Was I The Only One?

Joe had given me a pair of grey sweatpants that gripped my hips nicely because of the elastic waist band, he also supplied me with a black t-shirt that had a red triangle on and read ‘PARIS’ underneath it; I’d always loved this shirt on him so I wore it with a grin on my lips.

Once I’d changed out of my uncomfortable outfit into some baggy clothing of Joe’s I was much more tired, because I was now in a comfortable state I was more relaxed and sleepy.

Joe stood in the kitchen when I came downstairs, he was sat on a stool with a can of diet coke in front of him with his head down.

“Hey.” He heard my announcement and quickly jolted upright, he spun around in his seat and landed on his feet.

“So…” he droned, “what do you want to do then?”

“I want to sit on that nice looking sofa of yours and watch a movie.” I said confidently with a certain nod.

“Well, sit on that sofa and watch a movie we shall do.” Joe answered in the same tone as I had spoken in.

I skipped down the hall and took a sharp right turn into his living room then dived onto the two seated sofa. Joe strolled towards the TV and began to set up some DVD, I grinned when the menu came up and it was ‘Quantum of Solace’

I moaned, “Daniel Craig is so hot.”

Joe rolled his eyes, turned off the light and took the space next to me, it was awkward just sitting by him; it felt like I should be cuddled up to him in his strong arms not a distance away from him. I sat with my knees pressed up against my chest and my hands linked around them, I could feel my eyes getting droopy around fifteen minutes into the movie and before I could stop it a yawn escaped from my body and made me feel even more tired.

Joe finally made a move. As he saw me growing more and more tired he reached out and pulled me towards him so I basically fell into his side. I unravelled my hands from my legs and propped them over his thighs then rested my head on his chest. His muscular body was a perfect cushion, Joe made me feel at peace whenever I was close to him. I had definitely been longing for this for a while. The whole essence of his being made me smile, his warmth was better than the heat of a thousand suns and made me feel better than anything else in the world could.

I was forcing my eyes to stay open as Joe’s fingers ran up and down my back tracing random letters and shapes, I didn’t want to fall asleep yet.

“Julia…” Joe whispered hesitantly, I went ‘mmm’ in response. “What are you thinking about?”

I ran my tongue over my dry lips and cleared my throat, “What I am to you, what you are to me, where tonight leaves us…” I rattled on.

“I’ll be anyone if it means you’ll stay around me.” I lifted my head from his chest to look at him, his light illuminated only by the bright TV flashing different colours through the room. “These few months without you have been hard, the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.” He paused, “Nothing seemed alive anymore, nothing was important. Everything in my life just seemed to be a ‘perhaps’, perhaps I’ll some day be able to appreciate the winter time with family again, perhaps I could walk or drive past places that remind me of you and not be sad.”

A tear had betrayed me and escaped from my eyes, “I just feel lost.” I choked out wiping the wetness from my cheeks though they didn’t stay dry for long. I shrugged and looked him in the eyes, “You hurt me, a lot. Every one of my thoughts was just you, all the time, everyday and every night. I couldn’t escape.”

“I feel lost too.” He admitted.

“I feel like I’m just forced not to think about the future when I’m with you and to suddenly have to worry about what purpose my life has anymore was overwhelming me.” I blushed admitting such things that I kept extremely sacred to myself.

“Well,” Joe cleared his throat and smiled at me lifting my mood immediately. “Let’s not talk about it anymore. This is where we are now and that was then, we’ll just…”

“Take it on as it comes.” I finished his sentence for him and he grinned with a little laugh.

I settled back down in my previous position on him and watched the movie, at least I watched around 10 more minutes of it then fell asleep on Joe. I woke up a little bit but couldn’t remember why I woke up during the night when I was fully awake in the morning.

I was confused by my unfamiliar surroundings and by the bed I was sleeping in when I woke up, but soon I came to realise that I was in Joe’s room and in his bed too. I turned to the side to nudge him awake only to discover and empty bed; he’d let me sleep in his bed without joining me, not that it would’ve made much of a difference as I don’t think a chainsaw would have woken me up from the sleep I was in. I sat up in his bed looking around with squinted eyes, I rubbed them furiously to try and get my eye lids to stop sticking together; I’d obviously missed some mascara when taking off my make up the night before.

