To Have And To Hold

17 - Premature Proposal

Joey kept his fingers clenched tightly around the steering wheel the whole drive home, hearing the blood pound in his ears. Now that he'd had some time to breathe he regretted getting mad like that, but he wasn't ready to apologise. All he wanted was to make Lauren happy, but people kept making it difficult for him.

He had to calm down before he went home, because if his emotions were still running this high when he explained things to Lauren then he didn't know what he might say. He drove round the block twice, trying to clear his head, focusing on the road so intently he didn't have to think about anything else.

He pulled up outside the apartment and closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the seat. He thought about Lauren. Not about all the pressure he was feeling, not about what he might say to her, not about how much he wished he could just propose to her then and there. Just about what a positive impact she had made on his life, and how much he loved her, and what an incredible person she was. And that was enough to get him out of the car and inside.

Lauren looked surprised to see him when he came home early. She was sat on the couch watching TV when he walked in, but she must have seen something in his expression because she turned the volume down and patted the cushion next to her for him to sit down, frowning. 

Joey took a seat and instantly pulled her into his arms, knowing that just her presence would go miles to making him feel better. She leaned her head back against his chest and stroked his arms, saying nothing; she was used to him having drama with the boys, and this wasn't the first time he'd come home and hugged her until he felt calm enough to talk again. He couldn't help but think about how grateful he was for her in moments like these.

He debated whether or not to tell her about the argument, but he decided it was for the best to fill her in so that she didn't worry about him.

"I got mad and walked out of the meeting," he sighed. Lauren sat up slightly to look at him, letting him talk before she said anything.

"They were talking about the ideas for the show they'd had while I was away, so I hadn't had any input, and I was distracted anyway..." Joey trailed off but managed to refocus. "So they put forward that I'd be playing the main character and you'd be playing the love interest, which I know is never something we've played before but I didn't think would be that big of a deal." He hesitated, trying to gauge her reaction, but she simply nodded at him to continue.

"But then they said that in the show I would propose to you, which was when I got angry. They can't just make decisions like that when I'm not there to stop them in their tracks," he said, barely suppressing his anger.

Lauren's eyebrows shot up, her eyes going wide, but Joey continued talking.

"I don't know why they've done that, I don't know what they were thinking." 

Unexpectedly, Lauren began to laugh. Joey pushed her away from him slightly to see her face better. "What's funny?" 

"They did it because of me," she said, her laughter fading away. 

Joey blinked at her, utterly bewildered. He'd been expecting her to be upset over this, but apparently she had some sort of involvement?

She explained. "I spoke to Brian and Corey about... waiting for you to propose," she said, looking down into her lap. "I was starting to think you were never going to and they asked if they could do anything to help. I didn't ask them to do that!" she said, looking up sharply to meet his eyes, smiling weakly at him. "But I did ask them to maybe hint to you or something."

Joey gaped at her, slack-jawed, hardly able to believe what he was hearing.

"Is that what you were so upset about?" he asked, his eyes wide in dawning understanding.