my friends from instagram (fifth harmony)

3.24 where michael meets lauren

fp: 5/13/21

in honor of me finishing working at the hospital we have an emotional rollercoaster of a chapter because that's what that experience was like. enjoy.

Lauren wakes up in her mother's bed. She's confused at first until she realizes why she's there and her heart clenches.

Dinah's gone.

She wants to start crying again but can't will herself to do so. She doesn't even know how she's going to get out of bed. She decides to close her eyes again, maybe it's just a nightmare.

Maybe Dinah's still asleep with her in her bed because she slept over and when they wake up they're going to go out for breakfast and get pancakes from that one place that they love so much.

She can't fall asleep again. She rolls over, staring at the ceiling and realizing now how quiet it is in the house. School's out - it's been out for a while now - so Chris and Taylor are at least supposed to be home, but her dad should be home by now.

Finally, the pressure in her bladder is too much to ignore, so she gets out of bed and trudges to the bathroom. Her heart sinks as she realizes more and more that this is real and it's not a dream, and she buries her face in her hands, wanting to disappear into thin air.

It hurts too much.

After using the bathroom, Lauren washes her hands and her face, hoping maybe that this is just a dream and water on her face will snap her out of it.

She whimpers quietly when she realizes that's not the case, something in her mind still prohibiting her from crying.

Lauren leaves the bathroom and stops at the door to her room, which is still shut tight from when she left the house yesterday.

She really doesn't want to go in. If she feels this much pain from this, she can't imagine going in her room and seeing all of the reminders of Dinah. There's a lot of them; the piece of coal in glass casing that Dinah gave her for Christmas, the Lion King Playbill that they bought off eBay when they both were drunk and Lauren had just gotten birthday money, the photos of her and Dinah throughout the years (including the random polaroids Dinah gave her from when Dinah owned an instant camera for three days).

The worst, Lauren thinks, is the letter in her car. Who the fuck knows what's written in that? Lauren doesn't think she can handle it. Everything will be real when she opens it.

She sighs, deciding to go downstairs and find something to eat. If she can avoid going to her car or to her room, she's going to do it.

-

"Oh my god, is that a hickey?"

Camila laughs loudly and Lauren's face goes red.

"Maybe," the green eyed girl replies.

"You cannot meet my son with a hickey," Dinah says, shaking her head, "Fucking animal."

"Hey!" Lauren exclaims, "I'm not sorry for having a sex life."

"Seems like you're not sorry for being a bottom, either," Dinah responds, and Lauren snorts as she thinks of how many times Dinah used to use that joke in the past.

"I really hope you're not talking like this with Michael in the house," Lauren comments, smiling when Camila comes over and wraps her arms around her from behind, "Hey."

Dinah looks at them through the camera, "Hey. No coupling right now. Mani's not here and you're making me feel lonely."

"You didn't answer my question," Lauren responds as Camila gently presses a kiss to the back of her head before leaving the room.