A/N: I don't know what is this, it just felt right
Warning: Swears, and soft smut.
Disclaimer: I don't own Team Starkid but I should
"Let's make a cake"
"Excuse me" Lauren said to a woman who was standing in the front door, meanwhile she closed her umbrella. The storm was unstoppable that day. The woman frowned when looked at her, but didn't say anything.
She walked down the hallway at full speed, her boots leaving a road of water as she passed by. She tried to fix up her hair and clothes the way she could, but she was a total mess. When she found the room she was looking for, an enormous bodyguard was in her way. At first she thought he was a mannequin but apparently it was a real person.
"I'm sorry, I'm here for the audition for the play, I just-"
"Auditions ended half hour ago" the man responded with a strong voice, and didn't even look at her. She left her bag and umbrella on the floor and grabbed her curriculum, nervous enough for her hands to start to shake.
"Yeah, I know, but I'm from Chicago and my plane got delayed and I need-"
"Auditions ended half hour ago" he repeated, like a programmed machine. She frowned, and her heart fell to her feet. She needed this right now, and although the state that was in right now, she was totally ready for a play like that. It's not like Chicago wasn't enough for her, but she wanted to make her own way too.
"But I travelled hours for this, can I talk with the judges? It's not my fault the plane-"
"There's nothing I can do. Auditions ended half hour ago"
"You say?" she talked back to him. She took her bag and put her curriculum back in. "What a douche…" she whispered as she walked the hallway back and almost pushed the woman standing in the front door. The rain apparently had suddenly stopped.
So she travelled to Los Angeles in vain. She regretted not taking the previous plane, but thought the time was enough. Wrong. But maybe if she was lucky she could get into another audition, but obviously not that day. It was late at night. She took a taxi and went to the hotel where she reserved a room. The trip got her pretty wasted, she just wanted to take a bath and go to sleep.
Lauren entered to the hotel and said her name to the receptionist. The woman asked for her identification, so she started to look for it on her bag. She knew something was wrong after didn't find anything in any pocket. The receptionist looked at her, worried, while she pretty much put all her stuff out of the bag.
"I have my passport…" she almost begged. She must have forgotten the identification in her house or have lost it in the airport.
"I'm sorry, I need your identification" the woman excused herself.
Shit. She checked all her stuff again but it was in vain.
"Then cancel my reservation, because… I don't have it." She said carrying her huge bag on her shoulder again. She lowered her voice "Do you know of any hotels in L.A. who don't need identification?"
Luckily the receptionist was a good woman, and helped her to find another hotel. God bless. But unluckily, that just wasn't Lauren's day.
"We don't have any rooms available tonight. I'm sorry."
"Are you sure? I don't mind to share the room, I just need where to sleep tonight." Now her voice was indeed begging. She scratched her head. She was pretty stressed.
"No, not tonight. Tomorrow we'll have two rooms available, can you come back then?"
Was she serious?
"Thank you…" she replied going outside the hotel. Sure, she'll come back the next day after sleeping on the street.
The rain started again, and a thunder sounded terrifying in her ears. She looked for her umbrella.
"Shit!" Lauren yelled, starting to walk faster but not knowing where to go. She forgot her umbrella at the audition's studio. The rain was starting to get her wet and the streets where a little more desolated. Her head hurt. She just wanted to find a warm place to spend the night, at that moment she didn't even care about losing the audition, that was a minor problem now.
Not even a single taxi was running in the streets. All the people were hurry to come back to their places, because the storm got the air really cold and it was late. All of them pushed her on the shoulders passing by, nobody knew her, and nobody cared about her. A woman even hit her in the head with her umbrella, and she could feel a wound would grow in her forehead. Then she spotted an address sign in a house, and realized she was about ten blocks away from one of the only houses she ever went to in Los Angeles.
So yeah, that was her only option.
She started to walk the faster she could. When she got in that very familiar place, she was freezing, wet from head to toes. Then she realized she was going to show up there being an entire and complete mess. She tried to check if the water really got her hair that messed up, when she felt another liquid in her hands that wasn't water. The wound in her forehead started to bleed. Great.
She leaned her back in the wall of the house, everything was upside down! She could barely see a thing.
A few guys passed by her side and knocked the door. Meanwhile they started to say things to her.
"Doll, are you okay? Want us to carry you somewhere?"
"You're really wet, we can help you with that" And all of them laughed stupidly. Lauren didn't respond a thing although they were really messing with her. One of them went to her side –she had her eyes closed because her forehead hurt too much, but she realized because he had an umbrella so the rain stopped falling then-
"You are really beautiful. Why don't you let me help you? You seem lost"
"Go away" she warned. "I'm not lost"
"What's the big deal? I'm a nice guy" he grabbed her arm, and she gave him a killer gaze, but he didn't let her go.
