And Then, There Was Fire.

thirty two.

This was the first time in Lauren's life that she felt she'd be able to just sleep all night at the bottom of the pool comfortably.

She found herself back at the bottom of the deepest portion of Kurisch's pool, not long after commiserating alone with Trey after her outburst with her father. After giving her, her space Trey had went back inside to the other side of the house where Kurisch's bar and billiards table was in order to remain away from his mother.

Lauren never felt so out of control with her emotions and thoughts. Her arms were folded underneath her head, with her face turned to the side as she laid there as if she would in bed.

Her thoughts consisted of memories of her childhood, trying to piece together all her memories with what she knows now: the many times they have moved, the doctor visits, anything that she felt out of place and unmatched compared to her friends' experiences.

Then her thoughts would bounce to questions of just how did her parents meet? She wished her conversation with her father didn't turn the way that it did, so she could hear what Daniel's reaction was when he learned just what and who Rathena was. She tried picturing what life was like for her parents, along with April and Neveredes. There were still so many questions that she had.

Her bouncing concentration was broken to the sound of light splashes at the surface. She rolled her eyes in annoyance, knowing that it was Daniel coming for round two.

She ignored the call for her to come up to the surface, hoping that he would just give up.

The splashes at the surface sounded again after a full minute. But she was familiar with Daniel's splashes, as these were much softer. However, she refused to look up or move to acknowledge him.

After another minute, the sound at the top of the surface was even lighter, and this time rhythmic. The rhythm continued, repeating itself as Lauren now battled with herself to remember where she knows that rhythm from.

The annoyance of not being able to determine where she knows this rhythm from, caused her to finally turn her head to look up at the surface from beneath the body of water. Unable to tell who was there, she slowly sat herself up to her toes, pushing off to wave her body to the surface.

Once her face felt the cool air, her eyes met with April's.

Without speaking, she stared at her with a blank expression while pulling a hand to grip the brick edge of the pool next to April.

April was calmly sitting on the ground next to the pool with her legs folded in front of her, as if she's been there for a while. A very faint, soft smile pulled on her face as she lifted her short glass of brown liquor to her lips before a sip.

Lauren remained quiet as she rested the rest of her arm on the deck, looking up at April.

"What was that beat that you were splashing?" She finally asked.

"You know it?" April asked as she blinked, resting her glass on her lap as she leaned the side of her face into her fist.

"From somewhere. I can't think of it."

"Come with me," April, unexpectedly, began singing the words lowly and softly. Lauren watched her eyes close as she continued to sing the song. "my, oh my. To the sea......"

"The sea of love." Lauren faintly continued singing the song to herself just as April's eyes opened to see Lauren's mouth sync the words.

They both stopped, leaving long seconds of silence between the two.