richpez for mae

18

Lauren stirred after a few hours of sleep, reaching out her arms to feel for the tall boy she fell asleep next to. Kissing Joey as she fell asleep in his arms was a feeling of bliss, and waking up with him by her side only meant she could continue where they left off the night before.

But to Lauren's dismay, when she reached out her arms, there was nobody there to hold onto. Puzzled, she opened her eyes and the bed was, in fact, empty. She knew that the bedsheets were Joey's so she definitely didn't dream about going home with him. But the question of his location remained.

She turned over and sat up, looking around his room to see if there were any indicators as to his whereabouts. His room was bright, the curtains left open from the night before, and she could see that he was definitely not in there. But out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a note sat on his bedside table. She leaned over and picked it up, reading the note to herself.

'Hey beautiful, I have swimming this morning but you looked very much asleep when I woke up so I thought I'd let you sleep. If you wanna leave before I get back, just grab some of my clothes so you don't have to walk back in your dress. See you later! Joey :)'

Lauren beamed down at the little note that Joey had written her, rereading the note over and over. She felt her chest heat up every time she read over the part where Joey called her beautiful. Joey giving her compliments wasn't something new, but every time it happened, she would feel her cheeks burn and a smile plaster to her face, the compliment swirling around her head because she knew Joey meant it.

Lauren fell back onto the mattress, thinking back to the party the night before. It was the first time she had thought about what had happened with a sober brain, but she regretted nothing.

Lauren speaking to Joey as she did at the party was something that neither of them expected to happen. She was drunk, but everything she did was what she wanted to do sober but never had the confidence to do. Lauren was quite surprised that Joey reciprocated, unsure of whether he would encourage her behaviour or run away in fear. He was just as drunk as she was, and although it would have been nicer for them both to have been slightly less drunk when it occurred, laying with Joey and having his lips on hers until the early morning made it all worth it.

Lauren ended up falling back to sleep, Joey's scent filling her nostrils from his bedsheets and wanting nothing more than him to be at her side.

-

The sound of a TV show playing quietly in the room woke Lauren up later on in the day. She woke up feeling groggy. Her head was pounding and she knew it was the beginning of a horrible hangover. As she woke up further, she could feel two arms wrapped around her body, one was rubbing little circles onto her lower back, the other softly running through her hair. Lauren could feel his warm breath on her forehead and she felt her body relax further into his touch, holding onto him and nuzzling her head further into his chest.

Knowing Joey had come home and climbed back into bed with her warmed her heart. She didn't feel great but knowing Joey was there took away some of the pain.

Joey noticed she was awake and pressed his lips to her forehead.

"Hey, sunshine" Joey whispered. "How are you feeling?"

"Horrible." She mumbled into his chest, gripping his t-shirt harder in her hands. "I don't want to have to move ever again."

"Don't you have training this afternoon?"

"Cancelled because coach knew we'd be too hungover to train." She chuckled and she could feel Joey laughing as he held her.

"I wish my coach was that nice to us."

Lauren tilted her head up to look at the boy above. His cheeks were rosy and his hair was still wet from training, and she could see his stubble starting to grow from up close. Her head being so close to Joey's meant she could examine every freckle on his face, every crook and crevice, and even though kissing the younger boy in front of her was one of the main thoughts in her mind, she was content in staring at him forever, wanting to learn every inch of his face by heart.

Joey looked away from his show to look down at the girl and smiled softly, his hazel eyes meeting hers. Seeing him smile at her pushed the thought of just staring at him out of the window, and she closed the short gap between them to press her lips to his. He kissed back gently and she smiled into his lips. Joey rolled onto his back, pulling the small girl with him and he kept his hands gripping at her waist, hers coming to rest on his cheeks.

Everything that was happening was so new for them, but it came so naturally as if they'd been doing it their entire lives. The placement of their limbs, the pressure of their kiss, the way they moved as one was as if they were seasoned pros. Their first kiss was firey, their second kiss was sleepy, but this felt like home. It was a feeling that neither could even describe and Lauren hoped she could feel it for the rest of her life. Everything that was in her mind just melted away when Joey was kissing her, not having a care in the world how long they had been laid together or when it was going to stop; hopefully never.

Their first kiss had happened not even 12 hours prior, and honestly, she didn't want to talk about it yet, wanting to revel in their little honeymoon bliss for as long as possible. She felt him sigh against her lips, and a wave of contentment washed over her body, never wanting to leave his embrace ever again.

As the seconds turned to minutes and the minutes turned to hours, their breaths grew heavy against each other's lips, and they enjoyed the new feeling that being together brought them. It was a new level of intimacy in their relationship that they didn't realise they craved, and as Lauren flopped down onto Joey's chest and felt his arms encircle her body, his skin on hers, she realised how much she genuinely cared for him, and him for her.

Caring about him didn't terrify her as much anymore. The main thing that scared her most was Joey's feelings. She wasn't in his head so how was she meant to know what he was thinking? Did he just want this to be an exclusively that weekend thing? Did he want it to be a college fling and they'd break up once Lauren graduated?

Being tired and hungover wasn't the best time to be thinking about deep thoughts as she was. So she relaxed into Joey's touch as he rubbed circles into her sides, knowing she could save those thoughts for another day.

Hey guys, thanks for all the love on my last chapter !! It means so much that you guys are enjoying this as much as I am writing this! I didn't expect to have an audience for this story so I apologise that were 18 chapters in and barely anything has happened. But hopefully, if I get my act together some stuff can actually happen in this story. Happy reading!