Roman Holiday

Lauren

Her hand's on my back. We're laying down. On my bed? On a bed. I'm trying to make things out around me. It's dark. Hand on my back. Where my back curves into my butt. Other hand in my hair, I'm on top. Clothes on? Clothes on.

I wake up, startled. Was I dreaming? About me and Normani? God. God! It's the day before school starts. Am I going to think about that every time I see her? I shove a pillow into my face and sink under the covers. I can't get up and change out of my pajamas. I have to stay here forever.

I call Normani. "Motivate me to get out of bed."

"Lauren, you lazy ass, you've always been so lazy. You're a detriment to society."

"Do you even know what detriment means? I don't."

"You know it's bad though."

I laugh, lying through my teeth and saying, "I'm up."

"Your lazy ass is still in that bed."

I double over, "You know me too well."

"Get. Up. Come over, I have a surprise."

"For me? Today."

"Yeah, at 11. I'll fill you in when you get up."

I get right out of that bed and start doing my makeup. Eleven is in two hours. "Where?"

"My house," she says, like it's obvious. I've never been to her house. She gives me the address and my heart is literally fluttering.

"Alright, alright," I get some gold eyeshadow going and hang up. I need to be looking cute, but not too cute. My old Fall Out Boy T-shirt and jean cutoff shorts look perfect. I throw in some gold hoop earrings and combat boots. My butt looks nice. All is well. 

I kind of feel like I've known Normani forever, but we've only hung out for a couple weeks. We just click well. I know we're going to be friends for long time. Yeah. Friends.

When I get to her house, it's pretty quiet. There's nobody home. I start walking down the hallway and I'm freaking out but then she comes out of her room and she looks so good and it's a little too much for me to handle. She's literally wearing black shorts and a baseball jersey. 

"Um, hi, what are we doing-" before I can finish my sentence, she grabs my wrist and runs outside. I'm a little freaked out. We start walking down a trail from her backyard.

"It goes somewhere that's pretty cool. I just thought I'd show you."

"Are we going to a graveyard?"

She stops and gives me a look. "Lauren, that's weird as hell. Why would we go to a graveyard?"

"You're acting funny."

She laughs and runs ahead. She has a big laugh that fills the silence. It's kind of comforting. 

We arrive at this cute little stream under a small cliff. We sit down, our legs hanging off the edge, in total silence. It's pretty serene and peaceful, but I get bored easily. I take off my shoes and socks and jump in the water. It's shallow and cold, and I start to splash Normani, who screams.

"Stop it! Stop it!" She draws her feet to her chest and winces. 

"Come in, it's shallow!"

"Absolutely not, no ma'am."

I splash her some more, and then I hear "Lauren Jauregui, you're going to get this!"

She climbs in ever so tentatively and I applaud. Of course, she starts splashing me back, absolutely furious. And then we're splashing each other. And we're laughing. And then she pushes me and then I'm underwater. 

I kind of can't believe I'm submerged because it's super shallow but it's just barely rushing over my face and I can't help but feel like I'm going to die from being drowned in this pitiful stream. 

"Lauren! Oh my God," I feel Normani's hand in mine, helping me up. I'm looking down and laughing about how I'm fine and when I look up, she's right there.

Right there in front of me. We're so close our noses are touching and her arms are literally around me. It's so strangely intimate, so I start to study her eyes. They're so big, and brown, and warm. But I can see she's worried. She's frozen. I'm frozen. We have no idea what to do because we're tangled up in each other and to me, it feels pretty good. Like I could do it forever. But when I try to break the tension, I reach out and twist a couple strands of her hair around my finger. 

Obviously, that was not the right thing to do, because she slaps my hand out of the air. I drive home in silence.