Upon Laurielle's request, August had decided to spend a little time in Pasadena with her, although for the entire night he felt uneasy due to being in unfamiliar territory.

He had awakened awfully late, later than what he'd expected and that wasn't like him at all— Laurielle had already taken off for work, and if he had to guess she'd be heading to lunch soon.

In the shower, August allowed the warm water to cascade down his body, this was always his favorite part of the day, as his grandparents would say ' cleanliness is next to godliness '

Once finished with his hygiene routine he noticed that he didn't have anything to dry off with, and the towels she had on the rack were for decorative purposes only,

He groaned in agony at the thought of having to find the linen, but with no choice he slowly walked out of the bathroom peeping around every corner, the coast was clear as he darted down the hall in hopes of quickly finding the right closet.

"August," Laurielle's voice sounded off causing him to tremble uncontrollably

There he stood awkwardly frozen facing the opposite direction, so all that was exposed to her was his backside— she let out a slight giggle as he tensed up due to embarrassment,

"Cute butt," she teased before collecting a towel from the closet, soon after she carefully draped it around his waist as he slowly turned to face her "I guess you can say I'm not as hospitable as you are, I forgot to leave towels out for you."

"What are you doing here?" he said barely above a whisper "Aren't you supposed to be at lunch or something?"

"Drea decided to buy me lunch today, I may have also mentioned to her that you were visiting, and she insisted that we stopped by the house so you two could formally meet, she's downstairs."

"Lauri," he said sounding a bit stressed "I wasn't really looking forward to meeting anyone— I thought it was just going to be us... y-you know how I am around people."

"I apologize, and I wanted to give you a heads up but it's difficult to try and communicate with a person who doesn't have a cellphone," she then folded her arms pretending to pout "I hope you're not mad."

He secured her by the waist, pulling their bodies closer together "This time I'm letting you off easy, give me like 10 minutes to get dressed and I'll be down to meet her."

Laurielle nodded while allowing him to do so as she returned to Andrea, who was chowing down on the tacos they had gotten , "Sheesh girl save some for me..."

"These are literally the best tacos in town, and I haven't had them in so long I swear I'm in heaven right now." she drooled causing Laurielle to giggle "So? Where is he?"

"He had just gotten out of the shower, he'll be down once he puts on some clothes..."

Andrea suddenly gave her the under eye expression," He didn't already have his clothes on once he made it out of the shower?"

"Well...no, I mean who does that anyways? No body puts their clothes on in the bathroom after a shower, at least I don't— I go straight into my room afterwards."

"I guess you've got a point there," she said before averting her eyes towards August, who had finally made it into the dining area "Well Helloooo,"

He nodded his head in her direction avoiding direct eye contact, Laurielle motioned for him to sit down and he obliged, "August this is my favorite cousin Andrea, but I call her Drea for short— Drea this is August."

"It's so nice to meet you, my cousin has mentioned you to me on a few occasions,"

"All great things of course," Lauri chimed in while placing two tacos in front of him "Drea is a huge fan of your work too August."

"Yessss, I just recently purchased an item from you," she then pulled out her phone showing him a picture of one of his paintings "It goes so well with the decor in that room don't you think?"

He nodded yet again, and then bowed his head in order to say grace before eating— there was soon a deafening silence amongst them and Andrea couldn't quite understand it, but she didn't make a scene and respected his reserved behavior.

"Oh before I forget, Kevin is getting some big promotion at work and wants to have like a celebratory dinner party soon, it'll just be a few of his friends from the firm, their wives, and of course the chief counsel."

"That's nice and sounds like fun, I'll definitely be attending." Laurielle confirmed as they both looked over at August, who had just taken a bite from his taco

He purposely kept food in his mouth in order to avoid having to converse, Laurielle had peeped and decided to let him be, she wouldn't force him to speak if he didn't feel comfortable yet, because her next request would've been for him to attend as well.

As he sat listening and observing the two, he learned that Andrea wasn't bad at all— he actually admired the relationship that they had.

"Looks like my break is coming to an end," Laurielle huffed as Andrea began cleaning the table "Thank you for buying lunch, I owe you."

"It's no problem fav, I'm about to head on out myself..."

"Right well let's get out of here, and I will see you later sir," she winked as August walked them to the front door

"Be safe, and it was nice meeting you again Andrea." he said catching her off guard, but she appreciated it wholeheartedly

After seeing them off, August returned upstairs and was about to go into the guest room again, but he switched gears and walked into Laurielle's bedroom.

He liked the fact that she was a minimalist like himself, a few shades of brown, black, and mint green decorated her room— inviting himself further inside he began pivoting around completing a full 360.

Resting upon her dresser was a picture of her and Cameron, he picked it up while examining their expressions closely, he could see the hopefulness in her eyes, the happiness in her smile, she was in love, and then while analyzing Cameron's expression, there wasn't anything there, sure he may have been smiling but...

That smile wasn't enough and never would be enough for Laurielle, he placed the frame back in its original spot before exiting.

Nothing exciting really happened while Laurielle was away at work, so August binge watched a few shows until the shows started watching him since he had fallen asleep,

By the time he had awakened it was about 7 o'clock, and to his surprise Laurielle was laying beside him, she smelled fresh— like jasmine flowers, and she had the softest skin that August found irresistible,

Using his large hand, he gently caressed her bare thigh, "If you keep rubbing on me like that..." she mumbled as he chuckled

"Faker, I thought you were asleep."

"I just like laying next to you, it's peaceful and your body is soooo warm."

She snuggled closer to him making sure to push her bottom all the way against his pelvic region, "Can we go back to the innocent cuddles Lauri?"

"Mmmm no,"

"Okay, I missed you today... how was it?"

"Work was fine, thank you for asking. How was it spending an entire day in my house by yourself? I hope it wasn't too boring, I do plan on making it up to you."

"As long as I know you're coming back to me I'm content, and I want to apologize to you for being a little sheltered today around Andrea, she's great."

"It's no problem August, besides she's a very understanding person like myself."

"So you plan on going to that dinner party huh, "

"Absolutely, I'm all for being supportive... Kevin is a really nice guy and I think they're a perfect match."

"Thats a good thing then."

She playfully rolled her eyes as if he could see her, "I think we're a perfect match too you know."

"Is that right?"

"Definitely, and you must think so too since you decided to ask me to be yours."

"Yeah..."

"Why don't you sound excited anymore, it's like ever since I told you that I would be— you've kind of been holding back a little, what's the matter?"

"I just don't want to ruin it Lauri, that's all. You're everything I could've ever asked for, I want to do my absolute best with you, this opportunity is huge in my eyes, hell you could've said no and left me hanging."

"But I didn't, so stop worrying... we're together, I'm yours, and you're mine end of story."

"I'm gonna pop you on your behind if you keep getting sassy and shit,"

"Like I said—" she started and before she could finish he had done exactly what he said he would as she whined

"I think you like when I check you, you're not slick so stop playing with me."

She smiled to herself, "Yessir."