Chapter 4
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"Want to come inside?" Lilly offered.
Joe nodded and stood up. He followed her in the house and they sat together on the couch. It was very awkwardly quiet.
"So...what did you want?" Lilly asked, trying not to sound rude.
"I..just feel bad about what happened earlier." Joe replied. "That's not how I wanted it to go...you know, seeing you again...finally."
Lilly nodded. "Joe, seriously, it's really upsetting to see what you've become and I remember when I left, dreaming every night about how great things would be when I came back..."
"I know." Joe looked into Lilly's eyes. "Do you completely hate me?"
"I could never hate you, Joe." Lilly responded. "You really piss me off, and I love you but right now I'm not in love with you."
"I can live with that for now anyway." Joe replied.
"Why did you do this to yourself?" Lilly asked after a minute of silence.
"I don't really want to talk about it." Joe answered.
"Joe, if you want me to forgive you and us to work things out then you need to be honest." Lilly replied.
"I can't talk about it." Joe said softly.
"Why not?" Lilly demanded.
"Stop it." Joe responded.
"If you aren't going to tell me, then I want you to leave." Lilly replied.
"Fine, whatever." Joe stood up and went out the door.
Lilly shook her head and took her cell phone out. Then she called Miley. "Hello?" Miley answered after the second ring.
"Hey." Lilly replied.
"What's going on?" Miley asked.
"Well..Joe was here when I got back from the Jonas'." Lilly responded.
"What happened?" Miley questioned, surprised.
"We talked a little, but then he got all upset when we started talking about his drinking problem and stuff like that, and he wouldn't be honest with me, so I told him to leave." Lilly explained.
Miley rolled her eyes. Lilly may seem as if she matured on the outside, but her and Joe still had the maturity they had when they were younger when it came to relationships. "Lilly, maybe it's not something he's ready to talk to you about."
"If he wants me to trust him, then he needs to talk to me." Lilly replied.
"I know, but sometimes its just hard you know?" Miley asked.
"Sure." Lilly said.
"But I'm going to go..unless you needed anything." Miley replied.
"No, it's fine." Lilly answered. "Talk to you later."
"Yeah, bye." Miley responded.
"Bye." Lilly added before hanging up.
Miley was sitting at the table eating supper with Nick when she got off the phone with Lilly. "What happened?" Nick questioned.
Miley explained what Lilly had just told her. "I wish she'd give him a break, you know?"
"Yeah, but she also deserves an explanation. Joe needs to tell her, it might hurt, but the truth needs to come out." Nick replied.
"He won't talk to anyone about it." Miley pointed out.
Nick wanted to say that Joe always had talked with him about it, but that was between them he didn't want Miley knowing and then expecting him to tell her everything. "Yeah, well she's got more to do with it than anyone else..she should realize what she did to him."
Miley nodded slowly in agreement. "If she doesn't stop being so stubborn she could do a lot worse being back here."
Nick agreed. Joe's moods seemed really up and down since she was back. He'd noticed when they talked earlier.
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Joe was sweating, he didn't care though. He was wearing a thick hoodie zipped up with the hood up and a pair of dark sunglasses. He didn't want to be at home, and he didn't want people to see him out.
Joe walked into the bar a few blocks from his house and ordered a few drinks to start himself off. His phone beeped after a few minutes at the table. He had a text message from Nick. I heard what happened..let me know if you want to talk.
Joe hit reply. I'm fine He ordered another drink.
Nick sent another text message back. Where are you at?
Joe didn't even care about lying anymore. Safari. He responded.
Less than a minute later, his phone rang. "What?" Joe questioned.
"Dude, either go home or I'm coming down there." Nick ordered.
"And what good do you think you coming down here will do?" Joe asked. "Are you trying to scare me?"
"Joe, don't be an asshole." Nick replied. "I'm trying to help you."
"I don't need your help or anyone else's." Joe told Nick.
"The only reason I texted you was because I heard what happened with Lilly. You need to just tell her the whole story of what happened." Nick explained.
"Yeah right." Joe replied.
"Look, I don't even want to talk to you right now, and I'm not going to try and fight you when you're like this, so whatever.." Nick said. He could tell Joe wasn't going to say anything else, so he hung up.
"Are you ok?" Miley asked Nick.
"Yeah, I can't stand Joe like this." Nick replied.
"Hopefully they work things out soon then." Miley hugged Nick to try to make him feel better.
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Let me know what you thought of the chapter. I'll try to post more soon.