Controlla (Discontinued)

7

"I feel so out of place." Lauren mumbled, looking around at the people seated near us.

I rolled my eyes at her over my menu. "Told you to at least put on a nicer shirt, but no, Normani is just being extra as always."

We had met up for dinner at some random restaurant and Lauren had chose to wear a pair of leggings with an over sized T-shirt. Meanwhile, everyone sat around us was dressed like we were at some charity banquet. I've come to realize that most of the people here in LA are commonly overdressed. Well, I thought they were overdressed but it seemed to be the norm for them.

"Do you ladies know what you're ordering?" Our waitress asked as she put two fruity cocktails next to our sodas she had brought us not too long ago.

I eyed the glasses suspiciously. "Um...what are these?"

She pulled out her notepad with a slight smile. "The hot guy sitting at the bar sent it over for you and your friend."

My eyes widened at Lauren who was looking into the patio door of the restaurant. Her eyes were slightly squinted until her site set on the supposed hot guy.

"Oh, wow. He is most definitely attractive." She laughed sending a nod in his direction.

I hesitantly turned my head in the direction she had indicated to. Sure enough, there he was in all his glory, giving me a smile that sent chills down my spine. I had to be hallucinating, right? There was no way in hell Justin Bieber had just sent me a drink. This was surely a mistake.

"We'll both have the steak tacos." I heard Lauren tell the waitress as I blankly turned back to her.

The girl gave me a pat on my shoulder after she collected our menus. "I'll be back with your food in a bit. Let me know if you need anything." She politely smiled at us and walked off.

"Damn, Normani. You're out here killing it. We've barely even made it and you've already got two of the biggest names in the music industry chasing after you." Lauren raised her eyebrows as she took a sip from her drink.

My face scrunched up in confusion at her words. "Wait, two? What do you mea-"

"Oh fuck. Don't look back, he's coming over here." She rushed, cutting me off.

I instantly stiffened. "What? No!"

"Too late." She whispered with a smirk.

"Hello ladies," His voice a bit deeper than I expected it to be. I tilted my head upwards to look at him. Even though he greeted both of us, his smoldering brown gaze was locked on me. "Nice to see you again, Lauren."

"Same to you," She smiled at him before looking down at her phone.

His hand took a hold of mine that was previously placed on the table. "I don't think we've properly met before, I'm Justin." His lips turned up into a slight grin.

"Normani," I shook his hand, hoping mines wasn't as hot as I felt at the moment.

"Normani," He repeated. "I'd love to take you out some time."

I was once again threw off guard. My mouth was trying to form a logical answer but my lips were moving without any proper words coming. "I'm- uh..."

"She would love to!" Lauren quickly answered for me. "She has dance rehearsals tomorrow but you can pick her up for lunch and drop her off at the studio after. Great? Good. I'll text you her number later. Nice seeing you!" She stood up and shooed Justin off.

"See ya tomorrow then, Normani." He chuckled before nudging Lauren and heading towards the exit.

I waited until he was out of sight before I turned to glare at Lauren. "I can't believe you just did that! How embarrassing," I put my hands over my heated face. "I probably looked like such an idiot."

"Oh, trust me, you did." She laughed. "I had to swoop in for the save before you ran him off with your stuttering. You can thank me by footing the bill for these tacos."

"How do you two even know each other?"

Lauren carelessly shrugged. "He's been over to Zayn's a few times. Surprisingly nice guy. I'd approve if you two started dating."

I let out a sigh, picturing it in my mind. "I don't know, We'll see how tomorrow goes."

"You'll be fine. He's been dying to ask you out since Zayn's party."

That damned party. Why wasn't Leonardo DiCaprio there watching me? I've always had fantasies about him being my sugar daddy and at the rate that my luck was going, it was bound to happen any day now.

"Let me guess, he watched me dance, thought I was good and wants to offer me a job too? If that's the case he should've just asked instead of flirting with me and trying to make it seem like he was actually interested." I huffed, watching the waitress place our steaming plates in front of us.

"Thank you," Lauren said to the girl before continuing with the conversation. "Could you maybe try not to jump to conclusions all the damn time? I don't know if you remember or not, but you two danced together and he apparently had a good time with you."

My eyebrows furrowed as I blew on my first taco, trying to cool it down. "What? No we didn't?"

"Yes you did. I was watching the whole time."

"He was the guy with the girlfriend?! Are you crazy, Lauren?! Why would you set me up on a date with him?! You know I'm not into that kind of stuff!" I was becoming livid as the scene replayed in my head. I despised cheaters. Not that us dancing was cheating, but his intentions were pretty clear that night.

Lauren threw a diced tomato from her taco at me. "Lower your voice, you psycho. I have no clue who that guy was, but it wasn't Justin. I'm not fucking stupid I would never let you go out with a guy that I knew was cheating."

"Sorry," I gave her a sheepish smile. "You know I've just been on edge since that situation with Sebastian."

"Yeah whatever," She chewed on her bite of food. "You seriously need to get it together. It's been almost 2 years. Don't you think it's about to time you got over it?"

My mouth fell agape, not believing her words. "What the hell do you think I've been trying to do, Lauren? It's not my fault that I feel the way that I do. You wouldn't understand until it happens to you." I snapped. She was so insensitive sometimes, I swear.

"Please," Lauren scoffed. "I would never get that emotionally invested in a guy. Especially not at the age we are. You're so stupid, Normani. Like honestly, you were only in college, what did you expect?"

"You have no right to call me stupid just because you can't keep a man for more than a month. Maybe if you didn't give it up so easily then you'd be able to experience love and not a plan B pill and a disconnected phone number." I snapped without a second thought as to what had left my mouth.

Lauren's eyes burned holes through me as she sat there in shock. Before I could even get an apology out, she roughly stood from her chair and stormed off. Everyone's eyes followed her out before they turned to look at me. I've never felt more like an asshole than in this very moment.

I quickly put money on the table to cover our food and the tip, not caring that I had probably put down more than needed. My feet quickly carried me out to the sidewalk out front. Glancing through the crowd of people walking in either direction, but Lauren nor her car where in sight.