Lauren: There's Something I Need to Talk to You About

I need to get Lauren's story caught up a little bit, so no Kinsley this week.  Kinsley will return next week!  
_________________

Even though I hate to admit it, I'm still happy enough from the day before that I don't even get irritated with Alex while we travel.  I don't even know who I am anymore.  When we're in the car on the way home from the airport, Alex says, "So I thought I'd drop you off at home and then--"

"What do you mean, drop me off at home?" I ask him, smirking.  "Are you sick of me?  Too much together time this week?"

"Well, no, but I assumed you would be completely over spending every second with me," he replies.  "You usually need a lot more alone time than you got this week."

"Plenty of time for that tomorrow," I scoff.  Normally he'd be right.  I don't even know what's wrong with me.  "Unless you need some alone time."

"Nope," he answers.  "Okay then, my place or yours tonight?"

"How about this...drop me off at my place and I'll ditch my stuff, shower, and change.  Then I can pick up some food and head over to your house in a little bit?"

Alex nods and says, "That works."  

It isn't until I'm home by myself that I realize that I really do need some alone time.  It's hard to explain to extroverts, but the sense of relief I feel when I'm finally alone is amazing.  I don't want to cancel on Alex, and I do want to spend the night with him, so I just take my time unpacking and getting ready.  I haul my suitcase right to the tiny laundry room, unzip it, and upend it on the floor.  I fish my flat iron, makeup bag, and toiletries out, kick my shoes to the side, and leave the clothes in a heap to sort through later.  

I make my way up to my bathroom and carefully slide my ring off my finger, but not before admiring it once more.  I can't help it.  It's probably the greatest material object that has ever been mine.  Alex was right when he said it was perfect.  I manage to tear my eyes away and set it down carefully inside one of the drawers of the vanity.

My shower is much longer than usual.  I linger under the hot water and soak up my me-time.  By the time I step out of the shower, I'm ready to be around other humans again.  I get dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie, dry my hair, slip my ring back on (and admire it for another 30 seconds, because I guess I'm that girl), and think about putting on makeup but decide not to.  Then I grab my purse and leave to pick up food and go to Alex's house.

I try to just walk in when I get there but the door is locked, so I have to knock.  "Thanks for locking me out, jackass," I say when he lets me in.

He shrugs and smirks.  "I guess I was hoping you might not come."

"Don't be a dick!" I reply, laughing.  He pulls me into a hug and I let him, because I'm a nice girlfriend sometimes.

We spend the evening being lazy on the couch until we go to bed.  In the morning, we go out for brunch and then I head home.  I know I should probably do some laundry and cleaning and maybe go through some of my work emails so I won't have to spend two hours doing it tomorrow, but I spend the day catching up on my DVRed TV shows instead.  Liv calls early in the evening, but I decline the call and send her a text telling her that I'm unwinding and asking if we're on for Monday.  She says we are and tells me to enjoy my "me time".  It's nice having a friend (besides Alex) that actually understands.

I'm actually ready to get back to work on Monday.  I'm such a creature of habit, and it's nice to get back into my routine.

Because I'm such a creature of habit, I notice immediately that my desk is not how I left it.  Now, I'm surprisingly not a neat freak by any means, so my desk is a disaster, but it is definitely not the way I left it.  I rifle through my stuff but don't notice anything missing.

I spend the rest of the day suspicious and a little anxious, but nothing out of the ordinary happens.  I'm still relieved when it's time to leave and go meet Liv.  Kinsley had texted me earlier and I'd invited her along too.

I'm not surprised that I'm the first one there.  I get done with work first and Kinsley is always late.  Most people would just stay at work a little later or run home and change or something, but I've never minded being alone at restaurants.  So I get there right after work, get us a table, order a drink, and people watch.

Liv arrives right on time and finds me quickly.  "Hi!" she greets me cheerfully.  "How was your trip?"

I make a face.  "It was...interesting," I say carefully.  "I'll tell you guys all about it when Kinsley gets here."

"Tell us all about what?" Kinsley asks, walking up right in time to hear.

"About my trip," I reply.

It's right at that moment that Liv notices my ring, which is still on my right hand.  "Whoa," she says, grabbing my hand.  "Does your story involve telling us where this gorgeous thing came from?"

"It does," I assure her, snatching my hand back.  "Don't touch the goods."  She laughs, holding her hands up in surrender.

I don't waste any more time, and I launch into the story.  It takes us all the way through our appetizers and first drinks.  As soon as I start telling the story of Thanksgiving dinner and Carolyn, Kinsley interrupts.  "She set you up!" she gasps.  "She wanted Alex to dump you for that stupid southern belle!"

"Thank you!" I reply, feeling just a little bit vindicated.  "Alex thought I was crazy when I first said that, until his mom actually said it to him too."  So I keep going, telling them about our fight and everything that happened after it.

When I finally finish, both Liv and Kinsley are grinning wildly.  "So now what?" Liv asks excitedly.

I give her a confused look.  "Now what what?"

"Now what are you and Alex going to do?" she clarifies, but it doesn't clear things up much for me.

"We're going to keep being awesome?" I try.  Liv sighs and looks to Kinsley for help.

Kinsley says, "So you don't want to get married, but this seems like kind of a big deal.  Are you guys going to like...celebrate it?  Or, I don't know, move in together?"

This is why I suck at relationships--the thought of either of those things didn't even cross my mind.  "I have no idea," I respond truthfully.  "We didn't talk about that.  I don't want to do either right now, to be honest.  I don't know what he wants."

"Have you guys talked about moving together?" Liv asks curiously.

"Not since he offered for me to move in with him before I moved into your place," I reply.  "I don't want to."

"Ever?" Kinsley asks skeptically.

"I don't know," I reply in frustration.  "I love him, obviously, but living with you was bad enough," I say, looking at Liv.  I realize what I said as soon as it's out of my mouth and start to apologize, but she cuts me off.

"Trust me, the feeling was mutual," she says with a laugh.  "I don't think either of us are very good at sharing our space."

I smirk and then say, "But I really don't want to talk about this anymore."  Luckily, Liv and Kinsley let it go.  I have to admit that they took some of the fun out of it all, with their talk about what was next.  It probably seems really stupid, but even though we had just talked about spending the rest of our lives together, I'm happy with how things are right now and don't want to think about making any changes.  I'm sure that at some point it will make sense, but right now I'm good with things like they are.  I think Alex is too, but I guess I'm not sure.  He hasn't said anything yet, in any case.

Kinsley tells us about her Thanksgiving next, and it was definitely worse than mine.  Liv's was pretty tame in comparison, and much better than her dinner with Brody's family last year.  We stay for awhile after we pay our bill, chatting and taking up a table.  The restaurant is half empty so I don't feel too bad about it.

Eventually we head out, and I go straight home.  I change into comfortable clothes immediately and lay across the couch with my phone.  I call Alex, and we talk for about 15 minutes.   "Can I see you tomorrow?" he asks at the end.

"Yes," I answer automatically.  We make plans to get dinner and for him to spend the night at my house, then hang up.  I finish catching up on my DVRed shows before I head to bed.

About an hour into my workday on Tuesday I realize I haven't seen much of Logan.  I'm surprised, because I expected him to have missed harassing me while I was gone, but I'm relieved.  Maybe he's over it.  One can hope, right?

I'm enjoying my Logan-free work-zone right after lunch when I become conscious of someone approaching my cube from behind.  I turn and see Sean stepping up to my desk.  "Lauren," he greets me.  I nod in response.  "Do you have the file for the client you've been working with?"

"Of course," I reply.

"Good," he says.  "Grab it and come to my office, please.  There's something I need to talk to you about."