The Hook-up

Chapter 27

Lauren rolled over in Bruno's bed feeling his grip around her waist. She glanced over at the clock noticing that it was almost 5 in the morning. She lifted his hands off of her grabbing her phone carefully trying to walk out of the room stepping on a crack in the floor making a loud noise that echoed through the small apartment.

"Laur?" she heard him call out not opening his eyes.

"I'm going to go home...." She said stepping away slowly from bedroom door catching his attention. He sat up looking at her confused. She let out a little laugh pointing at his hair.

"No. Stay." He said holding out his hand. She shook her head telling him no.

"I have to work today...." she said with a heavy sigh.

"Noooo....." he sat up squinting at her grabbing his glasses. "Woah...." He gasped.

"What?" she asked shocked by his reaction.

"You're amazingly beautiful in the morning." He said to her standing up grabbing her making her laugh.

"Bruno. I know you've seen girls in the morning. Come on." She started to let go of him to get out of the apartment.

"But, Elle. You are just...damn." He said pulling her closer to him.

"I.have.to.go.home." she said in a short choppy sentence.

"What's wrong with my shower? You can wear one of my shirts and your jeans are clean and my shower is as good as anyone else's...." he pleaded with her. As he continued to beg her to stay she pointed to her underwear. "I don't have any here."

"Not true." He raised his eyebrow at her pointing to the top of his drawer pulling out a set of pink and green panties and a bra.

"What the hell?" she asked him. "I had no idea where those were!" she exclaimed grabbing them from his hands. "God. I don't know if I should be flattered or grossed out that these were here."

"Remember when we did laundry together before I left?" he asked her.

"Oh. When we were downstairs and it was raining?" she responded.

"Yeah. And we ran back trying not to get the clothes wet but they still got wet?" he replied.

"Oh. So they ended up with your stuff?" she asked digging in his drawers finding another one of her t-shirts. "Damn. I should have come over here a long time ago to get my clothes." She laughed throwing the clothes on the floor laying back on the bed. He looked at her confused. "What are you doing? I don't have to be up until 8:30."

"Oh. Right." He answered laying down next to her.

**

Lauren opened the door to her apartment later in the evening seeing Caitlin sitting on the couch with a bowl of ramen and a glass of wine on the coffee table. "So, umm...are you okay?" she asked.

Lauren walked right past her roommate ignoring the question. "Yeah. We're fine." She said closing the door behind her. A few minutes later Caitlin came knocking at the door not even bothering to wait for Lauren to answer her. "What?" she asked her friend taking off her shirt to put on her pajamas.

"What happened? I thought you'd come home from your walk and then we'd cry together more." Caitlin told her friend.

"No. We talked about it. He said he was drunk and was upset at me for going out. " Lauren answered putting her hair in a bun grabbing shorts to put on.

"Wait what?" Caitlin questioned.

"Remember that night we went out and I came home all depressed and shit?" Lauren asked her friend.

"Oh yeah. Right before Christmas." Caitlin put the pieces together.

"He thought that I was going to do the same thing that we did the night we met. He was all paranoid and shit." Lauren told her friend.

"That's weird." Caitlin answered.

"I know. But I get it. I think he's been really hurt in the past and he just needs to know that he can trust me. And I told him that. I told him he could trust me no matter what." Lauren explained.

"Bullshit. You two had make-up sex." Caitlin called her out.

"So? It's not like we're getting married tomorrow and need to fix this shit." Lauren snapped.

"Oh my gosh. Why are you so upset about this? It sounds like you're not sure about it." Caitlin answered.

"I mean...I....well....I....I don't know." Lauren got out. "I don't think I'm over what he did, but he said he was sorry so I might as well forgive and forget, right?"

"Just be careful, Laur. I don't know about him." Caitlin said handing her friend her lotion walking out the door to go back to her ramen.