Harmonius echoes

"We should go to a Christmas market" Victoria's eyes lit up like a little girl asking her parents for a puppy. Joe nodded "Anything for my favorite girl" he said to her as he put his hand over her shoulder, pulling her closer to him. He had this uncontrollable urge to feel her touch, the warmth of her body, the frutal smell of her perfume that filled his nostrils drove him insane. Victoria stopped mid-walk just to kiss him on the lips in the middle of the street, without a care in the world. Her lips were soft, and delicate, like a cloud with and addictive taste. He felt like the luckiest guy on the planet. Joe woke up in the middle of the night. Confused, sweaty, and slightly aroused at the thought of kissing her. He had been dreaming about her for the last week, intermittently. He headed downstairs for a glass of cold water, taking the dream in, wondering what she would think if she knew the kind of dreams he was having about her. He then couldn't fight the urge to open her Instagram profile, feeling like he was doing something wrong, prohibited, trespassing on her privacy, crossing a line he only dared to cross in the cover of the dark. Lots of pictures of the scenery of Cincinnati, her posing with her friends, and alone, God she was a sight for sore eyes. He scrolled further, reaching posts she had made around two years ago, all of them in Baltimore. He wondered what she was doing there at all, for a couple friends who seemed to be able to get along with each other, he was surprised that there were still lots of things he didn't know about her. He knew she was born and raised in Vancouver island, but that was about it as far as her past went. He didn't even know about her previous love life. Did she have any important relationships before? She never mentioned anything but at the same time it seemed strange that a pretty, smart young woman wasn't interested in a serious relationship. She didn't even mentioned casual dating to him. He went back to bed, hopping that was the last dream he would have of her.

Victoria on the other hand, was getting little to no sleep. She needed to submit at least 20 full pages as draft of her new research paper by Friday and so far she had written two sentences. She was surviving on double expressos and energizing beverages. It was close to 4 am and she knew that she needed to call it a night.  Finally, around 5 am, she went to sleep, albeit for 2 hours, but she would take what she could get. She pulled up the lab looking like a hot mess, she didn't even have time to brush her hair, her clothes looked like they were selected in the dark, and she couldn't bother to make breakfast for herself. She made the decision to cancel whatever experiments she had scheduled for the day, at the cost of falling even more behind on every deadline she had to meet before the winter semester concluded. "Victoria, please come to my office as soon as possible" she heard the familiar voice of Sal, with a slightly angry undertone. She threw her stuff into her desk and quickly followed her PI into his office. Sal was a short, middle aged, balding man with tiny grey eyes and very thin lips. Not exactly your standard handsome dude, but he was one of the smartest people she had ever met, he received his doctorate degree at the short age of 26, and had been a prolific researcher his entire life, winning both national and international awards, publishing papers in the highest impact journals in the country. He commanded respect wherever he went. "Please sit down. Victoria I will be honest with you, you are a brilliant, talented young scientist, I believe you have the potential required to go on to be a great researcher, and yet, you're slacking". Victoria felt his words were sharp, as though she was being pricked by needles, she would've preferred Sal to tell her that she was a waste of time,  but the whole "you're a brilliant woman but still manage to be a disappointment" speech cut deep. "I know Sal, it's entirely my fault, I've been unable to complete my work and write effectively at the same time". She said, with a defeated voice. "Then don't, if you need more time to hand in your work then take it, just let me know. But I will ask you to please don't make excuses for yourself. I've noticed you arrive later than usual, you take very long lunch breaks and you sometimes even don't come back at all. Look, I know what it feels to be a 20 year old living in a foreign country, on your own. I know that your romantic relationships seem like the most important thing in the world, but I promise you, the only eternal thing you'll posses is your piece of paper saying you're a doctor. Romance comes and goes. I would know." Victoria's eyes opened wide. "Oh Sal, it's not like that at all, I don't have a boyfriend or anything. I'm just struggling to balance everything on my plate right now." Victoria told him as she tried to sound calm. She really wasn't seeing anyone. Sal looked at her like she was full of shit. Victoria felt frustrated that he didn't believe her. "Just get on with it. Do your experiments, spend some more time here, and if you manage to do that I'll give you two more weeks to turn in the draft I asked you to write. Are we understanding each other?" Sal inquired. "Yes doctor, I'm sorry again for the delay". Victoria felt a little bit better knowing she had more time to write. She knew that she would have to work extra hard, given that the extra time meant that Sal would be extremely picky about her work, dissecting it piece by piece. She went back to the lab and spent the rest of the day working on experiments, giving herself only a 15 minute lunch break, then she continued to write for the rest of the afternoon, well into the night. 9:25 pm said the clock on her desk. She was feeling exhausted, she had managed to write 4 more pages with the level quality she felt was appropriate, and was feeling pretty good about her progress, all while having slept 2 hours the day before.

She got so caught up in her work that she didn't even realize she hadn't eaten.

Joe🐅Hey there? Are you still alive? I just wanted to check in on you. Vi 🧬Hey, I'm sorry I didn't reply earlier. Long day in the lab. Didn't even have dinner but I got a lot done ☑️ Joe 🐅I'm picking you up in 20 minutes and bringing food with me, get ready to leave.

