Alternate Timeline

"Yeah....and your my first girlfriend. Heh, if my sister were alive she would have a whole list of...." he trailed off, the sudden memory of Kat bringing a painful throb to his heart, eyes glazed over as he began looking at his food and nothing else.

"It's okay..." She whispered. "Your not the first person I've gone out with though James." Lauren confessed. "In a way you are... But... It's..."

"Not an act?" he suddenly said, brought back to reality by her words.

"Well... I've had a girlfriend in the past which... My mom was okay with probably because you can't get pregnant that way." She looked a bit awkward as she told him this. "Not like we did anything like that!" She quickly cleared up.

His cheeks went a shade pink as he said "Oh.....uhm.....I didn't know you were....well.....a lesbian." He quickly stammered, looking up as he said "Not that there's anything wrong with that, my best friend Amy is gay and I've never cared one bit."

"Bisexual is probably the term however I don't think it really matters as you never know what you like till your much older so I'd say I'm straight." She corrected wondering what might be going on in his head. "Yeah not sure how she'll react to meeting you in person."

"Same here," James said, running scenarios of meeting her mom in his head. "Best case, just a healthy dose of suspicion. Worst case.....open hostility?"

"Probably... She is over protective but then again I am her only child so she has some right to be." She answered uncertain herself as to how her mother would react. "I think you'll be fine if it all goes down you can turn into the metal man."

"Hah, doubt she'll be bad enough I need extra armor," James said. "Just have to outrun her," he added before drinking more soda.

"She goes to the gym every other day." Lauren cautioned. "Outrunning her might be an issue." She smiled at him sweetly. "You won't have to I am sure she will love you just be your normal, gentlemanly, charming, handsome self."

"You think I'm handsome?" he asked, bushing a little. "Lauren normally I'm a slightly shy, bit awkward and hard to be open with others. So not sure how well that will work out."

"Well isn't the girlfriend supposed to think that?" She inquired. "And well... Try not to be too nervous just imagine her as a more scary version of me that got hit with the grumpy stick."

"How is that helping?" James asked, chuckling nervously. "I mean hell, if I throw in your....shocking personality, then I may as well shoot myself before upsetting her."

"Don't tell me I scare you? I'm tiny though Samantha is the scary one but don't tell her I said that you do not want to see her bad side ever!" She exclaimed before taking another bite of the pizza, finally finishing her first slice.

"Eh there's an expression I once read in a book. Tiny, but fierce.......though it would have sounded more ominous if I said with a thick Russian accent," James said with a chuckle. "I guess it's my way of saying, never underestimate due to their size really."

"Yeah well maybe if I get a shotgun then be concerned." She joked. "I'm concentrated cuteness." On that note she gave him her best cute girlfriend face.

His heart skipped a beat and he found himself smiling back. "Well you certainly don't exaggerate," he said.

She laughed at his comment. "Thank you don't worry I'll make sure you have to do all the boyfriend things such as shoe shopping." Lauren was joking of course, she hated shoe shopping with a passion. In fact she hated any form of cloth shopping.

Catching her sarcastic tone, James grinned a little, saying "You and Chris would get along better than you'd imagine. She hates shopping for clothes and shoes too. Well, the 'girly girl' type of clothes anyway." Then he blinked, realizing he may have offended and said "Not that there's anything wrong with being a girly girl just......she doesn't live that way."

"Neither do I usually I get dragged shopping by my mom or step dad." She rolled her eyes. "Shopping with your step dad is dead awkward."

"Yeah sounds like it would be," James said. "So.....do you and your step-dad not get along?" he asked, hoping he wasn't asking a sensitive question.

"Yah we don't get along." Lauren replied before selecting a new slice of pizza and taking a small bite.

"Do you mind if I ask.....why not?" James said, not eating now, interested solely in her.

"He's an a-hole... Tries to buy my love with everything but I don't want trinkets and baubles! I want to be a teenage girl, you know guys, parties, reading books, seeing films, playing games... Sleep overs and all of that." Lauren sighed and looked down at the table, she wanted freedom.

"Oh.....well, you can have that," James told her. "I mean, you've got friends, lots of them, who'd love to see movies with you or play games. Sleep overs.....well, maybe with Chris and Amy, not sure I'd be welcome."

