Losers In Love ❁ d.j.h

• chapter twenty five •

"We have to go to Minnesota." Normani said the minute Sinead's front door swung open, duffel bag high on her shoulder and determination in her eyes. Well, that and a peach cobbler in her hands.

Her best friend looked at her as if she had three heads. "What?"

Sinead's mom and dad loomed in the background to inspect who their daughter was answering the door for before brightening up at the sight of Normani. She gave them a tight smile and a small wave before handing them the cobbler and turning back to the younger woman. She pulled on her sleeve.

"Sorry, gotta talk to Sinead in private. You know, girl talk. By the way, that's from my grandma!" Her awkward laugh just barely masked the sound of feet skidding towards her best friend's room. When the door closed behind them, she set her bag on the bed and unzipped it.

"We have to go to Minnesota." She repeated, pulling out neatly folded clothes to set on the nightstand. "I told my grandma I was spending the night with you for a week because you're grieving over a death in the family. But we have to go, DJ's going through something and I'd go by myself but," She laughed ironically. "That's way farther than Fort Worth and I feel like I might lose my mind a bit if I drive alone." She turned on her heel to look at Sinead. "What do you say?"

There were no words for a few moments. Normani teetered on the balls of her feet. Sinead almost left the planet with how far her brain was going, to compute everything.

"Nor-- what-- Minnesota?!"

Normani rolled her eyes. "Is that all you're gonna say?" She plopped onto the bed dramatically.

"What, girl, yes, because I don't know what you smoked on the way over here!" The pudgy black woman walked over to begin placing the outfits back into the duffel bag. "My parents would kill me! And I have a job, I can't just take off for a week and leave with you to god knows where just because your girlfriend is going through something. And why would you say that someone in my family died? Isn't that like bad luck or something? Who did you even say?"

The younger brunette fiddled with her fingertips, avoiding her eyes and instead looking at the pictures of them around her vanity. "Your grandma." She whispered.

"Normani!" Sinead stepped back with a dropped jaw. "She's eighty two and very much alive! Why couldn't you say someone else? A friend or something?"

"My grandma's not gonna care about that! At least she made peach cobbler when she thought it was your grandma! She wouldn't even make it for me."

"Wha--" Sinead ran a hand over her face. "Girl, you've officially lost it. I'm convinced."

"I haven't lost anything, okay? Is it so bad to want to be there for someone in a crisis?"

"No, but you can't just lie your way through everything! Can't you just call her? What if your grandma calls my mom? We've been friends for years, she's bound to!"

"I know. That's why I was thinking that we should leave tonight."

Her best friend threw her hands up incredulously and turned her back on her. She was seconds away from mumbling to herself. Is this what love turned people into? People who thought of crazy ideas like driving hours and hours just to see if someone's okay? Aren't there FaceTime calls for that?