More to Love (a Les Twins fanfic)

Chapter 17: Second Guessing

Stacey raced Laurent to the top of the hill then turned around gleefully to rub her victory in his face.

"As tall as you are you can't beat little ole me?  You ought to be ashamed."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah I'm coming,"  Laurent pranced along at a diva stroll pace.  "I can't injure myself.  I'm a dancer, remember?"

She savored her win until he finally caught up with her.  Wearing two layers of shirts, a scarf, jeans, ankle pads, and a hat, he looked more like he was going skiing than jogging in the late evening heat of Vegas' Red Rock mountains.

"Ha!  You're so full of it.  I told you not to wear all those dang clothes."  Stacey plopped down on a patch of grass sipping from her water bottle and he settled beside her.

They both paused for a moment to enjoy the gorgeous view from high up over the city in silence, and Laurent stretched out to lay flat on his back gazing up at the cloudless sky.

"Lau?"

"Hmmm?"

"Can we talk?"

"Yeh, sure.  What you wanna talk about?"  He raised up on one elbow and peered into her big blue eyes.

"Well, you know we've been hanging out a lot and it's been really fun...,"

"Ohhhh yessss, really fun,"  Laurent interrupted, pulling her down onto her back on the ground and nuzzling his face in her chest.

"Lau...stop...I'm trying to be serious."

"Mmmhmmm,"  he muttered already pulling her tank top halfway up and fumbling with the button on her shorts.

"Lau!"

"Okay, okay." He stopped fondling her long enough to focus.  "I'm listening."

Stacey inhaled, straining to gather her thoughts and find the words she wanted to say.  When she was with Laurent it was hard to concentrate on anything but Laurent.   His physical magnetism and personality were so strong and commanding.  Everything about him made her forget who, what, where, when, and why.  In his presence even time seemed to stop.

She had it bad.  Laurent had her head in the clouds.  But if he was going to keep seeing other women like she assumed he was doing then she wanted to yank the safety cord and parachute back down to Earth while she still could.  She figured she couldn't compete with those rich party girls.  Mostly, she just needed to know where she stood with him.

"Lately I've been feeling like...,"  Stacey began until Laurent's phone buzzed in his pocket.  He reached down to silence it quickly then looked back up at her.

Stacey swallowed hard.  Her personality was normally loud, blunt, and straight to the point.  She never was very good at expressing her emotions in what she considered to be "mushy" situations like these.

She started again,  "I want to know if you...,"  Laurent's phone went off again.

Stacey smacked her lips, stood up, and huffed away from him.  "Damn it.  Never mind."

"Hey, what're you getting upset for?"  Laurent jumped up, headed her off, and stared down at her curiously.

"I'm not."

"Yes, you are.  Are you mad because you think I don't listen or because somebody called me?"  Guessing the latter, he took out his phone and offered it to her.  "It was only Larry.  See?"

Stacey stared off into the distance ignoring him for a minute before she finally reached for the phone and glanced down at the screen.  It really had been Larry.  Now she felt silly.

Laurent read the expression on her face and tried to pull her into his arms.  But Stacey's mushy moment had passed.  Her defenses were back up on high alert as she second-guessed her own emotions.

She grabbed her water bottle and trotted back toward the path leading down the hill.  "I have to get home.  I promised my grandma I'd drive her to bingo tonight."

"But—,"  Laurent threw up his hands and shook his head watching her retreat as the sun set behind the mountains.  Women.  He'd never understand them if he lived to be a hundred.

****

When Stacey pulled up to her grandmother's house she could see Sam standing behind the screen door.  Since he practically lived at her house half the time that was nothing surprising.

"Hi,"  she muttered, squeezing past him and going straight to her room.  He followed and plopped down beside her on the bed.

Stacy hid her face in a pillow then peeked one eye out.  "Not now, Sam.  I really don't feel like talking."

"Yeah, I can see that, but this can't wait."   His face lit up joyfully.  "I got the job."

Stacey sat up straight.  "What?  Really?"  She had been so caught up with Laurent the past few months she'd almost forgotten about Sam and his job interviews.

His smile slowly faded as he dropped the first bomb.  "But...it's in Phoenix so I'll have to move."

"When?"

"They want me to start next week."

"Next week!  That's too soon.  Tell them you need more time.  I can drive down with you and help you look at apartments."  Stacey immediately started making a to-do list in her mind assuming Sam would be his usual helpless self without her.

"Um,"  He eased slowly into bomb number two.  "That's the thing.  You've been so busy we haven't had a chance to talk much.  I...uh...I met someone.  And she lives there."

"You met someone?"

"Don't worry.  You know I'm always gonna take care of you guys.  And I'll come visit on the weekends.  Here, take this."  He slid a check towards her and kissed her on the forehead.
 "I'll send more after I get settled."

Stacey blinked in shock.  She and Sam had been through so much together that he'd become like her safety blanket.   They both always knew their crazy, noncommittal, un-boyfriend/girlfriend connection would have to change some day.  But she hated change.

She buried her head back in the pillow.

Between this and her question mark of a relationship with Laurent she felt like her whole world was getting flipped topsy-turvy and she wasn't prepared for it.