Red Sweatshirt
It was Friday in the afternoon. The sky clear and bright; the sun peaking through the clouds, giving the people enough warmth in the windy Autumn day.
A woman sat on a rusty old bench beside a big willow tree. She was wearing her all time favourite white button up shirt, paired with some blue jeans, and some comfy shoes with a color that fits her entire outfit. Her name was, Lauren Lewis.
Lauren was born in a small town called River Side. She had a perfect wavy blonde hair; that most people would kill to have, and beautiful brown eyes that shines every time she smiles; some say, that if you look close enough, little specks could be seen in them which looked like stars.
Lauren was born in a wealthy family who were well known in different cities. Her father was a lawyer, and her mother was a surgeon. They were hard working people who were very dedicated to their jobs; too dedicated that they barely had any time with their two children and with each other. She followed her mother's footsteps and became a surgeon; a very successful one. Lauren also worked with some researches and experiments on her spare time, which she earned some great awards and recognition for. Her brother on the other hand didn't follow any of their parent's footsteps, although he was just as hard working as they were. Henry, her brother, became a well known architect in many big cities.
Aside from work and science, there were a lot of other things that Lauren loved; like the rain. She loved the feeling when droplets fell down on top of her head, she also loved the smell of the air before and after the rain falls from the sky. She loved listening and watching the rain, she thought of it as something peaceful. Another thing that she loved since she was a child was books; oh how she loved reading books. Before she even learned how to read, she had been listening to a lot of audiobooks that her parents bought for her, sometimes she asked her nanny to read to her before she went to bed.
By the time she went to school and learned how to read, she didn't waste any time to read and re-read the books that she wanted to read herself when she couldn't. She fell in love with them. Books were the only things that was keeping her company when her parents weren't home, and when her brother was busy going out with his friends. Books has taught her a lot of things in life, and she valued every single bit of it.
Lauren loved her family, her friends, her work, her hobbies...but there was one thing, one person that fully took her heart. Lauren Lewis helplessly in love with a woman named Bo Dennis.
Lauren absentmindedly stared down at the ground; covered with autumn leaves, as she thought of the time when she and her brother jumped off from the rooftop, down to a pile of leaves at their backyard. It was the first time that she got scolded by her parents; she was never the one to get scolded, it has always been Henry. There were many things that her parents told and taught her that day, things that could have happened if they had hit the ground. If Lauren had to summarize the things that she learned from that experience, it was getting scolded by her parents and getting scared by stories of children that ended up in surgery. But there was one thing that Lauren learned from jumping off that roof, something that her brother said to her before they jumped. He said. "Lauren, it's time for you to learn to let go and feel free!" It was the day that Lauren learned to let go.
Lauren sat up and watched the people walk in and out of the graveyard. Some people looked familiar to her; the ones that were there often and the ones that she actually have met before. A little girl opened the entrance gate and walked in. She was wearing a blue dress with a white jacket, her scarf and gloves matching the color of her dress. The little girl skipped towards Lauren, dropping a few candies that she held on her hand along the way; not caring to stop and pick them up again.
"Hello!" The little girl greeted Lauren cheerfully.
"Hello there," Lauren replied with a smile. She placed her elbows on top of her knees and rested her head on top of her hands.
"I like your hair," The little girl said as she took a bite of a half eaten chocolate.
"Thank you, I like your hair too," Lauren complimented the little girl back. "What is your name, sweetie?" Lauren asked.
"Rose," The little girl replied, taking another bite of her chocolate.
"That's a beautiful name, like the flower," Lauren said.
"Thanks," The little girl said with a big smile on her face. "I'm here to visit dad," The little girl added.
"I see, do you-" Before Lauren could finish talking, she was interrupted by a woman's voice calling after the little girl. "I think your mom is looking for you," Lauren told Rose, who was busy with her sweets.
"I have to go, I'll talk to you later," The little girl said. "Do you want some of these before I go?" She generously asked Lauren.
