The Aftershock

-joeys POV-
"Hi." I sigh.
"JOEY!" Zayn yells at the top of his voice. I wince. He picks me up and spins me around. Don't do it Joey. Be strong. They can't see you cry.
"Auntie Joey?"
"Yes baby?" I answer glancing at her still in Louis' arms.
"This dude said a naughty word." She sasses and points at Louis.
"What? No I didn't!" Louis lies.
"Liar, liar, pants on fire!" She wiggles her small finger at him.
"Nuh-uh!" He argues.
"Yeah-huh!" She giggles and pokes his cheek.
Tired of the petty argument, I slap Louis on the back of the head.
"No naughty words Louis William!" I say sternly and he whines. Zayn takes the baby off of Lou and I give him a big hug.
I missed my Loubear.
"Where did you go?" He whispers still hugging me.
"Brie was pregnant and Niall didn't want anything to do with it because of the situation. Plus, I couldn't be around Harry after I caught him with Taylor. Do you know how hard it is to have to look at someone who broke your heart into a million pieces? It hurts........a lot." I let one tear fall out of my eye but wipe it away before anyone sees. I can't let anyone see my true feelings. Especially in the middle of a Starbucks. And especially in front of the people that I have been avoiding for years.
"We need to catch up. I can't wait to tell the lads!" Zayn bounces the child happily in his arms. She was starting to dose off as we are now sitting in a booth and she has her head on his shoulder.
"NO!" I say loudly, getting looks from the people around us. "You can't tell the rest of the boys that you saw me today. Especially Niall and Harry. We came here to get away. Please." I plead from across the table. They look at each other, sigh, then nod.
I let out a breath that I didn't realize I was holding.
"Can we at least have your new number so just you me and Zayn can catch up?Pleeeeaaasssee?" Louis begs.
I chew on my lip, knowing how bad of an idea this is, but nod slightly.
They cheer and we exchange phones. After giving them my number, Zayn speaks up.
"So when is Brie going to tell him?" Zayn asks nodding his head to the almost sleeping girl on his lap.
I shrug.
"I don't know. She is afraid to tell him because she thinks he will push her away anyway." I suddenly take interest in my fingers.
The boys and I talk a little more. I ask about Perrie and Eleanor and they tell me they are both still going strong.
"Speaking of..... Perrie miss you like crazy." Zayn chuckles.
"Yeah, El too. Every time she sees a paintbrush she whines and says we need to have a search party out stalking you." Louis laughs.
"Can we tell them if they swear not to tell the lads?" Zayn asks excitedly.
Great, another bad idea that I know I can't refuse to.
"Why don't you just call 'er now." I say sarcastically.
"WE SHOULD! They are together getting their nails done!" Louis says then whips out his phone.
He dials Eleanor's number and puts it on speaker.
"Hey babe. What's up?" I hear El on the other side of the call. Oh how I miss her.
"Love, put the phone on speaker so Perrie can hear this too." Louis says politely.
"Alright boo, you are on speaker. Now what's so important that you are interrupting our girls day?" She sighs.
"Zayn and I have someone that you might want to say hello to." He chuckles into the phone.
"Oh just get on with it Louis!" I hear Perrie. Oh my Pear Bear!
"Hey guys. I miss you." I say sadly into the phone.
"Who are you? You sound a lot like......."
Suddenly I hear screams coming from that end of the phone.
Holy Jesus they are loud.
Suddenly I hear crying.
"OMIGOSH Joey we miss you so much! Perrie stop crying!" She shushes Perrie.
"Sorry guys she is probably on her period." El explains which makes me laugh and Louis and Zayn grimace.
"Hey girls." I sigh again. "I miss you too. The boys are going to give you my number." I explain.
We talk to the girls for a minute before someone starts to call on the other line.
I say a quick goodbye to my sobbing friends and Louis clicks on the other call.
"'Ello?"
"Louis!? Where the fuck are you? We are going to be late!"
I feel them. The tears that I have tried so hard to hold back are now pooling in my eyes and I can't hold them any longer.
His voice makes my duct-taped heart rip in half all over again.
Oh how I miss my beautiful Harry.
"Sorry Harold, we will be back soon." Louis answers.
"Well hurry up. I'm getting restless. Oh and guess what!" He says excitedly.
"What?" Zayn asks playing with Lulu's fingers while she sleeps.
"I think I found Joey's new number! Isn't that awesome?!" I can hear him grinning from ear to ear. There is goes again, another fracture in my heart.
One tear slides down my cheek.
Then another.
Then another.
"That's great Haz. We will be back soon." Zayn sighs and hangs up.
I could feel arms wrap around my now trembling body.
"It's okay love. Shhhh." Louis whispers and lets me cry on his shoulder.
///////////
The goodbye was hard. I was still half crying and I could tell the boys were holding back tears.
"I'm going to see you guys again. I promise." I smile sadly
"Just text us whenever you need something, ok love?" Zayn says still hugging me. I nod silently. I let go of Zayn and Louis pulls me into a bear hug.
"Please just don't disappear again."
I nod again and let go of Lou. Grabbing Mary Lou's hand, I wave one last time to my old friends and we start to head home.
I could feel the tears rushing down my face as we walked. I'm just glad that Lulu didn't notice.
"Auntie Joey can I pretty please go play?" She points at the play ground we were passing.
Without saying anything, I guide her across the street and let her hand go when we get there. She runs off to play with the other children.
I see a bench a few feet away so I plop on it and rest my forehead on my hands.
The tears stream down my face like a waterfall during a flood and I sob as quietly as I can.
I still can't believe he did what he did. I still have nightmares about when I flew to LA to surprise him and found the one and only Taylor Swift riding my boyfriend into oblivion.
He had been suspicious that week and was trying to convince me not to come. I was so naive to think that nothing was going on.
My heart broke into a million pieces that day.
I didn't even bother saying goodbye to anyone. I grabbed my still packed suitcase and stayed in a hotel near downtown Los Angeles.
I fell in love with the city and convinced Brie to move here.
They all probably thought I went home to Brie after my heart broke but in fact, I never left. I couldn't leave straight away because I bought round way tickets and I couldn't move the ticket date. So I stayed the whole week and explored, falling in love instantly.
I got a job as a professional artist and I model occasionally with Brie when they need an extra or she can't make it.
We live in a good size apartment just outside of downtown and I work about 10 minutes away from the apartment on foot.
I absolutely love it here and so does Brie.
"Whoa, are you okay?" Someone woke me from my thoughts.
It was a girl, about 5'6, so a couple inches taller than me as I was only 5'3. With her long brown hair and dark brown eyes, she was gorgeous.
"Um, I guess." I wiped my stained cheeks and sat up from slouching position.
"I'm Olivia." The girl smiled and stuck out her hand.

Notes

Hey guys. I am so sorry that this chapter sucked and I'm so sorry that it took me forever to write. I have been so tired that every time if write, I end up falling asleep on my computer. School sucks. Friend drama sucks. Sometimes I wish I could just get away from it all. Ugh. Anyway, are you liking it so far? Should I change it? Should I delete the story all together? I don't know. Please tell me what you think.
Get me up to 20 votes and I will update again :)
love you guys!
Kisses! Xoxoxo
-Gabi!