New Beginnings

Chapter Five

<LAUREN POV>

An hour later Lauren was saying goodbye to Ally after what had been a surprisingly pleasant meal with the shorter girl. The girl was extremely nice and fun to be around when she wasn't getting excited over the littlest things like when the café they went to had blueberry scones.

They bonded over a mutual love for sweets and coffee which lead to talks about art and hobbies and Lauren found out they actually had a lot more in common than she ever would have thought. Who knew? She felt pretty good that she had only been in college for a day and she already made an acquaintance (she wasn't quite sure she could call her a friend yet on account of Lauren didn't have many friends and wasn't sure what even qualified someone as a friend). The walk back to their dorm building was mostly made in silence, but not an uncomfortable one and the girls eventually parted ways when Ally exited the elevator on the third floor.

Lauren walked down the unusually quiet hallway and opened the door to her room finding that her roommate still was not there. She wondered where she could have been this whole day but quickly shook it off and grabbed her headphones so she could lay on bed and listen to music.

<NORMANI POV>

Normani had a great dinner with Dinah who she found extremely hilarious. The girl practically had no filter and did not care about embarrassing herself in public. She went back to Dinah's room after and helped her unpack like she had promised. Normani took note of the number of cute clothes Dinah had and made sure to remember to ask her to borrow several items the next time she wanted to go out.

"Shit it's almost 8," Normani said looking at the time on her phone, "I'm sure my roommate is wondering where the hell I am, I still haven't met her."

"Go ahead," Dinah said shooing her with her hand, "and thanks again for the help, text me tomorrow if you want to hang out!"

Normani left the room and headed next door to her own room where she was hoping her new roommate would finally be. She opened the door to see a girl curled up on her bed with her laptop on her stomach.

"Hey, I'm Normani your roommate!" Normani said excitedly to the girl on the bed. There was no answer. What was her problem? What if she was deaf? Oh my god how was Normani supposed to deal with a deaf roommate? Would she have to learn sign language?? These thoughts started coming to her head until she thought of a way to get the girl's attention. She reached over to the light switch and flipped the lights on and off.

"What the fuck was tha-" Lauren sat up and turned around to see the dark skinned girl standing at the door. "Jesus Christ I thought the lights were busted."

"Oh my god, you're not deaf!" Normani exclaimed with a sigh of relief. "I thought I was going to have to learn sign language!"

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Lauren looked at the girl like she was crazy. The longer she looked the more the girl started to freak her out. She looked oddly familiar but she couldn't put a finger on where she recognized her. Maybe she was on those lame TV commercials.

Normani looked hard at the girl with dark hair and the most beautiful green eyes. Those eyes looked so familiar. It was almost calming; they reminded her of home, of good times. She stared into the girl's eyes until she realized what she was doing and noticed the girl looking at her funny. She finally spoke, "I was just...I said hi and you didn't...I thought you...never mind."

"Do I know you from somewhere?" Lauren asked matter-of-factly. She continued to stare at the girl questioningly and began to notice what an amazing body she had. It was incredibly toned; you could even see her abs through her tight white v-neck shirt. Her legs looked like an artist sculpted them, she had to be some kind of cheerleader or gymnast with a body like that.

"Are you from Texas?" Normani asked wondering if maybe they had danced against each other or been on opposing debate teams. The girl sat up off the bed and Normani admired just how beautiful she really was. She didn't even wear any makeup and she was almost flawless. Her eyebrows were shaped perfectly so that it always looked like she had this devilish smirk on her face. It was kind of hot, Normani couldn't lie. She wasn't afraid to admit these things, I mean, she was straight after all.

Lauren shook her head, "No, Florida, so that's definitely not it." She saw the girl's face light up a little.

"I'm actually originally from Florida, but I moved away when I was eight because...well uh...my dad got a new job in Texas." The darker girl walked over and now sat on her bed in a dead stare down with her roommate who's name she did not yet know even though they had practically had a fully conversation.

"Wait a second," Lauren suddenly seemed very alert, "what did you say your name was?" she asked almost concerned. There was no way...surely it couldn't be her. I mean she did kind of look like her she guessed, but then again she could be anyone.

Normani wondered why the girl suddenly had an interest; maybe she was just excited to hear someone else was from Florida. "My name is Normani--" she started but couldn't even finish before the girl sprang off her bed and almost attacked her.

"OH MY GOD IT IS YOU!" Lauren screamed.

This was so unlike her, she never hugged people, but she really couldn't believe it, Normani, her best friend until she was 8, and truthfully still the best friend she had ever had, was her roommate. It made so much sense now. They had planned their lives out together, both of them decided when they were 8 years old that they wanted to go to Northwestern, it had been their dream, and there they were.

Normani was so confused. Why was this girl on top of her? What did she mean 'it is you'? Who was she? How did she know her? She peeled the girl off over her and looked at her with a confused face waiting for the green-eyed girl to explain.

"Oh, you don't recognize me?" Lauren asked realizing Normani still did not make the connection that she just had. She shouldn't feel offended, she looked a LOT different than when she was 8. But she couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed; after all they were best friends. "It's me Normani, it's Lauren, Lauren Jauregui!"

Normani's jaw dropped and before she realized what she was doing she was now the one leaping over to tackle Lauren. "LAUREN JAUREGUI WHAT THE FUCK!?" She screamed out of pure joy.

The girls continued to hug for what felt like hours. They were both in complete shock. What were the odds they would both end up here, and as roommates? Lauren spent the rest of the night curled up on Normani's bed trying to catch up as much as with the other girl as she could on the last 10 years of their lives. It was crazy how much they had missed being apart. There were so many milestones they didn't celebrate together like becoming teenagers, school dances, sneaking into R rated movies, their first kisses, boyfriends that eventually lead to break ups, sweet sixteen parties, they had missed all of that.

While they both felt so familiar with each other after they started talking they also became aware of how much of strangers they really were to one another. It was crazy to think that they had only known each other for 3 years before Normani moved away but they still considered each other the best friend either of them had ever had.

They laughed and ate Oreos thinking of all the fun times like this they used to have together as kids. Like the time they turned Lauren's entire living room into a giant fort only to get yelled at by Clara for making a huge mess. Or when Normani gave Lauren bangs and she had to wear a hat for months while they grew back out. They used to spend every day of their lives together, and if they didn't they always made sure to call one another on the phone to talk about their day. College was their chance to relive their childhood. They could have sleepovers with each other every night.

And suddenly Normani and Lauren both loved college more than they ever could've imagined they would.

A/N: And finally they meet!! This should be the last short chapter for a while I think the next few are in the 2000 word range, but I also have only written a few more chapters in advance so don't be surprised if updates eventually start coming slower, I will promise to update when I can but I am getting into the thick of school work so idk how often that will be. Continue to give me feedback I loving knowing if anyone actually cares about this shit lmao if no one does then idk why I should continue. Thanks -Jauredramatic