The next week passed by slowly as the post-show depression set into the theater group. They stressed as they finished up final projects and exams, prepared for post graduation and summer plans, and avoided the fact that they only had 2 weeks left in school.

Finally weekend arrived. It was one week since the cast party and one week before graduation. This was the final weekend at U of M for many of them. Friday night everyone went out to parties; it was the usual college scene. Now a couple, Joe and Lauren walked hand in hand down the streets of Ann Arbor. As the night ended, Joe carried his beautiful girlfriend home to his apartment where they spent the night together.

As far as Darren went, recently they had only seen him from a distance. Always on the other side of room, whether it was at a party or in a classroom. Darren never came within 30 feet of them so long as he could help it. Not only that, if he had the chance he would leave the room altogether whenever he saw them walk in together. Only one week prior Darren would jump at the opportunity to greet Joe or Lauren. Now, he wanted nothing to do with them. Nothing was the same.

Saturday morning Lauren woke up, still a bit dizzy in the head. She turned and saw her boyfriend sleeping soundly next to her, a sight she'd never grow tired of. She realized it was already almost noon and that she promised Joey she'd meet him for their final 'Saturday Lunch Date' at 1.

It was a tradition they had started last year. They always went to their favorite campus diner and enjoyed lunch and a fun filled discussion about the craziest things they could think of. All their friends knew about this weekly event and the invitation was open to all of them, but this week everyone was so busy that only Joey and Lauren had RSVP'd. That was okay with Lauren though, she wanted to talk to Joey privately anyway.

Lauren rolled quietly off the bed and found a notebook and pen on Joe's desk. She wrote him a quick note thanking him for the great time last night and telling him she was going to lunch. She reminded him what time they planned on meeting up for their date tonight, and told him she was looking forward to it already. She softly tore the sheet from the book and tip toed to Walker's bedside. She laid the paper on top of him, kissed his cheek, grabbed her things, and smoothly exited the room. Joe didn't even stir: mission accomplished.

Lauren stayed quiet as she left the apartment. As soon as she was outside the door she started rearranging her things: getting out her phone, putting on her sunglasses, and trying to stuff her dressy shirt from the previous night into her purse. She kept on a simple white tank top that she had been wearing under it and the skintight black skirt she had worn the night before. As she fiddled with her things she started making her way down the hall, not even realizing that she was inevitably passing Darren's apartment as she headed to the elevator.

She jumped up in a startled fluster when the door flew open, spilling her phone and shirt onto the ground right at Darren's feet. Still half asleep himself, Darren immediately ducked down to grab the items and apologized for running into who he thought was going to be a stranger. But once he kneeled down and saw that what he was picking up was his favorite shirt of Lauren's and a phone identical to hers he froze.

She realized it was him once she saw the dark curls bent down in front of her. Both realizing the awkwardness of the situation, Darren stayed bent over and Lauren backed up a few steps. He didn't want to stand back up and face her and she didn't want lean over and grab her things from him. They paused for a second, and Lauren decided she had to get out. Her head was pounding, she was in a rush, and just couldn't handle an awkward encounter face to face with Darren. So she took off down the hallway, leaving her phone and shirt behind. She would just get one of the Lang's to return them to her later. But for now, crisis averted.

His heart had stopped and he watched as she jogged away. He almost wanted to laugh as she struggled to move her legs in the tiny skirt and high heels. She finally made it safely in the elevator without looking back once. And soon as she was out of sight Darren stood up. He looked at the shirt and phone in his hands and knew what he was going to do.

He walked straight into the next-door apartment without so much as a knock, and headed straight to Joe's room. He didn't know exactly what had happened the previous night, but he could assume and saw Joe lying shirtless in bed. Darren flipped the lights on and roughly threw Lauren's shirt onto Joe's bare chest, unknowingly knocking her note to him off and out of sight. Joe jumped up with a startle, not ready for the cold sensation of Lauren's beaded shirt. Darren didn't even give Joe the chance to get a grasp of the situation; he just started talking. He was completely enraged. "Will you please tell your girlfriend that it might not be the best idea for her to walk home alone the 'morning after' half naked, dropping her clothes everywhere right outside my apartment?! Have some fucking dignity! If you're going to have her spend the night, at least have the decency to walk her home the next morning. And give her a change of clothes, man! Where are your manners!? The poor girl was trying to run out of here with heels still on! Ridiculous!" Darren turned and stormed out without waiting for Joe's reply.

