The Hook-up

Chapter 55

Lauren hurried to get dressed walking down the stairs to see Bruno and Ryan quickly cleaning the house. "Oh...here..." she said grabbing the plates remembering where he had pulled them from. "The bedroom.. that's a mess...." She told them.

"I'll come with you..." Bruno said following her upstairs. After Ryan was far enough away from them he leaned into her "You know...we could get it in real quick...."

"Stop!" she laughed making the bed turning the comforter the way it was when they arrived late in the evening. "I am not even going to lie, Bruno. You have the sex drive of like...a 14 year old boy."

"Are you callin' me immature?" he asked her carefully putting things away.

"Maybe." She smiled at him.

"Then you're a 17 year old girl who needs to learn how to take the stick out of her ass and just live a little." He told her.

"What? Were you serious?" she asked kind of caught off guard by what he said.

"Yeah. A little. Live a little sometimes, Laur. Don't be afraid to get in trouble...or to get caught..." he said leaning in to kiss her. She didn't respond the way he wanted her to with her lips closed refusing to accept what he had said.

"I'm fine, Bruno." She said throwing a pillow on the bed walking toward the door. He ignored her slight anger following behind her. After they got to the living room Ryan looked up at them confused by their seeming lack of interest in each other.

"Is everything okay?" he asked.

"Fine." They both answered.

"What do you we need to do?" Lauren asked them.

"We need to go get them...." Bruno said grabbing Ryan's keys. "Come on..."

After lots of fanfare and unsuspecting conversations about where the whole family was going Bruno, Lauren, and all of Bruno's family arrived at the house they had spent the night in the night before. Presley leaned over to Lauren on to what was going on.

"What's wrong with the two of you? You didn't get in a fight did you?" she whispered.

"He just said something stupid. That's it." She told Presley.

"Do you want me to jump him?" she asked.

"Maybe later tonight. I don't want to ruin this surprise." Lauren smiled.

"Okay." Presley answered realizing that neither Lauren or Bruno liked talking about what bothered them. "Oh my....god...." Presley gasped seeing the house as they went over a rolling hill to get to the house.

"Right?" Tahiti answered seeing it.

"It's....beautiful...." his mother answered. Everyone in the car saw her start to tear up. "Brunito...I can't wait to see what's inside..."

"Well come on...." He said excitedly stopping the car to let everyone out. "But first...." He stopped them all digging in his cargo shorts for the key. "This is yours, Mom..." he said handing her the key. She danced a little with the key running ahead of everyone.

"Let me come with!" they heard Tiara yell as they all walked quickly to the house. Lauren lingered behind everyone letting them have a family moment. Bruno noticed she wasn't with them turning to look at her frowning at her with a silly face. She shrugged her shoulders still lagging behind them. She heard all of the screams of excitement walking through the house sitting on the couch they were on just hours ago. Bruno noticed her sitting on the couch looking at the beach knowing that she was still upset at him.

"Lauren...." He sat down next to her taking her hand. "I'm sorry...you're perfect the way you are. Please don't change. Don't change ever..." he said to her. He ran his finger along her cheek knowing that she would start to cry any second. "Don't, Lauren. Come on. Please." He repeated. "This trip is going to be perfect." She looked down wiping away the tear coming down her cheek. Before he could say anything back to her they turned seeing Presley running down the stairs with her phone in her hand.

"Bruno! That bathroom is crazy! Does it even flush for you?" she asked.

"Umm...." He wasn't quite sure.

"It does, actually." Lauren laughed.

"Oh god." Presley laughed.

"It does because Bruno does it for me. " she laughed.

"Oh god! Lauren!" they all laughed.

****

Later in the evening Lauren was sitting on the couch next to Bruno trying to stay awake watching his family jump around, dance and drink playing video games and singing. She sat and watched them the whole night participating when she needed to and when they asked her to. It was lots of fun, but by 3 in the morning she was only awake because the lights were on and Bruno's shoulder was keeping her from falling on the pillow near his back. "I need to pee." She announced to him struggling to walk toward the bathroom. "Don't get lost, Lauren...." He winked at her watching her stumble toward the bathroom. She stopped to look in the mirror seeing small bags under her eyes and her lipstick on her shirt. She turned on the water bloating it with some water. She yawned wiped her eyes again bending down to pee. "Oh my godddd. I am sooo tired." She moaned washing her hands steadying herself against the door frame to walk back to the family.

"Lauren! Come on! One last song!" she heard Tiara yell at her.

"Okay, okay. One more. But I'm not promising that I'll be able to finish..." she said grabbing the microphone. "And I am not going to be the fifth member of your band...." She laughed starting to sing some oldie she could only hum along to if it was on the radio. She bowed dramatically feeling her hair fall in her face as she stood up smiling seeing Bruno laughing at her.

"What? What? Oh my god...what?" she asked all of them as they all started laughing uncontrollably.

"Look at your shoe...." One of his cousins told her.

She looked down seeing a long trail of toilet papers on her shoe. "My boyfriend is cheap. I was going to put it in my bag for when we get home." She shrugged grabbing it putting it by her purse. Bruno reached over grabbing the pile throwing it in a glass. He laughed at her rolling her eyes.

"I am not cheap!" he exclaimed. "Three million! Three million, Lauren!" he responded holding up his fingers.

"Okay, okay. Not cheap." She laughed feeling him hug her as the rest of the family awed in response to the exchange.

"Just get married already." They heard one of his sisters say.

"I'm working on it." He said with a smile.

"Okay, I'm tired. I'm going to seriously just fall asleep right here." She said dramatically grabbing the pillow that she was eyeing earlier.

"Okay, okay..." he picked her up feeling that everyone else was ready to leave at the same time.

"Where are you taking me?" she asked him watching everyone go back to what they were doing forgetting that they were there. "Do they always do that? Get really excited and then go ADD on you and forget?"

"Yeah. That's what I like about being here. I'm just a person. I'm Bruno Hernandez at home. Not Bruno Mars." He told her walking her toward the room they were sharing. He laid her down in her clothes laying on top of her kissing her gently. "Good night." She reached up grabbing his shirt bringing him back down to her level.

"What you said earlier...about marrying me...were you being serious?" she asked. "Not here, Bruno. Not yet."

"I was serious." He told her. "But not now." He said to her. "You're right. Not now. Go to sleep, mahal ko." He kissed her on the head watching her turn around to fall asleep dressed.

"Wait...." She caught his attention before he left. "Can you bring me an Advil? I'm going to be soo hung over tomorrow."

"Go to sleep, Lauren. I'll bring it to you." He said walking out of the room.