To Have And To Hold

7 - Tears and Tribulations

"What's up, Joey?" Darren asked with a slight frown, pulling Joey from his thoughts about Lauren. He hadn't even seen the other boy walking towards him. He nodded his head in greeting.

"You haven't seen Lauren have you?" he couldn't stop himself from asking.

"Sorry, I haven't. Everything okay?"

"Yeah." Joey shrugged, trying not to show his disappointment. "Just lost track of her."

"How are you both?"

"Good, yeah." There must have been some hesitation in his tone because Darren raised an eyebrow.

"Joey, I've known you too long to not know there's something up."

"Did Mia tell you she wanted you to propose to her?"

Darren looked surprised at the unexpected turn in the conversation, and paused for a moment before answering. "Not exactly, but we'd talked about it and we knew it was something we wanted."

Joey nodded thoughtfully.

"Why, were you thinking of...."

Joey stared resolutely at the floor, not wanting to confirm his friend's suspicions but being unable to deny them.

"Dude, you gotta marry her!" Darren said enthusiastically. When he got little response from Joey, he continued in a lower tone. "I'm one of your best friends, I know you've been in love with her since college. You're perfect for each other."

Joey pinched the bridge of his nose. "I just don't know if it's what she wants." Of course they loved each other, and they didn't even need to discuss it to be certain that they never wanted to be with anyone else. Joey knew it was nothing to do with commitment. He just wasn't sure if marriage was what Lauren wanted.

"Of course it is man," his friend replied automatically, not realising the dilemma that was tearing Joey apart.

"If she wants to marry me then why did she freak out when I said I was gonna marry her one day?" he sighed.

Darren's eyebrows shot up. "You said that to her?"

"I didn't meant to!" Darren kept looking at him, dumbfounded, so Joey explained. "We'd just seen Dylan and Shashona's engagement post and I was thinking about weddings and it just slipped out."

Darren gave him a sympathetic look and Joey wished he could escape this conversation.

"She probably just freaked out that she thought you were proposing right there and then," Darren suggested. "A proposal's a pretty big deal for a lot of people, and it sounds like she wasn't expecting it. Give her time."

Joey nodded, feeling just a tiny bit reassured by his friend's words.

Darren smiled. "You can feel the love between you two, ya know, it's palpable."

That drew a smile to Joey's face, and he managed to stop worrying about Lauren. At least, until he spotted her and Shashona over Darren's shoulder, both looking at him, although Lauren quickly looked away when she noticed Joey's eyes in their direction.

He frowned, checking over his shoulder to be sure they were looking at him, but there was no one else there. "That's weird."

"Huh?" Darren said, pausing in the middle of the story he was telling.

When Joey looked back, both girls were gone. "Nevermind," he said with a shake of his head.

He hugged Darren goodbye with the promise to meet up again soon, and then threaded his way through the clusters of people, determined to find Lauren. He must have made half a dozen circuits of the house with no sign of her, but he did see Jaime and figured he'd try his luck there.

"Jaime," he called. "Have you seen Lauren?"

"She went out for some air a little while ago," Jaime replied.

"Do you think she's upset with me?" he asked, chewing on his lip.

Jaime raised her hands helplessly.

"Do you know what's wrong?" he asked pleadingly.

She sighed. "You'd have to talk to her about it."

Joey got the impression she knew exactly what was up, but wasn't going to say, so he thanked her and went to check outside. Still no Lauren. He didn't have the heart to be social anymore, but luckily the get together seemed to be wrapping up, with people beginning to make their way home. Getting desperate, he sent a text to Lauren asking where she was and if she was ready to go home, and was flooded with relief when her reply came seconds later, even if it was a simple 'there in a minute'.

She offered him a half hearted smile when she walked up to him, but didn't take his outstretched hand. They said their goodbyes and left, still not having exchanged a word between them. The car ride home seemed to stretch into forever, the silence agonising. Joey kept conjuring up a hundred explanations and apologies, but the words didn't make it past his lips.

As soon as they got home Lauren vanished down the hall into their bedroom, not even stopping to pet Diane, which is when he knew she was seriously upset. Part of him was telling himself to give her space, but he couldn't stand it anymore, so he followed after her. She was sat on the edge of the bed staring at the floor; she looked up briefly when he appeared in the doorway, but didn't maintain eye contact.

Joey slowly sat on the bed next to her, a safe few inches away.

"Lo, I- I know you're upset. And I'm sorry I don't know what's wrong. But I want to fix it."

There was a heavy silence, and then she leaned her head on his shoulder. Joey could have cried with relief.

"I'm sorry," she whispered almost inaudibly. Joey looked down at her to see tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Hey, hey, hey," he said, pulling her into a hug. She wrapped her arms around his middle, taking a few steadying breaths before she sat up. She brushed away her tears and fixed a smile on her face. Joey gently turned her face towards him, searching her eyes.

"Are you okay?"

She nodded, the corners of her lips just managing to pull up into a smile. Joey wasn't convinced, but he decided not to press the matter right now.

"And are we good?"

"We're good," she confirmed, reaching out for his hand and squeezing it weakly.

They finished getting ready for bed, the silence no longer strained, and fell asleep with their hands entwined. Not quite okay, but better than before.

Joey was relieved to find that Lauren was completely back to her old self the next morning. He woke up to her stroking his hair, and when he opened his eyes she beamed at him and planted a kiss on his lips. Joey instantly pulled her into his arms, holding her tightly. She rested her head on his chest, her own arms wrapping securely around his waist, and he was able to breathe a sigh of relief that everything was forgiven - even if he still wasn't sure exactly what was wrong.

A/N I told you guys it wouldn't be that bad! And there's plenty of sap to come before these babes run into any more problems. Also this managed to coincide pretty nicely with the official pictures from Darren's wedding so if anyone needs me I'll be crying over the one tiny bit of content™️