Laura's POV
I turned to my right and watched as Chris gazed into the night sky, like he was under a trance. It took him literally five minutes to realize I was staring at him. His green eyes searched mine then his brows furrowed together, questioning me.
"What?"
I shook my head. He looked really cute at that moment, giving me that look. "Nothing. What were you thinking about?"
He let out a deep breath before he spoke. "Nothing."
I naturally rolled my eyes. "Liar."
He laughed and tightened his arm around me. We were sitting close together on the patio furniture outside staring at the stars. I couldn't remember whose idea it was but next thing I knew Chris was dragging me to the backyard. It was nice, really nice in fact. Having him so close felt like such a romantic cliche.
"I'm not lying. When a guy says he's not thinking about anything 99% its true. Nothing was going on through my head...but I was liking this feeling."
Feeling? I gulped a little but it didn't help get the stupid frog out of my throat. I wasn't good with feelings. It didn't help the matter that lately Chris' feelings have been up and down.
"What feeling?" I dared myself to ask.
I felt his warm hand cup my almost frozen cheek. "I feel calm, together. This, me, you, this feels right."
For how long, I subconsciously asked myself. I hated doubting him but for some reason I couldn't believe him. Or more rather I wouldn't let myself. Something was going to go wrong. It always did, for me at least.
I dropped my head back down to his chest, where it was warm. It wasn't exactly cold, cold but chilly. I was cold natured by birth but I wasn't going to say anything and ruin the moment. I didn't want to get up. I didn't want to be out of his arms.
"What were you thinking?"
I shut my eyes for a second. Should I tell him? "I like this feeling too." I turned in his arms and faced him. He stayed completely still which made me smirk.
I had his attention. I leaned in, slowly, brushing my lips ever so lightly against his. "And this," I whispered before going in again.
He responded and I basked in undeniable sensation of passion. There was no denying the attraction we had for each other; the response our bodies had every time we touched. We craved each other but this kiss was more than just lust. It was...it was...
I was so close to figuring it out when I felt someone shove me. Of course. It was all just a dream. Not a dream, more like a memory. Because that night with Chris did happen. It happened 8 months ago; the last time he was here. The last time I was with him...8 months ago.
"Is she breathing?" I heard someone ask. According to the pitch of the voice I'm guessing it was no other than Demi.
"Why wouldn't she be?" Dania replied, always the reasonable one when it came to logical things.
"Oh I know lets draw a mustache on her face." The voice was much too excited to carry out the mischievous deed. Much too excited indeed.
I knew it had to be Jamie. She was the only one who would actually go through with writing on my face, with a permanent marker.
"Touch my face and I will hurt you," I said squinting my eyes open.
Jamie frowned. "Aww come on. Mustaches are the new thing. Everyone likes them. I personally love them."
Jamie was a crazy little thing all together. There was never a dull moment with her, that's for sure. Her hazel eyes glistened with all the wicked thoughts and ideas that were concocting insider her beautiful little head.
"Then how about I draw a mustache on your face. My christmas present to you." I joked, but really I'd enjoy it.
Jamie scratched her chin, contemplating. Of course she would consider it.
I saw Sarah in the back, sitting quietly on the couch, laughing. Most likely about the ridiculous situation.
"So what were you dreaming about?" Dania asked scooting closer to me while sipping her cup. It smelt like coffee.
"Nothing. Why?" I couldn't tell them what I was dreaming about. Heck no.
Demi accusingly narrowed her eyes at me. I hated the fact that she could see through my lies sometimes. To my defense I just woke up, you can't expect me to be at my peak.
"I don't believe you Laura."
Here we go then. "Why would I lie to you about a dream?"
"Because it's a juicy dream." Jamie said while making her way closer, probably to attack me in order to get me to confess. She's done it before.
I cautiously backed away a little. "Why would you say that?"
"Because you were drooling," Dania butted it.
Really? Now her too. What was with them? I didn't know I had to tell them every one of my dreams. The only innocent one here was Sarah but even she could be accused too because she wasn't even helping me out.
My hand flew up to my mouth and to my embarrassement there was drool. Damn it. Really? I never drool.
"You know what they say about drooling?" Demi said raising her shoulders repeatingly to make her naughty point across.
"That I can't breathe through my nose." I quickly wiped the nasty drowl from my face.
Jamie shook her head disappointed. "No, silly goose. It means you had a very steamy, mouth watering dream."
