There's Always Tomorrow (Prequel to BWYDT)

Chapter 8

A/N: First things first... no sexiness in this chapter. But it is coming. I promise.

I know a lot of you are trying to line this up with BWYDT and aren't seeing Lauren's struggle as a connection with what was described in the other story. There's a reason for that. Like I had someone point out, there was a sentence about how when Adrianne opened a door, it slammed in her face again. That didn't happen in just a single day. She didn't open the door over breakfast and it slams shut two seconds later. It was over time (i.e. this is where Adrianne learns that she needs to push Lauren and needs to push her so often and so much that it becomes a defining personality trait because she never knows when Lauren is going to backtrack again).

This chapter deals with one of those times. I promise you, it will all match up. This isn't a relationship like Lauren and Camila's where they met, fell in love, and that was it. This relationship was an ongoing struggle for years, not just a few weeks. Lauren and Camila worked out their issues in what... four weeks before they got engaged? Four months before they got married? Adrianne and Lauren dated for nine times longer than that before they finally broke up. That's a long time spent exploring each other's personalities and a lot of time for one to affect the other. The only other way I can explain this story is it is highly complex but it fit with BWYDT. Give it a few chapters and there should be those clicking moments where you realize why certain things or feelings lasted between the two. Why one person acts the way they do towards the other or why Adrianne held Lauren's feelings for Camila against Camila as much as she did Lauren. Very complex, very deep. It's just going to take time to get there.

Hopefully, that didn't actually scare you off of reading this. Anyway, for those of you who still wish to read, thank you and enjoy.

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Just as Adrianne thought things were getting settled and Lauren had fully accepted her sexuality, shit hit the fan. The raven-haired had walked into their apartment one day and nearly ran straight to her bedroom, shutting and locking the door behind her.

"Lauren?" Adrianne called out, knocking gently on the door.

"Go away."

The brunette pulled her head back in shock at the harshness in Lauren's voice. "What's wrong?"

"I said go away. I don't want to talk about it. Clearly, if I did, I wouldn't have shut and locked the door."

Adrianne tried not to let herself feel too hurt by Lauren's anger, knowing for a fact she hadn't done anything to cause it. Perhaps it was best just to leave her alone for a little while. I mean, she had to come out eventually and maybe then she could get a better read on her emotional state. Talking to a locked door wasn't going to get her anywhere. So she went back to cooking dinner and left Lauren alone to deal with whatever it was.

Lauren sat on her bed with her head in her hands and let the tears fall when she heard Adrianne walk away. She regretted her harsh tone the instant it came out but was only further angered when Adrianne persisted to ask questions when she had asked to be left alone. Still, even now she could feel the burning of guilt rising from her stomach to settle in her chest. She stomped her foot down and growled in a mixture of anger, pain, and sadness. She had it figured out. She was happy, now after just one incident, she was ready to throw it all away. One random person's opinion set her back to where she started, feeling as if what she wanted more than anything was wrong and sinful.

She had been laying on her bed with her arm draped over her eyes for half an hour when she heard another faint knock on the door. "Are you hungry?"

"No." Actually, she was starving. All of her emotions had picked away at any food she may have consumed earlier in the day.

"Well, if you change your mind... it's ready."