Wings

Forward

She was avoiding her eyes which should have been impossible considering they were on facetime but still she was managing to avoid them. She stared down as she talked about some silly fight her and Troy had gotten into earlier that day. It wouldn't have made her suspicious if she didn't know that she almost never talked about fights her and her boyfriend had unless they were serious which they rarely ever were. It wouldn't have made her suspicious if she wasn't avoiding her eyes.

"Ally," she finally said once she'd gotten to the end of her very long, very dull, very redundant rant about how he was supposed to be looking into buying tickets for a trip they were taking in August and still hadn't "What aren't you telling me?"

Ally chuckled nervously and finally looked at her, scrunching her eyebrows together like her question was ridiculous "Telling you? What do you mean? I'm not telling you anything. I...I...I mean I have nothing to tell you. Nothing more, at least." She stuttered.

She rolled her eyes "You are the worst liar I have ever met, you know that right? What's going on?" She watched as Ally's face grew a shade lighter.

She shook her head quickly "Mani it's nothing..."

"Allyson Hernandez, if you do not tell me what's going on right now I will never speak to you again." They both knew that wasn't telling the truth but Ally couldn't hold water regardless.

She sighed "I can't say anything, I'm sorry." She said sympathetically.

"You promised me you'd never keep anything from me." Normani tried but it did nothing to prompt Ally to spill whatever she was keeping from her. Whatever it was it must've been big.

"I promised them too."

Normani raised an inquisitive eyebrow "Who is them?"

Ally swallowed hard "Dinah and..." she paused. Normani could hear her jagged breathing on the other end. She took in a gulp of air before smiling at her "How is Leigh Anne doing?" she asked in a failed attempt to change the subject.

Normani shook her head "Nah Dinah and who?" she pushed further but deep down she knew.

Ally's face turned the shade lighter again as she pleaded with her eyes "Mani, I promised I wouldn't tell you."

"If whatever you, Dinah, and this mystery person are hiding have anything to do with me then I have a right to know. I don't care what you promised." She said as she began feeling increasingly annoyed with the back and forth.

It was evident to Ally and enough for her to finally break her silence "It's Lauren." She said grimly "She's in New York."

Normani kept a straight face but her heart stopped for a couple of seconds "She's here?" she tried to sound as unbothered as she possibly could but her voice had gone up an octave when she asked.

Ally nodded slowly.

"To see me?"

She shook her head "She won a poetry contest and the finals are this weekend."

Normani chuckled gently at the sheer irony. She didn't speak for a moment as she tried to regain the composure she'd worked so hard to build up since Lauren had left her the first time. The disappointment that Lauren was not there to see Normani was racking her brain and she prayed that Ally couldn't tell. She took a deep breath "Okay, so she's here. Big deal." Her words were flat.

Ally seemed a little shocked "No big deal? The love of your life is in the same city as you right this very moment and that's no big deal to you?"

"She's not the love of my life anymore, Ally. She's not the love of my life and she didn't come here for me so yes, it's no big deal." Hearing the words hurt just as much as saying them as if she weren't the one speaking.