Welcome to chapter 30, everyone!

Hope everyone likes this one. I was looking back at some of the old chapters and realized I used to have a pattern to POVs. That feels like a really long time ago. This one continues my new pattern of just throwing out whatever POV strikes me in the moment.

Let me know your thoughts, I really do love hearing what you all think of this story. I'm having a good time with it - hope you all still are, too.

This one is longer than usual, mostly because it took me a while to reach a point that I felt like was a natural break. This may be our longest chapter so far.

Not proofread. Shocker.

Enjoy!


"Tell me again – why are we doing this?" Bo asked. It was a warm Wednesday in mid-July and Bo and Lauren were having their Wednesday lunch sitting outside a small café near the hospital.

"I think it was to prove a point," Lauren answered, taking a bite of her lunch. "It seemed like it made sense at the time. Of course, we were drunk. Any chance they were all so drunk they forgot about it?"

Bo shook her head. "Kenzi reminded me this morning."

Lauren sighed. "Well, look, it's only three nights. We've gone longer than that without seeing each other. It'll be over fast, they'll leave us alone, and things will go back to normal. It's no big deal."

"Yeah," Bo said. "I guess. It's just annoying." She was quiet for a moment, taking another bite. When she had swallowed, she said, "you know, I could just sneak out. It's not like they'd know."

Lauren laughed. "You aren't fifteen, you aren't going to start sneaking around town in the middle of the night to hook up with your girlfriend."

Bo looked at her for a moment, quietly. "What the hell kind of teenager were you?" she asked with a laugh.

"I was an angel," Lauren answered with a smile and a wink.

Bo sighed. "Oh, come on."

"What?"

"You already know I'm not looking forward to being apart for the next three days, so you decide to do that."

"Do what?"

"That," Bo said, waving her hand at Lauren. "Acting all hot."

Lauren laughed. "I didn't do anything!"

"Yeah, whatever," Bo grumbled. "Maybe Kenzi will go stay with Nate. Then you can come over and they won't know."

"Yeah, I'm sure she's going to leave you unsupervised."

"God, I really do sound fifteen," Bo groaned.

Lauren reached over and covered Bo's hand with her own. "Baby, it's three nights. That's all. It'll be fine." Bo sighed again, and Lauren smiled. "It seems longer than it is. It's a psychological thing – you've built it up in your mind that this is a big deal, and so it seems worse. Trust me. This will be over before you know it."

"I know," Bo said. "I know, it's just a few days, it isn't a big deal. I guess I just don't like knowing I can't see you. I don't like knowing I don't have the option."

Lauren smiled warmly. "Me either."

"Promise to miss me?" Bo said with a smile.

Lauren grinned. "Obviously."

"I might miss you, too," Bo said. "In case that wasn't clear."

Lauren laughed.

They continued eating their lunch, talking, laughing, and enjoying the warm weather. When it was time to leave, Bo and Lauren stood, talking about nothing, prolonging their time. Lauren finally reached and pulled Bo in, giving her a long kiss. It made Bo feel weak, dizzy. When they broke apart, Bo kept her hand against Lauren's neck, keeping her close for another moment.

"Are you sure I can't sneak out?" Bo said, her voice low and breathy.

"Mmm," Lauren hummed, giving Bo another, shorter kiss.

When they broke apart again, Bo stepped back and sighed. "Three days," Lauren said.

"Seventy-two hours," Bo answered.

"God, that sounds so much worse," Lauren groused.

Bo laughed and pulled Lauren in for a last, quick kiss before they parted.


Bo decided to work late. Since she had started spending more nights with Lauren, she really had avoided staying late as much as possible. Around 7:00p she gathered up a few files to work on at home, turned off her her office lights, and headed home.

When she walked in she was greeted by Kenzi and Nate, who were sitting on the couch watching TV.

"Aw, you two are so adorable I could just vomit," Bo said playfully as she dropped her files onto the table.

