Lauren woke up a few hours later. She was about to freak out when everything that had happened a few hours ago came rushing back to her.
She remembered coming to Landon's house and telling him everything about the dream. When she sat up, she looked around and saw that Landon was sleeping on the couch next to the couch she was sleeping on.
She smiled despite herself. He had held her when she was scared to death. She knew it was only a dream, but it seemed so real to her. The dream felt super real to her and that was the reason that she had gotten so scared. Usually, a bad dream would leave her shaken but not as bad as this one felt. It had literally felt like she was drowning. She woke up with a gasp and maybe it was because she had stopped breathing or something, but she had never had a dream as vivid as the one she had had only a few hours ago.
She had to leave, she knew, but she didn't want to. Not after all that Landon did for her. I mean, who would have gotten up and let me in back in Santa Barbara? she thought. I think nobody would have and Landon did just that.
"Damn," she whispered. "You're one hell of a guy Landon Valentine."
She glanced at him every once in a while. He was definitely making his way to bringing down all the walls she had around her heart. He was becoming important to her. And she was scared of what would come when the day that she realized that he was truly important to her came. She was scared of getting hurt again, like she had been years ago. But she trusted him. She trusted him because of all that he had done for her.
Lauren needed a watch to see what time it was. She went to the kitchen since she knew that the microwave had a digital clock. It read 8:10. Holy moly, she thought. It's pretty late.
When she went back to the living room had already woken up. "Lauren?" he asked.
"Yeah. I'm here." she answered.
Landon got up from the couch and stretched. Lauren watched as he walked over to her.
When he accidentally bumped into her, he automatically extended both his arms out to steady her. "Sorry." he said.
"It's okay." Lauren said.
Landon stayed still and he realized then that his arms were still on her waist. "Ooh. Sorry about that."
Lauren looked down as he removed his hands. "It's fine."
Lauren looked at him. She loved how his eyes just seemed to glow now. Of course, there was still a hint of pain, the pain that would never go away, but they held much more happiness.
"What?" he asked. "What's going on? Why are you so quiet?"
Lauren laughed. "Everything is fine. Stop asking me so many questions."
"Sorry. It's just that when someone gets quiet, I get all nervous. Because I don't know what's going on."
"Oh,I see."
She looked back at the microwave and it read 8:20. She looked at Landon and said, "Landon, I have to go. My dad will probably freak out when he finds out I'm not home."
"Yeah, sure. I understand." he said.
Lauren was walking away before she turned around and she went back to Landon. She kissed his cheek. "Thanks for everything. I know it was super late, but you still got up for me. Thanks. I really appreciate it."
Landon was frozen. "Ummm...yeah. You're welcome. Don't worry about it."
Lauren smiled and said a bye before walking out the door. She went to her house and rung the doorbell, since she didn't have the keys with her. Her dad opened the door. He let her come in then he asked her, "Where were you? I thought you were asleep."
Lauren blushed. "I was asleep. I had a nightmare last night and well, I didn't want to wake you guys up so I went over to Landon's." she explained.
"He was awake?"
"Yeah." she lied. "I was surprised, too."
Kyle looked at her. She was a terrible liar. "You know I know exactly when you're lying, right?"
She sighed. "Fine. No, he wasn't awake, but he woke up and I asked him to let me in. And he did. Then I told him about the nightmare I had and I fell asleep."
"Uh huh." he said with a finger laying on his temple.
"It's the truth."
"Out of all the people here, you chose to go to Landon? You could have woken us up, you know."
"Oh."
Kyle gave a small smile.
"What?"
"You like him, don't you?"
Lauren's eyes widened. "What? No! No, I don't."
Kyle breathed out and made Lauren sit next to him. "Sweetie, you could have woken one of us up. If you didn't feel comfortable waking me up, you could've woken your Aunt Emileigh. But instead you chose to wake up Landon. Because you knew he would do anything for a friend."
"That doesn't mean I like him."
"Sweetie. You're getting there. Maybe you don't realize it now, but you will eventually. And when you do realize it, I'll be happy for you because Landon's a great guy."
"Daddy?" she said as he was about to turn and leave.
"Yes?" he turned back around.
"I'm just scared I'll get hurt again. What if I do fall for him, and I end up getting hurt?"
"Look, Lauren,'" he said as he sat down, "you're bound to get hurt. Everyone is. But you've got to learn to take a risk. What if you never risk it and it turns out that you made a horrible mistake? I know you're scared. I would be, too. But life is about taking risks. And Landon is a great guy. He would never hurt you. Not after protecting you all this time. I know you were hurt before, but you've got to trust that someone out there is better. That someone out there is made just for you. Because it's true. And that someone may be Landon. But you'll never know if you don't risk it."
