So, little rushed but I really wanted to get this out. Thank you so so much for the reviews, they always make my day.
A special thank you to Little Miss Bovver for the reviews/positive feedback, you're a star.
Enjoy all :)
November
"Josie! Hey, wait up!" Josie paused from walking out of the lecture hall to see Thomas shoving through the crowd of students and waving frantically in her direction. She paused and smiled warmly in his direction.
"Hey Tommy, how'd you do?" He rolled his pale gray eyes at her before forcing a smile, all the while clutching the paper they'd just received back.
"Josephine," He drawled in a proper accent, "it is Thomas. And full marks, of course." Josie tried to bite back a smirk as she enjoyed shortening his name, knowing full well how aggravated and uppity he got when she did. Thomas of Something-or-Other liked everyone to address him by his full and proper aristocratic name. She decided those rules didn't apply to her since she was a Yank.
"Myself as well received full marks." She stuck her nose up in the air haughtily and gave a sly smile in Thomas' direction, finally earning a smile out of him, "You need to learn to relax. Your time in those fancy British boarding schools has a stick wedged so far up your bum it's a shock you managed to lower yourself to speak to me."
Thomas pulled a shocked face before sputtering, "Aw, Joze that's not fair…I just, I'm just - …"
"Oh relax, I was just jokin'. Friends do that, ya know?" A huge grin broke out on Thomas' face and Josie smiled back slightly. He was a tad bit stiff but nonetheless handsome in a pretty boy type way that held no interest for Josie. She studied his face blankly, mentally comparing him to Pete. Feeling nothing at all but friendship she turned away and began to walk outside.
"So what are you doing for the rest of the day?" he questioned.
"My plan was lunch now then library for ohhh," she glance down at her watch theatrically, "about a week until I finish up this paper for Conflict Studies."
"Want some company?"
Josie hesitated ever so slightly, "Sure, why not? Come on then, I'll treat ya to some chips."
The pair walked quickly out of the large Kings College hall into the blustery London day, cutting through the courtyard to reach the street. Josie's boots clicked loudly on the cobbled path around the fountain and she wrapped her wool coat around her tightly, fuck its cold today. Just as they neared the gate her face broke into a large grin at the sight of the tall blonde man striding towards her.
"Pete." She breathed out softly.
"Erm, my name is Thomas, remember we just went over this." He looked down at her in confusion causing Josie to smack his arm lightly before running towards the figure in the long trench. She wrapped her arms around him as she threw herself into his warm embrace and planted a kiss on his lips, lingering for a few moments.
"Hi you, what're you doin' here?? Thought you had classes all day?" Pete set her down on the ground, his blue eyes carefully taking in the tall, willowy guy that Josie had been walking with. His eyes narrowed slightly at him before he gave a casual shrug as he turned his attention back to her.
"I do, but I convinced Paddy to take my afternoon PE class so I could sneak out and take my best girl to lunch."
Josie pulled a face, "I better be your only girl, Dunham." she said as she poked his chest sharply.
Pete gave a short laugh before leaning down and pecking her on the cheek while wrapping his arm possessively around her waist and whispering in her ear, "There'll never be another."
Josie felt her heart flutter as she smiled up at him and nearly turned to lead him away until she remembered her prior plans, "Shit Tommy, I mean Thomas, I'm sorry…do you mind? He did come quite a ways and changed teachers and such." She rattled off quickly and her face burned slightly.
Thomas and Pete simply stared each other down as she continued "And by the way, this is my boyfriend, Pete. Pete, this is my friend Thomas." She gestured between the two with one hand, the other clasped firmly in Pete's hand.
Thomas looked Pete up and down, "Pleasure." His tone clearly indicating otherwise but nonetheless he managed to turn to Josie with a smile, "It's no problem love, rain check it is." Pete glared over Josie's head at the pet name, a look that Thomas pointedly ignored.
Josie sighed in relief, completely unaware of the tension between the two men, "Thanks, save me a seat in the library? I promise I'll bring you a cookie if you do," she said smiling up at him.
Thomas smiled back at her, "Sure, I'll grab your books too. Are they in the same place?"
"Yup. And thanks, I'll see you in a bit." Josie turned on her heel quickly and began dragging Pete out into the street before the two could exchange any more words.
"Whose that poncey bloke?" Josie rolled her eyes at Pete's gruff tone and pulled him to a stop.
"Aw, big bad boyfriend isn't jealous, is he?" She stood on tiptoes to pull him into a kiss and he pulled away grumpily.
"You've no idea how men eye you up and down."
"Hmph, kinda like you do?" She arched an eyebrow questioningly at him and he groaned in frustration.
