Narrator's POV
So... it's been a couple of days since Lauren and Y/N last saw each other.
They've already finished filming the music video, so very technically said, they had no reason to hang out anymore. Lauren had hoped that Y/N would continue to talk to her after all of this, but she's gone completely silent as if they've never run into each other again. She thought she made it pretty clear that she still liked her very much, but apparently it wasn't clear enough for the Y/E/C-eyed girl. Or she just simply didn't care about her anymore.
It's really making her wonder whether that afternoon they shared on the bed meant anything to her. At the moment, it felt like she was making love to her but... what if it was in fact nothing more than just some goodbye sex with an ex.
All these thoughts were just messing with Lauren's head. Did she even feel the butterflies she felt when they were kissing or was the spark already gone on her part? She pulled her phone out of her pocket and stared blankly at it for a second.
What if she really didn't mean anything to the Y/E/C-eyed girl anymore? This will only make her come off as clingy then, and she'll also make a fool out of herself for being so delusional.
Her mind was screaming for her to just shoot her a casual text, it's not gonna be the end of the world if she's not replying anymore. But her heart was telling her that it will be the end of the world, she's going to set up a dumb expectation and her heart wasn't ready to take another disappointment from the same girl. Besides, she wasn't in love with her five years ago, what makes her think she'll suddenly be now.
She clutched harder onto her phone. Okay, fuck it, she's not going to do it.
Just when she wanted to put the device away again, an incoming text popped up on her screen. She felt too scared to even check who's texted her. Once she saw the name on her phone, her heart stopped beating for a second. God, what are you playing, she thought.
[1:23 PM] Y/N: hey
[1.23 PM] Y/N: soooo
[1.23 PM] Y/N: i was just wondering if
[1.23 PM] Y/N: you know
[1.23 PM] Y/N: you wanna hang out?
[1.24 PM] Y/N: its cool if you dont want to tho
[1.24 PM] Y/N: like no hard feelings
[1.24 PM] Y/N: but i just thought maybe
[1.25 PM] Y/N: sorry for spamming. idk why i couldnt say that in one single text like a normal person
Lauren stared at her screen again, this time with surprise written all over her face. This was not what she was expecting at all. She tried to compose herself as much as possible and quickly typed down a response. Y/N told her to just wait at her house and that she'll pick her up, which gave her more time to fuck around with her closet. She really had no idea what the Y/E/C-eyed girl was planning to do. Hanging out seemed like something pretty casual, right? And she didn't say it was a date or anything, so she should just keep it simple. But she also didn't want to keep it too simple because she still wanted to impress her ex in some way.
And what should she do with her hair? Should she just let it flow down her shoulders the way it is now or should she do her hair up? Wait, she's barely ever even done her hair up. What if she does a half up half down? That looks cute, right? Or what if she straightens it?
Before she knew it, she's spent half an hour just overthinking her endless of options in front of the mirror. She hasn't felt so nervous and excited for a date for so long, and this wasn't even a date. The last time she was so psyched out was probably for her first date, also with this Y/E/C-eyed girl. What was she even doing to her?
"Ames, help me choose an outfit please!" Lauren called out loudly for her sister.
It took a while for the door clicked open and then shut. The raven-haired girl turned around with the different outfits in her hands, wearing only a cami and some pajama shorts right now. "Which one-- Oh, hi."
Y/N chuckled at how shy Lauren was getting and made her way over to her. She took over the clothes from Lauren's hands and placed them on her bed before wrapping her arms around her neck. "Hallo."
The raven-haired girl reciprocated the embrace naturally and pecked her on her cheek. "I'm still getting ready. Where's Amy?"
"She went out for a walk and let me in on her way out," Y/N explained. She turned to look at the different outfits on the bed before looking back at the girl. "You know I don't care what you wear, right? You can literally wear a trash bag and make it look like fashion."
Lauren blushed under the compliment and bashfully shoved her shoulder. "Flattering and cheesy as always."
