AN: As always, thank you all so much for your follows, favourites, and especially reviews!

VI

For longer than she cares to keep track of, Lauren is lying on her back in her bed. Her face is buried underneath a pillow she is shutting the world out with. She's only pulled out of her thoughts when Kenzi bangs on the door. "Lauren? I know you're in there!"

The blonde growls something into the pillow, her voice muffled by the fabric.

Kenzi bangs against the door again, this time with her flat hand. "It's getting late!"

Lauren pulls the pillow away, blinking into the sudden light. "I said turn the doorknob. It's open."

Her friend doesn't need a third invitation. Immediately she bursts into the room. "We'll miss the tequila if you don't get going!"

"I said I'd think about coming. And now I don't think I will."

Kenzi smirks, putting her hands on her hips, "I think you're wrong there. Pete has this giant house and he's throwing a party only like once a year. We're not going to miss it."

"Go ahead, Kenz. I'm not stopping you."

"Exactly. You're going with me. This is probably the last chance to get you out anyways. I bet you'll start your revision for finals next week already."

Lauren simply groans once more and covers her face with the pillow again. She hears her friend shuffle closer to the bed, and one second later she feels it shift slightly as Kenzi drops her small body right next to her.

"Hey doc, I can see that something is off," Kenzi says, her tone more serious. "What's wrong?"

Lauren just grumbles something incoherently.

She shouldn't have done that, though, because in the next second Kenzi's fingers are all over her sides, tickling her so skilfully she doesn't even have time to yank the pillow away before she starts to shriek. Kenzi is a master at this. Lauren throws herself from side to side, pushing pillows away and disarranging the blanket while she desperately tries to escape from Kenzi's hands. She alternates from crying with laughter and gasping for breath. Her dark mood is gone in that instant.

"Stop it," she cries.

The black haired girl is laughing as well. Her fingers are digging into Lauren's sides no matter how fast she spins around or tries to slap them away. Instead, Kenzi insists "Say please."

"Please, stop it, Kenz, stop it! I'll even come with you, just stop!"

Finally, Kenzi has mercy and ends torturing her friend. "See, it wasn't that hard."

Lauren sits up, trying to catch her breath. "I'll get my revenge for that."

"Sure," Kenzi smirks, "but not if I'm faster again."

Lauren glares at her, trying to fix her hair. "What was that for, anyways?"

Kenzi gets serious again. "Come on, something's bothering you. If you don't want to talk that's fine, but too much brooding can be bad you know."

Lauren falls back on the bed again. "Yes." She takes a deep breath. "It's just that something happened and I have no idea how to react."

Kenzi raises her eyebrows. "Wow, that's specific."

Lauren huffs.

"Was it a good or a bad something?"

"I don't know," Lauren answers honestly. "That's the problem."

"Oh my," Kenzi says with exaggerated shock, clutching her heart. "You don't know?! These three words coming from your mouth? I didn't think I would live to see the day!"

Involuntarily Lauren has to grin. "Very funny, Kenz."

"At least you're smiling again."

"Thanks," Lauren says, while sitting up again. "If you so desperately want to know, someone tried to kiss me, and now I'm more than confused about it. I'm shocked."

Kenzi claps her hands together and starts to giggle. "I knew you got game."

This time Lauren does roll her eyes. "It's not like that. And no, before you ask, you don't know her. It's complicated."

"Well, did you like it? I mean, did you kiss back?"

"No. I panicked and ran away, actually."

"Sounds like something you would do." Kenzi tilts her head to the side. Lauren notices that despite dying to know she doesn't ask for the reasons of her flight, and Kenzi knows that Lauren picks that up, and for that Lauren is even more thankful. That's a conversation for later. Kenzi's next words startle her, though. "Somehow I still get the feeling, that you wanted to stay and would have enjoyed it very much."

"Beg your pardon?"

"You wouldn't lay here and wallow in denial and self-pity if this mysterious woman hadn't put some sort of spell on you," she grins.

