The day seemed to drag on way too long for my liking but eventually lunch rolled around and I would be allowed to stay in my office for an extended period of time, which means I would be able to be with Lauren again for the first time since this morning. I all but ran to my office and closed the door behind me quietly after I entered, seeing Lauren still asleep in my seat. My heart somewhat hurt knowing that she probably didn't get enough sleep because she was too worried about what she did to cause me to make the decision I did. She looked so tired and that was immensely easy to tell just with one look at her. I sighed to myself and took my coat off to place it on the rack in the corner by my desk. I grabbed my lunch and a drink from the mini-fridge at the corner of the room all while looking to make sure that I hadn't woken Lauren up just yet. I knew eventually she had to eat because she was compromising her health but for some reason I couldn't find it in myself to wake her up.
I sat in one of the chairs in front of my desk as I prepared my lunch to eat. Eventually I would have to feed Lauren as well but I just wanted to get everything prepared before she woke up so that there would be no time wasted later. When I had everything set up, I finally stood up and brushed my pants off so that I could go wake Lauren up from her deep slumber. I crouched down once I was next to the chair and placed my hand on one of Lauren's curled up legs. I softly shook the smaller girl and called out her name equally as soft so that I wouldn't end up startling her. It took a couple minutes but eventually I found myself able to wake emerald eyed beauty who immediately yawned while rubbing those same forest colored eyes. I sat back on my heels and watched with a smile on my face as Lauren continued to try to wake herself up. It took another couple of second before she met my gaze. "Y/N?" She whispered.
"Come on, we're going to eat." I held out my hand for Lauren to grab to which she did hesitantly. My smile widened now that she was cooperating and she had said my name. I missed the sound of her voice, and I didn't know how much I did until this point. I slowly stood to my feet as Lauren stood from the chair only to fall into me. I quickly braced around her waist but it wasn't hard to miss the fact that she couldn't put any weight on her foot. I didn't see which one it was but I knew this wasn't good. "Are you okay? Did you get hurt somewhere?" I rattled off some questions as the worst popped into my mind. Had she gotten hurt while she tried to come find me during the night or did something happen in here while I was with patients? I was fearing the worst but Lauren quickly shook her head while looking down at her feet. I paid close attention to her eyes in hopes that I could decipher some kind of emotion, but I couldn't come up with anything.
Lauren stomped her foot on the ground several times. A grunt left her lips but I was still lost as all hell. When the raven haired beauty finally looked back into my eyes, an almost sheepish look spread across her face which only piqued my confusion. "M-My leg- My leg just- My leg just fell a-asleep." Lauren admitted as her cheeks warmed into a reddened blush. The chuckle that escaped my lips came out way too relieved, but Lauren didn't pick up on that as she spotted the lunch on the other side of the desk. "I'm so- I'm so hungry!" Just like that, her childish antics were back as if this morning never happened. This reminded me of the times I brought her into work with me while she was still staying with me; even though it wasn't that long ago. I snapped out of my daze to lead the shorter girl over the two seats on the opposite side of the desk where I sat down and motioned to the seat next to me for Lauren to do the same. Instead of sitting in the chair next to me, Lauren plopped herself down in my lap which sent me through a loop due to the fact that it was so unexpected for me.
Nonetheless, I wrapped an arm around Lauren's back to make sure she didn't fall off of my lap as she took it upon herself to dig into the food that I had already prepared. The emerald eyed girl leaned back into my front as she happily munched on the chicken I brought for lunch, and she even reached back to give me a bite every so often. It was as if nothing had changed between the two of us. Lauren had practically laid her whole body against my own but there was no way in hell I was going to complain about that now. No part of me was going to complain about anything related to Lauren because in no way did I want to take her for granted again. It was simple moments like this that I didn't even realize I was missing out on, but I knew they meant the world to me. Lauren could go back to hating me after this, or even just not talking to me, but I knew that for right now in this point in time, I was happy to be spending this time with her. There were no words exchanged between us but for me that wasn't really important right now.
