Young God [FLAUREL AU]

CHAPTER 3

6 MISSED CALLS FROM DAD
3 MISSED CALLS FROM MOM

Laurel yawns, finding herself waking up in Frank's bed. She smiles to herself as she remembers how good she had it the night before, but groans when she sees all the missed calls and new messages from her parents and siblings. Clearly, they were not happy about her ditching the party.
She's happy about what happened with Frank, of course, but she can't help but feel like this is going to complicate things even more. Even if she tells her parents she's already got romantic things going on with another man, they'll never approve of him when they find out. And along with that, they'll tell her he's garbage compared to Kan. She already knows how it's going to go. Even worse, she really wants things to keep going with Frank, but if her parents force her to get married, she'll have to give him up.
"You're already up?" Frank asks groggily. He sits up, watching her.
"I just woke up," she tells him. "My parents have been freaking on me."
"Mm, tell 'em you're with me," he jokes, and kisses her neck.
"Great idea," she laughs. She groans and then lays back down. "Frank, I don't want to get married to this random guy!"
"Then don't. Stay with me," he grins. "We can run away, change our names, start a new life with fresh beginnings."
She rolls her eyes playfully.
"Be serious," she says, sighing.
"Sorry, sorry," he chuckles. "I don't want you to get married, either. Trust me."
"Maybe for me, you're a good enough reason I can't marry him, but to my parents, it'll never be enough," she says.
"Why? 'Cause I'm a low-life from a poor town?" he asks, trying to hide how disappointed he really is with a smile that's supposed to make it seem like he's joking.
"Hey, it's not like that," she assures him.
"Actually, that's exactly what it's like. That boy you're supposed to marry is a good guy. He's got a nice job, nice family, nice personality, nice everything. You don't seem to go for the nice boys, do you?" he smirks.
"Oh, you think you're some bad boy?" she laughs.
"Come on, you don't know what I am," he smirks. "I'm not exactly an honorary guy, Laurel. You should at least know that."
She furrows her eyebrows.
"What the hell have you done that's so horrible in your life, Delfino?" Laurel asks.
"If I told you, you'd probably go run away to the arranged marriage boy," he says.
"Frank!" she cries. "Tell me!"
"Nah," he tells her. "If you wanna dump me already for it, then go ahead."
He knows she's not going to end things with him.
"You can't just tell me you're some bad guy and then not tell me what you've done," Laurel says.
"That's exactly what I'm doing," he laughs. "Calm down, princess. I'd never hurt you."
She presses her lips together.
"Does it have to do with why you work for Annalise and stuff? Or what you do for her?" Laurel asks.
"I'd never do something I didn't have to do. That's all I'll say," he tells her.
It's slightly reassuring, but not by much. However, she's always known that Frank isn't exactly the definition of a good guy. He's always been more on the bad side, everybody already knew it. She's just afraid that whatever he's done may be too horrible.
"Maybe I should go see my parents," Laurel suggests.
"Hmm, did I scare you off?" he asks, chuckling and laying back against the pillow. "Laurel, you've always known I'm not some holy guy that lives off of a moral principle. But you're still here, aren't you?"
She nods her head.
"I don't think you're a horrible guy. You may have done bad things, but I don't think you're a horrible guy. I just don't want to be wrong about that," Laurel says, and kisses him briefly.
"Well, if you're leaving right now, I hope you come back soon," Frank says, smirking at her. "I have many ways of entertaining you, if you wanna come back tonight."
She feels herself getting aroused at the thought of what he could be doing her. Oh, she wants to find out real bad...
"I'll be back," she tells him, leaning closer. "Or maybe I won't. You'll just have to wait and see."
"Come on, I know you'll come back," he winks at her.
They both know she's coming back, but she decides to be a little more mysterious and not respond. She quickly slips her clothes back on and leaves his apartment.
--
"Laurel?"
"I had sex with Frank."
Michaela presses her lips together.
"Well, it's about damn time, isn't it?" she jokes. "But I mean, really? You guys did it? When? Why? How? What?"
Laurel takes a deep breath.
