Until There Was You

The Happiest of Days

15. 

Lauren's first week in LA consisted of a lot of cuddling, hand holding, movie watching, swimming, sunbathing and short road trips. Joey felt like he had taken her to every place that was worth visiting and he was now making lists of places he'd never been so they could go together.

His Mom stopped asking questions about their relationship and really nothing changed from the way they behaved in Michigan when they weren't pretending to be a couple. There were perhaps more temple kisses and posed couple pictures (Denise's fault) than before but largely nothing was different.

Joey's birthday rolled around quickly and on the morning of the big day Lauren surprised him with breakfast in bed.

"You made pancakes?" He asked, clutching his heart dramatically as he sat up in bed. His phone vibrated on the bedside table and he glanced at it briefly noticing it was a Happy Birthday text from Sophie.

"With chocolate chips, just how you like them!" Lauren grinned setting the breakfast tray on his lap. She leaned in to press a kiss to his cheek, "Happy Birthday JoJo,"

"Thanks Lo," He replied completely forgetting about the text and picking up his fork. Lauren began to move away from the bed but Joey reached for her hand and tugged her backward.

"Where do you think you're going?" He asked as she turned to face him laughing.

"You don't want your presents then?" She replied raising an eyebrow. Joey deliberated for a little while as Lauren rolled her eyes at him.

"Alright fine, but hurry back." He grinned finally letting go of her hand and resuming eating his breakfast.

She returned just as he finished the last mouthful. He placed the tray on the floor and shuffled over to make room for her under the quilt. She carefully placed his presents in front of him and then sat beside him as he picked up the first one.

"You want me to open these in any order?" He asked as he turned over a present in his hands.

"Nope," She grinned, clearly pleased with herself, "Oh!" She exclaimed causing Joey to drop the gift in surprise, "There's one more present, well technically two, but it won't be here until later." Joey narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously.

"Okay..."

His first present consisted of two non-fiction books about theatre writing and directing, Joey's chosen career path, and he couldn't help but squeeze her thigh under the duvet at his excitement and at how well she knew him. His next gift was a photo frame with four pictures inside, the first one was of him, Corey and Brian playing what looked like a very competitive game of Mario Kart. The second photo was of him and Darren from a time that pre-dated meeting Lauren and Joey couldn't help but notice how much younger and fresh faced he looked. The third photo was one of him and Lauren that he recognised as Lauren's phone background. They had taken a day trip to Presque Isle Park a few months back in the spring and had stopped to take a selfie beside the water. A stranger had approached them and asked if they wanted her to take it. So it was a full length shot of them pressed together with rosy cheeks and matching grins, Joey's beanie pulled low over Lauren's ears. The fourth slot was empty.

"That's for the dive bomb photo," Lauren said over his shoulder, "Then there's a photo from every season."

"You're so proud of yourself aren't you?" Joey grinned fighting back a laugh.

"Hey! This took a lot of time and effort I'll have you know!" Lauren replied indignantly.

"It's perfect Lo, I love it," He so badly wanted to add 'and I love you' onto the end of the sentence but he refrained from doing so and instead wrapped her in a hug and dropped a kiss to her head.