"Hey, don't be all crabby because you aren't with your live in girlfriend," Kenzi replied. "You're free to go see her, you know, you just have to admit that you live with her."

"I don't live with her. I've been dating her for four months."

"Ciara moved in with Dyson when they had only been dating for six months," Kenzi noted.

"Your point being?"

Kenzi shrugged. "It's different for different couples."

Bo grabbed a beer from the fridge and dropped into the chair near the couch. "Hey, on that subject, what about you two?"

"What about us?" Nate asked.

"Well, you're getting married, so I'm guessing you two are going to live together at some point. Are you moving in here?"

Nate glanced at Kenzi. "I don't know, I guess," he said. "We've never really talked about that."

"It makes sense for you to move in here. It gives me a great commute to work," Kenzi said. "Plus, doesn't your lease expire next month?"

Nate nodded. "Yeah. Okay, cool." He turned to Bo. "Is it alright if I move in here?"

Bo looked at them both and shook her head. "Wow," she said.

"What?" asked Kenzi.

"I mean, I think I took more time trying to decide what pair of shoes to wear this morning," Bo answered.

"And you picked those?" Kenzi asked.

Bo threw a pillow at her. "Nate, you're welcome to live here. Your fiancé might have to go."

Nate nodded. "That's cool. I was really in it for the apartment, anyway."

Kenzi kissed him on the cheek. "That's fine, I was just in it for the bling."

Nate smiled and gave Kenzi a kiss.

"I hate you both," Bo said, shaking her head. "Stop being all lovey and cute."

"Propose to Lauren and you can do the same thing," Kenzi said.

"Whatever," Bo said, rolling her eyes.

Kenzi smiled, reclining against Nate. "I'm really enjoying this," Kenzi said. "I've never seen you this into someone before. I think if someone asked you to spend three nights away from Rainer you would have done a happy dance."

"He got annoying at the end. There were good parts, too," Bo said.

"But even at the height of the good parts, you weren't like this with him," Kenzi pointed out.

Bo took a sip of her beer. "Well, obviously. I mean, I didn't…that was different."

Kenzi smiled. "Different how?"

Bo knew where Kenzi was going with this, and she shook her head. "I think I want to order Thai food. Would my babysitters care to join me?"

"I feel bad letting you buy us dinner," Kenzi said.

"Then pay," Bo answered.

"Not that bad. Where are the menus?"


After dinner, Bo spent some time working on her files, but overall she found she wasn't in the mood to work. Around 10:00p she told Kenzi and Nate she was going to bed and headed to the bathroom to wash her face.

When she was done, she went into the bedroom and changed her clothes before falling into her bed and grabbing her phone.

She pulled up Lauren's name and typed a text message. This sucks. She thought for a moment, and erased it before she sent it.

I miss you. She deleted that, too.

Are you sure I can't sneak out and see you? Deleted.

We don't have anything to prove. I'm coming over. Deleted.

She sighed and set the phone down in her lap, dropping her arm over her face. A second later, she felt the phone buzz.

Text message, from Lauren. Penny for your thoughts.

She looked at the message, confused. Before she could answer, another message from Lauren came through. I was going to text you and I kept seeing the three dots show up that you were typing something to me, but they kept going away. What's up?

Bo smiled to herself and texted back. Nothing, just wanted to talk to you. How are you doing?

Lauren: I'm okay.

Bo: Just okay?

Lauren: It's weird not having you around. I've gotten used to it.

Bo: Me too.

They didn't text for a few minutes.

Lauren: How's your day look tomorrow? We could pretend it's Wednesday.

Bo smiled and texted back, I wish I could, but my next two days are a mess.

Lauren: How are your babysitters doing?

Bo: Snuggled up on the couch. Annoying.

Lauren: You sound bitter.

Bo: I miss you.

Lauren: I miss you, too. But it's just two more days.

Bo: Two more days.

They didn't text for another minute or so, and Bo looked at the time. Hey, don't you have that staff meeting early tomorrow morning?

