'Miami. Finally.' Melissa yawned tiredly as she grabbed her luggage from the carousel from baggage claim at Miami International Airport. She was ready to find a bed, fall into it and sleep; changing into sleep wear optional. The day had been a killer. She spent the whole day in airports. Her day had started off getting up in the middle of the night for her flight out of LAX to make the cross country trek. That had been the only thing to go right.
The flight was supposed to take her into Atlanta where she would endure a short layover before jumping on another plane that would take her into Miami where she would meet Rachel's and Holly's smiling faces. Then it was to the arena for the last concert of this leg of the 'Celebrity' tour. That was what was supposed to happen.
What had actually happened was instead of flying into Atlanta, they encountered a spring storm in Atlanta. The plane had been unable to land and had been rerouted to St. Louis. Why St. Louis, Melissa had no idea. There were many airports closer to Atlanta where they could have landed. But she was just a pawn and instead of flying closer to Miami she was flying further away.
Melissa was thankful she packed her phone charger in her carry on bag because there was no way her battery would have lasted the entire layover in St. Louis. She had talked to Rachel letting her know the news and she certainly gotten her money worth on the unlimited text especially once the concert started. Rachel and Holly text her letting her know what song was performing and how the concert was going.
When she finally made it to Atlanta, the whole flight schedule had been shot and she had to find another connecting flight to Miami. The saving grace during the struggle to find a connecting flight through all the other disgruntled passengers had been a voicemail on her phone. While she had been in mid-flight, Rachel called. The boys had performed 'I Thought She Knew' and Rachel had let her voicemail catch them singing. She must have called her voicemail ten times just to listen.
Now here it was two in the morning. Melissa was standing outside the airport hailing a cab. One phone call would have yielded seven people offering to come and pick her up but she didn't want to bother them. The guys just had a show; they would be passed out sleeping after having come down off the post show high. If they decided to go out afterward, well they wouldn't be in condition to drive. She knew Rachel and JC didn't go out, but she didn't want to bother her pregnant friend. She needed her sleep. It was just easier to grab a cab to the hotel.
She tossed her luggage into the backseat and climbed in the back of the cab after and told the drive the name of the hotel. She sighed and leaned against her luggage, thankful that during the excursion her things hadn't been lost. 'Least that went right.' Nothing like being in Miami with no clean underwear.
Given the late hour it didn't take long before the cab pulled in front of the hotel where the guys were staying. After climbing from the cab, she pulled the fare from her purse and paid the driver. Grabbing her bags she smiled at the doorman, as he held the door open for her. As she bypassed the front desk, Melissa wondered briefly if she should get her own room. Justin had text her earlier stating that Joey wasn't hitting any clubs instead decided to go to bed.
'He makes Oscar look like one of the Teletubbies' She wasn't sure what that meant but figured Joey wasn't in a good mood. Deciding she could deal with a grumpy Joey, she road the elevator to the floor the guys were staying on. Her mind chanted 'bed bed bed' as she walked down the hall looking at the numbers on the door until she reached Joey's. She took a deep breath trying to dispel the butterflies that fluttered around in her stomach. Blowing out the breath, she knocked on the door. She frowned when there was no answer. She placed her ear against the door and heard no movement coming from the other side. Raising her hand, she knocked again; harder this time.
"Housekeeping," Melissa called, disguising her voice. She held a hand over her mouth to muffle the giggle when she heard a groan. "Housekeeping!" She bit her hand when she heard Joey start cussing. She back away from the door and pasted a big of a smile she could on her face. Being tired, it wasn't much of one but it was something.
Joey yanked the door open ready to give a piece of his mind at the person on the other side. He blinked sleepily when he saw Melissa. He rubbed a hand over his face before meeting her eyes. "You look tired, Bambina."
“Damn time zones and being stuck in an airport,” Melissa told him, wanting to reach out and touch Joey. It had taken this long to get to him and all she wanted was one of his hugs. “Can I have a hug?” she asked, biting her lip.
