D a w n :
I woke up to the smell of waffles coming from outside the room, I smiled, rolling over to wake up Lane.
"Lane, what's going-"
I stopped talking when I saw that his side of the bed was just a mess of covers.
I got up, rubbing my eyes as I left the room.
"Lane?" I called, walking to the kitchen.
"Hey Dawn." He smiled at me, walking to the counter with a plate of waffles that looked delicious. Either a strawberry or a blueberry was in each hole, and there was syrup dripping off the side.
It's crazy how I keep falling in love with food every day.
I sat on the counter, smiling up at Lane.
"What's all this for?" I asked.
"You of course." He said, taking off his 'raisin the roof' apron, which unsurprisingly had a bunch of clubbing raisins on it.
I laughed, grabbing a fork and knife. "Yes, but why did you decide to do this for me?"
He shrugged, walking back over to the stove to clean up the mess. "I just wanted to." He brought the dishes to the sink. "Besides, I was already awake, I might as well have been doing something productive."
"Couldn't sleep?"
He sighed. "Nope."
I chuckled, taking a bite of the waffle, which turned out to be absolutely delicious, and I'm pretty sure I moaned as I was eating it.
Lane laughed at my reaction, grabbing the other plate of waffles as he sat down across from me at the counter, smiling.
"You know, I think this relationship might really work." I said.
"Only for my cooking?" He asked, faking hurt.
I nodded, "Yeah and as long as I don't wake up in ten years to find you a couch potato whose only social interactions are through the two minutes a day he spends on the phone ordering Chinese food."
Lane thought about that for a second. "Yeah...I'm not gonna make any promises, you never know."
I laughed, hitting his arm lightly, "Oh shut up."
He laughed along with me, taking a big bite of his own waffle.
"Shit." He said with his mouth full and eyes wide.
"What?" I asked.
"I'm so talented." He said, taking another bite and marveling at his cooking.
I rolled my eyes. "And humble."
He gave me a big smile. "And honest."
I rolled my eyes at him again, sighing. "So what's the plan for today then?"
He shrugged, taking another bite. "It's Tuesday." He said with his mouth full. "That means work again."
I nodded. "Yeah I guess...I would enjoy it more if I knew that Tiffany wasn't gonna be there dreaming about her legs around your head."
Lane raised an eyebrow at me. "Oh?"
"What?" I asked.
He smiled at himself as if there were a joke I didn't understand. "Oh, oh nothing." He said, stifling his laughter.
"Come on, just say it."
He shook his head. "No, it's really nothing, just...it's kind of cute to see you all jealous."
"Kind of cute?" I asked.
He chuckled. "Very cute."
I smiled at him. "Well thank you, you should be happy you know, if I wasn't jealous then you should be worried about our marriage."
"Eh, I'm not worried, you'd never leave me." He said.
"Don't be too cocky, you never know when a hot repair man might show up to 'fix the sink'." I said, using air quotes.
"Hotter than me?" He asked.
I nodded, standing up. "And good with his hands too." I whispered, not looking back at Lane's reaction.
I took my plates to the sink and started washing them, a few seconds later I felt him come up behind me, I looked up and saw that he had an amused expression.
I finished washing my stuff and dried my hands, looking at him as he washed his stuff.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Nothing, it's just that the reason I said that you'd never leave me is because I don't believe in divorce, not because I was being cocky." He said, wiping his hands on the hand towel as he stared at me. "But it's cute that you think I'm not good with my hands."
* - * - *
I walked up to the top floor of Warner's smiling at the people I passed by.
Lane and I had decided that I would go to work today and he would keep Emily today and go around and buy things for the apartment to make it look less like a prison cell.
I entered his office to see Tiffany sitting on his desk with far less clothing than she had on yesterday.
When she saw the door open, her face lit up, but when she saw that it was just me coming in, it fell again.
"Tiffany, what are you doing?" I asked, walking over to the desk.
She stood up, looking at the door. "Where's Lane?"
"He's not coming today, but if he were, I'm sure that he wouldn't want to see you looking like this." I said.
She scoffed. "What do you know? I got him to keep coming back for a while and I didn't need any help from you."
"Yeah but he's not going to come back because he realized that he has no respect for you, so why would he?"
"Respect? Are you seriously going to tell me to respect myself when you're always hooking up with a different guy each day?"
