Lauren was worried that what she was about to do was going to end her up on the couch, but she didn’t really mind now because she had already dialed the number.
She could hear the paused ringing, but she didn’t mind the photographer calling her name as she idly turned around to give him a glare which immediately made him turn away from her nervously.
Surely, her new attitude was thanks to Scarlet who had been completely indifferent to the rest of the world just after coming back to New York. And because Scarlet didn’t care about anything else, Lauren didn’t mind either.
They were definitely made for each other, and everyone knew of this.
Ever since the two came back from the roller coaster type wedding held in North Carolina, their relationship became stronger since now everyone from their work places knew of them being together.
They got congratulatory responses as well as jealousy filled letters that were more comedic instead of threatening.
What surprised Scarlet was that she got a lesser amount of threat mail than Lauren, which was an ego boost for the older woman which the blonde did not appreciate at all.
“Hello?” Lauren jumped at the sudden voice coming from the phone which she had completely forgotten. She was too lost in her thoughts that she almost forgot why she was calling in the first place.
“Hello, it’s me.” She answered with a smile and waited for a reply while she heard whispers from the phone.
“I was wondering if after all these years you’d like to meet.” Lauren pulled away the phone from her ear to see if she had dialed the right number. “Hello, have I dialed the wrong phone number?” She asked with a frown.
“She didn’t understand the reference, grandma!” An instant smile came onto Lauren’s face as she heard the loud obnoxious voice of Blake. “Blake, it’s me, Lauren!”
“Put it on loudspeaker, you numbskull!” Lauren giggled at how Grandma Payne was still the same as she was three years ago, it made Lauren feel like time hadn’t gone as quickly as it had.
“Grandma, how are you?” Lauren asked into the phone as she smiled happily. She heard a chuckle through the phone. “I’m as old as can be, child.”
Lauren laughed at the answer before she heard several hi’s and hello’s through the phone.
“How is Scar, is she being mean to you? Is that why you called so suddenly, Lauren?” Lauren laughed at the concerned sound of Jared. “I’m fine, uncle Jared, and Scarlet has been nothing but nice to me. She even treats me to ice-cream every week.” The blonde giggled into the phone as she remembered the weekend when Scarlet took her out on an ice-cream date.
“You know, we really love you Lauren, but you, like, called us after three whole years. So, no offense, but what do you want?”
“Blake!”
Lauren laughed at the guy, who was right. Lauren did call because she wanted something from the family, and she didn’t wait any longer to tell the family.
“We’re getting married!”
There were collective gasps from the family, but before they could ask her detailed questions on when, how, and why, Lauren told them that she would call them later since the photographer could not wait any longer.
“I will tell you all the details after my photo shoot.” She stated before cutting off the call and turning to look at the photographer who was looking at her impatiently.
She nodded at him before placing her phone back in her purse and walking over to the white set. “Okay, so we need to see the cute side of the Lauren Grayson.” The photographer spoke while Lauren smiled, “Soon to be Lauren Payne.” She whispered to herself happily as she remembered the last weekend when Scarlet took her out on their weekly dates to the ice-cream parlor.
“Oh, it’s a different ice-cream parlor now?” Lauren asked as she held onto Scarlet’s arm while the older woman smiled at the blonde woman. “Why, do you like the other one more?”
Lauren shook her head as she gave her girlfriend a cute smile. “I love wherever you take me.”
Scarlet didn’t admit how the blonde woman would make her blush with all the romantic things she would say every time they were out together, but she didn’t have to, because Lauren already knew. She just pretended to not see the dark red coloring on the older woman’s cheek because of how cute Scarlet looked while hiding her blush.
They entered the ice-cream parlor and Lauren smiled at the nice homey feeling the small parlor was providing them with. It made her feel comfortable as they walked towards the counter where a guy flashed them a smile.
“What would you like, ladies?” He politely asked as he glanced from Lauren to Scarlet.
Lauren looked behind him at the list of flavors and different cup sizes, as she began to think of what to order, but her thought process was interrupted by Scarlet who had told her to go to find a table while she herself would order.
Lauren could only frown and agree before leaving to go find a seat.
She found a table close to the window as she sat down at the seat which could clearly give her a view of her girlfriend who was smiling at the guy behind the counter. He was nodding his head while Scarlet talked.
Even after living with Scarlet for two years, Lauren still felt jealousy whenever she was around men. Scarlet didn’t even like men! But that didn’t stop Lauren from glaring at the guy who was simply doing his job.
Scarlet gave the guy one last smile before walking over to the two-person table where Lauren was sat alone.
“What did you order for me?” Lauren asked as soon as Scarlet sat across from her. The older woman only chuckled before shaking her head, “It’s a surprise.”
The blonde woman squinted her eyes at Scarlet, who only laughed at her girlfriend. Lauren really didn’t like surprises, that was for sure since she had once punched Scarlet for surprising her at work.
That, however, is a story for another day.
The two waited for a couple of minutes before they found a large bowl of ice-cream being placed in the middle of the table by the same guy, who was behind the counter.
“Hope you enjoy your ice-cream sundae.” He spoke giving Scarlet a subtle wink, which wasn’t subtle enough for Lauren, since she noticed it.
When the guy had left them alone, Lauren frowned at Scarlet who was smiling while looking at the desert placed in front of them.
“Why did he wink at you?” Scarlet broke off her happy stare-off with the ice-cream to look at her jealous girlfriend who had her arms crossed with a frown on her face.
