I Loved You Before I Met You (New Version)

9

   Lauren looks at me while putting her fork down and says, "Go get ready and I will take you shopping for clothes as soon as I clean the kitchen up and... stop staring."

   I clear my throat, "sorry. How about you go get ready though and I will clean the kitchen up? You cooked, so I will clean. It's only fair that I help."

   Lauren smiles at me and shakes her head, "thank you but you don't have to always offer to do this." I just look at her with a 'don't fight me on this' look.

   Lauren realizes it is no use to argue with me over this so she reluctantly leaves the kitchen but lightly squeezes my arm and smiles as she passes by me.

   I know I've only been here for two days but I can tell Lauren does a lot around here so I want to help her as much as I can. I already see Mike is not around much to help do anything which he probably wouldn't anyway. I wonder if him not being home much is why they haven't had kids together? Eww, why did I think that. I'm glad they haven't had kids together.

   I run upstairs to get a shower then get ready to go shopping. I don't want to make Lauren wait too long so I rush to get ready. Once I am ready I go downstairs to see if Lauren is ready. When I get to the bottom of the stairs I notice she is leaning against the island in the kitchen doing something on her phone. Everything she does is just so damn perfect. She looks so perfect.

   Lauren looks beautiful in her light blue spaghetti strap sundress. The dress fits her perfectly in all the right ways. It is snug through the chest making her breast stand out even more; snug through the waist then flows out at the hips landing just above her knees. I bite my lip at the sight of her as my eyes shift up to her face, down her neck then back to her breast.

   "Kyler, I can feel you staring." Lauren says as she looks up from her phone at me and I realize she caught me yet again. I just can't seem to not look at her. She is a beautiful work of art that just captivates me.

   I clear my throat "you're just... wow. You manage to make anything you wear look good. Are you ready to go?" I quickly add trying to change the subject so I don't say something I really shouldn't.

   Lauren nods her head "is this going to be something we have to discuss? Should I change?"

   I shake my head no, "I don't know what you're talking about and no, you don't need to change." I hope I didn't make her uncomfortable because that's not what I was trying to do. It's like she doesn't even realize how beautiful she is which only makes her so much more perfect.

   Lauren shakes her head as we walk to the garage and get into her white Range Rover. As we head to the mall, she has a slight smile on her face the whole time. "You know" Lauren finally says "you don't always have to do that." I wonder if she is talking about starting or the compliments. I just shrug my shoulders as she glances at me.

   As we make our way to the mall I turn the radio on Sirius XM channel Hits 1. I figure that is a safe choice since I'm not sure what type of music Lauren listens to. Someone You Loved by Lewis Capaldi had just started playing when turned the radio on. I lay my head back against the headrest and close my eyes then I hear Lauren start softly singing along with the song. I open my eyes and look over at her. She glances at me and smiles. Lauren has a beautiful voice that is just soothing. I like this song too so I start singing along and she smiles even more.

   Once we make it to the mall Lauren asks "what type of clothes do you want to look for? And you're getting more than a couple things just so you know."

   I laugh at her because it's like she already knew what I was going to do. "Fine... maybe a hoodie, a pair of jeans, a shirt, maybe sweat pants and I'm good" I say. I don't want her wasting money on me. I don't really see the point, hell I'm not even her child. I'm nothing to her but she is so damn nice, thoughtful and caring and it makes me like her even more.

   "We will look for you new shoes, socks, underwear and bras too plus you're getting more clothes than what few you mentioned." Lauren says so I just nod my head in agreement as we are getting out of her Range Rover.

   As we are walking to the entrance of the mall, Lauren is walking ahead of me a good bit because I'm texting Katie. Once I send my message, I jog to catch up and once I'm close enough, I start talking. "All of this is not necessary, as I told you before, I have clothes you know."

   Lauren stops, turns facing me and grabs both of my hands "I know you do sweetie but I want you to have some new stuff for the school year. Plus you did not bring a lot with you when you moved here." She releases my hands and says "now come on, let's get started."

   We make our way to American Eagle and I'm kind of dreading this already. I don't mind shopping but I usually prefer to go alone. As I am looking at jeans Lauren says, "get at least five pairs of jeans and whatever else you want from here. I will be waiting close to the checkout for you." I just smile and do as she says because there's apparently no point in arguing with her over this.

   As I'm looking at the jeans, a cute girl, maybe a couple years older than me, walks over to the same rack of jeans and keeps glancing at me. Finally, she says "hey, I saw you when I walked by here and was wondering if I might get your number. I mean if you... you know are interested and into girls that is."

   Before I even have a chance to respond, I feel a warm hand on my forearm as Lauren is now standing really close to me. "Sweetie, are you ready?" She asks with a slightly irritated tone.
I look at Lauren and if looks could kill, the girl that walked up to me would be dead with the look Lauren is giving her. What's that about? The girl quickly walks away without saying anything else.

   I look at Lauren again because I'm trying to understand what that was all about and why she acted that way. She just looks right back at me with a raised eyebrow. I just shake my head and walk away so I can get finished.