Chapter 24 – Playing the Field
It had only been a few days after the shooting of OITNB's fourth season had been wrapped. Natasha and Laura met up for lunch and it hadn't even been a full ten minutes when the former had already started almost yelling at Laura after hearing what she had to say.
"You're dating again? It hasn't even been two months yet and this is like the third guy you've gone out with!" Laura just told Natasha about this guy she met at the gym and how they were going on their second date tonight, and the latter evidently found that outrageous.
"Yeah, what did you expect me to do?"
"Uhm, let's see. Off the top of my head... uhhh, NOT date... at all?!"
"Why shouldn't I?"
"Aside from the fact that you're still very much in love with Taylor?"
Laura did not expect this answer from Tasho. And for a moment she couldn't say anything back. "Tash, I'm trying to move on here."
"Why is there even a need to move on, anyway?!"
Natasha still couldn't get why her two friends had broken up. Of all the couples she knew, Laura and Taylor were the ones she knew were deeply in love with each other. Maybe that's why she was so pissed at Laura right now. She cared enough for them that she hated how things had gone for them.
"You know why. Besides, what do you want me to do if I meet a guy who's amazing and who seems like a really great company? I like this guy, I like spending time with him." She paused, then added. "He's funny."
"Really? You're going with the funny guy over your amazingly hot and gorgeous ex-girlfriend, whom, let me add, you're really in-love with?"
"Will you just stop it with that in-love thingy already?" Laura had been trying to avoid this truth for a while, but Tasho didn't seem to get that.
"What? Prepon, I know what you're trying to do here. You're trying to convince yourself that this is what's right. But, come on. I've kept my mouth shut for the first two guys. And so have everyone else. But sooner or later, Taylor is gonna find out. What do you think she'll feel when she finds out you're already going out with someone? That woman loves you more than anyone in the world." Laura did not say anything so Natasha went on. "You've hurt her enough when you broke up with her without any valid reason—"
This time, Laura cut her off. "Wait a minute, without any valid reason?"
"Yeah! And don't give me that 'you know this isn't going anywhere' bullshit. No one knows anything about what's gonna happen in the future. The only acceptable reason for you to break up is if you don't love her anymore, or if she cheats on you, or you cheat on her. Your reason? Unacceptable."
"You don't understand, okay?"
"Oh, believe me, I do. You're scared as shit. And you're a coward. Taylor's willing to fight for you both and you're not." Pause. "Oh, would you look at that? Maybe that can be a valid reason for you to break up, after all."
Shaking her head, Natasha left Laura.
-o-o-o-
It had been almost two months since Taylor and Laura broke up and the former had gotten so much better at being around her ex-girlfriend. There were still moments when things would get a little awkward but they were better acting around each other now than they were a few weeks ago.
Unfortunately, they had not yet brought back their closeness before they became a couple. But even though there wasn't any explicit talk about it between the two of them, Taylor knew that she and Laura were both working on it, and she knew it was just a matter of time before they were back on track again.
Right now, she was watching her ex-girlfriend and Tasho do a scene. Even if filming was supposed to be over about a week ago, there had been some problem with production that they had to re-shoot an entire scene. She didn't know what to feel because when she thought that season 4 had been wrapped, she somehow felt a little relieved that they didn't need to be around each other anymore. Maybe fate had other plans.
While watching, she couldn't help but be amazed by how great Laura and Tasho's chemistry was together. It was always nice watching them do a scene because they clicked together and you could see how there wasn't any pretence between them.
But after their scene, she was surprised when both just walked away from each other, without any word. They would usually acknowledge how the other did great but now they did not even look at each other after the scene ended.
Natasha went towards where she was and sat next to her.
"Uhhh, what was that?" Taylor asked her questioningly.
"What?" Tasha asked, nonchalant.
"That. Do a scene. Walk away from each other without a word as if nothing happened. Did you think I wouldn't notice? Laura and I invented that. What happened to you two?"
"Nothing happened," answered Natasha, who wasn't her usual playful self. She was going over her script for her next scene but Taylor knew she wasn't actually paying attention to it.
"Don't tell me that you've started dating and now she's broken up with you?" She tried to get her to talk at her own expense. Wrong move.
"Oh," Natasha raised her eyebrow. "Glad you can make jokes about that now."
"It still hurts." Taylor chuckled a little. It still did. She was just handling it better now. "Come on, seriously, what's wrong?"
"Fiiiine. Well, I think... I think, she's mad at me because I called her a coward."
"You called her what?!" Natasha just shrugged. "Why would you do that?"
"Because it's the truth! She can't face the truth. Well, somebody had to slap her with it."
Taylor shook her head. "Tash, Laura's not a coward. She's just... I mean..."
"What? You know it's true, Tay."
"No. She's not. She's not a coward, okay? I don't know what it is, but it's not that." Taylor looked at Laura who was on the other side of the room. She was away from everybody, not bothering to talk to anyone. And she felt bad for her. "Come on, Tasho, you gotta start talking to her. I'm fine now. We both are. Please don't let whatever happened to our relationship affect yours."
-o-o-o-
Natasha had just gotten home. She had a really long day and she was excited to spend the rest of the night on her bed. So after freshening up, she went to her bed and slumped down lazily. Then her phone rang. "Hello? ... What?! What happened? ... What hospital? ... Okay, thanks for letting me know. I'm going there now."
She stood up, got her keys and went straight for her car. Laura was brought to the hospital.
-o-o-o-
She reached Laura's room in almost half an hour. When she got there, she was surprised that Laura was up and she looked better than she imagined. She was so relieved she let out a breath.
"Glad to see me alive, huh, kid?" asked Laura, smiling. She didn't know how she found out but she was happy Tasho was here.
