Chapter 12:
Vaughn had thought that they were going to be at that restaurant for the rest of their lives. First, the restaurant claimed that someone called and cancelled their reservation. He wasn't all that upset about it because this restaurant had been his second choice anyway. He had wanted to take Lauren to her favorite place, O'Reilly's, but it had been booked up for a wedding. He wanted to leave and find another place but Lauren had insisted on staying. So they stayed. It took an hour and a half before they finally got a table. When their food came, Lauren sent her steak back claiming that it was undercooked. Vaughn thought it strange because she usually took her stake very rare.
It was 9:30pm before they finally got the check and left the restaurant. When they got home, Lauren had asked Vaughn to chill some champagne while she slipped into something more comfortable. He walked to the freezer and pulled out a bucket he had placed there before they left for dinner. He grabbed a bag of ice and filled the chilled bucket. He opened up the refrigerator, pulled out a bottle of champagne and put it in the bucket of ice. He loosened up his tie, slipped it over is head and unfastened the first couple of buttons on his shirt. Butterflies had begun to dance around in his belly. He was nervous about having to lie to Lauren to get out of the house.
It took him forever to come up with a way to get out of the house. It was lame, he knew it, but it was all he had. He had asked a buddy from work to call his cell phone around 10pm, and to totally disregard anything that Vaughn said. He was going to tell Lauren that the call was from the school, that someone had broken in and that they needed him to come down to make sure nothing was taken from his room.
He walked over to the stereo and put in a CD of soft music. Might as well make it look good he thought to himself. He felt like a shit. He hated that he was about to ruin this night for Lauren. Just then, she came out of the bedroom and walked down the hall. She must have gone shopping because Vaughn had never seen the outfit that she was wearing. This whole time, Vaughn had been feeling sorry for Lauren for what he was about to do, but after seeing her dressed in that little, black nighty, he felt sorry for himself.
"You look beautiful." Vaughn said. Lauren glided up to him and kissed him.
"Thank you." She whispered. "How about a drink?"
"I just put it on ice. Let's give it time to chill." Vaughn said. He was putting off having to drink. He needed his head clear for tonight. He kissed Lauren and began to lead her over to the couch. She pulled back from him.
"Oh I think it is probably cold enough. Let me pour us a drink." She insisted as she slipped out of his grip and walked over to the kitchen. She had to make sure Vaughn wasn't watching her every move so that she could slip the sleeping draft into his glass. "Michael, I bought a new CD. Will you put it on? It's over there next to my jacket." Lauren nodded her head in the direction of the chair she had draped her jacket on earlier.
Vaughn looked over at the chair and saw a bag next to Lauren's jacket. He walked over, picked up the bag, and unwrapped the CD as he headed over to the stereo. He pushed the button to stop the currently playing CD. He then carefully took out the old CD, put in the new one and pushed play. He turned around just in time to find Lauren standing behind him. She held up a golden, bubbling glass to him and smiled. He smiled back at her as he took it.
"Here's to many more years filled with love." Lauren toasted.
"To love." Vaughn raised his glass and gently tapped hers. Vaughn wasn't a fan of champagne. Normally he had to choke it down. It must have been his nerves because he gulped down the entire glass in one shot and went to kitchen to get another. He told himself he would stop after this glass. The last one didn't steel his nerves as much as he would have liked.
Lauren knew that the draft would be fast acting. She had to hurry to get him to a place where he could pass out. She walked up behind him and sat her glass down on the counter. He turned around still drinking from his glass. Lauren took the glass from him and sat it down next to hers. She slowly began to unbutton his shirt and slipped if off of his shoulders. Vaughn bent down and took her mouth into his. She moved from his lips and softly placed kisses down his neck and across his chest.
Lauren took Vaughn's hand and led him down the hall towards their bedroom. She stopped him at the foot of the bed and pushed him down on his back. She climbed on top of him and once again kissed him. She stopped when she felt his lips go limp. She looked up to find his eyes shut and his breathing had slowed to a steady pace. He was out. She smiled and climbed off of him. She pulled the covers up over him, checked his pulse to make sure he had a strong heartbeat (she didn't need him dying on her.), and walked out of the room. She went out into the living room where she had left her purse. She found it under her jacket, opened it and pulled out her cell phone. She turned back towards the hall to make sure that Vaughn hadn't woken up and could come out to overhear her. She quickly dialed the number. Sark answered on the second ring.
"I've taken care of your problem." She said and hung up before Sark could reply. She put the phone back into her purse and headed back into the bedroom. Happy to see that Vaughn was still out, she walked into the bathroom. She turned on the water in the shower and got undressed. The hot water pounded down her back as she washed away the events of the night.
End of chapter 12