// as suggested by @Naty_the_fangirl Locked Away feat. Adam Levine goes great with this story :) //
You met Lauren in your freshman year of college when she sat next to you in one of your classes and sent a charming smile your way as she took the seat next to you. The first thing that grasped your attention was her raspy voice that radiated such confidence when she spoke about subjects that she was clearly passionate about. Her heart and soul were in it and anyone with eyes could see that. The only difference between them and you was that she only had eyes for you. The two of you bonded over many things you had in common, but that wasn't what made each of you stay together for the long run. It was your differences that really drew you together because you each completed a part of each other that the other didn't have. She was outspoken and very confident and you were that girl who could barely sputter out a word in front of a group of people, but she loved it. She loved it so much, she vowed to never leave you. She even went the extra mile to place a ring pop on your ring finger in declaration because lets face it, college students aren't in any position to by any type of engagement rings. Little did you know, future you wouldn't be in that position either.
At first, Lauren and you lived quite a good life. You were able to provide for each other with an enormous amount of love and with hot food on the table when you came home from work. You both managed to afford the bills that were necessities while you only struggled to keep the phone bill at a low cost, which was kinda impossible with the job Lauren had. She worked for a business that allowed her to work from home most of the time which worked in your favor because it allowed you to save money on gas; however, Lauren tended to make up for it on data.
She constantly had to send emails and was always on conference calls with someone, but you both compared it and that was cheaper, so you didn't complained much. ...but the key word in the whole situation was managed. You both managed to keep your life good and it wasn't easy by far. You had a good job at a market across town, which wasn't too far, but it still didn't work in your favor. You preferred to be working in an art studio doing what you loved and you know that Lauren would much rather be involved in the musical arts as well, but sadly, it doesn't always work that way. Even though you both had the proper qualifications to do so, thanks to you both attending NYU, opportunities just didn't come your way. So you both settled for your jobs at home and at the market across town.
Over the past few months, gas has been getting more expensive, Lauren has been taking more conference calls and the food portions on your plate have slowly been decreasing in size. You both know it, but refuse to say anything for the sake of trying to keep good spirits.
The worst part is, you were planing on proposing to her before it all went to shit. You had it all planned out and even had a separate jar set aside for buying the ring, but you had to use it all to provide food for a month. When Lauren had asked you where all this money suddenly came from, you had simply told her that it came from working overtime for the past couple months. Which wasn't at all a lie, but you failed to mention the part where you also picked up another job cleaning after art students in a local art studio every day. You just told Lauren that you have to say after work at the market, unload the trucks and put away the supplies. All together, she believed you.
However, that doesn't make you feel any better at all because lying is something that you never forgive yourself for. It's so much easier to tell the truth, but the whole part of a proposal is the surprise. For the sake of being traditional, you keep your mouth shut. Day after day, you put at least a few dollars aside, that you earn into tips, into the empty jar you hide under your side of the bed. Your tips plus the extra money coming in made the jar soon return to its full volume, which you were pleased to see.
It wasn't until a few weeks ago, you two started facing problems. Time became an absent thing for you as cleaning up after the art students began to become more challenging as they did bigger projects. The mess became bigger and the time you spent cleaning it up grew. Instead of getting home at a reasonable time of eight, you were now getting home around ten and that wasn't even the worst part.
Before you were struggling, you and Lauren would always meet for dinner at the table where your meals were big, but not nearly as big as the smiles on your faces. You'd talk about how you'd both open up an arts studio in the future where she would teach music and you would teach art, but you both knew that wasn't really possible. You'd clean up the table in content silence and then go to bed wrapped up in each other's warmth as if you would never get the opportunity again.
Lately, things took a turn. You'd get home late, with your plate filled with cold food and on the opposite side of the table was Lauren's empty plate. Instead of having her lovely accompany next to you, all you heard was the sound of the shower upstairs. You'd clean the plates off in looming silence and then enter the bedroom to see her back turned towards the door. Quietly, you'd change your clothes and then slide into bed behind her, kiss her shoulder and whisper a quiet I love you for only you to hear because she was fast asleep. And that was just how things became.