Lauren glares at her, her lips one tight line. Kenzi is making way too much sense for her taste. She should just brush off the incident. It was already two day ago, and clearly just spurred by the moment. Luckily she didn't have any classes or tutorials with Bo. Lauren shouldn't be thinking so hard about it. "She hasn't. She just chose a very bad moment to act. I wasn't expecting it. To be honest, her behaviour in the last few weeks was indicating the exact opposite. And now I don't know what to do."

Kenzi props her elbows up on her knees and puts her chin on her folded hands, staring at Lauren with big blue eyes. "Are you sure you wouldn't have enjoyed it?"

"That's not the point."

"I think it's exactly what you're so worried about," Kenzi grins. "And how can you know if you don't have a go at it?"

Lauren fidgets, gesticulating, trying to come up with an adequate response. "No, I – I mean, that's not… It wasn't -"

Kenzi cuts her off with a knowing look, though, before Lauren can embarrass herself further. "Whatever it is, I'm sure the party will distract you. Everyone is going. And we both don't have classes until eleven tomorrow, which means that you could get some sleep afterwards."

Lauren sighs deeply. A little distraction wouldn't hurt right now. All of her carefully built up walls of denial are starting to crumble under Kenzi's scrutiny. Truth is, she has absolutely no idea of how to handle what happened between her and Bo, and she dreads their next meeting. "Maybe you're right," she admits quickly before her thoughts can trail off to that night again.

"I'm always right, that's why we're so good friends," Kenzi replies sweetly.

Lauren rolls her eyes but has to grin nonetheless. "When does it start?"

"Bruce texted me to come about half an hour ago. So get ready and we can get going right away."

For the first time Lauren takes a proper look at what Kenzi is wearing. "It's not fancy, though, is it?"

Melodramatically, Kenzi tilts her head back and groans. "Lauren, seriously, how did you survive your first years at college without me?"

Before Lauren can defend herself, Kenzi jumps up from the bed, hurries to the large wardrobe, and starts rummaging in it. "But don't worry, I'm here now, and I'll find you something to wear."

…

They arrive at Pete's house about forty-five minutes later. It's almost nine already, and the music is blasting across half the campus. All windows are open, people are standing outside, and some are already ridiculously drunk.

It's a nice house, on the edge of the campus, with two floors and a lot of space to hang out or dance. No one really knows how Pete can afford it as a third year law student, but most people think his parents sponsor him. Kenzi and Lauren make their way up to the front door, looking for its infamous owner. But it's so crowded they're almost sure that they won't find him. So they decide to get drinks first, giggling all the way to the kitchen about the drinking games in the hallway. Lauren knows some of the people there, but not too many. Kenzi, however, seems to have befriended her entire course plus their social circles. She greets and nods and laughs in every direction while Lauren smiles politely at the friendly faces she can't really name.

Turns out, there is a lot of alcohol. As she soon happily realizes Kenzi doesn't have to fear about running out of tequila this night.

The kitchen is packed with people who want the same or got stuck there. It's quite big with a gigantic fridge, an oven that would make a five star cook jealous, and an Italian coffee machine bigger than the dishwasher in the kitchen area of her student hall. Kenzi pours two drinks for them into glasses she has magically procured from somewhere. Lauren is watching her when she feels a hand slide up her back. Kenzi made Lauren wear a sleeveless black dress that leaves a diamond-shaped area of skin between her shoulder blades free, which is exactly where the hand comes to rest. A familiar voice speaks right into in Lauren's ear.

"Hi there! You're here too?"

It's Crystal, smiling at her broadly.

"Hey," Lauren greets back. She turns around to face her.

Kenzi sees the Economics student as well and says hi while shoving a glass into Lauren's hand. Then she excuses herself to find Bruce, leaving Crystal and Lauren standing by the stacked bottles. Scraps of other guests' conversation waver past them.

"Do you have a drink already?" Lauren asks.

Crystal nods, raising a red plastic cup in her right hand. "Only diet coke, though. I need to get up early tomorrow."

"Very responsible," Lauren teases, while they make their way back to the living room. Snacks are supposed to be in there somewhere.

Crystal smirks back. "Just too many bad experiences, to be honest. I've learnt my lesson."

"It doesn't seem like a good idea to throw a party in the middle of the week anyways."

