The Pretty One {Alren}

The Pretty One

"Maybe," Ally laughed, leaning back slightly, her confidence in her balance regained now that Lauren was holding onto her. "Depends on whether or not you can lift me."

Her lips parting, Lauren gazed up at Ally, her eyes traveling from one part of Ally's face to another, and then down to her throat and the skin above the neckline of her dress. She met Ally's gaze again in a quick movement, standing up a bit straighter.

"Baby," Lauren breathed, her expression suddenly urgent. Ally swore she felt her pulse jump at the pet name. "Can you stay up there for a minute longer, just like that?"

No, not with you looking at me like that and calling me sweet things and generally making me feel like I'm sixteen again, Ally wanted to say.

She took a deep breath, and edited down her stream of thought to something more reasonable.

"Why?" She asked.

"The light, and your hair, and your legs..." Lauren paused, shaking her head. "You've always been the pretty one, Ally. I wanna take a picture of you like this, so maybe you'll believe me."

"Lauren..." Ally bit her lip, trying to resist the impulse to wrap her legs around the younger girl's waist, pull her in and kiss her until they both fell into the river, dizzy and wrapped up in each other. "Fine, go ahead. Hurry, though, I might still fall and I don't wanna have to sue you."

Lauren laughed, her eyes bright, squeezing Ally's thighs before stepping back and sliding her camera off her shoulder.

"Oh, and you're still the pretty one, Lo, no matter how nice these photos are, got it?" Ally added.

"We'll see," Lauren laughed.

She looked through the viewfinder, her hand sliding along the bottom of the lens as she adjusted the zoom, and Ally couldn't decide whether to focus on the precise movements of her fingers or the focused pout of her lips underneath the camera.

"Okay," Lauren began. "Turn a little bit to the side, yeah, just like that, and lean back like you were doing before. Perfect."

Ally managed to hold the position, somehow even less steady than she had been before, for a good fifteen seconds before she glanced over at Lauren, and sighed exasperatedly. Lauren had lowered the camera, and was simply staring, her brow furrowed slightly.

"You realize you can stare at me anytime, right?" Ally reminded her, her lips twitching in a smile. "It doesn't have to be while I'm in danger of falling into a dirty river."

"Sorry, I just..." Lauren squinted. "Okay, I got it. Can you cross your legs at the knees instead of the ankles?"

Turning her head to glare at Lauren, Ally raised an eyebrow.

"Just for a sec, I promise," Lauren said, her pout returning. "Please, baby, please."

Baby again. Just as Ally had thought she was starting to find her center of gravity again, Lauren knocked her right over. She crossed her legs like Lauren asked, and turned her gaze to the sky, her eyes falling shut.

She thought she could hear a sharp intake of breath from Lauren, and the corner of her mouth turned up.

The gentle breeze relaxed something in Ally, and she found herself settling into the feeling of being suspended like this, and the feeling of Lauren watching her through the camera.

Often, when she looked skywards, Ally was searching for something holy, something beyond herself or thanking God for one of His gifts. But strangely, even though she could think of a thousand things to be grateful for, Ally's focus shifted quickly off of God. Every part of her hyper conscious of the way she knew Lauren was studying her, and she couldn't manage to think of anything else.