Lauren: Yeah, it starts at 7.

Bo: You should go to bed. You're going to be tired.

Lauren: Yeah, I know.

Bo: I lov – she stopped herself and deleted the message. Sleep well.

Lauren: You too.


Lauren woke up the next morning feeling irritable. There should be a rule that no one was allowed to hold meetings before 8:00a. She dragged herself to the shower and did her best to make herself look presentable in the shortest possible time before heading out the door.

Mornings had never been a big problem for Lauren, but still, she had never really enjoyed getting up early. Of the two of them, Bo was probably more of the early riser. Lauren had gotten better about mornings when she was an intern, back when she had to work insane shifts, but since she had become more established she had been able to limit her odd hours and had settled into a more comfortable routine; as a result, getting up this early for a meeting felt like torture.

She grabbed coffee on the way into the meeting and immediately singed her tongue. Perfect. She grabbed a chair and sat down, quietly hoping no one would talk to her.

"Morning, Dr. Lewis."

So much for that.

"Hey, Dr. Evans, how are you this morning?" she said to the dark haired man who taken the seat beside her.

"Thrilled to be here," he said, rolling his eyes. "I never see the point to half of these meetings."

Lauren nodded. She liked Dr. Evans – he was a nice guy, and a good doctor, but she frankly wasn't in the mood this morning.

Her phone buzzed and she pulled it out of her pocket.

Bo: Hope you slept well. Good luck in your meeting.

Lauren smiled, suddenly feeling better. She texted back, thanks. Did you have a good night?

She rested her phone on the table in front of her so she could see when Bo texted back. When she looked back up, Dr. Evans was smiling at her slightly. "Good news?"

"What?"

He shrugged and motioned toward the phone. "You just suddenly seemed a lot happier when you got that message."

"Oh," Lauren said, blushing slightly. "Yeah, it was just…nothing, just a nice message."

Dr. Evans nodded.

Lauren's phone buzzed again. It was fine. Kenzi and Nate slept on the couch. They're really taking this way too seriously.

Lauren: We need less competitive friends.

Bo: Amen.

Lauren smiled and looked to back up. Dr. Evans was now talking to whoever was sitting on the other side of him. She wondered for a moment if she should apologize – she had been sort of rude, after all. She was about to say something when she felt her phone buzz again.

Bo: Save this picture for future blackmail. Attached was a photo of Nate, sprawled out on the couch, sleeping with his mouth open. Kenzi was lying on top of him, her makeup smeared as she hadn't taken it off before going to sleep.

Lauren laughed to herself as Dr. Walker called everyone's attention to start the meeting.


Bo and Lauren continued to text off and on throughout the day. By 6:30p Lauren packed up her things and headed home. She stopped on the way and picked up dinner – she didn't feel like cooking just for herself. Once home, she dropped the food onto the counter, ignored, and flopped onto her couch, turning on mindless TV. She was flipping through the channels when she heard a knock at the door.

She had a moment – just a moment – when she felt her heartrate pick up. Maybe it was Bo. She would pretend to protest about her being there, tell her to leave, but she wouldn't put up a real fight. Bo would come in, and they could just go back to normal. Yeah, their friends would give them shit about it, but really, did she care that much? At least Bo would be there. She crossed the room and opened the door.

On the other side was a grinning Vex.

"Oh, hey," she said, leaving the door open and walking back inside, heading toward the kitchen.

"What an overwhelming greeting," he said with a laugh. "What, did you think I was Bo?"

Lauren pulled the food out of the bag. "No, I just wasn't expecting company. I had a long day."

Vex went to her fridge and pulled out leftovers. If anyone else had done it, it might seem strange, but Vex and Lauren had known each other long enough that it seemed normal. Lauren grabbed two plates and started dividing the takeout food.

He pulled out a Tupperware bowl and sniffed the contents. "What is this?"

"Tabbouleh. I made it for Bo to take to work for lunch but forgot to give it to her the other night."

