richpez for mae

21

Lauren watched Joey leave the garden, and as he disappeared, she choked out a sob. She stumbled back over to the bench where Joey had been seated and collapsed onto it, placing her head in her hands as sobs shook her body.

The past few minutes had been a whirlwind and she could barely process what had happened. Thinking back to what Darren did in the house was unacceptable. Even though he didn't know about them, acting in the way he did made her feel sick to her stomach. And the look of disappointment and sadness in Joey's face when she realised he saw what happened was an image that was burned into her brain.

But Joey had never shouted at her in all the time that they had been together. Granted, he had reason to be angry, but she had never seen him in that light before.

She tried to steady her breathing to calm herself down, but then would think of what happened again and the tears would quickly return. It was worse that she couldn't pinpoint exactly why she was crying. Was she crying about Darren? Joey being upset? Joey shouting at her? Or the fact that Joey had openly admitted that he loved her at such the wrong moment?

Lauren knew she had such strong feelings for Joey. Joey was her best friend, her partner, her soulmate, even. She knew almost everything about him. She felt so safe with him, like she could genuinely be herself and he wouldn't judge any of the quirks or flaws she had. He was funny. He was kind. He was caring. He was so patient with her. In the space of time that she had known him, she felt herself falling more and more in love with him. But him saying it to her solidified his feelings towards her, but also confirmed her feelings towards him. But the situation it occurred in made it all even worse.

That was another moment that would burn in her brain, the moment Joey told her he loved her. She could tell you every detail of him, the way he was sat, the way the tears in his eyes glimmered from the streetlight nearby that illuminated the garden they were sat in, where every ridge in his hair was from him raking his fingers through it. The mental image of him was burned into her brain and it physically hurt her to think about it. but she couldn't stop.

But then Joey's reaction to the situation was unlike anything she had seen before. The way he spoke to her and his tone of voice threw her off completely. He had all reason to be angry, and he was drunk at the time, but she was still taken aback every time the conversation recrossed her mind. Lauren and Joey had never argued before. And that made the situation even worse. Sure they had bickered, but it was never over anything big, usually about which flavour of crisps they should buy, or who should pay for their dinner if they had takeout. Never anything this bad. So the pure fact that Joey raised his voice at her sent her spiralling.

It was night time in mid-December in Michigan and it was freezing outside, and Lauren could feel herself shivering in the cold in her short red dress. She mustered up all the strength she had and sluggishly headed inside to order an uber home. Thanking God that she had brought her dorm key with her just in case. All her friends were scattered around the house so she sent them a text on her way out of the house to tell them that she was leaving.

Lauren got the message on her phone a few minutes later that her uber was outside so she headed down the path and out to the main road to get in the car. But suddenly, she heard someone calling her name from the house, and she spun around to see Julia hurrying out of the house and towards Lauren.

"Hey, wait up!" Julia shouted as she hurried to Lauren's side.

"What are you doing?" Lauren asked.

"You think I'm going to let you go home alone, especially when you're leaving a party early? Now get in the uber and tell me what's happening."

Lauren knew better than to question Julia so she quickly climbed in as Julia followed, giving a quick hello to the Uber driver as he drove them back to their dorm building.

As soon as Julia turned to Lauren to speak she was already in tears, and Julia was quick to pull Lauren into her, letting her cry into her dress. The sobs wracked her little body as Julia tried to soothe her as best as she could. The journey was spent with no conversation uttered between the two, only Lauren's faint noises as she cried and Julia shushing her gently.

Lauren's mind was running at a million miles a minute so consumed with the thought of Joey and their argument on rerun in her brain. She didn't even realise that they had made it back on campus, and Julia was carefully pulling Lauren out of the uber and towards their dorm building. They made it up the stairs and into their room, and Julia sat Lauren on her bed. She silently got changed out of her dress and into some pyjamas and sat looking up at Julia, knowing she was going to add the dreaded question.

Julia hadn't said anything since they got into the taxi, and was unsure if Julia even knew what had happened. But her questions where answered when Julia sat on the bed next to her, crossing her legs and sighing.

"I've heard about what happened, Lauren." Julia started, and Lauren felt the hot tears burning at her eyes once more. "But I want to hear what happened from your perspective, the truth."

So Lauren dove in, telling Julia every single detail from the minute Joey left to use the bathroom to the moment Joey left her in the garden. She cried as she told the story, hard. Telling the story made her realise how stupid the situation was and how easily it could have been avoided. And she blamed herself fully.

Julia didn't say anything once Lauren stopped talking. She looked lost in thought for a few moments, thinking Lauren's explanation over in her head. She then pulled Lauren into a hug and sighed against her.

"Do you want to know what I'm thinking or would you rather wait?" Julia asked quietly.

Lauren paused for a second but answered. "Tell me, please."

"I think it was very stupid. I'm not going to sit and play the blame game because that's useless. All of you were in the wrong at some point whether you or they would like to admit. But if you realise what your wrongdoings are, then you're already halfway there. I can't guarantee Joey will forgive you, because he only saw everything from his perspective." Lauren cried harder as Julia said that. "But, Joey is so good with you. And although he shouted at you and said some harsh things to you, from what you've told me, he really does love you. And he will eventually want to talk about what happened. He probably won't want to talk to you over Christmas break. If you want to reach out, do. But you've got to give him the time to think this all over."

Lauren sighed but silently agreed. They sat there for a while longer, Julia holding Lauren as she sat, still thinking over their argument. But eventually, Julia pulled away and got up, opening Lauren's duvet for her to climb inside. Lauren slipped under and Julia wrapped her up, smiling softly at her before whispering a goodnight and climbing into her bed to sleep.

She knew she was in for a long night since that was the first time in a while Lauren had slept alone. She always had Joey beside her, and even if he wasn't with her, he was only a phone call away. But she had never felt further away from him, and it really did hurt her. So she laid looking up at the ceiling, unsure of how long she had been laid there until her eyes eventually grew heavy, and she fell into a night of restless sleep, the only thing on her mind being Joey.

Hey there little chickies! Sorry that we're still in sad city. I can't guarantee we'll be leaving the sadness soon but keep faith for them!