Both POV
The cafe was noisy. The bustling of dishes and the lack of discrete conversations added to the volume. Lauren sat by herself waiting for Normani who was now an hour late to their lunch date. She didn't want to grill her too badly once she arrived since today was a big day for her. It was now eight a.m. and Lauren needed to be somewhere at 10. Just as she was about to call Normani,the older woman ran hurriedly towards her. Her hair was perfectly flat ironed and her face fully done up in make up. Lauren could tell that she was getting show ready and stressing about every little thing.
" I am soooo sorry I'm late. I know you hate that. How about I take on the bill! Order whatever you want." She said with rushed words. Lauren let out a chuckle. Admiring the woman that sat in front of her. Lauren was attracted to Normani no matter what setting she was in.
"Mani how about we let you take a breath" Lauren chuckles. Normani lets out a breath that she didn't know she was holding. She chuckles at herself afterwards,realizing she was stressing herself out beyond belief. Lauren continued to stare at the older woman with a small on her face. She could always tell when Normani was being hard on herself and in turn making herself stress out too much. Whenever she would get like this she'd forget to eat and sleep. Then in turn she would stress Lauren out.
"Have you eaten at all yet?" Lauren asked. Normani reached slowly into her purse and pulled out two zipblock bags. One was filled with fruit and the other were filled with a bunch of cliff bars.
"Dari left this in the fridge for me. Left a note and everything telling me to keep the bags with me at all times today!" Normani said brightly.
"Who's Dari?" Lauren asked. The smile on Normani's face quickly fell. She began to chew on her lip contemplating what she was going to say next.
"Um,...........that's my boyfriend."
Laurens smile also fell once she claimed their relationship to her.
"Shit Laur, I didn't mean to mention him. I'm sorry." Normani quickly said while looking away from Lauren. The mentioning of his name was a complete accident. Yet,it scared her that she was able to talk about him to other people so easily and that also scared Lauren too. This told Lauren that they were a lot more serious than what Normani had led her to believe. This told Lauren that he knew his way around her apartment. He was an intruder. He was intruding her life with Normani,taking up every single bit of her space.
"We came here to talk about us, not him." Lauren stated before waving a waiter over to their table.
"I'll have the Americano,2 creams, one sugar, and she'll have the pike roast-black." The younger woman put in there orders without breaking eye contact with a contemplating Normani.
"So lets talk about us then." Normani said with her lips in a thin line.
"What are we?" Lauren asked with hope that she'd get a "I don't know" or a "We're us Lauren",but she had no luck.
"I'd like to say we're friends at the moment."
"But what about after this moment?" Lauren rolled her eyes.
"I can't see the furture Lauren." Normani let out a long sigh. Rubbing her temples she could tell this conversation with Lauren was gonna end up in a argument. Showing her that nothing has truly changed between the to. Since the break up every encounter has ended with a arguement except for the night Lauren stopped by the office and yesterday. The waiter came back with their drinks cutting the awkward silence between them.
"I want you back Normani. This shit ain't new, and the night you kicked me out I said I was willing to wait,follow your lead if it meant that one day we'd be together. So I'm down for therapy. Checked with my manager and Doc. I'm here,ready to work. But are you?"
Lauren's lack of beating around the bush forced Normani to think about what she really wanted in that moment. Was she ready to put in work? Was she ready to let herself show her love for Lauren and risk falling back in love with her again?
"I'm ready to work on our relationship in general. Maybe we will get back together or we won't. I need you to know the later is a possibility." Normani retorted. Lauren rolled her eyes. She can tell Normani was trying so hard to push the idea of them getting back together out of the way,but Lauren knew deep down she was just scared shitless.
"Ok,I get that, I mean for christ sakes you have a boyfriend and I'm still entertaining other people occasionally. I just want you to know the moment we are ready to go back to being a couple, that all of those other relationships need to be cut." Lauren said sternly. She took some sips of her coffee,liking the sweet but bitter taste it left on her tongue. She wanted nothing but to get back with Normani ,but she wasn't gonna faithfully wait for Normani while she fucked her "boyfriend". They were gonna be equals every step of the way.
"Mhmmm I suppose I can't expect you not to 'do you',but can we not mention our therapy to y'know our partners or anyone else for that matter?" Worry was sprawled across Normani's fave. She wasn't ashamed of having to go to therapy. She just didn't want her business to be aired and more importantly she didn't want Darius to know.
"You know I don't like people in my business. I promise non of my partners will know. My manager doesn't even know. I just told him that I needed an extra day for my personal therapy. Oh but Dinah knows because it was her idea. "
Normani let out a sigh of relief. Hopefully this will work out and no matter how this ends they won't hate each other after it. The older woman picked up her coffee and took a sip. Letting the warmth fill her as she took a moment to breath. The most stressful part of her day was now done. Now she could focus on the fashion show and not over analyze Lauren.
" Are Mondays at 4 good for you?"
"Yep." Normani answered.
"Then its settled. Now,I have a studio session to get to. I will see you tonight for your show." Lauren said as she gathers her belongings. Normani stood gathering herself as well. She nodded at the girl,opening her arms wide. Lauren smiled giving her a quick hug and small kiss on the forehead.
"See ya Mani." The younger girl said before walking past Normani and out of the noisy cafe.
A/N
Hi. Here's a shitty update. I can feel myself slowly getting stuck already,so your feedback would be helpful :). DON'T FORGET TO VOTE FOR MANI TOMORROW ON DWTS. MAKE SAVED ACCOUNTS!STEAL YA FAMILIES PHONES!
