It's all about connection

[FloatingAroundSpace]

Lauren rolled away from him, swinging her legs off the bed and going to the bathroom to freshen up. She could still feel the burning heat of Garret and the scratch of his stubble, but being that close to him reminded her where they stood.


Which was Garret fairly confidentially and Lauren hiding away.

 

[narsiserious]

Feeling the mattress dip then rise again finally stirred Garret from his sleep. With the loss of the warmth at his side, the cold drew him out, making him pull the covers closer to his body. Still exhausted from the previous day's happenings, it took him a few minutes to wipe the sleep away from his eyes. Once his vision cleared, he glanced down beside him and found that Lauren was gone.


"Fuck, still so tired," he groaned, flopping back down onto his pillow. "How can you already be awake? It's barely the ass crack of dawn."

 

[FloatingAroundSpace]

"Well," Lauren said, after splashing water on her face and slipping into her running clothes, "I'm not used to going to sleep that early so I'm waking up early and going off for a run."

 

[narsiserious]

Garret buried his face in his pillow.


"Can I come with you?" he asked as he made no move to actually get off the bed.


He wanted to spend more time with her, but he felt too tired to really do anything.

 

[FloatingAroundSpace]

"If you want to get up, yeah," Lauren said, walking over to the bed and feeling the side of her mouth quirk up at his laziness. "If you can get up."

 

[narsiserious]

"Could you Gar-roll me over so I can get up?" Garret asked softly, his words slightly muffled by the pillow. He lifted a hand up, but since he didn't know where she was standing, he had lifted the farthest arm away from her instead of towards her.

 

[FloatingAroundSpace]

"If you want to sleep, sleep," Lauren said. "You're not obligated to come running with me when you clearly aren't up for it."

 

[narsiserious]

Garret sighed loudly and slowly picked himself up. "Alright, but, could you maybe bring me back a leaf or something so I can pretend I went running with you?" he smiled tiredly, his hair a mess as it stuck out in every direction.

 

[FloatingAroundSpace]

Lauren snorted and rolled her eyes, though she dropped herself down next to Garret and smoothed out his hair impulsively. "Sure," she said, smiling slightly.

 

[narsiserious]

"Alright, well, have fun on your run," Garret said, taking her hand from his hair and just held it in his own.


He didn't know how many times he's imagined this exact moment. To have it actually happen was rather weird, though it probably wasn't going to take long before he got used to it.


"Do we have any plans today? Are we going anywhere?"

 

[FloatingAroundSpace]

Lauren shook her head and stood up, kissing him on the forehead one last time before heading downstairs, where she threw together a few fruits, a splash of milk, and some protein powder into a blender and made herself a smoothie before going out.


It had been a while since she had gone running in the morning, her hectic schedule doing most of it for her. She couldn't deny, however, that it was a lot more relaxing to dig earbuds into her ears and just run, allowing the breeze to pull at her and her feet to lead her wherever.

 

[narsiserious]

As Lauren left, Garret found himself unable to go back to sleep. He laid in bed staring at the ceiling for god knows how long until he finally forced himself to sit up. The room still had Lauren everywhere; her scent lingered on the pillows and blankets, her clothes were folded neatly on the chair in the corner, her jackets hung from the closet door. It was odd to feel that Lauren was still there with him without her actual presence in the room. He wondered what it would be like if this was his apartment, not that he ever expected Lauren to move in with him any time soon. How would he have reacted if he woke up and found that Lauren had left some of her clothes in his closet, or her toothbrush in his bathroom? Would he still have the butterflies fluttering in his stomach? Or would he get used to it eventually? If it as her, he didn't think that feeling would ever fade.


Garret hauled himself out of bed, but fell right back down to sit on the edge. "Urgh, I can't bring myself to get up," he yawned.


Whilst he sat there for a few more minutes, he started surveying the room a little more. It was a little bare with the exception of some posters on the wall here and there. Some books were still kept neatly pushed together in the book shelf, mostly likely in alphabetical order too. One book in particular caught his eye. Photo albums that were labelled 'family' and 'Lauren and friends'.


Curiosity getting the better of him, Garret walked over to the book shelf and pulled out the two albums. He flipped through the family album first, seeing pictures mostly of the other members of Lauren's family. He recognized everyone from the barbecue, and he had to do a double-take when he saw the four cousins together since the girls looked somewhat similar when they were children.


"The genetics in this family are strong," he chuckled as he took a minute to pick out who was who. He could identify Lauren just fine, but the other three took some more effort.

 

[FloatingAroundSpace]

Lauren made it back to the house in due time, breathing heavily. It was nice to be able to relax for a bit. She trotted up the steps and made it back to her room and frowned at Garret.


"Are you looking at my stuff?" she asked, frowning.

 

[narsiserious]

Since Garret had been so occupied with looking through the pictures, he failed to notice the sound of footsteps that were making their way towards the room. Hearing Lauren's, not so happy, voice almost made him jump through the roof.


Hugging the book against his chest tightly, he turned his head slowly to look at her. "...Er...I'm sorry. I got curious. I was just looking through the pictures that's all." he said, looking sheepish. "I'll put them back."

 

[FloatingAroundSpace]

"Right," Lauren said, continuing to frown. "I'm going to take a shower."


