nobody like you (Lauren Jauregui)

are you sure?

The next day, when she wakes up, Lauren immediately remembers that somewhere on her desk, there's a handwritten note from Alma waiting to be read.

So she jumps out of bed and opens it.

Dear Lauren

I really don't mean to make it long like the ending of a coming of age teen movie, but this is the only way you can get some sort of explanation.

The way I broke up with you shouldn't have happened the way it did, it shouldn't have happened at all actually but that's not my point yet. I wish I could tell you everything from beginning to end but I can't so I'm just going to tell you how sorry I am, I didn't mean to hurt you and say hurtful things to you, and I hope you can at least understand that I can't talk to you in other ways than writing this letter.

And hopefully I'll find a way to give it to you.

Please don't try to call me, text me or see me alone at school, or we'll both get in really deep shit and we don't want that

Added on Prom Night: You look gorgeous in that dress and I wish I was able to take it off of you.

Sincerely yours,
Alma.

First, Lauren frowns because she doesn't get it. She has no idea what's happening.

Then she gets to Alma's compliment and she chuckles, blushing a little as her bottom lip gets stuck between her teeth, and she looks out the window.

All she knows right now is that she has to find a way to talk to her face to face, because for some unknown reason, she actually thinks this could get better.

She trusts herself, and deep down she also trusts Alma, which just makes it better because she's sure they can work it out somehow.

For the whole weekend, Lauren is home and she wonders how she could talk to Alma without taking any risk, because apparently she can't afford to do so.

And it hits her on Sunday night around 1AM.

When she enters the school, she basically runs to Normani's office, not even knocking.

"Lauren, what can I do for you?"

"I need you to schedule an appointment with Alma on second period. Make it look like it'll be you and her, send her mom an email, note her absent to her class but really you won't be there because I, your dear bestest friend ever, need to work things out with her and that's the only way I can do it." Lauren spits out, out of breath when she's done.

She's looking at Normani with hopeful eyes, but Normani seems a little confused.

"What the fuck?"

"Please, Mani."

"How can I do that? You want people to see me walk out of my office after a student entered it? And you think it's slick? No. It's even more sus. Besides, I told you to not get into this shit and you still did, work it out yourself now."

"You don't understand. It's not me trying to force her into coming back. It's me helping her come to me without it being sus. Look, I don't know what's going on either, I'm just trying to get my girlfriend back because I love her. Please do this for me."

Lauren is now using her puppy eyes tactic and Normani is staring at her with the most neutral look in the world.

"I swear to God if you weren't so fucking pretty." Normani says, opening her laptop. "You better be there first, and I'll go get her. You fucking simp, get out of here."

Lauren smiles and jumps on her best friend, kissing her cheeks and basically her whole face.

"Okay, yeah, you're welcome, get the fuck out of here."

Lauren nods, and gets out of the office to walk to her classroom, and she sees Alma apparently doing homework.

She walks a little slower, and enters the room quietly, but Alma looks up.

"Hi." Lauren says, and Alma just awkwardly smiles at her, and gets back to her work.

So Lauren gets her stuff out and waits until she's finally done with this class, and when she is, she goes straight to Normani's office, sitting down in front of her with a victorious smile as her best friend rolls her eyes, leaving the room.

She comes back and Lauren immediately looks at the door and meets Alma's eyes. The younger girl seems a little surprised, but still there's a subtle smile appearing on her face.

"Hey." Lauren says as Normani gets out of the room, and Alma lets her backpack fall on the floor as she sits down with Lauren.

"Hey." Alma answers and hearing her voice just fills her heart with happiness.

"This... Is the only way I figured we could talk without being suspicious. Do you mind?"

"No. Not at all. I'm glad you found a way."

A silence falls in the room and they kind of just awkwardly look at each other, because none of them knows how to actually start the conversation.

"I'm not dating her." Alma blurts out, and Lauren softly frowns. "Alisha. I'm not dating her. She's my friend, I really like her and I'm glad that... She's my friend. I didn't break up with you because of her. I didn't choose the easy way, I actually choose the way that wouldn't make you end up in jail." Alma says, looking at Lauren's hands in her thighs.

"What do you mean?"

"My mom found out." She looks up, and Lauren just immediately gets it.

"Of course." She says.

It all makes sense now.

"I'm really sorry." Alma explains. "I... I panicked, I didn't know how to tell you, I really don't know what happened in my mind but she said if I continued seeing you she'd report us and I don't want that, so I just- I don't know, my mouth just spat things out and nothing went the way I wanted it to go. I'm really sorry... For screaming at you and telling you I don't want you, I actually do... I just feel like there's no issue."

"Well if I'm honest I don't think there's one for now. I mean, I've been thinking about it and really I don't see a way this could work out without your mom knowing, you know, especially if she suspects it."

"Oh she knows. She doesn't just suspect, she went all the way in and searched in my phone."

"Oh- That sucks. I'm sorry."

"Yeah, she did worse things."

Alma looks at Lauren's face as Lauren is looking away, and parts her lips to talk but nothing comes out the second she starts actually looking at her.

She falls into every detail, and gets lost in her eyes, memories replaying in her head as she wishes they never fade away.

"You know... I think I'm in love with you." Alma says, and Lauren looks up again.

"Are you sure?" She answers, and Alma just falls a little more at the reference from their favorite book.

"Can I kiss you?" The blonde girl asks, and Lauren just nods as Alma gets up and takes a step forward, putting her hand on her cheek.

Lauren gets lost in those ocean blue eyes just before their lips meet, and she smiles in the kiss as she realises how bad she missed it.