Chapter 12
After much delay… please enjoy chapter 12! As always, feel free to review and let me know where you see the story going. It's winter break now, so I have time to write again and I'll be updating several times a week for the next month. Thanks again for reading!
Finally graduation day had arrived. Darren walked across the stage with a smile on his face and nothing holding him back. He had everything: the diploma, the promise of a successful future, and now the girl. His girl.
He must have relived that past Monday thousands of times in his head. During class, between classes, in the shower, before bed… she was the first, last, and pretty much only thing that crossed his mind all week. He remembered exactly how he felt the second he received the text that changed it all. It gave him the push he needed to go after what he wanted, what he needed, and to refuse to step aside. He dropped everything and ran straight to where he had dropped Lauren off. She was taking a final so he couldn't just barge in, although he seriously considered it, so he ended up pacing back and forth outside the door for 50 minutes until Lauren made her appearance. Off course she was caught off guard. She knew what she had done was ballsy, but seeing Darren standing there waiting for her was the last thing she had expected. He'd never forget the look on her face. They locked eyes for a moment and both knew how each other felt, they didn't have to hide it any more. Darren couldn't contain himself. He walked up to her, grabbed her rather powerfully, and just kissed her. He kissed her with more passion than he had ever kissed anyone in his life. She returned the kiss with just as much urge and pushed her body as close to his as she could. She wanted to know what it felt like to have be as physically close to him as possible. He lifted her off the ground so that her legs wrapped tightly around his waist and they shared the most beautiful moment either of them had ever had…until Joe walked up.
"WHAT THE FUCK DUDE!" Joe wasn't playing around. He threw himself between the couple, not even checking to make sure Lauren was okay as she crashed to the ground. Darren's eyes looked past the enraged Joe to his fragile girl on the ground. "Lauren!" he dodged a punch intended for his face and headed straight for Lauren's side. "Are you oka-" Before he could finish his sentence Joe grabbed him from behind and tossed him in the opposite direction. "Don't you DARE touch her! She's mine Darren! You don't get her! Don't touch her, don't talk to her, don't even LOOK at her! You don't deserve her! You get everything! But not this, you don't get Lauren! Over my dead body!" And with that Joe lunged at Darren, taking him to the ground. Joe started firing out punches as Darren desperately defended himself. Lauren was immediately back on her feet. She didn't dare try to break up the fight by hand, so she just yelled her heart out. "JOE! Get off him! Calm down! Joe!" Soon all the ruckus had stirred the attention of the professor who was still in the lecture room. The tall, broad man had the strength that Lauren lacked to physically pull apart the violent Joe and struggling Darren. Finally the professor had Joe's arms behind his back and pulled him into the classroom. All the while, Joe was spitting out every hurtful thing he could come up with to Darren. "You asshole! You think you can just have everything you want! You don't deserve anything Darren! You are the shittiest person I've ever met. Go fuck off, and never even think about talking to me again, because I don't want anything to do with a douche like you!" Soon the doors slammed shut with Joe out of sight and only his muffled insults escaping the building.
Lauren's eyes shot to Darren. He lay face up on the sidewalk, no sign off movement. She ran to his side and grabbed his hand. There was blood all over his face with the exception of two dewy streaks from where his tears had washed it away. He opened his mouth and attempted to speak, but the wind was knocked out of him and prevented words from escaping his swelling mouth. Tears immediately started to fall from Laurens eyes as she tore off her cardigan and carefully dabbed Darren's face clean from the blood. "It's okay Dare, I promise everything will be okay. Just hang in there, baby, we're gonna get you help."
She pulled out her phone and dialed Joey's number. As soon as he picked up she shakily told him what she needed him to do. "Hey, Darren's hurt. Bad. I need you to come pick us up outside the English building. Run. Please." At this point Lauren was full on sobbing and desperate and Joey could tell. Within a couple minutes Lauren could see Joey sprinting down the sidewalk toward them. She looked down into Darren's eyes and squeezed his hand. He tried to smile and squeezed back. Throughout this entire time he was worried that in his eyes she could see his pain and embarrassment, but he was wrong. All that Lauren could see when she looked at the shaken, scared man laying next to her was the love and courage that he had. Lauren could not have loved Darren and hated Joe more than she did at that moment.
"I was just a few blocks away, and I ran straight here" Joey said out of breath as he fell to the ground next to Darren. Without so much as asking what happened, Joey tore his backpack open to reveal a first aid kit. "I knew this thing would come in handy someday. And you guys always made fun of me for it." Lauren and Darren both rolled their eyes as Joey opened the kit. "Here are some disinfectant wipes. Use these to finish cleaning up the blood. I'll start bandaging things up and try to stop the bleeding." It seemed that Joe's knocking Darren to the ground had left some contact scrapes on Darren's arms and legs from Darren's skin sliding across the pavement, and there was one on the side of his face from Joe pushing his face into the cement. Other than that it was just a pretty bad bloody nose from one of the few good punches Darren had let Joe get on him. As the two worked on Darren, Joey finally worked up the courage to ask. "So who was it?" He was afraid of the answer. "Joe." Lauren said quietly. Joey felt his stomach turn as he swallowed hard and nodded.
