Annoying the Stubborn

n i n e t e e n

Lauren hated not seeing Y/N around the campus. Walnuthills felt so different and strange without the billionaire lurking around like a great white shark, silently waiting for a prey to come and perfectly timing her attack.

During English, Lauren's eyes couldn't help but wander around, hoping that she'd at least see the smug smirk of Y/N from afar, knowing that she'd be looking for her. But she wasn't there. The distinct cool smell that she carried around was absent, so was the annoying antics that she always did. It was only the first day and she was missing Y/N  already.

She wondered what Y/N does during her photoshoot. Is she going to take different women every night to bed? They're going to replace the scratches Lauren left on Y/N's back and soon, they will just be a memory of their meaningless moment.

At least that's what Lauren thought Y/N would call it.

Little did the green-eyed girl know that Y/N was missing her too but it was actually a good time to distract herself from Lauren. Being away from her gave her space to breathe, although she found it beautiful that Lauren leaves her breathless. Her feelings were contradicting and it made not only her brain hurt but also her heart. She knew she had to look after Lauren but she heard Lauren loud and clear, and they're giving Rick another chance. It was experimental and Y/N would still be there if he hurt them.

One thing that bothered Y/N was Normani's secret. It caused her to fidget while on the plane, biting on her lip as she tried to figure out why the hell Normani wanted to keep it all in instead of telling Lauren.

Ally already knew what happened, but why couldn't she tell the others? She already spilled it out to one person and they're her best friends. Normani should know that no one will be a snitch about it but what Y/N didn't know was the dark-skinned girl was actually scared of telling Lauren about what happened because it could reach Rick in an instant. Until now, they still don't know who told Rick about Normani telling Lauren the story behind him and Y/N's rivalry and the only person who can hold a proper conversation with him is his girlfriend—Lauren. So, as much as possible, Normani was avoiding sharing every single detail she knew to Lauren. She was being careful. She didn't want history to repeat itself again now she saw how miserable her family can be just because of telling the truth. If it wasn't for Y/N, she would be working instead of studying. She owes her life to her now.

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The next day was rougher to Lauren. Y/N has yet to return from Monaco and she thought about messaging her, but she had been with Rick the entire afternoon, making out with him and helping him with school, all the time her mind trained on a certain pair of pale ocean eyes. Rick caught her spacing out multiple times but she always managed to slip out of his suspicions.

Rick was doing good and Lauren hasn't seen him bullying anybody at school. He sat with them as much as he could and endured the criticizing gaze from Lauren's friends. After all, everyone decided on it and they should deal with the consequences.

As much as possible, Lauren kept Rick's hands off of her when they're in front of her friends. Shawn and Austin would sometimes join the table as well, making it cramped as it already was whenever the guys were around. The two would hit on Camila—unfortunately—even when Blake was there but Rick would stop them when he'd notice Camila growing uncomfortable, which the Cuban was all the time they were there. Camila even wanted to flee from the table but didn't want to offend anybody. Eating at the restrooms would be so much better than eating with those disgusting people who are worse than toilets. Was she too much?

They were all slowly adjusting with the new set of friends and so far, they were okay with it. Not entirely but it was better than before. Rick started being nice, treating everyone food every once in a while, and proving himself that he wasn't the guy he was before.