"What's happening?" Lauren heard that voice and knew it was different from the others. The voice made his way from the door through the bunch of guys. "Lauren?" She felt immediately safe after hearing that voice.
The guy immediately dropped her arm.
"I was trying to help her, but she didn't let me." He said quickly, trying to excuse himself.
Lauren felt another hand, this time in her chin, forcing her to look up.
"Lauren, are you okay?" Darren asked "What happened to your head?"
"A woman hit me with her umbrella. I'm sorry…" she didn't even know why she was sorry, but she felt the need to.
"You're freezing. Why didn't you knock? Come here." He put his arm around her waist and helped her to enter to the house. Her sight wasn't very good but she saw as he carried her, that his house was full of people sitting around drinking and talking, and there was music playing. There was apparently a meet going on there, although the storm. She even heard Joey's voice asking what happened and Darren telling him he had no idea. She felt a lot of gazes on her until he sat her down in a chair, when there were no people or sound.
It was Darren's room.
"I didn't know you where in Los Angeles" he said as he handed her a towel.
She put her bag on the floor and passed the towel through all her body. But she already felt a lot better, that room was really warm.
"I came here for an audition, but I couldn't make it" her voice was still trembling.
"What?" Darren said, as if that was the craziest thing he ever heard. He bent over to his knees in front of her, so he could see her better.
"I went to the studio too late, they didn't let me do the audition." She explained.
"Oh, that sucks. I'm sorry. I thought they didn't pick you, but that'd we absurd." She blushed. "You're freezing. Do you have any clothes in here or…?"
"Yeah, I only have my pijamas though, but that's okay. I'm supposed to go tomorrow morning." She started to look inside her bag again.
"I don't think planes are in function with this storm going on. You can stay here as you need, Lo, you know that."
She smiled and looked at him for a few seconds. Then she pointed at her clothes and muttered:
"Uhm, I need to…"
"Yeah, I'm sorry." He stood up "I'll look something for your head" and he went outside the room.
She felt so weird as she started to change her clothes. She was getting herself naked in Darren's room. That was just weird. She only had a tank top and shorts but that room was so warm she didn't need more.
After getting dressed, Lauren spotted a few pictures on his bedside table. One of Darren and Joey, some of the shows with Charlene, one of all the gang, and a picture of both of them back in college. His curls were all over his head and she was blonde. Crazy times.
Darren knocked and entered in the room a few seconds later. He had a disinfectant and a bandage in his hands.
"It's a huge wound you have there. Aren't you dizzy?"
"A little. Thank you" she replied as she took the disinfectant and put a little on her forehead "Shit-" she swore. That thing burned her as hell.
Darren helped her to sit down again, this time on his bed. The disinfectant didn't make her feel any better, in fact, it made her feel worst. She was dizzier. Everything was a mess again. That hurt, God. She felt the tears coming out of her eyes, although she was repeating to herself she shouldn't cry.
"Are you okay? I know it burns, but…" Darren asked, worried, he was sitting down in the bed too.
"It's not that. It's just…" It's just everything, why she couldn't stop crying? She put her hands on her face. "I'm sorry" she whined again.
"I'm sorry that those guys have been messing with you. I've kicked them out. They're my friends but they're assholes sometimes. I'm so sorry, Lo." Lauren wanted to say her tears weren't his fault but her voice was gone. So she just shook her head.
She took a deep breath.
"I'm cold" those were the only words that could come out of her mouth.
He stood up and went for a blanket as if his life depended of it. He wrapped her with the blanket but her tears didn't stop.
"You're missing your party…" she whispered, seeing how he sat on the bed again.
"It doesn't matter. I'm with you now."
"Don't. It's not worth it. I can't even get a hotel room, I'm useless."
And suddenly everything made sense in Darren's head. So that was the problem, her self esteem. That was not something he was used to see in her. She was a strong girl, but the strange city and the domino effect of all the bad things that happened to her had left their marks. He softly took her hands and squeezed them.
"You're having a shitty day, Laur, that's all. Don't let yourself go just for that. You are amazing. You've always been. I've always believed in you. You're the strongest woman I know, and the more beautiful after Jessica Alba."
She let out a little laugh and he hugged her tightly. Darren was the only person that could make her smile between tears. He stroked her hair still wet for the rain, and she rested her head on his neck. That was the place where it seemed to focus all of his smell, that's why she loved to hug him. His warm smell always calmed her. Her hands were placed on his chest and he didn't let a molecule of air between them. He needed to be sure she was totally fine.
There was a knock on the door and two figures showed up slowly.
"Is everything okay?" Joey asked, surreptitiously stopping Brant with one hand, he was about to enter to the room but when Joey saw them having a deep talk on the bed, he thought there was an atmosphere he shouldn't break in that moment.
Darren slightly turned his head back to them.
