“Hey, babe. How long have you been awake?” he asked, leaning up and kissing her cheek.
“Only a few minutes. I was just watching you sleep,” Lauren replied. She sat up and smiled. “Do you want me to make you breakfast?”
“You don’t have to do that. I can make it,” Nick objected, jumping out of bed in his boxers. He quickly pulled on a pair of khaki shorts and a tee shirt.
“Why don’t we both make it?” Lauren suggested as Nick grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. She changed into her clothes from the previous day.
When they got downstairs, Lauren opened the refrigerator and grabbed four eggs. “Scrambled eggs okay?” she asked.
“Anything you make will be great,” Nick said, flashing her an innocent grin.
Laughing softly, she shook her head and grabbed ham and cheese. “I’m making you my specialty. My ham and cheese eggs are really good.” Within ten minutes, she had everything done, and Nick had made toast.
They sat down and began eating their breakfast in comfortable silence, but Lauren suddenly dropped her fork. “I didn’t call Jess! She’s probably really worried!”
Nick handed her the phone and she dialed the number. “Hello?” Jessica sounded sleepy when she picked up after three rings.
“Jess, it’s Lauren.”
“Oh, hey. Where are you?” Jessica yawned.
“I’m at Nick’s house. I stayed here last night. Didn’t you notice that I didn’t come home?”
“No, I didn’t. I went to bed early last night and you just woke me up. You stayed at Nick’s last night? What happened?” Jessica asked, her voice suddenly alert and full of curiosity.
“Nothing. I was just too tired to come home,” Lauren replied.
Jessica was disappointed. “So you didn’t do anything with him?”
“No, of course I didn’t, Jess.”
“Oh, okay. Don’t forget! Mom’s coming today!”
“Oh, that’s right! I gotta go, so I’ll talk to you when I get home, okay?” Lauren hung up without waiting for a response.
“What were you talking about?” Nick asked.
“Stuff,” Lauren replied simply, which caused her to receive a puzzled glance from him. “Girl stuff. Nothing you want to know.” Quickly, she finished eating breakfast. “I better go, sweetie. My mom will be back later today.”
“That’s right. I forgot,” Nick said.
She stood up and grabbed her things. “I’ll call you later,” she said, giving him a kiss on the cheek.