The Hook-up

Chapter 223

Bruno laid in the bed, with a hint of sunlight underneath the curtains of the hotel room peeking through. He had laid there for at least four hours, just thinking, not even trying to fall asleep. His thoughts kept him awake as he lied next to Damaris who laid on her stomach with her hand on his and her head leaning toward his shoulder. It was a way that he was not used to. Lauren would move around, especially when she was drinking. She would reach over for him and pull him toward him like a stuffed animal and keep him in her arms for hours and then suddenly flip on her back flinging her arms onto his face. He had become used to the hands hitting his face, even sleeping through it. She always woke up on her side though, on her side not facing him at all. He would always pull her into his arms, bury his head in her hair and smell her hair if he woke up before her. If she woke up before he did she would pull him close to her and lay on his chest. He thought about the times they would wake up together and then get up together to check on the babies. The thoughts of them sleeping together and then taking care of his children with his wife made him sick. The thought that she was there by herself trying to calm them down and get them to sleep without any help hurt him. He loved his children. He loved the way Ezra smiled at him when he wore a bright shirt and the way that Everlee tugged at his long hair when she wanted him to look at her when she was in his arms. He missed his family. He missed everything, but everything was gone. He gave it up. He gave it up to be with a girl who didn't touch him the way he liked. It seemed to be the right decision when he said, but now, laying there, listening to only his breathing, he regretted every single thing he did the last 10 months. Through his thoughts he reached for a cigarette, standing up to go toward the balcony as to not wake up Damaris. He lit the cigarette forgetting the noise of the streets below only second later feeling Damaris's arms around his waist.

"Good morning." she said half awake ignoring the smoke that Lauren would turn her nose at.

"Good morning." he said coughing through his cigarette.

"Did you sleep?" she asked coming in front of him to look at his tired face.

"No. I couldn't." he answered.

"What's bothering you?" she asked him knowing that there was something on his mind, not particularly interested in what he was thinking.

"I just keep thinking about Lauren..." he said to her taking a long drag from his cigarette. "I hate what we're doing but know it's the best..." he told Damaris.

"It was the best, Bruno..." she said taking his cigarette finishing it for him. "But, Bruno..." she said trying to be nice with what she was going to say to him. "You always forget about her so easily when we're together...why are you thinking of her now?"

"I don't know, D. Everything is reminding me of her. It's like when my grandfather died and every single thing that I saw reminded me of him."

"She's not dead, Bruno. You're just not with her..." she said trying to keep herself composed thinking about how much of a hold his wife had on him.

"I know she's not dead, but might as well be. " he said a bit frustrated leaving the balcony. "But I still want to be part of her life. I didn't want to never see her again..." he said sitting on the bed laying down dramatically.

"I don't know if I can deal with this, Bruno." Damaris told him sitting at the table near a pile of clothes they had thrown on the floor that evening. "You need to get over her."

"I am." he said still laying on the bed.

"No you're not." she told him. "You still talk about her the way you did when we were together earlier this month. How you didn't know what you were doing but you didn't want to hurt her. Bruno! You are going to hurt her. It's going to hurt! You have to get over it!" she almost yelled at him with a hint of her angry Puerto Rican accent escaping her lips.

"I'm going to go take a shower." he said without starting a fight with Damaris.

"Fine." she said looking down at her cell phone ignoring their fight.

**

"Good morning, beautiful!" Lauren said cheerfully to Everlee picking her up from the small crib she and her brother were sharing. Everlee smiled at her mother reaching her hand up for Lauren's sticky messy hair from the evening before. "Did you have a good night, mi amor?" she asked laying her on the ground to change her diaper.

After finishing changing the diapers of both babies, Lauren walked out into her mother's kitchen to see a cup of coffee, a bottle of water, advil and eggs on the table for Lauren. "I figured you would need that. That and your pill..." she said setting down her daughter's pack of birth control. "With all that sex you're going to have now that Bruno isn't around..." she said sarcastically. "You aren't 21 anymore, Lauren. You have two children. You don't want more."

"Mom! What are you even talking about?" she asked a bit shocked. "I didn't have sex with him last night! Just because Bruno isn't here doesn't mean that I'm hooking up. Oh my god!"

"I just know that's what you usually end up doing..." Rose said with some concern. "You did that with Justin and you did it with Alex..." she paused still trying to figure out where Bruno fit in with all of her daughter's history.

"I did it with Alex. That was Bruno, mom. I hooked-up with Bruno. That's how we met." she admitted.

"Not at the store like you said?" Rose asked shocked.

"No." Lauren answered going back to feed her children.

As she finished feeding them she heard her phone buzz with a text from a 212 phone number.

Had fun last night. Hopefully I will run into you again at the office. Maybe say, lunchtime? -Wes