Chapter Text
“Alright, so I’ll just meet you back at the apartment then for dinner!” Laura said over her shoulder as she hopped on her bike. She happily agreed to run the errands after their workout, the fact that she even got Laf to go to the gym for her class was a win.
Laf perked up at the mention of dinner “Sounds good - you want the usual?”
“Surprise me!” was all LaFontaine could hear as they watched Laura pedal off towards the store. As far as roommates went, Laura and Laf were as compatible as peanut butter and jelly, but how Laura had convinced Laf to go to the gym remained a mystery to them both as they parted ways. Laf shook their head as they walked back to their apartment. Everything hurt. How that girl had the energy to work all day, then teach a spin class was beyond them. Probably all the cookies she ate for breakfast, which was also probably the reason why she taught all those spin classes in the first place, now that they thought about it…
As Laura biked her way to the store she made a mental note to pick up tickets to the Museum of Natural Sciences for Laf next weekend. She knew the exhibit was one they had been talking about for months. It wasn’t often her friends would come to her classes, and she wanted to thank them. Once Danny stopped coming to class, Laura wasn’t as excited to teach, but LaFontaine had convinced her to continue. “I've hit the roommate jackpot” she thought to herself. When she thought about it more, she was convinced she really had. Although they were vastly different in their interests, Laf could read her like a book and always managed to give her the advice she wasn’t sure she wanted, but definitely needed. Granted, the delivery often came like a swift kick to the shins, but Laura loved them for that. When it got weird with Danny, LaFaontaine, and Perry by association were her rocks.
“Danny….” Laura’s thoughts drifted to her ex as she weaved her way through the cars in the parking lot. Laura thought she was the one that got away. She always heard the chase was the most exciting part, but she thought that it was going to be different this time. Laura had dated before, but it had always been casual - a quick hookup with a teammate, flirting with girls at the bar. But with Danny it was different. For months she pined after that girl, tall, dark and handsome. Well, at least tall. Laura was so excited when they finally went on a date. She could still remember that awkward meeting - the movies for a first date was a terrible idea. Who just goes to sit in silence for two hours? Wasn’t the point to talk and get to know the person? That should have been Laura’ first clue it wasn’t going to work. But Danny had been so sweet, opening the door, buying her snacks - even sneaking in those incredible chocolate chip cookies from the bakery where she worked.
It had been almost two years of those sweet exchanges back and forth, and movie nights galore. The local theatre probably went into financial crisis when they broke up. Somewhere along the way Danny just started drifting. Or Laura started drifting? She wasn’t sure. What could have changed? Laura had graduated in that time. That was definitely a hurdle, but they got over that with ease. Maybe it was jealousy? Danny had had a hard time landing a teaching job, and Laura knew subbing and working at the bakery wasn’t doing it for her anymore. It wasn’t Laura’s fault that she landed a job right out of school.
As a copy editor, Laura was at the mercy of the reporters and putting off articles until the next morning was not going to make a good impression on anyone at the paper. It made for a lot of late nights and made it difficult to see each other. Their quality time was slashed. Laura’s full-time work schedule was a tad overwhelming, but she also refused to give up the part-time job she’d had since freshman year. Besides, Danny had been going to those spin classes since she started, that’s where they met, for Pete's sake! And wasn’t anytime spent together quality? Did it matter that for a few months they only saw each other 4 times a week, and 2 of those times were in a loud, crowded spin class? It mattered. It mattered more than Laura realized. Their schedules had gotten so confusing, Danny resorted to a shared Google calendar and got upset when Laura didn’t update it.
Perry was actually the one who brought it up first.
“Laura, honey, don’t you think it’s odd that Danny makes you send her your schedule each week? Last week when I came over, there were post-it notes on the door reminding you to update your calendar…”
After a few harsh words, which essentially amounted to Laura yelling at a shocked Perry to “mind your own business”, and a door slam Laura realized why she wasn’t updating that calendar. Taking on extra work at the paper wasn’t a requirement… she was choosing that. What did that say about their relationship, when Laura would choose to stay at work rather than hang out with her girlfriend? She had wanted to date her for so long, and now that they were together, she just felt…. suffocated.
