Time To Grow

Chapter 7

Two more weeks went by sine their White House performance for Easter. Two weeks where Lauren's morning sickness had started to subside, which had her feeling relieved. Two weeks went by where the five girls could sit and enjoy each others company without there being any tension or secrets. It was two weeks where she still hadn't broken the news to her family yet. There hadn't been too much going on lately. A few interviews, a talk show performance to promote Worth It as their latest single. And in a matter of days, it would be the Radio Disney Music Awards.

Lauren woke up in the morning and felt a little off. She couldn't put her finger on it, but something just wasn't right. She didn't question it. Maybe it was going to just be one of those day. Everyone got them occasionally, maybe today was going to be hers. It was a shame too, because she was spending the day at Coachella.

She went to get dressed, and groaned. She had the perfect outfit planned about a month in advance, and now she was realizing that the cute denim shorts she wanted to wear wouldn't do up. She looked around for her phone, finding it jumbled up in her sheets. Once it was in her hand, she went to her contacts and hit call on one of them.

"Maniiii."

"Lauren? Girl, what do you need this early, I'm gonna see you later anyways."

"I don't know what the fuck to do, my shorts don't fit."

"I don't know what to tell you," Normani sighed. "Don't you have that big green and white dress thing? You could wear that."

"I.. Yeah, I have it but do you really think that's a good thing to wear?"

"Why not? I think you'll look fine."

"Thanks.."

"Sure thing. I'm gonna let you go Lo, I'll see you later."

As she ended the call, she walked to the closet to fetch the outfit Normani was talking about. It definitely wasn't the most flattering thing in the world, but she could make it work. With the right pair of shoes and her favorite sunglasses, it could be a good outfit.

Once she was dressed, Lauren went to grab an apple from the kitchen. She smiled at her parents who were both in there, trying to make breakfast while purposely getting in the way of each other. Her dad raised an eyebrow at her.

"That's quite the outfit, Lauren."

"Yeah.. I didn't really know what else to put on."

Her mom sighed. "I thought you had your outfit picked out already. You went on and on about it, I remember it clearly."

"Mom, I just.. didn't go with it. I changed my mind. Mani thinks I'll look fine, and I do. I trust her judgement," Lauren snapped, starting to feel defensive.

The hormones she had were pretty crappy. She figured they would only get worse over time, but she really just didn't know how to handle them. It was like PMS hormones, only a little more sporadic and less controlled.

"Lauren Michelle Jauregui. Don't snap at me, all I did was make a point. You've been like this a lot lately, and it's getting excessive sweetheart."

Lauren ran her fingers through her hair and sighed. Better to do it now than to wait until later.

"Yeah, pregnancy hormones do that to a person."

Her parents side eyed each other, trying to grasp what their daughter had just said. Her mother's face softened for a moment, and her dad looked concerned.

"Lauren..." Mike said softly, moving to pull her in for a hug. He held her close, and she happily accepted that.

"Who's is it? How far along are you?" Clara asked.

"It.. it's Brad's. And I'm around thirteen weeks.. three months."

Her parents looked at each other again, not really sure what to say. Her dad pulled back, and Lauren picked up her phone and her apple.

"Go on, we'll just talk about this later.. Once it's all sunken in."

Lauren nodded, and grabbed her sunglasses on her way out, meeting up with some friends so they could go.

As the day progressed, Lauren wasn't feeling any better than she had that morning. In fact, she felt a little bit worse. She and her friends had met up with Normani and her friends a few hours into it. Lauren felt comfort in the fact that her band mate was around. She loved the friends she came with, but with the amount of time she spent on the road, Normani and the other girls felt more like her best friends than these ones did. She wouldn't ever admit that to them though.

Feeling a tug on her arm, she looked up at Normani. She held up a finger to the group of people, signalling that she'd be back soon. Normani pulled her aside, heading over to a less populated area.

"Lauren, are you alright?"

"Yeah, fine..Why?"

"Because you don't look it."

She swallowed hard, placing a hand on her tummy. "I just feel a little off, that's all. It's almost like a crampy feeling," she explained.

"That doesn't sound good. Are you supposed to be crampy if you're knocked up?"

"I don't know.."

"Lauren.."

"If it gets worse, I'll tell you. Okay? I don't want to ruin this by thinking something is wrong when there probably isn't."

Normani just shook her head. "Fine. But if you think my and my people are leaving you and yours, you're crazy."

Lauren nodded, and linked her arm with Normani's as they headed back to where their friends were all standing and talking. A small pain had Lauren trying not to wince.

"Come on, let's go watch," Lauren said, gesturing to a band on stage.

Everyone agreed, and made their way towards the large crowd that was gathered there. For the most part, Lauren could ignore how she was feeling and focused on the music. She giggled, knowing one of Normani's friends was behind her taking a video, and she knew that she was going to be at least partially in the shot.

The set ended shortly thereafter, and the pain in her abdomen only grew.

"Mani.." Lauren said softly, but loud enough for her friend to hear her. Her eyes were filled with worry, and she fiddled with the ends of her hair.

Normani got the message, and turned to the large group of their friends. "Hey, Lauren and I have to head out," she said, gaining confused looks from everyone. "Fifth Harmony stuff," she lied.

The group nodded. They knew that these two had a busy schedule, and Lauren was impressed that Normani seemed so authentic with that lie, given the fact that she knew her friend was worrying. As they walked away, Normani ran her hand over Lauren's back.

"Everything will be fine."

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a/n: I just wanted to thank you all for the positive comments I've been getting on the story so far. It definitely gives me motivation to continue when I see them. I'm really glad you're enjoying it!