Hey, guys! I got a question on the last chapter about where we are in time - for reference (and I can do this in more detail if anyone needs it), this chapter opens in early April, and the last chapter was in March.
This chapter spans a little bit of time, so hopefully that is clear in the way I wrote it. This chapter is moving a few pieces into place for something that's coming next. I've actually mostly written the next chapter, but it needs some edits, so that might be a couple days.
Hope everyone likes this one. Enjoy!
"I can't believe you aren't drinking with me," Vex groused as Lauren took a sip of her coffee. It was a Saturday morning in early April, and the weather was finally showing some warmth. Lauren and Vex sitting outside at a small café, getting ready to enjoy a late breakfast.
"It's 10:00a, Vex, I don't think you can judge me that much for not opting for alcohol."
Vex rolled his eyes and took a sip of his mimosa. "I can judge you, and I chose to. Speaking of judging you, how are things with Bo?"
Lauren laughed. "What do you mean, 'speaking of judging me'?"
"I didn't say I was judging you unfavorably, darling. I'm actually impressed. Kenzi tells me you two have been spending a lot of time together. I didn't think anyone would be able to domesticate our dear Bo. Well done."
Lauren smiled. "I haven't done anything, Vex. We're just getting along. We have fun together."
Vex shrugged. "Say whatever you like, I don't recall her going 'round to Kevin's with lasagna." Lauren took another sip of her coffee. "So, how's the sex?" Vex asked.
Lauren choked on her sip.
"That impressive? Good for you, love."
Lauren wiped the coffee off her face. "Dear Lord, I'm not talking to you about that, Vex."
"I don't see why not. If I recall, you and I used to talk about our sexual experiences quite a bit."
"That was a little bit different, we were talking about it in the context of 'I think I like to sleep with women more than men.' It's not exactly the same thing."
"I don't understand how you can prefer women over men," Vex commented.
"Well, I don't get you, either," Lauren said with a laugh.
"Fair play. So, how is it going with you two?"
"It's…amazing, actually. She's funny, and she's sweet, and she's considerate…she really makes me happy." Vex shook his head, smiling slightly. "What?" Lauren asked.
"I don't know, it's just strange to hear about Bo acting like that. I saw the whole Rainer saga unfold. Sweet and considerate were not on the meu."
Lauren shook her head. "Sweet and considerate is who she is. I'm sure she was that way with him, at least in private."
"Sweet and considerate is who is with you, darling." Lauren thought about that for a moment as the waitress arrived, carrying their food. When the waitress had stepped away, Vex continued. "For what it's worth, I think it's good, the influence you've had on her. The whole Rainer situation was dreadful. She's far more pleasant now."
Lauren quirked an eyebrow at Vex. "What do you mean? She's always been the same to me."
Vex laughed. "She's not always been so light an airy to those of us she wasn't sleeping with. Bo is a closed off person. And when she was with Keven she always struck me as vaguely tired and annoyed. She seems more alive with you. Activated. It's refreshing."
Lauren thought back to the times she had spent with Bo while Bo was dating Rainer and realized that Vex had a point; she had always seemed beaten down and worn out, at least when the subject of Rainer had come up. The thought that Lauren had changed that made her feel happy.
"So, what's going on with you?" Lauren asked, taking a bite of her food. "Met a nice boy to settle down with yet?"
"Ha, ha," Vex said with an eye roll. "But I did meet a nice boy. I can't remember his name. Lovely abs."
Lauren laughed, shaking her head.
The following Wednesday, Lauren was in her office, working on reports. The day was dragging by at a snail's pace. Lauren typically loved Wednesdays; since starting their lunch meetings in January, they hadn't missed a week. Until today.
Bo had told her on Monday that she wasn't going to be free on Wednesday. It was day three of a weeklong trial, and Bo was barely going to have time to eat, much less to leave and meet up with Lauren. Lauren sighed. Due to this trial she and Bo had barely seen each other. Bo had worked all weekend doing prep, and although they had talked on the phone and texted, it wasn't the same as getting to see each other.
Lauren sighed. She and Bo had plans to see each other on Friday, after the trial was over, but that seemed too far away. As it was, they hadn't seen each other since the Friday before. Yeah, that was only a few days, but they had fallen into a rhythm of seeing each other at least once or twice during the week, so the separation felt more pronounced.
Lauren clicked a few more keys on her computer, her thoughts still trailing over Bo. She needed to stop thinking about her; if she focused on something else, it wouldn't seem that bad. Friday would be here fast. With new resolve, she focused on the computer screen.
Bo walked back into her office at 12:30. Court had just broken for a lunch break, but she needed to be back by 1:30. The trial was going well, but it was time intensive and tiring. She rolled her shoulders as she made her way back to her office.
She was looking at her phone, texting Lauren, when she walked through the door.
"Hey, stranger," a voice said.
Startled, Bo looked up to see Lauren standing beside her desk. She felt a smile break across her face. "Hey! What are you doing here?"
"It's Wednesday," Lauren said. "You couldn't go to lunch, so I brought lunch to you. I figured you didn't bring anything to eat."
Bo smiled. "No, I didn't, actually,"
Lauren started pulling sandwiches and chips out of the bag she had brought. "So, how's it going?" she asked.
"It's going well, I think. The jury seems engaged at least." Bo and Lauren started eating, talking about Bo's trial, and catching up. After they had finished eating, Bo started gathering up the wrappers and throwing away the trash.
"Thank you so much for doing this," Bo said, as Lauren started sweeping crumbs off of the desk.
