Time To Grow

Chapter 14

"Normani, you should probably go check on Lauren," Andrea said, putting a hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Look," she said, pointing to where the green eyed girl was stumbling over herself with a group of guys on the dance floor who were clearly interested in more than just dancing with her. "Not to mention, when I said hello earlier I could smell the alcohol on her."

Normani groaned softly. "Damn it.. I'll go see her, don't worry. She'll be fine."

Her mother nodded, and Normani began making her way over to her friend. One of the people she was dancing with hand his hands on her ass, grinding against her from behind, and the other one managed to catch her as she tripped over her own feet.

"Hey fellas, I've got it from here."

They smiled, and one pecked Lauren's cheek while swatting her ass before walking away, leaving her to Normani.

"What the hell, Lauren?"

"Maniii. The party's so good."

She tugged Lauren away from the crowd, back outside where she had been before. "How much did you drink, Laur?"

Lauren reached into her bag and pulled out the two empty plastic bottles. There wasn't more than a drop left in either one of them. It didn't surprise Normani, given the way her friend was acting.

"I gave Camz a sip and some spilled too.."

"Lauren, why were you drinking?"

"To forget."

"To forget what babe?" Normani asked, putting an arm around the girl.

Lauren leaned against Normani and sighed. "Everything.." She sighed. "I don't like feeling jealous and I don't like the cloud that chases me because my baby is gone," she explained, rubbing her eyes as she spoke, smudging her makeup slightly.

"I get the baby thing, but who are you jealous of?"

"It's dumb.."

"Lauren, nothing you say to me now is going to be dumber than you drowning your sorrows with booze tonight, I promise."

"Dinah."

Normani raised an eyebrow. Dinah? She knew that Lauren and Dinah had been pretty close lately, but she was confused.

"Why?" she asked, hoping for a better understanding.

"She makes me fluttery. Especially when we kiss. But I didn't like her being close with Z," she stated, her words coming out a little slurred.

Hearing this information, Normani chewed the inside of her cheek. "Wait here, okay?" she asked. Once Lauren nodded, she left the girl on the bench, hoping she'd listen.

Making her way back inside, Normani pushed through the crowd, until she came across the person she was looking for. Dinah. She was standing with Zendaya and Camila by a snack table, watching to see how many pretzels Camila could fit into her mouth at once.

"Mani! Look, Mila's up to five pretzels so far!"

Zendaya laughed, and Normani couldn't hold back her own chuckle as she watched her friend try to shove a sixth pretzel into her mouth.

"Damn girl, that's impressive. But Dinah, can I steal you for a bit?" Normani asked, looking at the tallest girl. Dinah nodded, and walked off with Normani until they were standing by the door.

"Someone needs you."

She pointed outside, and Dinah spotted Lauren still sitting on the bench, fiddling with her hair. She wasn't all that surprised that Normani brought her over here, but she still had a little bit of concern. She hoped that nothing was wrong.

"Is she alright?"

"She's drunk. She's jealous of you and Zendaya apparently? I don't know. But what I do know is that girl likes you, and you need to figure this crap out before someone really gets hurt, especially her. I love you, but I don't want her to deal with more sadness on top of what she's already dealt with. So go talk to her."

Dinah swallowed hard. She didn't know Lauren had seen her. She didn't know why Lauren was jealous, but she assumed that she had seen Zendaya's hand on her hip and her lips on her cheek. Lauren had the wrong idea, and Dinah was going to set it straight. She wanted Lauren. The last thing she wanted was any drama, and even though Lauren had been drinking, she was going to try and figure it out.

"Okay."

She walked away from Normani, heading over to the bench that Lauren was on. She noticed the green eyed girl look up at her, but just as quickly, her gaze went to the ground.

"Lauren, we should talk."

"Talk about what?" Lauren asked, wringing her hands together.

"You know what, Lolo."

Lauren frowned, but she nodded. "I don't want to talk about it. It was dumb."

Dinah nodded. "Then you listen while I talk," she told her tilting the girl's chin so she was looking in her direction. She waited for Lauren to lock eyes with her before continuing. "Zendaya is just my friend. When you saw us, do you know what we were talking about? We were talking about you, Lauren. You."

Lauren's eyes welled up with tears. "Why were you talking about me?"

"Because she was talking to me and I was too busy looking at you. I.. You make me happy, Lauser," Dinah said, nudging Lauren gently. "I like you. A lot."

Lauren shrugged, and looked away. "I was dumb. I like you a lot too."

Dinah took a deep breath in before exhaling slowly. She leaned in to capture Lauren's lips with her own, causing the older girl to move closer to her. Lauren pulled back after a moment and smiled.

"Good. That makes me really happy," Dinah told her, nodding. Clearly that was good to hear, because Lauren's smile only grew.

"We need to get you some water, Lo. Maybe some food too. Now can we get back inside to the party?"

Lauren nodded, standing up from the bench. She held a hand out to Dinah to happily laced their fingers together. The started to head inside, and Dinah looked over at her friend.

"We're gonna talk more about this when you're sober," she whispered softly. "That's when I'm going to make you mine.."