Philophobia

Two

Ring ring. Ring ring. Ring ring.

"What the fuck is that?" Lauren murmured, blinking her eyes open only to find herself draped across Lucy's living room couch. She winced as she sat up, the previous evening's drinking obviously having contributed to a hangover. Her eyes scanned the room, snorting in amusement when her eyes landed upon Lucy sprawled out on the floor by the television.

It took her a few moments to realise it was her phone ringing, a groan slipping through her lips as she lifted it to her ear, not checking the caller ID. "What? What do you want?" she grumbled, dragging a hand through her knotted hair.

"Not a morning person, Lauren?" Came an amused voice from the other end of the phone line, followed by a gruff laugh. His only response was silence. "Whatever, this will cheer you up. I've got a girl, I need your help 'disposing' of her."

Lauren quirked an eyebrow, standing up and making her way into the bathroom, pushing the door closed. She didn't need Lucy eavesdropping. "Another one? That's three this week."

"Come on, Lauren. I'll even let you do the deed," Lauren heard the suggestive waver in his voice and shook her head.

"I'm not raping a corpse, Malik. You might be crazy but I prefer to maintain my partial sanity," running a hand through her hair, she released a reluctant sigh. "This is the last one for a while, okay? I can't keep missing work, the pub will go bust."

"You know it."

"What time?" Lauren disregarded his comment, glancing at her reflection in the mirror. Yesterday's makeup was a little smudged and she had significant bed/sex hair, but other than that she looked pretty good.

"As soon as. She won't stop crying, I think there's something wrong with her," Zayn's stupidity caused her to roll her eyes once more.

"Out of curiousity, how old is she?" Lauren captured her lip between her teeth, her head tilting in thought.

"Sixteen, seventeen," his voice conveyed such nonchalance as Lauren's eyes widened.

"Zayn! Fuck, she's a kid," Lauren growled, pulling a cigarette from her pocket and lighting it, pretty sure that Lucy would have objections towards smoking indoors if she was awake. "That's going to be treated as a missing child you idiot, there'll be people looking for her."

"Good job she'll be dissected and burnt by then," he snorted, "See you in a while."

"Yeah, whatever," she mumbled, hanging up and exiting the bathroom, almost instantly met with Lucy's accusing stare.

"Put that out, Lauren," she huffed, tugging her retrieved shirt over her head. "Who were you talking to?"

"No one, stop acting like a jealous girlfriend. I'm leaving now anyway," Lauren flicked the ashes to the floor, mostly just to enfuriate Lucy even more.

"Yeah, fine. Fuck off," Lucy mumbled, rising to her feet and stalking over to Lauren. "I'll see you whenever," she huffed, grabbing her cigarette as she passed and bringing it to her lips with a sharp exhale.

•••

"Where is she?" Lauren pushed past Zayn, into the entrance hall of his house. "Have you started on her yet?"

"Not yet. I was waiting for main gal," Zayn threw Lauren a wink, moving to loop his arm around her shoulders, but Lauren dodged it, shoving him in the chest with more force than he had expected because he staggered back a little. "Whatever Jauregui. She's in the basement."