I'm getting much better at faster updates!
As always thank you for the reviews & I hope you like this one...I'm still kinda iffy on it but I trust you'll give me your brutal honest opinion.
"We're now making our final approach into Boston; it's a cold, clear day here – temps hovering at about 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Please put your seats in their upright position and all tray tables locked in, we'll be on the ground in about 15 minutes." Josie sniffled slightly, feeling her chest tighten, knowing she was going to be landing soon. She'd spent half the plane ride bawling in her window seat, the couple next to her giving her sidelong glances of horror that she'd barely registered. All she knew at this point was that she felt like she'd left half her soul in England with Pete.
Once she'd finally stopped crying she'd stared blankly out the window, praying to whoever was out there to keep her father alive and to keep Pete safe. Now, she'd be seeing if one of her prayers was answered.
The plane finally landed roughly and as soon as the wheels touched ground Josie grabbed her phone and turned it on. She saw she'd received two texts while in flight: the most recent from her brother Colin saying he was at the gate waiting and the other from Pete that simply said 'you & me…love you.' Her stomach rolled at the words, wishing (and not for the first time) that he was by her side. She didn't realize how much she'd come to rely on him as her source of happiness until she'd had to leave him.
She brought her phone to her ear as she hit the speed dial, hearing half a ring before, "Joze, love? How are we, babe?" She sighed in relief at the sound of his voice.
"Hi," she breathed into the phone, "Just landed – we're still taxiing to the gate. I just wanted to check in quick."
Pete smiled at the sound of her voice, though he could hear the exhaustion in it, "I'm glad you did. I won't keep you long but call when you can, k?"
"Of course," she paused as she saw the couple next to her eyeing her curiously and she turned away from them, lowering her voice to say, "I love you Pete."
"I love you. I'll see you soon, call me if you need me – don't worry bout the time change either, I'm serious Joze, anytime you need me."
Josie managed a real smile for one of the first times since hearing about her dad, "Thanks Pete. Give Terry and the boys my love too. I'll call soon."
Just as she ended the call with Pete, her phone vibrated in her hand and she answered quickly when she spied who it was "Hey Col, just landed. I'll be out as quick as I can. How is he?"
"He's in surgery right now; he was lucid for a few minutes before that and we told him you were on the way and that you loved him – just as promised. He said he loves you and he'll be seeing you." His voice cracked slightly causing a fresh round of tears to well in her eyes. She leapt from her seat, impatiently tapping her foot while trying to will everyone in front of her to move faster.
It didn't work.
After about a half hour she was finally through passport control and out the gate. She spotted her brother's head towering over the crowd and she practically knocked a toddler down as she ran to him, throwing herself into his waiting arms, "Jesus Colin, it's good to see you. Let's go." She linked her arm through his and dragged him out the door.
Beating the rush to the taxi stand the two hopped in the back of one, "Mass General Hospital, please" Colin instructed the driver and Josie leaned into his side, praying with all her might that her father meant he'd see her in this world and not the next.
Three Weeks Later
"Heard from Ms. Josie lately?" Pete glanced up and was met with Terry's concern filled eyes. He flinched at the sound of her name and casually shrugged his shoulders.
"Yeah, she sounds…better; her dads out of the hospital and home now." And it was true, she did sound better, but that begged the question of why she was still gone.
Guilt bubbled in his chest as he selfishly thought about how she should be here with him, rather than across the ocean now that her dad was better. He felt like he was losing control of himself. He and the boys had gotten into with the Yids last night and he'd nearly beat their leader to death. He was going crazy without her and he still had no idea when she'd be back – every time he even broached the subject she quickly started rambling about something else.
Terry arched an eyebrow at Pete, "That's great mate." He seemed to sense Pete didn't want to talk about her anymore so he thankfully changed the subject, "So pay up Dunham, no tabs on match day – too likely you'll run out."
Pete smirked and patted his pocket to look for his wallet, feeling only emptiness, "Shit – musta lost it last night. Couldn't bend the rules just once, Terr?" Terry simply glared at him in response, "Ooook, I'll go pay a visit to Stevie then."
He leapt nimbly off the stool and glanced at his watch to see it was just after noon. As he strode toward the door he was suddenly blocked by one of the local girls.
"Hi ya Pete, good to see you." He stared blankly at her, trying to put a name to the face as she stared up at him hopefully. He took in her way too tight shirt, the face caked in makeup and the way she was trying to 'seductively' twirl a piece of stringy blonde hair around her finger. How the hell he was ever attracted to any of these local girls was beyond him. The only girl he'd ever be able to see anymore was Josie.
Finally coming up with her name, "Uh, nice to see you too Claire, but I'm just headin' out. I'll be back later."
