Prompt: 'My friend invited me to a pool party and you tossed me in the pool with my phone in my pocket. Now you're apologizing profusely and offering to replace it.'

Pairing: Joey Richter and Lauren Lopez

Background: College AU

(Note: this was supposed to be a oneshot, but it got a bit out of hand. So expect 3 or more chapters for this prompt... Whoops!)

Lauren had overslept this morning. She didn't have enough time to get her morning latte and now, while running down the college halls, she was starting to get in a really bad mood.

Her roommate hadn't woken her up – she'd be getting it later today – and somehow the alarm on her phone hadn't gone off, yet when she checked it, the sound wasn't muted and it was activated.

Luckily, classes had already begun, so the halls were empty, making it easy for her to race through. She had thought about skipping her first class, but she was a senior now, so she needed to set a good example for the other students.

She'd almost reached her fighting class, she just needed to take the stairs to the upper floor. She took the turn and bolted up the stairway and… BAM! Lauren flew back and landed on the ground, surrounded by all of her belongings.

Her assailant wasn't any better off. He had landed on the stairs and was rubbing his backside while getting back on his feet.

She looked around and began gathering up her belongings.

"Are you alright?" she heard him ask.

"Yes, I'm fine," she said, a bit harsher than she had meant to. She knew he wasn't to blame, nor was she. It was just bad timing, but now she was really late for class. "I'm sorry, I am in a hurry, because I'm already late for class and- oh no!" She cut herself off, having caught sight of her phone. Or what was left of it.

During her fall from the stairs, her phone had gone flying out of her pocket and was now in pieces spread over the floor.

"Oh damn, that's tough," the boy said. Lauren finally took the effort of looking up at him. He was really tall, easily a foot taller than her, dark brown hair with a longer fringe that hung sideways and a crooked jaw. She hadn't seen him on campus before, so she figured he was either a freshman or a new student. She didn't ask.

"You think?" she said to him, raising an eyebrow. She started picking up the pieces and the boy helped.

"I think you might be able to put it together again," he smiled encouragingly while handing her the pieces.

Lauren put them all in her bag and hopped back on the stairs, taking two steps at a time.

"With my luck today, I doubt it!" she yelled and turned into the hallway on the upper floor.

"I'm Joey by the way," the boy yelled back, but Lauren hadn't heard him.

"It's dead…" Lauren sighed and rested her head on her arms.

She was at the cafeteria having lunch with her friends Jaime, Meredith, and Julia. Her phone was lying between them, still in pieces. Sure, she'd tried putting them all together again and Julia had tried as well. But nothing fit anymore and if she was honest, she didn't know how to reassemble it.

"Maybe you can take it to the shop?" Meredith suggested. Lauren raised her head.

"No, I can't afford that. Or a new one, for that matter."

"Do you know who you ran into? Maybe you can talk him into paying for it," Jaime said.

"First of all, no, I didn't know the guy. And secondly, Jaime, I already told you it wasn't his fault. It was just an accident." Lauren sighed. "A fatal accident."

"Fatal? Who died?" a male voice asked. They looked up to see Darren, Joe Walker, Brian Holden and Dylan standing at their table.

"Darren! Look!" Lauren whined, while she waved at the remains of her phone.

The boys went to sit down, and Darren dropped himself next to Lauren.

"What did you do? Sit on it?" Brian asked, immediately receiving a slap on his shoulder from Meredith.

"Oh haha, Brian. Very funny." Lauren snapped.

"Her phone fell to the ground when she ran into some guy this morning," Jaime explained.

Darren almost got a whiplash turning his head that fast. "You met a guy?"

"Oh, you should invite him to our party!" Joe tuned in.

"No! I didn't meet a guy… Wait… What party?" Lauren asked.

"The party can wait, tell us all about your new boyfriend, Lo!" Darren said, resting his head on his left hand.

"Oh my God! How many times do I have to tell you, he's not my boyfriend!" she yelled. "I don't even know who he is!"

Lauren looked at the girls for help.

"Lauren collided with him on the stairs and dropped her things. She left immediately because she was late for class. That's the only thing that happened. Now… about that party," Julia chimed in. Lauren threw her a grateful smile.

"Yes!" Joe reacted enthusiastically. "Our party! We'll have it this Friday at this place we rented. It has a swimming pool and everything. Bring your sleeping bags because we're spending the night."

"Wow, you guys went all out. What's the occasion?" Meredith asked.