What the heck did that mean? I wasn't dreaming about chocolate. Chris' face flashed through my thoughts and then the day we went camping and he had no shirt on. His nice sculpted muscles glistening with water from the lake. Dang it. Now that's a mouth watering vision, for sure.
"It was, wasn't it?" Dania asked, laughing at my train of thought. My very naughty train of thought.
"No. It was nothing." I couldn't tell them the truth.
"What? Nothing. You're a bad liar." Demi butted in.
Seriously. "Weren't you guys supposed to be watching a movie or something? Why is all the attention on me right now?"
"Yeah, WE were but you fell asleep." Sarah finally opened her mouth.
I shook my head and got up to stretch out my aching limbs. "Sorry guys. You know I don't like to watch movies twice."
"But it was "The Vow". Who sleeps through that movie?"
I raised my hand causally and Jamie threw me a dirty look that only made me laugh. I reached over and grabbed my phone off the table. I had three missed calls, from Clark.
"Dang it." I took my purse and made my way towards the door.
"What? Where are you going?" Sarah asked, following me.
"I promised Clark I'd help him pick out a gift for his mother." Christmas was only a few days away. Clark needed all the help he could get when it came to buying a girl a gift.
"I guess I'll see you tonight, right?" Sarah said opening her arms to give me a hug. I held her tight. It had been so long since we've actually got to hang out. I had been working like crazy and I barely find time to sleep now a days.
"Yeah, of course." Tonight Sarah and Michael were hosting a small Christmas party at their place. I was completely sure everyone was coming so there was no way I could back out.
I walked out and got into my car. I wasn't too late but I called Clark back to let him know I was still coming. I met him at the mall. He still looked the same. It was strange to think he would change over the few months but a part of me was just weird I guess.
He smiled instantly when he saw me approaching. "It's about time."
"Sorry. I fell asleep."
"Of course you would."
We made our way down the aisles, looking through random racks of clothes. "So do you have any idea what you plan on getting her?"
He shook his head. "Nope." Clark lift up the most hidious looking sweater from a pile of clothes and actually stared at it; like he was considering it.
I quickly yanked it from his hand and threw it back from where he got it. "That would be a no."
I took his hand and lead him towards the purses. "A safe bet would be to buy her a purse."
"Sure." Clark quickly got distracted going through the different purses. It was actually kind of cute to watch. There's a good reason why guys shouldn't shop for girls.
"So," he asked giving up his search after ten minutes. "How are things going with you?"
"Good, good. Just really busy with work. What about you?"
"Same. But I'm glad you agreed to come with me today. It's been so long."
Yeah, it honestly felt like forever. "Me too. Has anything changed?"
Clark shook his head and focused his dark chocolate brown on me. "Not really."
"How about the family?" I wanted to ask about Chris. It was killing me not knowing anything about him. I just didn't get it either. He hadn't once tried to contact me since he left. Did I really expect him to thou?
"Good."
His simple reply was itching at my curiousity. What the hell? I'll just ask. "How is Chris doing?"
He kinda gave me that look but answered me anyway. "He's been crazy busy too. Work has him tied down. I barely speak to the guy anymore."
Clark started examining at a decient looking GUESS purse when he finally asked me the question I was dreading. "Why do you want to know about him?"
I shrugged my shoulders and looked away, avoiding his stare. "Well we did walk down the aisle together once upon a time."
Clark laughed. "Yeah I also recall you both fighting worse that cats and dogs."
"Touche."
He dropped the purse and turned my direction. Oh gosh. This was getting serious now. I figured he was waiting for me to do the same so I turned to look at him.
"Laura is there something you're not telling me? About Chris, I mean. We're friends. You can talk to me."
You're also Chris' cousin. I wanted to tell him, everything, but I couldn't. "No. No. I was just curious. He hasn't come to visit since the wedding. I thought maybe something happened to him."
Clark nodded. "No, he's fine."
We ended up dropping the conversation, to my relief. Clark even picked out a perfect purse for him mom all by himself. It wasn't bad at all. When we were heading towards the register to pay a petite brunette with wavy hair came rushing towards us. I had never seen the girl in my life but once I turned to look at Clark, I know by his facial expression he knew the girl all too well.
But it wasn't a pleasant expression; it was more of an annoyed look.
"Who's that?" I asked him.
Clark ran his fingers through his hair roughly. "Her name's Clare."
