Richpez - A Tale of Two StarKids

Chapter 4: The Vacation Part 1

"Everybody choose a room! There are four rooms, so two people in each," Lauren said after they walked in the house. She walked into the kitchen and started unloading some of the groceries they brought with them.

Meredith shot a devious look over at Jaime and Julia.

"Brian and I will take the room on this floor," Meredith said, gesturing to the room just off the kitchen.

"Julia and I are taking the room just at the top of the stairs," said Jaime. Then she shot a look at Darren, who also seemed to be in on some kind of plan.

"Walker and I have the room the the left of theirs. I've already put our bags there," Darren explained, flopping onto the couch in the living room.

Joey's heart sunk a little. "That must mean Lauren and I are together in the last bedroom upstairs." 

Meanwhile, Lauren had just walked into the conversation, not hearing the others decide where they were sleeping. Great, she thought, now I have to spend the next week sleeping in the same room as Joey after I told him I don't have feelings for him even though I'm in love with him. "Okay, I'll bring my bags upstairs," Lauren said as she grabbed her bags and walked up the stairs into the room she'd be sharing with Joey.

Thankfully, their room had two twin beds, so they didn't have to share. Joey followed her up, not saying a word. They both decided to unpack seeing as they would be here a whole week.

Lauren was the first to break the silence saying, "Look, Joey, I'm sorry we have to share a room. I should have chosen a room as soon as we got here." She was looking at him, but he wasn't looking back. He just continued to unpack.

Joey wasn't sure he could handle a week of spending time with Lauren in the same room when he couldn't get away. He was heartbroken after she didn't reciprocate the same feelings he showed her. Even though he was heartbroken, he couldn't help shake the feeling that she had feelings for him. Why had everybody decided on rooms so quickly? Was it their plan to stick the two together in the same room? Maybe he would never know, but he was going to try and find out.

"It's fine," Joey responded, and continued to place his clothes in the dresser.

He made it a point to talk to Lauren again later about the subject, to make sure she was certain in her answer. Maybe he would talk to Jaime instead.

----------------------------------------------------

A couple of hours later, they were all sitting around the table in the kitchen laughing at a joke Brian made about one of the professors in the drama department. They were all fairly drunk, everyone except for Lauren and Joey. Lauren had a headache, and Joey was still upset from earlier and he wanted to talk to Jaime. 

"I think I'm gonna go to bed," Lauren said. "This headache is killing me and I want it to go away so I can enjoy myself more tomorrow. Plus, I want to be well rested so I can stay up late tomorrow night. It is New Year's Eve after all." Everyone responded in a chorus of "goodnight's" and "sleep tight's" as Lauren walked up the stairs to go to bed.

Everyone started to leave the table, one at a time, to go off to bed, until it was just Jaime and Joey left at the table.

"Jaime, can I ask you a question?" Joey asked, noticing how drunk she was.

"You can ask me anything, Joey Richter," she responded. she was looking at him with confusion in her eyes, leaning on the table and resting her head in her hands.

"Does Lauren ever talk about me?" he asked, pausing to see Jaime's reaction before continuing. "And I don't mean just mentioning me. Does she like me?"