Sometimes you would get home early and things would be how they used to be because you both seemed to just pull to each other no matter how exhausted you each became. The only difference is now, your smiles don't quite reach your eyes and your laughs don't sound as bubbly. The silences aren't content, but rather you both fear them because you're afraid you both are holding back something to say. The food on your plate is not only smaller, but leftovers from previous nights that have lost their taste and now resemble cardboard. And when you both fall into bed, you both pull towards each other immediately and hold on so tight, as if the other would slip away if you didn't.
One thing that hasn't changed is every morning before you leave for work, you kiss her, say I love you and then add a see you soon because saying goodbye sounds like saying goodbye forever and you both know that will never be the case. And things didn't change this morning. You went through your routine and left to work at the market, but nothing could have every prepared you for what would happen when you arrived.
"Are you serious," you ask calmly, your boss standing, with his arms crossed in front of his chest, in front of you. His height catches you by a few inches, but that does little do deter you from the actual fact that he could crush you in his grasp.
"I'm sorry Y/N," he says softly, his brooding blue eyes piercing into yours like daggers. The only emotion you can find behind them is pity and sorrow, two things you can't stand. "We just can't afford to have anymore than three people behind the counter."
"B-but I can do anything else. I can clean tables or-or unload the truck for you. P-Please sir," you practically beg. "Please don't do this to me. I-I won't make it."
His face softens for a split second, but you know that it isn't for a good reason, but rather, he is pitying you as if he isn't the cause for all of this. And your point is proven when he opens his mouth to say, "You know I would, but I just can't afford to have anyone else working for me and I know you don't want to do it for free. I wouldn't ask you to do that."
You sigh, holding back the tears that are threatening to fall to down your face, "Okay. Okay I get it, but could you... could you please not tell anyone you fired me. I-I just don't want people to know right now. They already know I'm in a tough financial spot and this would make everything worse."
He nods understandingly, "Of course. I wouldn't share that information anyway."
"Thank you sir," you say wobbly, holding back some tears. You almost feel defeated. As if the whole thing is a sign of worse to come because this was so blind sided. Never did you see this happening and it's written blatantly on your face for him and everyone else to see.
"Don't beat yourself up over this," he adds. "This is my doing not yours, so if you need another job, I'm always here for a recommendation and I can always promise you that."
A smile graces your lips as you thankfully say, "That's means a lot. Thank you. I will definitely keep that in mind."
"In fact, I had you fired in the books months ago, but I just couldn't let you go until I absolutely had too," he says truthfully and your eyes go wide.
"You didn't do that for me did you," you ask.
"Of course I did, y/n," he responds with a smile. "Regardless of what you think, I have your best interest and when I say I care about the people who work for me, I mean it."
"But you didn't have to," you respond truthfully, shaking your head.
"But I did," he says, quickly hurrying to prevent you from dismissing him anymore.
"T-thankyou," you sputter out barely.
You share a few more words with him before before dismissing yourself from the conversation completely and walking back out through the doors your had just come in from. Your first thought is to run home and cry in your pillow because you have no clue how you are going to provide for Lauren and yourself now, but the other part of you knows that isn't a good a idea. Especially when Lauren is at home as well. You just don't think you can keep it together in front of her right now and you need to be strong.
Instead of wallowing around in sorrow, you decide to head over to the art studio and see if the morning classes are finished so maybe you can pick up some extra hours cleaning around. Of course there are other people for that, but maybe with a little prodding, you can get one of them to give up their shift for you. However, when you arrive, you discover that all classes had been canceled for the day, which means you will also not get paid for the day and that means you're pretty much screwed for this week.
"Dammit," you sigh to yourself as you take a seat in the seating area of the studio. You place your elbows on your knees and drop your head in your hands wondering just what you did to get yourself in this situation, but you reprimand yourself for thinking that way when you stupidly stumbled away from your dreams.
In the distance, you can hear heavy foot steps approaching you, but you don't think anything of it because it doesn't click in your mind that the place is closed. That is until you can see the shoes of the person in front of you and you begin to panic at first.