"But I'm allowed to," he whined, "boyfriend law. Other blokes should just bloody well keep their eyes to themselves."
"Babe, Thomas isn't the least bit appealing to me. You're the only one I see, ya big idiot." She planted a soft kiss on his lips and Pete felt any tension from the prior meeting fall to the wayside, "Now feed me, I'm stah-vin'."
"Your wish is my command." Pete pulled her into side, kissed the top of her head softly and began to lead her down the street.
"I mean, you shoulda seen the way this bloke was eyeing her up and down, like she was a piece of meat." Dave and Swill simply rolled their eyes and ignored Pete's comment – they'd feigned interest the first day but after three days of non-stop worrying they were at their wits end.
"Mate, do us all a favor?" Ike said then waited for Pete to respond to make sure he had his full attention.
He tipped back on two legs of his chair before replying "Yeah and what's that bruv?"
Ike leaned over the table before loudly saying, "Shut. The. Fuck. Up." He counted the words off on one hand, continuing "We've listened to you bitch for the past three days about some fool Joze is friends with from school. Josie is fuckin' head over heels for you, a blind man could see that and she isn't bout to leave you for some poncey fella. So shut it and grab us some more pints." Pete's eyes momentarily flashed with fury preparing to hit Ike but stopped at the sound of the familiar voice from behind him.
"Jesus Pete, you're still on about Thomas? Therapy babe, try it. And quit actin' like I'm some hussy who's goin' round behind her boyfriends back." Pete cringed and returned his chair to the ground before turning around slowly.
There he was met with the sight of Josie, wearing a pair of black yoga pants and one of his huge West Ham sweatshirts, her face bright red from the cold November night. She had her hands on her hips and was glaring slightly at him.
"Oops." He breathed sheepishly, hanging his head in shame.
Josie stared down at him and her brown eyes softened at the sight of him with his head in his hands, "You're an idiot. Now, do as Ike says and grab us some pints." Pete stood up and swept her into his arms, kissing her deeply which earned disgusted groans from the boys gathered around the table. He inhaled the sweet scent of her shampoo as he hugged her close to his body, pressing her against him.
"Fuck, I love you – know that?" He whispered into her ear and she blushed lightly before kissing him on the nose.
"Love you too," she whispered back, "Now stop tryin' to weasel outta buyin' me a drink. Go on, shoo, I'll keep your seat warm." She waved him away from her and he gave one final kiss to her cheek before heading towards the bar.
Two Hours Later
Josie was perched on Pete's lap, giggling helplessly as Swill finished telling the story of their first GSE fight, "So's the copper starts pissin' right next to the trash can I'm hidin' behind; pissed all over my shoes, the twat. I had to sprint back to the Abbey in soggy pee sneakers."
Josie doubled over in laughter and Pete held onto her waist tightly as he cracked up too – he'd somehow forgotten about Swill's first fight and subsequent encounter with the law. He felt the buzz of Josie's phone in the bag next to him for what felt like the tenth time that night. He nuzzled his face into her neck, "Joze, your phone again."
"Argh, gimme it. Whoever it is seems hell bent on chattin' with me." She murmured to him and he reached into her open bag to grab it, placing it in her waiting hand, "Ere love."
"Thanks baby," she kissed his cheek softly, "Hm, weird…my brothers have been calling. Ten missed calls in the past two hours." She furrowed her brow in confusion, hit the send button and walked away from the table to hear her brother better.
The rest of the boys continued to laugh and yell but Pete simply stared after her, his eyes filled with concern. She seemed to have gotten hold of one of her brothers and he watched in horror as her face turned deadly pale and her brown eyes began to fill with tears. He was at her side in an instant, "But – but, I don't understand. How could this happen?" Pete listened as her words became more and more frantic; her voice getting higher and higher as she started to argue with whichever sibling was on the line.
"I don't care, Eams, I'm on my way. I'll meet you there." Her voice had become determined the longer she'd argued with her brother but as she hung up the phone, she looked up at Pete and the pain in her eyes nearly broke him.
The tears she'd been fighting began to roll down her face and her voice cracked slightly, "My dad had a heart attack; he's in the hospital. They…the doctors aren't sure – he's critical." She threw herself into his arms and he held her tight, stroking her soft hair as she sobbed into his shoulder. He didn't know what else to do, her frantic sobs were breaking his heart and he had no idea how to fix it.
"You're ok love," he said, knowing damn well she wasn't, "come on I'll get you home." The boys were all staring at the two of them, concern filling their eyes at Josie's tear stained face and the way Pete was helping her stand, his arm wrapped around her waist protectively. He leaned down to grab her bag, never loosening his grip on her.