Y/N just gave her an innocent shrug before pulling her back closer in her arms. "Maybe, but it's true though," she said cheekily. She leaned into her and buried her face in Lauren's neck, making goosebumps to form all over the girl's skin. She smirked at Lauren's reaction and placed a small kiss just below her ear. "Alright, I'll leave you to it," she muttered out before skipping out of the room, not realizing how much effect she had on the raven-haired girl still.
It took her way longer than necessary, but she's finally changed into some casual T-shirt and jeans. Walking down the stairs, she spotted the Y/E/C-eyed girl sitting by the couch with her phone in her hand. Lauren quietly made her way over to her and wrapped her arms around her neck from behind, making the girl jolt up in surprise.
"Why so jumpy? Are you secretly texting the other girls you're flirting with?" she half-joked as she put her head on her ex's shoulder. Not gonna lie, this was one of the things she's been overthinking about a lot too. What if Y/N had become a natural charmer and flirts with everyone the way she does with her? She's never even asked if she was seeing anybody else in the first place. Maybe this was just her insecurity talking right now, but she really didn't have a clue if they were anywhere near on the same page.
Y/N moved her phone a little so that Lauren could see the screen too and showed her the post on her feed. It was a video of a cute puppy. "Isn't my side chick fucking adorable?" she teased, pushing the phone closer to Lauren's face.
The raven-haired girl crunched up her nose in distaste "No."
"Wow, I feel offended," Y/N gasped out while placing a hand over her chest. She knew how much Lauren disliked dogs, so she was just playing. "Alright, let's go."
They piled up in the car as the Y/E/C-eyed girl drove them to whatever destination she had in mind. Lauren was actually really curious to know what she had planned, but she also enjoyed surprises. Something tells her that Y/N won't tell her that easily anyway, so...
The rest of the car ride was filled with radio music and some light-hearted conversations. Soon, the car came to a stop. It was a coffee shop.
Maybe this really was just meant as a friendly hang out then.
They quickly ordered themselves some drinks before sliding into the booth, facing each other. Lauren mindlessly swirled her coffee was her little spoon. "So... what have you been up to?"
"You know, mostly just sitting behind my phone and waiting for you to text me," Y/N said nonchalantly with a small shrug.
Lauren let out a cough as she felt herself choking on the plain air she was inhaling. "You what?"
The Y/E/C-eyed girl waved her hand dismissively before laughing. "Chill, Cimorelli. I was just kidding," she reassured her. She actually wasn't kidding. "I've just been busy with classes. What about you?"
Lauren chuckled a little and blushed at her own reaction. "Uh, I've been working on music."
"Nice," Y/N commented, smiling. "Dude, I swear, if I'm not gonna get the privilege to listen to it before anyone else..."
"Then what?" the raven-haired girl challenged.
Y/N's smile slowly turned into a lopsided smirk. "Oh, you wouldn't wanna know," she said, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. She couldn't take herself seriously at all and bursted out laughing at the end. "But for real though, can I at least know what the song is about?"
Lauren shook her head and watched the pout make its way onto the Y/E/C-eyed girl's lips. She didn't know how or when she grew the balls to do this, but she leaned forward and quickly pecked Y/N on her lips, kissing her pout away. Once she sat back down again, she felt her cheeks burning in flames. "W-was that okay?" she asked shyly.
Y/N was just kinda frozen there, so she didn't know whether she had crossed the line or not. After a second or two, a huge grin broke through the older girl's features. "It was more than okay."
Seeing that she's feeling so daring right now, Lauren decided to lay all her cards. She was just desperate to know this. "So... kind of random, but what is this? Like is it just us hanging out and catching up or...?"
"Well, that depends on you. It can be more than just that," Y/N said, slowly raising her eyebrows.
"I don't know, maybe."
They were both super tiptoeing around this subject. Like what are they? What do all these kisses and touches mean? Why are they hanging out? What do they mean to each other? They wanted to know the answers to these questions so bad, but both were just too much of a chicken to actually ask them out loud or maybe even admit anything.
