Disguised In Lavender

Part Five

Lauren smiled kindly, glancing at the ceiling overhead as if waiting for Ann to get a hint she wasn't grasping. "You are my trainer aren't you? Shouldn't we train?" She took the book from the boy who had shoved his way to her side, offering Ann a boxy smile before vanishing again. Lauren handed Ann her books, nodding farewell with no confirmation, she was too stunned to give one anyway.

The permed boy bounced around the corner and bumped into Lauren with his hip, clapping his hands with the ever present smile. "She's cute." He sang teasingly, slowing his skipping jog to a walk, wiggling his eyebrows. The rider scoffed, snatching her bag from around his arm and swinging it nearly to hit his head. "You have a boyfriend, Tanner." She reminded him sternly though she was entirely aware of what he meant, it wasn't something she cared to think of.

Ann was kind enough and she was pretty, though the thought of Dalla being right in that aspect made her stomach clench. "So you didn't kiss her in the locker?" Tanner pressed, scrunching his face in disbelief as they turned into their classroom, lowering their voices slightly. "Absolutely not, I only met her yesterday so who knows if she had some buff boyfriend." Lauren snapped as she slid into her seat, hanging her bag over the back of the chair and glaring at Tanner across from her. "So you're saying you would if you knew she was single?" The question silence Lauren, ducking her head to hide her face and pretending not to have heard.

Would she have? Lauren bent her head over the paper in front of her, hardly taking in the information scrawled across it. Ann's wide eyes and trembling lips, the shafts of light making her golden hair shine across her pale skin. The feeling of her waist in Lauren's hand, how she tilted her chin up in a moment of intense adrenaline and allowed words to just slip out. "I invited her over." She groaned, covering her head and slumping forward as she replayed the details in her mind. Tanner patted her shoulder remorsefully, shaking his head as the Realisation settled onto him as well.

"Oh come on, it was an invitation that you couldn't have passed up on. Everyone was staring, you had to say something." It was meaningless to try and console the girl, already lost in her thoughts about how much trouble she'd be in. "You have to be there." She sat up in an instant, brushing his hand off of her and grabbing him by the edge of his jacket. "Um, no thanks. JK is taking me out tonight." He looked away, avoiding her gaze as he peeled her hands off of him, silently begging the teacher to walk in. "He is?" Lauren made a disbelieving face, deciding for the moment she could deal with her roommate later and drama now. "He is now." Tanner grumbled, running his hand along the curls down his neck, crossing one leg over the other as the teacher walked in.

It was hard to keep her eyes focused on the notes she'd taken in class, instead finding the time more interesting. Lauren had texted Ann to come to her dorm a little before the dining hall opened. For what? She had no idea. Sure it had been the riders idea but with her platinum hair pulled back in a half up ponytail she didn't know why. A spur of the moment was really the only clue she had, intoxicated but the closed hallways and Ann's lips.

"So when should I leave?" Lauren's roommate sighed, spinning in tight circles on the chair to her right, eyes glued to his phone. "Right away would be nice but you like me too much, hm Z?" Zack stood up, sticking out his tongue at Lauren and exposing his shining tongue piercing as he pulled his jacket off the hook. "Send pics, love ya, I'm out." He flashed a peace sign and spun their shared car Keyes around his middle finger before slamming the door behind him. Lauren rolled her eyes, debating shouting at him from the window as he walked by.

Deciding against it, she gave a final longing attempt to focus on her English notes but flipped her phone off the charger. What Zack didn't know was that Lauren had no intention of him ever meeting Ann under any circumstances. The most popular girl in school and a known fuck boy, a match that made their dorm hectic and untidy. "So stupid." Lauren smiled as Zack's final text blinked in the receiver, a line of kissy emojis that required scrolling to get through.

A knock on the door threw the smile from her face, suddenly serious, she tossed her phone aside. Pausing at the wall length mirror leaned against the bathroom door, examine her sweatshirt tucked in the front of her high waisted jeans. "It's not a date." She muttered aloud, turning away and sliding the lock as she pulled the door open. Ann ducked her head as her eyes locked onto Lauren's noticing the eyeliner twinkling in the dim light. "What're these?" The rider asked, stepping aside to let Ann in and nodding to the folders tucked under her cross arms. "Ah," she blinked in surprise a sit she'd forgotten she held the folders, "reports on the show horses Mr Terence wanted to file." The door squeaked as Lauren shut it, stepping beside Ann and noticing their height wasn't so varied.

Stop thinking, she bit the inside of her cheek and crossed the room to the empty table against the window. Two chairs facing each other, one tapping the edge of her bed and the other dangerously close to the lap craning over it. "Let's get it done then, in case you haven't noticed, for the only teacher he isn't exactly patient." Ann smiled gratefully at the break of awkwardness, letting the folder fall onto the table with a light thud.