The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing — to reach the Mountain, to find the place where all the beauty came from — my country, the place where I ought to have been born.

--

C.S. Lewis

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"Ahh!" Laura shout, jerking awake with a start and jumping up ungracefully from her chair when she feels something touch her shoulder. With her arms flailing to stop herself from face planting to the ground, they smack into something in the dimly lit room and warm liquid splashes against the front of her.

"Son of a bi-monkey," she mutters, looking down at her wrinkled, and now soaked, beige shirt, then glancing quickly over her shoulder to look at the person who dared to wake her up. 

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you."

At the sound of the deep, familiar, masculine voice speaking in a low whisper, Laura jump with a squeak of nervousness. Turning her head away from her shirt, she come face-to-face with a chest. A very broad, muscular chest covered in a light blue t-shirt clinging to the muscles. It takes me a second to remember she's not alone in the house anymore. She tries not to cringe when lifting her arms makes the wet blouse slide against her stomach and chest.

"I hope I didn't ruin your shirt."

When he speaks again, his voice gives her another reminder of the feel of his arms around her. Before her eyes can move up and get a better look at Terry, her nose takes over. She catch a whiff of what spilled all down the front of my shirt and notice Terry is holding a cup of coffee. It smells so delicious that she's not sure if she should pull her shirt up and start sucking the liquid off the silk, or grab the cup out of Terry hand and guzzle it. 

"Coffee," she mumble in a daze, staring as the Terry brings the cup up to his mouth and takes a sip.

She lick her lips, not entirely sure if it's because of the coffee tease happening a few inches in front of her or the man with freshly-shaven chiseled jaw, full lips, and dimples. Her eyes lock onto the green set of eyes of Terry's as they stare down at her in amusement.

"Slept late?  Still tired?"

"I'm great! Just I'm thinking about licking my shirt because I need coffee to live," I ramble.

Why can't I control my tongue around him? It's like it has a mind of it's own when around Terry.

Even without a mirror she can feel a trail of dried drool on her cheek from sleeping while sitting up for the last few hours. Glancing down at my hands she sees her knuckles are now covered in black smudges of mascara from rubbing her eyes, which means there's even more of that smeared on her face. Working late was never a problem before but with Terry here, it's turning out to be a problem.

"You look like you've had a long night," he tells me with a soft smile. 

"Yeah, I had weddings to plan. I know I look horrible,"she mutters, speaking out her inner thoughts.

"Still beautiful as always."

She blinks and giggles. Giggles?

"Oh, you're just being polite!"

Terry smiles not commenting on her words. "Tessa called since she couldn't reach you. The girls are coming over."

Laura's eyes widen. Coming over? For what?

"I brought an extra coffee. You could use it."

She nodded her head before she snatches the travel mug out of his hands as fast as she can and bring it to her lips before she start rambling about something.

As soon as the warm liquid hits her tongue, she moan against the plastic lid and the pounding headache.

"See you later," he mutters with a nod and walks out of the her room.

With the mug still attached to her lips, her eyes follow him as he walks toward the door, and she's thankful he doesn't look back as he goes. Otherwise, he'd see that she can't stop looking at his great butt in those faded jeans he's wearing, or how coffee dribbles out of her mouth and down her chin while she continue gawking until he disappears.

"It's been months but I still turn all mushy when I talk to you. What have you done to me, Terry," she whispers into the room as she hug the travel mug of coffee to me and go back to her chair.

******

"Oh, my God, I cannot believe he saw me like this!" Laura complains, staring at the mirror in her room. "I can't believe I stood there talking to Terry like this. Why can't anything go my way?"

Tessa laughs softly and shakes her head at me.

"You look beautiful, Laura, stop it now. Terry has seen worse and he certainly doesn't what you look in the morning after working the whole night," Mia informs her with a smile.

"Are you sure you don't have a crush on him anymore?" Tessa asks. 

"I can't believe he knows about it," Laura whispers, her eyes changing direction to stare at Jenny. "I can't believe you told him."

"Honestly, I can't believe I did either. I realize that makes me sound like a shitty person, but it just jumped out of my mouth. How does he not know? You stare at him all the time," Jenny said, settling on Laura's bed.

"I don't!" Laura exclaimed, frowning at her friends when they laugh.

She looks away from them and stares at her reflection. The words she told Dr. Hernandez reaches her mind. She can still remember the first time she hated looking in the mirror. She was fourteen, young and innocent in many ways. It was her mother's words that killed her youth. The realization that she was nothing but a reflection of her mother. Laura has tried to change throughout her life but she hasn't succeeded. 