That was the majority of how the two of us spent lunch together; Lauren leaning back against me as she practically laid down and ate, feeding me a bite every so often. As soon as we had finished the food, Lauren set everything back on the desk before climbing until her whole body was in my lap, her forehead against the side of my jaw. She had pulled herself into a position in which she was sitting sideways on my lap with her legs pulled up to rest over the opposite of the chair's armrest. I had my arm resting over the top of her shins as she laid there and this was a position that I never wanted to leave. I smiled to myself, slightly lowering my head so that I could see Lauren a bit clearer. She was still hidden away in my neck but that didn't stop me from trying. I poked Lauren's sides which caused her to squirm, but I knew she was trying her hardest not to move an inch. I chuckled to myself and did it again which elicited a small squeal that the younger girl tried to cover up.
I chuckled to myself and decided to stop teasing the shorter girl. Instead, I wrapped my arms around her waist before looking at the clock to the left of us. I only had another five minutes before I had to go back to tending to patient's and I really wasn't looking forward to leaving again. I had just gotten Lauren to talk to me and now I had to leave again, which could possibly mean that Lauren may not want to cooperate later on. I didn't know how much she wanted to interact with me after everything that has happened but all I could do now was hope that she wouldn't want to push me away even further. There wasn't anything I could do to really change her mind so I just had to wait. I sighed to myself once I realized I had gotten lost in my thoughts so much to the point that I had to go back to work. I stood up from the chair which elicited another squeal from the smaller girl in my arms. Lauren clutched onto me even tighter but looked at me in confusion when I turned around to set her back in the same chair I had just stood up from.
"I have to go back to work for a little bit but I'll be back soon. After that we can get some dinner if you'd like. Does that sound okay?" I asked hesitantly as Lauren looked away from my eyes and down to the floor. I crouched down in front of her so that we could be level but the shorter girl was dead set on avoiding my eyes. I knew that the second I had to return to work, Lauren would go back into her shell and not want to interact with me. The thought was depressing but that also meant that I just had to try harder to get her to talk to me again. I didn't know how much longer she would want to put up with my shit but like I had said before; all I could do was hope for the best just like I've been doing. So with a heavy sigh, I reached to cup my hand around the back of Lauren's neck so that I could bring her closer to me before I planted a small kiss on her hairline. When I pulled away and stood up, I was surprised to see Lauren actually follow me with her eyes. "I'll see you in a little bit. I promise."
I knew how much Lauren valued promises so this was obviously a big deal to her. I watched as her eyes widened slightly at the sound of my promise to her but she was actually really good at masking her emotions when she wanted to. The surprised and hopeful look quickly vanished as soon as I saw it and all I received in return was a curt nod before the green eyes beauty looked away from me once more. With one last fleeting look, I closed the door behind me as I left to tend to more patients for the day. I went up to the reception desk to grab my next patient chart which effectively caught Camila's attention. She smiled warmly up at me with a small wave. "Hey Y/N/N. How are you today?" The small tapping sounds of the keyboard took over between us as the shorter Cuban had to enter in whatever she needed to do on the computer.
"Oh, just peachy." I replied in a dry tone. With a roll of her eyes, Camila let out a snort in return to my lame sense of humor. I watched as she tilted her head to the side which was supposed to have just been to herself. I closed the file in my hands before turning to face the small Cuban sat in her chair. Camila was leaned up against the counter in front of her and was facing me, her arms crossed and holding her up. Her eyebrow was kinked up on her forehead to show just how amused she really was with me and my dry humor. I looked to my side to make sure nobody was waiting for me before looking back at one of my best friends. My lips thinned into a small line since I knew that Camila had some kind of retort getting ready to come out at any moment. I just had to brace myself for what was to come.
What surprised me the most though, was that the next voice I heard didn't come from the small Cuban in front of me. Both Camila and I looked to the side once Normani had made herself known by calling out my name. When I saw her though, she looked like she had almost just seen a ghost. "Y/N." Normani repeated before looking behind her. "Is that- Lauren is here. In your office. What's going on?" Camila gasped as soon as she heard Lauren's name coming from our friend's lips. I knew she was looking between Normani and I like she was watching a tennis match but all I could do was sigh in return, nodding my head to confirm both of their suspicions. Their wide eyes were trained on me as they were searching for an explanation. As far as they knew, Lauren hated me. While that still may have been true, I don't think any of us expected her to show up at the office.
