8 years later...
I awoke to the sound of aggressive tapping, I blinked away the crust in my eyes and rolled to the left. The clock read 8:30, it felt good to sleep in on a weekday. I'd taken the day off to spend it with my best friend who had just graduated from Harvard yesterday, I was so proud of her. Lauren had finally finished law school and was already hired at a big firm starting next week. She was working with children, adoption and family law because she wanted to help kids escape people and families who were dangerous and didn't provide them with the love they deserved.
I knew this choice was all because of her upbringing with her aunt. Lauren was ready to dedicate the rest of her life to helping children escape a living situation that she'd gone through so they could go on and hopefully find love and success in their futures.
I rolled to the right and my eyes caught sight of black volleyball shorts, a white Harvard t-shirt and a bright screen illuminating Lauren's face next to me. She was arched over the laptop, the words reflecting on her round reading glasses. Her curly brown hair was in a messy ponytail and she was biting her lip, deep in concentration. Even in the morning she was beautiful, hell any time of day she was.
I still couldn't believe I'd gotten her, I couldn't believe she was my girlfriend. I couldn't believe that we'd lived together for the last four years in this apartment together. I loved waking up next to her and falling asleep beside her. I loved holding her close as we fell asleep together every night, I loved smiling at her while she slept, I loved everything about her.
This morning I decided to toy with her, I had to see her smile. "Lauren," I groaned, "stop that infernal tapping, I can't stand it." I buried my face into the pillow.
"Sorry Luke, but I've gotta finish this report, I have to send it out by Monday." Lauren didn't look at me, her eyes were padlocked on the screen.
I sat up and wrapped my arms around her, nestled her onto my lap and kissed her soft cheek, "take a break, you need it." I mumbled into her ear.
"Today's the day I finish, then we can do whatever you want tomorrow, I promise." By the tone in her voice she wanted to pull away from me but her body wouldn't listen.
I slightly tightened my grip around her little waist and kissed her neck, Lauren leaned back into me and her head rested on my shoulder. "Luke...you've gotta stop, I need to finish—" Lauren protested but her voice died away as I worked my way up her neck, nearing her lips, she gasped and pushed herself even more into me.
"Luke, not now," Lauren's voice came out in a hoarse whisper as I kissed her cheek. I rested my lips on hers, I felt her kiss me back then jerk away. "Gods, you taste disgusting." Lauren pretended to gag, I fought every desire in my body not to kiss her again.
"You don't taste so good yourself," I smirked.
Lauren rolled her eyes, "oh yeah, what do I taste like?"
I scooted closer to her and closed the laptop, "work. It tastes like morning."
Lauren rolled her eyes and reached for her laptop, I snagged it away just before her fingers could touch it. "Luke give it back, I have to finish." Lauren reached for it but I hid it behind my back.
"You said you're going to send it out on Monday. Please Laur, it's Friday. The day after graduation, you should be out celebrating. I took the day off to spend it with you, not to watch you work. You can wait one day then you can finish it. Now come on, get dressed I've got a fun day planned out for us." I took the laptop, rounded the corner to the bathroom and locked the door.
I hid the laptop in the cabinet beneath the sink, "fine, I'll wait a day. Where are we going?" I heard Lauren call from the bedroom.
"It's a surprise sweetheart," I teased her, I threw on black shorts and a green shirt, brushed my teeth and hair then walked to see Lauren in her navy blue Birkenstocks, jean shorts and a stripped navy blue and white cropped shirt. She'd taken her hair out of its ponytail and left it down, I liked it down the best.
"Ready to go?" She asked.
"I took her hand, "yep, you're gonna love it." I took her outside, ready for a fun filled day.
---
"Ok, the museum was too much, now you want to go to dinner?" Lauren asked as she flopped onto the bed, I copied her move and plopped down next to her.
