And Then, There Was Fire.

twelve.

A week later

It wasn't until today that Lauren ever heard Alexia talk to her. Just as she was looking forward to making her way to Trey's house after class, she was stopped by Alexia before she could even make it to the parking lot. The two women stood just outside from the covered walkway into the building, exchanging a few short words with each other awkwardly until Alexia heard what she wanted to hear.

"Yeah, so." Lauren answered Alexia's question regarding her and Trey's friendship, assuming that Alexia was pulling out all stops and in full panic mode now that Trey had broken-up with her a week ago.

"So," Alexia looked down before taking one step forward and meeting Lauren's eyes. "Wouldn't you feel uncomfortable if another girl went over Aubrey's house? Just for dinner?" She looked around as if she had to think of her next set of words.

"Why would I feel uncomfortable?" Lauren caused a confused expression on her face, wanting to laugh but she would have more fun acting as if she has no idea what Alexia was talking about. Alexia was already proving how unstable she is mentally, that she couldn't seem to let Trey go.

"Don't play stupid." She almost barked immediately.

Lauren rolled her eyes, upset that she couldn't have fun with this. "Look, he does what he wants." She shrugged, tugging on the straps of her tote on her shoulder. "And quite frankly, Aubrey can do what he wants too." This didn't satisfy Alexia, not one bit. Lauren began turning around to walk away from her, her wet ends from swimming earlier before class continued to dampen her black, 'Run DMC' sweatshirt.

"I suggest you not hurt yourself." Alexia called out to Lauren in a threatening tone, watching her back walk away from her.

Lauren angrily tossed out her hair from under her jacket, pulling her phone out from her tote. She went to her favorites list for her speed dial and tapped on Trey's name, who let the phone ring for at least four times which was unusual for him.

"What's up?" Aubrey answered, causing her to peel the phone back to check her screen, reading Aubrey's name on her phone.

"I'll call you back." She quickly hung up, going back to her favorites list and carefully tapping Trey's name, fearing that she may have tapped Aubrey's by mistake.

She held off placing her phone to her ear, watching her screen as the phone began ringing Aubrey's phone again. She hung up quickly, going straight to Trey's contact in her address book with narrowed eyes. She confirmed Trey's phone number in his contact, unsure why she just couldn't get a hold of him, and why it continued calling Aubrey.

She decided to just dial Trey's number manually on her keypad, calling the number once she was done, just to watch her phone begin calling Aubrey.

She kissed her teeth as she continued walking in the parking lot. She tilted her head back as she walked, wanting the gray skies to finally release the rain showers on her so that she could clear her mind. She stopped in her tracks, exhaling deeply while rolling her eyes and her tilted back even more.

The sight of him made her tote's straps fall down to her hands as she held it there, swinging her arms in place out of frustration as she stomped her feet in a tantrum after turning her back to him. She deeply inhaled one more time before exhaling, turning back round to face Aubrey as he leaned against the hood of her car.

She felt suffocated; she could only think of trouble when she see's him waiting for her, in an almost-empty parking lot. She continued walking to her car, causing him to slowly lift up of her hood with his hands in the pockets of his jacket.