Save Me

15| Lauren

I stood in front of the Keurig as it brewed my coffee and yawned. I barely got any rest last night and to make matters worse I have too much to do today.

"Good morning."

I sighed deeply when hearing the voice of the person I was trying to avoid right now. "Morning," I replied quietly, still with my back facing Bam.

"Where's my lil' homie? I wanna apologize for leaving him hanging last night."

"He's at school and there's no need to apologize. You want coffee?" I asked him, trying not to be awkward or show my discomfort.

"No thanks. I need a damn aspirin or something though," he whined while holding his head low.

"I left you a few over there," I said while pointing to the other end of the counter top. "How's your hand?"

Bam glanced down and flexed his bruised hand that was wrapped up. "Shit is sore as hell," he responded with a dry face.

I mixed the sugar and cream into my cup and walked over to where my purse was. I had to get out of here before the conversation could take a turn.

"Hol' up. Why you dipping out so fast? I know you don't have to be to work until like 1 today."

"Yeah, but I have damn custody mediation thing with Christian's dumb ass at 10." Bam looked over at clock on the stove and arched his brows.

"Okay, it's 8:30 in the morning. We stay 10 minutes from the court house, you good. Sit with me, please..."

I cursed myself. I knew where this was going and his morning voice wasn't making him any easier to resist. I watched Bam sit down at a bar stool and he pulled out the one beside him for me to sit. I walked over and sat, still not looking him straight in the eyes.

"Okay, what's up?" I asked him.

"Uh, so I don't remember much from last night like how I fucked up my hand is a mystery to me." I sighed in relief at his confession. "However, I do remember me kissing you."

"Oh..." I mumbled to myself and looked at him awkwardly.

"I'm sorry for violating you like that. We're friends and I shouldn't have crossed that line. You had every right to smack the shit out of me if you wanted too. It's just that I get a little emotional when I drunk, but I promise you that it'll never happen again."

I just nodded. "It's cool. You know I'm not sweating it. Mistakes happen."

I was lying through my teeth. I wasn't cool. Hell, all I could think about were his warm lips and that hint of tequila I tasted on them. It was brief, but I--I don't know. Maybe I'm just vulnerable to any affection from a man right now.

"You good, Lauren? I hear you mumbling again."

"Yeah, I guess."

"So no awkwardness or anything between us, right?" Bam questioned with a full smile on his face, something that I had grown accustomed to seeing more of as the time went on.

"No, it's all good. Now, that that's settled can you tell me where everything stemmed from?"

"What stemmed from?"

I pointed to his hand and poked his aching head. "Your drunken night. Swear, I don't remember if I've seen you take a drink since I've been living here."

He just shrugged me off and looked off into space. I moved his chin with my index finger to face me. "Hello, I'm over here. Talk to me."

Bam sighed. "You should head on out. Traffic gone be crazy to the court house."