"It was selfish, really," Lauren said. "I just wanted to see you."
Bo smiled, reaching for Lauren and pulling her in. "I wanted to see you, too." Bo gave Lauren a long kiss, feeling herself relaxing against her. She felt Lauren's tongue and heard herself hum with happiness against Lauren.
They kept kissing for a few long moments before Lauren pulled back, catching her breath. "You have to get ready to go back to court," Lauren said.
"What?" Bo asked, slightly dazed.
Lauren laughed. "You have a case to win."
Bo smiled. "I'd rather stay here."
Lauren gave Bo a soft smile, reaching up to sweep a piece of hair off Bo's forehead. "You're brilliant, and gorgeous, and amazing. You're going to win this case, and then this weekend we're going to go out and celebrate."
Bo smiled, her heart warming in her chest. "And if I lose?"
"You aren't going to lose," Lauren said, leaning in to give her a quick peck on the lips. "Now go kick some ass."
Bo gave Lauren a last quick kiss before gathering her papers and heading back toward court.
Late Friday afternoon, Bo was standing in the courtroom gathering her papers and documents. The case was over and she had won. Her adrenaline had been pumping ever since the case had ended while she waited for the verdict, and now that it was finally over, she felt relief and exhaustion settling over her.
After dropping everything off in her office, she grabbed her phone and headed out the door, calling Lauren on the way.
"Congratulations!" Lauren said when she answered the phone.
Bo laughed. "You don't know if I won or not."
"You won," Lauren said with confidence.
Bo smiled. "Yeah, I won."
"Yes! I knew it," Lauren said. Bo could hear the smile in her voice.
"Where are you now?" Bo asked, walking outside.
"Just getting ready to leave work. Did you still feel like doing something?"
"Absolutely," Bo said.
Lauren laughed lightly. "You sound exhausted."
"I'm fine. I still want to see you."
"Well, why don't you come over? I can make us dinner."
"You cook?"
Lauren laughed. "Yes, Bo, some of us have life skills."
Bo smiled at the playful dig. "I'm just glad one of us is domestic. What time should I come over?"
"I'm walking out of work now. Come over now, if you want. If you beat me there, the key is under the mat."
"That is so unsafe!" Bo said, throwing her bag in the car and switching Lauren to speakerphone. "That's the first place a burglar would look."
"No one is trying to break into my house, Bo." Bo felt like she could hear Lauren rolling her eyes.
"Everyone is lax about home security until something happens, and then it's too late," Bo commented.
"Well, luckily I know a really good prosecutor, so I should be fine."
"I'm going to start sending cops to do patrol checks by your house if you don't move that key."
"If I didn't have the key there you wouldn't be able to get into the house until I got home," Lauren pointed out. "It's also useful if I misplace my regular key."
"Why are you misplacing your regular keys?"
"I feel so judged."
Bo and Lauren kept talking while Bo drove to Lauren's house. When she arrived, Bo walked to the door and pulled the key from under the mat. She reached up to insert it in the door, but before she did –
"What the hell, Lewis, your door isn't even locked!"
"It isn't? Weird. I thought I did that," Lauren said, casually.
"I think I'm having a stroke. Is this what a stroke feels like?"
"I don't know your symptoms, but I'm going to guess no," Lauren said.
"Anything could happen to you. This isn't safe."
"Relax, Bo, what criminal wants to break into my house during the afternoon on a weekday? Nothing is going to happen."
"I'm going to send patrols through here."
Lauren laughed. They kept talking until Lauren arrived at the house. Lauren walked in to find Bo in the kitchen, pouring two glasses of wine. "Hey, honey, how was your day?" Bo said with a smile as Lauren dropped her keys on the hook beside the door.
Lauren crossed to where Bo was standing and pulled her in for a kiss. "It's improving."
They began the process of making dinner, laughing and talking as they did so. Lauren was in the process of gathering plates from the cabinet when she heard Bo's cell phone ring.
Bo crossed to her bag and pulled the phone out, checking the caller ID. Lauren glanced up and saw Bo's expression darken as she read the name.
"Everything okay?" Lauren asked, putting the plates on the counter.
"Hm? Oh, yeah, it's nothing," Bo answered, dropping the phone back into her bag. "Nothing important."
"You sure? You look upset."
Bo took a slight breath and smiled at Lauren. "Nothing worth discussing. Dinner smells amazing."
Lauren hesitated for a moment, considering pushing the matter further, but decided against it. They sat down and began eating. Partway through the meal, Bo's phone rang again. This time she made no move to see who was calling.
"Should you check that?" Lauren asked.
Bo shook her head. "No, I'm sure it's nothing important. I'll deal with it later."
Lauren put her fork down and looked at Bo for a moment. "Are you sure everything is alright You seem…off."
Bo sighed slightly and set her fork down as well. "Yeah, I know, I'm sorry. It's just…a long story. Someone I haven't talked to in a while."
"Kevin?"
"Who? Oh, no, not him, I haven't talked to him in…well, whenever that last time was he came by the bar, I guess." Lauren nodded, and found she somehow felt slightly better that Rainer hadn't had contact with Bo since then. "Just a call I wasn't expecting. I guess it threw me a little. I'm sorry."
Lauren reached forward and put her finger under Bo's chin, raising Bo's head so their eyes met. "You know you can tell me anything, right? If you don't want to talk about this that's okay, but you can if you want to."
Bo smiled. "I know I can."
Stay calm. Don't jump to conclusions. I'm going to need you all to trust me lol
Feedback is welcome
