#convo:tripp

"Tripp?!", Lara yelled as she gapped across the room at her boyfriend. "What.. exactly.. are you doing down here?", she asked incredulous because she was staring at Captain Brandon Stark the Third in an apron. His face was lightly powdered with flour, which made him look even more irresistible than usual. Lara giggled after a moment, and closed the space between them for a light kiss. Afterward, she wiped the flour off of her own cheeks and looked at his bowl.

Lara sat with her suitcase out in front of her feet, her hands placed on her lap as they fidgeted. Tripp was due to show up for her any second now and the anticipation was building faster than Lara thought she could handle. She needed his arms, telling her that by sheer will alone he would keep her together. She needed his lips, spurting out the casual sweetness that only came from the most sincere and kind-hearted people. She needed his eyes, that saw the woman she aspired to be but loved the woman she was. Lara needed him now. 

"Someone's excited to go home.", chimed in a cheeky nurse. Lara looked up at her behind the counter. She was wearing an extremely unflattering shade of eyeshadow and her red lip liner was bleeding into her many lip wrinkles. 

"My boyfriend is coming.", Lar replied quickly. 

"Captain Tripp Stark, I know Miss Lannister. Even up here at our Oaks we here all of the social gossip.", the woman said with a wink.

"I don't pay much attention to the gossip, but they got that much true, I guess.", Lar said sheepishly. Sometimes she hated her association with the Big Seven because it made her out to be some spoiled socialite. "We're very happy." 

"How could you not be? Man like that driving up to a rehabilitation facility just to pick you up? He must really love you."

Sweetheart, did you really have to bring this many marshmallows? I think we're going to have enough? 

Lara turned off her curlers and put the hundreds of bobby pins laying on the counter back in the drawer Caitlin stored them in. Part of her was still furious with her best friend for taking Lucas away from her, but the other part wanted her here for this. She wanted her to help her with her hair, help pick out the dress she would wear, and help calm her down before her date with Tripp. Lara's stomach just wouldn't settle as her eyes flickered between the clock and her clenched hands. It was ridiculous relly, how nervous she was to go out with Tripp. She hadn't even been this nervous when she'd been picked up for prom in high school. 

Suddenly, Lara heard a knock at the door and swung it open. The second she saw Tripp smiling outside, her nerves vanished and she smiled up at him. 

Lara had arrived at the address Tripp had sent to her and walked into "Algood Alley" with her new bowling shoes in her hand. The boonde bit her lip and searched through the crowd for him, uneasy with being in an unfamiliar place without anyone she knew. Being the ADA of New York City had many perks, but one of the setbacks was the targeting that happened from criminals on the outside. Lara always kept a can of mace with her, but her mind was only truly at ease if she was around someone else she knew. 

Her eyes managed to find someone that looked vaguely familiar and he seemed to be staring at her menacingly. Just when her heart started to pound, a hand hit her shoulder and Lara jumped and swatted it away. She turned to see Tripp looking down at her as if she'd just grown another head.