Sweet Misery
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The scenery whipped by in a blur as Sirius wove through traffic to escape the confines of the city's buildings and reach the open roads. The wind, carrying with it a small hint of the scent of summer, whipped past them creating the illusion that the temperature had dropped a few degrees. Lauren's tight grip on his waist was still as tight as it was when they had left Lily's house, but not so much out of nervousness as in the beginning, but more as a need to remain close to him. But to Sirius, it was all the same.
When Sirius stopped at a stoplight, he looked back to Lauren and asked, 'You okay?' Lauren, still holding tightly to Sirius, nodding as she brushed back her hair that had blown into her face.
'Just a little cold, that's all,' replied Lauren.
'I can understand why,' said Sirius, running his eyes over her outfit. 'Could you have worn anything shorter?' Before Lauren could snap a reply, the light changed and Sirius was off again, drowning out anything Lauren may have said with the motorcycle's engine. Lauren watched as the brick buildings and concrete sidewalks grew sparse as they left the city. The lights of the city were soon replaced by the glow of the headlights from pacing cars and the rays of the half moon. But even the moon's light soon died out as clouds slowly moved in.
They had been driving for an hour when a clap of thunder echoed through the air. The rain began slow at first, but quickly picked up into a downpour. Sirius sped up as the lights from a small town up ahead became visible. By the time Sirius pulled into a gas station, the two of them were soaked to the bone. Sirius pulled off his helmet as he climbed off the motorcycle and grabbed the nozzle off the pump.
'Laur, why don't you go inside and wait,' suggested Sirius gesturing to a small diner just next door to the station. 'I'll join you in a little bit, maybe we can wait out the storm.'
'Okay,' replied Lauren. As she walked over to the diner, she pulled off her helmet and brushed through her hair with her fingers. When she walked into the diner, she looked around at the restaurant. Not too many people were in there, but that was pretty much expected from a small town diner. Lauren walked over to a booth by the front window and sat down, setting the helmet on the table. She kept watch out the window for Sirius. After a few moments, she got an uneasy feeling. She looked around the diner and saw a man sitting at the counter who was probably somewhere in his late teens or early twenties staring at her. His gaze kept dropping from her face, to up and down her torso. Lauren looked down and saw her shirt clinging tightly from the water. She quickly crossed her arms over her chest and looked away from him. She looked back out the window searching for Sirius. She looked out of the corner of her eyes and saw that he had moved a few places closer.
'Come on Sirius,' she muttered to herself leaning in a little to get a better look outside. She bit her lower lip as she leaned back and looked back to where that man had been and found him standing at the edge of her table. Lauren gave a small gasp of surprise and jumped slightly.
'Hey there sweetheart,' he said. 'Here alone?'
'No,' replied Lauren, slightly nervous. 'My friend should—'
'Well, I'll keep you company till she shows up,' the man said taking a seat next to her.
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Sirius placed the nozzle back in the pump. He brushed his drenched hair out of his face and walked quickly into the station to pay the attendant for the gas. Once paying, he quickly pushed the motorcycle over to the diner. As he was setting the kickstand he glanced up at the diner's windows and saw Lauren leaning against the window apparently talking to some older guy.
'Just like her,' Sirius said to himself. He looked away as a car pulled into the parking lot then cast a quick glance back towards Lauren as he started inside. She was flat against the window and the man's hands were clasped tightly on her upper arms. She was trying hard to push him away as he leaned in. Sirius tossed his helmet that he had been carrying down next to his motorcycle and ran inside as anger rose with in him.
'No! Stop!' Lauren shouted, fighting to escape his grip. Sirius skidded across the tiled floor coming to a stop right behind the twenty-year-old man. He grabbed the man fiercely by his shoulders and pulled him to the ground.
'Leave her alone!' Sirius commanded, glaring at the man. Lauren sat stunned as she stared at Sirius. His teeth were bared and his eyes filled with fury; he had never been so frightening. The man pulled himself off the ground and stood to his full height, just enough for him to glare down at Sirius. Sirius didn't falter once under the stare of the man.
'What's wrong with you boy?' he hissed.
'You,' Sirius growled. He looked as though he were about to launch himself at the man at any moment. 'You better leave her alone.'
'What will you do about it if I don't?' asked the man.
'I'll see to it that you don't leave here alive,' threatened Sirius. The two of them glared at each other for a moment before the man backed down and returned to the meal. Sirius stood for a few more moments glowering at him before turning back to Lauren. His expression had changed to one of worry and relief.
