Right Place, Wrong Time

29. Signal Failure

After his run in with Lauren on the way to meet his girlfriend, Joey had the sinking feeling that he'd messed things up. The fact that he hadn't seen her in the week since had only consolidated that. He supposed she was hurt that he hadn't told her about his girlfriend, although he hadn't told any of his other friends yet either. She'd only been his girlfriend for all of a week. Despite serious reservations, he figured it was the best chance of moving on from Lauren, so when she showed interest in him, instead of rejecting it like had become his default response, he had asked her on a date, and after another date he asked her to be his girlfriend. Part of him wanted to confide in Lauren, as she was the person he went to about anything significant in his life. But the thought of telling her about that gave him a sick feeling in his stomach. It felt like a betrayal, even though she had made it clear there couldn't be anything between them.

So he had tried to focus on school and his new girlfriend and not the potentially lost relationship with Lauren, though she never left his mind and he often found himself staring across the street at her window to catch a glimpse of her, or looking out for her in the halls to make sure she was okay.

It was to his great surprise, therefore, that he was working on a monologue one day when he heard a knock at the door, and opened it to see none other than Lauren. Without waiting for a greeting, she slipped past him into the house like she belonged there.

"Julia kicked me out so she can study so I'm hanging out with you now."

"Okay," he said, following her like a guest in his own house as she sauntered upstairs to his bedroom and flopped down on the bed, leaning back on her hands. He took the seat at his desk, facing her.

"How are things?" she asked.

"Pretty good," he answered. Not as good as they would have been if he hadn't felt like he'd lost his best friend, but he had at least been on track with school. "You?"

"So over finals," she said, moving her hands and letting herself fall onto her back.

"How many have you got left?"

"Only one," she said. "Which is why I'm taking a break but Julia is freaking out."

"And you were being too distracting?" he grinned.

"How dare you."

"Well I'm glad you came over here."

She sat up again to meet his eyes. "Really?"

"Yeah. I missed you."

She sighed. "I missed you too."

"But I guess you were busy."

"Mm," she said, unconvincingly, and that was the confirmation Joey had been scared of: she'd been avoiding him.

"So what are your plans today?" he asked, to change the subject. "Bugging me?"

She stuck her middle finger up at him and they both grinned. "Why, did you have other plans without me?"

He shook his head. "Lucky for you."

"Very lucky for me." There was a long pause. Before she spoke again, she looked away from him, studying his carpet intensely. "So how're things with your girlfriend?"

That was the elephant in the room. The reason for the tension between them even as they pretended things were normal. He didn't want to answer the question, but Lauren was making an effort and he had to appreciate that.

"Good, yeah," he said quietly. "She's nice."

"Nice," Lauren repeated with a small nod, and it was in that that Joey realised how pathetic it sounded. The only good thing he had to say was that she was nice. But how could she compare to the girl sat on his bed, who made him laugh until his ribs ached and was so beautiful it almost hurt to look at her. It wasn't fair to either of them to compare them, he knew, but his heart knew that there was no competition. It was, and always would be, Lauren.