Lawrence Wilmington

“Yeah- I mean, I’m lucky, my grandmother is a kickass seamstress, so if I do manage to buy something too big, she can usually take it in for me however I need it, you know?” Their head cocked to the side just a touch as a faint hum fell from their lips, a grin playing at the corners of their lips. “And she never complains when I ask her to adjust things that I wear. Sometimes she gets a bit judgy, but it’s that very… Old fashioned grandma way, not her being a bad person or anything, which I’m grateful for.” Pushing their hair behind their ear, Sugar made a faint sound of agreement, a small crease forming between their eyebrows. “Yeah, definitely. Granted, Brita filters gave humanity too much power. I mean, how many videos have you seen online of people peeing into them and drinking it on a dare? Because I’ve seen way too many.”

“Old people judginess is an entirely different beast. And usually much more acceptable. Unless they’re like...aggressively racist or homophobic or some shit. Then you kind of have to put grandma in her place, y’know?” he chuckled, walking gently beside them, but stopping abruptly at their last statement “Woah, woah woah, what?! Surprisingly, no I have not seen that. And that’s shocking, because that is just the kind of stupid shit I would have exposed myself to.” Laurie had to laugh at the absurd truth of that “Out of curiosity, though...did it work? Like did the filter...filter it?”

~

Why was she crying? Why, after years of being able to swallow it all and pretend her feelings didn’t exist, was she suddenly being so transparent? Laurie knew every little detail about her; they hardly had any boundaries at this point, their relationship an open book that Wylie didn’t dare to ruin, though she seemed to be doing just that now. The look on her best friend’s face made her cheeks burn bright pink, and without thinking twice, she took a step closer to him, hands wringing together nervously. “I–” she began, her voice wavering and causing her to look away for just a moment. Wylie wasn’t sure about how to approach this subject, knowing that it quite possibly could make or break how close they were. However, as she lifted her eyes to meet his once more, she took a deep breath.

“I’m scared,” she finally spoke, voice almost too soft to be heard. “I’m scared that you’re in love with someone, and that I’ll lose you. I can’t lose you, Willie. I just can’t, and the thought of that happening makes me physically ill.” The blonde paused again, small fingers pushing some hair behind her hear. “So just…please tell me who the song is about?”

Laurie may not be an empath, but it didn’t take one for him to know what Wylie was trying to tell him. For once, he knew that this wasn’t just wishful thinking, but that there actually was something there. And now that he knew that confirmed, he was mentally kicking himself for not having made some sort of move earlier when it all had seemed just too risky. If he would have known then that the feeling was mutual, he wouldn’t have waited in fear. but now, with the tears brimming at her eyes, he knew it had to be real. And it broke his heart. 

“I...I am in love with someone, Wylie. But it doesn’t mean you’re going to lose me. You won’t lose even a little bit of me, actually. “ he swallowed, his hands rubbing on the tops of his thighs nervously “Because, well....” he stammered, trying to force himself to say the words despite his nerves. Finally, he gave up, leaning in and pressing a gentle kiss to her lips. 

“Yeah, more often than not I end up playing it safe and just ordering the largest size, I won’t lie,” Sugar laughed lightly, giving a small shake of their head as they spoke. “I wish I could find stuff I liked in thrift stores, but I never seem to be able to find anything good - or in my size, for that matter. Plus, I’m not much of a sewer. That’s more my grandmother’s forte, and frankly, I don’t want to ask her to start making my wardrobe.” Nose scrunching up just at the thought, they brushed it off as quickly as they could, because in the grand scheme of things, it didn’t exactly matter. “We had an ice dispenser on our fridge, but my grandma refused to let us use the water dispenser. She was convinced that we were going to die from some unknown bacteria, because she couldn’t clean every single inch of the thing. But we had one of those Brita filter water pitchers - I still didn’t drink out of it much. I’ve just sort of always hated water.”

“With the way clothes sizing is these days, that’s really the only safe bet. Especially if you’re shopping in the women’s section.  I swear sometimes I can buy a shirt from the ‘women’s’ section of one store where a size medium is nearly swallowing me and then the next store over a 2xl will barely button. Sometimes I blame it on the fact that those clothes weren’t technically made to fit my shape, but even then it’s just bogus. I can sew some things, but I wouldn’t call myself a seamstress by any means.” he shrugged, his hands sliding casually into the pockets of his trousers “I think those brita filters changed the game when they came out. Before that we were all just drinking water willy-nilly. Lord knows what was in that. Although, I guess we survived, so maybe it wasn’t all that bad.”