"I would love to, but I can't," Lauren explained.
"Oh, okay," The little replied with a shrug. "See you then, Goodbye." And with those words, the little girl ran toward her mother. Lauren smiled as she watched Rose go. Her mother looked relieved when she saw her daughter, she said a couple of words to the little one, and a few minutes later the little girl turned around and pointed a finger towards Lauren. The woman shook her head after giving her daughter a confusing look, she then gently grabbed the little girl's hand and walked away.
"What's up, Lewis?" Lauren jumped a little as she heard one of her friends after a few moments of silence.
"Jen, you scared the heck out of me," Lauren breathed out.
"Relax, it's not like you're gonna die from it," Jen said with a laugh. "So what's up? Same old same?" Her friend asked, taking a seat beside her.
"Ha. Ha.," Lauren mocked, before she seriously added. "It's different this time," Lauren replied in a whisper.
"Different how?"
"You'll see," Lauren said without taking a glance at her friend.
"Fine...I can see that you don't want to talk about it," Jen said before she looked at the couple that just walked in.
"I'm sorry, just not now," Lauren said after a few minutes of silence.
"Don't worry about it," Jen said with a smile. "But I'm bored though...mind telling me a story?" Jen asked.
"What kind of story?" Lauren asked.
"Anything," Jen shrugged. "What about the time you met her?" Jen suggested.
"Bo?" Lauren asked.
"Geee, I don't know, Rony smelly breath maybe? Is there anyone in your life that makes you all sad and silent like this?"
"Why would you like to know?" Lauren asked, ignoring the sarcasm that her friend just made a while ago.
"Because I'm bored, and I've always wanted to hear about this girl that you are so crazy about," Jen explained. "Besides, they said that it helps...talking about it,"
"I don't know..." Lauren replied, unsure. She hasn't told anyone about her and Bo before. It was something that was precious to her, every minute and every second of it.
"Come on, I have nothing better to do at the moment, and neither do you," Lauren looked at her friend for a few seconds, deciding whether she would tell her the story or not.
"Are we gonna sit here and stare at each other all day, or?" Jen said, breaking the silence.
"Alight, I can tell you how we met," Lauren finally said.
"Great!" Jen smiled and shifted her sitting position so that she would feel as comfy as possible.
It was one thousand and four hundred sixty days ago. Lauren remembered that day perfectly like it was yesterday.
She was sitting on a swing at and empty park, taking sips from her cup of coffee; enjoying her lunch break from work. She liked sitting there during her breaks; it reminded her of her childhood, it was were she and her brother used to go and play after they finished school while they wait for one of their parents to pick them up. Lauren transferred back to her home town when she decided that she wanted to settle down and grow old there rather than in a big city.
A cold air passed by right before her phone rang, making her shiver as she took out her phone from her pocket.
"Hello," She answered.
"Are you busy tonight?" The guy on the other side of the line asked. It was her best friend, Nick.
"No?" Lauren replied.
"Good, we are going out tonight," He said.
"But-" Lauren was about to disagree with the plan, but her friend knew her too well to give her time to make up some excuse. Though all that Lauren wanted to do was to stay in bed; watch some movies and relax. But Nick obviously had something else in his mind.
"Ermmm, let me stop you right there, Lauren. When was the last time you got out of your house aside form going to work?" Before Lauren could reply, Nick continued. "Yes, yes I know you are always busy...but you need to go out sometimes too, you know? You need a social life, a love life! When was the last time you kissed someone?" He paused and waited for Lauren to reply; finally giving her a chance to talk.
Lauren breathed out and took a sip from her cup before she replied. "I just really want to stay at home and watch movies all night. Tonight is my first night off since...I can't even remember the last time I had a day off from work,"
"Do you have free tomorrow then?" He asked. Lauren was glad that her friend let go of the previous subject, but she knew how the conversation would end.