Darren returned to his apartment and recollected himself. Before that crazy fiasco, he was headed out to meet up with his friend and fellow singer/songwriter Charlene. He had been featured in music videos that year for two of her songs: "Skin and Bones" and "Magnolia Wine." Today they were practicing for their gig later at stand up comedy night at one of Ann Arbor's nicest venues. He looked down into his hand and found that he was still holding Lauren's phone. "Guess I'll hold onto this for a while" he thought out loud as he shook of the angry feeling and carried on with his day.

Back in his room, Joe was groggily trying to piece together the previous night and this morning's adventures. He remembered carrying Lauren in last night and tossing her onto the bed. He remembered having some fun before dozing off to sleep. He didn't remember her leaving this morning. He found it odd that she just up and left without waking him or leaving a note. He vaguely remembered Darren bursting in and complaining about how hot Lauren is or something, he forgot. He looked around the room for signs and found Lauren's shirt on the bed. "That's right" he thought "Darren threw this at me… how did he get it?" He saw his phone on the nightstand and called Lauren's number.

Darren was walking out of the apartment building when he heard Lauren's phone go off in his pocket. He grabbed it and took a look at the screen. He saw the caller ID read "Walker 3" and saw that her background was a picture of the couple together. "Disgusting" Darren said with animosity as he ignored the call, silenced the phone, and shoved it back into his pocket.

Totally confused now, Joe decided he'd try texting Lauren. Maybe she just wasn't in a position to answer the phone right now. All he knew was that she was out there somewhere without her shirt, and that she had somehow encountered an angry Darren. He was worried.

He typed anxiously into his phone "good morning gorgeous! I'm impressed with your ninja like sneaking skills- I didn't even hear you leave this morning. But I have your shirt… ;) call me when you get a chance, I'd love to know that you made it home alright" and hit send.

Joe jumped in the shower, got ready, and grabbed some fruit before heading out the door. It'd been almost an hour since he texted Lauren and she still hadn't responded. Very unlike her. He decided he'd go see if he could track her down anywhere and make sure she was okay.

Lauren was in the middle of lunch with Joey. They were using their last lunch to reminisce on some of their favorite memories of the year and shared funny stories. They ordered an ice cream sundae to split for dessert and when the waiter brought it out Joey figured it was as good a time as any to bring up Darren. With the distraction of ice cream in front of her, maybe Lauren wouldn't mind talking about her most uncomfortable topic of discussion.

"So, Darren and I went to that camping goods shop up the road this week. We were looking at tents for the big camp out trip coming up. It's gonna be great."

Lauren nodded slowly. She knew what Joey was getting at. "Sounds awesome! You pick anything out?"

As he answered her question Joey started thinking of ways to steer the conversation back towards Darren since it was clear that Lauren was going to try to deflect any mention of him. "Yeah, I think we've got a few good ones on hold for us. See, Holden figured out how much the cost of the trip would be with gas, buying tents, food, and everything. So he's dividing the total up 16 ways so that everyone who is coming will pay the same thing. He told us that to keep it fairly cheap for everyone that we needed to try and get the cheapest deal on tents. They sell these family tents and had a deal for buy one get one half off. So we're getting two of those. They only are supposed to hold 6, but Darren said we could squeeze 8 into each one. He figured you wouldn't mind snuggling up close with Walker if we run low on space in a tent."

Lauren was pushing the cherry in the sundae back and forth with her spoon as she listened. "Well, Darren's right. I'd actually enjoy that. Glad he noticed." Lauren was a little irritated that Darren was making a deal out of her being with Joe. She told him to forget about her.

Joey ignored her sarcasm and continued. "He hasn't spoken much this past week, but when he does it's either something vitally important or a snide comment about you or Walker. He doesn't joke around anymore. He's super serious. Like he lost his sense of humor. And if I or someone tells a joke around him, he just ignores it and sits there with a straight face. Kinda sucks that my last few weeks with him are spent like that…"

Lauren sincerely felt bad. She didn't want Darren to become a buzz kill for everyone. She knew if he continued this streak she'd talk to him for the sake of everyone else, but only if things got out of hand. But it had only been a week since she gave him the news; maybe he just needed a few more days before he perked back up into his normal silly Darren self. We'll see.

