Chapter 4: 48 Hours
Laura and Bradley stood together, holding each other tight. Neither wanting to be the first one to let go. Both women had tears in their eyes, they had finally stopped crying, and were comfortable in the silence, just being with each other.
Laura pulled herself from Bradley's embrace, took her hand and guided her back towards the couch. They both sat down, neither wanting to speak first, despite both women wanting so much to talk about everything. Bradley looked deep into Laura's eyes, watched them sparkle with tears, hurt and heartache. Bradley moved closer to Laura and put her head on her shoulder. Laura sat back and placed her arm around Bradley, they both settled into the moment.
Laura reached for the remote and switched on the TV, they sat together as Laura flicked through show after show, not being able to settle on something.
"I've missed you so much Laura. I don't ever expect you to trust me again, but I'm just so happy you are here with me today."
"I've missed you too Bradley. Me being here, with you, was inevitable. I honestly don't think I could stay away from you for much longer. I couldn't stop thinking about you, I've never been able to get you out of my mind. I'm glad I was able to be there for you last night."
"Why did you come over last night? What did Alex say to you?"
"Well, that sneaky woman told me you were drunk and upset, that she had to go home, and she didn't want to leave you on your own. Initially I said I couldn't come over. But then she said the only other person she thought to ask was Corey."
"She really worked you." Bradley laughed as she kissed Laura on the cheek.
Laura looked around at Bradley with a half-smile. They were now looking at one another.
"You really don't like Corey, do you?" asked Bradley.
"I used to like him, I thought we were friends, good work colleagues, but I don't know something happened when we met, and he distanced himself from me, and didn't treat me with the same respect that he used to. I always thought he liked you, and that he didn't like us being together, turns out I was bang on about that. Though of course he liked you, who wouldn't, you are amazing. But it's all the sneaking around and lying and manipulation that really gets to me."
"I think I will always see him as my friend, like an older brother. He helped me through some horrible and difficult times. But I can never trust him again. The relationship, friendship, whatever you want to call it is over. Which is sad, to me. Because I really liked having him as a friend."
"But he was never okay with just being your friend."
"I never wanted him to be anything more. He was the first person I told about you. I told him after an argument with Hal, after the Vault article first came out. He came to my hotel room, and we talked in the hall, I told him that I wanted you, and that the article might have been a good thing because it meant I had to be honest with myself and my feelings. And that well, I wanted you."
"You never told me that. Why did you tell him?"
"Because I honestly thought we were friends, I thought he wanted what was best for me. I knew he knew you, and talked about how great you were. So when we spoke, I just let it out, and finally accepted that I was, am, bisexual or a lesbian or queer or something. I just knew I didn't want to lose you. I thought he was happy for me."
"I'm sorry things turned out that way for you. I know you two were close. I'm sorry you lost someone else."
"It's not your fault Laura. He made some horrible decisions. He tried to break us up, but all it did was strengthen what I felt for you. Because despite everyone judging me, and my family being difficult, I knew that I just couldn't lose you."
"I'm still sorry Bradley. You have lost so many people in your life, I'm sorry you lost your friend. Do you have anything planned for today or tomorrow?"
"Thanks Laura, its appreciated. Not that I can think of, why?"
"How would you feel if we spent today and tomorrow together, we don't need to go into anything, or work out what we are, we can just have a little respite. And be together. What do you think?"
"Are you joking? I would love to."
"Me too."
Both women leaned in and kissed one another. Then Bradley moved back into the couch, and indicated for Laura to follow, they lay together with Laura snuggled into Bradley's chest, with her arms wrapped around her waist.
…
After watching the Devil Wears Prada and Roman Holiday, both women got up from the couch, they went into the kitchen area to see what could be made for dinner.
"How do you not have food in your fridge? All I see is soya milk, whipped cream, and some other random assortments."
"I have been eating out, or just not eating if I'm honest."
"Well thank you for being honest. Where around here does good takeaways?"
