Sketches (Lauren/You)

If You See Her

"Gosh, it was so romantic, Lauren!"

Lauren smiled to herself as she sat, Indian style, on the floor, packing several items of clothing into the flimsy cardboard. She looked over at her best friend and grinned, the expanse of the gesture taking up her whole face.

"Really now?" She replied, quirking a delicately sculpted brow at her best friend.

Normani Kordei-Hansen- oh how she loved her new last name and continued to remind the poor girl about it every chance she got- looked at Lauren with her eyes full of bright happiness and joy. She gave her soon-to-be-ex roommate a thumbs up and smiled, "It was utterly amazing. And if anyone tells you that sex goes downhill after marriage, they're wrong!"

"Oh. My. God." Lauren deadpanned, slapping her face with a hand and bringing it down to her chin in an over-exasperated manner.

"What?" Normani said in her 'I-didn't-do-anything-wrong' tone, "It's true! Lauren, when you get married, you'll find out that I'm telling the truth!"

She almost gasped at the pain that shot through her at that simple phrase, the simple annotation of words that caused her whole façade of happiness to crumble. Gulping, she hoped her cheery friend hadn't noticed her minor slip up and she just looked at the clothing in her hands, starting to fold them ever-so gently, as if they were fragile and would be tainted underneath her touch.

"But, what I really don't get is why you haven't heard from pretty boy Y/n!"

This time, Lauren couldn't hide the gasp that fell from her lips.

Normani hadn't noticed that, however, and continued talking, rambling on and on, "I mean, he came with you to my wedding," As she said the words 'her wedding', her entire face lit up like a candle's flame, flickering brightly, "And you looked totally hot in that bridesmaid dress. Trust me, he was looking at you the whole time with a look that was...I dunno, but it gave me chills for sure! In the good way. Oh, Lauren, no, not that Y/n made me hot, but the fact that he was looking at you like-"

"Okay, Normani." Lauren said, clenching the articles of clothing so tightly that she was afraid she might rip into them like they were cheap pieces of paper.

"Lauren..." Normani's sense of amusement was gone, and she knew that something was wrong with her dark haired friend. "Did something happen?"

Lauren pulled her bottom lip into her mouth and bit down hard. That was all the answer the woman needed, for she looked at her with concern and wonder at what could have happened to make her feel so bad. So bad that she wouldn't even bother discussing it with her when she first arrived back at the apartment yesterday.

"I...don't care to talk about it right now." She said, her eyes cloudy, stormy, angry. The very sight of it unsettled her and she nodded infinitesimally in reply to her plea.

Normani had arrived back from her honeymoon just a day before. She and Dinah had gone to Jamaica and had apparently had the time of their lives. Now, a day after she returned, she had started packing in preparation for her move out of the little apartment she and Lauren shared and into the one that Dinah inhabited just downtown.

She looked at Lauren, her profile was fierce, guarded. It was strange to see Lauren like this, especially after they had been so close these years that they had lived together. They had been like a family- a family of two, though that didn't matter. Like sisters, as close as if they were blood relatives. She felt a gaping hole start to form in her chest as she looked at Lauren. Had they really drifted apart so much in just a short amount of time apart? Or had whatever that transpired between the two of them been so bad that she didn't even trust her enough to tell?