"How domestic of you."

Lauren rolled her eyes.

"So tell me, darling, what happened today that was so terrible?" Vex said, getting them napkins.

Lauren walked her food over to the couch. "Nothing, I guess. Just one of those days. Work was busy. You know how it is."

"I literally don't," Vex answered.

Lauren laughed slightly. "No, I guess you don't."

"I've never understood your Puritan work ethic," Vex commented, sitting beside her.

"Some of us don't have trust funds," Lauren said with a smile.

"I suppose you're right. Dreadful. I don't even want to imagine it." He picked up his fork and tapped it against Lauren's. "Cheers," he said as he dug into the food.

Lauren started eating, with less gusto than Vex. "So you're babysitting tonight?"

"Kenzi had to work," Vex answered, his eyes on the TV.

"You could at least make an effort to hide it, you know," Lauren commented.

"I am nothing if not honest."

"Right. Hey, quick question, the last guy you hooked up with, what did you say your name was?"

Vex thought for a moment. "Rex, I believe. But it's close, so it counts as the truth."

"I don't think you know how 'truth' works."

"Neither do you, you keep lying about living with Bo."

"We don't – you know what? Forget it."

Vex laughed.


Vex and Lauren spent the rest of the evening hanging out on the couch, watching TV. By 9:30p the combination of the early morning and the food was making Lauren's eyes feel heavy.

"So why don't you live with Bo?" Vex asked. The question was asked sincerely, in a tone that Vex rarely used with anyone but Lauren, a tone that clearly communicated he was sincere in wanting to know. Vex was usually a performer – with Lauren, the act tended to drop.

Lauren thought for a moment. "We haven't been together that long. She's always been clear about being independent. It's too soon for us."

"Is it?"

"What do you mean?"

Vex shrugged. "I mean, you made her Tabbouleh. You spend every night together. It's rare that I see one of you without seeing the other. Aren't you basically doing all the things you are claiming you're trying to avoid doing, just refusing to label them?"

Lauren sighed. "Bo and I…we're in a really good place. We're happy. I don't need labels, and sweeping declarations, and long talks about the future. I just need…her. That's enough."

Vex smiled slightly. "That's sweet."

Lauren rolled her eyes. "Don't mock."

"I'm not, truly. If you don't want to label things with her, then don't. I'm just saying I know how Bo is, I've heard all the lines, and learning what we all have about her family, I get it. But admit it or not, she needs you, too."

The thought made Lauren happy, even though she made a conscious effort not to show it. "Since when did you become a relationship expert?"

"It's like when I was with Dave –"

"Dave isn't real."

Vex smiled. "Oh, yeah, right."


It was 11:30p Thursday night, and Bo was lying in bed. Kenzi had worked, but based on the little comments she had made before leaving Bo knew that Vex had been on babysitting duty.

It was late, and Bo knew Lauren was probably asleep. She shouldn't bother her. Still, would a text message hurt anything? Just something quick. She probably wouldn't see it until the morning anyway. The phone probably wouldn't wake her up.

Bo pulled up Lauren's name on her phone and her thumb hesitated over the keyboard.

It's weird not seeing you. Deleted.

So our friends think we live together. Who cares? Deleted.

Even though you're not here, I'm still not sleeping on your side of the bed. Deleted.

I love – deleted.

Bo sighed in frustration and dropped her phone onto the nightstand, rolling over to go to sleep.


Lauren woke up on Friday morning feeling grouchy. Vex was sprawled out in bed beside her, sleeping on Bo's pillow. It irritated Lauren more than it should.

Lauren didn't make an effort to be quiet as she got ready, and when she was getting ready to leave, Vex was looking at her with grumpy eyes. "You have a bad attitude when you aren't getting laid."

Lauren rolled her eyes. She tried to sustain her anger, but she got Vex's point and he wasn't entirely wrong. She was annoyed because she hadn't seen Bo.

"She's prettier than you are," Lauren commented.

"No one is prettier than I am, love," Vex said.