"Oh, by the way, I still have something else on the planning," Y/N notified as she suddenly remembered that. Lauren's ears perked up at that. Well, that certainly is a way to pick up her interest.
After they're done with their coffee, they walked out of the little café hand in hand. Both of them still didn't know whether they should consider this as a date or not, but I guess they can make it an unofficial one. The older girl led them down the street and a couple of blocks further until...
"Ooh, an arcade," Lauren said as her observation. She turned to her ex again and smirked. "I'm so gonna beat your ass."
"We'll see about that. I'm not gonna go easy on you just because you're cute," Y/N fired back, booping the younger girl's nose playfully.
Lauren stuck her tongue out at her before letting go of her hand and skipping into the arcade to buy some tokens. The Y/E/C-eyed girl quickly ran up to her and flung her arm over her shoulder. This was a pretty retro arcade, it had all kinds of cabinets with the old-school video games, there was a racing game, an air hockey table, and some redemption games.
They both had their fair shares of wins and defeats, and the following hour was just mostly filled with a lot of teasing and laughing. They were now on their third round of air hockey, with Lauren on the win just like it's been the past two rounds too. The raven-haired girl struck the puck in the perfect angle, making it glide over to the goal and killing the Y/E/C-eyed girl off for the final point.
Y/N let out a groan and slumped down on the table. "What the fuck."
Lauren bursted out laughing and made her way over to her side. She wrapped her arms around her middle from behind and leaned on top of her. "Suck that," she said beside her ear.
The Y/E/C-eyed girl turned around in her arms and slowly brought them back up from the air hockey table, glaring at her playfully. "Dude, I swear this game is rigged," she complained. She just refused to accept the fact that she's lost three times in a row in the same game.
"Or your reaction is just slow," Lauren said with a grin before laughing again.
Y/N rolled her eyes at her and let a chuckle. "I really forgot how annoying you can be sometimes," she teased.
Lauren dropped her jaw in feign offense before she tilted her head to one side. "You still love me though," she fired back a little bit too comfortably. She completely forgot they weren't dating for a second, not that she's ever even said this while they were dating, but yeah. She blushed hard at her own words and hoped bad Y/N, for some mysterious reason, didn't hear that, or at least won't feel awkward because of it.
The Y/E/C-eyed girl noticed the shyness behind Lauren's eyes and pulled her closer to her in response. "You're lucky I do." She subsequently pulled her in a hug, preventing herself to see her ex's reaction. Even though it was pretty obvious, she wasn't sure what Lauren's change in expression meant, so she just chickened out.
Lauren was actually glad by her action because she just went from blushing to blushing. Out of all the possible replies in the world, this was not what she was expecting.
"Ooh, let's do that love tester thing," Y/N suddenly said. She was really trying to compose herself but it wasn't doing much, so maybe she just needed to distract herself with something dumb, and well, that machine was the first thing her eyes landed on. She didn't even give Lauren a say in this and just dragged her over to the love tester.
"Measure your sex appeal?" Lauren read out loud with raised eyebrows. "Can't say this was what I was expecting when I saw the machine."
Y/N put some coins into the machine before squeezing the handle. The lights on the machine started going off as well as making some loud noises. "Did you think it was gonna be like me typing in my name and you typing in yours and then it'll show us how compatible we are?" she asked with a chuckle, glancing over at her ex again.
Lauren rolled her eyes despite that that was lowkey what she was thinking at first. "So you just squeeze that thing and it somehow measures your sex appeal?"
"Yup," the Y/E/C-eyed girl said contently, knowing full well that the machine operates on randomness in chances and had no logic behind it whatsoever.
The ringing of the machine stopped and the light landed on 'Cold Fish'.
Lauren looked over at her Y/N before bursted out laughing. The older girl had to hide her own smile and turned to Lauren, looking very unamused at her, but that only fueled the raven-haired girl's laughter. After she's finally calmed down, she placed her hand on Y/N's shoulder and gave her a pat. "Ah, you should've seen your face, it was gold," she said, choking out another laugh. "You're right, this thing is pretty solid."
