Have a Little Faith

I finally found Lauren in an empty corner of the park, near a changing area. She was fully dressed again, sitting on the concrete with her back to me. I could hear her crying quietly.

I approached silently and sat down near her, "Lauren, I am so sorry..."

"For what? I'm not mad at you." she mumbled.

"You're not?"

"No. I can see why you would rather be with her, she's beautiful. Thomas was telling me how the two of you used to be together. I don't blame you for wanting to be with her again."

I was devastated. My voice broke as I pleaded with her, "Lauren, I do not want anything to do with her! She is conniving, manipulative, vicious and cruel. She was the girl I had lost my virginity to and I will hold that against her for as long as I live. I left her because I couldn't bear to be with her anymore. I don't even respect her as a human being!"

Lauren finally looked at me, tears streaming down her face and her eyes completely blood-shot, "You. Kissed. Her."

My heart shattered at the pain Ashley and Thomas had caused her. If Lauren never wanted to see me again because of them, they were not going to make it to graduation. Tears of hurt, guilt and rage streamed from my eyes, "Lauren, please believe that she kissed me.  It was all a show to break us up! You heard her scream for me to get over her, right?" Lauren nodded, ruefully. "In all the time we have been together, have I ever once spoken about her? Have I ever acknowledged her unless she addressed me specifically first? Please know that I have never lied to you, and never plan to. She kissed me and then continued the charade to make you believe that I initiated it.  If Thomas wasn't there to direct your attention as Ashley needed it, you would have seen me try to leave the entire time. You also would have seen how stand-offish I was to her."

Lauren was very quiet for a long time as she processed all I had said.

She looked at me, about to speak, when she noticed something. "You're lips are bleeding."

I touched my lips and sure enough there was drying blood on my fingertips. "I told you I didn't kiss her. I love YOU."

Lauren reached her hand out to me. I moved closer to her and took her into my arms. We sat still for an eternity. Finally Lauren pulled away from me, "I think we should go back to our chairs and wait for Austin and Jessica."

Half way back to the wave pool, something sticking out from underneath a bush caught my eye. It was a girl’s foot. I told Lauren and we rushed to see.  It was Ashley. She was naked and bloody.

"Ashley!" Lauren yelled.

She opened the one eye that wasn't swollen shut and then closed it. "I suppose you think I deserved this..."

Lauren quickly took off her shirt and lay on top of Ashley, "No one deserves this. No matter how vile they are. Brandon, go get help. I'll stay with her."

By a miraculous stroke of luck (for Ashley) there was a park security officer 50 yards away. Within minutes, there were 20 guards on scene and an ambulance was pulling away with Ashley inside.

"Ashley said she was sorry." Lauren told me when we both finished giving our statements.

"Of course she did."

"I forgave her. I think you should too."

I sighed, "Only because you asked me to.

She smiled as she hugged my arm and laid her head on my shoulder, "Well it's a start."

Austin and Jessica saw us and came running up to us to find out what was going on and to see if we were okay. We gave them the full run-down of everything they missed. It was just about time for the bus to bring us back to the school when we got back to the lounge chairs, so we gathered our things and headed back to the bus.
As we passed one of the eateries, mine and Lauren's stomachs growled ferociously. Lauren treated me to a late lunch and we continued to the bus. We both fell instantly asleep as soon as the bus pulled out of the lot.

Reviews

[Nicole (Carpe Diem)]

it's all about karam isn't it... i am glad lauren came around after mark explained everything i would have hated for them to break up...

great chapter :)