Shortcake - A Richpez Story

Chapter 18

Lauren's POV

The drugs made me drowsy, but I'm finally able to attend rehearsal, which is amazing. Unfortunately, there's still a lot of people gone, but at least Kendall and Jeff are back.

It's good that I have a distraction now. I keep getting calls from Will. Who should be dead. I really, really hope he's dead. It's not like I didn't love him, it's that...well, the world was better of without him. I know I'm not the only person who's suffered because of him, not the only victim he's possessed.

"Do you all see what I see, what I know, what I see," Kendall sings, her voice still slightly quieter and scratchier from her strap throat. "Do you all see the memories tomorrow reminds me tomorrow will come, tomorrow won't come, tomorrow will come today. Tomorrow will come, tomorrow won't come, will tomorrow come today and turn the light off."

We listen to her voice radiate through the auditorium, joining in when it's our part. We finish the song with sadness in the air. We all know that rehearsals aren't going well. It's not that we're bad, it's the fact that not all of us are here and not all of us can put our all into rehearsals anymore.

Someone puts a hand on my shoulder. "We'll get through it, Lauren," Kim says with a small smile. "We've made it this far."

I offer her a grateful smile. "Yeah, we have."

"Alrighty, StarKids, end of rehearsal, go over lines and I'll see you here at seven tomorrow," Nick calls. "And remember, next week is tech week!"

A chorus of groans echo, because we all just adore tech week.

Joey sneaks up behind me and snakes his arms around my waist. He rests his chin on my head, and I know he's smiling.

"Hey, JoJo," I get him.

"Hey, LoLo," he replies. "We gotta talk."

A sigh escapes me. "I know. I know you know what Jaime knows."

"How did you know it was Will who did it?" He asks.

"Uh..." I pause, contemplating whether I should tell Joey that is was him who told me. "You...told me."

"What?" His eyes are filled with confusion and surprise.

"While we were in the hospital, Jaime and Jon and Robert, I think were there. I know Jaime was. You were drugged the fuck up, and you told me that is was him who crashed into you. And it was him who died."

Joey looks at his shoes, then tilts his head up a little to look back at me. "Lo, I-"

"Don't," I interject. "I know you're gonna apologize, don't do it. I probably would've been devastated had you kept this from me, anyways."

"Yeah, I guess so. I'm still sorry," he replies sorrowfully.

"I know. When were you going to tell me, by the way?" I ask, a new, unwelcome emotion bubbling up inside of me.

"Well..." Joey trails.

"You were gonna tell me right?"

Joey looks back at his shoes and shrugs. "I-I didn't..."

"Joey! Look at me!" He won't. "Joeseph Michael Richter!"

"I wasn't planning on it, no!" He blurts, finally meeting my angry gaze.

"How could you not tell me, Joey?" My voice breaks, and is now coming out in a whisper.

"It was a mistake!"

"Yeah, well, we've both made some mistakes haven't we?"

I instantly regret saying that. There's a couple ways he could take it. I really hope he doesn't take it in the second way.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Joey...I didn't mean-"

"Mean it like what? What did you mean it like, Lauren? Because to me it sounded like you meant this relationship."

"No, no, Joey, that came out wrong!"

"It's fine, Lauren, it was just a mistake. Lucky for you, you wont't have to deal with this one anymore. Bye."

I can feel my heart break inside my chest, shatter, the little shards stabbing all of my chest. I can't breathe. Tears sting my eyes, and as I stand there on the stage, props surrounding me, I realize just how utterly alone I feel.

I hear Joey's footsteps descend, fade away.

"Lauren, hurry up, I'm tired! I wanna go home!" Jaime calls to me, drawing out the word home.

I squeeze my eyes shut and wipe away any tears that might've escaped my eyes. I can't bring myself to reply to her.

A/N: Yeaaahhh so I've been kinda MIA it feels like. Sorry this was shitty. I should start posting every weekend again, because winter break screwed me up after I said that and I don't think I stuck to it. I hit some writers block the past few chapters, if it isn't that obvious. Ha ha ha. Finals week is over, so you wont have to read about my complaints any longer. Heh, sorry about that.

Hope you enjoyed, though.

Word Count: 818