Chapter one

22 year old Lauren branning woke up in her bed, every memory came rushing to her head of what she would be doing soon.

She groaned as she felt a spring break and dig into her back. How had her life managed to turn into this?

Ill tell you why, one person is why, one best friend, one lover, actually not a lover that was wishful thinking, he was more a one off thing, when it suited him basically.

He wasn't a lover at all, they both wanted to be together but he cared more about his reputation than he did for her.

She looked around, the unfamiliar surroundings setting in, she was in the spare bedroom at her uncle jacks house.

Lauren was getting married tomorrow,mother though dawned on her some more and she slid down into the covers, burying her head into the pillows, the very thin scrawny pillows.

Everyone knew Lauren and joey were made for each other, they also knew joey had a pretty decent reputation too, one that he was very proud of.

Joey and Lauren both adored each other, loved; dare I say. They'd told each other how they felt a lot of times but when push came to shove, joey backed out.

In reality, joey was scared, scared he'd lose his working and social reputation if he dated Lauren, she wasn't classed as a 'fit girl' as they all liked to put it, she was classed as one of the guys, friends with everyone.

They were the best of friends, had been since they were little, joeys parents, kathy and Derek were Lauren's god parents, they were also best friends with max and Tanya, well more max than Tanya, Tanya was a bit uptight and thought she was better than everyone else around her.

Joey and Lauren did everything together, from having sleepovers as kids to having parties as teenagers.

Joey was always there to protect Lauren from creepy boys while Lauren brought her feisty nature out to keep desperate girls away from joey.

This kind of thing only got stronger as they got older, Lauren was 17 when she realised that this wasn't her messing or being a good friend, these were feelings she had for joey, feelings that made her want to be more than just friends.

*flashback*

Max, Lauren and joey were stood in Lauren's bedroom cracking up with laughter, Lauren had just told max she was going to blakes party.

Blake who is Lauren's ex boyfriend, this left max and Tanya confused. She went on to explain how everyone in six form had been invited to this party, it was a house warming party, his mum and dad had bought it for him, he was a rich kid basically.

Lauren and joey were the only two people in the whole year not to be invited because Lauren had public ally embarrassed Blake, by dumping him in front of everyone after he cheated on her.

Lauren and joey had made posters, there was a picture of Blake on the posters naked in the shower, you could basically see everything. Then it said 'your dumped, cheating prick' in big red letters across the bottom of the poster.

Max was only just finding this out and he thought it was hilarious, Tanya was furious with Lauren though, saying she should be ashamed of herself for pulling such an immature stunt.

"He humiliated her Tanya, she was just returning the favour" max said causing the three of them to burst into more laughter.

"So he hasn't invited you to the party?" Tanya asked them both. "No, so that's more the reason to go right babe?" Joey smirked.

"Yep" Lauren giggled. "Lauren when are you going to start and act your age, your 17 years old for god sake! And you, your 20 joey" Tanya scolded them both.

"There young and having fun Tanya, go on off you go, have a good time and try not to cause too much trouble" max chuckled to himself.

Max adored his eldest daughter, she was so care free, fought for what she believed in, stood up for the people she loved and was generally a fun person to be around.

Lauren and joey proceeded to get very drunk as the night went on and they had a great time, everyone loved them, much to blakes dismay.

Joey had banged on for ages how Lauren shouldn't go back to Blake, saying he wasn't good enough for her, he'd said it about five times that night already and every time she just rolled her eyes at him, he'd say it loud enough to make sure Blake heard at least twice.

She had no intentions of going back to Blake but this conversation had resulted in Lauren having different kind of feelings for joey than she had before this night started.

"Good babe, you can do so much better, your beautiful" joey told her. Lauren looked at joey wide eyed, joey didn't call anyone beautiful.

She scoffed, she knew guys loved the way she looked but never herself had she found herself to be anything special, pretty much average she thought.

Joey grabbed Lauren's face as they sat on the steps on blakes back garden. "You are beautiful Lauren and you could have any guy you wanted okay?" Joey told her.

He then pecked her lips softly but quickly, taking Lauren by surprise. There's no doubt they were very drunk but it didn't mean they didn't know what they were doing.

Lauren didn't say anything, she just stared into joeys eyes. They next they knew what was happening, Lauren was sat in joeys lap, her legs wrapped securely around his waist.

"Not here joey" she said as he kissed her neck, clearly not wanting their first time together to be up against the dustbin.

"Where?" Joey asked her. "Garage" she half panted, half moaned. Lauren knew Blake had the garage done up for a place for him and his mates to hang out.

They hurried into the garage, locking it behind them, knowing exactly what was about to happen. After they had sex for the first time together, Lauren felt amazing.

Only after they both got their breaths back joey started to get dressed, leaving Lauren confused. "Where are you going?" Lauren asked him.

"Party to crash, come on" he chuckled. This hurt Lauren more than she thought it would. Had joey just used her for sex?.. I think so.

Lauren didn't see joey when she went back into the party but she heard that he had left with another girl, this was the second time that night she felt hurt by joey.

What Lauren didn't know was that joey had felt the connection between them and he panicked, resulting in him leaving; Lauren couldn't believe he could do this to her though.

That's when she figured out her feelings for joey but she didn't want them, not if they both couldn't have them together.

That's when she put her plan into action, she would test him, see if he did have any kind of feelings for her.

She seduced Blake who was more than happy to have her back, she was going to make joey jealous.

