twenty five
"morning, sunshine"

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(lets just take a second and look at this masterpiece. say hellooooo evan buckley!)

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   "DAMN."

LYNN GROGGILY PEELED OPEN her eyes as she felt the pain echo throughout her skull even more than it was merely a second ago, and it seemed like it was only getting worse. She stirred from her slumber, gripping her hand as she rubbed her temples in an attempt to massage them.

   She sat up in her comfy bed and stretched out her long, slender arms above her head as she let out a yawn. Scanning her room, Lynn found it empty and was somehow relieved. She had the absolute craziest dream of Buck last night, and let out the biggest breath of relief to just remember it all a dream.

   Lynn slowly crawled up from her bed as she let out another wide stretch, feeling her muscles relax a bit in her abdomen and arms. She rubbed one of her eyes as she peeled open her door, and as she gazed up towards the rest of the apartment she let out a loud gasp.

   There, making what looked like a delicious breakfast scramble of eggs and toast, along with bacon and sausage; was Evan Buckley.

   "Dear God," Lynn breathed out, suddenly having a whirlwind of emotions as her memories were shooting forward; Buck driving Lynn home and staying the nightly his terribly short sweats, and their drunk make out session.

   "If you pretend it didn't happen, he probably won't mention it," Lynn thought to herself, almost swallowing the secondhand embarrassment she would get from hearing about their make out session.

   "Morning, sunshine," Buck smiled happily, and then he pointed down some bright yellow, scrambled eggs cooking in a pan. "I bet you're starving, want some?"

"Oh, what, you're just welcoming yourself to all the food in my pantry?" Lynn teased, raising an eyebrow towards the man as she realized her tank top was showing off a bit more skin than what was comfortable, and tugged it down a bit.

"I can do dishes?" Buck suggested, and Lynn wanted to smile at just how dorky his sheepish, puppy dog glance looked like.

"It's okay, I'm messing around," Lynn waved off, walking towards the kitchen island she had. She took a seat on the wooden stool, and then she buried her face in her hands. "God, how much did I drink last night?"

"You really want me to answer that?"

Buck turned from turning off the stove and picked up the pan full of perfectly cooked eggs, splitting them between two white plates that he had already placed full of buttered toast, bacon, and sausage.

"That actually looks edible, guess you've been paying attention to me and Bobby's cooking classes, huh?" Lynn joked, snatching a plate from under Buck and nibbling at a piece of bacon.

"Yeah, yeah," Buck rolled his eyes playfully, moving away from the cooking area and towards Lynn, taking a seat right beside her. "How you feeling?"

"My heads pounding, it feels like the sun is literally in the apartment, and I still think I might throw up," Lynn responded, raising a fork full of eggs towards Buck before stuffing in her mouth. "You're a hell of a lot better than Lizzy, she used to only bully me whenever I had hangovers in college."

Buck shrugged his shoulders, possibly getting a tad bit red from the compliment, but Lynn tended to just ignore it to not embarrass him more.

"But really, Evan, thanks for everything," Lynn smiled towards the boy, who only returned it much bigger and goofier. "Driving me home last night, staying with me...and now a surprise breakfast? You're an amazing best friend."

Lynn glanced back down to her plate of food, so she initially didn't see Buck's face twist in the slightest when she said best friend. Why did that not settle the right way with him? He narrowed his eyes at himself while gazing down to his plate of food, and was almost questioning himself.

"It's no problem, really," Buck spoke up after realizing he had never really responded, and then gave the girl a half smile before returning back to his food. "I had fun, you know, with the whole karaoke and spending the night and everything."

Lynn let the smallest of grins sweep her face while staring at her food, mostly because she was reminded of how much fun last night really was. She liked being laid-back and light hearted, not having a billion things weighted on her shoulder to tear her down.

"Karaoke, oof, almost forgot about that," Lynn awkwardly laughed, recalling her horrible dancing and awful shimming.

"First of all, if you weren't a firefighter I'd highly suggest you be a singer," Buck joked, letting out a chuckle under his breath.

"Could you imagine?" Lynn questioned, trying her best to imagine how she would look in a revealing dress while singing her heart out on a stage in front of hundreds, maybe thousands of people. "I can't even imagine my life being anything else than helping people."