"Last night," she responds. "I was having the worst time at that party with my parents, meeting some lame suitor guy, and then I went out for some air.. and he was there. He convinced me to ditch the party. Then we ate tacos, which was really weird. He took me back to his apartment and 'showed me' the reason I shouldn't get engaged by kissing me. Then, well, you get what happened after that."
"Damn, girl!" Michaela exclaims, opening the door further for her to walk in. "Tell me about it! Was he good? Is he big?"
Laurel gives her a look.
"Why in the world would you wanna know that?" Laurel asks.
"Why not?" Michaela shrugs. "So..? Tell me!"
"Yeah," Laurel responds, blushing. "He's good, he's really good. I mean, I'm not some sex master, but wow.. he's probably the best I've had."
Michaela laughs.
"And what about your suitor guy?" Michaela asks.
Laurel presses her lips together and thinks about it for a moment.
"Obviously, I don't want to marry him," Laurel says with a sigh. "But my parents are practically forcing this arrangement to happen. They're never going to let me not marry this guy because I'm doing whatever it is I'm doing with Frank."
"Laurel, is Frank serious about you?" Michaela asks. "I mean, I've always known he's interested in you, but it's hard to tell if somebody's lusting or actually falling for you. You shouldn't give up a great marriage for a guy that isn't serious about you."
"I don't know how he feels about me.. I mean, I think he likes me," Laurel says. "He doesn't want me to get engaged to Kan, so.."
"I'm probably not the best to give advice. I've never been in an arranged marriage situation," Michaela laughs. "But if you don't want to get married, you shouldn't have to. You're still young. Shouldn't you be having fun and exploring relationships? Whether or not Frank's serious about you or not, you have the right to be with him."
"My parents don't see it that way," Laurel sighs.
--
After spending some time at Michaela's place, Laurel goes over to see her parents, which she's been dreading greatly.
"Hi, mamá, I'm really sorry about-" Laurel begins.
"Save it," her mother commands. "Laurel, I am furious about what you did yesterday. Guess what? Now, Kan's doubtful about your interest in him, and he's not sure about the arrangement anymore. He wants time, Laurel. Time."
Laurel sighs.
"It's okay, I'm sure there are other people out there," Laurel tries.
"Oh, no, no. Your father and I put a lot of work into arranging the meeting and possibilities with Kan and his family. Too much for you to just throw away!" Elena yells.
"Well, the damage is already done, and I've already said I'm sorry!" Laurel cries. "What do you want me to do to fix it?"
"Fix it. That's what you have to do. You better go see Kan and assure him that you're extremely interested in marrying him. Your father and I want to marry you to a good man that can love, support, and care for you. Kan is that man. So, fix it," Elena commands.
Laurel sighs and nods her head. She does not want to go fix things with a man she doesn't even want to marry.
"Okay, I will. I'll go see him right away," Laurel gives in.
"You bet your ass you will!" Elena yells.
--
She gets Kan's address from her mother, and goes to his house reluctantly. Right now, she'd much rather be in Frank's arms. She'd much rather be feeling him against her body in the best ways. But instead, she's outside of Kan's house.
He opens the door.
"Laurel," he says in happy shock. "Wow, I- I'm so glad to see you here."
"I came here to apologize for my actions last night," Laurel tells him. "I was having a rough day at work before I came to the party, and I really needed to get out of there. It was too intense. But it had nothing to do with you, so, don't give up on me because of last night."
"So, your mother talked to you?" Kan asks.
"She told me you're thinking about not going through with the marriage, but I'm the one who decided to come here to make things right. I couldn't let you end things because of a silly misunderstanding. I am interested in the arrangement," Laurel lies.
"Really?" Kan smiles. "I'm so happy you're saying that. Look, I didn't want to end things at all. I was just afraid you didn't want it. The last thing I want is for you to go into this when you don't want it. But since you're saying you do, I'm happy to move forward. What do you say we go for dinner tonight? We can get to know each other a little more."
"Sounds great," Laurel says with fake enthusiasm. "Thank you for reconsidering. I'll see you tonight."
"Bye," he smiles and shuts the door.