Chapter Five

Joey was in foul mood the following day at work. Charlie had spent the rest of the previous night trying to apologise but Joey had been too hurt to hear it. It was the first time since they'd got together, that they hadn't fallen asleep in each other's arms. Joey had slipped away in the morning without saying goodbye or waiting for Charlie's confused little murmur.

"Are you okay?" Lauren asked.

Joey was always in a good mood, regardless of the time of day but she'd been sullen all morning. Joey nodded and shrugged and concentrated on what she was doing.

"Joey?" Lauren urged.

"I'm fine," Joey replied.

She did not want to talk about the ridiculous argument she and Charlie had had. Lauren frowned and let her be.

"You've got company," Lauren said.

Joey looked up and saw Charlie approaching, holding a bouquet of flowers. She sighed and smiled simultaneously. Charlie hovered awkwardly. Joey climbed down to meet her; aware that Lauren and all the other crew members were now watching them.

"Please forgive me," Charlie said.

"I do. I shouldn't have ignored you last night... I just... How could you accuse me of cheating on you?" Joey said, feeling bad for ramming home to point so frequently.

"Because I'm an idiot," Charlie told her, offering the flowers.

Joey accepted them and smiled.

"I'll change," Charlie promised.

"Don't change," Joey told her. "You are an idiot but you're my idiot. And I love you."

Charlie felt like life had finally rushed into her again after a night of absence. She reached out to embrace Joey and held her a little too tightly.

"I love you too," she said. "I'm sorry."

"You don't need to keep apologising. It's done now," Joey said.

Charlie smiled and squeezed Joey's hand gently, finally releasing her body.

"I'd better let you get back to work," Charlie said, not really wanting to.

"Meet me for lunch at the Diner?" Joey suggested.

Charlie nodded and kissed Joey before letting her and her flowers get back on board.

"So, what was all that about?" Lauren asked when Joey finally settled to take a much needed tea break. She was quite obviously referring to Charlie's flowers, which were now sitting in a bucket of water on deck so they didn't dry out.

"Oh, we just had a falling out," Joey replied vaguely.

She didn't feel particularly comfortable talking about it with Lauren, considering it had been her hands that had provoked the argument in the first place.

"I didn't have you two pegged as capable of arguing," Lauren commented, sitting beside her.

Joey half laughed.

"You have no idea," she replied.

She thought back to how difficult it had been to get together in the first place. So frightened of her feelings and what the town would think of her, Charlie had rejected Joey time and again. She'd pulled her in so many different directions at first. She'd kissed her and then run away. Then she'd come back and told her nothing could happen between them. And then finally, when she'd realised that Joey was all set to leave town, she'd given in and accepted that they loved each other. She'd taken a huge risk and received a lot of abuse, particularly from Joey's brother, but they'd got through it together. Now, the idea of them as a couple was just as normal as anyone else's relationship. It had taken a little while but eventually, they could mostly walk down the street hand in hand, without stares or comments and people seemed to accept them for who they were.

"Keeps the passion alive, I guess," Lauren said. "My ex and I didn't even have that!"

Joey smiled sadly, feeling bad that Lauren was lonely and didn't have someone beautiful to love like she did. Lauren smiled back.

"So, did you steal all the covers or something?" Lauren probed.

Joey chuckled.

"No, she just got it into her head that..."

"What?" Lauren asked when Joey trailed off.

Joey sighed heavily.

"She accused me of having an affair. I mean, as if!"

Lauren raised her eyebrows.

"Why would she do that?" she asked.

"I have no earthly idea."

"You're not, are you?"

Joey looked aghast and opened her mouth to snap. Lauren put up defensive hands.

"I'm teasing," she said.

Joey shut her mouth and frowned.

"I'm not ready to be teased yet."

Lauren allowed her mind to play with the images Joey's sentence had provoked for a moment and then returned from the gutter and back to the conversation.

"I don't even know where it came from."

"Hey, you don't think it was her own guilty conscience talking, do you?"

Joey looked startled.

"Sorry. No teasing."

"No. No teasing," Joey confirmed.

"Look, cut her some slack. If I had a girlfriend as beautiful as you, I think I'd probably be keeping tabs as well," Lauren said.

Joey blushed and shifted in her seat.

"She's very lucky to have you. I hope she knows it," Lauren added, walking away.

Charlie and Joey were seated at a table in the Diner, focussing far more on each other than their food but trying very hard not to flaunt excessive displays of affection. With the argument resolved, it had been forgotten about.

"Ooh, look," Joey said, finally looking up from where she had been absently playing with Charlie's hand but without withdrawing her touch.

"More gays in the village!"

Charlie looked up and spied a group of women.

"How do you know?"

Joey raised her eyebrows. If ever there was a stereotypical group, this was it.

"They might just be alternative," Charlie said.

They watched two of the women share a brief kiss.

"Or they might not be."

That evening, Joey and Charlie strolled across the beach hand in hand, smiling into the darkness.

"So, am I forgiven for being crazy and irrational in love?" Charlie asked, swinging round in front of Joey and slipping her hands onto her hips. Joey smiled and drew Charlie in closer.

"Almost," she grinned.

"Only almost?" Charlie asked, pouting.

"Well, you know what the best part of an argument is, don't you?"

She buried herself in Charlie's neck, placing delicate kisses across the throat and letting her hands trace patterns up and down Charlie's spine. Charlie felt her body tingle and she smiled. She moaned quietly as she felt Joey's hands begin to wander. She lifted Joey's chin and kissed her lips, allowing the contact to become deeper. There was no way on earth that she and Joey would ever let anyone get in the way.