Chapter 1

Laurens story was a complicated one, she wasn't any normal 19 year old girl, oh no. Lauren was a very beautiful, but complex person. At 19, she'd lived a life full of drama that your average person wouldn't experience in a life time, but for Lauren life equated drama. From a very young age she'd been embroiled in the war between her parents, having spent most of her childhood playing around her neighbours house. Her Auntie Mandy and Uncle Derek had more or less raised her along with their own children: Joey and Alice.

Derek and Mandy had been more than happy to take Lauren under their wing knowing full well that she needed something to take her mind off her home and there was no one better than her older cousin Joey. He was three years older than Lauren and always referred to her as his best friend; throughout primary school, you wouldn't find Joey mentioned in a sentence without Lauren's name being mentioned too. In secondary school it didn't change much either, they were inseparable. Where there was Lauren, there was Joey. They spent many weekends just spending time together, not really doing much in particular, just being more than happy in each other's company and that was something that hadn't changed much over the years. Joey had passed up many opportunities to go on lads weekends away or to go out clubbing so he could spend time with Lauren, not that he minded in the slightest.

It had been discovered when Lauren was 16 and had been embarrassingly stood up by her so called boyfriend, that Joey was extremely protective of Lauren. Being 19 at the time, he'd knocked the dude out cold and given him a broken nose in the process. Lauren wasn't too pleased with the display of gallantry and had ran back into the arms of her ever awaiting Uncle Jack. He too wasn't impressed with Joey's actions but was even less impressed by the thought of her been stood up and was almost out the door to finish what Joey had started. That was until Lauren had given him a stern warning and told him he'd be in the same boat as Joey - a sinking one.

Joey had grovelled for days after, apologising over and over, Lauren knew how sorry he was; not for the fact he'd hit the guy but for the fact he'd upset her. A crying Lauren was one thing he just couldn't bear to see. Things were fixed rather speedily though when Lauren had had a row with her Mum and had gone to the only place she knew; Joey. A hug from her best friend was like the magic that could fix everything.

After numerous attempts over the years her relationship with her parents didn't improve, the arrival of her sister and brother had direct impact on Lauren and she found herself spending more and more time with her Auntie Mandy and Uncle Derek. Eventually, things changed, possibly not for the better, but they changed none the less.

Max and Tanya left - they decided within three days of Tanya finding out Max's ex had returned, that they were leaving, they just upped and went. Lauren wasn't given much choice in the matter. She didn't want to go. Jack and Derek had hoped their brother and his wife would see how much their daughter craved their love, but they didn't. Instead they left without a second thought. Thankfully they had acknowledged the fact she existed and had used the money from the sale of number 5 to give to Lauren to find herself somewhere to live.

Of course, both Jack and Derek had told Lauren that she was more than welcome to stay with them, but against their will, she'd insisted she wanted to be independent and had found herself a small flat on the Square, only a few doors down from the both of them. The rest of the money was placed into her bank account, only a small portion of it taken out and put into a current account for her to live on. Given she was only sixteen at the time, she'd taken it all in her stride and got on with her life, as best she could, anyway.

Three years down the line and the Lauren that had existed a year ago was long gone, the only thing in her life that remained the same was her relationship with Joey, Alice and their parents. Joey was more than ever involved in her life, having grown closer in the past twelve months. He'd become her 999; her best friend and enemy all rolled into one.

Thinking about it, most love stories start that way. Any previous heartbreak, dark days and lonely nights can be crucially important in the grand scheme of things – sometimes we need to know what something feels like when it's wrong before we can ever really know whether it could be right, and that's one thing Lauren knew all too well – when things were wrong.

Hello ! so this is my new story it will have daily updates ... so read, review and enjoy ! xx