Thin Lines Have Splintered My Ground

Chapter III

AN: On my GoogleDocs this was 20 pages, it's 5,232 words. All typos and mistakes are my own. Sorry bout that.

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Lauren leans against the kitchen sink, her eyes zeroed in on the bamboo plant next to it as she thinks back to a conversation she had with Tori not that long ago. She blinks a couple times before moving her eyes elsewhere. Not really caring where they land so long as she's distracted.

Lauren lets out a deep breath and lets her hands reach up to the edge of the sink, resting her palms on the cool marble. She rolls her head on her shoulders to alleviate some of the tension she feels.

Lauren doesn't remember ever feeling this tired, everything feels heavy. Even breathing seems to have become increasingly difficult. She hopes the tea she's brewing will clear her mind enough to think about gathering her courage to go talk to Ally. She shakes her head. Talking to Ally has become one of the hardest things she has to do.

"You need to talk to her."

Lauren could hear the pain in Tori's voice and it made her want to cry. She hadn't heard that tone come out of Tori ever. And she's known her for a long time. Lauren feels ashamed of having been the cause for it.

"You need to know if that's your child. You." Tori took in a shaky breath before stepping closer towards her, just a few inches away from her face. "Just, please." The blonde woman took Lauren's face in her palms, making her face her. Their eyes connected. "Be sure." She gingerly caressed Lauren's face. "Not for me." She swallows thickly. "For you and for that baby." Tori leans in closer to her and Lauren turns her face away. "Talk to her." Tori places a kiss to Lauren's cheek before hastily leaving.

The raven haired woman is still by the sink but this time with her arms crossed over her chest. Almost as if she's keeping herself from falling apart. Almost. Lauren stands tall, eyes trained on the steam dancing across her tea. It's as if the steam and the warm liquid were playing a game of tag. Lauren shakes her head at that thought, it's too deep. There's a grimace on her face, the whole point of the tea was to not think.

A small smile deforms her grimace as it tugs at the corner of her mouth, she had an idea. Lauren, with arms still crossed leans down towards her tea. Her smirk turns to an almost evil grin as she gets ready to take a deep breath. Once she has enough air in her lungs, she puckers her lips and blows.

She straightens up almost immediately, a shit eating grin on her face. She looks to her sides as if her electrodomestics would clap or hype her up. Lauren pulls an arm out of the lock she had them in to try and control herself. She brings her hand up to her mouth to conceal her smile but it only makes her want to laugh. She tries hard to fight it but she ends up losing. She really wants to laugh so she does. It starts as a snicker, fighting to make it past her lips as she bites down on them. She tries to focus on something else and that's when she sees her.

Disheveled hair and bags under her eyes. Ally looks annoyed.

"I was just blowing off some steam." She says with a small smile, she's about to point at her mug but Ally's already gone. And so is Lauren's smile.

"You know, had you been born in 1880, Auguste Rodin would've used you as a model." Chris said from the doorway. All of his limbs were crossed; his arms across his chest and his leg over the other as his shoulder propped him up against the door.

He rolled his eyes when Lauren didn't seem to get his joke. He pushed himself off of the doorway and stepped into her office. "You've got your chin resting on your knuckles." He demonstrated by mimicking her position. He even went as far as to pretend to be seated. "You're deep in thought." He hinted while trying to hold the pose. Chris looks up to see that his sister isn't even looking at him. "The Thinker." He finally said with arms thrown upwards in annoyance. "Jesus Laur, do you even art?" He sounded highly offended but still smiled at his sister who finally looked up at him. Chris sat in the chairs in front of Lauren's desk. He even went as far as placing his feet on top of it. He waited patiently for his sister to look at him once more.