Laura's Illusion

Chapter 11 - The Kiss and Tell

Tom arrived home late Sunday night and went straight 

over to Laura's place. She had just arrived back home 

herself from her weekend away just finished unpacking 

when he knocked on her door. She rushed over to open 

the door and as Tom entered they embraced like they had

been away from each other for 10 years. That's when it 

finally happened. Tom kissed her and she kissed back. Tom

finally finished shutting the door behind him without 

breaking the moment but the Chicago weather was brutal

that evening and the winds were up. Laura finally pushed

back from him to say, "Wow, well welcome home." Tom 

was not done with this moment tried to kiss her again but

she turned head and went to the kitchen saying "You 

hungry? I can make you something." As she was walking 

away she was enjoying the moment she finally had him 

waiting. Tom shook his head but agreed, "Yes I'm starving. 

What do you have?" They stayed up most of the night eating, 

drinking and talking about the weekend. Laura fell asleep 

on his shoulder as they were watching The Expanse on Prime.

The next morning Laura woke up and found Tom had left 

but he left a note. "Laura, had to go to work today before I 

get fired. I will call you later. Have a good day. Love you."

Laura was so happy things were going so well for them. She 

was excited about life in general she almost wanted to pinch

herself to see if she was dreaming. The phone rang and she

couldn't find her cell she hunted for it but couldn't get to it 

before it went to voice mail. She saw it was her mom checking 

in to see she made it home safe from her visit. She texted her 

mom "I'm home safe. Sorry I forgot to call Tom showed up 

and I lost track of time." Her mom replied, "I understand. 

Glad you are good. Love you."

Laura's immediate call was to Brooke. She spilled about the 

first kiss and how she kept it to one kiss to reverse torture him

back. Brooke exclaimed, "Perrrrrfect! Great!! Love it! You two 

are so adorable. No one takes it this slow...ever." Laura replied, 

'I know, I didn't expect this but with everything going on and his

band taking off I really don't want to rush into anything too 

soon. People change sometimes with success and not in a 

good way." Brooke agreed, 'Yes, smart to wait and see how it

is truly going to play out. I'm bettin' on a wedding sooner than

later." Laura laughed, "Okay let's not get crazy now." They 

continued to chat as they commuted to work.

Tom arrived at work his boss greeted him, "Hey rockstar, you 

understand this is your real job right?" Tom smiled and waved,

 "Yes and I love my real job. Thank you for employing me." The 

old man shook his head, "I should have fired you two years ago 

not sure why I am putting up with you." Tom laughed as he 

continued walking towards the elevators shouted back over his 

shoulder "You love me. I'm like your long lost son you never 

wanted." The boss added "Yeah you cost me money. Just like a 

son I never wanted." They both laughed. Tom hit the button as

the door closed he blew his boss a kiss, while the boss shook

his head, and started to the heights he loved to be on. He could

clear his head at the top looking down on the city with life 

crawling below. On really good days he could see for miles out 

over the great Lake Michigan. He loved this city, this would

always be his home base at the very least. Not New York, not 

L.A., Chicago is where he would hub no matter what. He just 

hoped Laura was willing to hub here for the long haul as well.

As the weeks went on Tom traveled much around the country 

playing venues on the weekends so Laura only saw him during

the week and sometimes not much due to his work and just 

exhaustion. The record label was pushing Tom to continue to 

write new music and trying to find time for it all was proving 

challenging. Laura found herself alone many nights now waiting

for his call. Brooke would join her after work for a drink on 

occasion but weekends Laura was on her own trying to work on

her own love of painting. She was working on one of the skyline

and she felt suddenly very lonely. She thought, "Is this what it 

would be like if we were married?" There could not be kids as 

she would never ever want to be raising a kid or kids without 

someone there with her most of the time. She was feeling torn

between her longing and love for Tom and reality of what life 

may be like with him for a while or maybe even forever. This

thought made Laura sad because now she just wasn't sure this 

would be the life for her.