The Player's Happy Ever After

Chapter 10 - TGIF

This chapter contains mature content. So please skip the part when Lauren goes to Ethan's apartment if you're not 15 plus.

Lauren's POV

Group work was the last thing I felt like dealing  with today. It was hard enough focusing on having to complete individual assessments without the burden of dealing with other peoples thoughts and opinions. I just hoped we were going to be able to get along & easily assign our sections, present the assessment and hand in a report. Sounds easy but trust me it never, ever is. Ego's get in the way and groups crumble quickly.

There were 5 of us in the group it included Felicity, Adriana, Maria and Kristos. I knew the girls from previous group assignments but none of us had all worked together as a group.

When I arrived Felicity sprung into action. She was the organiser, every group has one. We discussed how we were going to import flavoured spring water into the UNE then decided to break the report into parts. Given there was a presentation we had to decide do we all speak or what the best way to approach it would be. Everytime my name was mentioned or I spoke Kristos stole looks. I had a feeling he was wanting to talk to me about Ethan but the subject hadn't quite come up until a text message came in, I grabbed my phone and read:

Are you free tonight - 🙏Ethan

I instantly smiled. It didn't go unnoticed by Kristos. "You know he has a girlfriend?" He blurted out. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at me.

"Um, Kristos, he did, have a girlfriend!" I quietly stated.

"He was with her in the pub last week, a few days later he was with a redhead, then on Friday with a blonde and on Wednesday he had you!" I felt like my heart was sinking deep inside my chest. I was finding it a little hard to breath. I didn't want this, whatever was happening right now between Kristos and I. I didn't want people knowing my personal life so it could be spread wildly around Uni so I had to diffused it quickly.

"Kristos, it's ok I'm a big girl, I know all about Ethan. It's my own business. So lets forget about him right now and focus on our assessment so we can go enjoy the weekend".

We were still there at 3pm. Some of the guys came in during their breaks to say hello. Dennis and Mark both popped in and Dan had been doing research at the library. I still hadn't responded to Ethan's text so I just excused myself and decided to call him instead. After 5 rings it went to voicemail:

"Hey Ethan it's Lauren, would love to catch up tonight I'm still at Uni, so when you're free just give me a call. Sorry about not contacting sooner we've been busy. Talk soon".

After I got back to the group we were happy with our progress and wrapped things up. With only 1 week left until my 21st I invited everyone in our group as we were all getting along. I thought about the fact that Ethan hadn't mentioned my party again so I was going to wait until I saw him next to invite him properly. I had my fingers crossed that would be tonight.

As I was walking towards the caf my phone was ringing. It was Ethan my heart started racing:

"Hi Ethan"

"Lauren, Lauren," it was so loud wherever he was it could hardly hear him. He sounded like he was at an airport or something. I shrugged.
Then the phone cut out. I figured if he wanted to speak to me he'd have to find a quieter spot or text me. But after a few minutes of waiting no response came. Feeling a little disappointed I decided to head home for the day.

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During the drive home I checked my phone about 30 times. I know I was being ridiculous. He just wasn't going to call back. When I arrived home Mum was cooking dinner it smelt delicious. She was the best cook I knew. Her food was so tasty and she loved trying new recipes.