Redamancy

Joey’s body was awake before her brain was - her eyes were snapped shut as if someone was holding them that way but her arms reached out in front of her for a stretch. Suddenly, she smelt it - the undeniable dog breath that caused her eyes to fly open. This particular morning, she was greeted with a nice view of Scooby’s nostrils and his lovely breath fanning over her face. She chuckled to herself, causing the Great Dane to stir, moving even closer to her and he placed a long lick up her face.

Joey scrunched her nose, gently moving her hand to keep Scooby’s face a fair distance away. Only as she began to pet her best friend did she realize the giant was sleeping where Adam was meant to be. Joey almost rolled her eyes at her missing boyfriend - something that was beginning to become an annoying habit of his. She tried to remember the earlier years of their relationship and couldn’t recall a time where he would just up and leave without letting her know he was going out.

And then, Joey felt silly. He was a grown man and it wasn’t as if he had to tell her everything. It was just that she hated the change - actually she almost feared it altogether. In her experience, these small changes always ended up to be something more - they always ended up to mean something more.

Not wanting to overthink things (as she often did), she swung her legs over the side of the bed and got herself up. Scooby, of course, walked alongside her. She travelled to the kitchen, where there was no note, no food and absolutely no Adam. She gave a small sigh before looking down at her dog.

“Looks like its you and me, love-butt,” She shrugged and turned in the opposite direction to head to the shower. Before she even reached the bathroom, her phones alarm sounded and Joey’s eyes nearly bugged out of her skull. She had forgotten all about today - she had even forgot to make a call to the florist to ensure the appointment. Frantically she ran to her room (which made Scooby sort of hop around as he figured she was playing) and threw on the first things she found. This happened to be a pair of dark washed jeans and a more casual looking peplum top - not the most professional thing. She quickly ran dry shampoo into her progressively greasy hair and threw it up in a ponytail afterwards.

She was out of her door in under thirty minutes (even after making a rushed call to the florist), apologizing to Scooby for having to leave him alone. When she turned to walk down the hall of her apartment building, she came face to face with a lovely dimpled grin and jumped about a foot in the air. Gemma threw her head back in laughter as Joey placed a hand on her heart.

“A little scatter brained today, I see,” Gemma shook her head as Joeys stomach let out the most embarrassing growl, “and a bit hungry?” Gemma laughed again, making Joey blush slightly.

“Sorry, I didn’t have much time to eat.” The poor excuse didn’t fool Gemma, however, because she gave Joey a certain look. It was a look that Joey knew meant ‘you forgot’. But they didn’t speak more of it, Gemma only saying that she would stop off so that Joey could get a coffee and breakfast sandwich.

Once the pair had gotten into the car, Joey made the executive decision to starve due to the pile up of cars that made it hard to even get into their proper lane. Gemma insisted they stop, anyways - always met with refusals by Joey, who tried to explain that they would probably be late even if they hadn’t stopped. And so, the entire way to the florist, Joey had taken to gnawing in her lips because if there was one thing that really irked her, it was being late (and she was not lost to the irony in that).

As Joey mapped out the hours of her day, in a compete, calm daze, Gemma was growing increasingly frustrated with the traffic she was battling.

And so, “GET A BLOODY MOVE ON YOU DICKS!” Was shouted once her boiling point was reached, and this made Joey screech in unexpected terror. Gemma jumped (out of her skin, nearly) and gripped the steering wheel tighter, eyes wide as she stole a glance to her wedding planner.

Joey, seemingly shocked by herself, turned to Gemma with equally wide eyes.

“I-I-I’m sorry!” Jo blushed. there was only a moment of silence before Gemmas loud laughter echoed (and surely the radius of at least five cars could hear it). So, the two girls sat laughing in traffic, knowing that they were definitely late.

*

So, the appointment wasn’t as stress inducing as either of them had prepared for. The florist people were quite laid back as they confidently spoke about the flower arrangements, which were absolutely perfect (Gemmas precise words). By the time they had left, Gemma was sporting a content grin, seemingly relaxed - which, in turn, made Joey relax. It was always a hard thing around brides, she found, as they were always so wound up right until they got their drinks in them wedding night. As a result, Joey was usually tip-toeing around the brides, almost speaking to them as if they were child - in a soft, comforting voice that she had perfected over the years.