After a few more minutes of silently tending to Darren's wounds, everything seemed under control. Joey grabbed his phone and called Nick to come pick them up and take them to their apartment. Lauren carefully started moving Darren one body part at a time to make sure nothing was broken. She grabbed his hands and tried to look optimistically into his eyes. "Okay, I'm gonna lift your arm. If even starts to hurt just a little then close your eyes and I promise I'll stop." She moved his forearm so his arm bent at his elbow. Darren's eyes stayed wide open and locked on her the entire time. She did the same to his other arm: his eyes stayed wide open.
Once it was decided that none of his limbs were broken, Joey and Lauren carefully lifted Darren so he was sitting up. After a few moments of looking extremely dizzy, Darren slowly nodded his head to show that he was all right. He slowly began to mumble out a few indistinguishable noises as Nick pulled up with the car. Joey and Nick carefully loaded him into the back seat with Lauren. Once they were set to go, Joey peeked through the car window to Nick in the driver's seat. "Hey, I think I'm gonna go check on Joe. Just keep Darren off his feet for the rest of the day and get him fluids. I'll call you guys later on." Nick and Lauren nodded and headed back to Darren and the Lang's apartment. Joey turned back toward the English building to face Joe.
In the car, Darren lay with his head resting on Lauren's lap. Still unable to make out full words, he looked up and mouthed "I'm sorry" to Lauren. She soothingly ran her fingers through his hair. "Don't be. You have nothing to be sorry for. If anything, I should be thanking you. Seriously Dare, I don't ever want you to apologize for that again. It's not your fault." She grabbed his hand and tenderly brought it to get lips. "Let's just get you better."
Joey slowly creaked the giant wooden door open to the lecture hall. He popped his head in to find Joe sitting in the abandoned room alone, absentmindedly staring at the ground. Joey walked in and took a seat next to him. They sat there in silence for a while; Joey knew that Walker would talk when he was ready.
After what seemed like an hour Walker spoke up. "Is she okay?" Joey was pulled out his own trance and looked at Joe. He could see he too had been crying and that this was just as hard on him as anyone else. Joey nodded and responded "A little shaken, but I think she'll be alright." Walker continued staring at the ground for a while and quietly sighed. "You know I can't control it sometimes." Joey nodded again and patted Walker on the back. "I know. They know too."
Walker didn't respond so Joey decided to ask his own question. "What happened to the professor? I was told one brought you here." Walker shifted in his seat. "Yeah, he locked me in here so I'd… cool off. Then he came back and asked if I wanted to talk. When I didn't respond he just said he was going home and that I have the room to myself until I'm ready to go." Joey responded, "Ahh, I see." The boys once again sat in silence for a few long minutes.
"It's not fair…is it?" Joe was nearly whispering, but his voice grew louder as he continued, "I mean she is my girlfriend. It may sound juvenile, but that's all there is to it… she is my girlfriend. Not his. She chose me. What does he expect? I love Lauren and I'm supposed to just watch him steal her away? I came to surprise her by picking her up from her last college class and congratulate her and tell her how… proud… I am to have her by my side. And he steals it all away… I don't think I can ever forgive him." Joey tried to take a positive approach to cheer up Walker. "Joe, he's your best friend. You can't let some girl get between that." Walker immediately perked up with a comeback. He was angry. "No! I can! It's a respect thing, Joey! Darren does what he wants and doesn't account for how it impacts others… how it impacts people he calls his friends. Why would I want to be friends with someone like that? I don't trust him, and he could care less about how I feel. Obviously. He knew how much Lauren meant."
Joey couldn't help but see where Joe was coming from. "Well, then isn't Lauren as much to blame?" Joey watched as Walker got up and started pacing. "Oh, I hope you don't think I can ever look at Lauren the same. She hurt me the most. And for a second there… I actually thought she cared about me. Man, I'm done with this school, I'm done with these people. I can't wait for graduation and never having to see their faces again."
Joey was a little upset by Joe's anger; he hated to see his closest friends treat each other like this. "Well… you're still going camping with us, right? Come on Joe, at least for me and the other guys… it's our last big experience together. You have to come." Joe paused his pacing and leaned against a seat. "I don't know, man, I just want to move on. I don't think I can handle being around… everyone." Joey stood up and leaned against the seat next to Walker. "Just promise me you'll think about it. Now is not the time to let people stop you from enjoying yourself. Do it for you. We could all use a get away." Joey left Walker with that and smoothly exited the room, leaving Joe to finish thinking things through.
And now it was graduation day. The group had all tried to get the most out of the last week of the school year. They turned in final projects and papers, performed monologues and scenes, and took their exams. At the end of the exhausting week, it was finally time for Lauren, Moses, Dylan, Walker, Meredith, Julia, and Darren to graduate. They all gathered for group photos and congratulations during and after the ceremony. It was a bittersweet day.
