The first two weeks were rough, he had called her 34 times which she let go to voicemail, and would always wake up to an apology message followed by an "I love you". It was emotionally taxing for a while until she learned to turn it off in her head. So she never replied to anything starting a few days ago. She just needed space and time to bond with friends. Jack and Ana would come over once a day to check in on her, and eventually, she was ready to get out of the house.
Jack had invited her to dinner a few times as a "friend" but Laney sensed it to be a little more than friends with the frequency of the dinners. She didn't necessarily mind when he kissed her goodbye because he always asked for permission, it was different... but she was not opposed.
Ana had known that Jack liked Laney but she didn't know about the dinners just yet. It was an unspoken thing but Jack and Laney both knew that Jack was just a rebound, but he was fine with it. She said she was over Morgan to Jack constantly, and he somewhat believed it while she said it to convince herself.
However, in the moments that she was left alone in her own thoughts, she found herself stalking Morgan's location and looking up how his shows went, following the tour schedule.
Until one day, she just stopped. It was like a breath of fresh air, with no weight on her shoulders when she was eating dinner with Jack.
"You seem happier than usual today," Jack observed as they sat in Casa Azul, a place they found 20 minutes before showing up.
"I'm just a happy girl," she smiled at him as she sipped on her wine glass.
"It looks good on you. What have you been up to today?" Jack asked.
Laney blushed in response, "Honestly just painting, what have you been doing?"
"Work... we miss you at the office. Come back," he said, "What did you paint?".
Laney sighed, Jack had been repeatedly trying to convince her to come back to work but it wasn't going to work.
"Some flowers," she bluntly said as she sipped on her wine more.
"I would love to see it after this. But Laney, take what I said into consideration you can't live off painting full time," he said and she nodded in agreement.
As they got the check, he held her hand to lead her out when Morgan walked in. He was with a couple of friends but they immediately made eye contact making her drop Jack's hand. She stood there stunned when Jack tugged on her hand to get her to go, making her follow.
The pair sat in silence in the car, Jack was unsure what to say and Laney... well she was just in pure shock. As they approached her apartment, she immediately got out of the car and went into her apartment slamming the door feeling lightheaded. Jack knew he wasn't going to be let in based on the car ride home but he didn't mind too much.
Teary-eyed, she changed into her painting clothes and poured herself another glass of red wine. The canvas in front of her made the memories flood back in. It wasn't just some flowers. It was Morgan's house from the front and the flowers were barely visible.
She just didn't want to tell Jack that. As she picked up the brush, her hand shook making paint dribble on the floor, "Fuck".
She cleaned the red paint in frustration and opted to change her clothes into PJs and go to bed instead. Picking up the canvas from the living room, she put it in her bedroom on the tarp she placed there so it could dry better. As she sat in bed, she began to look around her apartment and the emptiness. There was no roommate... maybe a dog would make her feel better or maybe even a cat.
She needed someone even if that person was in an animal form. Laney found herself browsing the Internet looking at cats and putting applications in until she finally fell asleep.