Quickly, you raise your head up to see the face of a man you know very well as, Harry, the teacher of the night classes you spend your time cleaning and immediately take a sigh of relief. You know him very well, in fact, he is probably one of your better friends that you've manage to keep throughout everything. He is well aware of your talent and skill in art, but he never has any job openings, so he can't really do anything about it himself and he always apologizes to you for it. Although he has tried numerous times to help you get into multiple fine arts studios, they aren't anywhere close to your home and you just can't afford it. He doesn't know that though because you intend to keep your financial struggle to yourself.
Today he isn't wearing his normal paint stained clothes, but he has replaced those with business casual attire: a button up shirt with the sleeves up to his elbows, some khakis and brown dress shoes. His blonde hair is brushed back from his face, revealing his golden brown eyes that you don't get to see too often and his normal stubbly chin is perfect shaved down to a proper length that suits him very well. He looks too nice to be hanging around here which probably leads to why the place is closed.
"Going somewhere fancy," you ask him with a smile as he returns the gesture.
"I wouldn't say fancy, but, yeah, something like that," he chuckles softly. "What's got you feeling down today?"
You sigh heavily, your shoulders slumping down in defeat and you curse yourself for how pathetic you look in front of him, but decide to be uninhibited for once, "My life is going to shit Harry."
He chuckles softly and takes the available seat next to you as he places a hand on your knee and pats it reassuringly. You offer him a soft smile as he begins to speak, "I'm sure it's all gonna be okay, y/n. What's going on?"
You sigh, chuckling in response to his over used response of everything is going to be okay when, indeed, it's not. Hesitantly, you ponder the thought of opening up to someone for once because holding back all the questions and secrets isn't good for you or Lauren, so you decided to remove the pressure off your chest for once and do what's best for yourself.
"I... um," you pause hesitantly when a thought strikes you.
Maybe you should have this conversation with Lauren first instead of Harry because it wouldn't be fair to go behind her back like this. The fact that she has no clue is already bad enough, but you can't keep lying to her. Lauren is your loyal, loving girlfriend and she deserves to know this more then anyone.
"Hey," he cuts in, offering a sympathetic look that you immediately shut down. You don't need someone to pity you. You need someone to understand and to help you through it.
"You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want too," he continues when he sees your inner struggle become evident in your body language.
You shake your head dismissively, "It's not that. It's just that if I tell you this, I feel bad because my own girlfriend doesn't even know this and it's not fair to her. She deserves to know this first because it involves her too."
He nods understandably and offers a soft smile which you return, "Maybe we could go out and grab some lunch and take your mind off of things and maybe then, if you feel up to it, you can try to talk about some things that your girlfriend already knows because your practically my best friend and I feel like I know nothing about you. In fact, I didn't even know you had a girlfriend up until this point, so you owe me some details."
You laugh genuinely for the first time all day and his bubbly chuckle joins in and for the first time in a while, you realize that even when the world is going to shit, moments like this make you want to stay alive for as long as you can.
"I'm sorry for all of that," you say truthfully. "I swear I wanted to tell you, but I'm just not open about a lot of things, but believe me, every time Lauren did something completely adorable I wanted to run and tell you about it."
"So Lauren's the lucky lady," he raises an eyebrow, "I wanna know about her if she makes you happy enough to come running to me."
"She does make me happy," you smile, a blush forming over your cheeks as you think about your girlfriend. "She makes me very happy Harry."
"Then we have a lot of catching up to do," he responds simply. "So how about lunch?"
"Um..." you chew on your bottom lip nervously. Suddenly, all you worries come back as the playful mood resides and you are left with the cold hard truth that is you can't even afford to go and get lunch with your best friend. "I- I don't think I can afford it, Harry. That's kinda part of the problem."
"Don't worry," he assures. "I was gonna offer to pay for you anyway because it was my idea in the first place."
"Harry-"
"-No buts, y/n," he cuts in, standing up to get ready to leave. "I wanna eat lunch with my best friend and I'm not gonna let a little but stop me."