Lauren listened to him nodding silently. "I hope they would." She wondered if James would ever be allowed to sleep over with her. "You might one day though they might insist on separate rooms." She knew her family had plenty of rooms in which to stick guests.
"I think they would allow it provided we didn't follow the examples of the birds and the bees."

James coughed slightly, trying not to choke on the coke he tried to drink. "Oh uh....people still use that analogy?" he asked. He would have addressed that he'd never be that forward, but he felt she knew that already.

"My Mom does..." She rolled her eyes dismissively, Lauren took a sip of her drink. "So... Do you think your friends mind you dating a star?"

"I think Amy's jealous as hell," James said, a small grin on his face. "As for Chris....she's a good read of people, and if she didn't like you, you'd know it. What about your friends?"

"Well if it doesn't work out Amy might be in with a chance." She winked jokingly at James. "Glad they like me and yeah they all like you, Tom and Mike want you to play video games with them sometime." She paused for a moment, taking a bite of pizza before responding. "Samantha likes you as well she thinks it is about time I got a boyfriend."

"Hey I'm sure Amy would like that......and sure, I'd love to have some guys to play videogames with for a change." He ate another bite of pizza, and said "So was Samantha urging you to get a boyfriend or something?"

"So would I." She teased again. "Great you might regret that they probably won't let you escape." She laughed quietly before answering his question. "Yeah, she wanted me to get a boyfriend or a girlfriend if that was what I wanted to have, been pestering me for about a year."

"Hey at least it wasn't during a class project where they pair students up. She probably would have urged you to partner with someone and use that as an opening."

"Who said she didn't?" Lauren teased having another bite of her pizza, she was impressed by the amount of teenage male could consume in a sitting.

Chuckling, James felt a bit full so stopped. "Lauren.....can I be honest with you?"

Lauren froze, anticipating the worst news. "Yeah..." She replied eventually.

"I've lost people I care about," James said. "And I guess it makes me....afraid, of losing anyone else I care about." He smiled, though it was nervous. "You know what? Nevermind, I shouldn't be going all mopey on you."

"You won't lose me." Lauren insisted. "I'm going to be here to bug you for a looooooong time to come."

"Good," James said, a small smile on his lips as his eyes met Lauren's. "Sorry again, just....well, all things considered I've kinda become a pessimist. But I've been improving." He checked his phone for the time, and asked then "So.....I'll pay, and we can head out? You probably need to get home after all."

"It's fine." Lauren replied. "Yeah if you want to and I'm stuffed anyway like my Mother says I eat like a sparrow." Her smile grew into a grin. "Probably but we can enjoy a long walk right?"

"Yeah," James said. He called for the waitress, getting the check for dinner. It was......well, affordable, but only just. He did his best to keep a shocked or worried expression off his face while grabbing his wallet.

Lauren watched James, she did want to pay for the meal but understood that guys may feel emasculated when their girlfriend pays for the meal, or makes significantly more money than he does. So she kept quiet and did not offer to pay for it.

Truth be told, James would have been thrilled if Lauren paid, but he was the one that suggested eating here. So this time he'd pay, next time she could do the honors. When they were good to go, he stood up and held his hand out to her, not trying to be chauvinistic so much as polite. This was all about giving her a good time as much as him, right?

Lauren accepted James' hand and stood up slowly, she had recovered from earlier where she'd felt quite poor. "Thanks for dinner."

"Hey anytime," James said, a small smile on his face. "Though next time......we can split the bill? Please?"

Lauren suddenly felt guilty. "Oh... Sure, sorry I did not want to emasculate you by paying for it."

"Oh that well.....I just thought it was me being polite, paying on the first date," James stammered. "Not that prideful. So, want to go?"

Lauren shrugged. "It was polite but I don't want to cause you any upset." She did not want to get into an argument with him over money of all things. "Where to?"

"Uh.....where would you like to go?" James asked as they walked out off the restaurant. "Brooklyn's a big place, so where do you want to go?"

Lauren shrugged again. "I don't know... We could catch a late night movie or.. Go to mine and see one or yours?" The second suggest had the risk of her mother.
A risk Lauren did not feel like taking just yet.