Disguised In Lavender

Part 27

They stood in each other's embrace, wrapped in the smells of drying leaves and pungent lavender. "I'm not letting him do anything to you, never." Ann vowed again, lifting her head first and using her thumbs to dab away the tears on Lauren's cheeks. "I believe you." She agreed with a still slightly teary voice but managed out an adoring smile. "Good, now I'm freezing so hurry up or I'm stealing your sleeping bag!" Ann called out playfully as she jumped away and started bounding with her knees almost to her chest to avoid the brush. "Hey! I thought we were having a moment!" Lauren shouted back as she dashed after the younger girl, not bothering to lift her feet but crashing through loudly.

Catching up to her, the rider tackled her from behind and rolled into a decaying pile of oak leaves tinged in fading gold. Laughing in triumph, she stood and tagged the wall of the cabin as Ann was still struggling to brush each pesky leaf from her shirt and pants. "I would at least have let you sleep with me." She grumbled, trotting over to Lauren with a roll of her eyes, sure to lower her voice as the sound of snores broke the quiet. "Sleep with you?" The rider almost choked on the words when she paused to pick up her bag, hovering her hand over the ground with her eyes trained on Ann. "I told you, if we're in this we're in deep. I'm no liar, darling." A long silence fell between them but it didn't seem like the younger girl was going to withdraw her offer.

Lauren balled her hands into nervous fists, she shouldn't be afraid anymore, this was Ann, this was different. A soft hand fell comfortingly along her arm, she glanced up and straightened her posture to see eye to eye with her girlfriend. "I can't refuse." It was true, the warmth in Ann's eyes washed every worry from her mind without hesitation. "You can. When I say I want everything between us to be kickstarted I don't mean I want to make you uncomfortable. That's the last thing I want, other than maybe a spider in my bag." Lauren chuckled at the quick change in tone, slipping around Ann and spreading her bag out. The excitement on the trainer's face was new, the normally serious and stoic girl was in deep. In a million years neither of them would have guessed they'd be here, lying beside someone they had feelings for. Lauren laid her head on Ann's chest and crept her arm under her waist, feeling the warmth of her legs cross hers.

Night passed far too quickly, before Lauren was ready, a breeze of cold air patted across her cheeks. She sat up slowly, stretching out her arm that had resigned to stay sleeping, Ann was already gone. Tanner sat on his own sleeping bag with a sandwich in his hand that he was hungrily ignoring his friend to eat. "Where's Ann?" Lauren asked, somehow managing to wriggle free of the encasing and laying flat on her stomach. "Went out with JK. They have class earlier than we do." Tanner finished quickly, still not looking up from his breakfast and hungrily glancing around when it had vanished to crumbs.

"What's for breakfast?" The rider flipped onto her back to peer at her friend upside down, sighing tiredly. "Bird." He answered shortly with a flip of his hair, one side was flattened from sleep still. "Excuse me?" Tanner stood up and towered over her with his hands folded under his arms as he lifted one leg. "I'll kill you!" Lauren shouted as she rolled out from under him and kicked wildly at where she could see his shadow. He burst into laughter that sent him rolling to the floor, breathing hard to get his breath back. "Gosh, you're worse than Zack." Tanner pretended to be offended as he righted himself and watched Lauren stand to find some breakfast herself.

Since Ann and JK were already at the building, Lauren and Tanner had a deal of work to put the cabin back to desolate. Wrappers of uncrustable sandwiches from what must have been left from breakfast were gathered together. Without so much as a pleasant conversation, the friends started back towards campus, being sure to stay low. Being caught outside on a school day would mean detention and lord knew Tanner had enough of those already. Slipping in was easier than expected, most of the seniors were skipping anyway and the lower classmen were already at class. Lauren swept her hair back, still not exactly used to the bright purple color but instantly broke into a smile. Ann dashed forward from her friend group who were walking to the library together, each of them turned in surprise. The rider dropped her bag and caught the younger girl in her arms, the momentum spinning them on their toes. "Darling, are you alright?" Ann asked softly as Lauren set her down, keeping her in her embrace as she reached up to fix her short hair. "Splendid. I'll be at the cafe after school if you'll meet me there." The younger girl lowered her hand and glanced back to her friends, nodding with a wink before dashing off again.

Trouble was inevitable with a rival like Dalla and Lauren knew it the second her clicking boots hit the school floor. Tanner stiffened as the brunette swung around and stopped them with her fingers in her hair, snapping cherry red gum. "Morning, Satan." Lauren sighed boredly, trying to step around her but finding her path blocked by her hand. "So you did get my little surprise, flew it here all by myself and for a week too. Isn't it amazing? Gosh, I'm an angel." Anger began to rise in the tension between both girls but Lauren managed to keep her cool. "If you did this to break Ann and I up then you're in short luck. I'm sure you'd love to feel the rush I get when she calls me darling. Poor you, I'm a bit sorry." The rider pouted in a fashion that she could mirror from Dalla herself, Tanner pursed his lips to keep from laughing. Pure bitterness fumed from the brunette as she opened her mouth to snap back but closed it quickly. "I'll make up for it," Lauren leaned closer, trying to suppress the shiver of disgust that ran up her spine, "Darling." She swung back and finally shoved past her stunned rival, scoffing to herself with pride.

Threats of Lauren's father hung over her head the rest of the day, she felt confident he wasn't on campus but that didn't mean he wouldn't be. Just as they'd planned, Lauren made it to the cafe first and ordered her usual tart with peppermint tea and honey. Ann came in later and waved a greeting to her girlfriend before ordering for herself and bouncing over to her. "You will not believe the amount of gossip I get from JK now. Standing up to Dalla, damn, that's hot." She winked as she leaned back and comfortably set one leg on the seat to lay her arm over. Lauren bit her tongue as her eyes swept Ann with heated inclination, her heart hammering. "I'm flattered but let's be honest, she deserved it." The crack in the rider's voice made her trainer laugh, looking up gratefully as the survey handed them their snack.