AFTER. (lxc version)

Chapter 23.

(read my notes below later some are important about the updates and some gossips jk lmao :))) thank you...enjoyyy ;))) )

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When I get back to my room Lucy isn't back yet. Her classes run two hours past mine. While I lay out my books and notes to prepare for my studying tonight, I call Matthew. He doesn't pick up, he must be busy. I wish he was here with me at college, it would make things so much easier and comfortable. We could be studying or watching a movie together right now. My guilt about kissing Lauren is consuming me, Matthew is so sweet and he doesn't deserve to be cheated on. I am lucky to have him in my life, he is always there for me and he knows me better than anyone. We have known each other basically our whole lives. When his parents moved in down the street I was ecstatic to have someone my age to hang out with and even more ecstatic when I got to know him, he was an old soul like me. We spent our time reading, watching movies and bringing life into the green house behind my mom's house. The greenhouse has always been my safe haven, when my dad drank I would hide in there and no one except Matthew knew where to find me. The night my dad left was a terrible night for me and my mother refuses to speak of it, ever. It would shatter the perfect façade she has created for herself. Even though I hated him for drinking so much and for pushing my mom around, I still needed him as a father. I could hear the glasses shattering from the greenhouse and when it stopped I heard footsteps. I was terrified it would be my father but it was Matthew. I had never been so relieved to see someone in my life and from that day on we were inseparable. Over the years, our friendship turned into more and neither of us have ever dated anyone else.

I text him that I love him and decide to take a small nap before I begin my studies. I pull out my planner and check my work one more time, I can surely fit in a twenty minute nap.

Not even ten minutes into my nap, there is a knock on the door. Lucy must have forgotten her key. Of course it isn't her, its Lauren.

"Lucy isn't back yet" I say and walk back to my bed, leaving the door open for her. Why does she even bother to knock, I know Lucy gave her an extra key in case she ever locked herself out. I will have to talk to her about that.

"I will wait" she says and while sitting down on Lucy's bed.

"Suit yourself" I groan and ignore her chuckle as I pull the blanket over my body and close my eyes. There is no way I am going to be able to sleep knowing that Lauren is in my room but I would rather pretend to be asleep than face the awkward or rude talk we are bound to have. I try to ignore the sound of her gently tapping the headboard of Lucy's bed and my alarm goes off.

"You going somewhere?" She asks and I roll my eyes even though she can't see me.

"No, I was taking a twenty minute nap" I told her as i sat up.

"You set an alarm to be sure your nap is only twenty minutes?" she laughs.

"Yea, I do" What is it to her anyway? All she does is mock me. I grab my books and lay them neatly, in order of my class schedule and stack the notes for each class on top of them.

"Do you have ocd or something?"

"No, I just like things a certain way, there is nothing wrong with being organized Lauren" I snap and she laughs. I refuse to look at her but I can see her moving and standing up off the bed. Please don't come over here. Please don't come.. and she is standing over me. She grabs my Literature notes and I reach up to grab them, but like the annoying jerk she is she lifts them higher so I have to stand to grab them. She tosses them in the air and they fall to the ground in a scattered mess.

"Pick them up" I demand and she smirks before grabbing my Sociology notes and doing the same. I scramble to grab them before she steps on them and she laughs. "Lauren stop!" I yell and she does the same with the next stack. Infuriated, I stand up and shove her away from my bed.