To The Only Boy I've Loved Before

No More Waiting

Lauren left the house before Julia was awake the next morning, grateful to avoid a run in with her. She felt slightly bad for leaving without Jaime, but she didn't let herself think about it too much. She was mostly worried about the trip, and how she was going to get through this weekend with Joey and manage to hide her very real feelings from her very fake boyfriend.

When she got on the coach she saw Joey already sat in a window seat, his bag on the seat next to him. When he saw her he threw up a peace sign and immediately moved his bag to make space for her.

She smiled at him, but ignoring what her heart was saying, she walked straight past him.

"Woah, woah, hey," he said, grabbing hold of her arm, his forehead creasing in confusion. "Where are you going?"

"Um, I'm gonna go and sit with Jaime," she said, not meeting his eyes. He dropped her arm, looking at her wide eyed.

"Jaime? Come on, look at her, she's sleeping."

"Oh, well that's all the more reason to go sit with her, make sure she's okay."

Joey could only stare after her dejectedly as she walked towards the back of the bus.

As Lauren sat down beside Jaime, she watched Melissa strut up to where Joey was sitting.

"Is this seat taken?" she asked, glancing away from Joey momentarily to look Lauren straight in the eyes.

Joey glanced back at Lauren but she averted her gaze quickly.

"Uh, no," he said reluctantly, shuffling over so he was pressed up against the window. Melissa shot a smirk at Lauren and sat down next to him.

Lauren felt her chest tighten and turned to Jaime.

"This was a mistake," she said.

Jaime groaned sleepily.

"Tell me about it. How did I let you convince me to go on a trip that requires getting up before seven?"

She nuzzled her head into Lauren's shoulder and was soon fast asleep. Great.

Get a grip, Lauren. At least she could try and enjoy the trip with Jaime, she thought, even if things weren't looking good with Joey.

Jaime slept the whole way there, which didn't help Lauren because the only thing she could do was stay wrapped up in her worries about Julia and Darren and Joey.

After an eternity they arrived, and went into the lodge where they were staying. Melissa was hooked onto Joey's arm, and although he wore a look of obvious irritation he hadn't exactly moved away from her either.

"Meet you on the slopes," she said with a flirty smile, and if it weren't for the fact that there were witnesses Lauren would have punched her.

Not that she had any genuine claim on Joey, seeing as she couldn't suck it up and tell him how she felt because she was too scared he didn't like her back.

"Go get your man!" Jaime, who had also seen what just happened, hissed at her.

"I'm not skiing," Lauren said flatly.

"If you're not skiing then what are you planning on doing all weekend?" Jaime asked wearily.

"I came prepared," Lauren said with a smug smile, and pulled a book out of her bag.

"Oh, no," Jaime whined.

Meredith walked past at that moment and Jaime grabbed hold of her.

"Meredith, please help me convince Lauren to come skiing with us," she begged.

"I mean, I wasn't that keen either but Brian offered to teach me, and I guess it would be fun," Meredith said, smiling convincingly at Lauren.

"I have Korean face masks," Lauren countered.

Meredith took a sharp step to stand by Lauren's side, looking apologetically at Jaime.

"Sorry, Jaime, Lauren's won this time."

"So you guys have been faking it this entire time?" Meredith asked incredulously half an hour later.

They were in Lauren's room, sat side by side on the bed, and Lauren had just spilled everything. It was a relief to have someone - besides Joey - know the truth, and Meredith had listened patiently as Lauren struggled her way through the story, occasionally stopping to let herself cry for a few minutes.

"Yes. And you have to promise not to tell anyone, okay? It's just - I'm so confused, because I didn't like him but now I do except he doesn't feel the same way and I don't know-"

"Look," Meredith interrupted, sensing that Lauren wasn't getting anywhere with her train of thought. "I can't tell you what to do. But I do know that Joey does like you. I can tell just by the way he looks at you."

"Okay, how does he look at me?" Lauren asked, unconvinced.

"Like you're his whole world," Meredith told her sincerely.

"It doesn't matter," Lauren said dismissively after a pause to let that sink in. "Melissa is still obsessed with him, and I stupidly fell for him when I haven't got a chance, because even if he does like me he clearly doesn't want to do anything about it."

"Lauren, look at the facts. The whole fake relationship was his idea, you came up with the no kissing rule, and you're the one who's been trying to break up with him. And you're also the one sitting here talking to me while he's probably waiting for you in the hot tub. So I'd say if there's anyone who stupidly fell for somebody that doesn't like them back, it's not you."

Lauren stared straight ahead, dumbfounded.

"It's Joey," Meredith whispered, just in case she hadn't got the point.

Joey liked her back? Lauren couldn't even begin to wrap her head around that thought, but she couldn't help the hopeful flutter of her heart. Even if it wasn't true, she had to at least hope.

And as much as she wished she could wait for Joey to make a move first, just in case Meredith was wrong and this was all just pretend to him, she knew she couldn't keep waiting. Not when their conversation had sparked something inside of her like this. She had to talk to Joey.

"You think he's waiting for me in the hot tub?" Lauren asked abruptly.

"Girl, I know he is."

Lauren grabbed Meredith's hand and squeezed it with an emphatic "Thank you."

Then she jumped up from the bed and threw her coat on over her nightgown, shoving her phone in her pocket and practically running out the door.

Meredith grinned at her. "Go get him," she muttered happily.