Yet another Richpez fic

Part 3

3 Days Later...

1 am

The bus rumbled on through the night, after the show in San Francisco they would be travelling overnight to the final stop of the tour. Los Angeles.

Everyone had agreed to have a few drinks to celebrate the tour as this would be the last night in the bus for the LA natives, and the party was in full flow. 

"Here's to the last night in a shitty, uncomfy bed!" cheered Dylan as he downed his beer.

"Here's to not having to stop every 10 minutes so Mere can go poop!" Brian cheered as Meredith elbowed his ribs.

"Hey, remember Lauren was in charge of hiring the buses, blame her!" Meredith retorted.

"Hey I worked my ass off to get us a bus we could poop in, they fucked us over! It wasn't my fault!" Lauren tried to protest her innocence but Brian had already launched into a ridiculous impression of her on the phone with the bus company.

"O M G pleeeasee I like, neeed to poop all the time can we please have a bus that we can poop on!" he yelled to the delight of his audience.

Joey sat on the outskirts of the group, annoyed with himself for not finding the courage to talk to Lauren yet. He couldn't help but think of how terribly bad things could go. 

What if she didn't feel that way about him? What if she did? Tomorrow night she'd be on her way back to Chicago. Could they make long distance work? But what if she didn't even feel that way about him? But what if she did? They've been friends forever. Would it make things awkward between them if it didn't work out?

He was so busy overthinking things that he hadn't  realised he'd been staring at Lauren as she wiped the tears from her eyes after laughing too hard at Brian's impression. 

Their eyes briefly met and Joey felt a flutter in his chest. 

2:30 am

"Another one bites the dust!" Dylan sang as Rosenthal made his way to the beds.

Only Dylan, Julia, Joey and Lauren remained. Joey was determined to talk to Lauren tonight, as he feared they would be too busy preparing for the show tomorrow, but he was still surprised to see that she was one of the last ones still awake. He wondered if she was waiting for the same opportunity.

"And another gone, and another gone..." Dylan continued to sing as he shuffled after Brian.

As soon as Dylan departed Julia subtly nudged Lauren before wordlessly leaving the two of them by themselves.

Joey's heart began to race as he looked over and flashed a smile at Lauren. But she wasn't smiling back. Lauren had a determined look in her eyes as she, emboldened by the alcohol, strode across the bus to sit next to him.

Joey broke eye contact and looked away instinctively as her stare burned through him like he had been staring at the sun.

"How crazy is it that tomorrow's the last -" he began, before Lauren interrupted him.

"Kiss me" she almost blurted the words out in a frantic whisper.

Joey met her gaze once again and felt his heart pound the inside of his chest, like it was trying to punch it's way out of his rib cage. He had always hoped things would lead to this point but now he was staring down the barrel, her lips were inches away from his, and he was terrified.

"...wh..uhh...ok" Joey stumbled over his words as Lauren closed her eyes and inched closer. He let go of his fear and met her lips with his. 

Lauren thought a thousand butterflies were cascading through her stomach.

Joey was convinced his heart was going to explode.

They embraced for what seemed like hours, his hands running through her hair, her hands finding their way under his shirt. He pulled himself away from her and placed his hands over hers, stopping their exploration.

"We're both really drunk Lo..." 

She quietly laughed to herself and pressed her forehead against his.

"You're too nice for your own good Joey."

"I know, I'm already regretting saying that... I want this. So much. But I want to do it right."

She looked into eyes and tucked some hair behind his ear.

"Tomorrow, when we're both sober. We'll talk." she whispered. 

Lauren kissed him on the cheek and wandered off towards the bedroom in a haze.

Joey was left alone on the sofa, wishing she was still here with him, but knowing that he did the right thing.