Joey was in the kitchen when he heard the front door open and close. He grinned and poured a second glass of wine and turned back to the takeaway bags on the side. He heard footsteps into the kitchen and then a chair being dragged out, then the glass being picked up.
'What are we having?' Lauren asked him
'Chinese' Joey said and he turned to look at her 'You changed your mind'
'I have no food that isn't green or blue' she told him with a frown 'and a box of cereal that may be about 6 months old and stale'
'You know you are always welcome here' he told her
Lauren nodded and sighed 'for another 3 months at least' she replied.
Joey frowned and he looked at her 'You don't like Lucy do you'
'Not really' Lauren said to him 'No' she shook her head
'Why?' he asked her
'She's just not the type of girl that I would be friends with that's all' she told him 'we have nothing in common'
'Yes you do' Joey frowned as she turned to look at her and he put a plate of food down in front of her and then handed her some chopsticks 'me' he said
'And that's all' she replied, she shrugged her coat off and she looked at her plate 'you got all my favourites'
'Of course, don't I always?' he asked her 'They also happen to be my favourites too' he said as he sat down. They ate their food, discussing the movies that Joey had brought for them to watch. After they had eaten, they walked through to the lounge and sat down side by side on the sofa. Lauren had picked up the pile of DVD's and was looking through them to find one she wanted to see, and she settled for "Mama"
'This one' she said with a sly grin, knowing that Joey didn't like supernatural horror movies. He liked blood and gore horror movies better, and granted she did too, but Joey got freaked out by supernatural horror movies and she wanted him to suffer a little after the comments he made earlier about her sex life, or lack thereof as he so kindly pointed out to her.
'I knew that you were going to pick that one' he frowned at her 'you know I don't like movies like that'
'Well then you really shouldn't have brought it then should you?' she asked him as she got up to put it into the DVD player, she sat back down and was about to press play when the doorbell rang.
'Saved the bell' Joey grinned as he got up
'Saved? No. A short reprieve? Yes' Lauren grinned back. 'Is there more wine?' she asked him as she followed him out of the room
'Kitchen' he called over his shoulder as he opened the door 'Lucy. Hi' he said. Lauren hid in the kitchen just behind the door so she could hear the conversation 'I didn't know we had plans tonight?'
'We don't' she said 'I just wanted you to pass a message onto Lauren. I did text her earlier but she didn't bother to reply, which frankly I find a little rude' she told him, Lauren stuck her middle finger up not caring that Lucy couldn't see it, the gesture itself made her feel better 'You need to tell her that the dress fitting is at 11:30am tomorrow sharp and that she needs to be there on time.'
'Yeah I'll tell her' Joey replied
Lauren hated the tone of voice that Lucy used when she was talking to Joey. It was as though she thought she was better than him, barking orders at him, never any "please" or "thank you's". Never any "hello" or "hi" she seemed to have skipped the lessons on pleasantries and manners at her ridiculously expensive private school. In fact if she was truthful Lauren hated Lucy full stop. Hated with a passion. She was nowhere near good enough for Joey. And she couldn't see what it was that Joey saw in her. Sure she was pretty. She wasn't a stunner, she wasn't curvy either, not like the other girlfriends that Joey had, the only thing that she had in common with his exes was that she was a blonde. Other than that, the similarities ended. Lauren hadn't really liked any of Joey's exes, except for Claire. Claire was on the same wavelength as Lauren and the two of them had become firm friends. When Joey cheated on Claire with Lucy, of all people, Lauren had lost her temper with Joey and they had a blazing row. Lauren had refused to talk to him for a week. Her and Claire were still good friends though, much to Joey's dismay and they regularly talked and text each other on the phone and met up for drinks and girly nights out.
'And you have a suit fitting at 2:00pm on Saturday with Ben'
'Okay fine' Joey replied nodding his head
'Do not forget' she told him sternly
'I won't' Joey said 'Are we still on for dinner tomorrow night?'
'Yes of course we are' Lucy said 'I'm looking forward to it. I have some houses for you to look at' she smiled at him
'What's wrong with this house?' Joey asked her 'I thought we were planning on living here'
'We'll discuss it further over dinner tomorrow. I must dash, Poppy is waiting for me, we're going to a flower arranging class' she told him and she kissed him on the cheek before walking away.
Joey shut the door and he sighed.
'I don't get it Joey' Lauren said as she walked out of the kitchen holding the half-drunk bottle of wine and a full one.
'Don't start Lauren' he said shaking his head
'What? I'm not' she said topping up his glass of wine before handing it to him 'I'm not starting anything' she said shaking her head, she added more wine to her glass and she sat down next to him, leaning on him slightly 'It's just… you act differently with Lucy than you did with all your other girlfriends that's all' she told him softly
'No I don't' he frowned
'If I didn't know better, I wouldn't know that you two were in a relationship let alone getting married' she told him
'Lucy doesn't like public displays of affection' he stated with a shrug of his shoulders
'Looking at Lucy it doesn't look as though she'd be into private displays of affection' Lauren shot back 'Do you actually sleep her?' she asked curiously
'You get grumpy and defensive when I talk about your sex life but now suddenly you're allowed to talk about mine?' he asked her raising his glass to his lips. 'At least I have a sex life, which is more than I can say for you' he scoffed
Lauren blinked, stung by his comment.
'Fair point' she said and she shifted on the sofa, so they weren't touching anymore, leaning against the arm of the sofa she pulled her legs onto the sofa and pressed play on the remote.
Joey knew that his comment had struck a nerve with Lauren by the way she had distanced herself from him on the sofa. He wondered if her relationship with Simon was as great as she made it out to be.
'You know you can talk to me about anything' Joey said to her after a moment
'Except things you don't want to talk about' Lauren replied and she took a mouthful of wine.
Joey knew better than to try to push her to talk when she didn't want to so he changed tactics 'I'm here whenever you need to Lauren' he told her, she glanced at him and nodded
'Yeah I know' she said softly with a sigh 'you know I'm not really in the mood to watch movies tonight. I'm tired' she put her glass of wine down and put the remote on the sofa between them. She got up and walked into the kitchen and she pulled on her coat and felt in her pocket for the keys to her flat and then walked to the front door. 'I'll see you later' she called as she opened the door.
'Lauren?' Joey asked from the doorway 'you know you can stay?'
'I need to go home Joey' she told him shaking her head, she stepped out of the house and closed the door behind her.
Joey frowned, he knew that something was off with Lauren, she was being different with him and he didn't know why, but he was going to find out.
AN: Is Lauren's relationship with Simon as good as she claims it to be? Is Joey and Lucy's relationship normal and healthy or is there more to it than meets the eye?
Thank you for all your reviews so far
Hope you continue to enjoy.
As always R&R