3. Three's a Crowd

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A hangover greeted Joey when his alarm went off the next morning. He hit snooze twice before finally dragging himself out from under the covers, wincing in the early morning brightness. No one could say he wasn't fully immersing himself in the college experience.

Brian walked into the room, back from the shower.

"So, how'd it go with Lauren last night?" he asked without preamble.

Joey sat up, his stomach protesting being filled only with alcohol in the past twelve hours, and grabbed a protein bar, shoving half of it in his mouth before he spoke. "She has a boyfriend."

Brian dropped the folder he was trying to wrestle into his backpack, and sheaths of paper scattered across the floor. "What?"

"I know," Joey said ruefully.

It had been a huge letdown, but he couldn't say he was surprised. Lauren actually being interested in him was too good to be true, and it was his fault for misinterpreting her signals. He knew it wouldn't be easy to get over his feelings, and the fact that she was dating Darren, of all people, complicated them even more. But he'd still like to be her friend. He'd really like that.

"Why do you think she invited you then?" Brian asked.

"I don't know," he said, rubbing his hands over his eyes. "I guess she was trying to be friendly, first day of school and all that."

"Maybe the relationship isn't that serious?" Brian suggested.

"Maybe," he frowned. Apart from when Darren first introduced her, she'd seemed happy enough around the guy. But then, they'd been in a group the whole time. Who was to say what things were like when they were alone? He wondered if he could ask her without her understanding the real question he was asking. Probably not.

"Well, we have our first class together," Brian said, back to the banality of school now Joey's love life had proved to have little to offer. "Want me to wait for you?"

"No, you go on ahead."

An answer he regretted when he found himself standing in the middle of a courtyard, turning on the spot and trying to get his bearings. Brimming with confidence from his first day on campus, he'd forgotten how unadjusted to the place he still was, despite his usually good sense of direction. To make matters worse, the drizzle when he got off the bus was steadily increasing into a heavy rain, weighing his hair down, and he knew his backpack brought from California wasn't cut out for this kind of weather. He was beginning to wonder whether he shouldn't just make a terrible first impression and skip the class altogether when who else stepped out of the building to his left than Lauren, a binder tucked under her arm as she put up an umbrella. Reappearing from under it, she spotted him and waved her free hand before hurrying over and holding the umbrella up over his head, arm fully extended.

"Hi," she said, raising her voice to be heard over the rain pattering above them. "Have you got class now?"

With skipping already on his mind and the potential of time to be spent with Lauren, he considered lying. But then he gave her a sheepish smile. "Yeah, and I could use your help. I'm a little lost."

He told her where he was trying to get to, and she pointed over his shoulder. "You've come too far. Go back that way and you'll see it on your right. Not even a minute. Then you want the second floor."

"You are a lifesaver," he said, settling his backpack higher on his shoulders.

"I couldn't leave you here looking helpless," she grinned.

"I didn't look helpless!"

"It was kind of cute," she admitted. Joey didn't know which of them blushed more.

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