The breakup hadn’t been particularly messy, Danny must have known it was coming. As Laura had watched her walk out, it seemed like Danny shrunk about two inches. Danny wasn’t even mad about their relationship ending, just disappointed. Which, in Laura’s opinion was probably worse.
It had been three months since they ended things. Danny stopped coming to her classes, and Laura stopped going to the bakery when she knew Danny was working. Thankfully, LaFontaine had been the unofficial cookie supplier during this time. It was a solid month of going through the motions at first - wake up, workout, go to work, teach her spin classes, dinner with Laf and Perry, binge watch Food Network, sleep. It was getting exhausting.
In the end, it had been Laf who came to Laura’s rescue, delivering one of those swift kick to the shins moments, essentially telling Laura to buck up. They forced her out of the house as much as they could. One particularly beautiful night Perry convinced them to attend the annual town carnival. There was nothing some terrifyingly rickety rides, cotton candy, and carnival games couldn’t fix.
As reigning Silas University Beer Pong Champions, it’s no wonder Laura and Laf cleaned up at the Goldfish Game. Laura figured those little suckers would last a week at best - turns out Lafontaine was not only a lab rat, but a fish whisperer. In the two months since the fish arrived, they had grown out of the little fishbowl they came with, and now their apartment proudly featured a 75-gallon fish tank for three goldfish: Hermione, Ron and Harry. LaFontaine was in charge of tank cleanup; Laura in charge of tank decor and food. Naturally, an exact replica Hogwarts castle (which Laura refused to disclose the price of, maintaining she got it “for a steal”) was the first thing in the tank.
A shiver went through Laura as she finally pulled her bike up to the door of PetSmart, the rush of AC bursting out from the building as a young girl was being dragged by a floppy Golden Retriever barreled out to the front door. Laura smiled to herself. She couldn’t wait to get a dog, but for now, the Big 3 would suffice. Laura glanced at her watch as she rushed into the store - she was supposed to have gotten food for the fish before her class that night but got caught up scrolling through Reddit and Tumblr. The store closed at 9, her watch read 8:35. She beelined for the food, quickly picking up 2 bags, because who could pass up a sale? She reasoned with herself: “if I get two bags now, the next time we run out, we will have extra. Genius!” Laura hopped into the only open line, glancing at her watch, hoping to get home by 9 when she knew Perry and Laf would start last week's episode of Game of Thrones, hopefully with pizza. There were a few other customers roaming the store, and about 2 people ahead of her in line when her attention was drawn to the front of the store.
A beautiful dark haired woman rushed into the store, budging right into the line Laura was patiently waiting in. She grumbled to herself “Ugh, pretty people always think they can do whatever they want. Like we don’t have anywhere to be either.” Laura was about to tell the woman to wait her turn when she was stunned silent by a wink and a smirk.
The woman turned to the cashier “I’m hoping you can help me, I just adopted a dog, literally about 3 minutes ago. I don’t have any supplies for her, they didn’t even give me a collar for her. She is terrified to come out of the car. Is there anyone who can just stand out there with her to make sure she’s okay, while I pick up some of the necessary supplies?”
“I’m sorry ma’am, but we just don’t have -”
“I’ll do it!” The words were out of her mouth before Laura even knew what happened. “I mean, if you can wait until I check out…”
The woman looked Laura up and down - “Was she just checking me out?!” Laura thought - and nodded. “Sure thing, cupcake, thanks. I’m parked right out there” With that she turned and walked back out into the parking lot.
When Laura got to the register the cashier just looked at her “What?” Laura said, with a nervous laugh. “Anything to pet a dog, right?” That had been why Laura agreed so quickly, right?
She was regretting asking Laf to take her phone so she didn’t have to worry about dropping it from the mount on her bike again, she learned her lesson after ruining two phones in two years. She wasn’t careless… just clumsy. She wished she could just shoot Laf a text - partly to see if they did, in fact, pick up pizza for dinner, but mostly to let them know she may have just agreed to be murdered. She had no idea who this woman was. She didn’t know what kind of dog she had. For all she knew, she had just agreed to get into a stranger’s car, perhaps to be murdered. But Laura had always done anything to help someone in need. Just three weeks ago she reunited a little girl who got separated from her dad in the mall. And if this woman had just adopted a dog, she can’t be that bad… right?