Okay, so I'm sorry for confusing you so much in the last chapter, hopefully this will clear a few things up for you.
Chapter Seven
Joey remained silent throughout lunch, scared that he'd say the wrong thing to Lauren.
He was so confused at the minute. The first time he had met Lauren, he felt an instant connection.
Then this morning Lauren didn't even know who joey was and Max had to introduce Joey to Lauren again, which not only confused Joey but it hurt him too, because they had shared a kiss and he felt a connection to her which was broken.
Then to confuse him even more, Lauren had forgotten Joey again just a minute later.
She had introduced herself to Joey again, but this time as Emily, who the heck was Emily?
Max looked between Lauren and Joey with concern, he could see that this was tearing Joey up inside, this was why he didn't want Joey to get involved with Lauren on an emotional level.
Lauren was a very complicated person at the minute but fortunately for Lauren and everyone else, today was the last day she had to take her medication, which was causing her memory issues.
Lauren took Oscar upstairs to play in his room which Max was grateful for. "Do you want to go to the pub? I think you deserve an explanation" Max told him, deciding that now was the time that he told joey what was really wrong with Lauren.
Joey glanced up at Max, having been broken from his thoughts. "Yeah who we going to talk about, Lauren or Emily?" Joey snapped.
"Look I know your upset" Max began. "Why does Lauren think her names Emily?" Joey asked him.
"Ssh come on" Max told him. Max and Joey got to the pub and Joey went and sat down while Max fetched the drinks.
There were a million thoughts going through Joey's head of what might have happened to Lauren, for sure he knew it was something bad.
Max had phoned Tanya and filled her in on what had happened while he was at the bar.
Tanya had gone home early to keep an eye on Lauren, knowing from max that she had took her medication.
Max got back to the table and there was an awkward silence as Max bided his time.
"So, you going to tell me what happened to Lauren?" Joey asked as he took a sip of his beer.
Max sighed to himself, before rubbing his hands over his face. "I don't even know where to start" he sighed.
"How did you meet Lauren?" Joey asked Max. "Tanya went to school with Laurens mum and they lost contact but they got back in touch when Mary, Laurens mum was pregnant with Lauren" Max told him.
"And what was she like?" Joey asked. "She was normal you know? Just a normal mother, she seemed okay" Max told him.
"Okay so what else?" Joey asked. "Well Tanya pestered me for ages to give Paul, who is Lauren's dad a job, so I did, well because Mary was pregnant with Lauren and they were struggling" Max told Joey.
"So you gave him a job then?" Joey asked. "Yeah, I found him a bit weird, I didn't really like him at all but Tanya convinced me to give him a chance" he sighed.
"So what happened?" Joey asked. "Well I never got on with Paul, he just creeped me out, he said weird things and just acted odd in general and after about four months he got another job in another marketing company" he said.
"So what did you lose contact?" joey asked. "Believe me I tried to but, Mary had the baby, Lauren and me and Tanya were asked to be godparents, basically we babysat Lauren a lot, they just weren't interested in her which I found really odd" max told him.
"Me and Tanya, we got really attached to Lauren, we adored her, I took her to work with me every day and I just couldn't grasp why they weren't interested in Lauren, I mean she's the first baby and they just didn't care" Max said.
"That is totally weird didn't you say anything?" Joey frowned. "I wanted to but Tanya told me to leave it because it would only cause trouble between us all and they'd probably stop us seeing Lauren" he told Joey.
"So basically we carried on as normal, I took Lauren to work with me every day but sometimes she was really moody then the next day she could be happy, then as she got older I noticed she could be limping or she'd be in a lot of pain, she'd have bruises on her and stuff but she told me she had some kind of condition that made her bruise easily" he sighed.
"Did she have a condition? And didn't her parents mind that she was never home with them?" Joey asked, confused.
"I don't think she had a condition and no they seemed happy, to be honest they were never that bothered about Lauren and were just happy to ha e her out the way".
"So how come your looking after Lauren now and how come she's suffering at the moment because that's what it seems like" Joey said.
"There was an accident" Max sighed. "What kind of accident?" Joey frowned, not liking the sound of any of what he was being told.
"Lauren had twin sisters, Grace and Daisy, she was babysitting them one night a couple of weeks ago while her mum and dad were out for the night and there was a break in at the house" max told him.
"She was on her own?" Joey asked, shocked. "Yeah, she was on the phone to me at the time, she was upstairs getting one of Tanya's bags that Mary had borrowed, I was out on the street waiting in my car when I saw all these guys break in the house, I immediately told Lauren to hide and she did" max sighed, as he swallowed a lump in his throat.
"Did anyone get hurt?" Joey asked. "The twins were killed, they got shot but the guys that broke in, they left before the police got there and Lauren wasn't hurt, she was a mess but she didn't get hurt" max told him.
"Oh my god, and that was just a couple of weeks ago?" he asked. "Yeah, the police got there along with her parents and they totally flipped out at Lauren and Paul hit Lauren, me and the police had to stop him" Max said.
