Don't Remind Me (Book 2)

-13-

Laurance's POV

After I put my bags in the back of my truck I drove the short distance to Leona's so that it's be easier to put her stuff in the back. I texted her when I got there and waited a few minutes for her to come out. I was tapping on the steering wheel when she came out. I walked up to her to grab her suitcase, but I quickly noticed her face. Although she was still gorgeous, she had extremely dark eye bags. She looked like she didn't sleep at all last night.

I reached for her bag. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just didn't get a lot of sleep last night." Something was definitely wrong. She didn't fight me helping her with her bags. But she obviously didn't want to talk about it. 

"You ready? I have some coffee and snacks in the car."

"Great, coffee sounds heavenly." She hopped in the front as I threw her bag in the back and joined her in the front. I put the car into drive as she picked up her cup and took a sip. "Cinnamon latte with almond milk. You remembered."

"Of course I did." I looked over at her to find she was already looking at me. She blushed and looked out the window. We drove for a bit, just listening to the music. After we had been traveling for around thirty minutes, she spoke up.

"Thanks for helping me with my bags. You didn't need to do that."

"I wanted to." I glanced at her, again. "You looked exhausted. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." SHe finished her drink and put it in the trash bag.

"Wasn't your dinner with Garroth's family last night?"

She suddenly looked closed off. Obviously that's what was wrong. "Yeah."

"How did that go?"

She looked away, again. "It was fine."

"Are you sure? Do you wanna talk about it?"

She didn't respond. Instead, the song Call Me What You Want came on the aux. It played for a second, filling the car with an awkward energy. I couldn't take it any more and reached over to turn it off, unfortunately, she thought the same thing and did the same thing at the same time. Our hands touched briefly, sending a shock through my system. I think both of us wanted to diffuse the negative energy in the car, so we played it off. Personally, it was driving me crazy. Having her back in my life was both painful and therapeutic at the same time. But I couldn't do anything about how I felt. She was my best friend's girl. And I couldn't do anything about it.

She curled up in a ball on the seat. "Anyways, what did you do last night."

She must have needed a distraction. For her, I would do anything. "I actually went on a double date last night."

"Really?" She looked at me with interest.

"Yeah, I owed Dante a favor. He really wanted to go on a date with this girl, but she wasn't interested in him. Like, at all. After he bothered her enough, she agreed to go out with him if she could bring her friend. So he made me go with him."

"How was she?"

"Meh." I shrugged. "She was nice but boring. She seemed like she actually liked me, but I just didn't mesh with mer."

"Do you date a lot?"

"Nah." I stopped at a light. "I mean, I had a bit of a hoe phase in college where I partied a lot, but none of it was serious at all."

She played with her hair. "Interesting."

"What about you?"

"A couple of random dates. Mostly after I realized I was bi, but I've never been in a relationship since... Well, you." Our eyes met. We stared at each other for a bit until a car honked behind me. I waved an apology and drove forward. When I did, she cleared her throat. "So, your stepmom's pregnant?"

"Uh, yeah, yeah. Apparently she's having the baby soon. That's one of the ways that Cadenza got me to even make the trip in the first place."

"'Made you'? You didn't want to come?"

"Not really. I've been putting it of for awhile. I've just been so focused on work and stuff that I haven't found time to come out here. But, apparently my dad hasn't been too great, so I'm going to help him out for a bit."

"That's really nice of you, Laurance."

"Not really. It's just the right thing to do."

"But not everyone would do it."

"Yeah, well." I tried to downplay it as I turned onto my parent's dirt road. "You ready?"

She rubbed her thighs. "Yeah. I can't wait to see Cadenza again!"

I drove up to the door and parked the car. As I got out and threw one of my bags over my shoulder, Cadenza came running out the door. 

"Laur! Leona!" She tackled the two of us in a group hug. "Oh! It's so good to see the two of you!" She looked at Me. "You're too thin." Then she looked at Leo. "You look tired, you good?"

I shoved her gently and laughed to attempt to get the attention off Leona. "Good to see you, too, 'Denza. Where's our parents?"

"Kelly's inside resting and dad's checking on some things in the field. They're going to be so happy to see you. Both of you."

Leona's POV

After some objecting, she helped us with our bags and guided us in. She gave me a quick tour of the place and led me to the guest room. It was upstairs next to hers and across from Laurance's. Their parent's was downstairs which sounded like a blessing. Apparently, the pregnancy has been hard on their stepmom, so stairs were pretty much a no-go for her. "Let me know if you need anything, okay?"

"I will. Thanks, Cadenza!"

"Of course! The food's almost here, so I'll let you know when to come down." I thanked her and she left. I rolled my suitcase to the bed and sat down to look around the room. It was a very homey looking room, with creme walls and hardwood floors. It had matching wooden furniture with some candles, plants, and pictures on each one. I picked up the picture frame on the nightstand next to the bed with creme sheets. It was a picture of Cadenza and Laurance on Cadenza's graduation day. She looked nearly the same, just with more makeup. Her flaming red hair just had blonde highlights at the time, instead of her usual blonde ombre, and was up in a low bun with long pieces framing her face on the sides. Laurance, however, looked more different than I realized. Although he was always in shape, Cadenza was right. He had gotten skinnier. His hair was longer, but it was also a bit darker. His features had gotten a little sharper, but in an attractive way not a mean way. They smiled up at me from the frame, and I lightly ran my finger on Laurence's face. That was the face of the boy that I hurt. That was the person that I forced to become a man. I wouldn't force him to grow up again. I couldn't do it, no matter how much I wanted to.

No matter how much I still loved him.

Thanks for reading!