Remember When...

Chapter 3

"Guys I'm heading out!" I screamed down the hall
"Okay! Fun on your date!" Drake screamed back
"Shut up! It's not a date!" I screamed
"But you want it to be!" Anna replied
With that I left the house with a huge smile on face. Then I thought to myself,"Do I want it to be a date?" Before I knew it I was at Lauren's house. We don't live to far away actually. Only a couple blocks. I walked up to the front door. Before I could even knock, the door flew open.
"Well hello there Chelsea!" A short girl with long light brown hair smiled
"Hi." I said nervously
"I'm Amy! I'm Lauren's older sister."
"Oh okay!"
"Well, come on in! Lauren hasn't been able to shut up about you!"
I then felt myself blush hard.
"Lauren's up stairs in her room. It's the first door to your right!"
"Okay thanks!"
"No prob!" Amy said with a smirk
I started walking up the stairs when someone grabbed me by my t-shirt collar.
"So thief you're back again?!" the tall man said. He looked to young to be the father so I'm guessing he was an older sibling. I didn't know what to say. Before I knew it I was on the floor and my head was sore.
"How dare you think you can waltz in here after you tried to rob us the other day!" he yelled," I'm about to give you the beating of your lif-"
"Stop! She's here to see me! Don't hurt her!" I heard Lauren's beautiful voice say.
I started to relax when I heard her voice, stopping her brother from beating me until I'm numb.
"Why are you meeting up with a thief?!" he asked
"Mike, we've become friends and I invited her over. She's harmless!"
So his name is Mike. Well, he ain't no Magic Mike with big muscles and all. This guys got the opposite. Lack of huge muscles but he is pretty strong. I mean seriously, he lifted me off the ground with the collar of my t-shirt.
"Okay. I trust you Lauren. But I don't trust her! So keep an eye on, whatever her name is." Mike said then walked off
"Her name is Chelsea!" Lauren said then knelt down
"Are you okay?" she asked
"Yea I'm fine." I said getting up.
Once I was on my feet, I started feeling dizzy and was loosing my balance.
"You're obviously not okay! You can barely stand." Lauren said trying to help me
"It's fine, Lauren. I'm okay! I just hit my head when your brother threw me to the ground."
"Well, come on let me get you an ice pack then we can go to the beach or something. Sound okay?"
"Perfect!"
We started walking towards the stairs. Lauren assisted me on the way down. We walked to the kitchen and Lisa and Dani were in there talking.
"Oh hey Chelsea!" Lisa said noticing me
"Hey." I said with a wave
"What brings you here?" Dani asked
"Well, I invited her over to hang out, but Mike remembered her from the other night and almost beat her up. So I'm getting her some ice for her head then we'll go to the beach or something." Lauren explained
"Okay." Lisa said giving us weird look. I wonder what's going on with them.
"Here you go!" Lauren said handing me an ice pack
"Thanks." I said and put it over the bump on my head
"Shall we go?" Lauren said with a smile
"Yes we shall." I said laughing

As we walked to the beach together I kept trying to ignore the sudden butterflies I got every time she looked at me. If I don't get over this girl soon, I'm afraid I might fall for her.

Lauren's POV
"So how have we both lived here our whole lives and never seen each other until now?" I ask
"I have no idea." she said. Somehow I feel like she does know why but she's not telling me. We aren't close yet so I won't ask about it. Maybe she'll tell me once we're datin-I mean friends. Maybe she'll tell me once we're closer friends.
"Why haven't I seen you around?" I ask
"I don't know. I don't go out much that's probably a reason." she said
"Where do you live?"
"You ask a lot of questions don't you?" she said laughing and I laughed too
"Maybe. But I'm serious. Where's your house? Where do you lay your head at night?"
"Um, it's complicated."
"How so?"
"Um-"
"You don't have to tell me if it makes you uncomfortable."
"No, it's okay. I have pretty bad trust issues. But for some reason I feel like I can trust you."
"Awe! Really? Thanks!" I felt really happy that Chelsea felt like she could trust me. Especially since she has trust issues.
"Yea. But where I "lay my head at night" is kinda hard to explain. So I'll show you."
Chelsea got up then pulled me up with her. Have I mentioned how cute she is! I think I'm really falling for her. She trusts me too! I wonder why it's so complicated where she lives tho.

