Burning Sea Green

1

"Babe, I'm trying to sleep," I said groggily, trying to roll over my stomach but a weight on my hips was holding me down.

"It's already 8 in the morning, baby." I instantly smiled at the raspy voice, but it made me feel something else when it was too close and Lauren's hot breath was hitting my neck.

My girlfriend decided that today, she'd wake me up by putting hickies on my neck. I wasn't really opposed to the idea because I usually didn't mind when she wanted to leave marks on me but I was having a good sleep and last night's event drained me out.

We had a party last night in our house with the girls and their family to celebrate New Year. While everyone was dancing, Lauren started grinding on me and said she was feeling hot and it was a good thing that no one was paying attention to us. Dinah's family alone crowded the whole house so it was easy to go to my room without anyone noticing we were gone. And then when we had our time to ourselves, well, what do you expect to happen? I didn't only have my New Year's kiss. I'm sure as hell it was more than a kiss.

Lauren made love to me as the fireworks blew and luckily, no one came up to look for us. It was either everyone was too drunk or they knew why we were gone.

It was now 2022 and nothing much has changed except for the bond that Lauren and I have. We had fights for the past years and there was one point where we broke up but I tend to remember the silent promise that I made to Lauren—that I'd always make us work no matter what happens. That breakup was exhausting and we found ourselves crawling back to each other after a few days without any communication. I honestly thought that I wouldn't be able to hold her again because none of us dared to put our pride down although we both knew that it would be for the better. We're stubborn that way. The girls were also there for us but of course, they didn't pick whose side to take and became the best friends that they were. Because of the issue, our friendship grew stronger, too, and we saw the breakup as a blessing in disguise.

On the other hand, Dinah and Normani were either better or worse handling their relationship than Lauren and I. Depends on who was judging it. They were fighting a lot and it would be over the most irrelevant things but I think it was their way of strengthening their love for each other—no matter how ironic it was.

Ally met this charming guy in Texas when they visited her grandparents back in 2016 and since then, they started getting to know each other until it blossomed into something more. I knew the oldest member of the band was happy with him until now. His name was James and we've gotten along well with him when Ally would invite him during events and he was available. James was a photographer so he didn't mind traveling when Ally asked him to come with but sometimes he'd have to decline because of his job. He was actually a cool guy so we're happy for the two of them.

Camila, being another hopeless romantic of the group, finally found someone she was interested with.

For our fifth album, we had a collaboration with Tori Kelly and we met her a few times for the recording. During those times, we got to know more of her as a writer and as a friend as well but little did we know that Camila was starting to like her more differently than the rest of us did. She was a blushing mess every time we teased her with the singer and soon, the two worked it out themselves. We were even surprised that Tori was the first one to initiate and asked Camila out on a date—in front of everyone while we were recording. That bold move sparked something inside the Cuban and starting then, they went going out together despite the difference of our schedules. They came out to the public and the people supported the couple without a doubt and it gave Camila a boost of confidence, making her finally confess her feelings to Tori. It wasn't that she had to since it was pretty obvious but they worked out well anyway.