Emerald's Eye (Lauren/You)

Chapter 25: Vinyls & Relationships

The late afternoon sun cast rays of reddish-orange hues onto the streets, dark shadows filling corners of buildings where the light was unable to reach. Tall palm trees jutted out from the sidewalk alongside storefronts with large multi-colored awnings on some of the most iconic streets.

Golden hour had always been one of Y/n's favorite times of the day every time she'd visited Miami; a chance to unwind and admire the scenery before her. It was true that when she did choose to walk home from the large office building downtown, it was always the same path back. But she never quite got tired of the familiar stops and faces, especially Ally's beloved cafe and the little vinyl shop next door that Lauren had shown her.

It had been a long day of going over every detail with Kavinsky and sending off the plans to a new team for review. Thankfully, the businessman was thrilled with the progress and had left in a chirpy mood around five that afternoon. The architect had chosen to walk back to her hotel, wanting to stop by the vinyl shop on her way.

As she ducked into the familiar music store and got in line, she couldn't help but think back to a time where she'd not taken the time to enjoy the simple pleasures of life. She was a perfectionist, a workaholic as some called her. The woman before wouldn't be caught dead doing most of the frivolous things she enjoyed now.

So what had changed?

Her head lifted quickly when she heard her name being called from the entrance of the store, a wide smile making it's way to her face involuntarily when she locked eyes with familiar green ones.

"Hey babe!" Lauren bounded over to her like an excited puppy waving a small pastry bag from Ally's bakery, "I got some muffins for us to share tonight and I was about to head over, but I saw you come into her."

Y/n grinned planting a quick kiss on the Latina's cheek and held up the vinyl she'd been planning on buying, "Well, I was going to surprise you, but I guess I can just show you."

The architect held up a copy of Lana Del Rey's album 'Blue Banisters', the one vinyl of Lana's that Lauren didn't own yet. She laughed when she heard a loud, high pitched squeal come from the smaller woman.

"Oh my god! You didn't have to get me anything!" The raven haired woman gasped almost dropping the bag of muffins as she scrambled to grab the vinyl from Y/n's hand.

"Oh, but wait. There's more." Y/n said dramatically, sweeping her other hand as if presenting a brand new car on a game show, "Why don't you take a little peek at the corner there?"

Lauren bent down to peer at the vinyl, successfully dropping the bag of muffins as she stifled a scream with both of her hands.

"IT'S FUCKING SIGNED?!"

The architect grinned, pointing towards the owner of the shop who shook his head in amusement before turning back to help the next customer in line.

"Yeah, I asked Joey here a couple of weeks ago to find me a signed album. It took him awhile. but when someone tells you 'money's no object', they tend to find things for you pretty quickly."

Lauren took the album with shaky hands, clutching it to her chest with one arm and using the other to pull the taller woman in for a tight hug.

"I don't even know what to say. This is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me." The Cuban admitted, feeling her eyes well up with unshed tears.

"Don't mention it. I'm happy to do it." Y/n grinned down at her and picked the muffins up off the ground, "Ready to go eat muffins and listen to the new album?"

"Don't you have dinner plans with Tucker tonight?" Lauren asked, confused.

"Yeah, but I can just push that back a little bit. I'll meet up with him later." The architect barely had time to finish her sentence before Lauren bounded out the door in excitement, heading for her car parked alongside the curb in front of Ally's cafe. She chuckled once more, slapping down an extra one hundred dollars down next to the register.

"Thanks Joey, you really came through." She flashed a grateful smile towards the older man and headed out after Lauren.

______________________________

"So, when are you going to ask Lauren to be your girlfriend?"

Y/n choked on her pad thai, coughing as she scrambled for a sip of her ice water. Tucker stared at her in amusement, chewing slowly on a piece of orange chicken as he waited for her fit to subside.

"Girlfriend? We just went out on our first date two days ago!"

Her best friend set down his food and crossed his arms, leaning back against the plush grey sofa. He raised an eyebrow towards her before speaking, "So? You obviously love her, and it's not like you just met her three days ago. You two have been doing your little chicken dance since you met."

"Chicken dance?" Y/n stifled a laugh even though Tucker's face remained serious.

"Yeah, so what's the issue?" He picked up another entree from the table, trying his best to situate the chopsticks between his fingers.

The architect paused as she contemplated his question, "I don't know. I mean doesn't it seem a little soon?"

"You've taken her out on a date that lasted for hours, slept with her, revealed your questionable past, and now you're telling me you think it's too soon for you to ask her something that she's for sure going to say 'yes' to?" He asked sarcastically, rolling his eyes at his friend's oblivious nature.

"It's not that simple, Tucker. The project ends in a month, which means I fly back for one last week a month from now."

"What's your point?"

"I live in New York. My career is there. Her career and home are here in Miami. I just don't want to jump into a serious relationship with someone when we don't even live in the same state." She argued, getting up from her seat with the empty takeout container.

"Oh, I get it." He sounded so confident that it was almost annoying to the architect. She turned towards him and leaned against the counter, resting her face against one of her palms.

"Enlighten me then, smartass."

"You're scared." He said nonchalantly taking another bite of chicken, irritating Y/n even more.

"I am not. I'm just trying to be rational." She glared at him, gripping her glass in anger, "Plus who said anything about being in love?"

"You didn't exactly correct me when i said earlier that you obviously love her." Tucker stated matter of factly, pointing towards her with his chopsticks.

Y/n flushed trying her best to come up with a quick witted response, but couldn't think of one. As much as she hated to admit it, her friend wasn't wrong about anything. She was scared of the future, and had come to conclusion long ago that she had fallen irreversibly in love much to her chagrin.

Her brain told her to run, to not trust anyone. But her heart told her to stay and fight.

For once, she decided to tell the truth, and as much as it pained her, she needed to talk about how she felt instead of just bottling it up inside. Her breakdown the day before in front of Lauren had proved that how she handled herself wasn't effective, so experience told her to try something new.

"You're right." She admitted, chuckling when her friend's face morphed into confusion and shock.

"I'm-what?" His mouth hung open, bits of half chewed chicken falling back into the container below.

"Remind me not to eat any of the leftover orange chicken." She grimaced, "And I said you're right. What do you think I should do?"

Tucker stared at her in silence, studying her features to figure out if the woman was serious or not. Throughout their entire friendship, he'd been mostly unable to get her to talk about how she felt, much less ask for his opinion. According to the old her, it was her life and she would figure out how to solve all of the accompanying problems within it.

"Uh, I would talk to Lauren about it. Be honest with her about how you feel, what you want, and see how she responds."

The architect nodded thoughtfully before responding, "Okay. I'll ask her out to dinner tomorrow."

She spun on her heels, heading towards the bathroom and leaving her friend sitting on the sofa dumbfounded.