The Hook-up

Chapter 85

A few minutes later, and only halfway through the drive back to the hotel, Bruno felt Lauren's body get extra heavy. Feeling that she had fallen asleep on him he pushed her a little to wake up. "Laur, wake up." He whispered.

"What?" she moaned opening her eyes. "Did I fall asleep?"

"Yeah. We're almost there." He said reaching for her hand feeling her push away from him altogether laying her head on the window of the car falling back asleep. "Lauren...wake up..." he pulled her again to wake her up as the car came to a stop. "Come on..." He watched her struggle to get up ignoring his kindness when he reached around her back to hold her. She pulled away again standing a few feet from him as they entered the elevator to get to their room. She watched him open the door for her. She walked right past him seeing the mess on the floor that they had left. She stepped over the necklace and ring she had thrown walking to the bathroom to put on her pajamas.

"Owwww." She moaned as she walked out of the bathroom laying in the bed wearing her own pajamas without any article of Bruno's clothing. He rolled his eyes at her as she laid down in the bed curling up in a ball the same way she did the night before. She tossed and turned waiting for Bruno to finally lay down in the bed next to her. He watched her turn her body in the most awkward positions reaching for his pillows placing them between her legs.She usually does that to me. He thought to himself. I kind of like it when she does that. He continued to think contemplating getting in the bed with her. By about 2 in the morning he finally decided to lay down in the bed next to her, but not touching her because he knew that she would throw him out of the bed. "Brunnnooo....stop moving." She moaned in her sleep. "I can't sleep." He ignored her complaints falling asleep to the sound of the heater in the hotel room.

**

The next morning Bruno flung his hand over to the other side of the bed hoping to hit Lauren. Instead it was an empty space. He opened his eyes seeing her side of the bed and the area of the room that she had taken over cleaned and devoid of any speck of her presence for the past week and a half. Shit. He felt his head start to spin at the idea that she had left the room and was on her way back to Los Angeles. He knew she would do it. She had a moment of weakness after the hospital. She always got like that when we she got nervous. She would cling to him the same way he would push away when he was nervous. Their anxieties did not play well together. And he was starting to realize it. Whether she knew or not, he was starting to understand their relationship a little better. He knew he needed to give her some time to calm down and he needed some time to figure out exactly why his head was where it was. He reached over to grab his phone dialing Phil.

"What is up, bro?" Phil asked his friend in a happy tone.

"I messed up again." Bruno told him.

"Give me a few minutes I'll be there. I'm still not dressed." Phil told his friend.

"Yeah. Okay." Bruno responded getting out of the bed to go to the bathroom and to get dressed. When he got up to get to the bathroom his eyes were diverted toward the ring that Lauren had left on the counter. He reached over for it looking at it in his hand trying to figure out what to do.

"Bruno..open the door." He heard Phil say at the door. Bruno walked quickly to the door opening it not saying a word. "What did you do this time?"

"I slept with Damaris." He said plainly. "After I proposed to her two days earlier...." He handed Phil the ring to see him stare at the ring. "Oh. And by now I'm sure my whole father's side of the family knows because Mari was here last night. And did I mention that my fiancé was in the hospital last night because she was cramping? And the doctor said she was fine, so she left. She just left. Her things aren't here..." he pointed to her side of the room where everything was empty. As he pointed to the things he felt himself getting both angry and upset at the same time.

"Oh." Phil answered.

"What do I do?" Bruno asked.

"Do you remember the things I told you last time? The last time I was in the middle of one of your fights?" Phil asked.

"You told me that this is the biggest thing in the world and to take care of every single thing that happens after that day." Bruno repeated. "And not to do something just because it felt right in the moment and to think it through."

"Shit, Bruno. You didn't do any of that this week." Phil told him.

"I know. I don't even understand how it all happened. We got in a fight. She was being a shellfish bitch and then I called Damaris....and she talked to me about it and agreed with me and then we started drinking and then we were naked and and it was like..over." Bruno told him friend starting to shake. "I don't know what happened."

"Wait...Lauren was being a shellfish bitch? What are you even talking about? She was working this whole week. There was no reason for you to call her that." Phil called him out on his statement.

"She made plans for Valentine's Day...." Bruno said in a sad tone.

"Then she made plans. It was just a day, Jesus Christ, Bruno. Get your ass back to LA. Find out exactly what you need to do. Don't do it like crazy fast. You know she's going to be at Larissa's house. And Larissa is going to be pissed."

"Oh god, Larissa. She's going to kick my ass." Bruno moaned.

"You deserve it." Phil told him.

**

Early in the evening Lauren pulled up to her sister's house looking at the bags of clothes she had packed for New York. She didn't want to have anything to do with the house that the two of them shared. Why am I driving the car he bought me? She thought leaning over to see a cup from Panda Express that he had left in the car a few days before they left. "Ugh." She groaned opening the car door to go to her sister's house. She had called her sister to tell her she was coming home early because she wasn't feeling well. She knocked on the door hearing kids and Gigi on the other side of the door. She covered her face feeling tears in her eyes. No. Don't cry. Don't cry. She thought to herself.

"Hi, Sissy!" she heard the door open seeing her niece covered in paint. "We're painting!"

"I see..." she said.

"We're painting for the babies. Look!" Ella pulled her aunt through the house unaware of what her aunt was feeling. Lauren looked at one of the paintings seeing a picture of Bruno with his hat and sunglasses painted on the construction paper.

"Where's your mom?" Lauren questioned covering her tears.

"I'm right here..." Larissa said putting down her son on the floor.

"Can I talk to you?" she asked watching her sister pull her into the home's den. Larissa sat her down on the couch watching her younger sister burst into tears.

"He...he....he....slept with Dam....Da...aris...." Lauren gasped throwing her head back onto the couch cushion crying even more.