"Look guys, I don't have a lot of time to talk right now because I have patients but Lauren was sitting by the locked doors this morning when I showed up and she was crying her eyes out. We can talk about it later but we have patients that we have to see. Let's go." I waved for Normani to follow me into the room where the other nurse already was. Dinah turned towards us once we entered the room and I watched as she tried to smile at me in a flirty way. Completely uncomfortable, I ignored her passes at me and tried to focus on the task at hand; which was taking care of this little girl because she was sick and not feeling well. "Let's see what's going on." I softened my voice in order to address the small two year old that was cuddled up against her father's chest. I pulled up the small stool and sat down next to the patient's father so that she wouldn't feel even more uncomfortable.
You learn that in a profession like this, babies always run the show no matter what. If I can slide by an appointment without pissing the baby off, then I'm sliding through the rest of the day with relative ease. With my nurses working around me I was able to really talk with the parents to see what was going on. In all honesty it was great to kind of sit back and only be in charge of documenting everything while having someone else - or two other people - do all the heavy lifting. For an appointment right after lunch, it went along very smooth and better than I could have hoped for. I ruffled the hair of the little girl before standing up from my chair and heading towards the door. "If you have any problems with the antibiotics, please do not hesitate to call the office and we will fix it." I smiled before exiting the room and heading towards reception so that I could drop off the file. Camila was handling a family so she wasn't really available to talk at the moment. I just grabbed the next patient file and made my way to the next room.
That's how the rest of my day went; filing in and out of patient rooms providing various types of treatment options pertaining to all of their symptoms. Normani and Dinah would do all of the heavy lifting type work in obtaining vitals and everything else that was needed to test the patients' conditions while I basically pushed paper all day. I tried to ignore Dinah's advances as much as I could but that didn't seem to deter her at all. It lasted up until the last patient of the day, and I had just finished talking with the parents after the checkout procedure up front. I bid my goodbyes with a smile and a wave before I turned around to head back to my own office. I could feel my heart rate increase at the prospect of seeing Lauren again after what felt like literal years. What I should have expected though, was coming face to face with the last person I wanted to deal with right now. "Hey Y/N, I was going to wait in your office so I could ask you a real quick question but there's already someone in there. Who is that?"
"Dinah, I really don't have time to talk right now. I just want to go home. And by the way, I don't really think that whoever is in my office concerns you in any way. Thanks though, I'll see you tomorrow I guess." I slipped inside the door without giving Dinah the chance to respond, since I knew fully well that she really wanted to. Lauren was sitting in my chair, facing the door but her eyes were downcast to the paper that she was drawing on. A subconscious smile made its way on my face at the sight as I slid my white coat off of my shoulders. I walked towards the stand in my room so that I could hang my coat up, and so that I could grab all of my belongings. Lauren's drawing was very detailed in her own way, and I was actually really surprised to see the talent that she possessed. I wasn't sure how long I had been staring at the drawing but suddenly, Lauren stopped moving her hand and I could see her eyes shift upwards a bit.
The raven haired beauty still wasn't looking at me, but her gaze was now pointed at the door. I changed into a small jacket in case we were going to leave soon. At the movement though, Lauren slowly turned her head to look at the jacket that was now adorning my shoulders. For some reason, she was dead set on avoiding my eyes. "Hey." I smiled softly even though I didn't fully have Lauren's attention. "Are you ready to go?" Lauren hesitated at my question, before she shook her head no. My smile slowly faded in confusion before I went to sit in one of the seats across from my desk. I crossed my hands in my lap while Lauren continued to avoid my gaze. "Are you okay?" I decided to ask instead, but it only elicited a nod from the smaller girl sitting in front of me. She lifted her pencil to continue to draw until the sudden idea popped into my head. "You want to stay and finish your drawing?" Lauren nodded to answer my question and it all made sense now.
I chuckled quietly to myself before standing up to grab my work laptop so that I could go through profiles and update them so that I wouldn't have to do them tomorrow. Lauren and I sat across from one another, the desk in between us. No words were spoken of course, and I didn't want to disturb the younger girl from her drawing by trying to initiate a conversation she wasn't even interested in to begin with. The only sound in the room was the tapping keys of my laptop and the scratching noise of pencil on paper coming from the emerald eyed girl. I looked up from my laptop to see that Lauren had her tongue poked out between her teeth, complete focus taking over the features of her face. I smiled to myself at the sight, looking back down to my laptop just so that Lauren wouldn't catch me staring at her. Even if she didn't want to talk right now, I was just joyed to be in her presence again after everything that had gone down. This girl had me all types of fucked up.
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