Yours Truly

Part 19

Lauren and the girls are now all gathered around the small fire that they were able to create this evening on the now mostly empty beach. The temperature pretty much plummeted now that the sun is replaced with the moon and the heat of the air is replaced with the cool night breeze. The fire wasn't anything vast, but it did provide the girls with that extra natural warmth.

Lauren has her head lying on Camila's lap, Camila's fingers leisurely combing through the lengthy, black hair. They've all been out here for out a half an hour or so just talking about everything and anything. The floor was open for anyone to speak and it was just nice to enjoy each other's company somewhere other than at school and at home.

"Hey, thanks for inviting us along," Dinah suddenly expresses kindly, nudging her foot against Lauren's. She's leaning back on her hands, her long and beautiful hair tied up in a high ponytail. It only further compliments her cheekbones that were carved by Jesus himself. "I think it was really good to get away from home for the weekend. I've been wanting to take a little break from there."

Camila stops running her fingers through Lauren's hair and looks up at Dinah. "Why?" she asks curiously with slight concern in her voice. "Is everything okay with you?"

Now all of the girls' attentions are lying on the youngest of the five, all waiting expectantly for her reply. Dinah shrugs her shoulders halfheartedly. "No, yeah, I mean everything is fine. It's just tha-I don't know. It gets a little crazy at home sometimes since there are so many of us and I can't help but kind of feel ignored a bit. Like you would think that with so many people, you would always have someone to talk to and stuff, right?

"But that's not the case at home. I don't know the exact quote, but there was this thing from The Great Gatsby that said something like, 'big parties are private. Small parties are intimate' and that describes home for me. I'm one of the older kids there so the little ones always require more attention so it's like I'm sometimes disregarded. Like I could get a really good grade on a test, but they're not nearly as excited for me than if one of the smaller kids does well on something. I know that I'm older and I don't really need as much attention as my siblings, but it doesn't feel good to always be overshadowed and feeling like I'm placed lower on the priorities list. And I know that my parents love all of us equally, I do, but I wish they would express it more."

Dinah purses her lips together as she absentmindedly looks into the fire, the flame reflecting off of her dark eyes. There's a quiet atmosphere around all five of them, no one moving or saying anything. Dinah's sudden proclamation caught everyone off guard, especially Lauren. She's known her for years and she never suspected her to feel that way. She always assumed that Dinah had all the attention in the world at home and things were never lonely, but apparently she was wrong. It's wrong to make assumptions about things that she doesn't have any knowledge about and she's sorry for not ever thinking that Dinah could have felt the complete opposite from what she expected.

And Lauren has always been a little envious of Dinah and her enormous family. Sometimes things are eerily quiet around her own household and times like those are when she really does wish that she had a sister or a brother or more running around to fill up that silence. The grass does look greener on the other side.

Normani, who is sitting right beside her, makes the first move and gingerly places her hand on Dinah's knee, giving her a comforting squeeze. Dinah shifts her eyes over to Normani, who's giving her a small smile.

"I'm sorry, D," Normani whispers sympathetically. "I'm sorry that none of us knew that you felt that way, but we want you to know that you will never be ignored or left out around us, okay? We'll seriously always be there for you no matter what, especially when you're feeling lonely."