'Are you okay?' he asked sitting down next to her.
'Mhmm,' Lauren replied nodding. 'I'm fine. Thanks Sirius.' She pulled him into a tight hug.
'No problem,' Sirius said, rubbing her back. When they parted, Sirius stood up. 'I think we should leave now and just face the storm,' he said. 'It'll be fun.'
'Sure, let's go,' agreed Lauren. She stood up and grabbed her helmet following Sirius out into the pouring rain. They mounted the motorcycle and sped off out of the town.
As they traveled, the rain grew gradually lighter the further North they got. Sirius was starting to wonder how much further it was until they reached Firan Valley, when Lauren tapped his shoulder. He turned his head slightly.
'There'll be a small dirt road coming up on your right, that'll take you straight to Firan Valley,' Lauren said loud enough for him to hear her. He gave a quick nod and turned back to the road. It wasn't too long before the road came up. Sirius pulled on to it and drove straight till he came to a formation of large boulders surrounded by dense forest. He stopped and turned to Lauren.
'Right through there,' Lauren said, pointing at the center boulder. Sirius revved the engine then sped through the boulder and appeared on the other side in downtown Firan Valley. As he drove down the streets of Firan Valley, Lauren directed him to her home. When they reached Lauren's home, she hopped off and stood next to the motorcycle.
'Well, I guess this is good night,' Lauren said handing the helmet back to Sirius.
'Yeah, I guess so,' agreed Sirius.
'How long will it take you to get back to London?' asked Lauren.
'Four, five hours,' replied Sirius. 'So a good while.'
'Do you really think you're up for driving that far?'
'Oh—' Sirius paused to yawn, 'yeah, I can make it fine.'
Lauren raised an eyebrow skeptically. She grabbed his hand and began to pull him up to the house. 'What are you doing?' he asked as he let himself be dragged by Lauren.
'You're staying here tonight,' she replied. 'I don't want to hear from Lily that you were in the muggle newspapers as "Unknown Teenager Killed in Tragic Accident".'
'Laur, don't worry, I'll be fine,' argued Sirius, trying to pull away.
'You are staying here, Siri, and that's final,' stated Lauren in a way that said her mind was made up.
Once the two of them were inside, Lauren's mother came practically storming out of the kitchen into the entrance hallway, where Lauren and Sirius were pulling of their helmets and shoes. Her mother crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot angrily.
'Lauren, where have you been?' Mrs. Fonseca asked, eyeing her daughter and Sirius suspiciously. 'I expected you home over two hours ago! Why are you soaked? Who is he and what is he doing here?'
'Well, what do you want to know first?' inquired Lauren.
'Just answer the questions,' replied her mother.
'Okay,' said Lauren. 'This is Sirius, a friend of mine who offered to give me a ride home on his motorcycle. I took him up on it and that's why I'm so late. The reason why we're soaked is because we got caught in that nasty storm. And what was that last question? Oh yeah, Sirius is here because I'm not going to let him drive all the way back to London till he's gotten some sleep. So, he's spending the night.'
'If you think I'm going to let you have a boy spend the night—'
'Mother, don't be a dolt! It's not like he'll be staying in my room! He'll stay on the couch.'
'Fine, but if I find out that anything has happened, he will never be allowed back here.'
'Okay, whatever.'
Mrs. Fonseca cast a warning glare at Sirius, before heading up to the master bedroom. Lauren sighed and turned to Sirius.
'I'll go get you a pillow and a blanket,' she said, 'and maybe a change of clothes.' Leaving Sirius standing in the front hallway, she walked upstairs. He glanced around and walked into the living room. He passed the couch and other random pieces of furniture, occasionally pausing to look at divinatory tools. His gaze stopped on a few photographs on the mantle, one catching his eye in particular. It was of a nine-year-old girl that Sirius recognized to be Lauren and a younger boy trying to pull Lauren up into a tree house.
'So that's Scott,' Sirius murmured, venturing a guess to who the boy was.
'It was taken the day before it happened,' a voice behind him said. Sirius looked over his shoulder and saw Lauren standing there holding and assortment of items, looking at the picture in his hands. Sirius set the picture back up on the mantle.
'Well, here's your pillow and blanket,' she said, handing the items then gave him a pair of too large pajama pants and an oversized t-shirt, 'and a change of clothes. If you're not comfortable wearing some of my father's old clothes, there's always clothes that you can borrow from Loni and myself.'
'As much fun as that sounds, I'll stick with these,' replied Sirius.