"Yep! Tonight, the two of us are celebrating. I also have some plans drawn up for a new house in northern Massachusetts and I was hoping you'd like to see them." I played with her fingers, hoping she'd say yes. Lauren loves to see my work, she says it's nice to think about a real house outside of this apartment.
I knew what she thought of every time she saw my drawings, her dream house, the one she'd told me about when we were sixteen. Neither of us had spoken about it since then but I'm glad she'd told me about it. I thought about that memory a lot before I drifted off to sleep.
"Of course I wanna see it, can I see it now?" Lauren sat up and looked around for the travel case I had whenever I brought plans home.
"Not yet, but I'm glad you're so eager. Our reservation is at seven, we have to look nicer than we usually do though."
I stood up to grab my suit and tie hanging in the closet. "Wow, dressing up tonight are we?" Lauren joked.
"Yes, it's a very nice place, now you need to put on dress, t-shirts and shorts don't cut it." I laughed, as I took my shirt off to change into my suit. Lauren's eyes fell on me like I was a magnet, I looked down, my abs were showing due to the years of training at Camp.
Biting my lip and smirking at her, I watched her blush deeply and pretend she was staring at our comforter on the bed.
"I find it hard to believe that the comforter is more appealing than all this." I teased her and heard her giggle.
"Cocky much?" Lauren met my eyes, her cheeks were cherry red. She looked adorable.
"You know you can't resist me, sweetheart." I flirted and walked towards her. She bit her lip and her eyes eyes darkened. I stood just before her and slipped my hands around her waist. Pulling her closer to me and she touched my scar, it felt like being shocked with electricity. Not because it hurt, because of her soft, delicate hands tracing over it.
"I can certainly try." She whispered and looked up at me with those gorgeous eyes of hers. A twinkle glinted in them and my heart raced. "But the question is, will you be able to resist me?" Her eyes moving from the scar to mine, all the while her delicate fingers danced over my scar and skin.
"Maybe I can." I whispered into her ear, then kissed her neck. I heard her gasp and her body reacted instantly.
"Luke." She breathed against my skin.
I pressed my lips gently to the scar under her eye, feeling her relax under my gentle, feather like kisses. Feeling the jagged skin on my lips as I was reminded of the time when her aunt Tia had thrown a bottle at her when she was ten. After Lauren left the house for college, Tia sold their house and bolted, no one had heard or seen her since.
"I win." I smirked and pushed her down, smashing my lips to hers. Lauren leaned closer to me, and wrapped her arms around my neck. Passion ignited between us and we wanted more. I wanted to skip dinner and hold her like this for the rest of the night. But I had to stick to my plan, hopefully, if all goes well, I'll be kissing her as long as she wants me to after dinner.
Her fingers rubbed my scar, causing me to kiss her harder, I needed to stop, but I didn't want to. She made a moaning sound from the back of her throat and I kissed her harder. She leaned back and pulled me with her, I kissed her hard on the mouth and felt her press into me as we deeper into the bed. I kissed her collarbone and she let out a loud exhale I pulled her even closer into me, trying to make us one. Lauren kissed my neck and I lifted up her shirt, feeling her soft, toned body rub against mine.
Then the voice in my head scolded me I pulled away, "no, we're gonna be late for dinner Laur. We can finish this later." I panted.
Lauren was breathing heavily she opened her eyes, she seemed to wake up,from her daze. "Yeah, yeah we should stop."
I wanted to kiss her again, her adorable little face was all red, she was flustered and it was super cute, "we will finish this later."
I stood up, forcing myself not to look at her cause I knew that if I did, we definitely wouldn't make dinner. I pulled on my suit and tie, I stood by the door holding my new plans for the house I wanted to show Lauren.
I waited for her at the door, when she came into view I think my heart stopped. She was wearing an elegant royal blue dress that hugged her middle. Her wild brown hair was resting past her shoulders and she was still wearing the moon and star necklace that I'd gotten her for her seventeenth birthday. She looked like a goddess, she was angel and best of all, she was mine. "Wow, you look amazing Laur,"
"Thanks, you look very handsome, where are we going for dinner?" Lauren got straight to the point.