"Glad you asked," Brian answered, getting a mischievous look in his eyes. "The reason I'm back here in Michigan is to arrange everything to produce our very own musical!"

"What? Not because you miss us terribly?" Meredith pouted. Brian's reaction was adorable. His ears went red, he wiped his hands on his thighs and cleared his throat. His fondness of Meredith was so obvious it might have been written over his forehead.

"Of course I also miss you guys," he quickly said.

"Relax Brian, she's just teasing you," Darren laughed.

"Tell us about the musical, Brian," Jaime asked.

"Alright, the short version. It's a parody on the Harry Potter story. Nick, Matt and I are still working on the script and don't worry, we're going to cast you all in it."

Lauren clapped her hands. She loved working with her friends on stuff, sure they had worked together on many college productions, but working on your own projects was something different entirely. They had done it with LOTR before and that was one hell of a ride.

"When are we doing the show?" Julia asked.

"Well, that's why I'm here. We want to perform it here at Basement Arts. So I don't know yet, but probably somewhere in March or April."

"We still need a lot of people, so if you know someone that wants to join, we'll probably have auditions at some point. That means for you too, guys. We will make sure you have a part, but if you want a lead or a main character, you're gonna need to audition," Darren explained.

"You're involved too?" Julia asked.

Darren raised his hands. "Hey, who do you think is going to write the music?"

"Hey, Lo," Dylan said. "If you want, I can take a look at your phone."

"You could? I didn't know you knew about this stuff," Lauren said surprised.

"I don't, but I'm willing to try," he smiled.

"Thanks, Dylan. I appreciate it. But I think it's a lost cause."

"Well, if I can't fix it by Friday then we'll have a proper burial at the party," he suggested.

The others agreed.

"You should invite that guy though, so he can say goodbye properly," Joe said.

He could barely avoid the cup Lauren threw at his head.

The day after Lauren was heading towards her dorm, her mind already at the party. It was still two days away, but she couldn't wait.

She already laid out her outfit for the party and she had chosen which clothes she wanted to take with her for the day after. She didn't have a sleeping bag or something that could pass for it, but she figured there would be a comfortable couch in the house. And in the worst case, she could bribe one of the guys for their sleeping bags or use one of them as her pillow. Wouldn't be the first time.

It was getting a bit chilly, which wasn't that odd since it was the end of September. Lauren hated the cold, snow and rain. One day she would move to the South, where it's summer all the time.

But for now, she's stuck here.

She almost tripped over her shoelaces and kneeled down to tie them again. A group of students passed her so she shuffled to the edge of the sidewalk to make room.

She was almost ready when someone hit her at full speed, making her fall on the asphalt and scrape her arm and elbow in the process.

"Why would you squat in the middle of the sidewalk?" she heard the other person mumble while he was trying to get back on his feet.

Lauren ignored him at first and looked at her arm, it stung immensely from all the dirt inside the scrape wound.

"Hey, for your information, I didn't squat in the middle of the sidewalk. I was on the edge. Just look where you're going the next time," she said.

"Oh, it's you!" the guy exclaimed suddenly. Lauren looked up and immediately groaned.

"You again? Are you following me or something?"

"I could say the same thing you know. Look, I'm sorry, I don't have much time, I'm on my way to the theatre and I'm already late. Are you okay?" he says, while taking a few steps back, eager to leave again.

Lauren didn't want his pity or guilt or whatever, so she tried to hide her arm.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Go on, you can't be late," she ushered him away.

The dark-haired guy seemed to hesitate for a second and Lauren prayed for him to leave. If she could make it to her dorm she could clean her wounds and no one would ever know. Her friends still hadn't gotten over her first meet with this guy, she wouldn't dare think of what they would do if they found out they met a second time in similar circumstances. She wouldn't hear the end of it.

"If you are okay, why aren't you getting up?" he asked, taking a step in her direction.

No, no, no, she thought. He needs to leave.

"Alright, fine. I'm getting up, see?" she said, raising her arms and getting on her knees.

But he spotted her arm.

"Oh, you are hurt! Why didn't you say so?" he said, rushing at her side.

"Because it's nothing and you need to go!" she snapped. She inhaled deeply before she spoke again. "You're going to be late. Go to the theatre, I can take care of myself."

"I really am sorry about your phone," he tried again, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Wasn't your fault."

"Yeah well, I have a feeling you're blaming me for it," he retorted, but before Lauren could say anything he turned and left.

"I don't blame you!" she yelled at him, but he didn't turn around.