"Second night out in a row, I must I have a party girl on my hands." Kyle the driver joked pulling up to the location that Lauren requested
Lauren laughed shaking her head. She was dressed in a pair of dull gray sweat pants and raggedy T-shirt that over time stretched out and even accumulated a few holes, what she wore didn't come close to passing as party attire.
"No party. Just coming by to discuss some things with a friend." Lauren waited for Kyle to come around and help her out of his wheelchair accessible van and when he did she gently grabbed his arm and looked him straight in the eye. "Kyle if it's okay I'd like to keep my night rides between you and I."
Kyle was paid a healthy salary to be on call at all times and keep his mouth shut. "My job is to make sure you get to your desired location and back home in one piece. It doesn't pay to stick my nose where it doesn't belong. I'm not a spy, your secrets are safe with me Mrs.Mccall."
A part of Lauren was relieved that Kyle would keep her secrets but she wondered just how many secrets did this man hold safely in his brain. More specifically how many of Ray's deep dark secrets did Kyle the tall dark and mysterious driver know? Did he know about Vanessa? Did he know that she was Ray's butterfly? Did little miss butterfly spread her wings in the back of his vehicle? Lauren wanted so badly to ask but she decided to continue on her way saving herself the disappointment hearing him say something like 'I'm sorry Mrs.Mccall I cannot disclose anything about your husband's time with me just as I cannot discuss your whereabouts with him'.
_________________
Lauren looked at the text on her phone one more time after she pressed the button on the elevator.
Lauren- OMW
Sarah- cool, I'm cleaning I'll leave the door open just let yourself in.
Rosalie would be so disappointed with Lauren right now and that's exactly why she wasn't going to find out about this until after Lauren heard the woman out first.
Rosalie thought meeting with Sarah to discuss her plan was a horrible idea. Rosalie did her best to convince Lauren to go about this the right way. Tell Andrew about his unfaithful wife, file for a divorce end her marriage and move on. Last thing Lauren needed to do was go plotting revenge with a woman she didn't know from a can of freaking paint.
Rosalie says she shouldn't trust Sarah but Lauren didn't need to trust her. Sarah was the enemy of her enemy so right now that made her a 'friend'. Lauren had never made an enemy in her entire life she wouldn't know how to successfully deal with one and she definitely was stepping on foreign territory when it came to plotting revenge. Lauren the sweet loving mother of two , kind and compassionate not cruel and vindictive. If she was going to hurt Ray and Vanessa she needed Sarah's help.
When Lauren finally approached the door where Sarah said she lived. Lauren was sure she had mistakenly texted her the wrong door number. She heard the beat of the loud music playing all the way from the hall.
I'm kinda buzzed and it's all because
(This is how we do it)
South Central does it like nobody does
(This is how we do it)
To all my neighbors you got much flavor
(This is how we do it)
Let's flip the track, bring the old school back
(This is how we do it)
Lauren reached for the doorknob and just as the text said it was open but no no noo this had to be the wrong place because what business did the snow bunny she had spoken to earlier have blasting this is how we do it by Montell Jordan like she was down like that?
This is how we do it,
all hands are in the air And wave them from here to there
If you're an O.G. mack or a want to-be player
You see the hood's been good to me Ever since I was a lower-case G But now I'm a big G. The girls see I got the money A hundred-dollar bills y'all
Lauren slowly pushed the door open and there Sarah was dancing around with her broom in hand her long blond hair pulled into a high ponytail a pair of shorts and tank top a with furry bootie slippers on her feet singing along not missing a lyric.
Sarah was so deep into her song getting in touch with her inner self it took her a while to realize she was no longer alone.
"Oh hey Lauren," Sarah shouted loudly so she could be heard over the music.
"You said you had a plan.." Lauren shouted back but Sarah couldn't hear her.
"What?" Sarah reached for her remote.
"YOU SAID YOU HAD A PLAN!" Lauren yelled out just when Sarah cut the music off.
"Sorry about that." Sarah apologized laughing a little. "Can I get you anything to drink? I have orange juice, apple juice, water" Sarah paused. "Vodka?"
Vodka was tempting. The marriage she tried so hard to hold onto wasn't even worth saving. The man she vowed to love forever treated her like shit and was in love with another woman...his brother's woman. If anybody needed a drink it was Lauren but she wasn't here to sip, this wasn't happy hour. Sarah promised her a plan and she wanted to hear it.
~~~CROSSING_LINES~~~
[The next day]
'This better work!' Lauren thought to herself as she entered the restaurant where she and Vanessa were supposed to meet and discuss the planning of Frank and Pamela's Anniversary party.
Sarah wanted Lauren to pretend like everything was fine. She wanted her to play nice with Vanessa, act as the perfect wife a little longer. Play dumb while these two snakes played her like a fool. She didn't like the plan one bit! That was until Sarah went into depth about what they were doing here. Simply telling Andrew and kicking Ray out the house wasn't punishment enough for what he and Nessa did. If they were going to hurt anywhere near how hurt Lauren was she needed to follow Sarah's three step plan.
Step 1- Befriend the enemy
Step 2- Dismantle enemy from the inside out
Step 3- Strike and strike hard!
If she had to smile in Vanessa's face and pretend she gave a damn about this stupid anniversary party to hurt those who wronged her so be it.
"Lauren!" Vanessa called out to her waving her hand so Lauren could see exactly where she was. There was another woman sitting with her that Lauren didn't know but she assumed she was one of Vanessa's friends. Maybe someone from work? No, no way this woman was too fashion forward to be some teacher. Not that teachers didn't dress nice but the tall dark skinned woman sitting with Vanessa didn't strike her as the type to sit up all night grading papers.
"I ordered for you I hope you don't mind."
"No this is fine." Lauren forced a smile even though what she really wanted to do was smash Vanessa's face into her sriracha shrimp salad. "Who's this?"
"Oh yes, this woman right here is going to be our savior!" Vanessa squealed. "It's no way we could get this party together and still have it up wit Pamela's standards in the short time we have left so I did us both a favor and hired a party planner."
"Hello I'm Tiffany, Tiffany Edwards." The gorgeous woman reached her hand out for Lauren to shake.
"Tiffany is one of the best event planners in the city. We're lucky to have her." Vanessa spoke placing a fork full of salad into her mouth.
"Oh really?" Lauren spoke wishing in her head that Vanessa would choke on her food. She hated how much hatred she had in her heart for somebody she once considered family.
"I'm known to make the impossible happen in a short amount of time. Your in-laws party is in good hands I assure you. Vanessa had given me a run though of what she already started."
Vanessa laughed shaking her head. " lets never speak of my horrible ideas again." She finally realized she had bitten off a little more than she could chew when she told Andrew she would do this.
Tiffany bit down on the inside of her cheek because it would have been unprofessional to laugh at the woman who just hired her. Vanessa's ideas were all over the place so many colors, a confusing theme the only thing she brought to the table that Tiffany could use was the guest list. "Don't worry I have everything covered."
Lauren stiffened a bit. If Tiffany had everything covered it would interfere with the plan. "I was really hoping I could put together a slideshow."
"Slideshows could be nice. Old photos and clips of home video's could be touching." Tiffany wasn't a fan of slideshows but they worked well for anniversaries.
"You guys can leave that up to me." Lauren smiled. "My husband has plenty of interesting photo's stored away that I'm sure the whole family would love to see."