"Well, there are quite a few other things going on at the weekend already. And at this time of the term, with the finals close but not too close, no one cares anymore anyways."

Lauren nods and takes a sip from her glass. She frowns immediately.

Crystal laughs again. "See what I mean?"

"Yes, that's very strong indeed."

"Don't worry, Kenzi isn't trying to get you drunk, these drinks are just made that way."

"She probably isn't," Lauren murmurs, taking another sip. "Well, I hope not. So, why are you surprised to see me here?"

"I wasn't expecting you to be honest. Normal college parties like this don't seem to be your favourite way to spend your time."

"Well, if the company is good," Lauren cracks a smile, "I can be persuaded."

Crystal grins back. "Then I'll do my best to make sure that I see you more often on occasions like this. I really like your dress, by the way."

In that moment two students wearing red muscle shirts and paper crowns push past them, yelling something about a bet. Lauren laughs and pulls Crystal out of possible harm's way, since the two guys carry dangerously full plastic cups containing a non-identifiable liquid. The music is blasting in her ears. Before she realizes it, Lauren is sucked into the whirlwind of students enjoying their youth – or lack of exams at the moment - around her.

From then on, the rest of the night happens in somewhat of a blur.

Kenzi pops up sporadically. She even warns her once or twice not to drink too much, but the mixing going on at the party is just a little too skilfully made, the cocktails are just a hint too sweet to resist, and Crystal too eager to refill her glass.

And Lauren almost starts to believe that she isn't here to forget her almost-kiss with Bo.

…

As might be expected, it turns out to be a very stupid plan.

The blurriness and scattered focus extends to the next morning, magnified by at least a hundredfold.

When Lauren blinks, disoriented, and tries to figure out where she is she makes the mistake to open her eyes fully. Blinding headache sets in immediately. It feels like someone tries to bash out her brain with something like a foghorn hooting at full volume. She groans loudly.

That's when, through the mist of her clouded mind, she realizes that she's not lying in her bed.

She's lying on the floor. Not sure which one, though.

That worries her somewhat. Ignoring the excruciating pain, or hoping that it will end sooner if she faces it now, Lauren blinks again and sits up. Dizziness gets hold of her and her hands shoot out to steady her, even though she's still only sitting. Her left hand, though, finds resistance which feels like a bed frame. She clings to it, and waits for the world to stop spinning.

Finally, her eyes adjust to the light and she can take in her surroundings.

She's in Kenzi's room, on the floor, curled up on one of Kenzi's spare blankets. She's still wearing the dress from last night, but only one shoe. The other one lays by the door, she notices perplexedly.

And worst of all, she has no recollection of how she got there.

The last thing she remembers is sitting on the couch in one of the upstairs bedrooms of Pete's house, and very drunkenly telling Crystal an embarrassing story of how she managed to get banned from all science competitions at her high school, using only one afternoon's worth of scrapyard findings.

And then nothing.

Her head turns around. Luckily at least Kenzi seemed to have managed to find her bed. She's even wearing her pyjamas.

Lauren prods her side until she moans with protest. "Kenzi?"

The black haired girl doesn't move one inch, but grimaces without opening her eyes. "I'm asleep."

Lauren shakes her shoulder again. Kenzi murmurs something incoherently into her pillow. Lauren has seen her hung-over a couple of times already, but this particular one doesn't seem to be too hard, at least for Kenzi.

Lauren isn't sure whether she had one like this ever before, though.

"Kenzi, what on earth happened?"

The black-haired girl groans again, before answering "I think you put me into bed and passed out on my floor? I tried to persuade you to go to your room but you wouldn't move."

"Oh my god." Lauren rubs her temples. That seems like something she would do, even if she was worse off than her friend. And now the pain in her back repays her for her altruism.

Kenzi stirs again. "Turn out the light, it's burning my eyes."

"I can't, it's the sun outside."

Somehow Kenzi manages to throw her pillow at the window. Lauren ducks with a delay off about two whole seconds. It bounces off the glass, uselessly, and falls to the floor. Kenzi groans again, turning to the other side in an attempt to return into some form of darkness.