"That's a surprise, come on, our reservation is in twenty minutes."
We took a cab to the coast line to a small restaurant on the water. White lights hung everywhere, the ocean waves crashed below the restaurant, the building was small, it looked like one of those huts you see in the Caribbean. Everyone was very dressed up, but no one looked as beautiful as Lauren did. Our table was outside at the end of the deck, we had a perfect view of the ocean and the sun setting behind it. I did the gentleman gesture of pulling the chair out for Lauren and pushing her in. "Thank you." Lauren smiled which lit up the room.
"You're welcome, so, what do you think? Pretty nice isn't it?"
Lauren looked around, "it's perfect, I love it. Thanks Luke, this is amazing, how did you afford all this?"
"If there's one thing I'm good at, it's saving money. And you deserve the best." I took her hand across the table.
Lauren's face blushed red, gods she was cute when she did that. "Aw, you're so sweet, thank you." Lauren tripped over her words which was almost as cute as when she blushes.
We ordered our food, talked about work and this week, eventually our conversation drifted away and we reminisced over our favorite memories from the past. Lauren and I both ordered filet mignon for dinner and it was the best piece of steak I've ever had. "Do you have those plans? I really wanna see them." Lauren's beautiful eyes pleaded at mine.
"Ok, I think you've waited long enough. But be honest when you tell me what you really think about them." I opened the top of the case and handed her the plans. Lauren opened them slowly and let out a gasp, she covered her mouth.
"Luke...how did you?" Lauren's eyes filled with tears as she flipped through the various sketches of the house I'd designed.
"Do you like it?" I asked, already knowing the answer.
"It's, its, exactly how I pictured it. Rooms, furniture, the house in all, how...how did you remember all this?" Her voice was on the verge of tears, what I'd just given her was a plan for a house entitled Lauren's House. I'd bought a piece of land in northern Massachusetts that looked exactly like what Lauren had described the landscape of her dream house to be. I'd been working on this in my free time for the last two months.
"I remembered everything you said to me about that house. You told me about it when we were sixteen, and everyday since then, I've always thought about it. I've been picturing it in my mind for years." I put my hand in my pocket and pulled out a little blue box. I stepped out if my chair and got down on one knee.
"Lauren, since the day we met in first grade there's always been something about you that had me from the start. And three years later when we were ten, I made a promise to myself that I would do whatever it took to make you happy, to see you smile and hear you laugh. And when we were sixteen, after you told me about this house I knew that I was going to be the one to make that dream a reality. Lauren, I want you to get everything you want in life because you deserve the world, but there is one thing that I can't give you. I can't let you live in that house by yourself. I want to be there with you, I want to be the one who you take that first step through the door with. I love you so much Lauren Winters, and I would do anything to make you happy and to spend the rest of my life with you. Lauren Topanga Winters, will you make me the happiest man alive, and marry me?"
Lauren's eyes were filled with tears, two were streaking down her face and her hands were cupped over her mouth. I could see the smile in her eyes, but I was terrified that she would say no.
"Yes!" I heard her whisper, she nodded her head frantically, "yes, yes I will!" I stood up and she leaped into my arms, she kissed me passionately. I hugged her tightly in my arms, never wanting to let go. I shut my eyes to keep the tears from falling but nothing could stop us both from crying tears of joy.
I heard people applauding in the restaurant. My vision of Lauren was fuzzy with tears but I could still see that big smile on her face, I'm sure mine was just the same. I slipped the silver banded ring on her finger with a small sapphire to top it off. Helen and Sammy did a great job making my design a realty.
I kissed her again, she pulled me close, today had been the best day ever. The first day of the rest of my life had begun, and I'd get to spend it with my best friend, my wife, who was now Lauren Jackson.