New Beginnings

Chapter Eighteen

<Normani POV>

Normani didn't know how long her and Lauren had been kissing there on the sidewalk outside the club but she didn't want it to stop any time soon. She was so angry and confused but she couldn't help but melt with the feeling of Lauren's lips on hers. This was the woman she was in love with after all. So maybe it wasn't a good idea but she kept kissing her until they both broke away to catch their breath. For a while they just stood there silent looking into each other's eyes. Normani could see the care in Lauren's eyes, she clearly cared about Normani, but did she love her?

"We should get back to the dorm," Lauren finally spoke up, "it's really cold out here I don't want you to get sick."

Normani nodded in agreement still bewildered by everything that had happened that night. How did she manage to go from pissed at Lauren to unable to speak because she was so blown away? She needed to sleep it off, maybe some rest would make things clear. They didn't talk the rest of the way home but it wasn't awkward.

You can sit in silence without it ever being awkward.

Would Lauren acknowledge what just happened? Normani wasn't sure but she really didn't care about that right now because she just wanted to treasure the moment. As strong and independent as Normani was, Lauren made her feel weak, in a good way. She felt shivers when the pale-skinned girl touched her, her heart fluttered when she smiled at her. She both loved and hated the way it made her feel to be around her. She was so used to being in control of her actions and her emotions but around Lauren she had no control. She didn't like to feel dependent upon people but Lauren made her feel like she needed her. The internal battle she was having with her feelings for the green-eyed girl were driving her mad.

Normani had zoned out for most of the walk back so she didn't even realize when they reached their dorm building and Lauren was digging through her purse cursing in frustration about not being able to find a fucking thing in the bag. Normani snapped out of it and realized the younger girl was looking for her dorm keys so she reached in her own bag and pulled out her set. "Don't worry, I brought mine," the dark-skinned girl reassured her opening the door and immediately feeling the warmth as they walked into the building.

When they reached their room both girls kicked off their shoes and plopped onto their beds in exhaustion. Normani was too tired to take off her dress or makeup even though she knew she would regret it in the morning when her mascara would be crumbled and her eyeliner smeared. Lauren slipped out of her dress and remained in her underwear too tired to get up and find a pair of sweats to put on.

The lights were out and the room was quiet, they were laying on their backs staring at the ceiling trying to fall asleep. After a few minutes Lauren interrupted the silence, "Mani, are you still up?"

"Yeah," Normani replied yawning.

It was silent again for a few seconds and Normani wasn't sure if Lauren was trying to say something or was just wondering if she was awake. Then the Latina spoke again, "I'm sorry for what happened at the club. I didn't think about how that might have sent you some kind of mixed signal or I don't know...confuse you even more."

"It's okay Lauren," Normani sighed rolling over on her side to face the girl, "I'm sorry for yelling at you like that."

Lauren rolled over to face the girl on the opposite side of the room too, "no I definitely deserved that. I wasn't being considerate of your feelings. Even if I thought I was helping at the time."

They were silent and stared at each other for a while yawning occasionally. Normani began to drift to sleep until she heard Lauren's voice again. "I think I know why I did it."