Lauren {girlxgirl}

Chapter Two

{Song: Clichè - Mxmtoon}

It's an hour later and I'm sitting in the middle of my floor, distracted by my sketchbook, procrastinating from tidying my room, when I hear my parent's car crunch into the narrow gravel drive beside the house.
In a panic, I realise that, shit!, my room is still a bombsite, the floor covered in piles of clothes.
Thinking quickly, knowing I'll be berated if it's not at least marginally tidier than it was, I whip open my wardrobe door and start haphazardly piling my clothes inside, however, after a second I hear the crunching noise of something breaking. I wince, regretting my decision to ignore my mum's order to tidy.

I slam my wardrobe door and kick some things under my bed just as my mum slams the door loudly.
"Lex!" She yells, "Come down."
My heartbeat quickens in anticipation, and I begin to make my way downstairs, stepping carefully to avoid any chance of stumbling. But of course, knowing my luck, my foot catches on a loose shoe discarded on a step and I trip, lose my footing and tumble down the last few stairs to the bottom ungracefully.
I stand up and gather myself, only to be greeted by my mum's disapproving gaze and behind her, the prettiest girl I've ever seen, silently trying to stop herself from laughing at me. Charming.

All chances of good first impressions are now way out the window, so I just nod in her direction, hoping I don't look as embarrassed as I look.
My mum speaks up, "Lex, this is Lauren," she turns to the other girls, "and Lauren, this is my daughter Lex." we smile awkwardly in each others directions and then she goes back to staring at her faded, fraying pink vans.
Huh, we can match, I think, picturing the scuffed black vans in the back of my wardrobe.
Just then my dad clomps into house, carrying the largest suitcase I've ever seen.
Damn, I knew she wasn't only staying overnight but damn, how long must she be planning to stay?

He hands me the suitcase handle and yep, it's as heavy as it looks.
"You should take Lauren to your room, help her unpack," my dad states, "I'll bring the blow up mattress up in a bit."
I nod and turn to head upstairs, gesturing Lauren to follow, when my mum chimes in, "And you'd better have tidied that room!"
I roll my eyes and continue upstairs with a sigh.
As soon as we make it to my room I lightly throw the heavy bag into the corner of my room, flop down on my bed and give a middle finger to the door. I see a flicker of surprise flit across Lauren's face and I smirk at the floor.

"So," I try strike up a conversation, "What did you pack in that thing, bricks?"
She smiles, face turning pink, before shaking her head, still glancing at the floor.
Jesus christ, she's a bit shy, isn't she?
"I don't bite?" I say jokingly.
Kicking my feet against the old, worn carpet I realise she's still standing up.
"You can sit down you know." I say, in slight exasperation, as I gesture at the space next to me. She smiles awkwardly and carefully perches down on the bed beside me.
"Uh... So, what age are you then?" I say, in an attempt to coax words out of her mouth and I succeed, well a little at least.
"I'm 15." she says timidly.
"Cool, same! You'll probably be in my year at school then!"
She nods.
Jesus fucking christ. Lighten up a little would you.
I sigh. "Do you want a house tour then?" I say, to avoid anymore uncomfortable silence.
She nods, slightly more enthusiastically this time.

5 minutes or so later, I'd shown her everywhere, upstairs and outside and in. We finally ended up in the kitchen, where I stood leaning against the grey granite
"Ta Da!" I yell sarcastically to make our new house guest laugh, and it does just that but it also earns me yet another disapproving glare from my mum.
"Lex," she begins sternly, "Stop with the sarcasm."
I sigh and mutter the word yes, knowing that will be the last thing I do.
"Anyway," she continues, "If you hadn't noticed, the air mattress is in the living room. I need you to take it upstairs and blow it up for Lauren."
When her words sink in I begin to protest,
"But I thought dad was going to do it?" I complain bitterly.
"Stop moaning! He was going to, but," she gesture to the jacket she just shrugged on, with a look which says 'are you blind', "Now, obviously, we're going out. Do it yourself, please."
"Fine." I sigh, muttering the word bitch under my breath once she turns away.

I drag the mattress and the foot pump up the stairs to my room only to discover the pump is broken.
"Bloody hell. Of course it is." I grumble, hearing the muffled sound of the door slamming shut and feet stomping over gravel in the distance.
With a roll of my eyes, I raise the valve to my mouth and begin the long, boring task of manually blowing the air mattress up.
After a minute of tedious breaths I hear Lauren giggle.
"What's so funny?" I say, with a slight scowl on my face.
"I-" she begins, a stray giggle interrupting her, "I'm sorry its just- Your face is pretty red."
I frown, "It's not like I can fucking help it."
She stops giggling immediately, squeaking out a quiet sorry.
Immediately feeling like a dick, I begin apologizing.
After a second I look down at the half inflated mattress in my hands, "I should... Probably blow this up, you know?"
As I turn to continue filling it with air I can feel her smiling, just a little.

At around 1 am that night, after a day of slightly uncomfortable silences and awkward conversations, I'm lying in bed, on my back, staring up at the ceiling and faking sleep, when I hear a quiet mutter from the floor beside me.
"Oh hell. That's absolutely great. Ugh." Lauren whispers to herself, sounding as though she's going to cry.
"What's wrong?" I whisper, genuinely concerned.
I laugh quietly to myself as I hear her audibly jump out of her skin, obviously unaware of the fact I had been listening.
"Oh! Sorry, I thought you were asleep." she whispers anxiously, "It's not important. You can go back to bed"
"Don't worry, you didn't wake me up, its fine, and besides, it sounded pretty important to me!" I laugh quietly.
"Oh. It's just, the mattress deflated a little bit, that's all."
I swing my foot out of bed and prod the mattress with my toe. Feeling my toe make contact with the floor, I bit my lip.
"I'd say your definition of a little bit deflated and mine are pretty different huh."
"I guess they are, yeah," she whispers with a sigh, "I'll be fine though."
I shake my head, before realising that she can barely see me as the only lighting was from the dull, orange streetlights outside. "No way are you sleeping on the floor," I say, surprised at the certainty in my words, "It's cold down there, and not exactly comfortable, just, I don't know- come and sleep in mine?" I pause for a second before continuing, "But only for tonight yeah?"

Quietly, she whispers the word yes before getting up and sliding in the single bed beside me.
Its a tight fit but its better than the floor any day.
"G'night." she whispers in my ear, causing a strange shiver up my spine, before falling asleep less than five minutes later.
I lie awake on my side for another minute or so before feeling Laurens soft arm snake over my body subconsciously.
I lie there, welcoming the warmth that radiates off her body, not even doing anything as she pulls me closer towards her body.
After a second I feel myself fall asleep, curled into Laurens arms, and I smile and slide into sleep.