"Yes" he said quietly. He didn't let Lauren go.
Both Joey and Brant moved awkwardly in their places. It seemed like they wanted to say something but didn't know how, so Brant finally throw it out:
"We're going to Dylan's place. Want to go?"
"No, I'll stay here tonight. Have fun, guys" he just answered. Joey nodded and waved hands to them before leaving.
"Why are they going to Dylan's?" Lauren asked him shyly. He felt a chill through his body when her voice reached his neck.
"Well, the party kind of moved there."
"I'm so sorry." She cried, releasing him. She had to pick that night to ruin everything "I've ruined your night. Go with the others, I'll just…"
"It's okay, I don't want to go." He answered seriously, and headed his hand to the back of her head and gently pulled her into a hug again. "I'm fine here. With you" She didn't put resistance. He slowly leaned against the bed's wall and let her rest on his chest. He put his hands on her waist and closed his eyes, resting his chin on her head. The smell of her hair was so powerful, even though she didn't spend the best kind of night.
They let some minutes passed, in silence, just enjoying each other's company. They've always enjoyed just lying together, listening to each other's breath, Darren would play a little with her hair and Lauren would stroke slightly his tummy with her fingertips, occasionally messing with him. But it never went further than that. They just loved to let the time flow when they were together, that was all. And they'd probably let that happen again, if it wasn't because of a ramble that sounded powerfully in Darren's room.
"I think someone's hungry." He commented.
Lauren left out an embarrassed smile. Her stomach was, indeed, thundering. She didn't eat a thing since she left the plane, so she was in fact, starving.
"Let's make a cake" he said with enthusiasm, punching her a little on the arm.
She would have say "Darren, it's 3am…" but she was pretty used to his craziness. And she was hungry. She sat down in the bed, finally cutting the hug. He took her hand without even realizing it, and leaded her to his kitchen, pulling slightly her fingers. Lauren felt how the warmth of his hand wrapped hers. The kitchen hinted that a party went down there a few minutes ago.
"Well, I have to warn you now" he said, looking at her with a serious face "I've never cooked before. I'm a cook virgin. Does it hurt?" he added, and Lauren grinned.
"Don't worry, I'll be gentle…" she replied and tried to not let her mind went too far with that thought.
She opened the fridge's door and all the cupboards and checked them up and down, before starting to grab things from them. He just stared at her while she was doing it. She had to stand on her tiptoes to pick some things from the highest cupboard, and to do that she leaned a little on the counter. Her pelvis stuck out a little and her shirt lifted up a bit, so he saw a piece of her tummy's skin, and her tongue was meaningless pushed against her upper lip, she was focused on her task so she didn't make it on purpose. But he never saw her figure like that, he thought she has never been sexier so far. He always thought she was beautiful, and obviously adorable, but never sexy. How was possible his friends realized that before him? She leaned a little more until she reached the ingredient she wanted. He felt a burn in his tummy and thought it was weird; Lauren never made him feel like that. She was his best friend. He shook his head to get silly thoughts out of it, and then she approached Lauren.
"Okay, what can I do?" he asked.
She was slowly putting the flour in a bowl, but turned her head back to him and pointed the egg box. Darren wasn't so sure about what he should do but he did his try.
"Just break them against the counter" she added, after realizing he was having some problems trying to figure it out.
"Oh, okay" he said, but when talking about chores he had the abilities of a monkey, so indeed, he then smashed the egg against the table and made a mess on it. Lauren couldn't help but break into laughs while he observed disgusted his fingers covered in a sticky yolk.
"I'll better take care of that." She said between giggles.
She put correctly the rest of the eggs on the bowl, and then looked at him again.
"Want to churn?" she asked but with a questioning look on her face. But Darren accepted the challenge and took the mixer.
"Fine, Lopez, but stop it with that giggling thing, it's annoying"
That was such a lie. He thought her laugh was the most adorable sound in the whole world.
She nodded her head, as he started to churn the ingredients. But the mixer kept sliding on his hands and he didn't really know what to do. And it took like ten seconds to Lauren to start covering her face with her hands and make nervous ticks all over her body. He could see she obviously had something to say.
"Okay, what?" he spitted, upset.
"Nothing, it's just that… you're really doing everything wrong…" she answered really quietly but he still could hear it perfectly. He frowned.
"Well, I'm sorry, not all we have a cookbook and have a perfect…"
"Oh, shut up" she cut him, laughing slightly and taking the mixer out of his hand. She placed herself in front of the bowl, and tried to focus on her task, but Darren didn't move at all so she had him literally breathing against her shoulder.
