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part one

He nodded, smiling blindly back at her. "See ya."

Joey closed the door, then pushed himself against it, letting out a deep breath.

"Well well well, looks like we have a peaker in our midst," Jaime grinned, swilling her wine glass.

"I didn't mean to, lay off," he waved the teasing away. As he got closer to the counter, he pointed at Julia. "Lauren said she'll be just a minute."

Julia rolled her eyes, before spinning round to the fridge and pouring another glass of red wine. "I doubt it."

A few minutes passed, conversation light, but Joey's thoughts dark. He sat at the island, swinging from side to side on his chair, staring into the distance and his mind elsewhere.

"Joey, hello? Joey!" Dylan yelled in the brunette's face, shocking him out of his trance.

"Hm?"

Jaime tilted her head at the boy, narrowing her eyes. "You good?"

"Yeah, um... have you guys, uh, have you seen Lauren wear short shorts in the last few weeks?" Joey asked, hesitantly.

"Missing her legs?" Joe teased, shoving the boy's shoulder.

He shook his head, his face serious. "No, no... I just wondered."

Just as Meredith was about to follow up on Joey's abnormal behaviour, the girl in question burst out of her room in a rush and fully dressed.

Her skirt fell just above her knees and the sleeves of the sweater she was wearing over her shirt covered her hands.

"Ooh cute outfit, Lo, now I can't be mad at you for taking forever and a day," Julia smirked, scrunching her nose at the girl.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Lauren rambled, running a hand through her hair and shoving her purse on her shoulder. "I had some difficulties finding a skirt that covers my ass."

Meredith nodded in agreement. "Same here, apparently all the clothes I bought two months ago no longer go past my butt."

"Happens to the best of us," Brian held out a hand for a high five, which was declined.

"What the fuck?" Jaime asked, pure confusion and amusement on her face.

The group continued to debate whether Brian actually owned any skirts or not as Julia ushered them out of the apartment and down to the parking lot.

"I'll take Dylan, Jaime and Lauren in my car," Joey started, swinging his keys around his index finger. "Mere, you can take your obnoxiously annoying boyfriend and make Julia and Walker suffer through a car ride with him."

Brian pouted, pulling Mere's passenger side door open. "I'm not that annoying."

"Sure you're not, baby," Mere pursed her lips playfully, winking to assure him she was kidding.

"Okay, flirt in the car when I can't hear or see you," Lauren teased, flicking them off with a smile on her face. "See you at the restaurant, bitches."

Julia smiled, pulling the door open for Joe. "See you there, Joey you know where you're going?"

"Yes, it's literally my favourite restaurant," he smiled back, unlocking his car for the other three.