He tried to skirt around her but Claire sidestepped and remained planted in front of him, "It's good to see you out on your own. You're too good for that Yank any way." She gave him a huge grin as Pete's mouth dropped open and his face burned with anger, his blood boiling at her words.
"Listen," his voice laced his venom, "Josie didn't leave me and there's no way in fuck I'm ever leavin' her, most especially not for a girl like you." He leaned down so he was inches from her face, "So do me a favor, love, go sell your shit somewhere else cause I'm not on the market." He finally shoved by the shocked girl whose face was now contorted in embarrassment and rage.
Pete stomped angrily out of the Abbey and into the fresh air of the day, those girls are unbelievable. Like I'm the one that's too good for Joze. He snorted to himself, shoved his hands into his coat and strode toward the nearest tube station to get to his brothers.
Pete took a swig of his beer and stared across the small kitchen at the shorter man leaning against the cabinet, "So 'ow are we, my colonial cousin?" He smirked as the other man responded in a real proper American accent that was nothing like Josie's carefree way of talking. He shook his head slightly, willing her out of his head for at least one night. He took another long gulp of beer, at this point booze was his only option of keeping thoughts of Josie at bay.
A minute later his brother reentered the kitchen, "Hey bruv, you couldn't make a hundred could you?"
Steve Dunham gave him a glare in return, "Yeah, how does piss off sound?"
"Oh fuck off. Come on." He pled then began to sing loudly, "Get some drinks in. Get some drinks in. Get some…"
Steve clenched his jaw then shoved him slightly, "Shut up! Just shut up. I'll tell you what I'll do, alright?" Pulling a few bank notes out of his wallet, he gestured towards Matt, "I'll give you a hundred, if you take Matt here to the match."
Pete stared back in horror, "Oh fuck off. You're havin' a bubble. Bruv, you know I can't take a Yank to football."
Steve stared back cockily, "Sure you can. And you're gunna be on your best behavior. Do you understand?"
Pete stared back calculatingly before grudgingly agreeing and unfortunately, minutes later he was striding down the sidewalk with Matt trailing along behind him.
Just around the corner from Steve's he turned to stop Matt, "Look mate, I'm not being funny, but the last thing I want to do is take you to the match with me. So here's how it works, you give me half the money, I'll go to football, and you can have a wander 'round where Churchill took a tom, or whatever it is you Yanks do here in Jolly old."
This simply caused Matt to look at him in confusion, "Tom?"
Pete sighed and rolled his eyes, Yanks were so clueless "Tom. A tom tit. A shit. It's rhyming slang, like bees and honey for money." He unwillingly remembered having to explain all of this to Josie months ago. She'd told him it was stupid and refused to respond if he used it around her, Pete thought it was mostly because she could never keep track of what he meant and she tended to misconstrue his meaning so much that he gave up trying, "Sos I could say to you, give me the fucking bees."
Matt leaned back on the brick wall, "I made a promise to Steve."
"Well Steve ain't here, is he mate. And to be honest, you're pissin' in the wind if you think I'm taking you with me."
"Well, I'm not giving you the money."
Pete sighed, this kid was dancing on his last nerve, "You ain't really got a fucking choice mate. And you're starting to get on my tits. Gimme 'alf the money."
Matt suddenly pointed behind him, "Cops!" At the same moment he tried to kick him and Pete smirked, grabbing his foot.
"Well 'ow fucking stupid do you feel now? Come on then, dance for me Yankee." He smirked at him as Matt hopped about on one foot, Pete finally kicked his other foot causing him to land on the ground, "That's what you get for fighting like a bleeding tart. But try that again and I will kick the shit out of you."
"Yeah, the tom out of me, I get it." Matt said from his position on the ground.
Pete laughed, maybe teaching Matt to have some balls would keep his mind off Josie. He reached his hand out to help him off the ground, "Get up, come on." Making a snap decision he said, "Fuck it, I will bring you with me, you might learn something." He turned and led him away, towards the tube that would bring them back to the Abbey.
Just as they neared the Abbey door Pete turned to him, "Alright, look. We're sort of goin' into my place of business, right? Shut up until you're spoken to and you might have a better run at things. The only thing regarded worse than a Yank around here are coppers and journalists. Though lucky for you, a female Yank is my girlfriend and works 'ere so you shouldn't have too hard a time of it." Again, his chest tightened painfully when he thought of Josie.
Matt stared back at him with cautiously, "What d'you got against journalists?"
Pete rolled his eyes remembering how he'd had the same conversation with Josie after she found out about the GSE, "How long have you got? They're lying fucking scum who'll write anything just to fill papers."