"How what are you going to wear for your date?" Tessa asks, breaking into Laura's thoughts.

"Date?" Laura asks, her frown deepening.

"Yes, date. The date you promised you would go," Mia answered.

"But-"

"No excuses. We know you have work but this is a must go date. You need to get out a bit and don't worry, Adam pick you up.He's a friend of mine and I have already sent him the address," Tessa assured Laura, smiling wide.

Laura didn't want to go but she did promise and she has to admit that she really need to prioritize on her personal life. How long has it been since she last had sex? Eighteen months, her inner voice replied.

"I still don't understand why you felt it necessary to bring ten garment bags, two suitcases full of shoes and tons of other things which I don't what it is to my house," Laura asked.

Laura look up as Margaret sticks her head out of her walk-in-closet holding up a pantsuit.

"Because everything you own is strictly for work or binge-watching," Margaret replied.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Laura shake her head at Margaret. 

"I have clothes." The haughtiness in her words lose their significance when Margaret snorts and rolls her eyes at her.

Margaret disappears back into the closet, and a few seconds later, Jenny comes out, holding a dress on a hanger up to her body.

"I like this one. It's very elegant," she tells me with a smile.

I open my mouth to thank her when Margaret squeezes into the doorway next to her, pointing at the dress with a cringe on her face.

"Boring. Toss it."

"That's nice," I argue. "It's not boring, and I'm not tossing it."

"I bet it was nice if you're on a date planning to talk about the clothes designed before a century," Margaret deadpans.

She tosses the dress onto the pile on the floor she's already made and disappears back into the closet with Jenny. 

"Honestly, how did you even function in normal society before you met me?" Margaret questions, her voice muffled from inside the closet, the scrape of hangers sounding like nails on a chalkboard, before she reemerges a few minutes later, dumping an armful of clothing onto the pile.

"Margaret," Tessa hisses.

"I'm telling you she's turned into a complete workaholic. She has only work clothes and everything is beige or white or God knows what color. We need to burn everything," Margaret tells Tessa.

"We're not burning my clothes. Do you have any idea how expensive those pieces were?" Laura argue. She loved her work clothes but she has to admit it covered ninety percent of her closet.

"You're so close to finally getting you out of this house for something other than work," Margaret continues as she walks over to stand in front of Laura. 

Laura shakes her head at Margaret's way of putting things, but she's right. It's time for Laura to try things. Especially considering her one-sided love for Terry. He's not interested in her and considering the circumstances of his recent breakup, Laura knows she has no chance there. It's time to stop living in the imaginary world and get out into the real world. 

Margaret drops down next to Laura. "You are a wonderful and it's time you start thinking about you instead of your work. I'm not saying dating is way for that but it's a start. Fuck Terry and his stupidity. I'm pretty sure this Adam guy is going to blow your mind and you'll thank me later," Ariel reassures me.

"God, I miss sex," Laura say with a sigh.

"See? I told you she was sexually frustrated!" Jenny exclaims.

Margaret marches over to the pile of clothing bags and begins unzipping them.

"We're going to sex you up, Adam and even Terry won't know what hit him," Margaret announces, pulling out a skintight red dress that barely has enough material to it to cover all the important parts.

"I don't want anything to hit Terry. I don't even like him," Laura lies, picturing his gorgeous face and how nicely he can wear a pair of jeans. Tessa and Mia chuckle while moving towards the clothing bags.

Margaret snorts. "You look at him like a monkey targeting his food. I'm sure given the chance you'll wrap yourself around him."

The idea of sleeping with Terry does fill Laura with a thrill of excitement. He definitely looks like a man who wouldn't need a road map or a tour guide in the bedroom. But that's not going to happen. Forget about Terry, she thought. She'll let Margaret dress me, and go for a date with this Adam guy and she's going to enjoy herself. No more one-sided love. It's time to focus on herself. Because she needs a change. Because she needs a reminder that she is a strong, independent woman who can make anything happen. With a little confidence and her friends by my side, she can do anything.

"This is perfect," Margaret announces, tossing the red dress at Laura.

"No, it's not, and I'm not wearing this," Laura tell her, throwing the dress right back at her.

"Get your ass in the bathroom and put on the red dress before I smack you," she orders, grabbing Laura's hand and smacking the dress into it.

"It's a first date!" Laura argued.

"It's blind date and you need to knock him blind," Margaret retorts, pushing Laura towards the bathroom.

"Knock him blind?"

"Just shut up and put on the dress," Margaret repeats and Laura sighs giving in. Only God knows what she's getting herself into.

******