2. A Morning After
"We learn geology the morning after the earthquake." | Ralph Waldo Emerson
She awoke alone, the sun shining on her from the skylight above her bed. She reached across her bed to find that she was alone. Frowning, she never expected Bo to stay, but hoped that she would. She wrinkled her nose-something was amiss. Despite the fact that Lauren did not have a timed coffee pot, the aroma of coffee hung heavily in the air. Lauren inhaled the bold notes, mouth watering at the smell. Her eyes opened suddenly.
"Bo?" She said to herself as she rolled out of bed and into a robe. When she caught herself tip-toeing down the stairs, Lauren straightened. She scanned the main floor. There was no sign of Bo but the coffee maker burbled angrily on the kitchen counter. Lauren slumped into the couch and sighed. And as if on cue, the front door swung open, the crackle of a paper bag sounded and Bo sashayed back into her living room.
"Breakfast?"
Lauren laughed. "What did you do?"
A smile-that smile. "You know for a doctor, you don't have any breakfast food, and they say breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so I picked something up." She opened the bag and looked up. "Now I didn't know if you were a sweet or savory breakfast person so…" She lifted the box lid. "Donuts…" She waved a hand showcasing the glazed heart attack and diabetes bait of the myriad pastries. "Or…" She reached into the bag. "Bagels, because millions of New Yorkers can't be wrong." She shrugged her shoulders and smiled. "Hungry?"
She swallowed. It was awkward-at least it was to Lauren-she didn't know what she expected, but breakfast and coffee served up by the Succubus was definitely not on her radar. The morning after vibe didn't seem to faze Bo, which made perfect sense but still served to baffle Lauren on some level.
"Lauren?"
She blinked and attempted to smile. "Yeah," she said breathlessly. "Starved." Hesitating for a second before leaving the sofa and stepping into the kitchen with Bo. She inspected the ample variety of donuts before dipping into the bag of bagels and retrieving one.
"I pegged you for sweets-in-the-morning-girl."
Lauren smiled knowingly. She was, in fact, a sweets-in-the-morning-girl but something about breakfast with a Succubus seemed to call for the opposite. After all, things were so far on their heads now that Bo and Lauren were hostages of their own compulsions, and she was simply challenging the laws of attraction.
"If you're not into sweets why do you-" Bo barely had time to brace herself when Lauren kissed her. She took a step back, pulling Lauren with her as she steadied her. When they parted, Bo cocked her head at Lauren. "On second thought, millions of people skip breakfast every day." Bo took her hand and pulled her towards the stairs. Lauren didn't budge.
"There's no time," Lauren said gravely. "I have to be at the lab in an hour."
"Or we could stay in." Bo flashed her patented smile and for some reason, Lauren resisted.
"I have to go to work, Bo. The Ash-"
"The Ash gives you sick days, doesn't he?"
She looked down at their hands, still intertwined. "Someone will come for me, Bo."
"Then they'll have to go through me first."
Her downcast eyes closed momentarily before the corner of her mouth turned up. "Bo…"
She put her hands on Lauren's waist. "C'mon, take a walk on the wild side." Bo's eyes flashed.
"It's more complicated than what I want. The Ash-"
"The Ash is the guy that's holding you down, Lauren."
"I'm in a difficult position." It was all she could say. There was so much she needed to tell Bo, so much she needed to come to terms with as well.
They stared at one another feeling the tension, the want, the need, and the overwhelming pull of the other. Standing transfixed, Lauren lifted her hand from her side and as she reached for Bo, the Succubus' phone rang. She recoiled and turned away, hugging her sides and exhaling. Bo's face fell and she let it ring twice more before reaching into her boot and answering it. "Hey Trick." Lauren started to clean up the breakfast sprawl as Bo paced in front of her sofa. Hanging up the phone, she looked up at Lauren. "Trick needs to see me, he says it's important."
She nodded because it was all that she could do. She couldn't ask her to stay because she was too afraid of the consequences. Having a morning visitor wasn't exactly the wisest idea she'd had either but she had made her bed, literally and figuratively, and she had no regrets. They finally had a morning after and it wasn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination but Lauren would always remember Bo's face when she walked back into her loft with an armload of donuts and bagels. And how Bo had smiled, totally at ease in their situation when Lauren was still struggling with it. Lauren knew the darkness didn't hide the way they looked at each other. Everyone knew there was something simmering between them in that darkness. Gradually, Lauren was being pulled into Bo's universe. And not just her darkness, but her light.
And in the light of day, over bagels and donuts, they were still inextricably bound together. It was more than sex. It was more than friendship. It was love-at least that's what Lauren felt-but Bo had never committed one way or the other and Lauren couldn't tell if Bo was extremely calm or oblivious. Right then Lauren's heart was pounding so loudly in her ears she was sure Bo could hear it when she leaned into her space. "I'll call you."
Lauren nodded, bereft. "Sure," she said, watching her go.
At the door, Bo turned. "Hey," she said. "Are you free tonight?" Lauren nodded, her voice squelched in her throat. "Save the date." Bo smiled and then she was gone.
Leaning against the kitchen island, Lauren braced herself. They were dating now? Things were going in reverse. They had slept together first and now they were what? Lauren was coming to terms with the fact that she had began a friends-with-benefits relationship with a Succubus. Some days she had to wonder what planet she lived on. The Fae were an endless race of every imaginable supernatural variation and were now in her memory bank and of them all, Bo was the special one. She looked at the clock.
"Shit." She headed up the stairs.
Time waits for no one, as Lauren had discovered in her years with the Light. And her service demanded that she shower away the evidence of the night before and head to the lab to carry on with the charade. But tonight she would be with Bo again and Lauren wasn't prepared for what lay ahead for them. That was part of the excitement with Bo. It was a roller coaster and she had dared Lauren to ride it with no hands.
TBC