Forever And A Half

41

Week 6:

"Oh no!" I suddenly cried. Joe shot up and gripped me,

"What?" I laughed. He blushed,

"You didn't need to grab hold of me," I taunted.

"You woke up and cried 'oh no'. I thought something had happened," I smiled thankful that he had tried to protect me in an instant.

"I'm fine. I just remember that I haven't packed," he lay back down,

"Is that all?" he asked. I nodded. I got up but he grabbed my wrist. I was pulled back down on his, "You don't have to do it now, do you?" I shook him off my arm,

"I really do, Joe," I swatted his hand but his grip remained strong,

"You still have a few days left, don't start packing yet. Please?" he gave me puppy dog eyes but I had to decline,

"Don't try pull that on me," I squeezed my eyes shut,

"Please Addy? Just a little bit longer. You can pack tomorrow," I shook my head,

"I really need to pack; it'll take me a while to find everything," he finally agreed to let me pack and we ventured upstairs. I took the lead as he tried to slow me down with petty excuses.

"I could help you, it'll make it faster so we can have more time off," he suggested, "Or we could start today and finish tomorrow? Come on, let's just go back downstairs?" he kept talking, "We could meet with Oli and Caspar. I'm sure they'll want a video before you go," I turned into my room and grabbed my bags. My clothes had been flung around the room like ragdolls. They were on the floor, covering the bed like a sheet. Anywhere clothes could fit, there they were.

"Joe if you are going to distract me then just go downstairs. It'll go faster if I don't have someone pestering me," I pushed his shoulders towards the door,

"Fine I'll go," his voice dropped a few octaves. His eyes glossed over and he slumped out of the room. I felt bad, of course, but I pushed the emotions down and started packing. I had found a few pairs of socks and a few of my undergarments. My jumpers and a few shirts had gone missing and I was running around my room like a headless chicken. Someone knocked against my door,

"Come in," I shouted through and continued tossing my clothes into a wash basket.

"Adalyn," it was Joe. He waddled into my room quietly and watched as I piled my clothes in the basket,

"Joe if you've come to make me stop packing then it won't work, I really need to find my clothes," I stressed. He didn't say anything so I looked over to him. He wasn't there. My clothes flung wildly around my room in a reign of terror. I turned to grab the basket and put on my first wash of clothes but to my dismay, it wasn't there. The clothes had merely heaped together in an unsorted pile of outfits. I stomped through the house and into the laundry. Joe stood in front of the washing machine with my clothes. He had sorted them into lights and darks to make sure none of them would run and mix together.

"Hi Ada, I thought I could help you," he saw me standing at the door. I smiled and thanked him before heading back to my room with the empty basket. I piled my clothes in again and bopped around looking for another container to shove them in, "Load done," Joe called.

I brought the basket to him and swapped it for a pile of freshly washed clothes. I grabbed a suitcase and dropped them in neatly. Joe and I continued to swap dirty clothes for clean clothes and by the end of the day I had found most of my clothing items and they had all been washed. They were packed away neatly and Joe and I sat tiredly on my bed.

"Glad that's over," I sighed happily. He stayed quiet. He seemed quite down, "Hey," I nudged him, "I'm sorry I made you leave before,"

"Its fine," we stayed in silence.

"What's wrong, are you feeling okay?" I finally asked. Joe just didn't seem to be himself.

"No," he replied. His voice sounded thick as though he were holding something back. I put my hand on his shoulder to reassure him,

"Is there something I could do to help?" I lowered my voice and tried to sooth him. He looked to his hands and twiddled his fingers distractingly. He nodded silently, "What can I do?"

"Don't go,"