Lifesaver

Chapter 8

When I wake up the next morning, I realize me and Joey forgot to set an alarm for school. Having no idea what time it is, I wiggle out from being wrapped in Joey's arms to check my phone without waking him up. It is 10:25 AM and apart of me is torn between waking Joey up and going to school late or just skipping for the day. After staring at Joey sleeping for a few seconds, I decide to just lay beside him and play on my phone until he wakes up. 

After about thirty minutes of me scrolling through Instagram and Tik Tok, Joey finally wakes up. He looks so cute still shirtless and with bed head but I just smile and say, "Good morning sleepy head". Joey smiles at me and grabs my hand while saying "Good morning cutie. How long have you been up"? I just say thirty minutes and tell him I did not bother waking him up for school because I was not in the mood to go. Joey just laughs and says, "I feel that but now I'm going to have to tell coach I was sick or something so I won't get in trouble for missing practice". A part of me starts to feel bad after Joey says that but me feeling bad goes away after he says, "I'd rather spend all day with you anyways." 

After me and Joey go out for lunch, we go back to his house to watch Netflix. I go over and lay in his bed and wrap myself in blankets when he asks, "What do you want to watch"? I smile real big and say, "You might think I'm weird but can we watch a Christmas movie"? Joey looks at me and says, "It's October, why don't we watch a Halloween movie or something"? To try and win him over into watching a Christmas movie, I look at him sad and say, "Christmas is my favorite holiday and I'm obsessed with The Grinch and there are two different Grinch movies on Netflix". After a few seconds, Joey just shakes his head and says, "Fine we can watch The Grinch, but only because you're too cute to say no too". 

Halfway through the movie, I begin to get a really bad headache and figure it must be a migraine coming on because I get them every so often. Joey could tell I started feeling bad because he just looks at me and says, "Do you feel okay? You don't look like it." I just tell Joey it is probably a migraine and I just need to lay down and hopefully go to sleep so it will go away. As I lay on my side and close my eyes, I can hear Joey turn the TV off and walk out of his room. Usually I would have asked where he was going but I just did not have the strength to ask at this moment. A few minutes later Joey walks back in his room and I open my eyes to see he had brought me medicine, a cup of water, and a cool rag to lay on my forehead. Joey says, "My mom gets migraines sometimes and I know she usually takes this and puts a rag on her head and it helps her." I end up putting the rag on my head, taking the medicine, and falling to sleep as Joey lays beside me rubbing my back. 

A couple hours later, me and Joey go get in his truck so he can take me home. As Joey gets in and closes his door he says, "I really don't want to do this. The thought of me dropping you off to get abused when it's my job to protect you will never be easy." Tears start to fill my eyes because Joey had made me happy and forget about my home life for the last several hours. I just look at him and say, "I know and I'm sorry you have to live with worrying about me but I don't know what else to do. I can't live with you. I can't just move out and go to my aunt or grandpa's house." 

As Joey pulls into my driveway and parks, I lean over and kiss him before saying, "Thanks for everything. I'll see you on Monday." Joey just smiles and says, "You can call me or FaceTime me whenever you want. Please just text me or something later on and let me know you're okay. I promise I'll always be here for you". I just promise I will talk to him later and get out of the truck. As Joey drives off, I walk towards the door and take a deep breathe before entering.