Gulping nervously, Scarlet shook her head. “Oh, it was nothing.”
Lauren nodded unbelievably as she rolled her eyes. “I don’t want to eat anymore. Take me home.”
One thing that Scarlet was still getting used to was the fact that Lauren was really jealous. Like, really jealous. And she really could not handle anyone flirting with her girlfriend.
Scarlet groaned before shaking her head. “Come on, he was only serving us our order.”
Lauren narrowed her eyes at the woman across from her, who was smiling nervously. “And then he winked at you for no reason.”
“It wasn’t a wink.”
“Oh, then what was it?” Lauren leaned back in her seat with her arms still crossed as she stared at her girlfriend. “Uh, his eye does that from time to time. He has a rare condition.”
“And how do you even know that?” Lauren asked incredulously as she stared at her girlfriend with disbelief. Slapping herself internally, Scarlet knew that she had made it worse.
“I meant, he told me that when I asked him why he was winking at me behind the counter. He told me that then. That’s how I know. The reason why he winked.” Scarlet blabbered while Lauren could only squint her eyes at her girlfriend who was nervously smiling at her.
“Uh huh.”
Lauren, deciding to let it go just this once, pulled the desert towards herself which made Scarlet frown. “You won’t get any of this.” Scarlet’s frown morphed into a shocked expression as she looked at the woman that smiled evilly.
“Also, no sex for a week.”
Scarlet’s mouth fell open as she tried to understand why this was happening to her. She only wanted to have a romantic date with the one she loved and then ask her the big question.
Lauren was about to eat the ice-cream sundae alone when she found something in the bowl that wasn’t supposed to be there. There was a shiny ring placed on top of an ice-cream scoop.
Picking the ring up from its place, Lauren frowned towards the now smiling woman, who was staring at her girlfriend with all the love she could convey through her eyes.
“He put this ring on the ice-cream for you, right?” Lauren asked Scarlet, who nodded at the woman with a smile.
There was a moment of silence before Lauren began to cry. As loudly as she could. Scarlet had no idea why she was doing that, but she told to herself that maybe it was because of how happy the other woman was.
“Laur, don’t cry.” Lauren looked at Scarlet through her tears before continuing to sob uncontrollably.
“Did you bring me here for this?” Scarlet nodded her head again as she smiled at her counter-part. “I’ve been wanting to do this since we started dating.”
Lauren, somehow, began to sob harder, as Scarlet said that.
“Ma’am, the other customers are getting disturbed by her crying.” A worker came to Scarlet while Lauren cried across from her. The dark-haired woman smiled nervously at the man before getting up to go sit beside Lauren, who was still shedding tears.
Lauren moved a little away from Scarlet as she sat down, which made the older woman frown. Did she do something wrong?
“Lauren, why are you crying? I haven’t even asked you the big question yet.”
“Y-You don’t have t-to.” Lauren spoke in a mumble as she tried to control herself. The tears, although, kept on falling. “I-I don’t need to answer anything. If you’re happy with him then its o-okay.” As Lauren finished her sentence, a sob escaped her lips and she covered her face with her hands.
Scarlet, however, was looking at the other woman with confusion as she tried to understand why she had said that. “Lauren, what are you talking about?”
“You brought me here to break up with me, right?” Lauren asked as she uncovered her face and looked at Scarlet with a sad expression.
Scarlet’s brain had exploded at this one question as she looked at the blonde woman. How did Lauren even think that, it was above Scarlet.
“I didn’t bring you here to break up with you, why the hell would I do that?” Scarlet practically yelled as she grabbed Lauren’s hands. “B-But you said you brought me here because you wanted to break up with me ever since we started going out.”
Scarlet wanted to laugh and then bang her head somewhere before laughing again. “Oh, my beautiful model, why must you act so dumb sometimes?” A frown replaced Lauren’s sad expression as she began to glare at the other woman.
“I am not dumb.”
“I brought you here to ask you if you wanted to marry me, and you thought that I would break up with you. If that’s not dumb than what is?” Scarlet laughed while Lauren stared at her girlfriend with a shocked expression.
“What did you say?” She asked while wiping away her tears as Scarlet finished laughing at Lauren.
“I said, will you marry me, dumb-dumb?”
Lauren’s answer was to smack Scarlet with the ice-cream before hugging her with a laugh, while the other woman tried to blink away the cream covering her eyes. “Was that necessary?” Scarlet asked while laughing before wiping her face. Lauren giggled into Scarlet’s shoulder before nodding.
“Yes.”
Scarlet could only laugh as she embraced the other girl closer to her.
“Yes, I will marry you, you idiot.” Lauren mumbled into Scarlet’s shoulder who only pulled the other woman closer to her with all her might.
They embraced each other with bright smiles as they hugged each other lovingly.
Their faces held so much happiness as if they had been gifted with the most precious thing ever, and in this case that was definitely what had happened.
The photoshoot was a blur to Lauren who clapped along with the crew members before appreciating their good work. The crew members looked at her with admiration and adoration as she walked to her dressing room to change out of the designer dress she was wearing.
She wanted to change quickly and then go home because she had so much to tell Scarlet, and also because she had to call back the Payne family and tell them all the details.
But above all that, she wanted to ask Scarlet if they could marry in North Carolina, since she wanted to be close to the Payne family again.
She had already considered them family.
But, the bigger problem was yet to come, since Lauren didn’t know what Scarlet would say to her wishes.
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