the silence, "anyone up for a coffee?"

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We drew up outside my house, which wouldn't be mine after today.
We all had jobs assigned to us (by Zoe), although Alfie wouldn't do anything because he insisted he looked stupid, so he just packed the car. Zoe was labelling and sorting boxes, making sure they all got packed into the car in the order of what rooms they belonged in. I picked up the boxes Zoe gave me, and I handed them to Joe, who gave them to Alfie to pack in the car.

Joe carried the last cardboard box out of the front door and into the back of his car, where Alfie was waiting to take it to our apartment.
"See you there!" He shouted out of the window as he drove off, leaving Joe, Zoe and I at my old place.
"Guys?" I began, "I think I'll just... Ya know... I think I want to..." I sighed.
"I just wanna take a look at my old room, just to, ya know..."
"Sure, Vi!" Whispered Zoe reassuringly, "we get it, it's fine."
I walked to my old room and stopped in the doorway, looking around the room I had lived in for years and come to love so much. It felt like the memories were engraved in the walls, which, in a way, some of them were.
The holes where I'd nailed my favourite photo on the wall- the one where I was sitting on dad's lap on the beach, mum laughing in the background.
The pencil lines on the wall where I marked out my height, from the ages of 3-15.
The badly-painted parts of the light turquoise paint on the walls where you could see the daisy chain wallpaper underneath.
So many memories, and I was just leaving them all behind.
Joe walked in behind me, and wrapped his arms around my waist, gently kissing my neck.
"I know how you feel, Vi, but-" I turned around and kissed him.
"I don't know how I feel..."
"We can make new memories! Together!"
I smiled weakly. "You seem eager!"
"I am, Vi. Really. It's gonna be great! We'll be together every day, and we can have Alfie and Zoe over all the time! We can have parties, or nights in. You can decorate, and I can tidy! Maybe we can get, like, a cat or something, and get it a collar with a bell on it, and hear the bell jingle every time it runs past." He was smiling now, "and we can make each other breakfast in bed, and watch movies whenever. It will be-"
"Perfect." I interrupted, "just perfect. Everything you just said? I want that. Let's go."