“I tend to run pretty hot, so I guess I’m never really looking for a warm and cozy drink,” Gunner snorted slightly, giving a brief shake of his head. More often than not, he wasn’t the kind of guy who was looking for warmth, rather the kind who rejected it, searching for any chance he could find to cool down. It’d been that way for just about as long as he could remember, burning hot and bright and unable to escape his own heat at times. But the mention of pumpkin carving had his head canting to the side, eyes darting around the crowd for a moment before he gave a brief shrug of his shoulders. “Yeah, sure, I’m up for it. Could be pretty cool, I guess.” Though he didn’t have the faintest idea of what it was that he’d carve, he was at the very least willing to try.

“Yeah, I’d say you run hot.” he joked with a smirk, gently hitting Gunner’s shoulder . “I think the entire population of male-attracted persons in Roswell would agree with that.” Laurie moved easily, waltzing towards the pumpkin carving station. “Oh, come on, it’ll be fun. A little artistic endeavor, yeah? We’ll make our own little autumnal masterpieces. Although, can you really classify it as a masterpiece if it’ll rot in a couple weeks? I dunno, I’d have to call an art historian or something” 

~

For years they’d developed a very delicate balancing act when it came to their relationship. They’d bonded almost immediately, passing notes in class and exchanging glances across rooms that nearly landed them in hot water one too many times. Wylie knew that she was in love with Laurie after just a few months, but there were certain complications that came along with that realization was too risky, so she just bottled it all up. Every once in a while she thought she felt something on his end, and now that they were standing face-to-face, she swore she could feel it again. And now was as good a time as any to confront him about it.

Laurie’s lie hit her like a ton of bricks, her skin prickling with an uneasy feeling as she wiped her hands on her thighs again. She hated that she could tell that his words were false; he wasn’t one to lie to her very often, their honestly with each other almost too much at times. Her nerves were almost about to get the best of her when she finally spoke up, the sadness in her eyes evident as a million thoughts rolled through her mind. “Please don’t lie to me,” she whispered, the corners of her mouth tugging down into a frown, one that only ever appeared when she was on the verge of tears. “Just…tell me who the song is about.”

Finally, the moment Laurie had been dreading for years was actually happening. After nearly a decade of carefully hiding and monitoring his emotions in order to avoid this very thing happening, here it was, staring him in the face. This was the moment that could make or break their relationship forever, and Laurie damn well knew he wasn’t ready to lose her in his life. The look on her face pained him. He didn’t have to be an empath to know that look. What confused him was why it was coming on now. It was just a love song. Why was she so concerned about who it was about? Why did it upset her so much?

“Woah, woah, woah....” he stood, putting his guitar down quickly to grab at the side of her arms “No crying. Why are you about to cry? It’s just a song, Wylie. What is the matter?”

“Tea sounds complicated.” Zach teased, shaking his head a little. “Trust me, I’ll drink it however you serve it. Thanks.” He wasn’t too picky when it came to food or drinks, to be honest. He could eat rocks if properly seasoned and not even realize it. Walking closer to the kitchen, he leaned against one of the counters and watched as his host moved around to prepare the tea. Zach didn’t always pull out his guitar and played around others. It was one of those hidden talents he resorted to in privacy to just relax when things got rough. It also happens to be just one more thing he shared with his father, especially during the tough days after treatments and when he was at his weakest. He tried not to think about it too much. He wasn’t ready to share that story with anyone. “Well, I’m not talking about nice, Bon Iver collaborations Tay Tay… I’m talking old school country Our Song Tay!” Zach grinned. “The fact that I know this doesn’t mean I’m a fan. I’m not sure what this conversation is doing to my reputation right now but, if there’s anything left to save, I just wanted to put it out there. I assure you my taste in music is subpar, at best!” He joked in spite of himself, shrugging. “How’s work, keeping you busy?”

“I guess it is if you didn’t grow up on it. Plus you’ll always run into tea snobs that try to tell you everything that you do is wrong and shit. Like...it’s just tea bro. Leaves and water. Not that big of a deal.” He fixed the cups easily, a motion he’d repeated nearly daily for most of his life, sliding his guest’s mug to him first “Don’t worry about drinking it if you don’t like. Swear I won’t be offended. “ Similarly, Laurie wasn’t super public about his music. He mostly used it as an emotional outlet. Perhaps that was what drew the two together. They both had that sense of privacy over performance. “Oh, I’ve been waiting my whole life to play Teardrops on My Guitar. I’m talking blonde curly wig and everything.I hate to admit it, but I’m more familiar with the old, questionable Taylor stuff than I am any of the current. i haven’t even listened to that new album yet. The one about the cardigans, or whatever.” Laurie laughed, leaning against the counter and sipping from his own mug “Well, I work as much as they let me. There’s only so much I can be on before the viewers start asking for a reprieve. But then I usually hang around the studio anyway, much to the owner’s dismay.”