"Okay, where the hell did this notion come from that I can't be comfortable with my sexuality without being a whore? That I can't be with guys and respect myself at the same time. Okay let me tell you something, I respect myself a whole fucking lot and I can be with whoever I want to be with, I can hook up with every single guy in the world if I fucking want to, and you know why? Because it's my body. As long as I don't do anything that I don't want to do in order to please some guy or make him like me better, then in my book, I'm okay. If I don't agree with something and I don't wanna do it, then I won't fucking do it, I can be as comfortable with my sexuality as I want to be, I could even walk around naked and it doesn't need anyone's approval."
"You can't walk around naked, a guy would probably force himself you." She said, looking at me like I was dumb.
"Okay so then I guess since there's money just laying around in a bank it's my right to rob it then? No! Just because some perv may like the way I look naked does not give him the right to force himself on me."
"But...but..." She looked frustrated.
"Look, Tiffany, don't change yourself for a boy, no boy is worth that. Honestly, 'being yourself' is great advice because if you respect yourself, he will respect you."
"I'm not trying to get him to respect me, I just want him to want me."
I shrugged. "Okay, if that's what you want." I said, turning around.
"Wait!" She grabbed my shoulder.
I turned around. "Yes?"
"Why are you helping me?" She asked.
"Why wouldn't I?" I asked.
"I don't know, I didn't think you liked me...And I'm kind of trying to get Lane..."
I shrugged. "Why would that make me not like you? He's an attractive man, so yeah, I can see why you like him, but you've never done anything directly to me to make me not like you. Yeah I'm pretty uncomfortable when I see you around him, but what's life without a little healthy competition?"
She looked at me, not saying anything, instead, she buttoned up a few more buttons on her shirt, giving me a small smile. "Well thank you. You're one of the only people that has actually been kind to me in a while."
I smiled back at her. "You're welcome, and if it makes you feel any better, I'm not that interested in him, so after these two weeks, he's all yours." I said.
She chuckled, taking half the files from the desk. "Good to know." She said, walking over to her desk to work.
I sat down thinking about what I just said.
After these two weeks will Lane and I even be friends or talk to each other? I shouldn't care about it, but I don't want our relationship to end. If anything I hope we can be friends, but he's such a social person, he'll probably forget about me as soon as the project ends.
I sighed, opening the top file and getting to work, pushing Lane out of my mind.
* - * - *
I opened the door to the apartment and the smell of lavender and vanilla filled my nose.
I walked in and I heard laughing, when I entered the living room, there was Lane laying on the couch with a girl I didn't recognize and his arm was around her, I had to pry my eyes off of it.
"Hey." I said, standing in the archway.
"Dawn!" Lane got up, walking over to me with a smile on his face.
The girl got up and followed him over to me.
"Dawn, this is Janey, Janey this is Dawn."
Janey had dark brown hair that was long and full, she had large eyes that made her look really innocent, and her smile was big and inviting.
"Janey's my best friend, I think I told you about her before right?" Lane asked.
Oh yeah, I remember him mentioning her before.
I smiled, relaxing. "Hey." I said, reaching my hand out.
She shook it. "Hello, it's nice to finally meet you, Lane told me so much about you."
"Oh, did he?" I asked.
She nodded. "Yeah, he's basically in love with you."
Lane groaned. "Stop talking Janey."
She ignored him. "Seriously though, he's whipped."
"I hate you." He said to her.
She laughed, flashing her huge smile, and her eyes were warm and happy. "Please, you love me." She said, wrapping her arms around him in a hug.
He chuckled, unable to keep a straight face and he hugged her back.
"I actually have to go now though, I have some things to do." She said, smiling at me.
I nodded. "Yeah, it was nice to meet you."
"You too." She said, grabbing her bag before she left.
As she walked away Lane and I both watched her until she closed the door.
I turned to him. "Holy shit. Did you see her ass?" I asked.
His eyes widened. "Yes! Oh my Lord isn't it so fine?"
I nodded. "Seriously, how do you stay just friends with her?"
He laughed. "No, Janey and I could never happen, we're basically family."
I made a face. "Ew, then that's nasty that you find her hot."
"Hey!" He said, "I said basically family, that means I'm allowed to comment on her ass."
I rolled my eyes, chuckling. "Well I love what you've done with the apartment, the vanilla smell was a nice touch."
He laughed. "Please, Janey did it all, but I'm flattered that you thought I could pull this off."
"I must say, I'm really loving Janey right now."
"Oh you'll love her even more when you see what she cooked."
He walked into the kitchen, opening the oven and I saw a dish of lasagna sitting inside looking like it just came off the Food Network."
"Holy shit." I breathed.
"I know right? But I guess she doesn't get all the credit since Colton is the one teaching her how to cook."
"Who's Colton?" I asked.
He rolled his eyes. "I don't even know, I guess you can just call him her man friend, I'm not completely clear on the situation either."