"Oh my god." Lauren racks her brains over the end of last night. But she has no recollections whatsoever. She frowns, the realization dawning on her. Alcohol-induced amnesia. "I blacked out completely."

There comes a noise from Kenzi that resembles chuckling.

"That has never happened to me before!" Lauren exclaims aghast. Ten different recognized causes and accompanying symptoms are already rushing through her mind, increasing her headache. She struggles to her feet, pulling herself up on Kenzi's leg which is hanging over the edge of her bed. It evokes a muffled protest from her. Lauren ignores that, though, staggering on to the small mirror hanging on the wall. The sour taste in her mouth is disgusting.

And she looks horrible. "Oh my god," she groans again. Her mind is literally blank on the last hour of her night. She can't have missed much more than that.

"You don't have any aspirin, do you?" Her friend calls from the bed.

Unwisely, Lauren shakes her head, and squirms immediately at the returning dizziness. There is definitely a little alcohol left in her system.

"Could you get some?" Kenzi asks, stretching out her leg to nudge Lauren's knee.

"I'm in a very fragile condition don't touch me," Lauren answers, slurred.

Kenzi chuckles throatily. "I think you had great fun yesterday."

Lauren mind is spinning again, and this time because she's trying to come up with an explanation for her behaviour. Normally she's the responsible one, never drinking too much if at all. Seems like Crystal overachieved, her plan to introduce Lauren to drinking rituals is definitely questionable in retrospect.

But Lauren complied, and she knows exactly why. One stupid incident and she's lost all self-control. It's not like she planned to get absolutely wasted because of it, but it definitely caused her inhibition threshold to implode. And she and Bo didn't even kiss.

Lauren is about to fully wake up Kenzi to ask her about what she knows about yesterday evening when she throws a look at her wrist watch. "Shit."

In the next second she hurries out of Kenzi's room, into her own, grabs everything she needs for the shower, and walks there as fast as her legs, still weak, allow. If she doesn't want to be late for the first class she has to be finished in twenty minutes. Her mind goes on autopilot.

Miraculously, she manages it. It's close, but she does.

She spends the whole time from her room to the classroom worrying about the time period she can't remember from the previous evening. She even checks her phone, but it has run out of battery at some point. That's either very good, because if that happened before she started drinking it could have prevented her from doing something stupid, or very, very bad because she also could have drained the battery by doing something stupid in the first place.

The blackout starts quite late, though. She can still remember the vast majority of the night. At least that what she thinks. She has never had to deal with a problem like that. A tiny part of herself finds it quite interesting – the fascination of witnessing something she has only ever read about before. The bigger portion of her thoughts circle around the mystery of what happened in the missing time, though. She has to find Crystal and ask her.

She isn't even afraid that she humiliated herself completely. Lauren was never driven towards overly reckless behaviour when she was drunk, or at least overly reckless for her standards, some of her alcohol related stories must seem strange to others – but on the other hand she has never experienced a black-out either.

It's just worrying not to know what she did.

…

Taking a seat in a row unusually far in the back of the room, she asks one of her classmates whether she can borrow his phone. He does, and she sends Crystal a quick, non-descriptive email that will hopefully result in some clarifications.

Then she hands it back, looking up to check whether the teacher is there yet.

She nearly freezes in mid-air. That's when she realizes, as an ice cold bucket of water seems to be emptied over her head, that the class she's hurried into is held by Bo. Her mind has been on autopilot, not realizing to which class she has to be in right now. And even though Bo isn't here yet, it's too late to get out again. Lauren would risk running right into her on the hallway, which would be even more horrible.

So Lauren swallows, and mentally prepares herself for facing the actually far bigger problem than last night's escapade. Not that she is actually facing anything unusual, she's just sitting in a small class with other students after all, Lauren reminds herself. But the memory of Bo's lips so excruciatingly close to hers springs back to her mind and causes a hot shiver to run down her spine.

And then she has no idea what Bo will do. Lauren doesn't even want to think about possible consequences.

So Lauren pulls a sheet of paper and a pen out of her bag and, with effort, pretends to be prepared. And with a lot more effort, she drives the memory of Bo back into the back of her head.

