Dancing In The Dark-Laurel Lance

She's back...again

I groaned, jumping over the couch. "I got it." The knocking became more frequent. "One second!" I opened the door, revealing her. "Maria."

"Hey, sis. Long time no see."

"What are you doing here?" I asked, a deadpan expression setting itself on my face.

"I wanted to surprise y-"

"No, I mean why are you in Star City? Last time I checked you were in New York."

"Last time you checked in was three years ago." She countered, quirking an eyebrow in a 'matter of fact' way. I bit my lip, physically trying to keep in the string of slurs that were tempting to come out of my mouth. "Are you gonna invite me in or just leave me standing here?"

"Definitely debating the latter." I muttered, fully opening the door to my apartment. "Come in."

"Ooh, she's pretty." Maria commented, looking back and forth between me and Laurel. "I'm Maria Vasquez, Alana's sister." She extended her hand more than eagerly as Laurel did the same. "And you are?"

"Laurel Lance. I'm Alana's..." Laurel seemed unsure of the rest of her sentence, looking at me to help her finish it.

"Uh, she's my...girlfriend?" I awkwardly settled on.

"Yes, I'm her girlfriend."

"Shit, you pulled that?" Maria jerked her head back, not at all attempting to hide her surprise.

"Why are you here? At my apartment? In fact, how do you even know where my apartment is? And where is Xavier?"

"Well, I wanted to see you. Papí told me where you lived and Xavier...isn't here."

"Can you please just leave?" I begged.

"Fine." I furrowed my eyebrows, shocked by how easily she gave in. "But don't think I'm leaving Star City."

"Fine." She dusted off her jacket with a single hand before turning on her heels, slamming the door behind her.

"So, that was...intense. For lack of better words."

I bit my lip, my eyes fixated on the door. "I need to work out."

XXX

Trying to keep myself occupied from the thoughts consuming my head, I moved my body fluently, up and down doing crunches against my living room's hardwood floor. One time up I was alone, the next, Laurel was standing in front of me.

"Thought you left." I grunted, continuing to do my crunches.

"You seemed off. Thought I'd stick around."

"I don't need you to babysit me, Laurel."

"I'm not babysitting you, I'm concerned, babe."

"I don't need you to be concerned for me." I assured her.

"Al-" I cut her off right away.

"Look, hermosa," I stood up, grabbing her hands lightly. "I get it, you care for me, and I appreciate that so much. But, I don't need you breathing down my neck to make sure I don't implode."

Laurel bit her bottom lip. "Do you want me to leave?"

"Please."

XXX

A few hours had passed, but much had changed, except Laurel's presence in my apartment. I was still torturing my body with various exercises, trying to push out the anger I felt towards Maria, and now Laurel. It didn't necessarily help me when someone started knocking on my door and wouldn't stop.

"I'm coming!" I shouted for the third time. "Laurel-"

"Okay, I know you told me to leave, but..." She pushed her way into my apartment. "We're dating. You called me your girlfriend yourself. So I'm going to be worried about you whether you want me to be or not. You don't have to tell me what happened with your sister, but I am staying.

"God, it's hard to be upset with you when you're so sweet."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No, I just want to be with you."

XXX

The next morning I woke up the only place I'd want to be-next to Laurel. She was still asleep when I woke up, so I went into the kitchen to cook breakfast. It wasn't long after until Laurel joined me in the kitchen.

"Maria's an addict." I blurted out.

"What?"

"Narcotics. She's tried to get sober 6 times, and she's relapsed 6 times. Everytime she relapses it's worse than the last. She gets me to trust her again and then she lies to me or hurts me. I'm sick of it."

"Oh, Alana."

"I don't know if I can trust her again. I don't know if I want to trust her again."

"It seems like she needs a place to stay though. She can crash with me if you want."

"No. I may not trust her, but she's worse when I'm not watching her."

"So, you'll try?"

I sighed heavily. "I'll try."

XXX

"Hello?"

"Maria, hey, it's Alana."

"Didn't think I'd hear from you again."

"I, uh, I wanted to see if you needed a place to stay. Other than some motel room."

"You're inviting me to live with you?"

"Yeah, I'd really like that."