Me Without You

"You promised you'd be different."

Normani and Dinah considered themselves the least problematic pairing in their group of friends. They were proud to boast that the biggest fight they'd ever had was over chicken wings and Dinah had successfully won that one, though Normani would argue differently.

So when Ally found out that Dinah and Normani weren't on speaking terms, this was a cause for concern. Never in their going-on three year relationship had Normani and Dinah stopped speaking to each other for a lengthy amount of time and for Dinah to tell Ally that she hadn't spoken to Normani in four days...well Ally was a little worried.

After she'd confronted Jake about her want to have stability in her life before committing to moving in with him, the pair had compromised that Ally at least move some things into a house he was going to rent, therefore it would still be considered their place to some extent and that seemed to ease whatever conflict had arose in their relationship.

This took a whole load of weight off Ally's shoulders.

It also gave her enough space in her mind to worry about her friends.

Dinah was currently perched on her bed with panic written clear as daylight in her eyes as she explained that she felt Normani was growing bored in their relationship and when she had confronted the dark-skinned girl about it...she hadn't denied her claims. This had led to a fight, one that had Dinah's older sister barging into her room and separating the two girls. Normani was asked to leave and Dinah was left in a pool of her own tears.

That was four days ago.

Normani hadn't so much as sent Dinah a concerned text.

And that wasn't exactly Normani's choice. She sat opposite Keana explaining that as much as she wanted to message Dinah, Normani felt that the blonde wanted space. After their explosive fight, she felt like Dinah needed to cool off.

Over and over the older girl explained that she wasn't bored in her relationship with Dinah at all, in fact, it was one of the best things in her life at that point in time, she just didn't know how to properly word that to Dinah at the time. And it wasn't like the blonde had given her much time to either. As soon as Normani had hesitated, Dinah exploded.

That caused Normani to bite back, in true Normani fashion.

In hindsight, she knew she shouldn't have. She should have listened to Dinah, let her finish with her pointless rant and then assured the blonde that she loved her and their relationship. That's what she should've done, but as soon as Normani was riled up, rational thought seemed to evade her.

So there the pair were, conflicting arguments about one another and both too stubborn to call the other. Both somehow hoping that speaking to their friends about it would lead to some kind of peaceful resolution.

Lucy was excluded from these dramas due to her own, currently she was sat opposite Vero with her hands bound together and her eyes refusing to meet the enticing dark ones she knew were watching her.

She'd called Vero over. Why? She had no idea. Did she feel better having the younger girl there? Yes. She always felt better with Vero around. She always felt happy with Vero around.

"I can...I can go if you want?" Vero suggested. Because it'd been twenty minutes and no words had been exchanged between them and Lucy hadn't so much as glanced at her yet.

But she glanced up then. At the idea that Vero wanted to leave, Lucy instantly looked up.

Vero had promised to fight for her and her suggestion to leave had Lucy thinking otherwise. Who left when things got hard? Who would just walk out when things weren't easy enough to resolve? Quitters. That's who. In Lucy's mind; quitters leave.