"Fine," you sigh heavily, before falling into place next to him as you make your way through the door.
• • •
Lunch with Harry was exactly what you needed and you curse yourself for almost turning him down. Harry was the perfect listener and he had a good response to almost all of your brining questions. Talking to him was just easy and exactly the type of understanding you needed. Not the regular pity you get thrown at you. Although you didn't really talk with him about all of the things that were bothering you, you did share with him that you were planing on proposing and had saved up change in a jar for almost a year now. He was quite endeared by the idea and supported it one hundred percent.
In fact, he was quite surprised to find out how serious you and Lauren were due to the fact that he hadn't heard a thing about her, which you apologized for over and over again to no avail. He understood where you were coming from for the most part, which did ease your bubbling anxiety about the whole concept. However, when you found out the real reason you had been asked to lunch, you couldn't believe what luck you had.
"So the reason I'm dressed all spiffy and what not is because I actually got an offer to take over a studio closer to my house on the other side of town," he says suddenly, your train of thought coming to a complete stop. "And I got the job."
"Y-you're kidding," you ask in disbelief, a slight ball forming in your gut.
His face falls a little, "Um... nope. I'm serious about this."
"But, the studio and all the students-"
"Will be perfectly fine," he cuts you off assuringly. "In fact that's kind of the point I asked you to lunch today."
Your eyebrows knit together, "What? Like a one last time thing, or?"
"No," he chuckles, shaking his head. "I can assure you that you haven't seen the last of me."
Your lips curl up into a smile for a split second before the crushing realization hits that your job is probably at risk now and you don't think you can take another let down today. You just won't make it any further.
"But, what I want to ask you was how you would feel about taking my position and teaching the students," he continues and you swear that you are dreaming and have accidentally knocked your head on something. Your eyes blink rapidly and your heart falls into your stomach, metaphorically of course.
"W-what," you sputter out. "How can you do that?"
"Well," he starts, "I remembered when you and I had a conversation about college at one point and you shared with me that you had all the qualifications to be an art instructor, but hadn't had any luck, so while I was looking for different places to place in a good recommendation for you, I came across a studio down from my house that offers the same pay as here, but is just more convenient for my wife and I. The idea struck me that if I took that job offer and decided to leave, than I would be more than happy to leave the studio in your hands."
You swear if you could have had a heart attack on impulse, you would have as one at this exact moment. The look on your face is one of pure surprise and shock and he can see that. In fact, he decides to speak up again to maybe regain your attention by saying, "So, are you gonna take it?"
For a second, you contemplate declining the offer, only because you feel as though you couldn't do that to Lauren. She's struggling with her job that she can barely stand while you are about to get the offer of your dreams. You just feel a little guilty about the whole thing, but in your heart, you know that taking the offer is the right thing to do.
"Hell yeah," you say excited, a smile breaking out onto your lips. "Oh my god, Harry. You just saved my life."
He laughs softly, the happiness evident on his face, "I'm glad I could help, y/n."
You begin to bounce up and down in your seat again because not only is this amazing news, but it also opens up multiple doors for you to finally get on with marrying the love of your life. With a burst of joy, you hop up from your chair and make your way over to Harry's side of the table and crush him in a hug. A hug he happily returns with a smile.
"Thank you. Thank you so much," you say into his shoulder, tears making their way down your cheeks due to the overwhelming emotions taking over.
"No problem," he says, pulling you tighter to his chest. "I'd do anything for my best friend. Even if you are a turd to me most of the time."
You begin to laugh and wipe away the tears as you pull back from the hug, "You just ruined the moment."
He chuckles, "Get over it. I'm allowed to do whatever I want. Speaking of that, I give you full rights to the building, which means it's yours to do whatever with. And since you tell me Lauren is quite the musical prodigy, why don't we see what we can do about opening up another class for her to do her thing?"
And there is that heart attack feeling in your chest again.
"Are you fucking serious, Harry," you say quite loudly, but not loud enough to alert anyone around you.
"Deadly," he says in return and just when you thought things couldn't get any better, he decides to pull you in for another hug, which you immediately fall into because there hasn't been a moment in your life where you felt like everything was going to be okay. And then suddenly, your best friend changes everything.
