Pure Innocence (Lauren/You)

Chapter 12

A couple more days had passed without anything to report with Mike's situation. I hadn't heard from Clara about anything new, or the fact that Lauren was still missing her family more and more each day. She had a shorter fuse in which made it easier to piss her off if she didn't get what she wanted. I was beginning to become worried with this situation because in my mind, she was beginning to resent me because I was keeping her away from her own family. Lauren wasn't as playful as she once was, and she didn't seem like the happy, innocent girl I knew her to be. The thought saddened me, and I didn't want her to feel this way. I also just didn't want to show up at the Jauregui's house knowing what they were going through and how they wanted to handle everything.

It had gotten to the point where I no longer tried to speak to the younger girl unless it was absolutely necessary. I had to bring her with me to work where she would corner herself off and keep herself entertained. Work had been even more stressful than before, with my nurses trying to get my attention in completely opposite ways in which I ignored both. Normani had tried to talk to me about the situation with my patient while Dinah was trying too hit on me as much as she possibly could. After every patient, I would resort to my silent office where I would do my own thing until the next patient showed up. That had become my routine at work while at home, I kept myself in the living room as Lauren went off and did whatever in my room. We had usually slept together in my bed but I no longer tried to cuddle the emerald eyed beauty in case she would go off on me.

My days had dragged on and left me completely exhausted by the end, and I never really had human interaction besides Camila and the patients with their families that came in. So by the time it came to leave for home, I dreaded every moment of telling Lauren that we had to go. I began to gather my belongings from my desk before pushing my bag onto my shoulder where my coat was already on. "Ready to leave, Lauren?" I asked quietly to the younger girl who had kept herself closed off in the corner of my office. Without speaking, Lauren grabbed her stuff and followed me out of the office and to my car where an awkward silence settled over us. I sighed at the notion until I drove us to my house with the silence still eating away at me. The drive seemed to take longer than usual but once we arrived at my house, Lauren got out of the car without waiting and went to wait at the front door until I was able to unlock it.

The shorter girl pushed past me with her belongings clutched at her chest. I sighed at the action and stepped in behind her, closing the door and locking it so that no intruders could get inside. I set my belongings down by the door as Lauren made her way right upstairs and as far away from me as she could get. A subconscious frown formed on my face but in the end, I let her go since I didn't want to bother her anymore to create problems between us. Well, more problems than there already was. I slumped onto the couch without bothering to turn the TV on. I leaned my head against the back of the couch while closing my eyes, trying to keep my mind off the point where I went wrong to make Lauren act like this.

In the end, I knew this was going to happen but I was in no way prepared to experience it so quickly. I didn't know what I was expecting in agreeing with Clara to allow Lauren to stay here without being able to see her family. I guess I wasn't thinking about what could possibly happen; I was just blinded by my overwhelming feelings and happiness that the emerald eyed beauty would be staying with me for a prolonged amount of time. I tried to explain this predicament to Clara several times but there still wasn't anything being done to make Lauren happier. I felt bad to be the one keeping her away from her family because I knew it was hurting her. Whatever happened, I never wanted to be the one that would be the source of Lauren's sadness. I laced my hands together and placed them on the back of head as I continued to allow my thoughts to run free.

Who knows how long I stayed in that position until I realized that We had to eat dinner before retiring to bed. With another sigh, I stood up from the couch and sauntered over to my bag where I had left my phone so that I could quickly order a pizza online. I didn't really want to talk to anyone much so that was my first choice, plus I knew Lauren loved pizza. After sending off the order, I placed myself back in my previous position, except I had turned on the TV so that I could have some background noise. My eyes were locked on the screen, but I was in no way paying attention to the mindless adult cartoon that was playing off of my Netflix. Since I hadn't bothered to choose anything, Netflix decided to start playing the cartoon itself but I was glad in the end that I didn't have to do anything.