CHAPTER 4

 Lauren slept in even though it had been a tuesday morning, she had a rough day the day before, and her body needed the rest.

 But as usual, Lauren being Lauren, still jumped up at the sound of her quaking alarm.

 " Grinnnnnngggg " the alarm shouted.

 She knocked it quiet, and ever so slowly stretched her hands and feet, and turned on the bed.

She opened her eyes dimly at first, and looked at the clock on the wall in front of her, it read eight fifteen, but as if being carried away by the want for more sleep, she only whispered the time, then hugged her pillow even harder.

But then her eyes shot open suddenly, she sprang up from bed, and shouted the time as if in disbelief...

" Eight fifteen ! , oh my God, am going to be so late for work ! " she shouted, throwing off the blanket that wrapped her body earlier, as well as the pillows she had once snuggled against.

  She rushed for the bathroom, brushed her teeth, and took the quickest shower since the history of showers, then threw on something corporate enough, twisted her hair into a frightfully looking bun, and grabbed her keys, a pair of shoes and her hand bag, she was good to go.

         The next minute she sprang for the door, without looking back, nothing could have stopped her now, nothing, except the brown carton that still sat on the floor in the living room, the same one she had come home with the night before, but had obviously forgotten about, the one that meant she had lost her job, the same job she so desperately wanted to meet up with.

   Lauren took one look at the carton and paused in her sprint halfway across the room, then her memory came rushing back...

 " Well you're a waste of my time too !! " she had shouted earlier, " you think you own everybody, with your expensive clothes, and your expensive cars, and your expensive watches and houses, and, and...well everything !!, "

The flashes made her eyes widen as they came back, and her bag dropped from her hand, " so you can keep your useless id ! , you can keep your useless office space... you can even keep your own goddamn salary, because i... quit " .

 .   She remembered now, she had said all those things in a fit of rage, she never meant to say any of them, or maybe she did ? she wasn't sure, but none of that mattered anymore, because if one thing was certain, it was that her boss, would never take her back now, not after everything she said.

 .  " No, no, no, no, no, " she cried, sweeping her palm over her head, " how could I have been so stupid ? " she cursed under her breath, and dropped hopelessly on the couch, drowning her face under her palms in frustration.

" I actually said all those things to him ? " she said in realization, " there's no way he's ever going to take me back now, God, what is wrong with me ? " she asked again, drowning her face in her palms once more.

 .    A lingering silence suddenly made her more emotional, sure, Scott Emberton could be an ass sometimes, or maybe more times than some people, but he was the ass that paid her bills, there was no way she would find a job that would pay her half as much as he did, not in a long while at least, it was hopeless, she had really done it now.

   " Good morning !! " a masculine voice suddenly sprang up in song rhythm, almost startling Lauren half to death .

 Immmediately she threw her head up, she caught sight of the man walking towards her, her eyes stared widely at the man who held a tray of food in his hand, with an apron tied around his waist, and for some reason he couldn't seem to stop grinning.

 . She was very sure that this was her house, but then how did he get in ? better yet, who was he ? and why was he looking at her like that ? .

 . " Breakfast is served " the man said, sounding delighted and proud of his culinary skills, as he gently dropped the tray on the table, and took a long fulfilled look at the dish setting.

      Lauren wasn't done with the different thoughts that ran through her head, there was a man in her house, a man in her house by eight fifteen in the morning.

She took another look at him, he wasn't bad looking either, then she looked at his clothes, she had seen enough of expensive clothes, courtesy of her boss, to know these man's clothes weren't cheap either, so then what could he possibly be looking for in her house, making breakfast, and for her no less.

  Then she remembered, he was the same man who had offered her a ride home the evening before.

She ran to the window and looked down, his car was still there, and suddenly, a crazy thought hit her.

A man in her house, making her breakfast at eight fifteen in the morning, that only meant one thing, she was so emotional, so vulnerable that evening, she must've let her emotions get the better of her.

" No, no, no, no, no, " keep it together, this can't be happening, wait did they ?... no... she wouldn't, did they have sex last night ? " she thought to herself, but thinking wasn't going to answer her question, only he could, whoever he was.

 . The man took a taste of the meal, and grabbed a glass of water, but paused when he saw the terrifying look on Lauren's face...

 . " Is something wrong ? " he asked

 .    Lauren took one long silent look at him and spat out the million dollar question...

   " Did we have sex last night ? " she asked, even though she prayed his answer wouldn't be a yes, still, that was all it took to make him spit out the half glass of water he had earlier put in his mouth.

        He coughed, the water had come out so suddenly, he didn't have a chance to breath...

     " Well... that's a straight forward question " he finally managed to say once he could catch his breath.

  " Just answer me okay, did we have sex last night or didn't we ? " she asked, desperately hoping for a no.

        The man fell speechless for a while

" Well i wouldn't call the situation one that... " he muttered, avoiding the point, but Lauren was on him the next second before he could finish his sentence.

      " Just answer the damn... question okay ? " she screamed, then composed herself and said in a lower tone " did we have sex last night ? or didn't we ? please tell me we didn't, because i will literally kill myself if you tell me we did " she said, sounding miserable, and held on to the man's hands in a tight, impatient squeeze.

 .   He looked at both her eyes, they gleamed with both fear and hope, fear of a positive answer, and the hope for a negative one, he drew a deep breath and then he answered...

 .  " We did " he said, and that was enough to give Lauren the shock of a lifetime.

 .  She had received her answer, but it was too terrible to be true, she blinked a couple of times, and her face seemed to grow pale, she looked like she was about to pass out.

    " We did what !!! "