Even through her irritation, Lauren couldn't stop her laugh.


Lauren worked late on Friday night, trying to catch up all the work that was on her desk. She made good progress, but as a result didn't arrive home until almost 9:30p. Once she was in the house she headed to her bedroom and changed her clothes before grabbing her phone and texting Bo.

Lauren: Want to get breakfast tomorrow morning? Okay, yes, it made her sound desperate, but seriously, she hadn't seen her girlfriend in days.

Bo: Yes. But Kenzi just asked me to go look at wedding dresses with her.

Lauren groaned. Seriously? So she's just openly trying to fuck with us now.

Bo: Seems that way.

Lauren: Great.

Bo: I'm really looking forward to going out tomorrow night.

Lauren: Do you think they'll let us sit next to each other?

Bo: Lol.

Lauren: Where are we going, anyway?

Bo: Some club. At least we'll get to dance.

Lauren: I'm a terrible dancer.

Bo: I 100% doubt that. Also, don't care.

Lauren laughed. This has really sucked.

Bo: Agree.

Lauren: Let's not do this again.

Bo: You won't get any argument from me.

Lauren: Given that you're a lawyer, I find that hard to believe, lol.

Bo: Lol. It's true, though.

Lauren smiled. One more night. They just had to get through one more night.


In her bedroom, Bo looked at the text message thread between her and Lauren. One more night. That was all. She and Lauren continued to text back and forth for a while, but soon Bo noted there were longer pauses between the messages and Bo knew Lauren was going to sleep. They said goodnight, and the texts ended.

Bo tried to go to sleep as well, but found it to be difficult. An hour later she was still awake, tossing and turning. She picked up her phone again.

I know it's just one more night, but haven't we proved our point? Deleted.

Who cares if they think we live together anyway. Deleted.

Why don't we live together? Deleted.

Let's move in together. Deleted.

I love you. Deleted.


Bo spent most of Saturday feeling antsy. She caught herself looking at the clock more often then she should, even though she tried to hide it. The fact that she was out with Kenzi helped somewhat – they spent their day talking about dresses and plans for the wedding. By the time they had to head back to the apartment to get ready to go out, Kenzi had thrown her hands in the air and exclaimed "this is ridiculous. We should just go away and get married."

"Why don't you?"

"What do you mean?"

Bo shrugged. "Book a vacation at a resort. Go to Jamaica or something. We can all still come, and then you don't have to plan any of this."

Kenzi thought for a minute. "That does sound nice."

"And you can get married in a bathing suit if you want to."

"That sounds even better."

Bo and Kenzi set about getting ready, making small talk. When Bo was done with her makeup, she headed to her bedroom to find clothes. Out of habit, she grabbed her phone when she walked in and checked for messages.

Lauren: Vex just called to tell me that he's picking me up. We'll meet you at the club.

Bo groaned. Great another half hour, at least. Yes, she knew she sounded pathetic. Whatever.

Bo: Okay. They're going to be watching us, you know.

Lauren: I know. I can act like this hasn't been terrible.

Bo: So, what, we just kind of say hello and that's it?

Lauren: If we're doing this to make a point, I think we should.

Bo: Agree.

There was a few moments pause.

Bo: Am I allowed to kiss you?

Lauren: Yes. The message came through lightning quick, and Bo smiled at the speed of the response.

Lauren: I mean, it would be weird if we didn't. We'll just keep it PG.

Bo: PG. Great. Exactly what I wanted to hear. Bo felt certain Lauren could hear her sarcasm through the message.

Lauren texted back an emoji of a winking face.

Bo: God, you're even hot through text.

Lauren: Lol.


When they arrived at the club, Bo scanned the room, looking for Lauren but trying not to be obvious about it. She saw Vex first, standing at the bar, and steered Nate and Kenzi to where he was standing.

"Hello, my darlings!" Vex said loudly, lifting the shots that had just been delivered to him off the counter. "Let's take a drink to Nate and Kenzi and their incomprehensible decision to sleep with the same person for the rest of their lives!"

