Chapter 2
"SURPRISE!"
They walked in to see balloons, ceiling decorations and a HUGE banner which had WELCOME HOME JOEY & DARREN! written on it.
They saw all of the closest or near close Starkids; Chris, Nick & Matt, Nick Strauss, Jeff, Corey, AJ, Jim, Joe Moses, Daniel, and Clark.
Everyone carried Joey and Darren into the living room and all bundled on them. Cramps were forming as they were piling on one another. They were laughing which soon turned into cries of pain from the bodies lying on top of them but also from how they laughed! Tears had formed and they were already rolling down they're sore cheeks from where they had smiled too much.
"Alright! IT'S TIME TO PAAAAAAAAAAAARTAAAAAAAAAAAAA Y!" Jeff shouted and he placed his iPod on the speaker and began to play Starkid & Jim and the Povolos.
The songs went in order of their productions; Little White Lie, AVPM, MAMD, AVPS, Starship, HMB, and AVPSY. In that order because that's where the story began…
"Jaime! Jaime come here," Walker called her over with a slurred voice. He grabbed her arm teasingly, making her giggle like a little girl. Joe looked into Jaime's incredibly blue eyes, they glistened like sapphires. Getting lost in his thoughts, he completely forgot what he was going to say to her.
"Dance with me Miss Jaime Lyn! Always dance…" Joe asked her as soon as 'Always Dance' came on.
"Alright my Dark Lord! Heehehehehehehe!"
They seemed to dance the night away.
Meanwhile…
Brian glanced over to Lauren to see her sitting by herself with a disturbed look on her face, like she had seen a VERY scary ghost or something. Instinctively, Brian strolled over to her, putting his arm around her.
"Why did Sally drop her ice-cream?" Brian asked her.
"Why?" She looked up at him with a slightly confused face.
"Because she got hit by a truck. Knock, knock?"
"Who's there?"
"Not Sally!"
Lauren sat there laughing her tiny arse of, snorting and everything.
"Lauren, BREATH!"
At this point, Lauren was already red, but turning blue at the pretty lame joke Brian had just told her. What has gotten into her?!
"Oh, Wizard God! Brian, are you trying to kill me or something?! JEEZ!"
"Oh, no. But I can cheer you up. What was wrong a minute ago?" Brian asked with ease. He looked at her with worry. What was actually wrong with her? She was usually perky and lively at parties.
"Oh, it's just had a daydream, and it was really bad, like REALLY bad, Brian. I was so scared!"
"Oh Lauren! It's okay! Just forget about anything negative and relax, have fun, and enjoy yourself!"
Lauren looked at him with promise.
"Okay, for you Brian."
They just sat there and listened to the music. They grabbed drinks and food and talked for a while. They talked about how psyched to be working on Twisted later in July.
"NO JOEY, REECES ARE THE BEST!"
The room went silent as Meredith shouted at Joey (playfully) but no one took it as like she was joking.
Meredith made a nervous giggle but if looks could kill, it would've been Joey's.
"Meredith, you know how I feel about my Red Vines! Why'd you say that?!"
She was only joking! Anyone would have thought she killed someone…
"I- I was only messing with you Joey! I wouldn't do anything to hurt you! I am so sorry!"
Joey sighed and sat at her face on with his brown eyes and his crooked, yet sexy, jaw.
"I know you were Mere! So was I! Jesus, you really thought I was mad at you didn't ya!"
Joey started tickling her and everyone went back to their previous conversation, relieved that it was all a joke.
Meredith could hardly breathe! Grasping for air, she accidently head-butted Joey. Pausing his tickle fight with Meredith, he checked her head to see if she was okay. There was a slight bump on her head, her cheeks were flustered from all of the laughing she was doing, and her eyes were fine. No sign of real damage, thank God.
"Are you alright Mere?" Joey asked her with a LOT of worry on his face.
"Uh-huh, I'm just suddenly not in a tickling mood. That's all.
She looked at him, face to face. It was a good thing no one was looking at them because they had this look in their eyes that was just so… peculiar. That was definitely new between them. They never really looked at each other in that way before.
Just before they went back to their conversation they were having before, Lauren glanced over to where they were sitting and saw how Meredith looked at Joey. What's going on?
"GUYS! GUYS! GUYS! GUYS! GUYS!" Darren shouted over all of the party people and turned off the music for a moment.
"All right! Who wants to play a game?!"
Everyone was rabbling to themselves, excited for what Darren had in mind for them.
"Okay, so, I have a list of items that you need to find ALL around the Manor. You need to work in pairs and the first pair to find every single item wins. Oh, and you have to say where you found the item For example; A pair of sunglasses in, I don't know, Jeff's room." Darren motioned to Jeff and everyone looked at Jeff and then at Darren. Looks like everyone knew where one of the items were.
"I'll be staying here since there's an odd number so once you have your answers, come here and give me the sheet of paper with both of your names on the sheet." Everyone glanced over to Chris who was now the centre of attention.
