Until It's Gone

Chapter Five ~ Until It's Gone

Lauren

After staring at the television for about thirty minutes, Lauren decides to go for an easy morning walk. She goes to her bedroom to change into a pair of gym trousers, and a plain white t-shirt. She applies just a bit of mascara and blusher so at least she would look presentable and awake. She puts on her running shoes and goes to the bathroom to brush her teeth and sprays a bit of deodorant under her arms.

She gets out of her house and started making her way down the road. The street was quite empty but a few cars passed every now and then. In about three minutes she's at the end of the road and Lauren is very convinced that someone is calling her name so she looks over her shoulder to the other side of the street and see a smiley Jack waving at her. She stops from walking and crosses the road to greet him.

"Good morning Jack. Didn't expect you to see you here." She says as they hug.

"Yeah me too. I live here." He replies putting his hands in his pockets.

"Really? I live just up the road." She says in disbelieve.

"Good. Were you heading somewhere?" He asks.

"Um, no, I was just going for a walk." Lauren says.

"Would you like to hang out? I was just going for a bit of shopping and I happen to have nobody to go with." He begs.

Lauren smiles at him, "Sure! I would love to buy something new for myself as well. But I need to go change first."

"Yeah sure I don't mind. I can drive us to Oxford Street if you'd like to." He says politely almost blushing.

"I'd love to. You can come over while I change into something nicer and then we shall leave." He nods and with that they walk back to Lauren's house as they talk about the night before and how good it felt for Lauren to just get off from work for a bit and have some time to party.

---

Once they are at Oxford Street, they hit like four shops in around thirty minutes which Jack bought six shirts and two pairs of jeans. Lauren is not really liking everything she's seeing in these shops that she normally buys from which she is not understanding how this is happening.

They decide to take a break and have some Costa which they both buy a cold strawberry milkshake. Jack insists that he pays for them although Lauren tries not to let him but he ends up paying.

"You shouldn't have paid." She says trying to sound serious but he smiles at her and she can't help it with those dimples and that adorable smile but smiles back at him.

"It's a thank you for coming with me. Now tell me a little bit about yourself, love." He says changing the subject.

"What do you need to know about me?" She asks confused.

"Anything that you are alright about telling me." He says.

"Um, I live on my own... I like painting. Like a lot. Yeah that's about it." Lauren says before she takes a sip from her milkshake.

"Don't you live with your family?" He asks. She stops drinking and doesn't look at him. He feels bad.

"Sorry. Don't tell me if you don't want to. I didn't want to sound nosy." He tells her putting his hand over hers. She looks at his hands and smiles at him until she giggles.

"No, it's okay. It's just such a long story." Lauren says as she sighs.

"Don't worry. But apart from that, have you ever been with someone ever since you lived on your own?" Jack asks once again.

"Not really. I don't really have the time to search, you know." She explains.

"Shame, because you're really nice and beautiful." Lauren goes bright red as she didn't expect that from Jack. She admits to herself that he's really kind and cute but she doesn't know him that well as this is the first time they're actually having a real conversation so she is keeping herself for falling for him.

"Thank you." She replies smiling at him and blushing at the same time.

They end their milkshakes and head back to Jack's car who drives her home. When they're outside her house they look at each other and smile.

"Thanks I had a great time." Lauren says breaking the silence.

"No problem. Now I've got a personal stylist." He winks at her as he lightly giggles.

She nods before there is a pause.

"Before I forget, could you give me your phone number? I really enjoyed hanging out with you." He says getting out his phone.

"Sure. Would you like to come over tonight for a chilled night? I can order pizza if you want?" For a minute she regrets asking him that question but she gains strength and 'takes a risk' by apparently, inviting someone over after hanging out with him once. Only Lauren.

He hands her his phone as he accepts the invitation and after that she gets out of the car and heads inside her house and Jack driving back to his house where he is now very looking forward for tonight.