1989
"Joey, what're you doing here?" Helena nervously brushed her fingers through her hair. She frequently did this, since it was a nervous habit of hers. She walked outside, and closed the door behind her. She didn't care that it was forty degrees outside and she was only wearing sweatpants and a random t-shirt.
"Jesus, Helena, your eye." Joe looked at Helena, and she shrugged.
"Yeah, I know, it's pretty bad, nothing I can do about it, I guess." Helena looked down as an attempt for Joey to stop looking at it.
"Jennifer packs a nice punch, huh?" Joey joked, and Helena smiled.
"Yeah, I would know." Helena laughed.
"Anyways, I'm here to check up on you, and to talk to you. I really wasn't right to walk away from you this morning. It's just," Joey paused, trying to find the right words, "I like you, a lot. I'm not gonna lie. I really want to be with you, but I think I'm alright with just liking each other, for now." Joey said.
"Really?" Helena questioned, and Joe nodded.
"I'm really sorry, Helly Belly." Joe said, his eyes welling up with tears.
"Joey." Helena whispered, and wrapped him in a hug.
"I don't want to lose you, Helena." He wiped away his tears hastily, and Helena shook her head.
"No, baby, you're never going to lose me. I promise." Helena said, and Joey looked down at her. He thought that she looked gorgeous, standing on her porch in forty degree weather. Even if she had a shiner, he thought she was still breathtaking. Joey leaned in, and she did the same, and soon their lips connected. Helena immediately put her hands in his hair, deepening the kiss. She heard a car pass by her house, but she didn't care enough to look.
Maybe she should've looked.
"Helena! Joey!" Joey and Helena jumped away from each other.
"Mom!" Helena said, and she gave Joey a panicked look.
"What the hell happened to your eye?" Helena's mom asked, but before Helena could answer, she spoke again, "Nevermind, you two, get inside. I have so many questions." Helena's mom said, and shooed the two inside the house.
•••
Joe and Helena sat on the couch in her living room, waiting for Helena's mom to finish changing out of her work clothes. Helena was looking down, and Joe interlocked their hands. Helena looked up at Joe and smiled.
"It's okay, Helena. All we did was make out on your porch. It's not like she caught us doing it on your kitchen table." Joey winked at Helena, and she gasped and blushed wildly.
"Jesus, Joey."
Helena heard her mom descend down the stairs, and she pulled her hand away from Joe's.
He frowned, "Now my hand is cold."
"Okay," Mrs.Westbrook sighed as she walked past the couch, to stand in front of it,
"Would you two like to tell me why you were kissing on my front porch?" Mrs.Westbrook asked, and Helena cringed.
