I know this one's a little shorter, but the next part of the story takes place a different day so I decided to separate them with a chapter break. Let me know what you think/where you want this to go!

The rest of the night went smoothly. After 'comedy night', the group stopped for celebratory drinks in honor of Brian's accomplishments. Afterwards Joe asked Lauren if she wanted to come over for a movie at his place. She accepted the offer and they curled up on the futon in his living room.

Lauren heard the phone go off in her purse and instinctively grabbed it, forgetting that she had traded phones with 'the enemy.' For some reason it seemed like a playful game now. If Darren wouldn't accept her relationship with Joe in a serious manner, maybe he'd be more open to it if it were like a game to him.

Everyone has that one couple in their group of friends that you make fun of for being 'so in love it makes you sick.' Maybe Joe and Lauren would need to be that couple to Darren. It might work out better if he could joke around with them about how lovey-dovey they are and didn't have to confront the relationship seriously. Then he could be silly old Darren again.

Pretty into the movie, Lauren glanced at the phone and remembered it wasn't hers when she saw her name appear on the screen. "How did I send a text to my- oooh. Darren" she thought to herself. If Darren had her phone and she had his and his phone was receiving a text from her, that means he was texting her as himself from her phone. Confusing.

She decided since it was Darren texting his own phone it must be intended for her to see and that it was alright for her to open up his messages.

Walker was laying on his back with his head turned to the TV and Lauren was laying half on top, half next to him with her head on his chest and a leg wrapped over his waist. She lay back so she could tilt the phone away from Walkers line of sight. He was pretty preoccupied with the movie and didn't seem to notice.

"testing, testing, is this thing on? Or has Lopez destroyed you already?"

Typical Darren texting his phone as if it was alive and would respond to him like a robot. She responded,

"your precious little phone is in good hands. Mine better be holding up. I swear when I get it back if it has ridiculous calls or pictures or something on it you are dead"

A few seconds later her... err his... phone vibrated with his reply. Darren never responded to texts that quickly. He must be bored next door in his apartment and knew he could find entertainment by messing with Lauren.

"hadn't thought of that but great idea! Has anyone ever told you you should have been born into a comic book world? You'd make the perfect side kick for the evil villain trying to wreak havoc on the world."

"please. If I wanted to take over the world I'd be the mastermind of the project. But thanks for the compliment?"

"just saying, you're good at coming up with evil plans. No wonder you made an awesome Malfoy. I've yet to decide if your tininess and cuteness would work in your favor or not as a super villain."

"my favor for sure. Id be deceiving, sneaky and smart: perfect for the job. And did you need something? I'm kinda busy right now"

She waited to see if this would spark a little fun in him. Him joking about her and Walker was better than acting like they didn't exist, she decided. The only way he'd move on was if he acknowledged the fact the she chose Joe.

"Awwwww what, babysitting Walker again?"

She smiled. He went right where she wanted him to. Now she had to rub it in to show him it was okay for him to be playful.

"I mean if you call hooking up on the futon babysitting ;)"

She hoped she wasn't going to far. And plus she just made that up, her and Walker were being as innocent as preschoolers right now.

"and you're taking the time out of your hookup to text me? How sweet ;)"

"Shit" Lauren accidentally said out loud when she realized her scam had been caught. Joe turned his head automatically to face her. She dropped the phone behind a pillow before he could see it.

She wasn't trying to hide anything from Joe, she just wanted to get Darren on good terms with them before she told him how she did it. She knew that the point of this was to see if she could fit with Joe in a relationship, which so far so good, and if she could handle life with only Joe there to comfort her and not Darren. Nobody ever said she wasn't allowed to talk to Darren, just no flirting or treating him different from any guy. Lauren considered if she'd treat Joey like this if he were the one she had swapped phones with. Joey was completely just a friend to her so he was a fair comparison for how Darren should be. She decided her conversation with Darren thus far was reasonable.

"Laur?" Joe had been trying to talk to her while she was lost in thought. "Sorry, yeah?" she said, focusing her eyes in on him. "I know Toy Story can get pretty exciting, but I didn't think it was at swear worthy level" he rolled over a little so they were both on their sides facing each other. She smiled at his little joke. "It's not... I guess I got a little preoccupied" she put her arms around his neck and wrapped her leg tighter around his waist, moving closer so that she was in complete contact with him. She had to distract him from what she was really thinking about and knew the best way to do it was with her body. She whispered softly in his ear "oops" before kissing him sensually on the neck.

He gave into her touch completely. He couldn't help it; the chemicals were rushing through him. His mood changed from Disney to desire. "God, Laur... I've always known you're an incredibly sexy girl but then every time I get to be this close to you you still blow my mind. Every fucking time."

She just smiled innocently at him with a dangerous look in her eyes, egging him on. He couldn't take it anymore. "Come here" he said with a smile as he went in for the kiss.

Just a few yards away Darren sat in his room next door. He didn't know if she had stopped texting him because she feel asleep, got caught by Joe, or was actually doing what she said she was. He figured if Joe had caught her he would have stormed over here by now and snatched her phone away from him. And he refused to believe it was the last option. "I'm sure she's just asleep" he assured himself as he stared at the ceiling from his bed. It was going to be another sleepless night for Mr. Criss.