lydia had shown up on steph's door step sobbing like a maniac. she had been laying on her friend's bed for a couple hours crying her heart out, trying to explain what happened to the best of her abilities. eventually, she gave up trying and ended up falling asleep in the bed surrounded by mountains of used tissues. steph didn't know what to do. she had never seen the girl so upset before. from the small snippets of the story that she was able to make out, she figured that she shouldn't call steve over to help, so she called the only other person that would know what to do.

"lawrie? your girlfriend is here and she just went through a box of kleenex. you need to get over here. now." about 10 minutes passed before the doorbell rang. the freckled girl left her friend's side and answered the door, opening it up to see a panicked boyfriend. his hair was a mess and he held a box of tissues, a couple water bottles, and a sweatshirt in his arms. steph let him in and gestured towards the bedroom. he nodded and muttered a quick thanks before rushing upstairs to where his sleeping girlfriend lay. her nose was red and her eyes were puffy. she was left in an oversized t-shirt, her jeans and sweater in a crumpled mess on the floor next to the bed. he sat down next to her and pressed a tender kiss to her cheek, hoping she didn't wake up. lawrie kicked his shoes off and lay down next to lydia, situating her so that she lay on his chest. he inhaled her scent and held her tight. as much as he missed her, this is not how he thought their reunion would play out. and he definitely didn't think that they'd be in steph's room surrounded by tissues of lyds snot rockets but he was with her, and that was all that mattered to him.