A second later, her professor comes in. Lauren's attempts were completely in vain.

She was right, though, she would have run right into her arms if she had tried to escape the trap she has manoeuvred herself into. Originally she planned to skip her next class with Bo.

Then Lauren really looks at Bo.

Today, she doesn't stride in like she owns the place as usual. Instead, she's a thundercloud storming into the classroom. It's more than the usual amount of intimidation that follows her like a particularly dazzling trace of perfume. Her eyes are dark, and so furious they seem to emit sparks. She cranes her neck, her eyes flying across the assembled students, who instantaneously lapse into silence as if their conversations have been cut off with a knife. Then Bo's gaze settles back on her desk, where she drops her bag. Her jaw is clenched as if set in marble. She's wearing a black blazer and slacks as usual, but her hair is open and cascading down her back, tangled from too much agitated ruffling. Over the last few weeks Lauren has come to notice these little things, one by one.

Despite not sitting in her usual second row she sees them now, and recognizes that Bo is deeply upset about something. She's holding the reigns of her anger, but the way she throws her head back, her black hair shining in the sudden movement, gives away how enraged she must feel, just like she only shows her teeth instead of smiling to greet her students. Energetically Bo slides out of her blazer, and throws it over her chair before straightening her crisp white blouse. Lauren hasn't seen her like this before. And despite better judgement, she's fascinated by it.

Lauren bites her lip. Who is she fooling? Kenzi was right; she so desperately wanted to kiss her that night. She still wants to.

Bo flips through her notes. Everyone is looking at her expectantly. The noise of paper being shuffled, pages turned around and laptops being started fills the room.

Without glancing up, she starts the class. The coldness in her tone accentuates her stern voice. Usually she is gentle and easy-going with her students, but today seems to head into another direction. She speaks on and on, without letting her students answer questions or dropping the harsh tone. The anger seems to be driving her through the whole lecture.

But she controls it well. Apart from her fierce demeanour following her entrance, she remains quite calm and collected. She's icy instead of burning openly. It could be misread as simple bad mood. Lauren isn't sure whether anyone else in the room apart from her knows how to interpret this coldness.

The vast majority of her wants to leave as soon and as inconspicuously as possible, not just because her threatening behaviour right now, but also because of her last encounter which still poses a problem she hasn't solved yet. But there is also a tiny part that is drawn to Bo like a moth to the flame.

About ten minutes to the end of the lesson a guy in the third row has the bad fortune to run out of ink. Whispering he asks his neighbour for a new pen. But Bo hears him nonetheless. Her eyes narrow again. And then he's stupid enough to make a small joke. His friend chuckles. Lauren can't hear it, but Bo deems it disruptive enough to aim a small amount of anger at him.

"Miller, could you give me the precise definition of impression formation?" She asks. "The chapter you had to read for this class, if I may remind you."

"Uhm," he begins, obviously trying to buy time. That he has no idea about the theoretical aspects of the topic is written plainly on his face.

Before he can continue Bo cuts him off again by simply glaring at him until he stops stuttering. Then she snaps "Its two major theories?"

"I don't know."

"What's loss aversion?"

This time he doesn't even bother to answer. He just looks shamefully at his desk. The whole room is perfectly still, watching the drama unfold.

Bo's eyes darken, just as her voice drops dangerously low. She leans forward, putting her hands on her desk, and glares at him across the room. Through clenched teeth she hisses "Do you think your presence here is a joke, Miller?"

Lauren swallows. Bo only calls students she knows by their last name if she's really angry. And now she sounds more than that; she's pissed off. She looks feral, like a predator on the lookout for a fight. It's almost painful to watch Miller right now. He has absolutely no idea of how to react, and visibly shrinks under Bo's gaze. Even his neighbours seem to feel very uncomfortable.

Then Bo stops glaring at him. Her eyes flicker away. In the midst of the assembled students she singles out Lauren as easily as if she was glowing.

"Lewis?"

Lauren's head snaps up. She blinks. Her answer comes calmly and textbook-like, holding Bo's gaze. "Essentially it's social categorization theory, or how a global impression of an individual person is created by unifying and assimilating single pieces of information about said person. The cognitive algebra or Gestalt approach are the two known basic theories."

