Streams of light poured into the room, illuminating everything inside with a soft, yellow glow. A light breeze blew in through the open window, the light curtains fluttering against the wind.
All was quiet. For the first time in what seemed like forever, everything was peaceful.
Everything except the figure beneath the covers in the queen size bed across the room.
This figure was anything but peaceful. After a long, hard night of restless tossing and turning, the figure finally drifted off to a haunted rest.
Nothing about this figure, or the situations surrounding it, was peaceful.
Birds chirping outside the open window woke the motionless figure from a restless sleep, causing it to move and groan. Two long, slender arms reached up, stretching away the discomfort from a long night.
Pushing the covers down from her face, Lois rolled over onto her side, her hands tucking beneath her head.
Looking around her room, everything seemed the same. Clothes still scattered the floor. CDs, books and makeup strewn across the room. Photos and papers covering a small desk in the corner.
Everything appeared the same as it was the day before. The week before. But in actuality, nothing was the same.
Everything in her life. Everything she knew, was different.
And there was no way to get it back to the place it was before.
All night, all she could think about was what she had done. She knew she had done the right thing; deep down she knew he deserved to know. But the fact that she had risked everything they had together because of sudden feelings scared her. She was never one to be that reckless, and now here she was. And he hated her for it.
Lauren had spent most of the night with Lois, talking with her and trying to help her see that she had done the right thing. But no matter what Lauren said, Lois' couldn't get the image of Joey walking away from her out of her mind. That image would haunt her forever, and she hated the thought that that image may be the last of their friendship.
Justin had called Crystal and told her that Lois wouldn't be in to work for the next couple days. Luckily, it was already Thursday, so she was only really skipping two days of work. She would go back on Monday, and rebuild her life. No matter what happened over the next three days, she knew she couldn't hide at home, or risk the career she loved just because of personal problems. She was a strong woman, and she would handle whatever she had to.
Yawning, Lois stretched once more before pushing back the covers and sliding out of bed. The soft carpet beneath her feet was comforting for some reason, as she padded her way across the floor and towards her door.
Pulling the door open, she was greeted with something she didn't really want to start her day with.
"BBBUUURRRRPPPPPP"
Lois rolled her eyes, before venturing out and into the living room.
"Justin," she said, shaking her head. "Why the fuck do you have to start each day like that?"
Justin smiled. "Cause, no day is complete without ridding your body of excess gas."
"J, you are a big ball of excess gas." she smiled back at him.
Justin grinned. "Touché"
Walking up to the counter, Lois sat down on one of the stools, leaning her arms on the smooth surface of the counter top.
Justin looked at her.
It was obvious she hadn't slept well the night before. Her hair was sticking out in every direction. Her eyes were swollen and red, and her nose was a light shade of pink from crying.
On all honesty, she looked like hell.
Sitting down across from her, Justin passed her a glass of orange juice. "So," he said. "What's on the agenda for today?"
Lois shrugged. "I don't know. Hey, maybe there's another friendship I can ruin by admitting how I feel!" she said with mock enthusiasm. Looking up at Justin, she reached over and grabbed his hands. "J, I love you."
Justin grinned, but only for a moment. He knew she was trying to make light of the pain she was feeling, like she always did. But he hated it when she did that. He wanted her to be honest, and just let it all out. Not cover it up and try and make like everything was okay when it obviously wasn't.
"Don't do that." he said.
"Do what?" she asked, retrieving her hands.
"Make jokes about this." he scolded. "You always do that."
"Then I'm not disappointing you this time by doing it, am I?" she said with a hint of annoyance.
Justin gave her a stern look, but did not respond.
"Justin, I'm okay. Or at least I will be." she assured. "There is nothing I can do to make him believe me. I did my part, and he has to do his."
"Not so much" Laurens voice interjected into the conversation. "Remember, he is a man. Therefore, he is an ass hole."
Justins slight whimper in protest didn't stop Laurens speech as she approached the counter and sat down beside Lois.
"You know Joey, and you know he's going to try and block it out. He's going to make excuses and make reasons why you're lying. You have to prove to him that you're telling the truth, or else all of this is for nothing. And you will have lost him for sure."
"Why should I?" Lois added. "Why should I keep putting myself out there, just for him to stomp on my heart again?"
"Because," Lauren said plainly. "You love him."
Lois shook her head, but didn't say anything.
"Don't you want to prove to him that you're telling the truth?" Lauren asked. "Don't you want to show him that you're right for each other?" When Lois didn't respond, Lauren continued. "You said you didn't want to lose him, but if you don't fight for him, then all this would have been for nothing. All of what you're going through will be in vain, and you will always wonder what would have been different if you would have just tried a little harder. I know this sucks, Lolo, but you have to show him. You have to fight for him. Because the real things that matter in life wont matter, unless you fight for them."