Her hand started to move faster and faster on the bowl as she realized he didn't stop staring at her. Not the mixer or the eggs or anything cook-related, at her. He didn't say a thing but he was just looking at the line of her neck, at the hair strands falling over her face, at her tongue pressed again against her upper lip. His gaze made her nervous, but anxious at the same time. His jeans were brushing her shorts. Her heart started racing in a matter of seconds. His breath against her shoulder again…
"Shit!" she yelled, mad, when the mixer slipped from her hands and the batter spread everywhere. Luckily she have been smart and fast enough to get out of the way, but Darren had a considerably volume of the yellow batter all the way through his shirt.
"So, that's how you do it, Lopez?"
"I'm sorry!" she started, but she started laughing immediately and in an uncontrollably way, her laugh was so powerful that he started to laugh too even though he wanted to pretend he was upset.
When she controlled her insane laugh, she took a napkin from the counter and approaching him she started to clean the mess on Darren's shirt, still with a grin on her face and some giggles here and there. She wiped the shirt collar first, and then the chest; it was there when she realized the same situation again: she was working on her task but he was staring at her, this time she could see he was looking directly to her face and her eyes more than anything. She didn't even realize that she came closer to wipe his tummy with the napkin. She didn't realize either that she was pretty much stroking him rather than cleaning his shirt. Then she looked down, gasping suddenly and holding her breath.
"What…?" Darren said because she didn't continue, but Lauren interrupted him:
"It's on your jeans." She explained.
"Oh, okay" and he took the napkin and turned back to clean the rest of his clothes, trying not to think about the place Lauren was just looking. He felt that weird burnt again.
She finished mixing the batter in silence, but her hands couldn't stop shaking. What was happening? Five minutes ago they were dying of laughter and now the environment was just so tense and intense at the same time. She tried to put the batter on a pan but her hands couldn't hold the bowl, she was starting to sweat, and the fact that the situation affected her like that just made things harder to handle. When the bowl was about to smash against the counter just like the eggs did it a minutes before, Darren's hand grabbed it just in time. Meanwhile, the speed he needed to get there on time forced him to put his other hand on her waist. His whole body against her.
They both stayed quiet for a few seconds, and not even a fly moved in that room. Then Darren leaned the bowl a little so the batter started to drop in the pan.
Lauren giggled a little, how could she stay tense if Darren was there? She noticed he was smiling too. He turned his head a bit to her and kissed her slowly on the cheek. The feeling of his lips gently stroking her skin made her blush. He didn't move his lips from her, though.
"What now?" he asked, quietly, putting down the bowl, and she had to control her shakiness. His voice, especially against her skin, was something out of this world.
"We put the pan in the oven?"
"Are you asking me?"
"I don't know?"
He smiled again, his nose pressed against her cheek. She was such an amazing girl. And for the first time she directed her look to his eyes and their gazes met. And Darren knew that was the moment.
"I love you, Lauren" he dropped.
"I know, silly. Me too" she just answered. It's not like that was the first time they have told that to each other.
"You don't." he said, holding her gaze. "You have no idea…"
"I have no idea?" she replied, offended "I'm not in my hometown, I've spent an hour in the rain, I have an enormous wound in my head, it's almost 4am and I'm doing a cake in your kitchen, and you know what?"
"What?"
"It's not even gluten free."
He let out an audible laughter, then she turned back to him and he immediately took advantage of this and grabbed her jaws to crash his lips against hers. She not only responded but she also headed her both hands to his chest. He closed his eyes. That was the first time he kissed Lauren offstage, the first time he had her at his mercy. And she was everything he imagined she would be. Nothing but perfect for his lips to be on her skin, to his hands to be around her waist, to his face to be deep on her hair.
"You're so beautiful." He whispered before kissing her neck.
"Even more than Jessica Alba?"
"She's a house elf next to you."
She laughed.
He directed his hands to her hips, and she crossed her legs on his butt, so he carried her around the house. They hit a few furniture in their way, because they didn't watch a thing. It was only when she forced him to stop that their lips split.
"What's wrong?" he asked, worried.
"We didn't put the cake in the oven. It will ruin."
"I'll call a pizza." He found a solution at the instant, but he didn't really matter about the food now.
"Now?"
"Later…" he begged frustrated, kissing her neck again. He wanted her so bad.
"Hmmm…" she groaned, her hands squeezed his shirt, before adding "but it's 4 am…"
"Shit, Lauren, I'll make you a sandwich, I don't know. I'll take you to the motherfucking La Boheme if you want."
That was the fanciest restaurant in Los Angeles. Darren was carrying her to his bedroom already. She headed her hand under Darren's pants and an audible moan sounded in the hallway.
"Then let's go" she replied, and her hand left his underwear.
"Are you serious?" his soul dropped to his feet. Lauren just smiled and kissed him again, while he carried her to the room, where just a few hours ago she was crying in.
"It's okay, I don't want to go." She said, and he kissed her nose as she grinned. He rested her gently in the bed as she added "I'm fine here. With you."
A/N: If you leave a review I'll love you forever