   "It's because that's who you are," Buck replied truthfully, gazing up from his now almost empty plate of food.

   It seemed like the two stared deeply into each other's eyes for ages, not daring to break eye contact. In reality, it was a few seconds, before they broke it and glanced back to their laps.

   "It's who we are," Lynn corrected, cutting through the almost tension filled silence, and she flashed Buck a toothy, genuine smile.

   Before the two had a chance to continue their conversation, they were interrupted when Lynn's phone started ringing loudly and vibrating on the marble counter. She jumped in her seat, feeling as if the noise was much more annoying than usual.

   She quickly scooped it up in her fingers and answered the call, immediately recognizing Lizzy's contact name.

   "What's up, Liz?"

   "Just checking up on you...and Buck," Lizzy responded, and Lynn's face straightened as she switched between her empty plate of food towards Buck, questionably in shock.

   "What do you mean? Evan isn't here," Lynn quickly stated after a moment of hesitation, and she hoped she wouldn't get called out of it.

   Beside her on the wooden stool, Buck was trying his best to cover up his mouth so he wouldn't let any laughs out; inevitably confirming that Lizzy was right. Lynn glared daggers towards the man, knowing she would never hear the end of the teasing from her older sister.

   "Oh, yeah, right," Lizzy answered, and Lynn could quite literally see the blonde rolling her eyes over the phone. "He isn't here at the house, and it doesn't even look like he slept in his bed."

   "What? You're just snooping in Evan's room?" Lynn implored, raising an eyebrow even though Lizzy wouldn't see.

   "He's probably listening right now, hello Mr. Buckley!"

   "Hey Liz!" Buck responded almost instantly, and Lynn sent him a deadpan stare as she heard Lizzy laugh loudly on the other side of the phone.

   "Are you joking?" Lynn almost growled towards Buck, and she rose her hand to smack the back of his while letting out a big sigh and raising the phone back to her ear. "So what he spent the night? I didn't want him driving all the way back to the house so late at night."

   "Yeah, whatever you say, sis," Lizzy giggled, and Lynn rolled her blue eyes, knowing her cover was indefinitely blown and the teasing would never end. "Just wanted to see how your night with Buck went, but we can talk later. Bye, lovebirds!"

Lynn didn't say goodbye before Lizzy hung up, and she quickly switched from her phone towards Buck, with a definitely unamused expression.

"Whoops?" Buck shrugged, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck while trying his best to send Lynn his puppy dog eyes.

"Asshole."

"Rude! Especially towards someone who just made breakfast for your hangover ass," Buck complained full of sarcasm, and Lynn let out a giggle at how funny he sounded trying to be sassy.

"You can get out of my apartment with that attitude," Lynn rose her index finger towards Buck warningly, who only shook his head with a smirk.

"Our apartment, you mean?"

The amusement and playfulness left Lynn's face as it was replaced with confusion and almost surprise.

"What?" Lynn tilted her head off to the side, trying her best to not allow the bright red to takeover her cheeks.

"Last night, you offered me the spare room," Buck explained, and Lynn's eyes started to go wide as she could vaguely recall the conversation between them, where she wanted a roommate and he was looking for a place. "Roomies?"

"You would really want to live here?" Lynn questioned, and it sounded like her voice was laced with hesitation.

How would living with Buck be? Surely it would be fun, because she loved hanging out with the boy in general. But hanging out is much, much different than living together. They would see each other constantly, between work and living there we would hardly have a minute outside of each other.

"Why wouldn't I?" Buck responded, raising an eyebrow towards the cautious girl before continuing. "It's close to work, this is a good area, we'd be splitting the rent, plus we could save on gas by carpooling to work, and I'd have my best friend as a roommate."

Lynn shifted a bit on her wooden stool, turning her entire body towards the man, which he immediately copied.

"You're completely, one hundred percent sure?" Lynn questioned, raising one of her brunette eyebrows towards the man sitting in front of her.

   "I am completely, one hundred percent sure, Evie," Buck responded with a grin, which Lynn couldn't help but copy.

   "Guess you'll need a key, huh?"

a/n: i always say this but sorry if there's spelling mistakes i'm posting late at night! i'll fix em in the morning <3