"Wait he actually hit her even though there was a break in and it wasn't her fault?" Joey asked, in total shock.
"They made a statement saying that Lauren killed the twins and there was never no break in" max told him.
Joey almost chocked on his drink "What? Why would they do that?" Joey asked.
"They are really messed up, Lauren also made a statement, she really hated her parents they never loved her, never did anything for her and once she knew she had mine and Tanya's support she was able to tell the whole truth about everything" Max said.
"Everything?" Joey asked. "There's more?" he asked again. "Yeah, Lauren never had any kind of condition, she was actually physically abused all her life by her parents" he said.
Joey remained silent, not really having an answer to what Max just told him.
"She told me and the police that if me and Tanya couldn't babysit for her then she would just be left on her own, and they would hit her for no reason at all" max said.
"That is so messed up" Joey sighed. There was a silence that fell upon them before Joey thought of something.
"So where does the whole memory loss come in and why did she think her name was Emily?" Joey asked.
"Well Laurens real name is 'Lauren Emily Jones' and she told me that when she was little she used to pretend her name was Emily, it was her way of escaping this cruel life she'd been forced into living" max told joey.
"So this medication she's taking, it makes her memory backtrack but she had to take it because she was suffering depression from all the hate and bullying she was getting but today is her last day she had to take it" max said.
"Bullying?" Joey asked. "The story got on the news and the whole town thinks Lauren killed her sisters and one day while she was at the shops she was attacked by this woman, we took her in and we had to move here because it wasn't safe for us or for Lauren" max told him.
"This is big, will she go to prison?" Joey asked. "Well the trial has been moved forward to two weeks' time, so we'll find out then but with all Lauren's evidence it's more than likely Mary and Paul will go down for the murder of the twins and physical abusing of Lauren" he said.
"Wait, the murder too?" joey asked, wide eyed. "Yeah, apparently they set the whole thing up, they're messed up people" max sighed.
"Wow, I actually hate those two, can we go home, I actually really want to see Lauren" joey said.
"I'm going to ring Tanya, tell her to tell Lauren you know everything and you're supporting her, you are right?" Max asked joey.
"Course I am" Joey replied.
/
Lauren sat on her bed shaking like a leaf, joey knew every little detail about her whole life and it scared her how he was going to react even though Tanya had already told her he was supportive of her.
Max and Joey got back to the house and Tanya sent Joey upstairs to Lauren, but not before warning him to be gentle with her.
/
Joey knocked lightly on Laurens bedroom door, he heard her clear her throat before shouting for him to come in.
She was sat on her bed in her pyjamas, she looked so tired and weak, and Joey could tell she was scared of what was about to happen.
"Hi" Joey smiled as he walked over to her and sat next to her on the bed. "Hi" she replied back.
There was a silence for a minute as nobody spoke but Joey decided to break it.
"You know, you don't have to be scared no more Lauren, you have a lot of people on your side including me" he said.
"You don't hate me or think any less of me?" She asked him. "No way, you've been through a hell of a lot and I only see you as a stronger person for dealing with it all" he said.
Lauren dared a look up at him with tears eyes, nobody apart from Max had ever shown any interest or had been on her side before.
"Thank you" she told him. "You're not on your own Lauren and trust me everything is going to be okay" he told her, smiling.
Joey watched as her bottom lip started to wobble and he wasn't sure if his next move would scare her or not but he was willing to take that risk.
He scooped her up into his arms and lung her to his body into a tight hug as she finally let out a sob.
"It's okay" he told her. Joey sat her back down on the bed so they were sat cross legged in front of each other.
"I don't know if this is too much too soon for you and you can say no if you're not ready" Joey said, watching as she furrowed her eyebrows together.
"Will you go out with me?" he asked her. Lauren nodded at him enthusiastically as the remaining tears rolled down her cheeks "Yes".
Lauren surprised Joey as she made the first move this time, she leant forward and pressed her lips onto his.
She rested her hands on his shoulders as his placed themselves on her waist.
Joey slid his tongue across the bottom of Lauren's lip and she gained him entry straight away before their tongues danced together.
They pulled away moments later, breathless. Joey brought one of his hands up to cup her cheek, gently caressing it before tucking some lose hair behind her ear.
"You're so beautiful" He told her making her blush and causing Joey to chuckle.
"How about you get some sleep?" joey suggested. Lauren nodded at him before joey scooped her up into his arms, making Lauren giggle.
Joey successfully tucked her into bed and kissed her on the forehead. "Will you stay with me?" she asked him.
"Is that okay with you?" Joey asked. "I want you to" she told him. Joey smiled at her then stripped down to his boxers before climbing into bed and bringing Lauren close to him.
Lauren rested her head on his chest as joey kissed her forehead, she couldn't describe this feeling of feeling comforted and respected, it was something she had never felt before.
So I hope this answers some of your questions, leave a review please Xx
