October to October

{Chapter Thirty-Three}

   School started again, and Lauren was busy helping Monroe as she was starting her freshman year, and she was heartbroken at the same time. She broke up with her boyfriend Glenn after the rumors started getting back to her parents, and they 'had a talk' that she wouldn't go into with any of her friends. 

  She started going to church more and volunteering at the nursing home as if trying to atone for her supposed crimes. Lauren almost felt sorry for her, but then she remembered how Monroe treated Wren when they found out she was living with Henry. Lauren also wondered if Monroe would be understanding if she knew about her and Joan.

  Lauren sometimes felt like she was constantly living a lie, and she didn't understand how people could stand it. She wanted to talk about her relationship. She wanted to show her parents how happy she was. She wanted them to know that their daughter finally found someone who loved her for her. 

  They were trying to fix her up with boys from church and random sons of friends, and it was frustrating that they thought she 'needed help getting back into the world.' They still thought she was heartsick over Jake, and her Mom even hinted that she thought Lauren regretted ending things because she hadn't started dating again.

  "It's okay if you aren't ready," her Mom said as she gave Lauren a big hug. "A first love isn't something you get over in a couple months. Do you think maybe you should talk to Jake?"

  "About what?" Lauren asked.

  "Well... everything," said her Mom vaguely. "I hear he's pretty broken up over the whole thing too."

  It was maddening, thought Lauren. She loved staying at Joan's and being with her, but going back to her old life was painful, and she felt guilty every time she lied about where she was going as she didn't want anyone to get too suspicious about her spending too much time at Joan's. She'd lie and say she was at one of her friend's houses. Not Hope's though.

   Lauren didn't see Hope at all nowadays, and she hoped it stayed that way. Monroe rarely ever saw her either. Hope was running with a new crowd these days, and she dating a twenty-eight year old widow with a two year old daughter. Apparently Hope thought he was 'the one' said Monroe after talking to their friend during a chance encounter at the Java Bean.

  "Can you imagine?" Monroe asked in a hushed whisper as if someone would over-hear as they stood alone in the thrift store. "He's so old. With a kid!"

  Ruth was dating a classmate named Greg she met during her stint at the day camp the church held for two weeks. They were both counselors and quickly grew close. Lauren liked him from the few times she met him, and she hoped he treated her sister well. She had her fingers crossed that Ruth didn't fall into the old pattern of letting guys walk all over her. 

  Ruth herself was as insufferable and yet strangely lovable as usual. She wasn't giving Lauren the third degree about the amount of time she spent with Joan and their friends anymore since she was happy in her own personal life now. Lauren was grateful that her sister was distracted. She spent most of her time with Greg now, and Lauren rarely saw her.

  "Sometimes it makes me sad that my group of friends are so fractured now," Lauren confessed to Joan one September morning as they sat on the porch and drank their coffee before Lauren headed to class, and Joan to her job. "Like I know I expected it and everything, but now that it's happened... it's hard to accept. I know they drive me crazy a lot of the time, but I love them."

  "Relationships change," Joan said. "Maybe it's only temporary. If they're meant to be in your life they will be, and if you put real effort into it, of course."