I turned her direction again to get a better look of her. She was very beautiful, no one could deny that. "She's cute."
"And also psycho," Clark answered pivoting his body the other way.
Was he trying to hide from her? This was priceless. I've never seen a him do this before. He has always flocked to girls so this was completely new.
"What do you mean by that?"
"I had barely spoken a few words to the girl and she has already named our children."
I burst into a fit of giggles. "So she's that kind of crazy."
Clark looked at me with complete desperation. Man, was this look pitiful or what? If there was any way I could have hidden him I would have but it was too late. The crazy chick was already in front of me.
Her green eyes were locked onto Clark's uninterested face. "Clark is that you?"
I swear I heard him mumble, "Who else could it be?" Clark met her gaze and smiled; it was terribly forced on his part.
"Hello Clare."
Her lips curved so high that it almost looked scary. "Hi, and who is this?" Her eyes wandered up to were I was standing. Her face was causal and not one ounce of envy was conveyed.
"Laura," I answered for him.
"Your sister?" She asked him, like I wasn't even there. Wow this girl was annoying weird.
"Uhhh no," Clark said throwing his arm over my shoulder. What was he doing? "This is my girlfriend."
Hahahahaha, I was mentally laughing. Of course he'd chose to go that path. What the heck? I'll go with it and put my acting skills to work.
Clare looked a little taken aback. "I didn't know you had a girlfriend." She was now staring me up and down, wondering what I had that she didn't. Awesomeness, I thought to myself.
"It's nice to meet you." I might as well be nice, since I did have her man and all that.
"The feeling's mutual."
I'm sure it is.
"So yes. We better get going pumpkin. We don't want to be late." Clark grabbed my arm and gently started pulling me away. But Clare wasn't having any of it. She quickly took a step and stopped us from walking away.
Wow. She's persistant.
"It's been so long. Why haven't you texted me?" Her innocent eyes were pleading him, in a sense.
I kinda felt sorry for her. She just couldn't get a hint. Clark skretched his head, probably trying to come up with a good enough excuse. I guess I could help him out.
I was seriously contemplating telling her he had AIDS or something cause what kind of girl wants to be with a guy that has AIDS. But that also meant ruining his reputation with a bunch of other girls. Nope. I'll take a safer route.
"Oh Clark we better leave. I'm not feeling to well." I placed my hand over my exaggerated belly bump. "This baby is killing me softly."
Clare's eyes went wide and straight to my belly. I wanted to laugh so bad at her reaction but that was going to blow my cover. I took a deep breath and faced Clark. He was pretty surprised at what came out of my mouth too.
I winked at him and that sorta pulled him out of his trance. He took my hand again and we started move. "Bye Clare."
I also turned to say a farewell but as I did I watched her mouth something to Clark. I think she was saying something on the lines of 'I'll wait for you.'
Wow desperate much. Time to take it to the next level. "Oh babe don't forget you have to take your STD vaccination."
Clark stopped in his tracks, making me stumble a bit. The horror struck face on Clare was beyond words. Oh yes, Clark was probably going to kill me for this one. But hey at least I solved one of his problems. I was 100% sure she was never going to bother him again.
He was honestly frozen; with no words coming out of his mouth. "Well bye Clare. I was nice meeting you."
I had to drag Clark the rest of the way till he finally came to his senses. "Really Laura. Was that necessary?"
I shrugged my shoulders. He'll thank me later. "Hey this is a guarantee she will never contact you again."
"That might be so but she's the biggest blabber mouth ever. By tomorrow morning the whole world with think I have a STD."
He looked pretty pissed, so I put on the cutest puppy dog face I could muster up. "I'm sorry."
Clark sighed before letting me go and throwing the purse on the counter for the employee to ring up. "It's fine."
I knew he couldn't stay mad at me for long. Clark paid for the gift and we headed towards the parking lot.
"So I'll see you at Sarah's right?"
I pulled out my phone and checked the time. The party started in an hour. "Yeah. I'll be there. I just need to go home and change."
When I got home I wasted no time. I threw on the cute Christmas outfit I was dying to wear. It was a red shimmery sweater and black skinny jeans. I checked the mirror quickly just to make sure my hair wasn't sticking up. It had the tenancy of doing that in the winter.
Michael and Sarah's front yard was packed with cars when I arrived. So much for little party. I went up the porch stairs and straight through the open front door. I made my way through the crowd. It felt like everyone was there tonight. I spotted Demi and went to greet her.