"Alright, pick your partners and GO!"
"Hey Lauren, do you have a partner?"
Lauren turned around to see Brian with a slight smile on his face. He had a mischievous look in his eyes. She had a good feeling about him.
"Sure thing, Bri! But I gotta warn you, I'm not a particularly good finder."
"Oh that's alright, lucky for you I was sorted into Hufflepuff on Pottermore!"
Lauren gave him the most confused look ever. Could she really believe her ears?!
"WOAH, WAIT! You have a POTTERMORE account?!... AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME?!"
Brian looked at her as if she was going absolutely mad.
"Uh, yeah, I created it ages ago…"
"Ohh, okay! It's just that I got sorted into Hufflepuff too! But I'm a terrible finder so I don't even know how that works out…"
They both stood there for a second, smiling hopelessly at each other.
This time, Meredith saw them stared for quite some time. She looked the other way to see Joe and Jaime talking to each other.
"Joe, do you really want to play this?! I mean, I'm all for it but you don't look very interested in playing these games."
Joe turned his head to look at Jaime straight into here crystal blue eyes. God, she was gorgeous. Had anyone told her that before?
"Huh? Oh yeah, come on then Miss Jaime Lyn! We're gonna whoop their asses and we'll watch 'em weep!"
Jaime knew something wasn't quite right with Joe. What was he hiding from her?
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"Jaims, I'm absolutely fine!" Joe said putting his hands on her slender shoulders.
She is so warm, and smooth. JOE! SNAP OUT OF IT! Get your damn hands off of her shoulders and play the game! he thought to himself. Doing as he was told by the voice inside of his head, he released his grip her shoulders and instead took her hand and ran for the list of items they were seeking.
"Mere! Were you listening to me?!"
Meredith looked up to see Joey with a look of disappointment on his face.
"Oh, Jo-Jo! I'm so sorry! I was just looking over at Jaime and Joe. Is there anything going on between them?"
Joey looked over at them as well. "Well, it looks like if there isn't now then there will be. Truuuuuust me. They'll come around with each other. Oh, want to be my partner for this game?"
Meredith nodded enthusiastically, "I'll bet you $10 that Darren has a load of games up his sleeve so we may as well be partners for the whole night. If you want to, that is."
"I couldn't be any happier to be your partner, Mere. We're gonna beat everyone here because we are just fucking awesome."
They too, grabbed a list and searched the manor.
"First up, uhh…"
Joey looked at the first item on the list.
"… Man, it really is sunglasses. Jeff's room?"
Meredith had determination in her eyes. She was in it to win it. "Jeff's room."
They ran up the stairs and bumped into Lauren and Brian.
"God guys! You scared us to death!" Brian exclaimed, trying to catch his breath.
They were all cracking up on the spot when suddenly; Joey saw something poking out of poking out oh Brian's pocket.
"Bri, is-is that Jeff's sunnies?!"
Brian looked at him as if he had seen a ghost.
"Lauren, I told you this wouldn't work!"
The pair exchanged looks and went to run for the door but Meredith shut it and stood in front of the door with a smug look on her face.
"We're cornered Bri!" Lauren squealed and started giggling.
"There is no laughing in the interrogation room Miss Lopez." Meredith popped up from the back of the room. She turned off the lights and Joey turned on the bed-side lamp. "Now, we have a proposition for you both."
"Return the Sunnies and carry on with the game fairly. OR…" Meredith looked to Joey for some help with the ideas.
"Or… uh, be our slaves for an entire weekend!" Joey said with excitement in his eyes. Whereas Meredith just face-palmed herself in the thought of Brian and Lauren following them both around.
Lauren and Brian exchanged glances and decided; "SLAVES!"
"Joey! WHAT HAVE YOU GOT US INTO?!" They were all laughing at this point.
"Maaaaaaan are we gonna piss you off!" Lauren teased as she poked Joey in the side.
"Oh, Miss Stepien, what will you have me do, my royal pain-in-the highness?!"
Laughing on the bed hysterically, Darren and Julia came in and gave them the most confused look you could ever pull. Seeing them on the bed laughing made them wonder what was going on.
"Lau-Lauren, p-p-put the glass-s-s-ses baaaack!" Joey tried to tell Lauren between breathing and laughing. So Lauren reached into Brian's pocket and grabbed the Sunnies. She placed them on the bed-side table.
Darren turned on the lights and moved towards them with a smile beaming on his gorgeous face.
"Guys, come one, carry on with the game! The night is young and there are more games to come!"
"Pay up, Richter!"
Begrudgingly, Joey pulled out $10 out of his wallet and gave it to Meredith.
"Alright, now go find other items!" Julia shouted at all of them.
Still laughing, they walked out, playing and pushing each other. But Brian misjudged how light Lauren actually was…
"OH SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIT!"
All you could hear was banging coming down the stairs, with multiple steps following the ruckus.
All you could see was Lauren lying on the floor… unconscious.