'Suit yourself. There's a bathroom just past the kitchen; you can change in there. Hang your wet clothes in there also. Good night Sirius.'
'Night Laur.' He watched Lauren leave the room then proceeded to the bathroom to go and change.
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It was early when Sirius woke up, or rather fell off the couch. He sat up rubbing his shoulder and looked out the window to find the sun was barely rising. Using the couch as balance, he pulled himself off the ground. He quickly grabbed the waist of his pajama bottoms before they fell and began to shuffle his way through the kitchen and to the bathroom to change back into his own clothes. He yawned as he exited the bathroom fully dressed and began back towards the living room. He was rubbing his eyes when he ran into something, rather someone considering the fact that he heard a loud gasp of surprise followed by some type of liquid being splashed in his face.
'Thanks, I needed that Laur,' replied Sirius, brushing what ever it was out of his eyes.
'I'm sorry,' Lauren said grabbing a towel off the table and dabbing at Sirius's face. 'I'm not used to other people being up at this hour. You should wash your face before the juice makes it sticky.' Sirius watched her with one eye while he rubbed the other. 'Did I get it in your eyes?' She leaned in closer as she carefully dabbed around his eye. 'Does it—' Lauren was cut off Sirius closing the gap between them pressing his lips against hers. When he pulled back, Lauren hadn't moved and was staring at him with a look of surprise.
'Sorry,' murmured Sirius. 'Just call it a momentary lapse of judgement.' Lauren just blinked and leaned back a little. Sirius passed her and went to the sink. He dampened a rag and began to wipe the juice off his face.
'Was it really that?' Lauren said after Sirius was finished and was drying his face.
'Really what?' asked Sirius, already knowing what she was referring to.
'A momentary lapse of judgement,' she replied.
'I guess.'
'Oh.'
Sirius lowered the towel from his face and looked to Lauren, who he just caught her walking into the living room. He set the towel on the counter and followed her. He stood in the doorway leading to the living room looking curiously at the back of her head as she sat on the couch. It was silent for a while before Lauren spoke up.
'You should get going, your parents might be worried about you,' she said, not turning around.
'It's not like this is the first time I've been gone all night,' replied Sirius, yet walking into the entrance hall to grab his shoes.
'I wouldn't think so,' said Lauren. Sirius returned to the living room and took a seat next to her.
'Did you want it to be something more?' Sirius said as he pulled on his shoes.
'Sorry?' Lauren asked looking up into his eyes.
'In the kitchen, did you want it to be something more?' Lauren bit her lower lip and looked away for a moment, but returned her gaze to him almost immediately. She slowly leaned in and gave him a soft short kiss. 'Can I take the as a yes?' Sirius inquired.
'Of course you can,' replied Lauren. Lauren put her arms around Sirius's neck as he placed his on her waist. As they kissed, Lauren leaned back on the couch pulling Sirius on top of her. As Lauren reached up to run her hands through Sirius, hair, the two of them heard a gasp. Their eyes flashed open and saw Loni standing there.
'Loni, don't—' Lauren started, but was cut off by Loni.
'Dad! Lauren's snogging some bloke on the couch!' she shouted, running towards the stairs to ensure their father heard her.
'Bugger!' Lauren said pushing Sirius up. 'You've got to go. My dad will kill you if he catches you.' She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the door. They got there just as Lauren's father was coming down the stairs. Lauren flung open the door and was pushing Sirius out when he stopped and gave Lauren a quick kiss goodbye on the cheek before running down the lawn to his motorcycle.
'Owl me!' Lauren shouted as he started up the motorcycle and sped off. She stood at the door watching him ride off when she felt her father's hand grab her shoulder and pull her back inside.
'You won't be speaking to anyone for quite a while young lady,' he said sternly. Lauren's smile fell as she let herself be led inside.
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A/n: d00d! Chapter 27 is finally done! It only took me, what, two months? Yup, and too think it only took me: getting a boyfriend, breaking up with him, running on a never ending sugar high (Halloween), turning 16, writing a random part to another story, getting another boyfriend (who I'm debating whether or not to dump), and being sick to get all this done.
And now for my usual chapter summery-ish thingy. As you can see from this chapter, Lauren and Sirius do not get together. The summer will continue in the next chapter. I told you it was going to be a long summer. Sigh, better get working on that. Oh yeah, and if you didn't get the whole 'You won't be speaking to any one for quite a while' thing, that means she's grounded. Sirius also isn't allowed back at the Fonseca household. Hehe. Well, time to get started on 28. I hope I don't get more writer's block…
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