(Gxg) This Is How You Get Her Back

onze

"What you did was fucking horrible, but I'm letting you live with Lauren and I only because I know how much y'all love each other, and I know you'd never do that shit again. And you cook really well."

I give Sam a tight hug. "Thank you so much. I promise you I'll make this right."

"Don't get your tears on my shirt. I have a date in 15 minutes," she says with a laugh. "You sleep on the couch in my bedroom though, all right? Until Lau lets you sleep with her again, at least."

"Yes, yes, thank you so much," I say as I pull away. "Has she said anything about me to you?"

"It's been 1 day, chica. I haven't spoken to her yet. Give it some time and work your ass off to get her back."

"Okay. Thank you, really."

She smiles. "I got you," she replies. "I'm heading out, all right? Text if you need anything. Lauren's supposed to be back home in an hour, so do what you gotta do." She leaves me alone at their living room.

I run to the store to buy flowers and wine and that steak that Lauren loves. I prepare her dinner and wait by the door for her to come home. I stand outside with the most beautiful bouquet of flowers in my hand.

I check the time—9:27PM. She should be home soon. I spot someone walking towards me.

But when I realize who it is, rage takes over me.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing here?" I asked Francine.

She looks terrified and almost as torn as I am. "I... I need to talk to Lauren," she says as she walks closer.

"You've got some balls showing up here. You got what you wanted. Are you happy now?" I swear I've never been the violent type, but it took all my willpower not to physically attack her.

"I'm sorry. I... I'm so sorry," she says. "I just need to explain to Lauren."

"Seriously? What the—"

"Uhh, what are you doing here?" I'm cut short by the sound of Lauren's voice.

My head snaps towards her direction and I find her in her basketball jersey and joggers. She just stares at me emptily. No emotion at all, like the past years were nonexistent. Like she doesn't even know me. It took me all of my power not to break down.

"Lauren," Francine and I say at the same time.

Lauren sighs in annoyance, and walks between us as she proceeds to walk inside our—I mean, her place. Francine and I follow her inside and try to get her attention.

"I made dinner. It's steak and mashed potatoes and—" I start, but she cuts me off.

"I'm not hungry," she says, not even looking at me, as she dumps her gym bag on the sofa, and I swear my heart is shattered.

"Lauren, I need to talk to you," Francine attempts.

Lauren looks at Francine, and my heart burns with jealousy and hurt and regret. "I forgive you. We're all good, okay? I'm just really tired, so if you could just come back some other time, that'd be great," Lauren says.

"I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry and—"

"We're all good. No worries," Lauren interrupts. "There's the door," she continues, sounding way ruder than I know her to be.

"O—okay. Yeah. Umm, I'm sorry," she says as she embarrassingly leaves the room.

"Lauren," I try again.

She turns around and faces me with an unreadable expression. She leans on the back of the sofa as she crosses her arms. "Why are you still here?"

"I... I need to talk to you."

She raises an eyebrow. "We're talking now, aren't we?"

"Babe, please don't do this," I beg, noticing a hint of emotion on her face when I called her 'babe', but it disappears as soon as it shows.

"Don't call me that."

I step forward, but she puts her hands up to ask me to stop, so I stay in my place. "I'm going to make this right, Lauren, I promise. Just give me a chance—"

"You can't fix this."

"I will. There's no excuse for what I did, so I will never try to justify it to you, and I can't undo it anymore, I know, and I will forever regret what did." I see her walls very slowly crumbling. But she rebuilds them immediately, making it extremely difficult to get to her. It's evident on her face how much she's struggling to control her emotions. "But I'm staying here no matter what until I will make this right, babe, just give me a chance and let me try—"

"Fuck you," she says, and my heart stops. I've never experienced so much pain in my lifetime, I thought my heart would literally collapse and I'd black out. It took her only two words to destroy me. Her eyes widen when she realizes what she said. I swear she looks like she wants to take it back, but she stays still.

Lauren has always been the most gentle with me. She never cursed at me, you know. Not even during our worst fights. It's an unbelievable feeling, really, when the only person who's ever really cared about you actually genuinely expresses hatred towards you. But then again, if you mess up as much as I did, you realize you deserve it. And it hurts even more.

My hands begin to shake and tears start to sting my eyes. I breathe deeply to try to keep myself from breaking down, and I grip the bouquet tighter to hide the fact that my hands are trembling and my world is crumbling. I nod lightly and force a smile. "I deserve that," I say as my heart feels like it's falling out.

Worry flashes across her eyes, so I turn around because I don't deserve it. I walk to the dining table and clean up. I throw out my steak, mashed potatoes, and wine, while I keep hers on the table.

"I'll leave yours on the table in case you get hungry tonight," I mumble.

All I hear is the sound of her door slamming shut.