Lauren managed to avoid Joey for the next two days, she was quietly sitting in the corner of the cafe with a coffee filling in some forms she had picked up from college. A chair scrapping alerted her to the face someone had seated themselves across the table from her, she raised her eyes from the paper and saw Joey sitting opposite her. 'Are you planning on avoiding me forever?' he asked her

'What do you want Joey I'm busy' she said with a sigh, turning her attention back to the papers in front of her.

'I want you to talk to me, to return my calls. to hear me out..'

'Yeah well you made things pretty clear when you vanished to god knows where with god knows who, I don't known why I even bothered to come over' Lauren told him 'I mean it's not like you returned any of my calls or texts is it?' she sighed 'But that's what you do isn't it? Things get a bit rough and you take off not caring who gets hurt in the process'

'Things didn't just get rough, Derek died...right in front of me'

'You didn't even like him Joey' Lauren shot back as she began to gather her papers up and stuff them into her bag. 'And that's supposed to make it okay is it?' Joey frowned at her 'Derek was a bully, he manipulated people, situations to get what he wanted or have you forgotten about that hey? Or what about what he did to us, to me?'

'Lauren...'

'He walked away from people he was supposed to love, messed with their head... does that remind you of anyone? she asked him as she stood up and tucked her back over her shoulder

'I am nothing like Derek' Joey scowled at her

'Yeah course you're not.' she said and she walked out of the cafe. She made her way into the Vic and ordered a neat double vodka, she downed it in one and ordered another. Lauren sat down at a table near the door as Tyler and Whitney came in.

'Hey I was gonna call you' Whitney said

'Oh?'Lauren raised her eyebrows in interest

'Yeah I was thinking about going over and seeing Alice...Bianca and Carol are taking the kids away this weekend so I thought I'd throw a little party, thought maybe it would cheer Alice up a little, I thought maybe you could come with me...?'

'Sure but she won't be up for a party' she told her 'Mum says she barely leaves the house'

'Well we can try can't we?' Whitney asked her 'Please?'

Lauren groaned and closed her eyes 'Okay fine...we'll have to go now though'

Alice heard the door bell ring and she climbed off the sofa and walked to the door. 'Lauren, Whitney, Joey's in the kitchen' she said when she saw who was standing on the doorstep.

'We came to see you' Whitney said as we followed her into the lounge

'I was just trying to pick the music for the...' she trailed off

'Look Alice, if there's anything that I can do to help all you have to do is ask' Lauren said to her softly 'I'm only across the road, at the end of a phone' she smiled at her cousin

'Thanks that's really nice of you' she replied as Joey came in with a mug of tea, he put it down in front of her 'Look Joey, Lauren and Whitney came to see me.' she looked at him

'That's really nice of them hey?' he replied to her 'I'll leave you all to talk or do whatever it is you were doing' he said and he looked at me and then walked out of the room. We talked with Alice for an hour and she looked a little bit brighter than she did when we first arrived.

'You ever want a change of scenery come over to mine' Lauren told her

'I will, thanks Lauren' Alice smiled and then hugged her cousin 'Thank you for coming to see me. it really means a lot' she said

'Anytime, we'll see ourselves out' Lauren smiled back at her. Joey appeared as Whitney opened the front door

'Oh are you leaving?' he asked

'Yeah I have a party to get ready for. You should come and Alice, anytime after 7pm' Whitney told him.

'I'm not sure Alice will be up for it to be honest, I'll ask her' he told Whitney and then he looked at me 'I'll stop by for a bit' he said.

'Great, see you later then' she grinned at him.

AN: So what's gonna happen at the party and will Joey get Lauren to talk to him? Please R&R.. hopefully will post another few chapters today if I can.