Josie sobbed the entire walk back to her flat and Pete tried desperately to offer words of comfort. When that failed he simply held onto her tight, stroking her hair and kissing the tears away as best he could. He opened the door to her place with his key and led her into the small living room. His phone trilled loudly and he glanced at it to see Dave calling but hit the ignore button, keeping all of his concentration on Josie.
"Love, talk to me." She had curled up onto the couch and he sat down next to her, lifting her head up carefully and placing in on his lap. She didn't say anything. Tears continued to roll down her cheeks and he sat stroking her hair, not knowing what else to do as his jeans became soaked with her tears.
After about twenty minutes of silence, broken only by her sobs, Josie finally sat up slowly, "I have to go home." Pete stared at her tear-streaked face, blotchy red spots marring her pretty features. He wiped a stray tear away from her eye with his thumb and she stared up at him silently.
"I know you do babe, I'll grab your computer." He cringed slightly at having to leave her for even a second and he walked quickly into her room to find her laptop in her schoolbag. He smiled slightly as he turned it on and saw her background picture – it showed a candid of the two of them: they were in the Abbey, Josie was seated in her usual place (his lap) and he was kissing her neck as she threw her head back in laughter. He returned to the living room to find Josie staring blankly at the photos of her family scattered around the room.
"Here gorgeous, turned on and everything." She tried to put a smile on her face but it simply came out as a grimace.
"Thanks, you." He returned to his place on the couch next to her and she climbed onto his lap, the computer perched on her knees. He watched in silence as she quickly went to multiple airline sites looking for the earliest flight possible. She seemed to find one and she grabbed her credit card from her wallet to pay. Pete's heart broke as he watched her first check her balance – he knew she couldn't afford a nearly 600 pound flight home. His heart thudded painfully as he realized it was a one-way flight home.
"Find one?"
She cringed, "Yeah, leaves at 9:30. You'll take me to Gatwick?" She looked up at him, pleading with her eyes. Did she actually think he'd say no?
"Of course," he nodded, "you wanna try to get some sleep?"
She nodded her head in response and he swept her up into his arms, carrying her into her bedroom. He set her down carefully on the bed, kneeling down next to her to gently pull off her sneakers. She sat up and pulled his oversize sweatshirt off her slim frame, "Stay?" Again, she looked up at him, pleading with him as though he would actually ever leave her.
He didn't respond instead he crawled into bed, wrapping his arms around her and she buried her head in his chest. She sobbed slightly and he felt his chest grow wet with tears. He pulled her close to him just trying to comfort her, "I love you." He whispered into hair and she looked up at him, trying to smile.
"I love you." Josie finally succeeded in giving a genuine, albeit small, smile up at him.
Her heart hurt painfully in her chest and her thoughts continued to stray to worst case scenarios for her father. Yearning for a distraction she pressed her lips softly to Pete's and he responded quickly, wrapping his arms even tighter around her and rolling her onto her back, covering her body with his. He kissed down her neck softly, trying to force as much love into them as possible – he had no idea how long she'd be gone, if she'd ever come back at all.
Josie pulled his shirt up and over his head, running her hands down his chest and when she reached his pants she quickly unbuckled them, using her feet to pull them down, "Joze, you sure?"
Her response was to wiggle out of her own pants, revealing a tiny white thong and she pulled her tank top off quickly, "Please, I need you to love me." The way she pled with him caused Pete to throw all caution into the wind and he quickly helped her lean up, removing her bra. He nibbled slightly at her collarbone, kissing his favorite freckle that lay just next to the hollow at the base of her neck before reaching her breasts.
No matter how many times he saw her naked he couldn't help but become breathless at the sight. She was gorgeous and she was his and he was scared to death he was going to lose her. He momentarily felt guilty at the selfish thoughts but pushed them from his mind, turning his full attention back to her. If she needed love, she'd get it.
He practically ripped her thong down her legs and entered her roughly, she arched her back, moaning slightly and he kissed her still tear-stained face. She held onto his shoulders as though her life depended on it, digging her nails into his back as he continued to thrust into her. It didn't take long before she was whimpering his name and she clenched around him, finishing with a loud cry. Long, pleasure filled minutes passed and she attacked the spot on his neck that always made him groan and he finished quickly, collapsing onto her as she sighed with pleasure.
He kissed her cheek tenderly, then her nose, and finally her soft mouth, "I love you. I promise I'll help you get through this," she gave a slight sob at that but he continued – she needed to know how he felt, "If you're gone a week or a year, I'll be waiting. Me and you, it's the only thing in this world I'm sure of." Tears streamed down her face and she gave him a soft kiss.
"I'll come back to you, I swear." Her brown eyes stared deeply into his and he knew she would.