We are in the middle of the woods. I've never really been in here before. Suddenly a small little cabin comes into my view point.
"Okay, before we go in you should know that there are five other people living in here. I'll introduce you to them as you see them." Chelsea explains before we go in.
As I walk in, to my left is the kitchen and to my right a small table with chairs. Then in front is the living space with a bathroom to the right.
"This is nice. Cozy." I say
"Thanks."
There is two boys on the couch on their phones. Both with short hair. One with black hair and the other with brown. They are both pretty attractive but I've got my eye on Chelsea. Without looking up one of the boys starts to talk.
"Hey Chelsea! How was your date?" he asked. I felt the heat raise to my cheeks when he said "date." I wish it was a date.
"Drake! It wasn't a date! And she's right there!" Chelsea said half whispering the last part.
Both boys then looked up with embarrassment written all over their faces.
"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean it like that!" Drake said
"It's totally okay." I said somewhat pretending like it didn't happen
"We just like to tease each other like that." the other boy said
"Um, Lauren, by the way this is Drake and Parker." Chelsea said introducing us
"Drake, Parker. This is Lauren." she said introducing them to me
"Hi." I said with a wave
"Hello. Nice to meet you Lauren." Drake said
"So you're the one Chelsea won't shut up about." Parker said
"Parker! Shut up!" Chelsea said with a look of embarrassment
"It's okay Chelsea. Remember, my sisters did the same thing. It's what siblings do."
Suddenly everything felt really awkward. I think I said something wrong.
"Um, we're not siblings. We're friends." Chelsea explained
"Oh okay. No wonder you guys don't look a like." I said feeling a little guilty
"Yea. Um, let me introduce you to the rest of the gang." Chelsea said walking to one of the bedrooms.
"This is where the boys sleep." Chelsea said
"Chelsea? You're home?" a half asleep guy said getting up
"Yep! Josh this is Lauren. Lauren this is Josh."
"Nice to meet you." I said
"You too!" Josh said shaking my hand
"Okay! One more room to go! Anna, Charlotte, and my room!" She said directing me across the hall
"Hey guys!" Chelsea said walking in
"Hey! Oh hey Lauren!" Charlotte greeted
"Oh yea! I forgot you guys already met!" Chelsea said laughing
Have I mentioned that Chelsea's laugh is adorable. Because if I haven't, it's the cutest laugh in the world! I swear!
"Okay you guys get out! I wanna talk to Lauren." Chelsea said
Anna got down from her bunk and left with Charlotte.
"Nice seeing you again!" Anna Sadi before exiting the room
"So, where are your parents?" I asked
"Um...I don't have parents. Neither do any of those guys." Chelsea said with a sad look
"Oh! I'm so sorry! I had no idea!"
"Lauren! It's okay! You didn't know!"
"What happened though? If you don't mind me asking. Like how did you guys meet?"
"Well, all of our parents abandoned us when we were very young. We got ended up in the same orphanage. Since we're the same age we got put together in a lot of stuff. We became friends very quickly. Later on, about 3 years ago, we decided to run away. When we did, we ran. We didn't know where we were going. But we ran. Then we stumbled across this cabin and we've been here ever since."
"Wow." I was speechless. All six of them have been together that long and all have the same story. I never could have imagined that that happened to her.

After what seemed like 10 minutes but was actually about 4 hours, I finally got out of Chelsea hair.
"Do you want me to walk to home?" she asked
"Yea. I'd like that."

On the walk back to my house, we talked about random things. Like, Chelsea parents and what we want to do in the future. Then once we got to my house we hugged goodbye and went our separate ways. Lisa and Dani kept asking me questions about Chelsea all night. I couldn't get her off my mind anyway. I eventually drifted off to sleep.

Chelsea's POV
Spending a day with Lauren was amazing. These feelings that I have for her keep getting stronger and stronger. I even opened up by telling her about my parents. I couldn't get Lauren off my mind all night and part of me didn't want her to come out. I eventually fell asleep with Lauren being the last thing on my mind. How is it possible to be crushing on someone this hard?