Never Let Me Go: A StarKid Fanfic

Chapter 16

BERNADETTE'S POV

Um...hi."

"Hi."

Was this awkward? It was awkward, wasn't it? Really awkward.

Well of course it's awkward, dumbass, my brain shouted, you fucking drunk kissed him.

"You look, um...nice," he said, glancing at my work clothes. I had changed into my pink button down and black pencil skirt minutes before, and I was fixing my hair into a bun when Joey had showed up at my door. I was befuddled, considering it was 9 am.

"Thanks," I said, that word sinking like a stone. My head was still pounding from the massive hangover from two days before, but I still had work to go to. "So, uh, no offense, but...why are you here? I mean, it's really early and..."

"Oh! I'm-I know, it's just..." he trailed off, running his fingers through his hair. I pressed my lips together and he awkwardly coughed. "So, um, I just-I wanted to uh, just well-"

"I'm sorry," I blurted, "I mean, I know what I did. And that was really, um, out of line, so...I'm sorry. Again."

Joey's eyebrows shot up and he swallowed.

"Oh, uh, r-right," he stuttered a reply.

"I mean, I was drunk, and we're just friends, so..."

"Yeah, no of course!" he said, his voice raising a few octaves. He cleared his throat as his cheeks turned light pink, "I was just, I came over because I wanted to say it was okay. That it happened, I mean. No big deal."

I smiled a closed lip smile and checked my watch. Something felt off, but I wasn't about to address Joey's weirdness; I had a job to get to.

"Okay, good," I said, making my way to the door, "well I have to get going, but it was nice talking about this."

"Yeah, definitely," Joey said as I walked down the hall, "See you later."

"See ya!" I said, doing a little walk-run to the elevator and didn't look back.

JOEY'S POV

"Dude," Walker said with a smirk, "You've got it bad."

"Got what?" I said, stirring my tea. He, Brosenthal, Lauren, and myself met up twice a week at a local coffee shop. It was our chance to catch up with each other when we weren't talking about musicals or the team.

"You know," Lauren said playfully, "The looooove bug. I told you you were into Bernadette."

"Oh, shut up, Lo," I said under my breath as I clutched my tea, "She's the one who kissed me, remember?"

"Yeah," Brosenthal said, sipping his latte, "But you liked it."

"So? It doesn't matter anyways," I said, a bit annoyed that they were still dogging me for this, "She likes Darren. Darren likes her. Nothing I can do about it."

"Hey, no disrespect to Darren or anything, but you know what he is?" Joe asked. I shook my head. "Not. Here."

I furrowed my eyebrows intently.

"If you think you like this girl, then ask her on a date or something."

"Joe, that's kinda insensitive," Brosenthal said, a bit disgruntled, "I mean, we don't want Darren or this girl to get hurt."

"I'm with Joe on this one," Lauren added, "You want to know if she feels the same way, don't you?" I nodded. "Then what have you got to lose?"

BERNADETTE'S POV