"This is Joey Richter, he's a sophomore and an acting major like we are," Darren explained.

"How come we didn't see you around then?" Joe asked, taking a sip from his beer.

Lauren tuned out the conversation, trying to think of what to do. If Joey looked this way, he would immediately recognize her and then the whole party would be ruined. At least for her.

She felt a bit dizzy and warm. The pool really started to look inviting, but cold water from the tap would have to do for now.

"I… euh… I need to go to the bathroom. Be right back," she said to the girls, leaving without waiting for their response.

She managed to slip inside without the boys noticing her.

"I forgot to ask where the bathroom was," Lauren groaned. Her heart started racing. Was she having a panic attack? She hasn't had one since high school. Why now?

She went down the hall and tried several doors before she got the right one.

She closed the door behind her, and sat herself down on the edge of the bathtub. Her head in her hands, she tried to compose herself taking deep breaths. That usually helped, but now it only made her more anxious and instead of calming down, she started having breathing difficulties.

She cursed and laid down on the cold tile floor. She needed to call someone, but her throat felt like someone was clenching it. She never had it this bad before. Outside she could hear her friends laughing and talking, clearly having a great time. She bet they all thought Joey was such a great guy. Which he probably was, if she was honest, she just had the misfortune of meeting him in bad situations.

Her breathing became really shallow now and she pressed her cheek on the cold floor.

"Julia? Mere?" she tried to yell, but it wasn't loud enough.

She tried reaching for her phone, that was still in her pocket but then she was startled by a series of knocks on the door. Her moment of euphoria became quickly drowned by the voice she heard on the other side of the door.

"Could you hurry?" Joey's voice sounded. "I don't want to be rude, but I really need to pee and you're taking an awfully long time."

"Get Julia," Lauren croaked. The room was spinning, she tried her best not to pass out.

"What did you say?"

But she couldn't answer. She needed to focus on staying awake, talking distracted her.

Joey knocked again. "Are you okay in there?"

No, Lauren thought. Obviously not. Just go outside and get someone, she prayed.

Another knock, followed by the door knob rattling. "The door is unlocked, so if you don't want me to come in, now's the time to say something, okay?"

Lauren felt so lost it didn't even matter who came in. She needed help.

She heard the door opening and saw him kneeling beside her, but she couldn't focus anymore. He grabbed her hands, touched her cheek and forehead and she heard him talking and yelling, but she couldn't make out the words.

The bathroom quickly became filled with people, she felt herself being picked up by strong arms but before she could see who it was, she lost the fight and became submerged by the darkness.

Lauren opened her eyes, but decided to close them again once she saw Jaime's face hanging above her.

"Go away," she groaned.

"You can go tell the others she's fine," she heard Julia say. A door opened and closed again, so she opened her eyes once more.

"You scared us, Lauren," Julia told her, almost reprimanding. "Care to tell me what happened?"

Lauren sighed. "I don't even know why I had the attack…"

"You had these before?"

"Yes, but not as bad as this one. I never passed out before. It happened usually during a stressful moment or when I was scared. I wasn't stressed or scared this time and- … oh!"

Julia's eyebrow went up. "What?"

"Not a word to the others okay?"

Julia shook her head. She was her best friend, if she promised not to tell, she wouldn't.

"You know the guy I told you about, who destroyed my phone earlier this week?"

Julia nodded, so Lauren went on. "Joey is that guy."

She noticed Julia's eyes widen a bit, but she kept a straight face. "And why would that make you stressed?"

"Well, I bumped into him again this week. Actually, it was the other way around. He bumped into me, knocking me over on the street. That's how I got these," Lauren said, showing her elbow. "I wasn't very nice to him the first time, and he was annoying the second time. When I saw him here and heard I had to work with him, I kind of panicked."

Julia didn't respond for a while. But then she said, "He seems like a nice guy though, maybe he just had a bad day when you saw each other again? You're not so enjoyable yourself when you're in a bad mood."

Lauren thought about it. That was possible, but there was still something about him that irritated her. She couldn't pinpoint it.

"Do you still remember everything? Do you remember who found you?" Julia asked.

"Oh no!" Lauren gasped, sitting up straight. She felt herself getting dizzy again, and Julia came rushing to her side.

"Hey, hey, calm down. You were only out cold for a couple of seconds but you should take it easy for a while, Lauren. But at least now I know you remember everything."

Lauren nodded. "It was Joey… of all people. He can't give me a break, can he?"

"He was genuinely worried about you, Lo. He even carried you in here," Julia told her. "He's not so bad."

Lauren groaned. Great, so he came in and saved the day. Mister Nice Guy already has everyone under his spell.

Darren's head came peeping behind the door. Julia gave a small nod and he entered with a plate of food.

"Hi ShortStuff, glad to see you awake," he said cheerfully, while setting the plate down. "I brought you something to eat."

Lauren looked at the plate, which had a couple of sandwiches and a slice of pizza on it.

"I guess you guys ate the rest of the pizza?"

"I'll keep her company if you want, Jules. You can go to the others." Darren said to Julia.

When Julia had left, Darren went to sit at the end of the bed Lauren was in.

"Now… spill," he said.

Lauren raised an eyebrow. "Uhm… I don't think so, Darren."

"There's something you're not telling me Lo, and I'm worried okay?" Darren ruffled through his hair. He really needed to get a haircut, it fell sideways over his eyes. He had to wipe it away every few seconds.

"Nothing you need to worry about. Girl problems…" Lauren smiled. She knew it was the ideal excuse to make him drop it. It worked.

"Oh… okay then. Glad it's nothing serious. Not that girl problems can't be serious of course," Darren sighed relieved.

Lauren ate her sandwiches while Darren told her about the change of plans. Since she had the panic attack, none of the others felt like partying anymore. So they were currently all sitting in the living room, eating pizza, playing games and just chatting with each other.

"So, what do you say? Ready to go back to the others?" Darren said, standing up and holding out his hand to her.

Lauren swung her legs over the edge and took his hand. When she was on her feet, Darren grabbed her other hand and asked, "Everything okay? You're not dizzy?"

She rolled her eyes. "Honestly, I'm fine. I want to play some games, come on!"

"Sure, then you can finally meet Joey. You might want to thank him though, he was the one who found you," Darren said, dragging her through the hallway.

"I can't wait to meet him," Lauren said sarcastically.