Restart

Chapter 20

Lauren had some errands to get done the next morning, but Laney had some how convinced Camila to take her and Avery back to her mom's house to go swimming. Which proved to be pretty easy, because Laney was adorable and Camila was a push-over.

Normani also needed to go get some things done before she left for tour, so Lauren was waiting for her to get back from that morning's rehearsal so they could go together.

Lauren was currently sitting in the middle of the living room floor, working on putting the picture she'd taken of Laney and Avery asleep on the couch into a frame. She'd blown it up to a decently large side and was planning on putting it on the wall of her, well now her and Camila's, bedroom.

"Hey Mani," Lauren greeted when she heard the front door open, her eyes still focused on what she was doing. When the other woman didn't reply, Lauren looked up and raised an eyebrow curiously, noticing the way she was acting very uncharacteristically timid. "Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked.

"What's that?" Normani questioned back, finally moving from the door to where Lauren was sitting. "That's so cute," she smiled, looking down at the picture of Laney and Avery.

"Mani," Lauren said, realizing that the girl was avoiding her question.

"Where's Camila?" Normani asked, still not giving Lauren the answer she wanted as she lowered her voice and looked around the house nervously.

"Seriously," Lauren replied, now rising to her feet. "What's going on?" She added as she folded her arms across her chest.

Normani still didn't answer though as she continued glancing around for signs of Camila.

"She took the girls to her moms to go swimming," Lauren informed her. "Now will you please tell me what has you acting so weird? You're making me nervous."

"It's about Caitlin," Normani answered, wincing slightly. "She didn't show up for rehearsals today. Which wouldn't really be that big of a deal, except that she hasn't showed up since you broke up with her."

"I don't see how that's my problem," Lauren mumbled before brushing past Normani and moving into the kitchen. She opened the refrigerator to pull out a bottle of water, and just as she took off the cap Normani entered the room right behind her.

"You guys dated for over a year," Normani reminded her. "I get that you two didn't have the connection that you have with Camila, but you were still close. You can't pretend like you don't care about her."

"Of course I still care about her," Lauren sighed as she ran her fingers through her hair before taking a long drink of water. "But our break-up didn't really go over so smoothly, we're not exactly friends. I haven't even heard from her," she lied, not wanting to tell her best friend about the incident at the zoo.

"Was she, you know...doing okay? Like before the break-up, I mean." Normani asked.

"She had been out of town, but before she left she was fine. As far as I knew," Lauren replied.

When Caitlin was in high-school, long before she and Lauren even met, she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Lauren knew she was on medication, and Caitlin had always handled her illness really well, although she kept most of it private from Lauren. She talked about it so rarely that Lauren often forgot about it, but now that she was thinking about it she was growing a little nervous. That could explain Caitlin's actions after their break-up and she was now not only worried for Caitlin's health and safety, but also what she might do if she wasn't thinking rationally.

"Okay," Normani nodded. "I just wanted to let you know what was going on. I'm sure she's fine though," she added, forcing a small smile. "Ready to go?"