I pushed myself off the edge of the bed to my feet, I headed towards the curtain drawn window to have a little peek outside. Joe’s bedroom looked out into the small backyard which had a reasonably sized swimming pool and grass trimmed to perfection. The one thing I did notice immediately though was that it was raining, in Los Angeles, and it brought a smile to my face. I loved rain.

Quietly, I tip-toed out of his bedroom towards the bathroom to relieve my bursting bladder, then once I’d finished I made my way downstairs to try and find Joe. I guessed that he would be sleeping on the sofa and I was correct.

He laid sprawled across the sofa, his legs hanging over the edge and the thin blanket over him tangled up amongst his many body parts. His peaceful face made my body tingle in the most fantastic way. I spotted my blackberry on the coffee table so I quickly snapped a picture of him, I couldn’t resist it… the temptation was too great.

If my memory served me well, which it did, I knew that Joe wasn’t the easiest person to wake up in the world. I crouched down in front of him and placed my hand on his shoulder, I shook him with slight force as a little nudge wouldn’t bother him.

“Joe…” I watched as his eyes shut tighter, then opened his eyes gradually. Once he saw me a smile decorated his stunning face. “Morning.”

“Morning.” His voice was hoarse and croaky, I loved it so much.

“You know, you should’ve left me to sleep on the sofa.” My legs were beginning to ache so I sat down on the floor facing him and crossed my legs.

Joe just smiled graciously. “That wouldn’t be very gentlemanly of me would it now?”

My cheeks flushed a rosy pink from his words, but that rosy pink turned to a deep scarlet as he reached out and flattened some hair on the top of my head. He was sniggering smugly so I sneered back at him and reached out to flatten his hair just as he had done with mine.

“Touché…” he pursed his lips, all of a sudden his amused face turned into one of bewilderment. He was listening carefully, “Is that rain?”

I nodded, “Yep.” I replied, popping the ‘p’ with a grin.

“Wow, I don’t need to wash my car now, success!” He exclaimed punching the air. “Now you,” he snapped pointing to me with fake anger playing on his face, but his lips were twitching into a smile. “Pull me up, wench.”

I stared at his arms that he was holding out for me. I clambered to my feet and placed my hands in his to pull him up, with a tug I attempted to lift him from the sofa but to no avail; he was making his body limp. I continued to attempt to drag him off the sofa but instead nearly pulled my bones out of their sockets.

“Joe!” I shouted, he just laughed at me.

“Fine, fine!” He shouted back defensively, sensing I was close to punching him.

I pulled him so it was basically off the sofa, but my cell phone burst out into song so I let him go. Joe yelped as he fell backwards unexpectedly. I chuckled and grabbed my cell phone.

Emma’s name was illuminated on the screen so I quickly answered leaving Joe’s ego and ass bruised on the sofa.

“Hello.”

“For the love of all that is my boyfriend, explain what happened last night with you and the Joe-ster?” She basically screeched down the phone.

“No now Emma, I’m busy.” I sighed.

“Pssssh Julia, I will not stand for this! We’ve been through too much for you not to tell me these things, honestly, I give you everything! Love, support, a kidney-”

“When have you ever given me a kidney?” I asked shaking my head.

“That’s irrelevant!” She snapped.

“Emma, I’m freaking busy!”

“Doing what? Shaving a goat? Well goats don’t need to be shaved but I need to know these things!” She shrieked with the shrillest tone to her voice.

I rolled my eyes with a giggle and cut her off, then turned off my phone. Joe just stared at me incredulously amazed.

“What?” I questioned patting my face to check if there was something there.

“You two are the weirdest people I’ve ever came across.” He declared.

I giggled as he pulled the blanked over his head and held his arms out again, “Round two.” I sighed and began to pull him again.