Hey so this is a really fun chapter. Hope you like it. Please please please continue reviewing and thank you all for even reading my stories, I didn't expect people to actually like them. I wouldn't be the type to have written a lot before and I've discovered how much I love writing through doing these so thank you x x x
Lauren knocked on the guys apartment door and waited. Julia stood beside her with her arms still wrapped around herself, trying to recover from the cold. It had taken them almost half an hour to trudge through the thick layer of snow that now covered the U of M campus, and they were freezing. "I hate this stupid snow," Julia muttered, shivering slightly.
Lauren smiled as she remembered Darren's excitement when the first snowflakes had begun to fall. Coming from San Francisco he'd never had a 'White Christmas' and the novelty still hadn't worn off for him.
Thinking back over the last few months she still couldn't believe it, it was now only a week until the Christmas break. Her first semester had gone by so quickly and it was hard to believe that less than 2 months ago she'd only known Darren as Disney guy. She turned around as she heard the apartment door open, revealing Joe, who already looked well on the way to drunkenness.
"Laaauuuuuren, Juliaaaa!" he exclaimed, pulling them into a hug. Yep, Lauren confirmed to herself, he's definitely drunk. She didn't like to admit it but sometimes she found Joe a little hard to take and she knew that if it wasn't for Darren she probably wouldn't have ever put herself in his company. Of course she'd never admitted any of this to Darren, Joe was his best friend.
It was just sometimes she found him so obnoxious and arrogant. Of course he was good-looking, she couldn't deny that, but he knew it and he had a reputation for constantly hooking up with girls.
Joe put his arms around her and Julia's shoulders and guided them into the living room, which was filled with both familiar and unfamiliar faces. She smiled at Meredith, who was sitting very closely next to Brian, across the room.
"Hey Walker, watch it, that's my girl you've got there," Darren said jokingly from behind them as he pulled Lauren into his arms.
Joe just wiggled his eyebrows up and down teasingly, before leaving them to answer the door again. It was only now that Lauren looked around and realised Julia had already left and joined the party. She stretched up and wrapped her arms around Darren's neck, and kissed him. She pulled back and Darren flashed a wide smile, before leaning in and whispering in her ear, "Let's party." He took her hand and lead her towards the centre of the room where people were dancing around crazily.
Lauren flopped down on the sofa, swinging her bare feet happily from side to side. Darren had gone to get a glass of water to help sober her up. She didn't usually drink and after tonight she'd discovered it didn't take much to get her drunk. Yet another side effect of being small.
The party had quietened down and it was mostly only close friends left. Julia was with some guy in the far corner of the room and neither Meredith nor Jaime were in sight, but she presumed they were in a similar situation to Julia somewhere.
She was so lost in her own world that she didn't notice a guy sliding in next to her on the seat, until he started extending his arm around her, like they did in those cheesy romantic movies, and leaning in towards her. Felling slightly uncomfortable, she went to get up, but the guy grabbed her arm, pulling her back down.
"Hey now, why don't we get to know each other a little better," he slurred.
Lauren was saved from responding by the sudden appearance of Joe, who yanked her out of the guy's grasp and told him to "fuck off," in a threatening tone. The guy just got up with a shrug and left. Lauren looked up at Joe surprised.
"What? Just because you think I'm an asshole doesn't mean I am one…. All the time." He responded with a smirk on his face, "You're Darren's girlfriend; he cares about you, so… I follow the bro code and look out for you too."
Lauren crinkled her eyebrows in confusion before answering, "the bro code?" she giggled.
"Oh my God, that's what you chose to pick up on from that 'deep and emotional' testimony," Joe laughed shaking his head in disbelief, running his hand through his hair.
"Hey Dar, you better watch her tonight," Joe said over Lauren's head, causing her to spin around to see Darren holding the water in his hand. She sprung into his arms, causing him to spill most of it. Putting the glass down, he wrapped his arms around her waist, supporting her. He kissed the top of her head tenderly before she pulled back and pointed a finger at Joe accusingly, "Hey you were just as drunk."
Joe shrugged, "ya but I sober up fast…your teensy."
She stood up as tall as she could and eyed Joe dubiously.
"You know, I think we should be friends," she blurted out confidently, "I mean, you're friends with Darren, I'm going out with Darren… we both know Darren… so it makes sense that we should be friends… right?" It was now Joes turn to appear surprised and it took him a minute before he nodded.
"I suppose we've reached that point," he laughed.
Darren was trying to contain his laughter. However as Lauren rested her head against his chest, he mouthed a "thanks man" to Joe.
Hearing her sigh, he looked down at Lauren's pouting face, "What's wrong Lo?"
"Nothing… it's just…can we go play in the snow?"
"Lo, it's 3 in the morning and like 0 degrees out, we'll freeze." Darren said, guiding her over to the sofa again and sitting her down.
"Aw please Dar, we'll wear coats and it'll be fine." She begged pulling herself out of Darren's arms to swing around and face him. She nearly fell off the sofa in the process, only Darren caught her just in time.
"Phew, that could have been embarrassing," She exclaimed. Joe was still standing there with an entertained smirk on his face.
"We can have a snowball fight, or play tag!" she suggested excitedly, bouncing up and down on the sofa.
Darren looked into her big beautiful brown eyes that gazed up at him pleadingly... "Ok, where's your coat?"
In the end most people had donned their coats and braved the cold and it had quickly turned into a full on snowball battle between two teams. Darren spun around as he felt a hard thud hit the back of his head. He whipped around quickly, ready to strike, only to pull back his arm when he saw Lauren laughing uncontrollably and running off in the other direction.
"Lo, we're on the same team!" he shouted after her.
She was wearing his navy wool hat and one of his coats over her own, to keep warm. It went down almost to her knees and Darren suppressed a smile as he took off after her. He snuck up behind her and grabbed her and they fell to the ground wrapped in each other's arms. Catching one another's eyes they both stopped, the chocolate brown meeting the green hazel ones.
Lauren's breath caught. Darren exhaled and she watched the warm breath from his mouth as it condensed in the bitter night air. She squealed and jumped suddenly as she felt a cold sensation hit her face. Darren was smiling contentedly and she realised he had gotten her off guard.
"Well played, Darren…well played," she said, wiping the snow from her cheeks.
Lauren yawned, suddenly feeling exhausted. Despite the numerous layers of clothing she had on, she was beginning to feel the cold and huddled into Darren. "I think it's time for bed," Darren whispered in her ear as he picked her up in his arms."
She mumbled a response, too tired to form proper words, and closed her eyes. She could hear his heart beating steadily under his jacket.
Darren carried her back inside and placed her gently down on his bed. He removed her shoes and coats carefully, so as not to wake her. He then pulled the quilt covers up around her and watched her chest rising up and down ever so slightly with every breath. Her face looked so relaxed and she had the hint of a smile on her face as she slept. He leant down and placed a kiss on her forehead,
"Night Lo," he whispered softly.
Hope you liked it. I'm back at school now so I'm going to apologise now if I don't update as frequently but I will try to get something up at least once a week. x x x