“Can you have a...?” Joey's last word fell off. The woman who had his heart and soul was asking if he'd hug her. “What kind of question is that?” Joey opened his arms, letting out a sigh when Melissa melted against him, her face buried in his chest. He felt something wet and ran a hand over her back, his eyes closed as his chin rested on her head. He grunted when he felt fingers at the nape of his neck pulling on the short hair that was there. “Look at me,” he told her pulling her chin up. Joey studied her tear stained face, frowning at what looked like bruising. “What the fuck happened there?”
“Let's go inside your room,” she replied, getting her bags in the door and leaving them. She watched Joey turn on the bathroom light and then she went in with some face cleaner to take off the make up. It was unnerving to have him watch her, his face getting angrier when she winced. The bruise was a greenish blue instead of purple like it was earlier in the week.
“I need a cigarette,” Joey growled, leaving her in the bathroom to go stand at the sliding door to the patio, blowing smoke out. He heard her come out of the bathroom and open a bag, rustling around and changing clothes. He didn't turn around when her hand met his back. “What's the bastard's name I'm killing?” he asked, taking a long drag off his smoke.
“AJ is going to rehab next week. He..he never hit me before, Joey-”
“No one should ever hit you!” Joey yelled, slamming the door and locking it. “Why did he hit you?” Joey watched her bite her lip and he pulled her to him. There was enough light coming from the bathroom that he could see the bruising and he let out a shuddering breath. “It killed me to leave Los Angeles and leave you in that bed. No matter if it was right or not. And now you come back to me and someone has put their hands on you...” Joey brought Melissa's fingers to his lips, kissing them softly before putting her palm against his chest where she could feel his heartbeat.
A tear slid down his face and Joey kissed her softly. A growl came from him when she whimpered. Joey deepening the kiss; his tongue snaked out, demanding entrance to her mouth. He could tell where he lip was swollen and that angered him more when he thought about it until Melissa's mouth opened. It was the same, kissing her, his tongue stroking hers. He broke off the kiss to study her face intently. “Tell me what happened,” he demanded, pulling her to the bed, smirking when he realized she was wearing one of his shirts from his bag.
Melissa waited until Joey had arranged the pillows where he could sit up and talk and she took the opportunity to curl up next to him. “I should ask how you're doing,” she said quietly, reaching over to stroke the hair at his temple.
“I asked you first. I'm fine,” Joey said, shifting around to where Melissa was now lounging in his arms, his fingers touching her skin. “Talk to me, Melly. We've got a lot to talk about.”
Melissa swallowed, nodding. She told Joey about AJ. She didn't leave anything out, even the parts she didn't want him to know, about her and AJ kissing, up to the incident in Dallas. Falling silent, Melissa waited for him to say something.
“I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to go break his fucking neck. He better not show up anywhere around you.”
Melissa nodded, sighing and scooting closer to Joey. “So, how are you?”
“I'm getting divorced. Papers should be done in a few weeks if not before. My house is on the market and I'm looking to buy closer to my parents...” his voice trailed off. “I'm doing better than I was. Pissed off that a woman would do that..rip apart my life. And yours. I mean, I wanted to be a father, but my heart was never in the marriage. Even when I quit talking to you, my heart was never full. I don't think it would have been even with a baby. Do you want to hear the whole story?” he asked, watching her nod slowly.
Melissa listened to him talk, loving the rise and fall of Joey's voice even if what he was saying was tearing up her heart. Like her story with AJ, he didn't leave anything out. He paused though when she put her arms around him and hugged him tightly, not bothering to hide her tears. Melissa heard him sniffle and pulled away to study his face, wiping his tears with her thumbs, neither one of them speaking. “Do you think you'll ever be happy again?” Melissa finally asked, surprised when Joey shifted her around in his arms so that she was lying across his body, her head cradled in his elbow as he looked down at her.
“Bambina mia,” Joey whispered, leaning in and kissing her. “Right now I am happy. I'm not letting you go. Do you love me?” Joey asked, his voice breaking a bit, scared she might answer in a way he wouldn't like.