Victoria's heart felt warm reading Joe's text. She felt so lucky to have a friend as caring as him. Joe did show up 20 minutes later with her favorite Chipotle order. They had a quiet and peaceful late night dinner in the middle of the University parking lot, protected by the darkness provided by the night, and Joe's car tinted windows. "So what's the story with you Marlowe? When was the last time you were on a proper date?" Joe asked as he grabbed a bite from his burrito. Victoria laughed. "A long long time ago my friend, it's been so long I don't even remember proper date protocol. Hence why I'm eating dinner hiding in a car with my only male friend" Joe laughed at this. "No but really, I just don't have time for a relationship right now, I have a lot going on. My degree, my friends, whatever is left of my personal interests and you.  It's better like this", she added. "But if you don't date, then how do you...? You know...? Blow off some steam.."? Joe was curious "Are you asking me if I get horny and lonely?" She teased him. "Well you don't need to have a committed relationship to satisfy certain needs."That comment stung Joe. "And you Burrow? Any hot secret hook ups? Messy exes? Come on give me something good". "Nothing. It's just background noise to me. I had an ex I really loved, but we couldn't make it work out with my career, I was immature and didn't know how to handle change. She broke up with me and I think she's married now". Victoria put her and over his, which was resting on the steering wheel. "I'm sorry to hear that Joe, I'm sure you'll find the one for you. You deserve the absolute best this world has to offer". "Well enough about depressing shit. Have you heard about the The 1975 concert here at the PNC pavilion next week?" Joe asked her. "How sweet of you to remember I'm a fan. Yeah, of course I know about it. I just don't think I'll be able to go, my friends aren't big into the band, I have a lot of stuff to do and as much as you may think I enjoy my singleness, I'm still not quite ready to go alone to a concert." She told him. Joe started the car and began to drive towards her house. "I could come with you. If you'd like." He cleared his voice, he felt strangely shy about asking her. "Well I would love to, but there's no way the press wouldn't eat that story up." "Let me handle it. Just be ready next Thursday night". "Would you really do that for me? You have to be an angel sent from heaven". She hugged him, not caring about spilling sauce all over them. "Plus I'll get to say goodbye before you leave to play in Arizona on Sunday" she told him.

The rest of the week went by fast, Joe had a game on the road on Monday night, he and the team left for Las Vegas the previous night. They had crushed the Raiders once again, and Joe felt like the concert day couldn't come fast enough, he was in the mood for celebrating with his secret friend.

Victoria spent two hours getting ready, deciding between outfits, sending pictures to her friends so they could help her choose which one was the most appropriate. Lexie asked her if she was planning on doing adult stuff with Joe, to which Victoria just laughed, to her, this was just her enjoying a concert with a friend. "Come on, you can't be that naive, no guy would ever be so attentive to a girl he wasn't planning to fuck, I say go for it" Alexandra told her over FaceTime. Paige didn't always agree with Lexie's cynical approach to life, but they were on the same page on the subject. "Shut up now, I think he's here" Victoria quickly hung up on them. Joe was standing in the porch of Victoria's home, wearing a pair of sunglasses, and an oversized black hoodie, but the most obvious part of his outfit was the ridiculously cheap black wig he wore. Victoria laughed loud at the sight of her friend. "Don't. Say. A thing. Or you won't get the VIP tickets I just bought". "You have to be kidding me" She screamed. "I'm not, get in the car we have to leave now". He said while smiling to her. She was over the moon.

They pulled up to the arena, and headed into the special VIP booth, through a private entrance. Joe had really made sure that they were as safe as they could.

The concert began, opening with Looking for somebody. The crowd went wild, as did Victoria, singing every word to the song as Joe filmed her with his phone, he felt like this was a night he would wanna relive. "JOE OH MY GOD. THEYRE PLAYING IM IN LOVE WITH YOU" Victoria started to sing along to the song as she held her phone up, turning her flash on.

HeartbeatIs comin' in so strongOh, if you don't stopI'm gonna need a second oneOh, there's somethin' I've been meaning toSay to you, baby

Victoria sang, fully lost in the moment, staring straight into Joe's eyes. Contemplating the attractive man she had in front of her, Joe surprisingly knew this song and he started singing along to Victoria

What a call, moving inI feel like I can loosen my lips (come on so strong)I can summarize it for you (ah)It's simple and it goes like thisI'm in love with you, I-I-I-I

Both of them stopped singing. They contemplated each other's faces in the dark room, lit up by the dim lights of the arena, and the stage, their faces merely centimeters away from each other. And in that moment, the crowd, the music, the noise disappeared, it was as if they were the only two people in the room. Nothing else mattered , the world could go down in flames and they wouldn't even flinch. Victoria opened her mouth to say something until she felt Joe pulling her into a tight hug. They spent the rest of the concert holding each other. Both of them began to question what game they were playing that night. But it was one they enjoyed.

@marlowe_tori: why don't you figure my heart out? ❤️ by @joeyb_9 and 3832 others