Y/N remained in her poker face and went to grab Lauren's hand that was on her shoulder and placed it on the handle of the machine. "Why don't you give it a go?"
The raven-haired girl, still very amused by this, squeezed on the handle, starting the machine up again. The lights and ringing went off again for a couple of moments before it stopped on 'Casanova'.
"Damn, Laur. I didn't think you'd be a player deep inside," Y/N teased as she nudged Lauren's shoulder. She laughed at how quick Lauren's cheeks flushed red and wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close.
"Isn't Casanova more like a smooth talker?" the raven-haired girl defended.
"That too, but it mostly means you know how to seduce people and are kinda like the hit-and-quit type, with a lot of women by your side," the Y/E/C-eyed girl said with another chuckle. With how much Lauren had been teasing her, it felt great to have the tables turned around for once. "So you got anything you wanna confess now?"
Lauren rolled her eyes and crawled out of Y/N's arms. She went to grab her hand instead and pulled her away from the stupid machine, pulling them towards one of the redemptions booths.
"Basketball? Again?" Y/N asked once she saw the booth they were standing in front of.
The raven-haired girl giggled at her reaction. She knew exactly what she was referring to. "How many times did you even try?"
"I think it was around ten times," the Y/E/C-eyed girl said, laughing along too.
Back in their high school days five years ago, they had this one date that was at some attraction park and she's tried to win the head prize for Lauren at this basketball booth. The younger girl told her to give up already on the first try, but when Lauren was standing in the queue for something else, she slipped back to that booth and tried her luck for another ten more times or something. She ended up winning her date a ton of teddy bears, including the head prize, but it was kinda traumatic how stressful the game was and how much money she spent on it.
"Let's do this," Y/N said after a while, pulling Lauren back to the basketball booth.
Since there were multiple ones standing next to each other, both of them stood by one and decided to make a competition out of it. They inserted the coins and started up the game at the same time.
Just as five years ago, Y/N beat Lauren by miles. So while the Y/E/C-eyed girl had enough tickets to redeem a small prize, Lauren barely had anything. The raven-haired girl was ready to give it another go, but got pulled away from the booth by Y/N. "Hey, I was gonna--" her words died down again as Y/N kissed the side of her head, bringing them towards where they can claim the prizes. Since the amount of tickets weren't that impressive (and the prizes weren't that attractive either), the older girl just chose for a squishy stress toy that can also serve as a key chain. She held up the antistress toy next to Lauren's head and chuckled. "It kinda looks like you," she joked.
It was a rubber chicken that'll shit out an egg when you squeeze it.
Lauren turned to look at her dead in the eye before laughing too. It's resulted in Y/N to grin wider and lean in closer to her. The raven-haired girl just pushed her face away from her, trying to hide the fact that that just made her smile grow too. "Nah, it definitely looks more like you."
"Well, in that case..." She grabbed her ex's hand and placed the stress toy in the palm of her hand. "Here's a little gift for you to look at whenever you miss me."
"So you're admitting that this looks like you," Lauren teased as she pulled her keys out of her pocket and chained the little antistress chicken to the bunch.
Before she can put her keys away though, Y/N reached over and pointed at the old, roughed up teddy bear hanging there. It was one of the prizes she's won for her five years ago. She glanced up at Lauren again and raised her eyebrows alertly. "You still have it," she said dumbfounded as another smile made its way onto her lips. Their breakup really wasn't that pretty, so she half-assumed Lauren to have thrown away everything that's reminding her of their relationship. This surely was a pleasant surprise.
Lauren hummed in response. She glanced over at her ex and saw her looking at her with this adored expression. It's made her let out an awkward chuckle. "What?" she asked self-consciously.
"Nothing," Y/N replied simply with a smile before grabbing the raven-haired girl's face and pulling her in for a sudden kiss. They stopped walking and stood still in the middle of the arcade. Lauren wrapped her arms around the older girl's neck and reciprocated it by trapping her bottom lip between hers.
"So, any reason for that?" Lauren asked once the kiss slowly came to an end again. Her hands were still tangled up in Y/N's hair and she made no move to step away any time soon.
