I apologise for the randomness of this update. I didn't want to leave it where it was for a week and risk coming back from my course to masses of abuse. So this was written quickly, but I enjoyed it and so I hope you will too. The mood is somewhat lighter than the previous chapter! I am leaving tomorrow and will be back in a week. There won't be many updates over the next 2 weeks (which I'm inexplicably sorry for, but I'll do as much as I can.) Keep reviewing, it means a lot. I love you all, hugs and butterfly kisses! – C xx
Chapter 25: How is this going to work?
'CANNON BAAAAAAAAAAAAALL!' Joe Walker yelled as he bombed off the roof over the pool, soaking Matt, Nick and Joe Moses who were standing by the edge.
'JOE I'M GOING TO KILL YOU IF THAT SOAKED MY CAMERA' Joe screamed as Walkers head surfaced above the water. He laughed and blew Moses a kiss, causing him to roll his eyes. At that moment, Joey appeared outside. He sat under the balcony where Julia was relaxing. She looked at him and he shook his head.
'Okay Joey-Joe. Don't worry about it, I'm here to talk if you need.' She gave him a quick hug and wiped his face clean of tears. 'Try and cheer up a bit sweetie, we're on holiday after all!' He grinned and picked Julia up.
'COME ON DARLING, LET'S HAVE FUN IN THE POOL!' He yelled, and, despite her screaming in protest, threw her face first into the water. The others looked on in horror as Julia pulled herself out and glared furiously at Joey.
Lauren broke the tension by yelling: 'GUYS, WE'RE TRYING TO MAKE A WATERPARK SO CAN YOU PLEASE MOVE OUT THE WAY THANK YOU LOVE YOU NICE YES YUM.' They turned to look at her, holding what appeared to be a large sheet of tarpaulin.
'Lauren-' Joey began. 'What the hell are you doing with that?' She smiled a scary grin before bending down and tying two of the corners to the edge of the roof. She flung the remainder of the sheet off the roof where it floated on the water, slipping across the glassy surface. Then, with a triumphant grin and a length of rope, she dove in after it. She remained underwater for what seemed like a ridiculously long time before surfacing and taking a huge gulp of air. The tarpaulin was now tied to two pegs in the centre of the pool, and whilst attached at the top, created a fairly steep slopethat reached the walls surrounding the pool.
'VOILA! Water-slide!' Lauren jabbered excitedly before running upstairs and climbing out of the window onto the roof again. 'CAN YOU CHUCK UP THE GARDEN HOSE THINGIE PLEASE.' Joey complied, throwing one end up to her. She secured it to the top and Joey turned it on. Water ran down the tarpaulin and dripped into the pool. Lauren, excited as anyone had ever seen her, grabbed a foam mat from the floor and before anyone could question the safety precautions of what she was about to do, flung herself down the 'slide.' She reached the pool extraordinarily quickly and emerged laughing hysterically.
After that, there was pandemonium. Everyone wanted a go. Whilst that was going on, Meredith sat on a bench in the shade, watching the action. It wasn't that she was in pain that she wasn't joining in, actually, she felt perfectly healthy, but Joey's reaction had scared her. She didn't know what had happened to make him so upset, and so much more upset than the others.
Tyler was standing on the roof overlooking the pool. Well, actually he was standing on the window-ledge so that he could reach an iron ring that hung above the window. Brian was at the other side of the pool, only 2 metres from where Meredith was sitting, attaching one end of a thick cable to the lowest part of the over-hanging balcony. Tyler had just succeeded in attaching the other end to the ring. The two men grinned at each other and Brian ran back up to the roof.
'Is this going to hold?'
'Only one way to find out'
They grinned and Tyler swung a clothes hanger that they had re-enforced with sticks, metal poles and tonnes of duct tape over the wire. With a quick salute, he stepped off of the roof. The rope was slacker than they had thought, and he actually plummeted about 3 feet before sliding towards the far end of the pool at high speed. Before the hanger hit the end, he let go and gracefully flipped into the water, surfacing to great applause. The hangar was pulled back up on a pulley to allow the others to have a go.
Joey walked over and sat down next to Meredith, who was watching all her friends have fun with a gentle, loving smile on her face.
'I'm so sorry Mer.' Joey burst out. 'I had no right to do that, storm out. You have no idea why I did it and if I put myself in your place I wouldn't just be scared but I'd probably punch me in the face. It's just really hard to explain what happened and I'm not sure I'm ready to say everything yet. Is that okay?' He looked at her, his eyes looked so much like Darren's as he stared at her, large and puppy-like.
'I'm sorry too Jo-Jo.' The use of her old nickname for him made him choke up. She smiled and took a deep breath. 'It's horrible. Not knowing what's happened, especially when it was obviously something big, but I do want to give myself a chance to remember it. So I'll wait, that's fine.' She smiled up at him, he grinned back and hugged her tight. That would do, Joey thought. For now, it was enough.
Meredith's thoughts wandered, Joey couldn't know this, but she was thinking back to times with Joey that she could remember, and how she had felt about him and still did feel. Because Meredith hadn't only just fallen for Joey. She's loved him for three years and of course, she could still remember that.
This left the two of them in an unsolvable paradox. Each was in love with the other, and neither knew how the other felt. Joey could remember falling for Meredith that week, all the touches, kisses and laughter. Meredith had that only in her head, from what she had imagined being with Joey would be like from the previous three years, but had no recollection of anything actually happening.
As they drew apart from hugging, both had the irresistible urge to say something, but then, with a splash (that turned out to be Lauren breaking the zipline and falling into the pool) the moment was gone.