Lois didn't respond. She only stared at the counter top, Laurens words echoing in her mind.
God, she fucking hated it when she was right. Which she usually was. No wonder she was going to be a lawyer.
"He wont even talk to me." Lois finally whispered. "He walked away, and I know him and he's not going to just let me walk right on up to him and talk to him now."
"Then we're going to have to figure something out." Justin added. "We are going to help you in any way we can, Lois. Even if I have to lock him in the soundproof booth and have you talk to him over the speakers, he's going to listen if it kills me. Or him. Whichever."
Lois smiled slightly at him. and burst out laughing when he make a stupid face.
She hated him sometimes. He was the staple in her ass, but she knew he would die for her. And she would do the same for him.
Sighing, Lois ran her hands through her hair. "So, what do you guys have in mind?" she asked, looking between Lauren and Justin.
Lauren looked at Justin, and he returned the eye contact. Neither of them had any idea how to go about fixing everything that had been screwed up between Lois and Joey, but they were willing to die trying.
Kissing Lois on the forehead, Justin stood up and headed for the fridge.
"That's just something we're going to have to work on."
Joey opened his eyes, the bright light causing him to squint.
He rolled over, his back cracking as he moved.
God, he was stiff.
Opening his eyes wider, he looked around the room. Where the fuck was he?
Looking around the room again, the memories from the night before flooded his mind.
Lois coming over. Him checking his messages. The message from Lois. Her telling him she was in love with him. Him getting angry and yelling at her, then storming out and leaving her alone.
He hated that he had done that to her, but the anger was still burning inside him.
How could she do this to him? How could she go to such an extreme because she was afraid to lose him? Didn't she trust him enough to know that no one would take her place in his life?
Sitting up in the unfamiliar bed, he rubbed his tired eyes.
He remembered coming over to Raes after leaving his house, and talking with her. He didn't tell her anything of the fight with Lois, or anything she had said to him. He just said he was having a bad day and needed to talk and hang out.
He remembered sleeping in the guest room he now found himself in, plagued all night by the words he had said, and the feelings he had felt when he heard Lois' words.
This couldn't be true, he thought. She couldn't feel this way.
He kept telling himself that over and over all night long, and no matter what he tried to convince himself of, he knew one thing for sure.
Lois never lied.
Not about something like this. Sure, she would fib from time to time, but only to keep someone from finding out about a prank or whatever. If it was something important; something like this, she never played around.
But it still didn't make any sense to him. How could she feel this way all of a sudden? How could she expect him to just accept it and dump Rae because she all of a sudden felt this way?
Joey remembered Justin coming to the club the night before, and no matter how hard he had tried to block out the sound of his voice; the words he was saying, they all made their way into his brain.
He didn't know what he was going to do, but he did know he wasn't ready to deal with it. No matter what the outcome was, he wasn't ready to face her yet. He was still too hurt, too confused and too angry to make any meeting between himself and Lois be anything more than another shouting match.
Sliding out of bed, Joey made his way out of the room and towards the kitchen.
Walking through the entrance, he smiled when he found Rae sitting at the table, reading a paper.
Noticing him at the doorway, she smiled and put the paper down.
"Morning." she grinned at him.
"Hey" he smiled back as he sat down across from her.
"Sleep well?"
"Yup." he lied.
"Would you like something? Coffee? Breakfast?"
"Coffee would be great."
Rae stood up from the table, and Joey noticed she was already dressed for work.
Her long dark hair was pulled back, loosely framing her face. The navy pant suit she wore hugged her curves just right, without being overly sexy. He had to smile at the fact she could always look so well put together, even first thing in the morning.
"So, what are you doing today?" she asked as she poured him a cup of coffee.
Joey shrugged. "I don't know." he replied. "We have to go into the studio this afternoon, but I have the morning free."
"Gonna hang out with Lois?" she asked as he placed the cup in front of him.
She didn't miss how his body tensed at the mention of her name.
Sitting down across from him, Rae found the courage to ask the question that had been bothering her since he had shown up at her door the night before.
"What's going on?"
"What do you mean?" Joey asked, sipping his coffee.
"I mean, what's going on with you and Lois?"
Joey choked a little on the coffee, placing the mug back on the table. "Nothing. Why?"
"Because I know that you were supposed to hang out with her last night, and you showed up here obviously upset. And don't give me that 'I just had a bad day' crap, because I know that it is more than that. You hadn't seen her in ages, and then the first time you two hang out you show up here all upset?" Giving him an encouraging look, Rae sighed. "You can tell me anything, you know that right?"
If Joey didn't feel like shit before, he certainly did now. "I know." he said softly.
"Then tell me the truth." she said, leaning forward to place her elbows on the table.
Joey sighed. He didn't know if she should do what he was thinking of doing, but he also knew that no matter what was to happen; whether he stayed with Rae or worked things out with Lois, that this was going to come out eventually. And she needed to hear it from him.