"I'm not sure, if you want, I can go out and pick something up? I know all of your favourites."
"We can order in; I don't want you out of my sight for the next 48 hours."
Bradley leaned over the counter and kissed Laura on the lips. Both women smiled and laughed to themselves.
…
Once dinner was, decided, ordered, and eaten, Laura decided it was time for a shower. She went into Bradley's upstairs en-suite bathroom, undressed, and stepped into the shower.
Bradley couldn't believe her luck, she didn't understand how the whole day had happened, just under 24 hours ago, she thought she was never going to see Laura again. She was thinking about what she would do with the rest of her life, especially since she didn't want to be around UBA once the story broke about the Capitol. Bradley wanted to make the next two days as special as possible for Laura as possible.
She remembered something Laura had told her, from a memory as a child. And decided she could recreate it for Laura just now. She could hear Laura faintly singing in the shower, as sounds of water collided with her amazing offkey notes.
Bradley pulled the coffee table away from in front of the couch, she put it against the wall beside the TV unit. She created a large space in front of her TV, by pushing the couch and arm chairs a few inches away. She then went into the spare bedroom on the bottom floor, and awkwardly removed the duvet cover and pillows before pulling the mattress off of the bed stand. With all her strength she pulled the mattress through the doorway, and into the living room, and placed in down in front of the TV. It lay against the bottom of the sofa, which acted as a headboard. Then she got some spare sheets and put them over the tops of the sofa and armchairs. She pegged the sheets at the bottom of the sofa and armchairs.
She went back into spare room, picked up the duvet and pillows and brought them into the living room. She made the bed, and then grabbed a bottle of Laura's favourite red win and put in beside Laura's pillows inside the tent. The tent covered half of the mattress, which meant if they wanted to watch more TV, they could clip the sheets to either side and watch. But if they wanted to snuggle, they could pull the sheet down and over the whole mattress with a few extra clips.
Bradley walked up the stairs, and met Laura as she was exiting the bathroom, she had her hair in a messy bun, and a soft cotton towel, wrapped sexily around her frame.
"I'm just going to hop in for a shower now too."
"Oh, okay. Do you have anything I can wear? Not sure I want to be sitting in my work clothes."
Bradley walked over to her bed, and pulled out a set of Laura's pyjamas, Bradley had 'forgotten' to give Laura them back when they first broke up.
"I was wondering where this set had gotten to."
"I may or may not have taken them, when I left Montana."
"Cheeky."
Laura gave Bradley and quick kiss on the lips, then moved to sit on the bed, she looked around at the bed, she could smell sex. So much sex. Laura smiled to herself as she began to dry herself with the towel.
"Why are you smiling like that?"
"Nothing, just thinking about last night, and this morning, and today. The last 24 hours have been amazing Bradley."
"It's been amazing to have you back in my life."
Bradley stood in front of Laura, she looked down at her, held her head in her hands and kissed her deeply.
"I'm going to go now. I need to shower. You keep distracting me."
Laura watched as Bradley, teasingly pulled off all of her clothes as she walked back towards the bathroom. Just before she disappeared completely, she turned to Laura as said.
"I won't be long."
Laura looked at Bradley's naked body as she walked into the bathroom. She loved this woman. She loved watching her smile, watching Bradley tease her. Bradley knew how much Laura loved her body, and she knew how to play it to her advantage.
Laura heard the water in the shower turn on, then began to dry herself again. She pulled on her clothes, then stood up and walked towards the railing that looked out into Bradley's apartment. It was then that she saw what Bradley had done.
She looked over at the little fort Bradley had created. She thought of the time in Montana, when they were lying in bed together, they had decided to stay in bed all day.