"But---"
"It's your decision, Lauren. You've got to ask your heart. Don't ask your head whether you like that boy or not. Of course your head will say no. But it's your heart. It's the answer that your heart gives that's the important one. Don't ask it now, if you're not ready. But trust me when I tell you, you'll definitely know if you like him or not."
Lauren nodded. She went upstairs to her room. She made her bed and she looked at the canvas she had painted last night. On the canvas was Landon, Bryan, Emileigh, Laura, Lance and herself standing at the airport together. She knew it was something that she had to give to her aunt. Emileigh and Bryan were standing next to each other, holding hands.
If anyone could help Aunt Emileigh heal her heart and learn to trust again, that person was Bryan. Maybe it ran in the family, she thought.
She looked out her window and she looked over to Landon's room. She smiled as the memories from a few hours ago ran through her mind again. She was so grateful for having met him. Who would have thought that he would be such an important person in her life.
The calendar on her wall marked the end of summer and the start of the new school year in about three weeks. She was going to go back to school in this city. She guessed that Landon was going to go, too.
She had everything ready. Even when she didn't know what she was going to need, everything from notebooks to folders to pencils were already stacked neatly into a pile on her desk.
It was going to be a new school year. Maybe new friends, or maybe not many new friends, but she knew she should always have one friend at that school: Landon Valentine.
She shot up immediately. Stop thinking about him, she thought. All you ever do is think about him.
Her mind went back to everything her dad had told her. She knew he was right. Life was all about risks, so was love. But the fear of getting hurt again, the fear of having her heart broken was stronger than anything else. The thought of going through all of that hurt again scared her to death. But she knew that if anyone could break the walls she put up around her heart, it could be Landon.
But that doesn't mean I like him, does it? she thought.
She shook her head. That was impossible. But her dad had told her that she would know if she liked him. The other thing she was scared of was realizing that she liked him, but finding out that he didn't.
Stop thinking like that Lauren, she thought to herself.
'You can always ask me, you know?' her heart told her.
"I know," she answered. "But I'm not ready."
'I've always been ready.'
"Well, I'm not. Give me time."
'You're just scared of what I will tell you.'
"Maybe I am, but that's all the reason that I don't want to know your answer. Okay? Maybe I'll know eventually."
'Okay. Your choice.'
Her heart then became quiet. And then she heard a knock at her door. "Come in," she said.
The door opened to reveal Emileigh. "Hey, sweetie."
"Hey, Auntie. What's up?"
"I need some girl talk."
"Oh...of course. I'm not doing anything important."
Emileigh went to sit down on the bed. She looked around and her eyes landed on the canvas that was set to one side of the room. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw Bryan in the canvas.
Lauren, noticing that Emileigh was distracted, turned her eyes in the direction that Emileigh was looking and she found the canvas. She had set it aside so it wouldn't be damaged. It was her plan to give it Emileigh when she had time to.
"Bryan?" Lauren asked.
Emileigh turned back to look at Lauren. She nodded.
"You miss him?"
Again, Emileigh nodded. "It's amazing what two weeks can do. We were always together during those two weeks. And well...I trust him, Lauren. But I'm scared that he'll get PTSD. It's not like it's going to scare me away, but I worry about him. And he's worried about it too. He told me he didn't want to come back because of that. He'd rather stay in his own little world than be different in this one."
Lauren thought about what she had said. "Look Aunt Emileigh. We won't know for sure until he comes back. Until then we can't really do anything. But he has to know that there are people here who care about him that will be willing to help him. Landon really cares about him and he would do anything for his uncle. By the way, has he written to you?"
"Not yet. But I'm anxious about it. I'm excited."
"That's good. Tell me when he sends you one, okay? That would definitely be exciting."
"Okay."
Emileigh hugged Lauren. Lauren hugged her back. "Thank you," Emileigh whispered to Lauren. "I know sometimes I'm not the best aunt, but I appreciate all you do."
"Oh, don't say that." Lauren said. "You're the best aunt anyone could ever have. You're like my best friend."
"Sometimes I wish you were my daughter."
Lauren thought back to the nightmare she had. "Sometimes I wish that, too. But that means we're being too hard on my mom."
"I know," she said. "But it doesn't hurt to dream."
Lauren gave her a small smile. "Yeah. It doesn't."