Page 26 of Snow Much Trouble
My hands start to wander lower but Lauren quickly pulls away again. “Go drink your coffee. And the bacon is burning.”
“Shit, it is.” I smell it now. “I hope you like it crispy.”
“I like any food that’s hot right now.”
The coffee has finished brewing and I pour us two steaming mugs full while Lauren plates the bacon and eggs for us. It feels natural to sit down across from her and have breakfast. The first sip of coffee makes me sigh with relief.
“It’s perfect.”
“It tastes a little burned.”
I roll my eyes at her. “You’re just saying that.”
“I think if you’d had a bottle of water first you would agree with me. Your tongue is still numb from all that bourbon last night.”
“I appreciate your concern about my hydration levels but I’m fine.”
“You wouldn’t be hungover if you drank water.” She bites her bacon. “This is burned too.”
“So you said.” I pop a forkful of eggs in my mouth and chew, watching her.
For a few seconds she doesn’t react. But then she can’t resist. “What? Why are you staring at me?”
“I don’t want to talk with food in my mouth.”
“So look at your plate or something. Don’t just stare at me.” Lauren sounds flustered. “You’re freaking me out.”
“I think you’re gorgeous. I want to look at you.”
“Now you’re really freaking me out.”
It makes me feel like Lauren doesn’t receive compliments nearly as often as she deserves. If I mention her songwriting she does the same thing. I hate that but I also know I need to pull back or she’ll be genuinely uncomfortable.
She is definitely sassy, but underneath there is a touch of vulnerability.
“I am a freak, what can I say?” I gesture to the living room. “I like that the Christmas tree is back on. I haven’t even bothered to decorate my apartment for the holidays.”
Lauren clutches her chest. “That is the saddest bachelor pad statement I’ve ever heard.”
“It’s a lot of work to decorate.”
“It’s a lot of work to curl my hair but I still do it.”
"Your hair is curly," I point out, gesturing to her dark waves with my fork.
"Naturally wavy," she corrects. "If I want the full rockabilly curl situation, I have to put in the work with a curling iron. Hot rollers if I'm feeling ambitious."
"Hot rollers? What decade is this?" The fact that I’ve never lived with a woman suddenly feels painfully obvious. Sure, I’ve had girlfriends I’ve spent a lot of time with, and one in particular who was practically living with me, but she kept her beauty routine a mystery, all carefully ensconced in her overnight bag.
"Don't knock hot rollers. They're a classic for a reason." She takes another bite of bacon. "So what do you do in your sad, undecorated apartment during the holidays?"
"Work, mostly in December. For Christmas, we all go to my parents. Sometimes I go over to Malcolm's place to work. MacKay doesn’t have decor opinions so he lets Faith do whatever. His place looks like a Hallmark movie exploded."
"That sounds amazing, actually."
"It is pretty nice," I admit. "Faith has good taste. She went full out with garland and lights and one of those fancy advent calendars with the little doors."
"I love those!" Lauren's face lights up. "My mom used to get me one every year when I was little. The chocolate inside was always kind of disappointing, but I loved the ritual of it."
