"Have you seen Lauren since the pub?" Jack questioned
"Briefly." Jack pulled a face, "Hey. Don't blame me. I tried. Calls, text, even went round there. She wanted to hide away."
"And you just let her?" "Well, yeah. What was I supposed to do? Drag her out of the house kicking and screaming?"
"I don't know Joey" Jack shrugged "Shouldn't have let her wallow though. You may have left her alone, but I bet Dot, Cora and the rest all have managed to find her to give her their opinion"
Joey stayed silent "and Joey? She might act like nothing in the world bothers her" Joey nodded "But, people's opinions? They bother her. She does care. She's not made of stone."
"I know. I know. Yet another thing I messed up on the yeah?" he sighed.
"Not messed up, just could have acted different. You'll learn." He said with a smirk "I thought you were supposed to be good with the ladies?!" they both laughed.
"I am! I've just never really done the whole relationship thing" Jack nodded.
"You didn't exactly pick the easiest of girls to have a relationship with either, even ignoring the cousin aspect. You sure she's worth it? He said, raising an eyebrow.
Obviously he thought his niece was worth it, and deserved the best. But he wanted to hear Joey's answer.
He scoffed "Of course she is. She's well ... Lauren. She's worth it, she is." Jack laughed "brilliant way to describe her there, Joey. Now go order us some coffees whilst I read over your texts, & work out how you are going to fix it as you, my boy, still have no idea what you said"
Joey laughed, still confused, but stood up and went over to order two black coffees. He looked around, and smiled when he realised his Uncle Jack was legit writing him a list of where he went wrong. Marie said she'd bring them over so Joey walked back over to the table.
"Right. We're going to have two chats I think. One, man-to-man, an uncle sharing his wisdom with his nephew, yeah? How to win her back around when you mess up. Whilst ignoring the fact said girl you need to fix things with, well she's my niece"
He pulled a face. "Then if you want, I'll talk to you as Joey, Lauren's boyfriend. A guy wanting to know more about well, what makes Lauren, Lauren."
"Sounds great, Uncle Jack. Seriously. Thank you." Jack shakes his head, it's for family. You do anything you can to help family. The door opens, Lauren's finally arrived, she goes to order a coffee to take away whilst texting on her phone.
Lauren chuckled to herself as she ordered her coffee, she could feel Joey's gaze on her. She'd remembered a random conversation she had with him where he mentioned how good he thought she'd looked at her mum's hen-night. It's not her fault she decided to wear that outfit one day he was being an idiot, was it? She turned and caught him staring, and smirked.
Joey – damn. Damn. Damn. She looked hot. Tight top, leather jacket, tiny shorts, tights and boots. Damn. She didn't even look that hung-over either. He had a feeling she's worn this on purpose. He ran his gaze over her, again. When she catches his eye, and smirks, he knows she did.
Jack – Damn, his niece has skills. Joey's going to be playing with fire. Round 1 to Lauren he thinks.
She walked over to their table "Hand over the money then Uncle Jack" she said with a playful grin, he laughed at her "You are totally singing that shopping, shopping, shopping song you & Abs made up in your head aren't you?"
Jack pulled out his wallet before saying "Actually Lady Branning, I've just got to nip to the gym, get you some more spending more" he smirked.
She rolled her eyes but sat down in his place as he stood up. "She's got expensive tastes this one, Joey. You've been warned" Joey laughed, Lauren rolled her eyes again as Jack left. She sat there, picking at her nails totally blanking him.
He sighed, got up and moved round to her side of the table. Two people weren't really meant to fit in the booths, so it was a tight fit, not that he minded. She raised an eyebrow at him and looked at him warily, wondering what he was up to.
"How am I supposed to apologise properly from all the way over there?" he said, she half-smiled before gesturing with her hand for him to continue talking.
"I need to apologise, I hate making you upset." He leaned in and kissed her forehead,
"So this is me asking for you to forgive me" he kissed her cheek "I'm sorry for messing up baby" he kissed the corner of her mouth, and she smiled.