Despite that week's drama, everyone was in good spirits. Joe avoided looking Darren or Lauren in the eye (he hadn't spoken to either of them since the incident, regardless of Lauren reaching out to him through the compilation of voicemails she had left on his phone asking him to just talk about it with her), but he too was enjoying his first day as a college graduate. To keep things tolerable, no one in the trio showed any particular interest in each other. Darren and Lauren entertained themselves with other friends and hardly even acknowledged each other besides when they shared secretive glances across the group when someone said something that they knew the other would find funny. They were alright, but knew there was no need to flash their relationship in front of Joe. After all, he had cooperated and Joey had finally gotten him to agree to coming on the camping trip.
They all spent the night celebrating with family and agreed to meet up Sunday to start their journey. They were going to a campsite a few hours outside of campus. This place was a private park that you have to sign up to camp in, but once you're in it's up to you to face the elements. No faucets, bathrooms, refrigerators, anything. They had to catch or bring their own food and find ways to bathe and shelter themselves. The group had originally intended only staying out there for a couple days, but their tickets to the Disney World were for Saturday and Sunday, so they would be camping until Friday morning when they would fly to Florida. It was just them versus nature for 6 days and 5 nights.
When Sunday rolled around the group took a few cars to the campgrounds. Holden drove the van with Meredith in shotgun. In the middle row sat Jaime and Britney, and in the back were Walker and Joey. The next car was driven by Tyler with Moses in the front seat. In the back Darren, Lauren, and Julia were all squished together. The final car was driven by Dylan. Brian Rosenthal sat up front, with Lily, Matt, and Nick in the backseat.
In the van things were already getting interesting. Brian and Meredith had taken to arguing about her parents. They had met Brian at graduation, ended up not being as happy with the dating decision as Meredith, and let Brian know.
"You're mother hates me, Mere! From the very start she didn't like me. How am I supposed to be comfortable in a relationship with you if I know I'll never have your parent's approval?"
"Brian, you're dating me. Not her. I'm a grown woman and I make my own decisions! Why are you making such a big deal out of this? It's gonna be okay."
"I just don't feel like I'm good enough for your fancy family. I don't fit in. Maybe we should reconsider us…"
They continued intensely discussing the topic up front while Brittany, Jaime, and Joey let the couple talk it out and played a game of 'never have I ever.' They asked Joe if he wanted in, but he turned them down to plug into his ipod and escape for a while. With worrying about finals and everything, he had put figuring out things with Lauren on the backburner temporarily. Since Lauren spent the week at home and he wanted to figure things out in person, he knew he couldn't do anything about it until the camping trip. Now he was collecting his feelings in his head and deciding what choices he needed to make for himself. He stared dreamingly out the window to the countryside around them, surprisingly excited for the week's upcoming adventures.
In car 2 everything was going swimmingly. They were all discussing their most embarrassing college memories. Lauren stayed cuddled up between Darren and Julia, enjoying the moments she had left with all her friends together and trying not to worry too much about Joe. She knew she had hurt him, something she sincerely never intended to do, but she also knew he didn't know the whole story. She decided he deserved to hear it all, and at the first chance he let her, she would explain things to him in hopes of retaining their friendship. Lauren had spent the past week alone with family and had had plenty of time to figure things out, but she really hadn't sat down and talked about it with anyone else. Her and Darren had spent Monday after noon getting him comfortable and looking lovingly into each other's eyes… but they hadn't talked much. Partly because Darren was still lacking the ability to form full sentences, and partly because there was nothing to say. They knew how each other felt and she knew Darren realized that their relationship could not move forward until they both sorted things out with Joe. They hadn't even kissed again since the incident. Lauren knew she had to talk it out with her friends, starting with Julia, then Joe, and ending with Darren. Then maybe she could move on from college without that bitter taste in her mouth.
In car 3, the boys were already in cahoots for their next big musical project. They internalized all of their inside jokes and tried to brainstorm an awesome story around them. In the backseat, Lily had fallen asleep against Matt's shoulder. He made sure no one got too loud as to not wake up his girl.
After they arrived at the campsite and got all checked in they gathered for a quick meeting before heading out. Usually Holden took charge of those sort of things, but he was still a little shaken about his argument with Meredith that had asked Joey to do it. Meredith and Brian hadn't solved their issues, but they decided they'd talk about them later when they could be alone. Joey hopped up on a rock and started his speech.
"Hi guys! Okay, so the owners have sorta given us the recommended route of travel for this week. We hike a few hours a day to get to each place and then we can camp out there and have food and swim and whatever else we find to do. This place is known for being remarkably beautiful, so we're supposed to be taking that in and connecting with our inner nature. It's sorta a retreat for us to say our goodbyes and just spend time together in a beautiful place with no distractions of technology or the media. And if anyone gets hurt or anything goes wrong, we have a walky-talky so that we can reach the office and they'll send out emergency help. Otherwise, it's up to us! So today we're heading south along the river until we end up at level grounds to set up camp and have lunch. Let's head out!"
With that they all turned and headed to the river. It was sure to be a trip they'd never forget.