"I love you so much Harry," you say into his shoulder, pulling him tightly to your chest.
"I love you too loser," he says, once agin ruining the moment. "Now enough with this sappy show. Go home and give your girlfriend the news."
You didn't have to be told twice. If you could have flown to your house, you would've, but since that isn't possible, you decide to settle for going ten over the speed limit to get home as soon as possible. You only manage to miss one stop sign.
• • •
"Babe I'm home," you yell out as you walk through the front door of your home.
You wait a few moments for an answer you normally receive, but then you remember that you are home a little earlier than usual, so maybe Lauren is busy on a phone call. Without overthinking anything, you walk into the kitchen to see if that is where she has decided to spend her time, but when you round the corner, you are met with empty space. You immediately furrow your eyebrows as you backtrack to where you just where to go upstairs into your bedroom.
It isn't until you reach the top that you hear some sniffling coming from the bedroom. Quietly, you tip toe over to the entrance and peek in to see your girlfriend laying in the bed with the covers up to her neck and her phone perched in her hand where she is furiously typing. What catches you off guard is the tears running down her gorgeous face and you immediately decide to make your presence known.
"Lauren," you say softy, gaining no reaction from her whatsoever. "What's wrong baby?"
Again, you receive no answer from the girl who is still typing away at that damn phone. Something has her pissed off and you'd be lying if you said that didn't worry you ever so slightly, but then you remember what you came here for and how it might change her mood.
"I... I umm. I got some news-"
"-who is he," she cuts you off before you could ever finish your sentence. It catches you so off guard that you have to run through your head the context of the questions she's asking. You don't recall a he and you definitely don't know why she would be so hostile about it.
"I don't know what your-"
"-please don't sit here and give me some bullshit y/n," she pleads as she powers off her phone and sits up in the middle of the bed. "Dinah and Normani went to get some lunch today and t-they said they saw you with another g-guy in the place. T-They said you two were v-very close and they swear they even heard you tell him you l-loved him."
And then suddenly all the pieces fall into place and you know that you are in some deep shit because you've never uttered a word to her about Harry because how were you supposed to without giving up that you had been working at an art studio? This is about to get bad because every logical reason you have to give is gonna sound like a pathetic lie to her because she is gonna be blind sided with all of this information.
You open your mouth to speak, but nothing comes out but air and Lauren begins to break down even more because she takes that as a confession and that's all she needs to know that she is right.
"I knew something was up m-months ago when you started coming home late and making up some excuse about staying late to unload the truck. And I wanted to be wrong, b-but I called the market to ask for you one day and t-they told me you had been fired for months and I j-just... what did I do that was so wrong y/n? I know we're not rich and things aren't going so great, but god... I'm trying. I'm trying so hard and you just... you just keep telling me these lies and I wonder why I'm fighting so hard for someone who may not even be mine anymore."
And with her last words, the tears fall harder and harder down her face while the pain in your chest begins to clutch down even more. In all your life, you've never been so blind sided with all of this information. Lauren has been speculating that you are cheating on her for months and she couldn't be more wrong, but her story sound so solid because half of it is lies. Lies that you dug yourself into and now have to get yourself out of.
Without a second thought, you walk over to the bed to sit next to the sobbing girl and immediately take her into your arms. Just like she always has, she melts into your embrace and breaks down completely. She grasps your shirt in her fist and buries her face into your neck and you just hold her tight while waiting on the perfect moment to explain everything when she is in her right mind.
However, as if something shifts in the air, she drops your shirt and removes her head out of your neck. Her eyes raise up to yours and the remorse and pure anger behind them scares you to no end. You take a hard swallow as she shifts her jaw and begins to slowly draw away from you as if the thought of you being with someone else has now just set in with her.
"You even smell like men's cologne," she spits at you, her teeth clenched. Of course you would smell like men's cologne. You hugged Harry after he gave you the best news of your life.
