13. David
13
DAVID
Things were going well. At least I thought so. Lauren and I had managed two full weeks of intense temptation at work following our discussion about keeping things professional on the clock, and the sex hadn't cooled off even a little since then. She was every bit as intoxicating and hot as the first time, each and every time I had the chance to stroll through her garden of delights, and I hoped tonight would be no different.
I pulled up to a stop outside her apartment building and parked. I had "ordered" her to go to dinner with me this evening, secretly, of course, and she only briefly hesitated. I knew something was going on with her brother, but she only gave me bits and pieces of information so I was left to make my own deductions.
I climbed out of my car and started for the door of the building, but Lauren emerged looking flustered and frustrated before I even got there. Her feet slapped the pavement, and I noticed she was still wearing her sneakers from work. Same blue slacks, same white Polo shirt. It was obvious she either didn't have time to change or was too upset by something, and I braced myself for a whirlwind of emotion.
"Everything okay?" I reached for her, but instead of taking my hand, she just collapsed into my chest.
"Oh, David, I'm so upset." Lauren hugged me so hard I took a step backward to steady myself.
"Hey, I'm here. What's wrong?" I held her and pushed her hair off her face. Her body was tense and rigid, but I managed to coax her toward the car a few steps.
"I think my brother is on something again. He says he's not, but this is the fourth time I've found something in his room or backpack." She pulled away and looked up at me. "I don't know what to do. It will take me four months to save up enough money to get him into that long-term rehab facility, and I just don’t have that kind of time."
With an arm around her waist, I guided her toward my waiting car. "We could check him in at the hospital, make sure he stays there." I felt my suggestion was a good one, but Lauren was a super intelligent woman. I was sure she'd thought of that or maybe even tried it before. I felt helpless to give her advice.
"Been there, done that," she replied as I opened the passenger door. Our conversation was momentarily halted while I rounded the front of the car to climb in on my side. But as soon as I climbed in, she continued. "Jason needs inpatient treatment, David. He's struggling so much, and it's not just the addiction. His mental health isn’t there. He relapses because he gets too depressed and can't keep a job." She wrung her hands in her lap as I pulled into traffic.
The situation was heavy, but I didn't want her to think it was her fault. I knew it was so important to her to care for her brother, and she was an angel of a woman for taking such a big responsibility on her shoulders so young in life. I listened to her vent as I drove, realizing a restaurant was out of the question. She'd feel out of place at the one I had reservations for, and I didn't think she'd want to keep talking if we were around so many people.
So I drove to the park near the art institute and parked, and she looked up at me with a confused expression.
"I thought we were going to dinner?"
"We can if you want, but I thought maybe a nice walk by the lake would be more relaxing." I waited, and when she didn’t protest, I rounded the car and opened her door. When she climbed out and took my hand, I pulled her toward the lakefront trail and we fell into step.
"Thank you for this. It's really sweet." She clung to my arm and rested her head on my shoulder. There was a chance someone we knew would see us, but I was willing to take that risk for her. She needed to ground herself and I needed to encourage her. This lakeside trail always did those things for me. I couldn’t even count the times I'd brought Lexi here when she was little, before Claire and I split.
"I thought it would help…." I thought other things too, like how I could help Lauren with her problem. Her heart was so raw and so tender. All I wanted to do was rescue her. "What if I put the deposit down?" I asked her, and she stopped and looked up at me.
"No, David…" She shook her head and frowned. "This is my problem to deal with. I can't let you do that." She was a stubborn woman, so I knew I wasn't going to get through to her if she didn't want my help.
“I'm serious, though. We could just call it a loan.” I continued walking, holding her hand on my bicep and making her stay at my pace. She seemed to drag her feet a little bit, as if she were thinking about what I had said, but I knew she was still going to refuse my help.
“David, that's really kind of you, but I cannot accept your money. I can't take a loan that I know I can't pay back.” Her head hung. I could tell she was feeling really discouraged now, and I never meant to make her feel like a charity case at all. I meant to show her that I cared about her. In fact, I was falling for her.
We walked along in companionable silence for a while. She was lost inside her head, and I was watching the water lap at the edge of the trail. I thought if there were some way for me to provide what she needed without her knowing that it was me providing it, she would be more accepting of it. I didn't understand why she would be prideful and not accept my money unless she was having second thoughts about us. Or unless she thought it would make me think differently of her in the future.
It was true. Lending money to friends often changed the dynamic of the relationship in the future. But I didn't look at this as a friendship. I looked at this like I was potentially her future partner who really wanted to care for her.
“Well, what if we got you an advance on your salary? I could go to the board and ask them to give you one month ahead, and we could work out the details of that later on.”
“And how would that work out when the next month came and I didn't have a salary to pay my electric bill or buy groceries? I really appreciate that you're trying to help me and I really appreciate that you sat and listened to me vent. But it's something I have to do on my own. I can't get you tangled up in this. But thank you for trying.”
The sun was fading on the horizon. The trail was getting dark enough that streetlights began to flicker to life overhead. I fully respected her choice to stand on her own two feet and take care of this herself, but it really pained me to watch her struggling so much, especially when I knew I could take care of this in the blink of an eye.
Soon, the hum of music met our ears. The farther we walked, the louder it got until we were standing near the Amphitheatre listening to a band rattle off old love songs. I asked her to dance with me and spun her around the grass a few times. We leaned against the bark of an old oak tree beneath its sprawling branches as the sun slipped below the horizon and disappeared. It was nice being with her in silence, and I was okay with how our evening was turning out.
When the band paused between sets, I pulled her against my chest and kissed her forehead. "I'm really starting to think we have something special, Lauren."
"I think so too." She rose up on her toes and kissed me softly. "I think I'm falling in love with you." Her hands splayed on my chest so perfectly, I didn't want to move and wreck the moment. And I didn't want to rattle off that I loved her too, though I felt like I did. I didn't want her to think it was just a response to her declaration, so I held her against me and kissed her more deeply.
"I could go to HR and tell them. We can start the process of announcing our relationship." It was the logical next step, but Lauren pulled away immediately.
"Do you know what that will mean for me?" she asked, and I saw her lip quiver. "The other interns will literally judge me. They'll gossip and say I'm sleeping with you to get special treatment. Not to mention I won't be able to get pay rises or promotions like them. If you do that, they'll complain."
I wanted to protest and tell her it wouldn't be that way, but I knew she was right. And I'd be under a microscope too. They'd force me to be harder on her than the others and we'd be scrutinized. But it was worth it to me to be able to tell the world about this amazing woman I was falling in love with.
"You might be right," I admitted, but I hated to do so.
"Living like that would be so hard. I don't want hard right now unless it's your dick." She snickered, and it broke the somber mood. "Honestly, I like what we're doing. Can we just keep it a secret a while longer? Until I get this thing with my brother sorted and I'm under a bit less stress?"
I pulled her back toward me and she crashed into my arms. "I'll give you my hard dick any time you want it." I kissed her again, this time biting her lip a little. "And yes. Let's go at your own pace. I'd love to hire a skywriter to paint it on the clouds, but I'll be patient for you."
Our kissing got a little obscene for a few seconds before Lauren got a phone call. She groaned and pulled away, yanking her phone out of her pocket. When she answered and I heard loud and clear who it was on the line, I grabbed her hand.
"Ms. Newhouse, this is Sergeant Tom Baker at the fiftieth precinct. We're going to need you to come in and speak with detectives about your brother, Jason Newhouse."
We were already on our way to the car and Lauren was fighting tears.