Imagining Us

Chapter 15

Esi pushed the restroom door open, then locked it, and as soon as she stepped in, she saw her friend's red eyes reflected in the mirror in front of them. Lauren stood at the sink desperately trying to rub at her blotchy cheeks.

"Oh Lo..." Esi moved towards her.

"Please tell me what's wrong."

"Noth—"

Hand up, Esi cut her off. "Don't do that. It's me Lauren. You can tell me anything...I know that something's wrong."

A downfallen look overtook Lauren's face. Esi could see the turmoil on her face as she tried to figure out whether or not she should tell Esi the problem. She sighed and turned to look at herself in the mirror, eyes welding with tears. Lauren just stared at her reflection in the mirror, shaking her head at herself. Esi hated to see the way that she looked at herself. She also knew that if she didn't prompt the conversation that Lauren would never tell her the problem and that they would be late for the show. Not that the latter was equally as important.

Esi reached out to smooth her friend's stray hairs that had messily fallen across her face.

"You can't convince me that something isn't wrong." She decided to jump straight to the point.

"I see how you look at Jamie." It pained Esi to even utter the next words, but she needed to know. "Did he do something....Do you know something bad about him? Did he do something to you or..Alicia?" A part of Esi doubted the last part of her words. She knew that Alicia could handle herself, and if Jamie had ever done anything to her— she would have voiced it, Esi would have known about it.

Lauren's head swiveled towards her.

"Did he...what? No...no..no," she sputtered."Jamie would...Jamie would never. He's so...He's so good, especially to her."

Confusion hit Esi. If Jamie wasn't the issue, then what was?

"Okay..." She replied slowly, and a thought occurred to her.

"Then, was it Alicia? Well..it couldn't be because we were all having a good time last night, and even today." Esi scratched her head, as she leaned against the restroom's marble countertop. She folded her arms. It was her last night in the city, and she knew that it would be easier for Lauren to talk to her face to face than over the phone.

There was silence between them, and Lauren was avoiding eye contact with her, nervously picking at her nails. Her friend's distress unnerved her, but she didn't want to push too much. She would wait to see what was wrong with her friend.

Lauren let out a slow exhale, steeling her nerves.

"You'll think less of me," she whispered.

Esi pushed off of the counter. "Why...why would you ever think that?" She paused. "I mean...this isn't a situation with a premeditated murder or something sketchy, so I think you're good with me thinking less of you."

She saw the corner of her friend's mouth twitch slightly upward.

"I've told you how my family is...hell, you've met my parents," Lauren clutched at her dress. "I was so glad when I got the scholarship to go to Connecticut for college. It was so...so freeing. I had to get away from the cluster...from being managed." Her voice started to rise the more she spoke.

"They hated it when I left. There were so many...traditional expectations, Esi. Get married young. Have a family. Housewife etiquette, you know?"

Esi nodded because she understood about familial expectations, but she didn;t say anything else because she was glad that her friend was talking.

"The things they said to me. To their child. To their daughter. Hateful things. I vowed to myself that I wouldn't go back, that I would prove them wrong."