She stepped into the bathroom and rinsed herself up, feeling uncomfortable with the idea that Garret was looking through her things. If they were dating, she'd be fine with showing him her pictures. If he had asked, she would have given him a picture or two, cracked open the book and shown him all the funny ones of Sylvia with barbecue smeared over her face and Juliet with half a piece of cake crammed in her mouth while Chellsea laughed in the background.


But to her, personal pictures and little insights into her life were just that; personal. If someone close to her asked, she would consider it and more than likely give them a piece of her childhood. But to have someone simply take it...


Lauren didn't like the thought that Garret had just seen the photo albums and had just... grabbed them. Looked into them without asking. It was the same with artists and their sketchbooks; they were highly private things that they only let a select number of people see and even then, only certain pages were used. It was the same with writers, who hid their craft until they were finished, when they blasted it out to the world.


For her, those pictures were her childhood. For her, they weren't things she could easily show another.

 

[narsiserious]

With the knowledge that he'd probably upset Lauren, Garret instantly closed the albums and set them back in the book shelf where they belonged. He shouldn't have been nosy, and now Lauren most definitely wasn't going to trust him in her room again.


He sighed heavily, glancing at the bathroom door for a second before grabbing some clothes from his bag and headed out to take his own shower. He would have to apologise to Lauren once he got back. He should have thought twice before he actually snooped through her possessions. Hopefully she wasn't too upset with him or he'd be apologising the whole trip.

 

[FloatingAroundSpace]

Lauren stepped out of the shower and glanced around, drying off her hair. It seemed that Garret had left, probably to take his own shower.


She headed down stairs, where she managed to find oatmeal and start preparing a breakfast. Henrik wouldn't be around because he still had to work, but she'd make sure Garret and Catherine were occupied.


Henrik came down after a moment, kissed Lauren on the cheek, and took his bowl of oatmeal before leaving.

 

[narsiserious]

Throughout his shower, Garret replayed his mistake in his mind and felt more guilty with every second. He reprimanded himself for being a little too comfortable in a place that wasn't his own, and planned out what he was going to say to Lauren when he got out. Garret being the person that he was, was not going to let this go for a long time.


"What the fuck was I thinking?" he hissed softly to himself, throwing his hands in the air in exasperation.


Catherine, who had just finished preparing herself for the day, walked by just in time to hear Garret mumbling to himself.


"...Gar? You alright in there, bud?" she asked, receiving a startled yell, then a clatter of bottles following soon after.


"Y-yeah! I'm fine!" he replied.


"Right. You're fine. Well, I'll leave you to that then," Catherine rolled her eyes.

 

[FloatingAroundSpace]

Lauren hummed to herself, setting out the plates and the food, pouring oatmeal into bowls and setting them on the table. She grabbed cinnamon from the spice rack and surveyed her work before heading back into the refrigerator and pulling out a box of various fruits. She set it in the center of the table and flipped it open.

 

[narsiserious]

"What's up with him today?" Catherine muttered to herself upon her arrive at the dining table. "Morning!" she grinned at Lauren, taking a seat.


After his little incident, Garret was too embarrassed to come out of the bathroom. However, knowing that he'd be wasting water, he got out anyway. He quickly dried and changed into his day clothes before joining the girls for breakfast.

 

[FloatingAroundSpace]

Lauren glanced up as Catherine descended. "Morning. Henrik went out to work today. Food's here, it's just oatmeal and I have some fruits and spices you can toss in. I'm planning on making something actually decent for lunch. I haven't cooked in a while."


She looked up again when Garret came down the steps.


"Hello," she said, taking a seat across from Catherine and pulling her own bowl towards herself.

 

[narsiserious]

Catherine grinned, pulling a bowl of oatmeal towards herself. "Looks good! Do you want any help with making lunch?" she asked before Garret could actually intervene and stop her.


Based on her short greeting, Lauren was still upset with him. "...Morning..." Garret sighed softly as he took a seat next to Catherine. For a while, he ate quietly, risking a few glances at Lauren every now and then to watch her expression. Nothing changed much.


"Lauren," he called softly to get her attention. "I'm sorry about looking through those albums before. I shouldn't have been nosy."

 

[FloatingAroundSpace]

Lauren grunted her response, shoving a spoonful of oatmeal into her mouth instead. She still wasn't sure how she felt about Garret looking through her things. In the end, she settled on miffed.

 

[narsiserious]

Garret frowned deeply. He wasn't going to let it go. Even if Lauren didn't forgive him, he at least wanted her acknowledgement, and grunting wasn't exactly the kind of response he had wanted.


"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snooped. Could you at least say something?" he sighed.

 

[FloatingAroundSpace]

Lauren set her spoon down and turned to look at Garret.


"Fine," she said calmly. "I don't like you looking through my stuff because it reminds me of what this is. You love me; I get it. But I still have no fucking clue what I feel for you. It's all confusing and mashed together and at the end of the day, I just want you to be happy, no matter what I decide. But I know if I say we're just friends, you won't be. And I don't know how happy we'd be together if I said I was. So yes, I'm ticked that you looked through my things and you shouldn't have because it's private but also because it's a reminder that you're eagerly looking for anything that is mine so you can get closer and I don't know if I want that yet."


Lauren shoved the last bits of oatmeal in her mouth and went to wash her dishes in the sink.