He turned on his heel and strode through the door of the Abbey making a beeline to their usual table in the back. He nodded hellos to a few of the old ones but mostly ignored everyone else. The usual gaggle of local girls were shooting daggers at him, apparently Claire'd spread the word of their little encounter. Good, he thought, least now I won't have to fight them off at every turn.
"Aye aye boys. This 'eres Matt, Shannon's brother. This is Dave, Ike, Ned, Swill and the one with the dodgy haircut in the corner is Keith." The boys all said their hellos as they settled in for a day of drinking and football. All in all things with Matt went smoothly with the exception of meeting Bovver but that was to be expected at this point in the game.
An hour or two later it was just Pete, Dave and Matt sitting at the table – the rest of the boys were scattered around the bar in various states of inebriation, "You 'ear from Josie, mate?"
Pete glared back at Dave, they all acted like she was there's too, "Yeah, she's doin' better. Her dad's home from the hospital so I'm hopin' she'll be back soon."
Dave arched an eyebrow at him, "She hasn't said when she'll be back?"
"Nope." The response clearly meant the end of the conversation and Pete turned away from Dave, unwilling to continue talking about Josie.
"Who's Josie?" Matt questioned Dave a few minutes later after Pete strode away from the table towards the men's room.
"Josie is Pete's girlfriend. She's a Yank like yerself , she's been here about nine months, goes to grad school at King's college." Dave sighed deeply before continuing, "She left abruptly about three weeks ago – her dad had a relatively massive heart attack. Pete's been a bloody mess since she left so I'd stay away from the topic of women with him if ya know what's good for you."
Matt stared at Dave calculatingly, "That why you brought her up to him?"
Dave tried to keep his face casual and shrugged, "We all miss her. She's an amazin' girl and plus we hate seein' Pete this way." Matt studied him silently and was about to respond when Pete returned back to the table loaded down with a tray of shots.
He placed them on the middle of the table and all the boys gathered around, "Ere mates, to the Hammers!" Matt raised his glass with the rest of them, downing the drink quickly.
The rest of the afternoon and night passed quickly with Pete and the rest of the boys rescuing him and the fight that followed being the highlights of a long day in this new, foreign country. By the time Pete brought him back to his place to crash his head was swimming from the daylong drinking binge and all of the new experiences. The journalist in him wanted to analyze everything now but as he sat on the couch his eyelids slid shut and he passed out for the night.
Bang bang bang. Matt woke with a start and nearly rolled off the couch he'd been sleeping on. Disoriented, he looked around the small apartment and it took half a minute for him to realize where he was. Memories from last night flooded back but his thoughts were interrupted by another loud bang on the door.
Matt's eyes flitted to Pete's closed bedroom door and when he heard no movement but the banging continued he cautiously walked to the door. He opened the door warily to reveal quite possibly the most gorgeous girl he'd ever seen. She was just over five feet tall, long honey brown hair curled softly down her back and when his blue eyes met her brown ones he nearly gasped at the sight of them. She was wearing a pair of black yoga pants, an oversize sweatshirt and a scarf wrapped around her neck.
"Hmph, who the hell are you? Doesn't Pete Dunham live here still?" Her head tilted to the side quizzically and Matt struggled to find his wits to answer her while she simply shoved past him into the apartment, dropping a duffle bag on the floor as she went. Just as he was about to respond the door to Pete's bedroom swung open quickly to reveal him in just a pair of shorts and a furious look on his face.
"Who the fuck is makin' all this -" As soon as Pete spotted the girl his mouth dropped open and the question died on his lips.
A huge grin broke onto the girls face at the sight of Pete, "I'm gone a few weeks and you turn to men? Tsk, tsk babe, you promised you'd wait." She placed her hands on her hips and gazed back at Pete, a smirk dancing on her lips.
At the sound of her voice Pete seemed to snap out of his daze and crossed the room in two steps, gathering her into his arms in a tight hug as he began raining kisses down on her face and neck, burying his hands in her hair. Matt felt like he was intruding as he watched Pete reach her plump, pink lips and kiss her deeply, keeping her locked in his arms and half raised off the floor. When he finally set her down he gazed at her tenderly and Matt was shocked to see the look of adoration on his face as Pete softly traced a finger down her jaw-line, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. It was as though this was a different man from the one who'd beat other men senseless last night.
"Jesus Josie, you're never leavin' my sight again." Matt recalled the conversation between Dave and Pete last night, recalling that Pete's girlfriend's name was Josie.
Josie kissed the tip of Pete's nose, "Never again baby, promise." Pete tucked her into the crook of his arm protectively, barely loosening his grip on her.
"Joze, this is Matt – Shannon's brother." Josie turned her eyes from away from Pete for the first time since he'd exited his room.