Maybe, just maybe, the corner of Bo's mouth is beginning to soften and curve upwards a little. But Lauren could easily be mistaken since she's so far away from her.

"And?"

"Pain associated with giving up a good is greater than the pleasure associated with obtaining it," Lauren says without missing a beat. She didn't even think before she blurted it out.

Bo nods, curtly but satisfied. She looks at Lauren for another second, then her head snaps back down to Miller and the eye contact between the two women is lost. "See what I mean? Read what I put on the reading lists."

Lauren tires to hold it back, but she can't prevent a smirk from spreading on her lips. Despite the possible complete destruction of their professional relationship between teacher and student, Bo still appreciates her intelligence, and doesn't ignore her.

That doesn't mean though, that Lauren doesn't try to sneak out of the classroom at the end of the class. She almost hides behind a cluster of other people, but Bo catches her before she can leave. She doesn't even look away from packing her notes when Bo addresses a question at her, her voice piercing easily through the low noise of conversations beginning around Lauren.

"Lewis, one word, would you?"

Lauren freezes, her notepad clutched to her chest, unable to look at her for a second. She really wanted to escape this. Or deny it altogether. Pretend that it never happened until she can figure out her own feelings. But then Lauren nods, and turns around. The last student hurries past her out of the door, throwing a curious look at her. Then they are alone. The door closes with a loudly resounding thump.

Slowly Lauren looks up. Now that she is close to her again, Lauren can see how fuming Bo really is.

She puts her hands on her hips, her fingers digging into the fabric of her skirt. "What the hell, Lauren?"

The blonde stares at her with confusion and worry. "I'm sorry?"

Bo pulls her phone out of her pocket and waves it. "Your call early in the morning!"

Suddenly, all colour fades from Lauren's face. She's still feeling a little weak, and she didn't get any breakfast of course, and now the realization that she did do something really stupid yesterday. Right now she wishes for ground to open and swallow her whole. She turns very pale, her mouth forming a silent o. And then "shit." She stares at Bo with horror.

Bo gave her the number for emergencies, if she had to cancel a tutorial unexpectedly for instance. Or to text her that she'd be late. Lauren had never called or texted Bo before, though, in fear of what doors that might open. She'd revelled in the possibility, though.

Now she just wants to hit her head against the closest wall, repeatedly.

"Well? What do you have to say about it?" Bo hisses.

"Oh my god. I'm terribly sorry."

Bo studies her closely with narrowed eyes for a moment, catching the trace of misery in Lauren's apology. She tilts her head to the side. The undertone of her voice changes slightly. "Were you drunk last night?"

Lauren grimaces. Her gaze drops to her boots. "Yes," she admits, shifting her weight helplessly from one side to the other. She doesn't know, though, what that question says about the call, or why Bo wasn't able to tell anyways.

Bo frowns and glares at her until Lauren feels like she's physically shrinking. "I am really sorry?"

Her professor gives her a last scrutinizing look. Then she sighs. The sound makes Lauren glance up again. With relief she sees that Bo's anger has begun to vanish. She smiles sheepishly and somewhat painfully at her. Lauren can practically watch the anger melt away.

Before she can open her mouth to mumble another apology, though, Bo steps forward. She seizes Lauren's elbow. Lauren is so taken aback that she doesn't put up any resistance when Bo marches out of the room, pulling the blonde with her. Lauren more or less stumbles along.

At first she thinks they're going to Bo's office. She's wrong, though.

Bo's hand leaves her elbow quite soon again, but she stays very close to her. Bo lets Lauren walk slightly in front of her, but their shoulders are nearly touching. She points out the direction every time Lauren is in doubt.

Lauren soon realizes that Bo is taking her out of the building. She shoots a questioning look at her, unwilling to address a direct question right now.

"There's a café around the corner," Bo says simply, without looking back at Lauren. Then she adds in a low voice since they're walking past a couple of other students "I think we have to talk."