Nate lifted his shot. "Cheers!"

Kenzi just smiled.

"Are we late to the party?" Dyson asked as he and Ciara walked up.

"Right on time," Vex said, handing him a shot. "Is Tamsin here yet?"

As if on cue, Tamsin approached. "What up, bitches," she said, grabbing a shot.

Bo looked up and saw Lauren standing behind her. Bo's heart started beating faster.

"Hey," she said, her eyes locked on Lauren.

Lauren smiled back. "Hey." Bo could see that Lauren was almost giddy, but she was actually hiding it fairly well.

"That's it?" Tamsin said. "I thought we were going to have to yell at you two to put your clothes back on by now."

Lauren rolled her eyes. "For God sake, we aren't that co-dependent."

Tamsin shrugged.

Kenzi downed a shot. "Bo's been a grouch since Wednesday," she commented.

"Lauren was irritable as well," Vex noted.

"Maybe because someone was stealing all my covers and snoring," Lauren answered Vex.

"Your bed is extraordinarily comfortable," Vex said. "I see why Bo enjoys it so much."

"Yeah, I'm sure Bo's just in it for the sheets," Tamsin said with an eye roll.

"Okay, on that note, who wants to find a table?" Bo asked, hoping to change the subject. They started walking away from the bar, looking for somewhere to sit. Bo hung back and when everyone was in front of them, went up to Lauren and gave her a far too brief kiss. "Hi," she said.

Lauren smiled widely at her. "Hi."

Bo reached down and took Lauren's hand, holding it firmly, making it clear that she was refusing to let go.


The night continued on. The group spent a while sitting together, talking about wedding, making both real and joking suggestions. Roughly two hours after they had arrived, they had started breaking up, some to the bar, and some to go dancing.

When Bo had a moment, she leaned over to Lauren's ear and said, "want to dance?"

Lauren nodded and they stood, making their way to the dance floor. It was crowded, and they had no trouble slipping into it, becoming anonymous almost immediately.

Bo maneuvered them to a corner where they couldn't be seen from the group's table. When she was reasonably confident that their anonymity had made them as private as possible, she put her hands on the sides of Lauren's face and pulled her in for a mind melting kiss.

Bo felt lost immediately. She breathed deeply and found her senses filled with Lauren – the way she smelled like clean cotton, the low sounds of appreciation she was making against Bo's lips and tongue, the way she was swaying slightly with Bo as they almost pretended to keep up the pretext of dancing, the ways the strands of her hair felt smooth under Bo's fingers, the way Bo could still taste the alcohol Lauren had been drinking.

When they came up for air, Bo moved and latched her lips onto Lauren's neck, gently running her tongue over Lauren's pulse, which was fast and erratic.

"God, Bo," Bo felt Lauren breath out against her ear.

"I've missed you," Bo said, holding herself as tightly as possible against Lauren.

"I've missed you, too," Lauren sighed back, unconsciously moving her head to give Bo better access to her neck.

"Let's never do that again," Bo murmured, low enough that Lauren almost didn't hear her.

"It's crazy," Bo heard Lauren saying, lowly, quietly. "It was just three days."

"Three days is too long," Bo answered, lifting her head to capture Lauren's lips again.

Lauren responded instantly, and soon they were lost again. Bo was vaguely aware that it was probably only a matter of time before someone saw them, but frankly, as long as Lauren was kissing her, she didn't care.

They finally pulled back, breathing heavily, their foreheads against each other, their eyes closed.

"God, I'm so in love with you," Lauren sighed out.

Bo's eyes were definitely open now.

"What?" Bo asked, her heart pounding.

Lauren, realizing what she's just said, opened her eyes. "Um, I…what I meant was…"

Bo leaned in and kissed Lauren, hard, silencing her. When she pulled back, she looked into Lauren's eyes and said "I'm in love with you, too."


Thoughts?