Lauren pursed her lips as she thought through the answer that she was going to say. "It depends," She finally said.
"Right. We are going out then, see you on Wednesday, eight o'clock, wear something hot, like Beyonce kind of hot, alright?" He said in a cheery tone, Lauren couldn't help but laugh.
"Fine..." She said, finally giving up on the discussion.
"Awesome! See you then, bye!" He said.
"Bye, Nick," Lauren said and ended the call.
Lauren groaned and finished the bagel that she had on her lap before she stood up and began to walk back to the hospital.
She was checking some messages on her phone when she bumped into someone; making her spill her cup of coffee all over her white shirt.
"Shit," The woman that she bumped into cursed. "I'm so sorry, I-" The woman paused when she looked up from her phone; looking at Lauren's shirt. "Shit, I um..." She mumbled and looked further up, meeting Lauren in the eyes. The first thought that came into Lauren's mind was not anger, nor irritation. Her mind couldn't process any form of anger as she got lost staring at the woman standing in front of her. She had dark hair and killer body, which showed perfectly with the gym clothes that she was wearing; showing her muscle and curves.
"It's uh, it's okay," Lauren managed to reply with a smile. She then began to wipe the coffee off her shirt with her hand; it was the worst idea but she was too distracted to think through her actions at that moment.
"I'm sorry, I didn't see you, I was too busy with my phone it's my fault I-" Bo continued to apologized.
"It's alright, really. It was also my fault, I was busy with my phone too," Lauren glanced up at the woman and gave her a reassuring smile.
Are you sure it's okay?" The woman asked, and Lauren found her concern adorably cute.
"It is, really," Lauren reassured before she continued to wipe off the mess.
"Um...I don't think wiping it off like that will help," The woman pointed out seconds later. That was when Lauren realized what she was doing, and how silly it may have looked. She let go of her shirt and looked up at the woman "No, not really," Lauren let out a nervous laugh as she replied. "I don't know why I was doing that," She added and looked down as she felt the heat creeping on her cheeks. The woman made a small laugh; which made Lauren's heart skip a beat.
"Here, use this," The woman said. Lauren looked up to see what the woman was offering her. It was a red hooded sweatshirt. "It's the least that I can do for the mess that I had made," She added.
"No, it's okay, really, don't worry about it. I have extra clothes at work, I'll change there," Lauren explained.
"Where do you work?" The woman asked. Lauren couldn't figure out if she sounded like she really wanted to know, or if was just because she wanted to help her.
"At the hospital," Lauren replied.
"Great! I'll drive you there," She said with a smile.
"It's-"
"I know, I know, it's okay. But I will feel so much better if you let me help you. I really feel bad for doing this to you, pleaseeeeeee?" Lauren gave a small laugh and nodded; she couldn't say no to those sweet puppy eyes.
A wide smile formed on the woman's face before she spoke again. "Good!" She then took a step closer to Lauren and placed the sweatshirt on Lauren's chest. "Here, put this on,"
"Thanks," Lauren said with a smile, looking down on her shoes.
Lauren sat silently in the car, looking outside of the window. She could feel Bo glancing at her every now and then, but she didn't dare to look back, scared of another awkward encounter happening.
"You seem so tense. Relax I won't kidnap you, promise" Bo said with a laugh, breaking the silence
Lauren smiled "I know, I'm alright"
"Alright, if you say so" Bo smiled back. "So what do work with? If you don't mind me asking"
"I'm a surgeon." Lauren replied.
"Here I am spilling coffee to a person who saves lives everyday," Bo shook her head with a smile on her face
"It's alright, worse things have been spilled," Lauren said with a laugh.
"There we go, nice to finally hear you laughing. I was afraid I was giving you the worse time of your life, you were really quiet," Bo said.
"Oh, sorry about that. I am not so good with small talks," Lauren replied.
