Richpez - A Tale of Two StarKids

Chapter 10: New Beginnings

Thank you all for your patience! It has been a very busy holiday season. I am back home with my family and wanted to enjoy spending time with them! Now that everything has settled down I am getting back to writing! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Time jump - About 4 years later, around the time Firebringer rehearsals are starting.

~Lauren's POV~

I saw him coming down the escalator at the O'Hare airport in Chicago and started beaming. I was a ways away so I started running to meet him. As soon as I reached him I put my arms around his neck and jumped into his arms, wrapping my legs around him.

"JoJo! I missed you!" I exclaimed. I was sure we were getting some funny looks from the other people at the airport but I didn't care.

"Hey, Lo! I missed you too! 48 hours was way too long," Joey responded. He carefully placed me back on the ground and gave me a short, sweet kiss.

I had been able to come to Chicago two days earlier than Joey because he had work to do for the Tin Can Brothers. It's going really well for them and I'm so proud of Joey.

"How's Diane?" I asked, already missing her. Joey dropped her off at his parents' house earlier today.

"She was happy to see my parents, but I know she'll miss us. We'll see her next week though, and then she'll be here with us for a whole month while we do the show," Joey said, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.

"Okay. I miss her, but I'm so happy you're here now! Brian and Meredith are waiting for us in the car, so we should get going," I said to him taking his hand in mine.

We are staying with Brian and Meredith during the production of Firebringer and I wouldn't have it any other way. We walked outside hand in hand and eventually reached their car. After a reunion between Meredith, Brian, and Joey, we started the drive back to Brian and Meredith's apartment. 

When we arrived back at the apartment, I led Joey into the room where we were staying so he could drop off his bags. I sat down on the bed as he began to unpack and he soon walked over to join me. As he neared the bed he broke into a sort of run and jumped onto the bed. I burst into laughter and screamed as I saw Joey jump on top of me. He started showering me with kisses as I continued to laugh.

"Joey! Stop!" I said between giggles. I pushed him up just far enough so that he was still on top of me, but he was too far to kiss me. "We have to go to rehearsal! I love you, but we're going to be late if we keep going."

Joey groaned and rolled off the bed. He grabbed my hand and pulled me up.

"Fine. But we'll continue this later," he responded while kissing me on the cheek.

---------------------------

We arrived at the rehearsal space and reunited with all of our friends. We even met some new faces who were joining the cast. I was talking with Jaime and Denise and Joey was talking with Joe when Nick Lang walked into the room and cleared his voice.

We rang out with a chorus of Nick!'s  and cheers as he moved to the front of the room. 

"Okay! Everyone take a seat so we can get started!" he said. I took a seat next to Joey and he grabbed my hand and kissed it. I looked him and smiled as Nick began to speak again.

"You all know your parts, so today we're just going to do a read through of the show. Clark, can you hand out the scripts?" Clark stepped out from behind his keyboard and began distributing the scripts. "Clark is going to play the songs for us as we go through the show and Meredith is going to sing. We might make some changes as we go along so please be patient. Let's get started."