Josie nestled into his chest, kissing the West Ham crest softly as she always did just before falling asleep. Normally, Pete followed quickly but tonight he sat watching her sleep, clutching her to him tightly. She sniffled slightly and occasionally a stray tear would seep from her eye and he would immediately wipe it away. Around three in the morning he finally dozed off and what felt like only minutes later but was in fact three hours he woke up to find the spot next to him empty and cold.
Disoriented, he swung his feet to the ground, as always cringing as his bare feet made contact with the cold floor, "Joze?"
He grabbed a pair of shorts he must have left there during warmer days, pulling them on as he walked into the kitchen. Josie was seated on top of the counter, phone pressed between her ear and shoulder. He walked towards her and she moved her legs apart to allow him to enter the space between them and hold her close to him. She wrapped her legs around him, softly tracing shapes on the nape of his neck.
"So no change?" the response on the other end was quick and clearly a negative as her face fell, "It's just after six here. My flight leaves at 9:30, lands in Logan around noonish." He watched her as she listened to her brother's instructions, "No, I'm not checking a bag. I'll meet you at the hospital. I'll see you soon, if he wakes up tell him I'm on the way and that I love him." Her voice cracked painfully and tears again began to leak from her eyes. She tightened her grip around Pete's waist and he planted a kiss on her shoulder reassuringly, "Ok, love you too Col."
"You all packed?" Pete asked, his heart clenching in his chest.
"Yeah, just the essentials; I don't know how long I'll be there but I can always buy more clothes." She tried to shrug casually but all she could think about was the unknown of what was going to meet her when she stepped off that plane. Pete leaned down giving her a soft kiss before lifting her off the counter and setting her on the ground.
"Well grab your stuff love, we gotta run home and grab my car then I'll take you over, kay?" She nodded in agreement, scurrying into her bedroom to grab the bag she'd packed silently as Pete had slept. Pete followed; searching through her bottom drawer where she kept clothes he'd left at her place. He pulled on an old t-shirt and he smiled slightly at Josie's outfit. She'd dressed in her favorite pair of jeans and a plain white tee but had pulled his sweatshirt on over. She was swimming in and he grinned at her, knowing how she loved the smell him that lingered on the old sweatshirt.
"I'm ready." She said in a small voice as she threw a small duffle bag over her shoulder, grabbing her Ipod off her bedside table. Pete took the bag from her and held his hand out to her, she took it quickly and he led them out of her apartment.
"I'll come by while you're gone, just to check in. Maybe go through your underwear drawer, try 'em on…ya know - what I usually do while you're gone." She shoved her shoulder into him slightly, managing to return his grin with a small one of her own.
"I bet you look good in frilly pink thongs Dunham, they seem to be your style." Pete tried to keep the conversation light as they walked the few blocks over to his apartment and it seemed to work, though Josie rarely said more than a sentence in response.
"Want me to grab you some breakfast?" She looked queasy at the thought of food and he held up his hands in surrender, "Ok, no food. Stay here love, I'll run upstairs and grab my keys."
Pete was in and out within three minutes. The car ride to Gatwick was mostly silent and Josie gripped his hand tightly the entire way. He insisted on parking and taking her in and to the gate. He led the way silently, bag over his shoulder and his free arm wrapped around her.
All too soon, Josie was checked in and waiting to head through security. A fresh round of tears now stained her face, this time at the prospect of leaving Pete. How could the two people I needed most in this world be on opposite sides of the ocean?
Pete rubbed his hands up and down her arms, "It'll be alright gorgeous, call me as soon as those wheels hit ground." She wrapped her arms around him, clinging to him tightly.
"I will," her voice muffled into his chest, "I wish you could be with me." Pete's stomach clenched and he held onto her like a drowning man.
"I do too." He ran his hands through her long, brown hair, kissing her forehead softly, "I love you. Now go on, yer family needs you."
She tried to smile at him and she stood on tiptoes to kiss him softly, "I love you too. I'll call as soon as I hit pavement."
Josie gave him one final kiss before heaving her bag over her shoulder and striding as confidently as she could through security. Pete stared after her, watching for as long as she was in sight. Once she'd passed the gauntlet of guards she turned, gave a half way and pathetic smile in his direction. She mouthed the words 'I love you' and he grinned back at her.
He stared after her until she finally left his view and all he could think about was how his entire life was getting on a plane to fly three thousand miles away and he had no idea when she'd be back. A tear rolled down his face and he furiously wiped it away, turning on his heel and striding out of the terminal.
Things are starting to pick up - it's not always rainbows and butterflies. Matt will be appearing next chapter so you have that to look forward to!
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