Arie & Lauren B. Are Officially Moving In Together & It's A Major Step Forward

Last fans heard, they were spending some time under the radar in Europe, but now, Arie Luyendyk, Jr. and Lauren Burnham are moving in together. The Bachelor couple has taken some serious heat for the way the end of Season 22 went down, but they appear ready to move forward and take that next big step in their relationship. Those who follow one or both of the reality TV alums on social media couldn't have failed to notice that Lauren B. and Arie are back in the states. And by the looks of it, they're in the midst of a bit of a road trip, which they've both been documenting in their Instagram Stories.

According to People, the trip began in Virginia Beach, where Lauren packed up her belongings, and will end in Scottsdale, Arizona, where Arie has resided for some time now. It's also where the pair had stated previously that they would begin building their lives together.

On After the Final Rose, while the rest of the nation was still grappling with the controversial finale, the 36-year-old revealed that he and his runner-up-turned-winner already had their next step all planned out. Arie told Chris Harrison that he and Lauren were going to "get out of the country for a little bit, and then Lauren's moving to Arizona." "Yup," the tech salesperson confirmed, "We're drivin' to Arizona."

And so they are. Given the sped-up timeline of The Bachelor itself, and how quickly the race car driver's first engagement had unraveled, many wondered whether the two would make it as far as cohabitation. And even if they did, some felt that it might be a good idea to give the relationship a bit more time before starting a life under one roof. After all, as the show's original winner Becca Kufrin claimed, she and her then-fiancé had already looked at some houses as a couple.

But a little less than a month after Arie proposed on ATFR on March 6, and after two weeks visiting Iceland and Barcelona, the two appear to be taking the plunge. On Thursday, the realtor shared a selfie of the pair of them to Instagram, captioned "Road Trip To AZ," that E! captured a screenshot of from his story. On Friday, posts appeared from Tennessee, and Lauren even added a light-hearted shoutout to fellow Bachelor contestant Tia Booth as they entered Arkansas.

The pair had also discussed on the show how excited they were for their dogs to meet, and now visitors to their feeds can watch Lauren's dog Dallas speed across the country toward Arie's pup Bastian. Because no matter how you feel about these two as a couple, you have to acknowledge that Dallas is a pretty adorable dog, and dog families expanding to include other dogs is always a great thing.

It's also nice to see these two progressing their relationship beyond where Arie's previous engagement cut off — moving in together is the first step taken by Lauren and Arie that wasn't first taken by Arie and Becca. Each woman has been both broken up with and proposed to on national television by Arie, within a period of a few months. But although Becca and the Bachelor had discussed plans to move in, and even looked at homes together in Scottsdale, according to The Ringer, they never quite got there. Part of that may have been because the show was just beginning to air by the time they parted ways, so in order to avoid spoiling the season, the pair had to live in forced separation for what ended up being for the duration of their relationship.

So the fact that Lauren and Arie are actually taking that step is a good sign, because it signals that they're trying to put the drama and the controversy in the past. The only way for them to move as a couple is forward — which in their case seems to be toward Scottsdale, Arizona. And with a dog that cute accompanying them on their travels, it will be hard for America to stay mad for long.