Every day felt more and more difficult when it came to Wylie’s feelings. It had been ten years, and each of those years passed by successfully ignoring everything she felt, but it was different now. It’d been a month since she felt that inkling of a shift in Laurie, had seen that familiar sparkle in his eyes that she had memorized when she was fourteen. The blonde had always assumed it was because he was so playful, so passionate and set in his ways, so playful that it couldn’t be helped. But that day, she could’ve sworn it was just for her, the way that he looked at her making her heart practically stop and goosebumps prickling at her skin. It had gotten to the point where she was having a hard time pretending that her feelings for her best friend were strictly platonic, and so being around him was growing harder and harder.

Much like any other day at this point, Wylie was busying herself in the kitchen after work. Being in front of the stove or digging around in the refrigerator had always been her solace, small hands working to create delicious food for her loved ones, and that’s what she was dong currently. Her homemade bread recipe was her favorite creation, the act of kneading dough and watching it rise a therapy that was more beneficial than talking to an actual professional. Pulling the hot pan out of the oven now, Wylie wiped her hands on her lemon-patterned apron, ears filling with a soft sound coming from Laurie’s room, a soft smile playing on her lips. She loved listening to him play, the sound of his voice soothing to her. 

But suddenly that shift came again, that overwhelming amount of love and care that she had felt only around the strongest of couples. Furrowing her brow, the blonde approached her best friend’s room slowly, the soft strumming of guitar as the tune wrapped up hitting her ears as she paused just before going inside. “That was beautiful,” she spoke softly, not wanting to alarm him, but wanting his attention. “Who was it about?”

@dontlauriebehappy​

After just about a decade, Laurie had gotten rather good at concealing his emotions. As soon as he’d learned about Wylie’s power, he’d knew he had no choice but to do so. He was certainly not willing to sacrifice their friendship, so he couldn’t just run and hide, but he also couldn’t let her know how he really felt about her. And, for just about a decade, he had been mostly successful. Any little slip ups he had covered, no one, even Phoebe, had managed to blab on him. He had been able to craft a beautiful friendship with the woman without his deeply buried feelings getting in the way. 

Lawrence had three main ways of expressing his emotions: his daredevil acts, visual art, and music. The feelings for Wylie mostly manifested themselves in the latter. After all, there was just something classic about a love song, right? Already relatively private with his musical talents, it wasn’t too difficult to hide the emotional songs from her. While Wylie was one of the few people to regular hear him strumming his guitar, gently pricking the keys on his keyboard, or obnoxiously singing in the shower, he kept certain songs from even her. 

Today, however, his own strumming had covered the sound of her coming home, and his Wylie senses had never tingled. So, assuming he was alone, he played through the entire depths of his music library, allowing the full emotional release with them. Had he known she was only a few rooms away, he would have never sung this song, nor let his emotional guard down quite so freely. When he heard the door open and the familiar voice whistle through the air, his stomach sank to his feet. “I...didn’t know you were home.” He swallowed, facing her, his face stinging. “Oh, no one. Just a song. Y’know...meaningless words and pretty music and such” 

“Yeah, I stick with SheIn and Romwe, and AliExpress is for accessories - and Fashion Nova is for whenever I’m willing to spend a bit more on something - but that’s where I get a lot of my clothes. Really awesome, fast fashion type things,” Sugar hummed, their head cocking to the side as they spoke, a tiny crease forming between their eyebrows despite the smile on their face. “I’ve never been able to get behind water. I always need some type of flavor in it, honestly - plain water just tastes too much like minerals for me, or whatever it is that gives it it’s flavor.”

“I try them, but where their sizes run so weird and I like to shop in the ‘ladies’ section, I sometimes find that I bust out of them. I do my best, though. And sometimes if they rip I can just rescue the fabric and get something new made out of it. Most of my clothes come from thrift stores. I tend to be drawn toward the wardrobes of old church ladies and men that frequent the bingo hall, if you catch my drift” he slid them a cider as he received them, taking the others for himself “I get that. Water definitely tastes different depending on where it comes from. Either like in bottles vs taps or across the world. I’ve done a lot of national and international traveling, and I have to say you can always detect a difference. My personal favorite has always been water out of a fridge dispenser. Don’t know why, perhaps some sort of nostalgia?”