"What on earth happened to you?"
"Oh," Laura rolled her eyes. "Stupid food poisoning."
"Food poisoning? What? Your boyfriend brought you some place terrible?"
Laura chuckled. "Well, first of all, he's not my boyfriend. That second date didn't even happen. It was a stupid idea. I thought playing the field would make it all better."
"Glad you're back to your senses." Laura just smiled but Natasha did not fail to notice that it was a sad one. "Look, I'm sorry. About what I told you the other day. You're not a coward. Hell, you were brave enough to let her go even if you knew it would hurt you like crazy. I'm sorry. All those times I thought it was only Taylor who was hurting. I didn't think that hurt you, too."
This time, the smile Laura had was genuine. "It's okay, girl. Come here and give me a hug, you crazy one." Tasha went to her, hugged her, and gave her a peck on the cheek. "And don't worry about it, Taylor and I are past that now."
"You know, you're not a coward. But you're a terrible liar. Of course you're not okay! No amount of time is ever gonna make you feel okay unless you finally fall out of love with each other, which, I believe is not happening any time soon. I mean, I've seen the way you look at her, and the way she looks at you." Natasha shook her head. "I just feel terrible that it didn't work out for the two of you. I was always rooting for you, you know."
"I know. You always find a way to talk about us on your interviews, it's creepy."
"Well, gotta give the fans what they deserve." Both of them chuckled, until Natasha was serious again. "But seriously, Prepon. I'm really sorry. I was an ass."
"Well, a hot one at that," she chuckled. "Oh, don't be such a drama queen," she joked. "It's okay. If it weren't for that, I'm probably on my way to my third date right now," she said, shaking her head. "God, Tash. What was I thinking?"
Natasha had gone back to smiling. "Well, that's the problem, I guess. You weren't." She stopped as she saw Laura's smile vanish into thin air. "So, do you have plans on telling Taylor about this?"
"Oh, no. There's no need, really. I'm gonna be out here soon, anyway."
"Well, we're still not done reshooting all of the scenes we need to reshoot. And you're not gonna be at work tomorrow. I'm sure she'll wonder why."
Laura thought for minute. "Just tell her I had a prior commitment... or something, if she asks. Although I'm sure she's not gonna."
Natasha sniggered. "Are you really trying to act dumb or you really have no idea? She's asking for you every damn time. Haven't you noticed how she watches almost every time we do a scene? Well, she sure as hell is not doing that to see me."
Laura shook her head. "Isn't it stupid how I actually thought we'd both be over it by now?"
"Yeah, pretty damn stupid."
-o-o-o-
It was the next day. Taylor had looked around a number of times and she couldn't still find Laura. She knew she was part of the scene they were shooting today so she had to be there. When she was certain that she really was not around, she decided to go up to Natasha and asked her.
"Hey Tasho, have you seen Laura?"
Taylor was sure that Natasha hesitated before she answered, "Uhh, nope."
"Do you have any idea where she is?"
"Taylo, if you've forgotten I'm not in speaking terms with Prepon as of the moment. So, no. I have no idea where she is."
"You didn't look me in the eye when you said that."
"Oh, geez. I didn't know I had to be romantic with you for you to believe me."
"Tasho, quit joking around. I know you're lying. Come on, I'm really worried here. Laura never misses work."
"Well... aren't we a little observant of Prepon's whereabouts?" She tried averting Taylor's attention but it didn't work. "Okay, maybe, she had a prior commitment or something."
"Do you really think I'd buy that?"
"What are you asking for anyway? It's not like you're still together?" Taylor glared at Tasha and the latter put her hands up in surrender. "I know, low blow. I'm sorry."
"Thank you. I know we're not together anymore but that doesn't mean I've stopped caring."
Natasha sighed in defeat. "Fine, fine. But don't tell her I was the one who told you because she's gonna kill me."
A/N:
Hi! I was so overwhelmed by the response that I got for the last chapter. Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review. Now, a number of you have been suggesting of the making-Laura-jealous scene. As much as I'd like to incorporate that in this story, I've kind of finished this until the very last chapter so it'll be kind of hard to change some things. But thank you for the suggestions! I'll keep those in mind for my next fic.
Now, I know you all probably hate Laura now with everything that she's doing but well, some people do stupid things sometimes, right? Lol. I'd love to hear what you think of this chapter again. Thanks again!
ariaskj, I'm sorry for breaking your heart but thank you for still loving this!
moanzs, aww, you are so sweet I just wanna hug you right now! Thank you for the brownie points! Sorry for the tears lol
luuuandrade, Sorry dude!
Guest who doesn't understand Laura, Haha. We'll just have to wait and see, man =)
Ellen, Thank you for the suggestion!
Brbara, Thank you for this review!
VauseMan Laylor, Yeah I want Laylor, too. Don't worry. Things will get better for them. Or not. JK =))))
FFChik, Thank you for this review! And as for your suggestion, *explanation on my intro* haha
stargatejumper10, So sorry for the tears but this had to happen =(
jo michael, hey how's university going? =))) Thank you, your reviews are always so great! Have an awesome day!
lostgirlcrazy, Sorry! And thank you so much, glad this is bringing out the emotions I want the readers to feel =)
Marijn, I've seen the video now! OMG Tayloface is so adorable! And Uzo, too! Oh and super duper advanced happy birthday in case we wouldn't be interacting by that time anymore haha. Ahh, I feel old. =( HAHA. As always, thank you for the review!
Guest, Sorry sweetheart!
g4gusgrisam, I know, it was hard to write this chapter because I don't want Laylor to go through this irl. Not that anything is happening to them at all tho. Haha.
annaflacca, Thank you dear! Oh, don't worry about grammatical errors, they don't matter haha. Hi Italy! =)