She knew joey would find out she had spent the night with Blake because abi, Alice and blakes sister, izzy were best friends.

She had no problem seducing blake, he wanted her and she knew that, using it to her advantage, obviously.

*end of flashback*

Lauren walked into the kitchen to find her uncle jack laughing over coffee. "Ugh, please stop" she said. Ronnie giggled at her as Lauren slumped on the sofa.

"Wrong side of the bed this morning babe?" Her uncle jack asked her. "Oh there's a right side to that bed?" She asked.

Jack rolled his eyes at his niece before kissing ronnie goodbye as she left for work "bye Lauren babe" ronnie shouted.

"Bye" Lauren shouted, turning around to smile at her, Lauren got on well with ronnie, she saw her as a mother figure, she could talk to her about anything and have fun with her, unlike her own mother.

Ronnie and jack kissed once more before she left. "What now?" Jack asked as he saw the disgusted look on Lauren's face.

"How can you be so lovey and... Happy, I don't like it" Lauren told him. Jack chuckled at his niece. "You don't like happy people?" He asked her.

"I don't mind happy people as long as there not always happy, there has to be arguments and disagreements too, being happy all the time isn't normal" she told him.

Jack burst into laughter at Lauren "wow, your a right bundle of joy aren't you ey?" He asked. "Nobody is that happy 24/7 it's not normal, it's creepy" she said. "In fact the sight of that happiness makes me wanna hurl" she told him.

"So you and Blake?" Jack asked. Lauren sighed at her uncle, she knew she was about to gets the same lecture she always got off him, him along with her dad and Derek too.

"Come on Lauren, you know we're all right, you and joey belong together" he told her. "Yes I know that but he doesn't want me, so what am I supposed to do?" Lauren snapped.

"You fight for him" her uncle jack said, like it was the most simple thing in the world to do.

"Oh you mean like I have been doing for the past five years, I'm done now" Lauren told him. "No Lauren what you've been doing is trying to make him jealous" jack said.

"That's a lie I only intentionally tried to make him jealous at blakes party like five years ago" she admitted, thinking back to that moment.

*flashback*

Lauren creeped out of blakes bed the next morning, rushing downstairs to get out of the house. How could she have been so,stupid she thought, to sleep with the guy that cheated on her?

Well she knew why obviously, because joey had hurt her and she wanted to hurt him back, make him jealous.

"Woah, steady" someone said as Lauren crashed into them at the bottom of the stairs. "Oh hey loz, what are you doing here? Arran asked.

"Err y'know" Lauren chuckled nervously. Arran was one of the gang, one of joey and Lauren's best friends, along with Peter and Tyler, Lauren was the only girl, she was considered as one of the guys and it certainly wouldn't go down well if they found out about Lauren and joey sleeping together.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Lauren asked Arran quickly, trying to change the subject.

"Me and joe are here to pick Alice up, seen her?" He asked me. Lauren shook her head and proceeded to get her shoes on.

Lauren looked towards the doorway as she heard it slam, she looked back down straight away, concentrating on her shoes.

"Lauren, can we talk?" Joey asked her. "What ya wanna talk about joey? The fact you used me for sex last night then disappeared with some tramp" Lauren snapped.

"You two slept together? Are you for real?" Arran asked them both, walking downstairs. Both Lauren and joey froze as Arran walked closer to them.

"Bro! She's one of the boys! One, why would you wanna sleep with her and two, like I said she's one of the boys, our best friend? Don't treat her like that" Arran told joey.

"We were both drunk, it won't be happening again" joey told him. Arran walked off to find Alice, leaving Lauren and joey stood there alone.

"Too fucking right in wont happen again, I don't want to ever see, talk or hear from you ever again" Lauren snapped.

Joeys eyes widened in shock, he knew he was out of order for living the way he did but he didn't think she would react like this.

He had all these feelings for Lauren, but he couldn't tell hr how he felt, their friends wouldn't approve and his reputation would go to pot.

He knew how much of a coward he was being but he couldn't risk losing the life he was living right now, but at the same time he couldn't bare to not have Lauren in it either.

They'd been best friends forever, he was stuck between opening up to Lauren with the chance she may reject him and keeping his friends.

"Come on Lauren, we can't let this come between us, we've been best friends since before you could talk" joey told her.

"I can't joey, my feelings for you are different than the ones you have for me" she told him truthfully, something he had trouble with doing.

Lauren didn't have time to tell Lauren he had the same feelings because Arran came downstairs with Alice.

"Baby are you leaving already?" Blake asked Lauren. She was just about to answer but got cut off by joey.

"Are you kidding me Lauren?" Joey snapped at Lauren "no I'm not, not that it's any of your business anyway" Lauren snapped back at him.

Joey was quite taken back by Lauren's comment, it had hurt him. "Bro chill yeah? It's our loz, she knows what she's doing" Arran told joey, nudging his shoulder.

"I'll ring you later yeah" Lauren told Blake, kissing him on the lips and then leaving the house. Joey followed Lauren out of the house, ready to give her a piece of his mind.

Only when he got to the front door, she was sobbing into her dads arms. Just then he realised the extent of how much he had hurt her, which hurt him.

*end of flashback*

"If you want joey, your gonna have to do something and fast kiddo, your marrying Blake tomorrow" jack told Lauren.

"Hm" she replied.

So what do you think to this? Should I carry it on or not?

Please review and let me know xxx