The next night, the knock on the door signalling Joey's arrival sends a shiver down my spine and causes my heart to beat triple fast.
"I wonder who that could be, ay? I'll get it." Mum smirks at me before walking out of the room.
I focus my attention on the telly, and don't look up when he comes in.
"I come bearing gifts." He grins, looking at me.
"Hiya." I say casually, before turning back to the telly. I have to play it cool.
"I hope none of them gifts is a ring." Mum smirks, winking at me. I snort, and then burst out laughing.
"Oh cheers, babe (!)" Joey rolls his eyes at me.
"These are for you for, well no reason really." He hands mum a bunch of flowers.
"Aww, thanks darling." She gives him a hug, looking delighted. What is it with women and flowers? Never seen the appeal myself.
"And this is for you." He passes me a bag.
I take it from him and pull out popcorn, takeaway menus and Goodfellas.
"Thank you." I grin, jumping up to stick the film on. It's one of our favourites.
"Keep it simple, yeah." He grins, sitting next to me and ripping open the bag of popcorn.
"And that's my cue." Mum stands up.
"You don't have to go, Mum." I tell her, secretly hoping she will.
"Yeah, stay. You'll love it; it's got loads of swearing, violence and heavy drug use." Joey tempts her, smirking.
"As genuine an offer as that was, I'm gonna leave you to it." She laughs, leaving the room but returns almost instantly and grabs her phone, before leaving again.
"You've been glued to that all day. Have you got yourself a new fella?" I ask after her.
"As if." She calls over her shoulder, giggling. My mum, giggling. Something's definitely going on.
"She's happy." Joey remarks.
"I reckon she's seeing someone. She wasn't home when I got in last night." I admit.
"Shall we get us Marple on?"
"What do you suggest? I'm not going through her phone, mind."
"We could follow her?"
"No! Really?"
"Yeah, course! If she leaves the house tonight, we'll go after her."
"No, we couldn't do that."
"Why not?"
"Because it's stupid."
"Why is it stupid?"
"It just is."
"You wanna do it!"
"No, I don't."
"Yeah, you do. I can tell by the look on your face."
"We're not going to."
"Yeah, yeah, because it's stupid."
"Exactly. Let's just watch the film, yeah?"
Five minutes in, Joey puts an arm around my shoulder. I look up at him and our eyes meet. I just smile.
A couple of hours later as the credits roll, Joey turns to me with an intense look on his face.
"So good!" He exclaims, as he does every time we watch it.
"Too good." I agree.
"Funny? Funny how?" Joey imitates Joe Pesci spot on.
"You're so good at that." I tell him proudly, aching to reach over and touch him.
"You're smiling a lot lately." Joey observes.
"Hmm." I nod.
"I like it." He grins.
"What do you wanna do now?"
"We could go out for the takeaway? Pick it up?" He suggests.
"Sweet." I agree, standing up and walking out to the hall to pull on my jacket.
"Mum, we're going out. Back in 5." I call up the stairs. She doesn't reply but I can hear her laughing.
"See?" I raise an eyebrow at Joey.
"Wanna follow her?" He laughs.
"No. Come on." I shake my head, chuckling. Once we're out of the door, like he did yesterday, he offers me his arm which I take.
"This is nice." I comment, as we walk alongside each other, our arms entwined.
"Really nice." He agrees, instantly.
"Why didn't we ever do this when we were together?"
"We did."
"Well, why wasn't it like this?"
"Maybe it wasn't our time then."
"And it is now?"
"I reckon so, babe. It feels like it. To me, anyway."
"Did I mess it up because I was always drunk?"
"I messed it up by not realising soon enough and not being there for you."
"It's in the past. No point raking it up."
"Just concentrate on today, eh."
"Yep, and on that Chinese you're buying me." I grin, cheekily.
"I'm buying?"
"Course."
"But this isn't a date, is it? I mean, we're not a couple. So we can go Dutch."
"Keep that up and we'll never be a couple."
"You're too high maintenance for me anyway."
"I'm high maintenance?"
"Er, yeah."
"Says you with your designer stubble." I stuck my tongue out at him.
"I do love you, you know."
