iridescent ↠ grayson dolan ✓

↠ s e v e n

{ c h a p t e r  s e v e n }
lauren's pov ;

There's nothing more to life than just happiness.

There's nothing more to life than the wind blowing in your hair and your body drenched in sunlight and a sparkling smile; nothing more than being with the person you love, with the radio as loud as it can go and thousands of skylines flying past at the rate of a single heartbeat.

Lauren loved it. She didn't care that it took fifteen minutes to start their car that felt like it was going 2 miles an hour. She didn't care that the air conditioning barely functioned properly or that the radio crackled or that the windows would sometimes get jammed. She wouldn't change it for the world.

Grayson had been driving for the past five hours. She had expected him to be tired but he wasn't. Magic danced through his irises and his smile lines were more evident than they had ever been before. Lauren laced their fingers together and rested their interlocked hands on her thigh. His face broke out into a contagious grin.

It was pretty out in the countryside. The world here was free from chaos. No pollution, just seemingly untouched land, with air clean and sweet. It was reaching the early hours of the evening, and the sky had turned into vibrant hues of oranges and reds. Grayson stopped on the side of the road so that Lauren could get a better look at it.

Lauren pressed her hand against the window, intoxicated by its splendor. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"

Grayson never took his eyes off her. "Yeah." He said with a soft smile. "Beautiful."

* * *

Lauren casted her eyes on the brightly lit building in the epicenter of nothingness.

It was a standard motel, just like the ones you'd see in movies. Lauren adjusted her eyes to the bright neon lights, after being temporarily blinded by its intense flickering. They had decided to stay in a motel for the night since Lauren was absolutely opposed to allow Grayson to drive through the night.

There was a girl at the front desk who looked like she was around their age. She had dark skin and her hair had the most voluminous curls Lauren had ever seen. She was awfully pretty. The girl drew her lazy gaze to them as they walked it, chewing her gum loudly and not bothering to move her feet from the counter, as though she couldn't care less about her company.

Grayson gripped Lauren's hand and she could see he was getting uncomfortable. She knew Grayson wasn't good with people, so she decided to do most of the talking, despite the fact that she had no idea what to do.

"Wow, civilization." The girl said with sarcastic enthusiasm, blowing a large bubble. "What can I do for ya?"

"Hey." Said Lauren with a polite smile. "So, we haven't booked in advance, but is there any chance that there's a room available?"

The girl laughed loudly. "Honey, this place is as dead as my social life. There's rooms available, for sure."

"Honestly, I don't really know how this works, but if you could just tell me what you'd like us to pay for a room, I'll give it to you in cash."

"Sure thing, babe." The girl said, before she pulled out a piece of paper and read the amount for a room. Lauren handed her the money. "Room 69." She said. "Enjoy."