And Then, There Was Fire.

twenty five.

Lauren dipped a plump strawberry in the bowl of warm chocolate before bringing it to her mouth, idly watching the large mounted TV across from their bed. The sound from the TV was low, leaving the two of them both subconsciously watching it.

Her back was relaxed comfortably into Trey's body, who sat in the center of the king bed with his legs wide apart with Lauren in between them. He continued chewing on the strawberry they had delivered for room service as they waited as patiently as they could to hear back from Kurisch.

"Trey," Her soft voice began quietly as if she was to follow with a question or statement, but the long pause caused him to answer her.

"Hm?" He asked, bending his right knee up to relax his right arm on top of it, causing her to lean into his body more.

It's been over an hour since they left Kurisch's restaurant, causing them to dress down more comfortably where Trey was now in light gray sweat pants and a white v-neck shirt.

"Do you think your mom knows about all of this?" She asked, finally bringing up anything related to all that transpired at the restaurant. "Like, obviously, she knows something to intentionally hide things from you. But, all of it?" Their conversation, or lack thereof, since leaving had left awkwardness between the two on the matter.

"No idea, Ren." Trey sighed in a tone that she could tell he was slightly irritated about it all.

"I want to call my dad. I just don't know how to even go about it. I don't think it can wait until I get back." She replied slowly, sliding her sockless foot across the other, now wearing a black, tight v-neck long sleeve thermal shirt.

"I say we just wait to talk to Kurisch some more. There's still so many questions he needs to answer for us." Trey spoke while blinking slowly once, knowing that his tone may have set the wrong message to her. He placed his palm on the top of her head in front of his chest, kissing the back of her head. "I know it's a lot."

She sat against him, dipping her half-bitten strawberry back into the bowl of hot chocolate. "I just need to hear this from him, myself."

He remained quiet, slowly, yet softly, massaging her scalp with the tips of his fingers directly behind her head.

She felt his chest expand, anticipating his next words but he remained quiet as he gathered his thoughts.

"What do you think of this...... immaculate shit?" He asked quietly from behind her.

She sighed while adjusting herself into him more, allowing herself to finish chewing and swallowing the last bit of her strawberry. "I don't know." She began. "It's pretty obvious it doesn't apply to me and you." She replied, feeling as though her heart was in her throat at the thought of another woman being his immaculate. "He said immaculates have a way of talking to each other........ and that's not us."

"But what do you think? From how you feel." He repeated himself.

"I don't know, Trey." He could hear the frustration in her voice. "For one, this is all so......... weird. It's unorthodox." She stared at the comforter that they both sat on top of, her eyes narrowing as her head shook very softly as she spoke. "It's not that I don't believe in any of it now, it just hurts. All of it." She felt the hot tears well in her eyes subtly, but not enough to trickle down her face. "My dad has been my ultimate, best friend my entire life...... and now I'm to believe that he held something so important from me? He knew I wasn't right-"

"Stop saying there's something wrong with you-" Trey began to correct her.

She rolled her eyes as she shook her head, keeping her face away from his as she stared at the TV idly so he wouldn't see her teary eyes. "You know what I mean." She sighed again. "He knew how I felt about being different from everyone else; having to keep these secrets to myself. Always reminding me since I was a kid......not to stay too long down there, at pool parties." She idly stared straight ahead as she replayed childhood memories throughout her life, on how her father managed her abnormalities unbeknownst to her.