New Girl

Hurricane Lauren

"Hey, Jess." Mike leaned on the locker beside hers and grinned at her. "How you doing?"

She narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. "What do you want?"

"Who says I want anything?" Mike replied, flippantly. He flashed her his blue-eyed wounded puppy look. "Can't I just want to know how my favorite girl in Forks is doing?"

"First of all, your Joey Tribbiani impression needs some work. Second, if you don't tell me what you're really after, I'm walking away."

"Jessica."

"Michael."

He gave in. "Is Lauren dating that Jacob guy?"

She pretended not to know what he was talking about. She replied coyly, "Jacob who?"

"The Quileute guy with the muscles and long hair." He ran a hand through his sandy blond hair. "Should I grow out my hair and get a tan?"

"And bulk up."

He stared at her in disbelief. "Whose side are you on, Stanley?"

"Lauren's and she would kill me if I break girl code and tell her ex anything about her current love life."

"So, she is dating him."

"I can neither confirm nor deny if she is or isn't dating anyone."

"We haven't been permanently 'over' for too long. How can she just move on like that?" Mike asked, looking hurt. "We've been together since we were thirteen. We were each other's first everything and now she's acting like we never happened."

"You know that's not true. Lauren cares about you even if she's really terrible at showing it."

Lauren was allergic to vulnerability. She had walls that stretched out miles around her. Even those that had known her for years and were allowed to get close could never get the full picture of her. Jessica wondered if anyone truly saw all of Lauren or the blonde would never allow that to happen.

Mike looked away. "I don't know."

Jessica nudged him on the arm and smiled encouragingly. "Just think about the fact you'll be in London after next year and you might fall in love with some pretty British girl."

"Lauren told you about London?"

"And Angie seemed really hurt you didn't tell her about it."

Mike winced. "I didn't want to tell everyone my plans especially if they don't go through. I don't want to be the almost guy. No one likes the almost guy."

That was true. Jessica was terrified of not being accepted into Stanford and being the girl that almost got into Stanford. No one liked the almost guy. It was somehow worse than the guy who didn't even bother trying.

"Anyway, what I really wanted to know is if Lauren wanted to go to Homecoming with Jacob instead? I'd rather not be dumped before I can find another date."

"She doesn't say anything." Then Jessica corrected herself, "I can neither confirm nor deny if she has other plans for Homecoming."

Mike looked contemplative. "Maybe I could ask Bella to go with me. She's cute."

"I didn't think you liked her."

"She's alright," he replied. "And since my ex may or may not be going to Homecoming with someone else, I have to keep my options open. Unless Bella already has a date?"

"We're all going as a group thing which you can do with us."

"Any expectations?"

"What expectations did you have with Lauren?"