Lucky Coincidence // Stuart Twombly

XXIII

"Have a great senior year, guys. We'll keep those desk chairs warm for you," Lyle said as the team was saying goodbye to each other. Most of them were going back home by bus, Stuart obviously rode with Lara, and Yo-Yo would be picked up by his parents. 

"Team Lyle!" Billy exclaimed and everyone copied his cheer, pulling everyone into a group hug. 

"We just wanna say thank you, Lara. You've helped us so insanely much," Neha stated. 

"It's my pleasure, guys. I've now got a bunch of really fun colleagues that I might see in my department one day," Lara smiled. "And if you ever struggle with adjusting to the job, don't hesitate to give me a call." 

"Yo-Yo! Come! Now!" A female voice shouted, catching everyone off guard. Lara turned around and found an Asian woman standing next to a car. She guessed her to be Yo-Yo's mother. 

"Mom, I need a minute," Yo-Yo told her. 

"You don't get to have a minute! We need to-" She shouted, but he cut her off. 

"Mom. I'm saying goodbye to my friends. I'm taking a minute," He firmly said and the woman was taken aback, but not even a second later, she smiled proudly and nodded. 

The man behind the wheel, probably Yo-Yo's father, looked astonished but he grinned broadly, sending his son a thumbs-up.

"You grew an eyebrow!" Billy pumped a fist against Yo-Yo's chest, who laughed softly. The group shared one more hug before they parted. "See you around, guys!" 

"See you!" Stuart called before he, Lara, and Neha walked off. 

"So, don't be strangers, you two. Send me a text sometime," Neha said. 

"We will. Meet up again soon?" Stuart said. 

"Absolutely! Bye, guys," Neha grinned. Lara and Stuart said their goodbyes before she took a left toward the bus station. Stuart held his girlfriend's hand in his own as they strolled over the Google parking lot, searching for Lara's navy blue car. 

"Just one more year until we become coworkers," Stuart sighed. 

"You know, I think it's good that we get to spend more time together. We've been apart for a long time when you were at school so much and I was at work." They reached the car and stepped in. Stuart had offered to drive, so he sat behind the wheel. He turned on the engine. 

"Yeah, I agree. We've been quite busy and now that we didn't even get to go on a holiday together because we were both caught up with this internship," he said, steering the vehicle off of the car park and onto the high way. 

"What a summer," Lara stated, sipping the milkshake she had taken from the Google cafeteria on their way out. Stuart took her hand and intertwined their fingers, resting it on her thigh. 

"What a summer," He agreed. 

T H R E E   Y E A R S   L A T E R 

"Stu, I've told you a dozen times, clean up your dirty socks from the couch. The guys can be here any minute!" Lara frustratedly shouted as she was running around the kitchen, preparing the last things before the old intern team would arrive. 

"Give me a second, I'm putting the chairs in the garden," Stuart called back and she let out a groan, realising she should do it herself if she wanted it done in the next couple of minutes. 

She fetched the three pairs of gross, worn socks from the couch and tossed them in the laundry basket in the downstairs bathroom. Stuart had developed the horrible habit of taking off his socks after he returned from work and just not cleaning them up at the end of the day. It drove Lara crazy, especially the last few weeks since he just didn't clean them up at all. Usually, he'd toss them in the laundry basket after a couple of days, but now, he just stopped doing that altogether. 

The sound of the doorbell ringing ripped Lara from her thoughts and she abandoned the vegetables she had been cutting. Walking over to the front door of her and Stuart's home, she took off her apron and hung it on the coat rack before pulling open the door. 

Neha, Yo-Yo, Lyle, and Marielena, his girlfriend, were standing on the porch, each of them holding a different item of food for the barbecue they had planned together. "Hey, guys," Lara smiled broadly, greeting each of them with a hug. 

"Billy texted me that they're on their way," Neha informed her. 

"Classy of them to be late," Lara giggled, motioning for them to come in. "Stuart's in the garden, setting things up." The boys nodded and made their way to the back of the house. Neha and Marielena followed Lara into the kitchen. 

"How've you been?" Neha asked. 

Lara nodded slowly. "Yeah, alright, I guess. Work's been busy but what else is new. Stuart won't ever stop leaving dirty socks all around the house and I can't get him to clean them up. I mean, how hard is it to just dump your socks in the laundry basket instead of the floor?" 

"For men, apparently very hard. Josh just refuses to hang up his jacket and he just dumps it on the couch or the kitchen chairs, it's really frustrating," Neha stated. Josh was her boyfriend. She had met him on the first day of her job at Google and they started dating soon after. 

"Lyle is the same with pants. Whenever he gets in bed, he just leaves them on the floor and they stay there until I clean them up. It's exhausting," Marielena added. 

"Couldn't agree more," Lara nodded. 

The doorbell rang. "Oh, that must be Billy, Nick, and the girls," Lara said, hurrying to open the door. She welcomed the four into the house. Billy with his wife Megan, who he had got back together with after he had his internship. It wasn't long after that they got engaged and eventually, married. And Nick with Dana, who had been really happy together and were now engaged as well. 

Lara greeted them all cheerfully and told them to head to the garden where, hopefully, Stuart had lit up the barbecue. She followed them after fetching Neha and Marielena from the kitchen. 

The table was set and filled with all kinds of food. Drinks were displayed at another table and there were a few standing tables for the men who apparently disliked constantly sitting. 

Everyone picked a spot to sit and Stuart plopped down beside Lara, wearing his 'Kiss the Cook' apron that she had gotten him for his birthday. Lara tapped her glass and the conversations quiet down. 

"To begin our third annual barbecue, I'd like to thank you all for being here. I love how we're still such good friends even though the internship has been a couple of years back. I've had the pleasure of getting to know all of you and I'm happy you all could come. Dana, Nick, congratulations on the engagement." She raised her glass of sparkling apple cider and they smiled happily. "But Stuart and I also have a small announcement to make." 

Stuart stood up and wrapped an arm around her. Lara waited for another five seconds or so before exclaiming, "I'm pregnant!" 

***

So that's it! The ending of Lucky Coincidence! I had so much fun writing this book since The Internship is one of my favourite movies and I hope you enjoyed reading it. If you did, don't hesitate to leave a comment telling me what your favourite part was! Thank you for all the love and maybe I'll see you in one of my other stories :)