The Y/E/C-eyed girl shrugged. "Just felt like it," she said before chuckling. "What? Am I not allowed to?"
"Nope," Lauren whispered but on the contrary pulled Y/N even closer to her. She tilted her head to one side and stared deeply into those Y/E/C-colored eyes in front of her. Finally, she brushed her lips against hers again in a sweet, little kiss. "Only I'm allowed to do that," she whispered in a husked voice.
Y/N smirked at her and raised her eyebrows a little. Despite of what Lauren's said, she still leaned forward and pecked her lips one more time. The younger girl's jaw dropped at that but before she could do anything else, she's already getting led out of the arcade hall. "That man at the ticket booth had been glaring at us the whole time, so if we don't leave now, he's probably going to kick our asses out," Y/N explained with a chuckle. Besides, they had already spent a couple of hours here and had gone on most of the games, so this was a good time to leave either way.
It was half past four now, in other words, it felt too late to grab lunch now but also too early for dinner. And with how much fun they were having, they didn't even feel hungry.
"Alright, so... anything else you wanna do?" the Y/E/C-eyed girl asked after a while. They were just aimlessly walking around with no particular destination in mind right now, and Lauren didn't seem to be leading to anywhere either.
The raven-haired girl hummed in response and glanced down the street. Her eyes landed on this poster for an art exhibition. She immediately tugged on Y/N's hand and pointed at the ad with her free one. "Oh, we can do that," she suggested.
"Uuuuuuhm."
Lauren looked over at her, only to see that some colors were drained from her ex's face. She chuckled at her and pulled them to a stop. "What? I thought we were going on a trip down memory lane. How is that complete without going to a museum?" That was true. Their relationship started with them hanging out in coffee shops every so often, then for one of their first dates, they went to this fair where Y/N had won her some random prizes, and at last, their relationship ended in an museum. Lauren deadass took her on a museum date just to dump her in the middle of it.
Y/N shot her a side glare. "It feels like I'm having war flashbacks right now."
The younger girl just laughed at her and dragged her across the streets, towards the museum. "It's not like it can get much worse," she reasoned, which actually made a really solid point.
They entered the building and bought their tickets. And since it was almost closing hours now, there really weren't many people around. Apart from them, there were barely ten other people standing in this hall.
Lauren walked up to the art pieces to admire it more up close and was really in awe with it. Even if this part of the date didn't suit today's general theme, she still thought this was an interesting exhibition and would've loved to see it some time. While she was looking at all the art here, Y/N just stood behind her with her arms crossed. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy artsy stuff, but she just had some sort of trauma being here with Lauren.
The raven-haired girl spotted her standing there, looking very awkward, and skipped over to her. She flung her arms around her ex's neck and surprised her by jumping into her embrace, wrapping her legs securely around Y/N's waist.
The Y/E/C-eyed girl quickly placed her hands under Lauren's thighs to steady her in her arms. She looked at the younger girl in surprise before chuckling. "Imagine if I couldn't catch you."
"You better not," Lauren threatened playfully. She went to cradle Y/N's face in her hands and pulled her in for a kiss. It's elicited something neither of them had felt before, it felt loving, passionate, sweet, but there was also a touch of roughness in it. It was gentle yet fueled with so much desire that they were burning for each other, as if they were marking their names across the other's lips, claiming it hers only. Their hearts were beating so hard for the other, longing so bad for them even though they were already in each other's arms.
The kiss left both of them completely out of breath but still got them to beg for more. It was addicting, but in a good way.
They stayed like that, making out between the paintings in an empty museum hall until they were kicked out of there because the place was closing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N
This was such a long chapter, damn.
As you can see, i don't know how to describe kisses, that's why i used like 348615 different adjectives for it. It lowkey made it sound so poetic (not that i actually know anything about poetry lmao).
I don't know why but i've always seen that quote that said "take me to an art museum, kiss me between the paintings" and thought it was so romantic lol. So here's a little bit of that.