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author's note: second to last part folks, i hope you've enjoyed the ride. tw for very brief and light mentions of self harm and... some... smooches. consensual and happy, of course.

Hours later, Lauren's eyes fluttered open to a dimly lit room and a hand holding hers. She looked down to see herself wrapped in her bedsheets, then to her side to see Joey. He blinked slowly, a small smile creeping up his face as he saw her awake.

"Morning sunshine," he whispered, turning slightly to face her and squeezing her hand.

She squeezed back, pushing up on her free arm. "You waited up for me... Joey, it's," she checked the clock on her nightstand. "3 in the morning."

"Oh well, I just gotta know you're okay," he shrugged, watching as she blushed slightly. "How you feeling?"

"Okay, I mean, better than I was before..." she trailed off, looking down.

He pushed a knuckle under her chin and forced her to meet his eyes. "What's up?"

"Nothing, nothing, it's just... uh..." she hesitated, coughing to clear her throat. "Look, I, uh, I know you don't wanna hear this but seriously... I'm sorry. I saw how upset you got earlier about all this and I really don't want you to worry. For the first time in a while, I actually think it can get better."

"Really?" He asked, his eyes lighting up.

"Yeah, and I think it's because of you, you know?  Back at the restaurant you said everything's gonna be okay and I've never actually believed that before, until now, so..."  she looked down again, fiddling with his hand.

"Lo..." he sighed, bringing a hand up to cup her cheek, gently. "You don't know how much that means, and I promise you it's gonna be okay, I'm gonna be here with you all the way, you don't have to go through this alone."

She smiled, softly, blinking happy tears out of her eyes. "Thank you so much, Joey."

"Hey, it's okay, it's what I'm here for," he told her, truthfully, squeezing her hand to make sure she knew it.

"I still can't believe you stayed up for me," she giggled, turning more to look at him and brushing a stray hair out of his eyes.

He smiled at her, letting her stroke his cheek with her thumb. "Yeah well, it's only cos I love you so much."

Joey stopped dead, every muscle in his body tensed as Lauren looked at him with furrowed brows.

"I mean uh, I don't, well I do I really do, I just uh, oh no, I uh-"

"I think I love you too..." Lauren said, quietly.

He stopped rambling, frowning at her. "What?"

"I love you... woah." She laughed a little, tilting her head slightly. "You know, you were always the one Taylor hated the most. He was jealous of how close I am with you but I always chalked it up to us being best friends. But I mean everyone's told me they think we'd make a cute couple. I guess I never really gave it much thought myself."

"So... what the hell does this mean?" He chuckled, shuffling closer to her with a hand on her leg.

"I wanna be with you, as more than a friend, because if the last few hours have taught me anything it's that you care about me, right?" She asked, leaning forward a little.

Joey smiled, looking deep in her eyes, trying not to get lost in them. "Yeah... more than anything, Lo."

"Wow, really, you like me that much?" Lauren smirked, finding his statement hard to believe.