"Ugh, there is so much to tell you." he finally said after a long silence.
"Just start talking, and we'll see what you say." she smiled.
Joey grinned. Fiddling with his thumb he began to talk.
"Lois said she loves me." he blurted out. He didn't mean for it to come out so blunt, but he wasn't really thinking too clearly at the moment. Surprisingly, Rae didn't jump. She didn't look shocked. She didn't even appear to have heard him. She simply continued to watch him, waiting for him to continue. "The other night after we all went out to eat, I guess she went out to a bar and had a few too many drinks. Lois gets really stupid when she's drunk, and I guess she had been watching some old Friends episode, and decided to call me and tell me she was over me. I was here, so she left the message on my machine. When I got home yesterday, I checked my messages and found that one from her. She explained it all, and said that for the last month or so, she's been having feelings for me." Joey sighed, rubbing his tired eyes. "I got mad, yelled at her, saying that she was just doing this because she was afraid of losing me to you, and left."
He looked up, expecting to see Raes face red with anger. Or even clouded with confusion.
But he saw neither. Instead, he saw a look of understanding. Almost as if she had predicted this all along, and was simply relieved that it had all come to be.
After a short silence, she sighed. "Truth?"
Joey nodded, even though he wasn't sure if he wanted to hear the truth.
"I figured as much." she smiled.
Joeys face must have contorted into one of confusion, because she giggled and explained herself.
"When I heard you talk about her, I always thought that maybe there was something more there that you weren't willing to admit to. Or maybe that you weren't able to admit to. And never knew her, so I couldn't tell if she felt the same. But after meeting her the other night, I knew. I knew she was hurting and confused because of something she was feeling. But I also knew that she wanted you to be happy. You could tell just by the way she looked at you. She loves you enough to want you to be happy, even if that happiness isn't with her."
Joey couldn't believe she was saying all this. How could this women, who he had only known for a month, know more about him and his relationship with Lois than he did?
"I wondered if one day she would fine the courage to tell you the truth, because I believe you deserve to know. And she deserves to be able to be honest with you and with herself. I just didn't think it would be this soon." Rae smiled.
"So, you knew this was going to happen?" Joey asked.
"Well, not exactly this, but something to this degree, yes." she nodded. "The hardest thing to do is watch the one you love, love someone else. Not that we're in love, but you know what I mean." she giggled. "I knew that if anything would make her face her fears, it would be having to watch you be happy without her."
Joey tilted his head at her. "How could you possibly know all this?"
Rae smiled at his question. "Because Ive been there." she said plainly. "Years ago, I had a friend like you. I was Lois, and he was you. I, like her, one day realized I felt more for him that he probably felt towards me. Problem was, he had a girlfriend. Second problem was, I had set them up." she laughed. "I agonized over what to do for months, and finally realized it was unfair of me to judge how he would react, without giving him the chance to react himself. I wasn't giving him the opportunity to make his own judgment and decision. So, one day, I told him the truth." Raes smiled wavered as she looked down at the table. "He said it wasn't fair of me to make him have to choose between me and her. I told him that wasn't what I was doing. That I was just being honest because he deserved to know the truth, but he was too confused and mad to listen. He walked out on me that day. I haven't seen him since."
Hearing her words, the pain in her voice, and the agony in her eyes, Joey's heart broke. "I am so sorry" he said, reaching across the table to take one of her hands in his.
She smiled weakly at him. "Don't be. I made my decision, and it was the right one for me. Either way, I was chancing losing him. I don't regret what I did. Sure, I wish things had turned out differently, but I knew I couldn't live knowing I hadn't been honest. I did what I had to do. Just like Lois did."
Joey sat back, his hand leaving hers.
"Don't do what he did, Joey." she pleaded. "Don't walk away just because you are hurt now. Because the hurt you feel now will be nothing compared to what you will feel, if you walk out of her life."
Joey just sat silently across from her. Her words more haunting than the dreams he had experienced the night before, only this time, they made more sense than anything he had ever known.
He didn't know how he felt towards Lois anymore. Sure, there had been a time that he thought he had felt more, but maybe that had just been loneliness. Now, things were different, and he had moved on.
But either way, Rae was right. Could he really think of his life without Lois in it? It was something he wasn't even willing to consider.
He knew he had to talk to her, even if things ended badly, he didn't want to be that man in Raes story. He didn't want to be the man that left, never looking back.
Because he knew that if he did, every day for the rest of his life, he would think of her.
Looking up at Rae, Joey smiled.
She had had the courage to tell him something important to her. Something painful and meaningful all that the same time. Something that would change his life, whether for the better or worse.
And she deserved to know the truth as well.
"There's something else I have to tell you," he said, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. "And I don't think you're going to be as understanding this time."
