Emerald's Eye (Lauren/You)

Chapter 19: Do I like you?

"What were you expecting?" Lauren laid down on her side, facing Y/n and scooting closer.

"I guess...I was expecting it to go badly," Lauren's eyebrows shot up in surprise and confusion, and Y/n recovered quickly, "Not because of you or anything! I just meant that opening up to people is something I don't do. I don't spend hours talking with someone, the last time I went to the beach was probably over six years ago, and I'm usually asleep by now."

"It's not even eight thirty yet, you grandma." Lauren shook her head and teased Y/n, playfully poking her in the chest.

Y/n grinned and grabbed Lauren's hand before the woman could pull it away, playing with the well manicured fingers with her own.

"Shut up. I like to get up really early a lot of the time. Back in New York, I go to bed around eight and wake up at four am most of the time. Unless for some reason I have an event, meeting, or another reason to stay up. Thanks to you guys, though, and your 'get togethers', my sleep schedule is fucked."

Lauren threw her head back, laughing at the subtle whine in Y/n's voice as she tried to defend herself.

"I'd say sorry, but that would be a lie." Lauren pushed her softly, but Y/n fell backwards onto her back dramatically and spread her arms and legs outwards, gasping in mock pain.

"Wow, first you make fun of me and then you push me? Ms. Jauregui, I think that would be classified as abuse under Miami law. I'm calling the police."

Lauren's eyes sparkled with mischief and something else Y/n couldn't place as she leaned to her left to hover over the architect's face.

"I see you have a thing for handcuffs. I should've known."

Y/n laughed loudly this time, sitting up quickly and forcing Lauren to move backwards and sit upright with her legs folded underneath her.

"I'm not even going to dignify that with a response!"

"That's because you don't have one." Lauren teased once more and laughed when Y/n pouted.

The sun had almost set by this point, the ball of light barely visible above the ocean horizon. The majority of the sky had faded into a dull blue and clouds had settled in the sky, forming shadows of light that played across the interior designer's face.

There was a small pause as Lauren's words processed in Y/n's mind and the architect chuckled lightly, not being able to stop the smile that reached her face even though she had wanted to appear mad. She wasn't sure what to say to the green eyed woman, so she reached up and tucked a stray piece of raven colored hair behind Lauren's ear.

Y/n let her hand linger there and lightly traced the side of Lauren's cheek, relishing the feel of the soft skin beneath her fingertips. She hadn't realized how close they were until she felt Lauren's breath ghost over her lips and her body brush against her own.

The architect felt the woman shiver lightly beneath her touch and she backed away to look at Lauren who was shaking as a cool breeze hit her.

"Oh you're cold! Here, take my jacket, I'm not cold at all." Y/n grabbed her bomber and wrapped it around Lauren's much smaller frame, almost laughing aloud when she saw how much it dwarfed the other woman.

Lauren shyly thanked Y/n, still recovering from the close proximity that she'd had with the attractive architect. The shivers that had travelled through her body weren't all because of the cold, and Lauren hated to admit how much she had wanted to grab Y/n by the front of her shirt and kiss her. But she would wait for Y/n to make the first move, not because she was against doing it herself, but because she wanted it to happen on Y/n's terms.

She'd always been good at reading people and Y/n seemed closed off, for the most part. Lauren felt lucky that she'd even gotten this far with the woman considering the warning that Tucker had given her. It hadn't been about anything personal, but just a warning that Y/n had been through a lot and if she hurt his best friend, she'd have him to answer to.

Lauren had laughed lightly, but had taken Tucker completely seriously. So, for this evening, the ball was in
Y/n's court.
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It was completely dark now and the two women had decided to head back to the car at this point. It was about nine now and they had agreed to stop by Ally's Cafe, which was surprisingly still open; at least that's what Google had said.

When they arrived at the cozy cafe, the internet hadn't let them down this time. The lights were still on and there were actually still quite a few people inside drinking coffee and chatting on the couches.

Ally turned around when she heard the bell over the door jingle and smiled at her two regulars.

"Lauren! Y/n! What a lovely surprise! Y/n, I didn't know you were back in town!"

Y/n smiled at the shorter blonde and rubbed the back of her neck, nervously. "Yeah, I got back a couple of days ago. I'm sorry I haven't dropped by yet, my brain's been kind of scattered and I've been surviving on the free hotel coffee or the Starbucks across the street from our office."

Ally scrunched up her nose in slight disgust, "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear you say you've been drinking hotel coffee, and just get you your usual. Caramel latte and a blueberry muffin, right?"

Y/n grinned, feeling a bit flattered that Ally still remembered her order after all these weeks.

"Yeah, thanks Ally. Here's my card. Lauren, you can get whatever you want, I'm going to go to the restroom, excuse me for a moment."

As Y/n walked away from the register, Ally turned to Lauren, "Spill."

Lauren blushed a crimson red and stuttered out a response, feeling a bit like a bug under a microscope from the way that Ally was studying her.

"N-Nothing...why would you think something's going on? Two team members can't be working late and stopping for some fuel?"

Ally gave her an 'are you serious' look before responding, hand on her hip.

"Well, where should I start? First off, I've known you for years and the only people you bring to my cafe are Camila, Dinah, and Normani. Second, when you're working you wear something comfortable, not heels and a dress. And third, correct me if I'm wrong, but your leather bomber didn't used to reach the middle of your thighs."

Lauren snapped her head back up and tried defending herself, "Okay first of all, I could've bought a new bomber! And second, that's not true! I brought Brad in here once! And that guy...umm...Dylan!"

"Brad invited himself and Camila was with you. Dylan STALKED you and followed you into the cafe." Ally gave her an unimpressed look at her weak defense.

Lauren sighed, giving into Ally and began quickly going over the details of what had happened between her and the architect, leaving out the personal bits that Y/n had shared with her. Ally stood listening for the next minute or so, before nodding thoughtfully.

"So in short, you're on a date?"

Lauren rested her face in her palms, feeling heat radiate outwards and knowing her face was beet red.

"Yes. Yes we are."

Ally smiled widely and turned around to start Y/n's coffee, "Well it's about time. Now hurry up and order, there's a line behind you."

Lauren gaped at the short barista, "You asked me for-"

"Your order, Ms. Jauregui?" Ally interrupted her, shoving Y/n's coffee and muffin into Lauren's hands.

Lauren gritted her teeth in annoyance. She needed to stop people from hanging out with Dinah because her sass was starting to rub off on everyone that came into contact with her, even the previously little ball of sweet sunshine.

"I'll take a vanilla chai tea latte with cashew milk and there better be a cute ass little heart in foam on the top."

At this point, Y/n had made her way back to the register, thanking Ally for her food and watching Lauren stalk away from the register in a huff. She looked at Ally who just laughed and shook her head before greeting the next customer in line.

"What did I miss?"