Divided We Stand, United We Fall

Chapter 3

"And where were you young lady?" Lauren's guardian demanded, impatiently tapping her foot. Her red hair was tied up in a bun. She looked like one of Lauren's old tutors when they were telling her off.

"I freaked out at the last minute. I hid somewhere. I was so scared guardian." Lauren half-lied. Her guardian's face softened. She looked at the setting sun. Which wasn't a setting sun at all. Lauren had been missing for 24 hours. She had to be led home by a nurse who found her wandering 2 miles away from home.

"Oh Lauren, you know you have to have it. It's a fact of life."she remarked.

"I know you are right, guardian." Lauren sighed. Looking at the ground, she felt the guilt of lying to her own guardian. 

"Now, it's tiding week. Go hang with your friends whilst we clean up, yeah?"

"Thank-you, guardian." Lauren smiled, knowing where she was going to go.

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"I would have thought you wouldn't have bothered, Lauren. I had to lie to my doctor about the smashed glass. Wild animals don't come though these parts." Noah laughed as she crawled through the window. The window had been replaced with a new one but there was an opening for fresh air. She fell with a loud, low-pitched boom, falling on her arm in the process.

"Ouch!" She cried out, whilst rubbing her arm. She looked over at Noah who was topless, in bed, staring at her.

"You alright?" Noah asked. He rested the weight of the upper half of his body on his elbows with his hands on his jaw.

"Yeah. It was a bit of a run to get here, it was really tiring. Woah...you've got a weirdly shaped body." Lauren randomly explained. He had broad shoulders and a small waist. He had prominent muscles everywhere. They were on his arms and chest mainly. He was wearing tight jeans that were worn and tattered and a thin t-shirt.

"You do too, Lauren. But I just haven't seen it yet." He smirked. Lauren rolled her eyes and sat down on his bed.

"I'm not taking my top off, Noah. Even if it is a little stuffy in here."

"Oh come on, please. I'll show you mine."

"Enough, Now-ah!" Lauren gasped, slapping his arm.

"I'm so sorry!" Noah apologized." I've just never seen a girls' body before. I'll just have to presume that you have udders then." Noah laughed. "Similar to a cow I guess."

"Fine!" Lauren growled, taking off her top to reveal a white bra.

"Extraordinary." Noah exclaimed. He admired what she had and what he diff.

"Oh and by the way, we don't call them udders, we called them breasts." Lauren said, as if reading his mind. She slipped her top back on and almost heard a dissatisfied sigh come out of Noah's mouth.

"Breasts...hmm...cool word, sounds nice on my tongue." Noah exclaimed.

"Don't be weird."

He didn't know that a someone's body would look so beautiful. He always thought that girls looked like cows. That is where milk comes from, isn't it? All the new borns have this milk.

"Uh...Noah? Can you stop the weird staring, it's making me uncomfortable."

"Oh sorry, I was lost in my own thoughts then." Noah explained, awkwardly.

"Okay...so is it alright if I spend the week with you? My dorm is being cleaned." Lauren asked, out of the blue.

"Err...sure. It's okay, I'm not really allowed to go out into public, anyway, so having a bit of company would be great." Noah smiled.

"What? You're not allowed to go out into public? Why?" Lauren asked, shocked at the statement. Noah blushed slightly at this.

"Remember my OCD? They don't think it's alright for me to go out, just incase I become obsessed with a person and make them upset. Even though there is no evidence of me becoming obsessed about anyone. It's stupid.

It's so lonely living here alone. The only people I see are my doctors, guardian and people who deliver my food." Noah closed his eyes and pursed his lips. Lauren looked at him, empathising him as she wrapped her arm around his shoulder.

"Noah, I'm so sorry." Lauren sighed. "It must be so terrible for you."

"You're the only person who doesn't treat me like a freak of nature." His eyes had become glassy, as of he were about to cry but he collected himself and cleared his throat. "I guess you can sleep on my bed with me, I don't mind."

"Hmm...what time is it?" Lauren asked.

"5:30PM my lunchtime should be here by now." As if on queue, a knock was heard at the door. Noah got up from the bed, and approached the door and opened it.  On the floor was a pizza box, garlic bread and a bottle of lemonade. Noah picked the items up and put it on a small table that you had to sit on the floor to enjoy meals. "

Wanna join?" He asked, pulling a lopsided grin. Lauren obliged and kneeled down in front of the table. Noah took the lid off the pizza and took out a slice. Lauren took some as well and soon, there was none left. Noah quickly disposed of the litter.

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"That was delicious! We only have pizza on very special occasions. " Lauren sighed whilst getting ready for bed. She didn't have anything with her so she had to borrow Noah's stuff. "I hope you don't mind me borrowing your toothbrush, Noah."

"It's fine...I know you haven't brought anything. You can use it as long as you rinse it afterwards." As soon as she was done, she went to bed. Noah had let her borrow one of his T-shirts to sleep in. She curled up next to him, so that her back was against his chest. Noah wrapped his arm around her. He hadn't felt this sense of calm in ages. He felt his eyes slowly flutter shut and slumber overtake him.

Lauren felt content as she felt his warm arm wrap around her. She could feel his breathing, hot on her neck. She felt sleepy from this perfect warmth and eventually drifted off to sleep. For some reason, sleeping next to a man was better that sleeping with a girl. It felt more natural to her...although her guardian would consider it as taboo as men weren't actually considered as human beings to the women.

~~~~~~~~~~

Lauren was the first to wake. She couldn't feel Noah's arms around her but she could see that they were. I guess they had been round her or so long that her body had gotten used to it being there. Lauren really needed the toilet at that point. She struggled to get out of his grip and failed. Noah let out a nasal sound of desperation and pulled her closer to him.

Ugh, it was no use! She would have to wake him up. She twisted a bit until she was facing him.

"Noah?"she whispered, flicking some of his blond hair from his face. This didn't wake him up. He stirred for a moment and then went back to sleep. She then grabbed his shoulders and shook him violently. His eyes opened in surprise and then had an almost angry look in them.

"Why did you wake me up?" He asked, his voice was raspy through sleep.

"Well, I really wanted to use the bathroom and I couldn't move with your arms around me like this." she motioned with her hands, the position they were in.

"Okay...I'm sorry. " he untangled his arms from her and she hurriedly rushed to the bathroom to relieve herself.

Noah felt alone once more. When Lauren was around, he felt happy, excited, joyful. She worked in mysterious ways. As a child, his nights were plagued by stories of succubi and rincers. He wondered what was going on. Either he was becoming obsessed with her or he was feeling the one feeling that boys were not allowed to express to women.

Love.

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Another end. Hurrah!

At least I made it long-ish, eh?

Hoot!

Toot!