Until There Was You

Giving Up On You

18. 

By the time he got back home Joey was a mess. What on earth had happened up there? Lauren had confessed that she liked him and his brain had spat out 'I have to talk to Sophie'? What was that about? He sat in the car for a little while staring into space before he caught his Mom watching him from her bedroom window. With a sigh he stepped out of the car and walked into the house.

"You okay Joey?" Denise called as he trudged up the stairs.

"I don't wanna talk about it Mom," Joey replied slamming his bedroom door behind him.

He didn't mean to be a moody teenager but he felt entitled to a bit of anger – he had after all just ruined his one chance with the girl of his dreams.

-

For the next few days Joey refused to leave his room. He sent Lauren a text every day begging to let him explain and that he couldn't tell her over text, it was too important. She had replied but it had only said 'I've landed' and then radio silence from there on out. He left so many voicemails and even emailed her but she never responded to any of them. Lauren updated her Instagram occasionally with pictures of her family and a couple of scenic shots she took in LA but other than that there was nothing. Joey knew he was wallowing in self-pity and that he needed to buck his ideas up and start acting like an adult but not speaking to Lauren had sucked every last inch of his energy from him. His Mom had attempted several times to deliver him food and coax him out of his room but it was to no avail. Eventually his Dad knocked on his door and forced his way in.

"Joey this is ridiculous," Bob said as he perched himself on the end of Joey's bed. "You cannot spend the rest of your summer pining over some girl,"

"Go away," Joey grumbled from under his quilt.

"What is going on with you? I've never seen you act this way!" Bob grabbed a corner of Joey's duvet and yanked it back, forcing Joey to sit up and face his Dad. His eyes were red rimmed and he hadn't slept properly since Lauren left so his whole body slumped.

"She's not," Joey sighed, "It's not," he paused struggling to find the right words.

"She's your girlfriend, you'll see her in less than a week you big baby," Bob said and Joey sighed knowing he was going to have to tell the truth.

"Can I tell you something?"

"Of course,"

"Lauren and I aren't a couple," Joey looked up to gauge his Dad's reaction. His face remained neutral and he nodded as if thinking hard.

"But you want to be?" Bob replied.

"So bad," Joey nodded sinking his head in his hands, "but I fucked up."

"What happened?"

"It's a long story,"

"I've got time," Bob said patiently. He folded his hands in his lap and looked over to his son who took a deep breath before speaking.

"I've liked her for a while now but she was dating my best friend." Joey began, sitting cross legged and picking at a corner of his pillow, "They started arguing and Darren got a job out in New York. They broke up, he dropped out of college and that's when we started to get closer." The memories flooded back to him as he started at the very beginning. All of those arguments, late night talks, sleepovers and weekends lay out in front of him like a time capsule, "I dated a girl, Sophie, for a little while and just before I came home she told me that if I found someone out in LA I shouldn't be afraid to pursue it. So then when Lauren came out here and we had to pretend to be a couple we got even closer than before." How had it gone from such happy times to this? "She kissed me at the airport and told me she wanted to be with me and what did I say?" Joey sighed as he rehashed the whole story, "I said 'I need to speak to Sophie'"