You Bring Out the Best In Me

Chapter 20: Leave My Heart Out of This

Normani's POV

"Hey, Angel, how-" I stopped in the dorm's doorway when I realized that the place was empty. I was sorta bummed at school after Ally left. It was pretty obvious that I was falling for her, and it hurt. Camila was also incredibly jealous, which made it even harder. I didn't want to ruin any of my friendships with these girls again. The best thing to do is to give up on Ally. But, I don't want to do that. I really, really liked her, but I knew that she wasn't ready for another relationship after "the Camila catastrophe", which was what I was starting to call it. Or maybe I could just dial it down and make it less obvious. But, first and foremost, where was she? I sat down on the edge of my bed, getting ready to call Dinah when Lauren walked in the room.

"Hey, Mani."

"Hey, where's Ally?" I asked anxiously.

"Oh, you didn't know?" She set her bag down on her bed. "Camz took her to the hospital."

"What?!" I shot up onto my feet. "Why? What happened?!"

"She twisted her ankle and fell in the middle of the hallway."

"Is she okay?"

"Yeah," she shrugged. "Its probably just a sprain."

"No, like...were people...laughing?" She nodded slowly and I felt my heart drop. "I...I'm gonna go see her..."

"Okay," she gave me a sympathetic smile. "I'll be here."

When I arrived at the hospital, I didn't even get a chance to walk up to the desk before I heard my name being called from behind me. I turned around to see Camila sitting by herself in the waiting area. "Hey...where's-"

"She's back there in one of those rooms getting an x-ray." Her legs were crossed and she was dressed differently than she usually was. It was almost as if she was trying to intimidate me...

I carefully sat down in the chair next to her without another word.

"Still like Ally?" she asked.

I bit my lip and nodded, keeping my gaze locked on the floor until it was my turn to speak. "You?" My eyes scanned her profile for any sign of emotion: she showed none. She shook her head no, opening her mouth slightly as if she was about to say something. She quickly closed it, only to open it again. "We broke up today."

"So you don't have feelings for her anymore?"

She shrugged. "I mean...I guess I do...a little bit..."

I paused, looking back down at the tiled floor. "Does she like you?"

She shook her head. "I don't think so." 

I thought about Lauren, and how she and Camila had been pretty close lately. "Do you like anyone else?"

She blushed and forced back a smile. "I don't know....maybe..."

"Excuse me, is anyone here for Allyson Brooke Hernandez?"

Camila and I both stood and walked over to the nurse with the clipboard. "Um...we are." I told her.

"Okay, follow me."

When we arrived at Ally's room, she was sitting in a chair with her arms crossed over her chest and one leg on top of the other. One of her ankles had a brace on it, but she was still wearing her heels. Her hair was curled just like it was before. It had been taken out of the high ponytail, but other than that, her tight black dress and necklace looked exactly the same as it did when I left her earlier. She had an annoyed and bored expression on her face when she turned to the nurse, but it quickly melted away when she saw Camila and I. "ManiBear!" She mouthed as her face brightened. My entire body filled with happiness. I couldn't remember the last time someone was that happy to see me.