"And I can't actually remember the rest of what I wanted to say, because you distracted me" he said as he kissed her jaw line. She scoffed "I distracted you?"
"Because you're so beautiful"
"You're a sappy idiot" she said with a laugh
"But you love me anyway" he said with a smile.
"Hmm I guess" she said smirked back at him, the gap between their mouths getting closer.
"And I love you" he said, which made her smile.
"You're still an idiot though" she said, always wanting the last word.
"I know, I know. But we're gonna be okay yeah?" he said. He knew he'd still have to work out exactly what he still that upset her and fixed up, but he didn't want her to still be hurt over whatever it was.
"We will be" she said.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. If you want this to work," she paused and he nodded "and I want this to work. Then we'll just have to make it work then, won't we." He leaned in to kiss her properly, and felt her smile into it.
"Eh-hem. I know I said I was fine with this" waving his hands at the two of them "but I do not want to see that" Lauren just laughed at his disgusted face and held her hand out for money whilst pouting & batting her eyelashes.
"See Joey, this. This is how Lauren gets what she wants" Jack said groaning but pulled money out of his jacket, like promised. Joey laughed whilst Lauren huffed "Nuh-uh. I'd use different tactics on Joey, wouldn't I babe" she said turning to Joey with a sexy smirk on her face, he just nodded, couldn't come up with a response to that. She'd caught him off guard; he still wasn't fully used to them being like this, openly. It was somewhat weird.
Jack passed Lauren the cash "Wait, Uncle Jack. I can't take this much." Lauren protested. He'd given her roughly £400. "Of course you can. Text Abi to meet up with her after her exam, go spoil yourselves" he said to his niece with a smile. "And discuss your boy issues with her. I don't wanna hear it" he still with a laugh as Lauren flung herself over the table to hug him.
"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you" she sang-spoke and she pocketed the money. "See typical girl." Jack said to Joey, as they both laughed. She grinned at him, before brushing against Joey's groin, as she shimmied over his lap to get out of the booth. He let out a groan, as Jack pulled a face and Lauren just laughed. She leaned in to kiss him, ignoring Jack's eww's and just as it was getting headed, and she pulled away.
"Have fun without me, with Uncle Jack babes. See you at 2. Don't be late. Be good, and I may just text you pictures of my new clothes, ooh and underwear. Wait, or shoes." she said with a grin, happy to be getting away from the Square, one arm hugging Jack before bouncing off, pulling out her phone to text Abi as she went.
What a tease, Joey thought. Wait, did she just say pictures. God, he groaned. She was actually trying to kill him.
Jack laughed at his discomfort. He wasn't fully comfortable with the idea of them together yet, but now having spent time with them, he could see it was real. Maybe if the rest of the family spent some time with the two together, they'd slowly come around to the idea.
"She's beating you by a landslide Joey". Joey raised an eyebrow "The outfit for your benefit?" Joey smirked.
"I guess you gain a point for winning her around enough to suck face" they both laughed
"Her little shimmy over you though?" Joey groaned.
He'd never been this into another girl, like ever. He couldn't even touch Lucy properly the night he tried to show Lauren he was over her. It just wasn't the same. "'Another point to her. That kiss?" Joey smirked, that was hot.
"Another. Teasing about pictures?" Joey groaned again. "She's besting you my boy. You need to step it up."
They shared a laugh before Jack goes to get them more coffee and some food and Joey pulls out his phone.
*Text message to Lauren* you're a tease, young lady. Looking forward to seeing you at 2. Have fun shopping x.
*Text message to Joey* Pft, me a tease? Never. Looking forward to our chat too babe ;) And I will x
His phone vibed again quickly *Text message to Joey* Oh and by the way, for future outfit shopping reference, what did you think of my outfit today? ;) x
She was a minx. A total minx. Out to get him. His phone vibed again.
*text message to Joey* If you don't remember my outfit, that's fine. I can send you a picture if your memory needs refreshing. Xx.
He groaned. Pure evil.
*Text message to Lauren* I think I can remember but a picture would make my memory even clearer. Thanks for looking out for me baby. X