That's it. Fuck it. You think as you begin to jump up from the bed and pace on the carpeted floor. You run your hand through your disheveled hair as you begin to gather your thoughts. You have no idea where to start and it's not helping that Lauren is shooting daggers through you with her eyes the whole time. I am attempt to talk without over thinking anything, you settle for the word vomit coming out of your mouth.
"I-I know you're probably really pissed at me and y-you have every right to be, but I can promise you that you have this all wrong," you say and she begins to open her mouth to speak, but you hold up your hand to stop her from interrupting further. "Please, just let me finish."
For a second, she stares you down with her dark eyes that are pouring hatred and you almost pass out from the pressure in your head and chest. However, she then nods softly and your resolve completely relaxes as you try and regain your calm composure.
"I'm gonna say a lot of shit and it's not gonna make since to you because it's gonna be new, but can you please just hear me out? And then you can do all the yelling and screaming you want," she nods again so you stop pacing and continue while facing her completely. In a sense, it makes you feel more vulnerable. "Okay so back when I got my job at the market, I began to realize just how much the financial situation was taking a toll on us. I saw how if we didn't get our acts together, we might have never even been able to make it as far as we have. It was then that I decided to get a job on the side to help us out. I didn't tell you about it because that wasn't the only reason I got the job. I also got the job because..."
You pause for a moment, contemplating on telling her about the proposal because aren't they supposed to be a surprise? Hell, you've got to throw everything on the line for this because this is probably a make or break argument for your relationship. Even though there is no actual reason to be arguing.
"Because I was planning to propose to you and I didn't have any money to buy a ring," you hear a quiet gasp fall from her lips, but you still continue. "I found a job at an art studio where I would have to clean up after the students and it paid enough money for me to put on the side as a fund to be able to by you a ring when the time was right. It was that same fund I pulled the money out of that one time we desperately needed it... and that he you were asking me about earlier is my best friend Harry, who I met at the art studio."
She furrows her thick eyebrows at you and her green eyes begin to slowly puddle with understanding and you'd be lying if you said that didn't give you hope that she would soon understand the truth.
"If he is your best friend, why don't I know about him," she asks the obvious question and you remember not to over think it and just speak.
"For the same reason he didn't know about you until today at lunch," you say honestly and you can tell that just confuses her even more. "I didn't know how to tell you that I met him without giving away that I had a job on the side and I didn't tell him about you because I didn't want him constantly asking to meet you and me having to shut him down because I'd be scared he'd say something that would give it away."
"And the whole situation about lunch with him happened because I got fired from the market this morning."
She gives you a puzzled look, "But when I called, they said you got fired months ago."
"My boss told me this morning that he had written in the books that I was fired months ago because he couldn't have more than three people working behind the counter. However, he just couldn't let me go apparently, so he kept me working there on the down low without my knowledge. He probably just told you I was fired because he couldn't say that I was working there, essentially, illegally."
A flash of understanding crossed her face and everything begins to take a notch down from that hostile spot it was at moments ago.
With a deep breath, you continue, "And it was because I got fired that I went to the art studio today to see if I could pick up an extra shift, but when I got there it was closed. Then Harry shows up from an interview and we talked a bit and then he offered to move our conversation to lunch and I told him that I couldn't afford it, but he said he would pay, so I couldn't exactly decline. And then when I got there he gave me some news and I was so excited that I hugged him and told him I loved him, which explains the smell and what Dinah and Normani over heard."
"What was the news," she asks curiously, her eyes much brighter and her body language less hostile as she slowly moves over in the bed to ask you to come sit next to her.
You sigh for a moment and ponder telling her what you came here to do, but you wanna make sure that she understands your side of the story before you move any further.
"I just," you say while moving towards the bed and sliding next to her, taking her hand in your own as you search for her eyes and plead for understanding. "I just want to know that I am forgiven and that you understand that I will never, ever cheat on you because no one else compares to you, Lauren. You are my absolute everything and I would never trade that for the world. I love you with all of my being and I swear to god that I will never ever treat you wrong in any way. I would never forgive myself if I did and I'm sorry I made you feel this way and I will spend every last minute making it up to you... and as far as me being someone else's, that couldn't be anymore further from the truth because you have my entire heart wrapped up within yours and I wouldn't want it any other way.... and I'm sorry I can't afford to shower you with gifts and I know I can't always be around, but just know that I'd never leave you to go looking for better. I'd never, ever come close to finding it because you are the best thing that has ever happened to me and I'd be stupid to throw it all away for someone who is half as amazing as you."
