Kick Start

Chapter Six

“Fifty- and then, Normani kept yelling at the top of her lungs, and it was like, three a.m.- sixty- so obviously we weren’t really in a position to be yelling because it was so early and we didn’t want to- seventy- get in trouble. So, Ally, bless her, just turns around and fucking plants one on her- eighty- and Normani just stops everything. She stopped talking, stopped moving, I’m pretty sure she stopped breathing- ninety- and stares at Ally for a while. We thought it worked, but then, she starts screaming at the top of her lungs, ‘I did it! I fucking did it! My life is complete!’- one hundred- ‘Ally Brooke Hernandez, will you marry me?’ and well, we were doomed at that point,” Lauren stopped talking for a moment, and all that could be heard was their heavy breathing and the thump of the soccer balls as it hit either their feet or thighs before shooting back into the air.

Lauren and Camila were juggling, at seven in the morning on a Saturday, nonetheless, and Lauren was telling Camila stories from their younger years in high school.

While Camila wanted to hear more stories about Lauren in particular, the curvy girl had mainly been telling stories about Normani and Ally, and was currently in the middle of telling about how Ally and Normani had gotten together.

“So, then what happened?” Camila panted, right after Lauren announced they were on one hundred and twenty.

Lauren was silent for a little while, and Camila was a little worried that she wouldn’t finish the story or that it was a sore point from the older girl’s life, but then Lauren was continuing.

“Well, the sirens started at that point, ‘cause we weren’t really supposed to be on the field and Normani was making enough ruckus to alert the neighbors of our presence- hundred fifty- but Mani had gone back to staring silently once the sirens started but this time she was staring at me, and it was kind of worrying- hundred sixty- ‘cause she was rarely that quiet, as you probably know, but Ally and I were trying to get her to move so we wouldn’t get caught- hundred seventy- and she just wouldn’t. So, right as the cops are getting there, she goes, ‘I love Ally, but Laur, how could I do this to you?’ and she looked so stricken and worried- hundred eighty- and I just started laughing. And well, the cops showed up and we made sure Normani stayed silent and convinced them that we were just trying to play some soccer and they asked us to leave and that was that,” Lauren concluded, looking thoughtful and reminiscent.

She didn’t look upset, though, only as if she were thinking of a good laugh.

“Wait- but, why would you be upset?” Camila questioned as they hit two hundred juggles, and she almost lost her control on the ball as she asked.

Lauren was quiet for a little bit more, and she looked a little unsure of something.

“Two-thirty,” she muttered quietly, and she was still looking skeptical. “Look, I get that things like Normani and Ally aren’t always accepted, so I generally don’t tell people or whatever but you get along with our friend group fine so…well, just don’t tell people this, yeah?”

It was the first time Camila had seen the long-haired girl anything but sure of herself, and she wondered what could be so bad that Lauren was hesitant to tell her.

“After LuLu and I broke up,” Lauren began, and she saw Camila's questioning look, “Luis, I mean- two-fifty- we dated freshman year and part of sophomore year. Well, Mani and I started…hooking up. And when that whole story- the Ally and Mani getting together one- happened, Mani and I were still hooking up, but I knew that she really liked Ally and honestly, Normani and I were more of an exploration thing, ya know? Two-seventy, like a figuring my sexuality out type thing. She showed me I liked girls as well, and I guess I showed her that Ally was The One for her.”