The Girl With The Dying Heart•Laurmani[COMPLETED]

Twenty Seven

Lauren

I sat on my couch, staring into blank space as I thought about Normani and what she was doing right now. I thought about this every day in the morning when I sat down in the same spot on this lousy couch.

It had been a month, and it's almost time to pack up for college. Unsurprisingly, we were going to the same college because it was the closest one to our town but I knew I shouldn't be thinking about that. We've been over for awhile now so there was no reason to be thinking about our life colliding again. She had moved on and so had I.

I took a deep breath, leaning forward to grab the plastic tube that was already stuffed full of the green leaves, just waiting for me to take it and inhale the smoke. It wasn't long before I was high just like I had been for the last four weeks ever since she left.

I rubbed my head, leaning back as I relaxed. Memories started to flood through my head as I closed my eyes, trying to remember a good time before I had met Normani since my most memorable ones were with her.

She looked at me, nodding in understanding as I stood up and grabbed her hand, pulling her to my bedroom. "Okay. I just-I want you to know that you can trust me Lauren. If there's anything you feel like you need to hide from me, you don't have to. You can trust me with everything Lauren. I care about you, I'll protect you."

The memory was so vivid my eyes shot open and I looked around, feeling scared and frightened before I realized it wasn't real. Well, it was real. It was real before.

That was when she had asked about the medicine and I lied. That was the first day I had moved into the apartment and it felt as if only a few seconds ago, she was walking into the newly decorated bedroom with me.

I hated this memory because it was one that resurfaced quite often now. She had told me I could trust her, that she would protect me. If I would've just told her the truth about what happened that night, would she have forgiven me? Would she have understood it was a mistake?

I guess I would never know. I had made the mistake of hiding it and I had paid for that with our relationship. Shaking my head, I stood up slowly, my phone vibrating against the counter as I walked to it. I looked down to see it was Camila and I pressed decline, taking dizzy steps to my bedroom.

We had stopped being friends after Normani and I broke up because I hoped she would come back to me if I cut the bad influence out of my life. I was wrong. Normani was never going to come back to me. She was over me.

Going to my bed, I stopped and crawled onto it, flopping down onto the soft mattress. I closed my eyes and fell asleep quickly, trying to forget about the good times with Normani.

When I woke up, there was a banging at my door that managed to get me up and walk to it, feeling tired and sleepy as I opened it. "Hello?" I asked as I looked at a person I hadn't seen in awhile. "Lucy?"

"Your mom sent me," she said and I just nodded and opened the door, allowing her to come in. "Oh Lauren," she sighed, shaking her head at the sight of beer cans spread across the apartment.

I just ignored her and went back to my bedroom, not caring to be bothered by her. I just wanted to curl up into a ball and forget about everything.

Lucy had grown to be a close friend ever since her brother transferred to my brother's team and our families had grown close to. I didn't really mind anymore and just let it happen since there was no point in fighting the friendship. It turned out she was actually really caring and sweet which was nice.

It took only probably five minutes before I was out cold again, dreaming of bizarre things that only appeared I hit the bong. When my eyes finally opened, the room was dark and I could feel somebody next to me on the bed.

I suspected it to be Lucy because she was running her hand through my hair softly as I pressed my head into her leg. She was warm and gentle as she continued to stroke my head comfortingly, muttering sweet things in Spanish as I laid there.

"Lauren, are you awake?" She asked and I gave a lazy,"mhm," as she chuckled. "Good. There was a note I found. It's from her and I thought you might want to read it. However, I wanted to talk to you about something else first."

"Okay. What is it?" I asked quietly.

"There's a therapist I know. Her name is Dr. Hernandez and she's really good at her job. She's helped me get over some of my breakups. I think you could really benefit from going to her," she explained and I gave a lazy sigh.

"Lucy I'm not broken. I just need time."

"That's what I thought but it had been awhile. Going to her helped a ton Lauren. Do you think you could at least try and see how you like it?" She asked and I lifted my head, her hand still stroking gently. "For me? Please?"

"Fine. I'll try. Now let me see the letter," I spoke and she handed it to me. "It's from her?"

"Yep."

I sighed and my hand found the lamp, flicking on the switch. Squeezing my eyes shut at the bright light, I waited till they were adjusted before opening them all the way. I looked down at the letter to see it was addressed to me.

"Where did you find this?" I asked.

"It was tucked under a flower pot on the table. I don't know how you didn't notice. It was right there."

"Did you clean up?"

"I did."

"Thank you Lucy."

"Of course Lo. I just want to get you out of this slump. It's not good for you. Now, read the letter."

"Dear Laurenza,

Today, we're going to break up and it's going to hurt me so badly I'm going to regret my decision the moment I walk out of that door. It hasn't even happened and I know already. I saw the photo a few minutes ago so I wrote this and I hope you find it soon. I don't know if you remember but everyday, we took a picture together. Well, those are tucked under your bed in a box where they were put in a box. I hope you like it. It was supposed to be a Christmas present. I wanted to say I love you.
I know things didn't go like we expected but I still love you and I always will. You kissed her, but I love you. I just wish you would've told me the truth. If you had, I think we may have been able to get past it but you lied. I don't know why you like to lie to me so much. It hurts me a lot. Yet, I still love you. You could shoot me and I'd still love you. Or in this case, you can kiss someone else and you will still have my heart in the fate of your hands. Never forget that.

With love,
Mani"

-

I dedicate this apology to all those who felt internally scarred by "Oops"