I laughed. "Well I don't care what he is to her, I'm just happy she found him."
He brought out the lasagna, along with two plates and some cutlery. "She'll be happy to hear that." He said, getting Emily from the living room.
He handed Emily to me. "Your turn to clean him after dinner."
I groaned, turning Emily over to see a 91 on the back of his neck.
"What the hell? How do we have a ninety-one? We had a ninety-three this morning!"
He smiled sheepishly. "I may or may not have dropped him and hit him with the shopping cart when we were out today."
I sighed. "Great now he's going to be traumatized for life."
"He's gonna be fine, babies don't remember anything from when they were little anyway."
"Okay, I'm just gonna go clean him up now then, I'll come eat afterwards." I said, getting up.
Lane nodded. "Okay, I'll wait."
"No it's okay you don't have to."
He shrugged. "I know, but I enjoy eating with you more anyways, so I'll wait."
I nodded, giving him a small smile. "Thanks." I said, walking into the room, closing the door behind me.
I walked into the bathroom, breathing heavily which was surprising to me since I'm never nervous, especially around boys.
Seriously, if nothing I'm more confident around boys, so why the hell am I forgetting hwo to act around him?
* - * - *
I walked out of the bedroom, but Lane wasn't in the kitchen anymore.
I saw a light coming from the living room and I walked into it and Lane was sitting on the couch with a blanket over him, watching tv. I got the lasagna from the oven and brought it out to him.
"Hey." I said, sitting down next to him.
He smiled. "Hey." He lifted the blanket up so I could get inside it and as I did, I was very conscious of his warm body against mine. He got a piece of lasagna for me and then for himself, placing the main dish back on the table.
"What are you watching?" I asked.
He shrugged. "I don't know, some movie about some people that like the beach, I'm not really paying attention."
I chuckled. "I wish I could go to the beach right now, I want summer holidays to start already."
He turned to me. "What's your favorite season?" He asked.
"Of what show?"
He didn't say anything, he only looked at me, a small smile playing on his lips.
"Oh...you mean, like...the weather?"
He laughed. "No actually, I like your version of it better. Yeah what's your favorite show?"
"That's a hard one man, can I say like five? I don't have a single one..."
"Okay, five." He said.
"Okay, and these are just the ongoing ones...uh...Game of Thrones definitely...Grey's Anatomy, The Big Bang Theory, The 100...I don't know those are probably my top four, I can't pick between the others."
He laughed, his body shaking against mine. "Wow you must have a lot of free time on your hands."
I shook my head. "No, it's time that I should be using for work actually."
He shrugged. "Hey you're still in the top two percent of our class so I wouldn't be so worried."
I smiled. "Yeah I guess."
We didn't say anything for a couple of minutes, the only noise coming from the TV.
"Can I ask you something?" Lane asked. "It might be kind of...I don't know, I don't mean to make you uncomfortable."
I shook my head. "No, you can ask me whatever it is."
"Okay, um...where are you from, like your ethnicity..."
"Oh, because my skin is kind of light, but I'm not exactly..."
"Sorry, did I-"
"No, it's okay, really." I said, "Um, my father's from Italy, that's why my last name's Italian, but my mother's from Djibouti, it's this really small country in East Africa, you've probably never heard of it."
"No, I have actually, don't you speak Arabic there?" He asked.
Wow.
He knows a lot more about this country than most people I've talked to who'd never even heard of it before.
I smiled at him. "Yeah, along with other languages, but yeah I speak Arabic and another language called Afar. It's my mother-tongue so I usually speak it with my mother because it's the language she speaks best."
He nodded. "Do you also speak Italian then?"
I shook my head. "No, I mean I know a little, but my parents didn't really want to teach it to me since it would be more likely I could learn it in my adulthood, but like, where would I learn Afar, you know? And my dad also speaks great English, so it wasn't really necessary."
"Yeah, that makes sense, and it's really cool that you speak three languages, I feel so underachieved right now."
"It's okay, we can't all be fabulous like Dawn Caparelli."
He laughed. "Do you have a middle name?"
I nodded. "Yeah it's Saffiya, and trust me there's a lot about my family and my background that I could talk about but it's just that-"
"Another night?" He said.
I nodded, giving him a thankful smile. "Another night."
"I think reruns of The Big Bang Theory are showing, do you want to stay up and watch them?" He asked.
"I'd love to."
* - * - *
You guys who keep asking me about Janey and Colton, just read How To Love a Bad Boy, it's about them and would probably answer 90 percent of your questions
And chill guys, if the baby isn't mentioned every two lines it doesn't mean they forgot him.
<3
Zee xx