"Joey, please."
"What?"
"Don't make it awkward."
"Just tell me you know that I love you."
"Yes, I know."
"Cos I do, like really."
"I know."
"Completely. Like, I'm thinking about how many kids we're gonna have and what we're gonna call em, crazy love you, yeah."
"Why is that if a woman ever said that to a man she's crazy and he'd run a mile, but it's okay for you to say it to me and I'm supposed to be cool with it?"
"Because you love it."
"I don't. You're scaring me."
"You wanna give me babies as much as I want you to."
"Shut up now, or I'm going back home. Without you."
"It's okay. I'm just gonna wait. Cos we're it, you know."
"Why can't we just hang out and have a laugh?"
"We are doing that, aren't we?"
"Without you getting your snorkel on."
"Okay, fine. I'll stop. Promise."
"Good. Thank you."
"Does that mean I get a cheeky kiss?"
"Joey!" I poke him in the side, giggling uncontrollably.
"You've got the cutest laugh." He grins, his eyes shining.
"What am I supposed to say to that?"
"Nothing. Just keep laughing."
Once back home, we give Mum a shout and tuck in without waiting for her.
"Thanks for dinner."
"You're welcome, babe."
"Are you gonna come round tomorrow?"
"Do you want me to?"
"Do you want to?"
"Yes. If you want me to."
"Yeah. I do." I admit, quietly. I look up at him slowly to see he's already looking at me. A huge grin creeps onto his face and thankfully he doesn't ruin the moment by saying something silly.
"Then I guess I'm coming round tomorrow." He simply says, casually.
"Cool." I shrug, like I'm not bothered.
"Cool." He nods, and pops a dumpling in my mouth.
"Thank you." I almost whisper, after I've eaten it. I don't look at him, and down at my plate instead.
"For what?" He asks, puzzled.
"For being here. For still loving me. For being okay with being just friends." I smile, slowly. He leans over and tilts my chin up so I'm forced to look at him.
"I didn't say I was okay with being just friends." He winks, laughing.
"Seriously. Thank you." I repeat, smiling.
"I just need you in my life. Whatever part you play in it. It's better than losing you again." Joey tucks a loose strand of hair behind my ear. My breath catches in my throat and I can't tear my eyes away from him. He leans in closer, nearly kissing me. Before he can close the gap between our mouths, there are footsteps on the stairs and Mum pops her head round the door. He quickly moves away and the spell is broken.
"Food's getting cold." I clear my throat and then grin widely at Mum, trying to act casual.
"I'm going out. I'll see you later on, love. Bye." She's halfway out the house as she says it and throws the last word over her shoulder. Seconds later, the front door slams shut. I turn to look at Joey, and his eyes meet mine.
"We're following her." I tell him firmly, jumping up. He grins and follows suit. A minute or two later, we follow Mum out of the house. She's walking down the street, throwing furtive glances over her shoulder. She looks like the epitome of suspicious. She stops up ahead, at a parked car and climbs in. A familiar, parked car. We get as close as we can without her seeing us and then hide in an alley. The streetlight shining directly onto the car makes the drivers face come into view, and I almost scream out loud before clamping a hand over my mouth and turning to Joey, with a look of unadulterated shock:
"What the fuck?"
A/N: Thank you so very much for all the reviews left on the last chapter. They brought a smile to my face and were a drive in continuing the story. All your reviews mean so much to me and I really do appreciate all your thoughts and kind words. Please do continue to let me know your thoughts as reviews help me to write! To the guest reviews I couldn't reply to, thank you very much and I'm glad so many of you are still enjoying the story. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and keep on reading :) Also, any guesses as to who Tanya is secretly seeing? As always, let me know your thoughts and thank you!
-On a side note, I'd like to thank armanii96 for all your support and motivation. You've really helped me along, so thank you! :)
-Also, to Lolly: Thank you so much for your reviews and most specifically the one you left on the last chapter. I wish I could I have replied to you because it made me smile so much! Thank you for all your kind words and I'm made up that you're so invested in the story! I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint and you keep on enjoying the story. Also, thank you, the dream is to get something published so watch this space! It really means a lot to me so thanks very much :)