Rising Love

Can't Escape the Feeling

Nobody drank much that night except for Lauren. 

Cole and Rosa took small sips of whiskey, diluted with Pepsi, since they were out of Coca Cola. 

Lauren drinks the whiskey straight, and makes herself at home on their sofa, sprawling her drunken body across it. The amber liquor sloshes around in its glass, but Lauren somehow holds the glass steady, making sure that it doesn't spill. 

"I don't know what - what to fucking think." Lauren slurs, taking another sip of whiskey before Rosa speed walks to her and takes the glass out of her hand, spilling the drink in the sink in the nearby kitchen.

"Rosaaa, that's not nice." Lauren whines. "Makes me feel cozy inside." 

"Yeah, nice try." Rosa says, before taking the whiskey into her room. Lauren's too slow to follow her and see that she's hidden the bottle under her bed. When she comes back to the living room, Lauren is pouting and Cole is grinning. 

"No more for you, you've had enough." Rosa tells Lauren, who attempts to flip her off, but raises her index finger instead. 

"Camila's gone." Lauren muses, green eyes becoming gray due to moroseness. "She's gone."

"She left your apartment, she's not off the face of the fucking planet." Cole drawls, spilling his whiskey in the sink as well, before rinsing out the cup and replacing it with apple juice. 

"Okay - Cole, not the time." Rosa says, mildly scolding him. "Express the same sentiments - but nicer."

She turns to Lauren, a sympathetic look on her eyes. "Lo, she's only left your apartment. She's not engaged or committed to anyone at the moment. You've still got a chance."

"Yeah, there's a shot - " Cole continues, only to notice that Lauren was fast asleep, snoring out whatever else he was going to say. 

-

Morning comes, and Lauren's eyes flutter open on the sofa before her gut wrenches. 

Rosa, who's watching her from the armchair nearby, is sipping on some decaffeinated green tea, watching silently as Lauren lurches off the couch, the springs creaking as she removes her weight from it, and dashes off to the bathroom. 

"How charming," Rosa says, taking a small sip, already knowing what Lauren is going to do. 

-

About an hour later, Lauren meets Rosa in the kitchen. She's wearing a pair of sunglasses to hide the exhaustion in her eyes, and shield her from the intrusiveness of the lights in Rosa's apartment. 

Rosa is still sipping on her tea. She runs her right hand through her hair, the back of her right hand newly tattooed with a small dove, etched in near her thumb. The tattoo doesn't fill the whole canvas of her hand, but instead seems cornered into the space it is in, like a crow cornered in an alley, only to escape by flying its way out. The tattoo itself, despite it being a swallow, seems to be trying to fly out of Rosa's hand. 

She notices Lauren staring at the tattoo. "Are you thinking of getting another tat?"

Surprised by the question - she had been expecting a grilling about what had happened last night, and her feelings for Camila - Lauren nods in response.

"Maybe a sleeve." she says, in a register barely above whispering. "I was thinking of one running down my right arm."

"That shit hurts, at least that's what Cole told me after he got his." Rosa said, and Lauren flinches at the volume due to her hangover. 

"He got his sleeves at the same time." Lauren replies, rolling her eyes behind the sunglasses. "I'd take it slower than he did, I'm more patient than him."