To The Only Boy I've Loved Before

Second Time Lucky

It was much later when the pair walked back inside together, their fingers interlocked and Lauren's heart fit to burst with happiness.

They reached the landing where they had to go their separate ways, and Lauren began to walk away, still holding onto Joey's hand until the last possible moment, but then he tugged her back into him.

She put her hands on his chest to steady herself as she stumbled, feeling his arms come up around her. She looked at him for a moment, and he tilted his head subconsciously, his lips parting.

She raised herself slowly onto her tiptoes to bridge the height difference and he kissed her gently.

"Goodnight, Lo," he said, brushing his lips against hers one last time.

"Goodnight," she smiled.

They walked backwards away from each other, clinging to each other's hand as long as possible and then keeping their hands held out towards each other as they carried on walking apart, refusing to break eye contact.

Lauren reached her door first and reached behind her for the door handle. She knew she should turn away and go inside, but Joey had stopped when she did, and was just stood looking at her.

Without thinking twice, she held her hand out to him again. He grinned shyly and walked towards her again, taking her hand and squeezing it as she opened the door and tugged him inside.

If Joey had asked, she would have ended up admitting to him that she asked him in because she was scared of the day ending. She was scared that they would say goodnight to each other, and they would lose whatever had happened tonight, and in the morning they would wake up and everything would be different and confusing again.

Right now, everything was certain. The kiss was real, and her feelings for Joey were real, and his feelings for her were real, and the memory of his hands on her skin was real. Who could say how long that would last?

But thankfully, Joey didn't ask. He just slid under the duvet with her, wrapping her in his arms as instinctively as if he'd done it hundreds of times before.

He brushed a stray strand of hair out of her eyes, his fingers lingering on her skin. She took hold of his hand and pressed a kiss to his palm.

"Night JoJo."

"Night Lo."

Lauren awoke in the morning to feel Joey's arm draped over her, and she grinned to herself. She'd half been expecting to wake up and find out that everything that happened last night was a dream.

She opened her eyes and turned her head to see Joey, a soft smile on his face even in sleep, and thought to herself that this was a sight she definitely wouldn't mind waking up to every day.

The urge to kiss him flooded through her veins and she tensed, trying to resist it so as not to wake him up (and also, she admitted, because she was terrified of how strong her feelings for him already were).

He must have felt her tense even as he slept and his subconscious brain pulled her protectively closer to him. She grinned and nuzzled her head into his shoulder, happy to stay there until he woke up.

Not long later, she felt him shift and raised her head to look him in the eyes.

"Good morning," he whispered sleepily, a lazy smile on his face.

"Good morning," she said back, smiling as he kissed her forehead.

"As much as I would really love to stay here, I gotta get back to my own room before people start getting up," he told her apologetically. 

She nodded understandingly. "I'll see you later."

"If you sit next to me on the coach this time," he said with a cheeky grin, and she threw her pillow at him as he slipped out of her room, laughing.

On her way downstairs she ran into Meredith, who she confessed to about the kiss - but not about him sleeping in her room, because she'd never hear the end of it. As she was putting her suitcase on the coach, Jaime cornered her.

"So... do you regret coming on this trip?" she asked.

"No," Lauren admitted, rolling her eyes.

"See! I told you. What are best friends for?"

They got on the coach together, and Lauren spotted Joey sitting alone towards the back. She glanced at Jaime, who nodded her head at the boy and gave her a look that said she would be crazy not to sit next to him.

She wrapped her arm around Jaime in a side hug to thank her friend, and then walked over to Joey.

"Hi," she said, sitting down beside him, and he draped an arm around her shoulder with a smile.

She searched through her bag for a clip to put her hair up, but to no avail.

"Why can't I find a hair clip when I need one?" she muttered in frustration, shoving her bag onto the floor.

"Hold on," Joey told her, and she frowned at him, wondering what he was up to.

He rummaged in his backpack for a second before pulling something out and holding out his hand to her. It was the hair clip he'd taken off of her when they went to that party together all those months ago.

"You brought this with you?" she asked softly.

He shrugged bashfully.

"You dork," she said, clipping up her hair and grinning at him, and he grinned back.

"Hey, I'm tired," he told her not five minutes into the journey. "Can I use you as a pillow?" he asked, looking at her with puppy dog eyes.

She nodded, unable to resist him, and he snuggled into her, laying his head on her shoulder.

"Did you not sleep well last night?" she asked innocently, inaudible to everyone but Joey.

He just laughed at her.

A/N if you've seen the movie I know what you're thinking, and to that I say FIGHT ME, bed sharing is one of my favourite tropes