richpez for mae

11

hello there :) I published this story for my friend to read but other people are reading it too so y'all can come along for the ride! Hope you're enjoying it so far!

"Lauren!" She heard someone shout, and immediately snapped her head to the side, recognising the voice instantly.

She was stood with Joey outside her dorm building, his hand in hers, looking into each other's eyes, and if Lauren could have stood there all day she would have. But the inconvenient timing of the person coming towards them snapped her out of her trance and made her mood change drastically.

She turned to see Darren heading towards them, and her stomach dropped. Darren seeing Joey holding her hand was not something that she wanted to deal with, especially this early on in their, what even were they? Acquaintances? Friends? A bit more than friends? They hadn't known each other for a long amount of time and didn't want to rush things, but Lauren felt something towards him, and she was not going to let that be ruined by Darren. So she did what she usually did in those situations, she let go of Joey's hand and smiled widely towards Darren, pretending as if nothing were wrong.

"Hi, Darren," Lauren replied. She tried her best to look natural and cheerful but she didn't know how convincing she could be when Darren had just ruined a moment between her and Joey. 

But was it a moment? Lauren was already overthinking the situation that had happened only seconds earlier. Her mind then thought back to the fact that Joey was holding her hand. What did that mean to her? What did that mean to him? Did it mean anything to him?

Darren caught her eye for a moment before they drifted towards Joey, and his brows furrowed,

"Oh hi Joey," he said, wearily.

"Hey, Darren," Joey replied, and Lauren looked up to him, almost helplessly.

Joey looked back down at her and he smiled slightly, his featured soft and a sad look in his eye. The moment was awkward, and she never wanted to have a moment as tense as that ever again, especially with Joey. 

"I'm just gonna head to my lecture now. I'll see you later." He sighed defeatedly and hurried away. 

Lauren watched him leave, feeling incredibly guilty but also extremely annoyed that Darren had appeared. It wasn't Darren's fault, but she was annoyed still. She looked back at him and grinned weakly, thinking quickly so that she could head inside.

"Would love to talk but I'm running late for gym, catch up later?" Lauren asked.

"Yeah, of course. Call in the evening?"

"Sure, see you later!"

Lauren spun on her heel and bolted inside, heading up the stairs to her dorm room. Entering the room, she shut the door and leant back against it, sliding down to the ground. She put her head in her hands and sighed heavily. 

She had never felt this way over a boy before. There were the usual butterflies when she felt something towards someone, but with Joey, it was heightened, and she didn't know what to do. Lauren usually had a good grasp on her emotions, but the 20 second moment with Joey made her want to cry. And she felt so guilty when she pulled her hand out of his, sensing his mood shift as she pulled away from him. She wanted to speak to him. She wanted to apologise. But then on the contrary, what if she totally misread the situation and it didn't mean anything to him, the sadness in his eyes being non-existent and that she'd just made it up in her head because she was sad.

She just wanted him to not be intimidated by Darren or think anything was going on with them. Lauren admitted to herself that this was now a full blown crush, and nothing that would happen was going to change her thoughts and feelings about him.