You can tell that Lauren is speechless by the desperate look on her face as she tries to find the words to say, but none seem to come up. Instead, she settles for crashing her lips into yours in a soft, heated kiss that conveys everything she has been feeling for the time words were never enough. Her hands tangle themselves in your hair as she tries to hold onto you in a way that keeps the thought in her mind that she hasn't lost you. That you aren't anyone else's. You are still hers. And it's that thought alone that brings tears to the brim of her eyes. With your hands, you bring them up to her cheeks and cup her face tenderly as you pull away with your forehead resting on hers. It's silent for a few moments as the feeling of being with each other is enough to satisfy the air between you two.
Although she breaks that silence when she utters the words, "I love you," you swear it's like falling in love all over again every time you hear her say those words. A smile breaks across your face and she mimics it as you lean in and place a small peck on her lips before pulling away and wiping her eyes with the pads of your thumbs.
"So," you say quietly, "am i forgiven?"
She laughs softly and shakes her head, "Of course you idiot, although you still need to tell me the news to be completely forgiven."
"Okay then," you smile.
And so you spill it. Every last detail that Harry told you is relayed to Lauren and she takes it ten times better than you did. You can barely get your words out through the bursts of happiness she experiences and the smile on your face has never been more genuine than it is right now. The thought alone of you two being able to have your own studio and make a better living for yourself has you on a high like no other. You can tell your other half is feeling the same way from the little dancing fit she is doing across the room to some music she has placed on. This is such a turn of events from what you walked home to and you wouldn't have it any other way.
As you lay back against the headboard of the bed with your arms crossed behind your head, watching your girlfriend flop around the room with nothing but a t-shirt and underwear on, you decide that you are more than ready to spend the rest of your life with this girl.
Your thoughts get reassured as she crosses the room towards you, crawls up the bed and over your legs to places both of her arms on either side of you. And with a smile on her face, she leans forward and places a kiss on your lips and you melt into the feeling immediately. It only last seconds before she grabs your wrist and pulls you towards her in a effort to try and get you to dance with her. You try and keep your tough resolve, but you melt seconds later and begin dancing along to the beat of the song.
Little did you both know that it would only take two months to be able to purchase the ring of your choice and a little more than a month after that to actually work up the courage to ask. Harry helped you plan out the whole thing with a little help from Normani and Dinah here and there. Surprisingly, they only wanted to punch you once when they found out who Harry actually was and how you held it from Lauren for months. You were quite thankful for that.
But of course, Lauren said yes and you thought you couldn't get any happier until you heard her utter those words out loud because then it was almost certain that you were both on the path to becoming each other's forever and that thought alone was one that had you smiling like an idiot.
Spending the rest of your life with Lauren was everything you wanted and more. You used to think happiness was just a fictional thing made up by authors, but now as you are about to marry the girl of your dreams with your best friend standing behind you and all your loved ones cheering you on, you decide happiness doesn't have to be a feeling. It can be physical.
And your happiness comes in the form of a human and goes by the name Lauren Jauregui.
• • •
Hey guys. Surprise I'm not dead! Although sometimes I feel like I am. I know it's been a couple months, but I hope I make up for it with this long ass one shot that is almost 7000 words, making it the longest I've ever written on here. But enough of that. I wanted to take the time to say thank you to each and every one of you who have voted, commented, and followed me because you guys have made my whole damn year just by caring enough to click a button. Thanks so much. I don't know when I'm gonna be able to update again because I'm starting softball season and I'm failing two classes and my anxiety is being a little bitch, but I hope you nuggets have an amazing day/night!
ps, this isn't edited yet, so don't be too picky about that. also sign of the times is fucking amazing so go download it