Then you come around again and say
Baby, I miss you and I swear I'm gonna change

"Lauren. Everything is fixable, okay?" Julia said, tired of having to repeat herself over and over to Lauren. "I mean, you guys got over that text thing, right?"

"Yes. We did, and I'm guessing you want to hear about that?" Lauren muttered.

"You're a mind reader, Lopez,"

Lauren shuddered at the use of her last name and began the next part of the story.

"You guys, seriously, that was amazing," Matt said to the cast of HP: the Musical after the curtain call of their final show. "Let's just hope we don't get sued…"

They all laughed and packed their things up, heading to the exit, and downtown to celebrate at everyone's favorite bar. Lauren was shaking her hair out after finally removing her wig and cap. She ran a few fingers through it and checked her reflection in the mirror. Behind her, she could see Joe, surrounded by a dozen used make up removing wipes, attempting to clean off the makeup covering his body. She let out a soft chuckle as he tried to wipe his back.

"I can hear you," he said glancing up at her.

"Why don't you just go home and shower?" she asked with a playful tone. Things were close to being alright between them – their usual banter returning. She still had no intention of getting back together with him, though.

"Because I'd fall asleep the second I got out of the shower, and I could use a drink or two," he replied, taking out a few wipes and using them all to wipe down his front.

Lauren let her eyes run over his body before she realized what she was doing and quickly returned them to her own relfection. "You're a piece of work, Walker."

"So I've heard," he said, finally seeing his actual skin. "Getting close!"

Just then, Joey ran in and looked at the both of them. "Hey, you guys coming?"

"Yeah, of course. Give me a sec to get changed," Lauren said, skipping into the dressing room.

"And I gotta clean myself off a bit more…" she heard Joe say.

"Hey, man, can I borrow your phone again?" Joey said, reaching for Joe's phone, which was sitting next to him.

"What, did you lose yours again?" Joe asked, letting him take it. "Just don't forget to erase everything this time."

"I swear, I had it on one of the campus busses, and then when I got to class I didn't have it," and with that, Joey left the room. Joe laughed and shook his head, his eyes travelling to where Lauren was changing. He never told her what had happened…he never got the chance…and now he did.

"Hey, Lo…" he said, standing up and walking towards the door of the dressing room.

"What's up, Joe?" Lauren said, walking outside and almost crashing into him. "Have means to kill me?"

"I wanted to take about…what happened…and whether or not we can-"

Lauren turned around and gave him a hard look, something he hadn't been expecting. "Joe, I thought I've made it clear. But we're…we are…we're never ever…getting back together. Okay?"

Joe looked at her differently, his bright blue eyes turning dark and his eyebrows furrowing. She looked at him and shook her head, walking out without any of her things. He followed her, swiping her bag and catching up to her in the hall.

"Lauren, you didn't even give me a chance to explain myself. That's all I want,"

"What is there to explain? Joe – just give it a fucking rest, please."

He set his jaw and looked down at her, before shoving her bag into her hands and going back inside to get his things. He pulled a shirt over his head and walked back into the hallway where a slightly shocked and upset Lauren was. He looked at her once more and said, "I tried. I did try. I loved you. I still love you. Three years and you can't even give me three minutes to explain. You're right. We're never going to get back together." He gave her a hard look and walked outside and towards the direction everyone else had gone. He muttered words under his breath as he walked, the anger far from calming down.

Lauren, however, still stood in her spot, watching him walk away through the windows. She heard a door open behind her, and turned to see Joey walk out of the bathroom, Joe's phone in his hand.

"Hey, Lo," he said, a bit surprised to still see her there. "You okay?"

She shook her head and went into the outstretched arms of her friend. He asked if it was Joe and she nodded, letting the angry and sad tears stain his shirt.

"Hey, he gets angry over the smallest things," Joey said, placing his hands on her shoulders and leaning down a little to look into her face. "I used a phone like, two months ago to talk to this girl from back home, and I forgot to delete the messages…and pictures…and he went crazy."

Lauren blinked, and an idea floated into her head. "Joey…was that…was that around the time that Joe and I…broke up?"

"Uh, yeah. It was right before it…" he said, the same idea in his. "That's why you two broke up. You saw those and thought he was sending them…oh god, it's my fault."

"No. It's not. It's mine. I should've given him time to explain. I shouldn't have even looked through his phone in the first place. Fuck. I'm such a bitch. And everything's ruined and I'm sure he doesn't even want to look at me right now. You know, I can't even think of something since Freshman year without him being in that memory? Graduation is less than two weeks away, and if the last time I see him will be while he's hating me. And he hates me right now. And I…I don't know what I should do."

"Did he just leave?" Joey asked, looking out the large window.

"Yeah, just before you came out of the bathroom,"

"Then go the fuck after him!"

"I'm…going to…do…that," Lauren said, not quite making up her mind.

"Seriously. Go," Joey said, giving her a push.

"This is so disgustingly corny. Thanks, Richter," she hugged him quickly before running out of the building and down the street where Joe had gone. She ran as fast as she had in a while, almost knocking a few people over. She reached the street of the bar and turned the corner to see Joe still walking, his hands in his pockets. She called out to him. "Joe!"

He stopped for a moment, but continued walking. She kept calling his name until she reached him, and moved quickly in front of him, pressing her hands to his chest to stop him.

"Oh, god, what do you want Lauren?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"I'm giving you what you want. Three minutes to explain," she said, her eyes full of hope.

"No. Please move," he said, not wanting to push her out of the way.

"Okay. I will then. You lent Joey your phone, he used it to be a little whore and I thought it was you and I jumped to conclusions. How's that?" She watched as different emotions crossed over his face. The anger disappeared, then came confusion, relief, happiness, and then anger once more.

"Lo, it's…too late…now," he said, moving around her.

"Joe, please, I love you. I don't want my asshole mistake to ruin everything. Three years right? That's a long time, okay? Can we not let it go to waste? I shouldn't have said we were never ever getting back together. It was dumb, Joe I just…" she waited for him to say something, anything. They were still standing on the sidewalk, but his back was to her.

Joe slowly turned and looked at her, a smirk playing on the corners of his mouth. He moved closer to her, placed his hands and her waist and pulled her to him, moving his lips onto hers. They didn't speak a word to each other as they made their way back to Lauren's, or as they moved into Lauren's room. They didn't speak as they slowly made love, making up for lost time, or even for a little while after that.

Her head was buried into his chest, listening to his steady heartbeat. "I love you…" she mumbled, almost so he couldn't hear it.

"And I love you."

Lauren started laughing as she remembered the morning after. "I'll never forget how you screamed when you woke up and found him in the bathroom."

"There was a half-naked man taking a shower in my home, what did you expect me to do?" Julia said, laughing herself.

"It took hours to calm you down. And then you asked about everything that happened over coffee after he left. Some things never change, Jules," Lauren grinned smugly.

"Some things shouldn't change, Lo,"

"Like me and Joe you're trying to say?"

"I didn't say that."

"Sometimes it's good if they do."

Lauren gave her friend a small smile as she let herself remember that night again.