Lauren's P.O.V
The next morning I wake up to brunette hair on my face. Normani is lying on top of me with her head in my neck. My arms are wrapped around her waist and there's a blanket on top of us. Did she wake up, get a blanket and then lie back down on top of me? She's still sleeping and I don't want to wake her. She's normally hard to wake up though so maybe I can get up without waking her. I try to shift her out of my neck but she grumbles and moves closer to me. So that's not going to work. Guess I'll just lay here until she wakes up.
"Why are you moving so much?" I hear her say. At least she got up earlier than I expected.
"I want to see what time it is." I say and she sighs then moves so that she's lying behind me on the couch. I get off the couch and stretch then look at the clock in my kitchen. It's only 9:30. Where the hell is my son? He's normally up and bouncing off the walls right now. I go check his room and surprisingly he's still in bed. That's a little weird. I go back to the living room but I don't see Mani. I sit on the couch and look at my phone. I text Hanna and ask her out to lunch.
"Lo?" I look up and to my right and see Mani coming to sit next to me.
"Yeah?"
"I asked if you wanted me to make breakfast."
"Oh. Sure if you want but Aiden is probably just going to want cereal." She nods.
"So do you want anything?" She asks and I shrug.
"One of your omelets?" She nods with a smile.
"I could do that. So any plans today?" I go to answer her but get a text from Hanna.
"Lunch with Hanna. I was wondering if you could watch Aiden while I'm out?" I ask.
"Sure. I can take him to the park to ride his bike since the weather is supposed to be okay today."
"That would be good. Thanks." She nods and puts her hand on my knee before she gets up and goes to the kitchen.
"What did you have planned today?" I look at her as she shrugs.
"Nothing really." I watch Normani move around my kitchen and something dawns on me. I remember when she told me her life plan when we were 20. By 22 she would have found the person she wanted to marry. By 24 she would be married and by 26 she would have a kid. I wonder if I fucked that up. I wonder if we never broke up, would she have a kid? Would we have a kid? I guess I'll never really know because it's the past but the future...it's still questionable.
Some times I hate to think of our relationship because of how much it hurt when it ended. When you tell someone you love them and you want them to be your forever but it ends...you recover and you eventually move on but that relationship...that wound...will always be there, no matter if it's healed or not, it's always there.
Aiden goes into the kitchen and says hi to Mani. They talk about something and he gets excited. She probably told him about the park. I like watching them together. Normani is amazing with him and I think she sees him as family. Everyone pretty much accepted Aiden with open arms. Chris and Travis took him to the batting cages, Joanna took him to the art museum, Dinah has tried to talk to him but he's never really interested and he loves Ally to pieces. This kids family has grown in size dramatically and he loves it. This kid has done things for me in such a short period of time, that I could never repay. I love him more than anything and every time I look into those green eyes I fall even more. I still can't believe I have this kid. My kid.
I go take a shower and eat breakfast with them. Time was actually moving by a little too slowly for me but eventually it was time for me to go meet up with Hanna. I let her pick the restaurant and when I got there she was already seated and looking over her menu. She looks up at me as I approach the table and gives me a lop sided smile. I give her a sm
all smile and sit across from her.
"Hi." She greets me.
"Hey. Have you been here long?" I ask and she shakes her head.
"Just got here really." I nod and I grab the menu in front of it.
We talk a little more, just catching up I guess and put in our orders. The conversation is basic. How's Aiden, work, your family? Pretty basic stuff but Hanna has a lot more going on.
Her boss wants her to go to Spain with him to help prepare for some huge fashion show or something. That sounds really awesome and I'm happy for her, I didn't expect all of that in just a few weeks. We get our food and keep talking. I think we both started to feel a little more comfortable after a while because it was tense at first, especially on my end. Even though I am enjoying my time with Hanna, I have to do what I came here for.
"So...I wanted to talk to you about something." I say and she nods.
"The break."
"Yeah. Look you're amazing, you really are..."
"But you want to end things." She says and I nod.
"I totally saw this coming and I'm fine with it. I really like you but I figured your heart was with her." She says as she sighs softly and plays with the straw in her glass of water.
"I'm sorry." I say and she shrugs.
"It's fine."
"We -"
"Can still be friends. Yeah, I know. I don't know if I want to be your friend right now." She says and I nod.
"Maybe I'll text you one day though...when I'm ready."
"Okay. I should probably go." She nods and I stand from the table.
We say goodbye and I leave the restaurant. That went pretty much the way I expected. I didn't think she'd be happy about it or really want to remain friends but in the end it was the best for both of us. I text Normani as I leave and she tells me they're still at the park. When I get to the park I quickly spot Normani helping Aiden on his bike. Once he gets on he starts to pedal away from her. I walk up behind her and stand there.
"It would be better if he didn't have training wheels." She jumps slightly then turns around and slaps my shoulder.
"Asshole. I didn't think you'd get here so fast." I shrug and walk to a bench. Mani follows me and we both sit down.
"So how was lunch?" She asks.
"Food was good. Conversation was good until I told her I wanted to see other people."
"You dumped her?" Normani asks and I nod.
"Just...got some clarity." Normani nods and folds her arms over her chest.
"Okay. How'd she take it?"
"How I expected. It wasn't horrible but I could tell she was hurt."
Normani nods and bites her bottom lip. I look over to see Aiden coming back towards us.
Aiden rides around a little more then we go get ice cream and go home. I invited Normani and she said yes like I expected. The rest of the night we watched scary movies then made a fort on the floor and told scary stories before Aiden fell asleep. He decided he wanted to sleep in the fort so Normani and I got out. She goes to the kitchen and I follow her.
"Heading out?" I ask and she nods.
"Yeah."
"Thanks for watching him earlier."
"No problem. He's fun." I nod and she moves towards the door.
"So are you busy this Friday?" I ask.
"I have to be at my office for a few hours but I'll probably be done by lunch."
"Then why don't we grab lunch? Just you and me?" She smiles slightly and nods her head.
"I don't see why not. I don't have anything else to do."
"Don't act like you don't want to go out with me." I say as she opens the door. She walks out and looks at me with a smirk.
"I thought we were just getting lunch? I didn't know it was a date." I lean against the door and bite my bottom lip.
"Do you want it to be a date?" I ask and she shrugs.
"I don't know."
"Why not?" I ask.
"I've been on dates with you. Not the most fun." She says jokingly.
"You have no life so you might as well. Tell me you have something better to do."
"I might have someone better to do."
"We both know, that's not true." She raises her eyebrow at me and stares me down before shaking her head lightly.
"Place and time?"
"I'll let you know." I say and she rolls her eyes good heartedly.
"Be safe and call me when you get home." She nods and hugs me then walks down the hall to the elevator and I watch her ass. She keeps her head straight but says.
"Stop staring at my ass." I chuckle to myself when she turns and winks at me. I go back inside my apartment and shut the door. Can't wait for Friday.