Since Infinity Chapter 11

“You have James Corden at three, Jimmy Fallon at seven, and then Kimmel tonight. Hope you weren’t counting on a break tonight, kid,” John informed me with a slight laugh, and I groaned.

“I’ve had radio interviews all day,” I whined. “I want to go home.”

“Should’ve thought about that before you became a global superstar. You work on the world’s schedule, not your own.”

I bit my lip, trying to find a way to take control of the situation. “I’m taking tomorrow off.”

“You’ll do what I tell you.”

I smirked. “You say that, but you’ll find I’m no pushover anymore. You’ve had me running into the ground all week, and tomorrow’s Friday. I’m taking it off.”

He sighed. “I can’t change your mind, can I?”

“You could try, but there’s a high chance you’d be wasting your breath,” I told him, shrugging.

“Fine. Have tomorrow off. Just do your job,” he halfway snapped at me before the line went dead.

I took my phone from my ear and looked at the small metal box in my hands, pulling up my texts with Asher.

Lauren: i’ll be home late tonight. i have TV taping, and then Kimmel.

Asher: i’ll stay up and wait for you if you want.

Lauren: no, you need to sleep. i just wanted to tell you i’d be gone for a while.

Asher: ok. Stay safe.

Lauren: i will.

I slid my phone into my pocket and slumped back against the seat of the car. “Looks like another day of In ‘n Out for lunch, Roger,” I told my driver.

He smiled at me in the rearview mirror. “At least they have more than one kind of food,” he replied, and I smiled.

“Thank the Lord for small mercies.” We shared a laugh as he pulled into the drive-through and ordered our meals.

“So how’re you and Asher?” he asked me, pulling back onto the road and handing me my food.

“There’s a lot going on. We have a lot we need to talk about, mainly about the lies and the leaving and all the stuff we just assumed would work itself out. It’s a mess that we’ve barely even started to sort through,” I sighed, taking a bite of my burger.

“You basically just described your relationship at any point in time, Lauren,” he told me, shaking his head. “Everyone who knew you was wondering how you two managed to make it work when you were together before. I’m glad you’re talking things out now.”

I curled up in my seat. “I hate realizing that now,” I admitted, resting my head on my knees and leaving my food on the seat next to me. “I hate knowing that I managed to spend a year and a half of my life lying to the world, and more importantly, to the people I care about.”

He smiled sympathetically. “Everyone makes mistakes sometimes,” he assured me. “It’s how we learn.”

I took another bite of my burger, and he decided to change the subject. “Have you seen your parents since you left?”

My eyes studied the seeds on the bun of my burger, counting them to avoid answering. “Not really. After I moved to LA, well...you know what it was like.”

He sighed again, and I just shrugged. “I just wish you had a better relationship with them, that’s all,” he said.

“I know. Sometimes I do too. But what matters is that I’m fixing relationships with the people that matter the most to me, and I couldn’t be happier about that,” I replied, smiling at him, and he smiled back.

“That’s all that matters, then,” he agreed. “Although some people would argue that blood family is more important than other people.”

“They’ve never met my family,” I countered. “There’s a reason I emancipated myself at seventeen.”

Roger raised his eyebrow at me. “I didn’t know that.”

“Not many people do,” I sighed, sipping my shake. “How much longer till we get to Corden?”

He looked at his phone’s GPS. “About ten minutes. His studio isn’t far from the In ‘n Out.”

“Nice.” I went back to eating, focusing on my food and trying not to think about my problems. The burger was well-seasoned and juicy, and the ketchup, mayo, and mustard oozed off the sides and pooled on the wrapper. Condensation dripped from the lettuce, and the tomato slice was almost as juicy as the burger was. The shake was sweet and sugary, and the rich chocolate flavor combined with the slight saltiness of the cookie dough sent my taste buds to cloud 9.

When the car pulled up at the studio, I slipped my sunglasses on as Roger got out and opened my door. As I got out, he cleared a space for me to stand and then proceeded to lead me through the paparazzi.

Inside, I made my way to my dressing room, where a lady rushed me to a chair and started doing my hair and makeup. My stylist, Lisa, helped me get the clothes she’d picked out on, which the hair lady made a fuss about because it was messing with the curlers in my hair. I honestly, could’ve cared less what my hair looked like - I wanted to be at home, spending time getting to know my boyfriend again and laughing at random things with Ana.

The show went well. James asked a few questions about what my relationship with Asher was like, what my time away had been like, the people I’d met in the places I’d traveled to. He’d, of course, mentioned the album, and there were, of course, questions about it. We filmed a Carpool Karaoke and one of his random minigames, and then I was back out to go film Jimmy Fallon. It went much the same way.

After grabbing Taco Bell(I just couldn’t eat another burger), we headed to Kimmel, and it went almost the exact same way that the other two shows had. I swear, all late night TV was the same. It was exhausting and boring, and by the time I got back to the condo I was ready to crash.

I showered and changed into my pajamas quickly and as quietly as I could, trying not to wake the lump on the bed that was my sleeping boyfriend. He was usually up all night, but for once he was crashed out and I knew I’d hate myself for a good while if I ended up ruining that for him.

Minutes later, with my hair still wet from the shower, I crawled into our shared bed and snuggled up to him, my eyes closing as sleep overtook me.