And Then, There Was Fire.

twenty.

A   W E E K   L A T E R

Lauren's eyes peered up from her hands, sitting on her folded legs as she thought deeply about her next move. Her eyes glared into Trey's, who returned a poker expression as he patiently waited.

The voice of Lil' Baby played softly in the background at a distance through Trey's soundbar beneath his TV that was on, but muted. Not once, has it crossed Trey's mind, that he would find the two them here like this in his room on a slow, rainy weekday.

Lauren softly blinked, her eyes falling to her hands again as she thought this out carefully.

Trey sighed deeply, becoming impatient with her dramatics. He continued tapping his right foot to the beat of Lil' Baby's song as his foot hung off the side of his bed, while he was laid across the top of his bed on his side.

Lauren slowly took the blue seven out of her hand before placing it on top of the scattered stack of cards that laid between the two of them, revealing that she had one card left.

"Oh, mother of fuck-" Trey was caught by surprise, sitting his head up straight as he watched the deck and her hand in shock.

"Uno." She smirked, reaching for her stemless wine glass that sat on top of her iPad beside her, holding a single Uno card.

Trey luckily had a red seven in his hand, hoping her single card wasn't a seven nor red. He laid it down as he sighed, looking at the time on his nightstand as he enjoyed the fact that it was still one in the afternoon, hours before his mother were to get home from her clinic. He had Lauren, the rain and the house to himself to continue decompressing from the past week.

"Ain't no way you got this round." Trey softly spoke, staring at her eyes as she stared at her single card. He was concentrated on winning this time, after being beat three times in a row already by her.

She sighed, giving him relief as he watched her eyes look at the stack of cards on the bed before she was to draw a new card.

She casually placed her single red card down on top of his, defeating him again. He dramatically tossed his head back onto his pillow, causing her to burst into laughter.

"Shit not funny." He popped back up as he attacked her waist with his hands, causing her to shriek and continue laughing as he continued tickling her deeply.

He continued tickling her as her curly hair covered her face that was pressed into his collarbone, falling beside him with her head on his pillows.

"Talked all that shit." Her laughter began to calm down, catching her breath as she laid on her back while looking up towards him beside her.

"It's because it's raining." He justified his losses to her luck of the weather outside, sitting up to grab all the cards and placing them on his nightstand before laying back beside her.

"OH please." She laughed, rolling her body into his as her palm laid on his chest, bending her knee over his legs.

Silence fell between the both of them besides the soft volume of the music in the background. He watched the muted TV idly, causing Lauren to watch him as she knew his mind was reverting back to their dilemma with Aubrey and the unknown.

She just wanted normal days with him, that didn't consist of anything Theo related. She was thankful for having no classes in the past two days due to the semester coming to an end soon, where she could spend this time helping Trey decompress, and herself.

His arm was relaxed underneath her neck with his hand resting against the headboard of his bed, his free leg sat up as he slowly shook his knee in deep thought.