Her eyes caught my approach and her facial expression stilled. That was weird. Was something wrong?
"What's up?" I asked as soon as I was in talking range.
She tried her best to smile but failed miserably. "Nothing."
I narrowed my eyes at her. She was keeping something from me, but instead of replying Demi turned her head to the left. She was signaling me to do the same.
I gave in and my heart sank at the sight. It was just my luck.
Chris' POV
Her luscious dark brown eyes locked onto mine. I froze. I knew she was bound to come. I wanted her to come. I wanted to see her again. It had been so long.
She looked absolutely beautiful, like the very first time I saw her.
At first she was caught off guard by my surprise presence but now she had composed herself. She clinched her jaw and her eyes went cold. She was definitely not happy to see me, but I didn't blame her.
I decided to walk towards the group surrounding her. Everyone turned to stare at me once they noticed me standing there.
"Chris, where have you been?" Sarah asked sincerely.
I smiled. Sarah was such a kind person. Michael was lucky to has someone as sweet as her. "No where much. I've just been busy."
"Don't they have phones there where you live? Being busy is no excuse not to call the ones you care about to see how they are and let them know you're thinking about them."
Laura's voice was clear and obviously irritated. I couldn't resist looking at her. She was so close now and I wanted so bad to take a step and close the gap between us.
I'm afraid anything I say wouldn't justify my reasoning.
"I know. I've just been-"
She cut me off. "Locked in a cave somewhere, or perhaps chained to a bed by an ex-lover." Laura had her arms crossed over her chest. Her strong jawbone was defined with anger. And just as I was about to reply her name was being called out.
"If you'll excuse me."
She rushed out of sight. Tommy was waiting for her. As I watched her talking to him I couldn't help but feel even more guilty. I was such an idiot. I messed it up. There had to be some way to fix it. I got up the courage and went to talk to them.
"You have to slam it up against the way." Tommy was explaining something to her that I didn't catch from the beginning.
Laura tilted her head my direction. "Chris is an expert in that department." She paused and I could feel her mocking me. "Slamming things, breaking them till there is nothing left, then leaving it with not even a glance to spare."
There was so much to say, yet there were no word forming in my mouth.
"Chris! We all have missed you so much." Ren's voice came up from behind me. Well, didn't she have impecable timing.
"By 'we' she means her multiple personalities." Laura said every word with arrogance.
I was used to her snappy comebacks when it came to me but what did Ren do to her.
"Sorry, it slipped." Laura looked anything but apologetic.
Ren furrowed her brows in rage. "You're an idiot."
Laura raised her brows, almost in a challenge. "Talking about yourself again. You know that's not an attractive quality. No one likes a conceded person." With that Laura walked away; enjoying she had the last word.
Ren looked like she didn't know what to say. I felt bad for her in a sense. Going up against Laura was no picnic. I had my fair share of experience when it came to Laura.
"What just happened here?" I asked Tommy; I had to find out.
Tommy leaned in closer. "Ren tried to use her brother a few months ago. Laura has been out for blood ever since."
Laura was always the kind of person to protect her loved one. I respected her for that. I ended up giving her, her space. I didn't want to cause a scene or make her anymore anger than she already was. Towards the end of the night we were all huddled in a group.
"So Laura where's Will?"
Laura took a quick glance at me then to Jamie so she could answer the question. Who was Will?
"He had to work."
It was bugging me not know who they were talking about. "Who's Will?" I asked Sarah who was standing right beside me.
"Will is Laura's boyfriend."
Boyfriend? My mind repeated. Laura had a boyfriend. When I focused in on her I noticed she wouldn't even look me in the eyes.
"What does he do?" Might as well get some information on the guy.
Her eyes were once again cold as she answered me. "Miracles."
"He sounds like Jesus." Was she serious? I couldn't help my comment. It just came out.
She smirked. "Not exactly but he does know how to treat a woman right, unlike some men I know."
She was refering to me. Of course she was.
"Does he also walk on walk? Cause it will come in handy when the storm clouds over your head begin to pour."
She clinched her jaw. I knew it was a low blow. I knew it yet I still said it. She turned on her heels. "It's getting late. I'll catch you guys later."
So this was how it was going to be. For some reason it made me think of the beginning, when we both despised each other. Here we go again, back to hating each other. It was the only thing we were good at.
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Sorry it took so long. Hope you enjoyed it. Let me know what you think.