They hadn't seen one another for weeks, and Bradley couldn't let Laura go. They joked and laughed and held one another. Laura talked about how unaffectionate her mother was growing up, and how she always felt like she was a burden to her parents. They only seemed to care about grades, they rarely wanted to speak to or get to know their daughter. But her aunt Alice and uncle Sean were different, she loved staying over with her cousins. There were 3 of them, Paige, Alicia, and Dan. She loved being around her cousins, at their house she could be a kid, eat junk food, and stay up late. Each time she stayed with her cousins; her auntie would help them create a tent in the living room for them to sleep in overnight. They would have their favourite food and drinks, and a selection of their favourite games to play. It was always something Laura enjoyed to think about, and a time where she enjoyed being a child.
Laura smiled to herself as she remembered talking to Bradley. Laura knew that talking about her own parents hurt, but she knew Bradley could truly understand. She remembered as Bradey pulled her close, and just listened to Laura talk about staying with her aunt, uncle, and cousins.
"I am so fucked." Laura whispered to herself; her heart was overflowing with emotion. She couldn't believe Bradley had remembered, and then recreated a beautiful memory for her. She went to her side of the bed and picked up her phone.
She had a lot of notifications, but all she really noticed were the 3 new messages and 2 missed from Alex. She unlocked her phone and read the messages from Alex.
11:03pm: That's me home now, thanks for looking after Bradey. Let me know when you leave. Alex x
09:47am: Haven't heard from you yet. Is everything okay? Did you leave Bradleys okay? I haven't heard from her either. I'll give her a call just in case.
4:20pm: Laura please get back to me. I know you were mad at me for asking you to help with Bradley. But please just get back to me asap!
It was now after 8pm, Laura decided to call Alex.
"Hey, sorry I hadn't gotten back to you. I've been busy. Bradley was alright last night, I put her to bed, she wasn't sick or anything. She's doing alright."
"Wait, wait, wait! She's doing alright. Hmm, are you still at Bradley's?"
"Emm, well yeah, I am. I didn't want to leave her alone. Things are… good. We have just been chatting and talking things through."
"You have been there all day with her?"
"I can hear you smile Alex. You know that right?"
"Kill me I'm smiling. I'm just glad you two are… talking."
"I am going to kill you, Alex. Well Bradley might want to first."
"Neither of you want to kill me. You two are so stubborn. I'm pretty sure Bradley is happy right now. Since you two are… talking again."
"Stop saying it like that!"
"I'm not saying anything like anything."
"I just wanted to update you, Bradley is fine, and I am fine. No need to message me or call me. Okay?"
"Yeah okay. Look after Bradley please. You two have fun. I will see you in a few days, I'm sure. And you can catch me up on all the talking."
Laura couldn't help but laugh and smile.
"I'll see you then."
"Bye Laura."
Laura ended the call.
"I'm guessing that was Alex?"
"Yeah. She messaged me a bunch and called me too. I just wanted to make sure she doesn't worry. She knows I'm still at yours. I told her we were catching up and talking."
"Alex ain't stupid."
"Maybe so, I didn't know what else to say, and to be honest I didn't want to say anything else. This is our little bubble right now."
Laura walked back to the railing and looked over at the makeshift fort.
"I see you made us a fort."
"Yeah, I thought you would like it."
"I love it, thank you."
"Of course."
Bradley watched Laura as she let her towel fall the floor and let her hair down. Bradley took the second towel and began to dry her hair. Bradley watched Laura, as her eyes danced around her body, not knowing where to focus her attention. Bradley smiled and continued to dry her hair. She then bent over and picked up the dropped towel. She walked towards the bed, and put her leg up, as she began to dry her legs, her back and her bum.
Laura watched patiently as Bradley dried her body. She couldn't help but stare. She knew this is what Bradley wanted. As Bradley was finished drying her top half, Laura walked up behind her, pulled her hair to one side, and began to kiss her neck and the swayed together.
Bradley moaned softly, Laura's hands explored both breasts and stomach. Laura spun Bradley around, so they were facing one another,
"Beautiful." Said Laura, as she held Bradley's chin and pulled her towards her. They kissed while Laura moved her hands down Bradley's back, and landed finally with one hand gripping each ass check. She squeezed them firmly as they continued to deepen their kiss.