“Do I love you?” Melissa's voice was high and tight with emotion. “I haven't stopped loving you, Joey. Do you love me?” she countered, smiling at his mustache tickling her ear as his lips grazed the spot just underneath it.
“When winter comes in summer, when there's no more forever, that's when I'll stop loving you...” Joey sang softly. “I want us again- you and me. I don't care what anyone says. I don't care what they think. I want you to pick out a house with me. A house for us to live in and get married and start a family. Tell me we can at least do that. Spend these three weeks off with me. I know you don't have work. Just be with me.”
“I thought it would be harder than this,” Melissa confessed to Joey. “That it would be awkward...And it's not.”
“Nothing between us has been hard..I mean, in a non sexual way,” he rolled his eyes at her snickering. “I'm being serious, Melissa Nicole.”
“Joseph Anthony.”
“Listen, bambina,” Joey pulled her down into the bed and sighed when her hands found his hair. “We've always been able to talk about anything. It hasn't changed. Right now I don't care if we ever mention the last six months or so ever again. It happened. The times I got to see you were the parts that kept me going. The rest of it felt like my soul was lost. Now I feel whole again.”
Melissa nodded, knowing exactly how he felt. “So what does that make us?” she raised an eyebrow as she carded her fingers through his hair as he buried his head in her neck and groaned appreciatively. She yanked on a lock of hair and felt his teeth nip her collarbone.
“It makes you mine,” Joey said, pulling the covers up and moving around until Melissa was in his arms.
“I'm going to call you George and love you and hug you and pet you...” Melissa teased, not tired anymore. “Let's go to the beach.”
“It's three in the morning.”
“Please,” she stuck her lip out and pouted, feeling Joey get still. “We haven't done anything fun in a long time.”
Joey opened one eye and sighed when she messed with his hair more. “On one condition,” he said, rolling her under him and pinning her arms down with his hands.
“What?” she asked, letting out a peal of laughter when he secured her wrists and tickled her. “What? Joey!” she screamed again and tried to get away from his fingers.
“Marry me. When we can get married...” his voice trailed off, knowing the obvious since his divorce wasn't final yet.
“Anything else?” Melissa asked with a smirk, lifting her head so her lips could meet his.
“What do you think?” Joey asked, letting his lips graze her neck.
“A baby...or two or three..” Melissa murmured as Joey's hand let hers go, his fingers skimming underneath the shirt she had on.
“Or five,” he mumbled, his lips grazing her skin.
“Joey...” she said, letting out a small whimper when his tongue found her earlobe. “God, Joey.”
“Still want to go to the beach?” he mumbled, raising up to look down at her.
“Yes,” Melissa swatted playfully at him as he pouted and got off her. She got up to dig around in her bag and laughed at him watching her find some shorts. “Don't pout, you big baby.” She laid her head on his when he put his head on her shoulder and stuck out his bottom lip. “You think that will get you anywhere?”
“Yes,” Joey said, kissing her cheek before letting her go and turning on the light on the nightstand to find some swim trunks and flip flops. “You better want to get wet.”
“You have to catch me first, Fatoney,” Melissa shoved her flip flops on and ran out the door, stopping in the hallway long enough for Joey to come out the door before taking off towards the elevators. She hit the down button and grinned when Joey caught her wrist. The door opened and Justin stood there looking at the both of them.
“Dawg, where the hell are the two of you going?” he asked, laughing when Joey picked Melissa up and threw her over his shoulder.
“The beach,” Melissa said, hanging upside down. She poked Joey in the back and then pinched his butt.
“Hey now,” Joey smacked her leg playfully and looked at Justin. “She bribed me,” he said innocently.
“I'm sure it took a lot to get you out of bed.”
“I was trying to keep her in it,” Joey told Justin with a chuckle.
“Have fun,” Justin yelled at the two of them as the elevator doors closed. He grinned big at the two of them together, happy and smiling. It had been too long since he'd seen that. The world was turning right once more.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Part 2 of this chapter.
Story Tags: joey
