Until There Was You

Alternate Scenes & Deleted Chapters

Rewrite of chapter 8 (Darren's leaving day)

The sound of the doorbell woke them up around 5 hours later. Joey groggily opened his eyes and looked down at Lauren in his arms. She looked much more at peace than she had been a few hours earlier. He hoped she understood now that Darren's choice was not based on her or how he felt about her, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and he had to take it. The doorbell rang again and Joey rolled his eyes wondering why no-one else had answered it. The sound pulled Lauren from her sleep.

"Who the fuck is at the door?" She mumbled, snuggling in further to his chest. He brought his free arm around her and pushed her hair from her face.

"Just go back to sleep, one of the other boys will get it," Joey replied. He closed his eyes as he heard a door slam and then voices in the hallway. He was just drifting back off when the voices began to get closer and closer to his door and he was able to make out what they were saying.

"Joey was telling us about it, I'm sure he's going to miss you like mad," Brian was saying.

"I think he forgot he was supposed to take us to the airport," Darren laughed in reply. Joey opened his eyes wide and shook Lauren's shoulder forcing her to open her eyes.

"You have to hide, Darren is here," he whispered. Lauren sat up comically fast and stared down at him wide eyed.

"If he sees us he's going to freak out," She mumbled in reply as Joey nodded in agreement.

"Dude are you up?" Brian asked as he pushed the door open. Lauren scrambled under the quilt and Joey did his best to look like he'd just woken up and was not hiding Darren's ex-girlfriend in his bed.

"Don't you knock?" Joey asked, rubbing his eyes.

"It's not like you've got a girl in here," Darren laughed as he flipped a switch and flooded the room with light. Joey laughed nervously with him, "did you not get any of my texts or calls?" he asked.

"No?" Joey replied, reaching over to his bedside table for his phone. He had 8 missed calls and 5 texts from Darren and he smiled apologetically. "Sorry mate, must have been sleeping,"

"Well get a move on, I need to load my stuff in your car and then we have to go get Lauren!" Darren exclaimed. He moved to pull back the quilt to force Joey out of bed.

"No!" Joey exclaimed, forcing the covers to remain where they were.

"So you do have a girl in here!" Darren grinned, raising his hands in surrender and backing away, "I'll leave you two to it then," he winked at Joey who was bright red with embarrassment. "See you at mine in an hour? Or is that not long enough tiger?" He asked with a smirk. If only he knew.

"Yeah, fine," Joey mumbled, refusing to meet Darren's eye. Brian laughed from the doorway and pulled it closed behind them as they left. He waited until the sound of footsteps grew quieter and quieter before he pulled back the quilt to reveal a very flushed Lauren.

"That was so close," she whispered, sitting up and resting her head in her hands.

"Way too close," Joey agreed, "at least this will be the last time he could ever catch us,"

"You planning on us doing this again?" Lauren grinned cheekily at him, pulling her head from her hands. Joey spluttered uncomfortably and forced himself to sit up as she laughed at him, "I'm joking JoJo," she smiled and placed a hand on his arm, her voice taking on a softer tone, "thank you for everything last night, I really appreciate you being there,"

"Happy to help," Joey replied, leaning forward to kiss her forehead, "we need to get you home, I guarantee Darren is downstairs waiting for me."

"Oh shit," Lauren paused, "I didn't think about that," she bit her lip worriedly and looked up at him with big brown eyes.