"Hullo Yankee Matt, my comrade in arms, eh?" Matt stared back at her in shock and wonder.
"Eh, yes?" His confused response elicited a giggle from Josie and a smirk from Pete.
"You'll get her humor eventually – she's certifiable on her best day." Pete smiled down at Josie and she gave a slight huff, "aw, Joze you know it's true. And you missy – I've been worried off my arse wondering where the hell you were. Coulda told me you were on a flight home, ya know."
She looked up at him with a dazzling smile, "Ah but then I woulda missed out on surprisin' you and you know how much I love surprises. Plus, I didn't want you to feel obligated to come out to the airport to pick me up after a match day." Pete started to protest at this but she cut him off with a raised hand, "Shush, I'm here now. And I bought you treats too!"
Pete reluctantly released his grip on her as she dug into her duffle bag, "Close your eyes," Pete immediately obeyed and Matt watched with a smile as she pulled a box of Twinkies from her bag, "Kay, open em."
"Twinkies!" Matt watched the scene unfold with confusion until Pete turned to him to explain, "Ever since Joze and I started dating I'd bug her about havin' her dad send over Twinkies because I always 'eard about them as a kid. Became a little joke – but finally I get to see what all the fuss is about!"
Josie stared up at him with stars in her eyes before nudging him in the ribs, "Oi, you didn't lose my key didja?"
Pete stared down at her in confusion, "Erm no, why? Did you?"
Josie gave a casual shrug, "Well I didn't lose it per se, I can tell you exactly where they are. Problem is they're sittin' on my bedside table in Southie…so you get the pleasure of escorting me home!"
Pete gave a slight huff, "Like I'm lettin' you outta my sight." He tapped her nose lightly and took her hand in his, "Come on Matt, we'll bring Josie home quick then I'll take ya back to Shan and Steve's."
Suddenly, Josie smacked Pete in the stomach hard, "Will you look at the state of him!? Pete, you let him fight?? And look at you baby." She touched took his face in her hands and touched his face tenderly, examining the bruises on his face.
He removed her hand carefully from his face, keeping it locked in his, "Its fine gorgeous, can't even feel 'em. Nothin' hurts if you're here." Matt nearly choked at that, Pete Dunham came across as the king of tough guys but in strolls this girl and he's a trained puppy.
Josie gave him a quick kiss then turned to Matt, "Alright, Matt's lookin' a little green at our little reunion. So let's get a move on. I've actually gotta be at the Abbey by noon for work."
Pete's face turned red with anger, "Unbelievable. Terry's makin' you work the day you get back!?"
"Oh relax, Terry would let me get away with murder if I asked him nice enough. I actually had to fight with him to let me work – I've got massive amounts of bills to pay that aren't goin' away anytime soon." Pete tensed slightly at her words but nonetheless dropped the subject.
Matt watched as Pete grabbed Josie's bag off the floor and he spoke for one of the first times that morning, "I'm just going to use the bathroom quickly, then we can go?"
Pete nodded his head in agreement, his eyes never leaving Josie's face. Matt walked hurriedly into the small bathroom, splashing water on his face trying to make sense of the past 24 hours. He rubbed his temples tiredly, feeling the beginning of a hangover. He washed his hands quickly and went to exit the bathroom. He heard a giggle coming from the other room and he walked loudly into the other room, trying to take care not surprise them.
It didn't work. He was instead met with the sight of Pete pressing Josie up against the kitchen wall, attacking her neck as she ran her hands down his back, clutching onto his shoulders with her legs wrapped around his waist tightly. Her eyes were closed in pleasure but at the slight noise from Matt they snapped open and her face burned as she tried to shove Pete away.
"Whoops, sorry Matt." The color that painted her face only served to make her even more attractive and Matt dropped his eyes to the ground, trying to quell any inappropriate thoughts of Josie, "Alright Dunham, unhand me before you scar poor Matt for life."
Pete dropped her to the ground, threw her bag over his shoulder and turned to Matt looking like a completely different man than he did just yesterday, "Eh, he's a big boy. And it's been three weeks, I couldn't help myself."
Pete grinned at Matt's shocked face which caused Josie to bury her face into Pete's side in embarrassment, "Argh, let's go. I've dilly dallied long enough, I wanna take a quick nap before work."
Pete took her hand, nodded towards Matt as he led the way, the satisfied smile stayed fixed on his face and Matt followed the couple out the door.
So Matt's here as promised. Obviously dialogue was taken directly from the movie with slight modifications.
I do hope you liked this chapter even though I'm unsure of it myself. Plllllease tell me how you feel, it'd be a great way to start the week off :)