Richpez one-shots

Suspicions

A/N: this fic is brought to you by heaps of cold medicine and fear of disappointing others. Apologies in advance for all of this.

"Hey babe." Joey said as Lauren walked into their living room. She joined him on the couch noticing he was fully engaged with his phone.

"Jojo, who are you talking to that you're that invested in your phone?" She asked placing her legs over his, shifting so she could read his screen.

"Don't worry about it." He leaned down to press a kiss to her temple. "Oh, by the way, I'll be out all day tomorrow."

"I thought you were off and the guys aren't editing this week."

"I am and we're not." He said flatly, hoping to change the subject. He draped his arm of her legs and turned on the TV.

Lauren didn't really want to continue the conversation either. She was curious as to where he was going to be as he usually informed her of those things, but figured it would be better to just move on. He noted that he had been acting a bit weird lately but she just brushed it off to work things. She pushed whatever thoughts she had aside, going back to their usual night in at the Lopez-Richter household.

The next morning Lauren woke up alone, curious as to where Joey had gone so early in the day. She usually woke up before him, and even when he got up before her, he usually stayed in bed with her just to get some more time not having to do anything with her by his side. She rolled over onto his side of the bed, ready to envelop herself in his scent. As she went to lay her head on his pillow, she heard a crunch. She moved to grab the offending object noticing it was a note. It read:
     Got an early start.
     I'll see you tonight.
     I love you.
     Joey

She now vaguely remembered him kissing her forehead while she was half asleep but she wasn't sure that totally had happened. Either way, she thought it was sweet that he left a note. She moved to put on her glasses and grabbed her phone; quickly typing out a text, 'surprised you didn't want to stay in bed longer 😉' before sending a second text, 'I love you too'.

Joey opened his phone after he pulled into a parking spot outside of the jewelry store, noticing RJ wasn't there yet. He looked down to see he had 2 messages from Lauren. He knew exactly what she meant and she was right of course, he would give anything to be at home in bed with her and not out shopping, especially without her. As he was about to respond his friend knocked on the window alerting him of his arrival. Joey quickly responded 'yeah, I'll see you later tonight' before getting out the car to join his friend.

Lauren was surprised when she got such a brief message. She didn't want to worry, but it was rare for him to not fully respond to her. She didn't want to let it bother her so she moved on to watching The Real Housewives and reviewing some stuff for an audition she had later that week.

Joey and RJ hugged and headed into the store.

"I can't believe this is actually" RJ said to Joey. "I mean we all saw this coming years ago" emphasizing the word years "but now it's actually happening."

"Yeah, I know you've all been waiting. I just need this to be right for her, ya know?" Joey said nervously.

"She really did find a good one." He mumbled to himself. "I do, I felt the same way with Cameron, but I didn't wait so long."

"Okay I get it. You can stop teasing me about how long it took. You want to be a part of this right? Then you can help me find what I'm really looking for."

RJ nodded, getting the hint to drop the joke.

"And what exactly is it that you're looking for?"