"Oh, he's probably too preoccupied with getting ready to move and stuff. He's pretty stressed… he'll come around." Lauren tried to cheer Joey up. He just gave her a look that said 'you know that's not it.' She sighed and responded. "Fine… I'll talk to him. But it might not be until we're on the camping trip. Can you try to keep him in good spirits until then?" Joey nodded and told her he'd do his best.

Suddenly they heard someone calling out in the distance. Lauren turned to Joey. "Did you hear that?" she said as she looked around. Joey turned to look around too. "Yeah, it sounded like someone said-" "LAAAAAAURRREN!" the voice was right around the corner now. Lauren recognized it and responded. "Joe?! I'm over here!" she called out. Then there he was, Walker, coming over and taking a seat at their outdoor sidewalk café table. "There you are! I've been looking for you all morning! How are you?" He greeted her with a kiss and turned to pat Joey on the shoulder as he sat down. "Hey, buddy! That's right! Today is the infamous 'Saturday Lunch Date!' How could I forget?"

Lauren looked amusedly at her Joe. But sometimes it bugged her a little how forgetful he was. "Babe I left a note with you this morning! Have you just been wandering around campus yelling my name?" She couldn't help but smile at her helpless boyfriend. "Oh, I didn't see a note. And yeah, I didn't know what else to do. I tried your apartment and calling you but no response." He grabbed her hand and smiled sweetly at her. It was adorable and incredibly clear how happy he was he found her.

Lauren laughed as Joe took a bite of her sundae. "Well, I'm glad you're here! And um, I dropped my phone on the way out this morning. I think it's at Darren and the Lang's place" she said shyly, not sure how Joe would respond to the mention of Darren's name.

"That's when you saw Darren! I thought you two ran into each other… he came over for a little wake up call this morning. He dropped off your shirt." Joe smiled as if that was some accomplishment for him. "I think he was a little upset that you weren't wearing it."

Lauren laughed off the awkwardness of the accident. "Yeah, we bumped into each other outside his door. I dropped my shirt cause it startled me and then I got out of there. He didn't leave my phone?"

Without thinking much of it Joe shook his head no and then went on to ask Joey about details for the camping trip. While they talked Lauren tortured herself with the thought that Darren was walking around with her phone. A phone is a very personal item, you don't just let anyone see it. And Darren had it. She didn't think that he'd go through messages or anything, he was more mature than that and understood privacy.

But even if his anger with her got the best of him and he decided he didn't owe her the right of privacy it would just lead to disappointment for him. If he even glanced at her text inbox he'd see that the last message she sent to Julia was from the night he went to dinner with Lauren. His curiosity would spark when he saw his name mentioned and if he read their conversation he'd see what Lauren had initially intended to say that night. The text that read "Alright, Jules. Decision has been made. Me and Darren from here on out. I'm telling him tonight that he's the one I want to be with. Wish me luck!" And Julia's response: "Yay Lo, good luck! Tomorrow I'll welcome Darren aboard the crazy-Lauren-train. He's in for a ride." Lauren almost hoped Darren found those messages. It'd serve him right for being snoopy.

Lauren was pulled back into reality when Joey was asking her about plans for the evening. "Well, I'm heading over to Meredith's to get ready for stand up night. Joe and I are double dating with Brian and Meredith. We're eating at the venue then watching the show, which Brian is gonna be in. You should come too! Bring Jaime, it'd be so much fun!"

Joey agreed and called Jaime on the spot. She agreed to come as soon as she was done helping Julia with one of her final journalism assignments. It was already 3 o'clock, and with the evening plans set in stone Joey, Joe, and Lauren headed back to their apartments. Lauren was only home for a minute to grab her things before walking over to Meredith's to get ready. She had agreed to meet Walker at his apartment with Joey and Jaime at 5 so that she'd be gone by the time Brian came to pick Meredith up. They were having dinner at 5:30 and the show began at 7. Everyone was excited for the night that awaited them.