As they made their way back to the car, Gemmas phone began to ring obnoxiously loud. That was something Joey couldn’t begin to understand about Gemma - her phone was never on silent, while Joeys phone was on do not disturb half the time. Even Gemma had jumped at the sudden sound that time, and immediately fished the phone from her purse, putting it to her ear.

“Hello?” Was all that Joey heard before she hopped into the passenger seat of the car. Gemma, who was one of those people who could walk and talk at the same time was stood outside the drivers side door, voice muffled by the car. Joey had decided to pull her own phone out, just to check her empty messages (which she nearly always had, save for brides in complete meltdowns), and sighed as she slipped it away, back into her purse.

At precisely that moment, Gemma flung open the drivers door and stepped in, grinning toward Joey.

Jo squinted her eyes into a faux glare, “what is it?”

“Nothing,” Gemma shook her head, starting the car, “Harry wants to go out for lunch, and I figured you’d be hungry so. Want to get lunch?”

“No!” Joey shook her head, “I mean - no, thank you. I don’t want to impose. I’ll just eat at home.” Joey bit her lip as a slight nervousness invaded her system. It was only because she hadn’t known them that well - especially Harry - and she didn’t fare well with new people. She always got a mild case of shakes with her anxiety. She admitted, she was much better now than ever before in dealing with those things. But at one point or another, sooner or later, she had always said something to make a fool of herself. Besides, she figured Harry had wanted some brother-sister time.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Gemma laughed, “Harry won’t mind at all. Plus you haven’t even eaten yet and I’ll be damned if i let my favourite wedding planner drop dead!”

So it was decided, Joey would be eating lunch with Gemma and Harry - no if’s, and’s or but’s. Plus, if she had refused the offer again, Gemma probably wouldn’t have listened anyways.

*
When Gemma and Joey had arrived at the agreed restaurant, Harry was already sat at an outside table, three glasses of water already ordered. He smiled as the girls approached and stood to greet them. The thing about Harry was, he usually hugged everyone, so he didn’t give a second thought when he wrapped his arms around Joey in a warm hug until he pulled himself away. She blushed furiously, trying to keep the colour from rising to her cheeks.

“Nice to see you, Harry,” She said quietly, taking her seat. Harry, still slightly dazed by her scent, hadn’t even noticed that Gemma began to tell him about the hectic day the two had.

See, Harry wasn’t going to lie to himself, because he was never in the habit of doing so - Joey was lovely. The way her clothing hugged her curvy body was simply delectable and he was a boy okay? He had definitely noticed. Just like he noticed her lashes were long, her eyes were a beautiful shade of a lighter brown and her lips were perfectly plump and pink. Just like he noticed that she whenever she laughed or smiled, she covered it up with her fingers. And honestly, he wished she wouldn’t - he thought she looked absolutely stunning with her cheeks water coloured pink from laughter. He thought her smile wasn’t something to hide. And now he was definitely staring while he thought all this and it was probably starting to get creepy. So he pretended he was squinting off to the distance behind her.

Of course, this made Joey look back, wondering what this boy was so damn interested in, but as he realizes she had caught on, he lets an obvious fake cough out. Gemma and Joey looked at him with confusion, Gemma giving him a ‘are you an absolute moron?’ type of look.

Harry shook his head, “Bug,” he said, waving his arms, “massive bug. Thought it might…” And he panicked - Harry cut himself off by picking up the menu and making his reddening face invisible to the two girls before him. He told himself where to stick it a few times, before lowering the menu down, realizing both girls were now talking amongst themselves about the food.

As Joey laughed when Gemma made a (rather loud) comment about how gross a dish sounded, Harry made a very haste and finalized decision that he would very much like to know her.

As she made unexpected eye contact with his kind, friendly eyes, he grinned (that bloody dimpled grin), and Joey might have decided the same thing.