"Good thing you don't have to talk to your patients while operating on them." Bo joked. Lauren laughed and finally took the courage to look at Bo in the eyes. She thought at that moment, that she didn't want to miss another day not looking into Bo's big brown eyes. Little did she know, that was only the beginning.
"And that was how we met." Lauren said to Jen.
"Oh wow, both of you are big dorks," Jen said with a laugh, earning an eye-roll from Lauren. "I'm kidding, man that was nice. I bet she was a keeper, huh?"
"Yes, yes she was"
Lauren stood up and walked towards a familiar path, Jen following her from behind. She stopped halfway, looking at the gravestone not so far away from her.
"What's wrong?" Jen asked when she realized that Lauren was not moving any sooner.
"You want to hear more about us?" Lauren said with a small smile in her face.
"Of course! I have been asking you this for ages now!"
"So we had our first date a week after we met," Lauren replied, fighting a tear from falling down.
Lauren waited anxiously for Bo at the restaurant. They were going to meet at eight, but Lauren wanted to be early, half an hour early; always have to be a bit early to avoid getting late. It was five minutes and thirty seconds past eight and Bo still hasn't arrived. Lauren began to think that Bo may have stood her up, but something tells her that she had to wait. She looked at the time on her phone again, quarter past eight and still no Bo. Lauren decided it was time to go home. She was about to get up from her chair when someone pushed her gently back down again
"Lauren" It was Bo, she was panting as she took off her leather jacket and sat right across her. "I am sorry, I was..." She took a deep breath and drank some water from Lauren's glass. "Sorry, really thirsty. I am so so sorry Lauren, I didn't mean to keep you waiting. There was some stuff I had to fix at home, my sister made a lot of mess and almost set the house on fire," Bo explained.
Lauren snapped out of her thoughts when she heard the words "house" and "fire". She was too busy being mesmerized with how Bo looked, even though the poor woman looked like she was about to pass out. "What? Is is everything alright now? It's alright if you cancel, we can go on a date some other time, I understand." Lauren replied.
"No no, it's alright now. I am here, and we are doing this" Bo said in reassurance.
"Alright," Lauren smiled. "So..what do you want to eat?"
Later that night they took a walk along the shore. Lauren shivers as the cold from the ocean blew towards them. She was tempted to take Bo's hand into hers for a while now, but she was unsure. Or maybe...scared.
"You've been out shopping today?" Bo asked, pointing at the plastic bag Lauren was carrying.
"Oh, I forgot..this is yours," Lauren said handing the bag to Bo.
"For me?" Bo said surprised "But I didn't get you anything," Bo added with a pout.
"Um, it's your sweatshirt. I keep forgetting it when I go to work so I didn't get to give it back until now," Lauren said sheepishly. She couldn't remember a day that she has forgotten about the sweatshirt.
"Put it on, you've been shivering ever since we got out of the restaurant and you wouldn't take my jacket," Bo handed Lauren the sweatshirt.
"Alright, but you need to remind me to give it back to you later tonight," Lauren said.
"Will do, will do," Bo gave a wink and grabbed Lauren's hand. "Oh man, you're cold," Bo shook her head and grabbed Lauren's other hand and blew on them. "Does this help?"
"Bo, it's okay," Lauren said with a small laugh. "Really," Lauren added when Bo was not convinced.
"Alright," Bo finally let go of one of Lauren's hand, leaving the other intwined with hers. "You look good with my sweatshirt on,"
"You don't look so bad yourself," Lauren replied awkwardly.
Bo smiled and gave Lauren's hand a little kiss before they continued their walk.
Lauren looked away as the teardrop fell from her face. "She's here," She whispered.
I hope you liked this, this was going to be a one chapter story but I fell off my motivation to write the rest so just putting this out now or else I probably would never do it xD been trying alot of times before. If you know me and have been reading my other stories, I know I haven't updated on my story "The Promise" for a while now, I am just lacking time and inspiration to do it, but if I do get those 2 back, I shall update! Sorry for the mistakes, haven't written for a very very long time x)