A Head Full of Dreams
She kissed her.
Leyla Shinwari kissed her.
Full on the lips, in her living room, with both other hands tugging at the roots of her hair, and Lauren Bloom is totally and completely freaking the hell out.
For one thing, that kiss was amazing, okay?
The cool and sure touch of Leyla's skin.
The feeling of their faces pressed against each other's.
The taste of Leyla's lips, with her tongue just barely grazing at the center of them, and running along her bottom lip just before their mouths parted.
And now Lauren has to get it to go to work, and not think about Leyla, until she gets to go home and see her again later this evening.
And it's all totally going to be fine.
Twenty minutes later, the E.D is slow, and she's thinking about her again.
Now she's picturing the calm way that Leyla helps her wash dishes, and efficiently dries them, as the two of them are laughing about something funny she's mentioned.
She's fantasizing about continuing their laughing and having Leyla press her up against the edge of the counter, and kissing her soundly until she drops the dish cloth on the floor from how desperately that she wants to kiss her back.
Lauren imagines that Leyla would mold their hips together, and come so close that she can feel Leyla's warmth against her own body heat.
And then she's imagining Leyla kissing down the side of her neck, and running her hands along the sides of her waist, and-
"Dr. Bloom, there's a patient asking for you in trauma room six," says Casey.
"I'll be right there-" says Lauren, as she shakes herself out of her own fantasies.
Not all of her fantasies are sexual in nature, either.
She's also got fantasies of attending events with Leyla, of writing her name down as her 'plus one.' She has these thoughts racing through her head of showing Leyla off to her friends, to her family.
Throughout her lunch break, Lauren picks at her salad because she's thinking about how she'd met Leyla again, about how she'd thought she was a threat until she'd saved her patient's life, and after that she'd apologized, and that's how Leyla started talking to her again.
She thinks about all of the little moments she's shared with Leyla after that, both inside the hospital in that little supply closet, and outside of it entirely, sharing Leyla's favorite and totally cheesy Hawaiian pizza.
All those fun, happy times she might have picked up on if she wasn't so preoccupied with her work, and also with her recovery.
So far, Casey hasn't asked her yet about why she isn't sneaking off to unlock a shower, or a supply closet again. About the fact that he hasn't seen Leyla's orange backpack lying around the shelves either.
She knows that he knows something is up with her though, and she's very grateful that he's giving her the space and privacy to process it.