…

The café is very quiet, very small, and hidden in a small alley Lauren would have never found on her own. The interior is nice, though, and almost all of the few tables are empty. They sit down in the last corner where they can speak undisturbed. Bo orders two cappuccinos, the way Lauren used to try making them with Bo's kettle and instant coffee.

Lauren takes a sip and stares at her across the rim of her cup.

Bo stirs her coffee. She holds Lauren's gaze until she starts fidgeting in her seat. "Okay. Me first then. I'm sorry about –" She waves vaguely with her hand "What happened two days ago."

Lauren takes a deep breath. Up until now, she was not one hundred per cent sure that Bo really tried to kiss her. "No need to apologize."

"Yes, there is. I really overstepped a line. I kind of tried to breach the rules of every teacher student relationship, and I apologize for that."

Lauren nods thoughtfully. "Okay. I'm sorry about my reaction."

Bo didn't look at her while she said the last few sentences but now her eyes flicker up to meet Lauren's again. She clutches her cup as if she has to prevent herself from reaching out to Lauren. "Please, don't be. You reacted perfectly fine."

Lauren glances down, stroking one strand of her hair behind her ear. In her hurry this morning she didn't bother with a ponytail. "You just surprised me. A lot. I still don't understand why you were doing that anyways."

Bo gives her a long speculating look, arching one eyebrow. "Seriously? I think you're self-perception skills need readjusting."

Lauren blinks in confusion. Was that just a compliment?

"So, I'm glad we resolved that," Bo says, clearing her throat. Her eyes start to glint again. "I knew attempting to kiss you was not a good idea but I'd say you overreacted."

Lauren, about to take another sip, nearly spills coffee all over her jeans. "Excuse me?"

"That call of yours nearly drove me crazy," Bo admits simply. Her dark eyes are full of amusement, though.

"Oh, that." Lauren blushes.

"Am I right if I assume that you can't remember anything?"

"Yes," Lauren mumbles uncomfortably into her coffee, too embarrassed to look at her.

"Does that happen often? You're not the type."

"No! Absolutely not! That was the first time, actually. It's horrible."

"I guess you should check with whom you drink. It didn't sound like your friends were discouraging you."

Lauren grimaces. "I still have headache, if that comforts you."

Bo laughs. "Well, you're a student, it's probably normal that you drink too much from time to time."

"You gave me good reason to," Lauren mumbles.

"I'm sorry?" Bo lifts her eyebrows.

"Nothing," Lauren smirks back. The smile tugging at her lips fills her chest with warmth. It just feels so natural to sit with Bo in a cosy little café, even though she's apologizing for behaving like a complete idiot.

Bo just looks at her with amusement.

"What did I say? When I called?"

Bo gives her a blinding smirk. "I'm not going to tell you that."

"What? Why?"

"I don't think you want to know."

"Oh god," Lauren groans.

Bo laughs. "It wasn't that bad. But close."

Lauren sighs, and ruffles through her hair. She screwed up badly. But at least Bo doesn't seem to be mad anymore. She contemplates whether she should press on, using the argument that she needs to know what she said if Bo doesn't want her to repeat the exact same words. But that would imply that she plans on calling Bo more often late at night.

"Lauren, let me be honest." Bo clears her throat. Her eyes wander over Lauren's face, down to her lips. They linger there for a moment before they drop to her cup again. There are so many things going through Bo's head right now, and somehow she wants them all to spill out in the open, in the space that is separating her and Lauren, to fill it up and bridge it. If she had to categorize them, she'd probably single out two main thoughts.

First of all, Lauren is kind-hearted, incredibly intelligent, and Bo wants her in her life, academic or otherwise, as simple as that. And Bo risked it for a foolish infatuation like this.

Secondly, Lauren is so beautiful right now it hurts.

Then her eyes flicker up again and their gazes meet, the intensity of Bo's driving the air out of Lauren's lungs.

"I really want you to feel comfortable around me, and I want to continue tutoring you. But I also want to be honest with you. And I'm afraid that's contradictory."

Lauren bites her lip. "Why is that?"

"Because," Bo looks her straight in the eye and licks her lips, "without any doubt, two days ago in that damn little storage cupboard I would have started an affair with you, and I wouldn't have any regrets about it either."