Secrets (A Lauren Cimorelli Romance Story)

Concern and avoidance

**Dani's POV**

     "Look if you guys aren't gonna leave then I guess I will!" Lauren shouted as she dashed out of the room with tears streaming down her face. My four sisters and I sat on Lauren's bed in awe after what we had just witnessed. No one knew what to say. None of us had ever seen Lauren have that big of a break down before. She was the chill sibling. She only had minor meltdowns, but those were always over mini fights with one of the siblings, or over a boy maybe. This was a different. 

     Finally after what felt like a century of stillness Christina broke the silence, "I really thought us talking to her would help...somethings wrong guys." We all nodded in agreement, which was then followed by another awkward silence.

"Should we try to go after her?" Lisa finally spoke up.

"No. She will never talk to us if we don't give her space. She probably just needs to be by herself right now." Katherine replied.

"Guys. What do you think happened to her last week? I'm really worried." Amy spoke up.

"I'm not sure, but whatever it was it couldn't have been good." Christina responded.

"Guys. I'm really scared. Lauren's never kept something from me before. We tell each other everything." I spoke up for the first time since Lauren left the room. 

"Don't worry Dani. Everything will be fine. She'll talk to you, and hopefully us when she's ready. Besides for all we know it really could be raging hormones who knows." Lisa said with a soothing tone.

"I hope so." I replied as I stood up and walked over to Lauren's window that overlooked the main street. 

"I really hope so..." I repeated to myself under my breathe as I stared out the window.

**lauren's POV- later that night**

     It was now 6:30 at night. Shawn and his parents would be here soon, and the weird thing was...I wasn't dreading it anymore. I was actually looking forward to it. 

     After I had finished crying at the park it was awkward at first, but then shawn asked me if I wanted to talk about it yet. I hesitated at first. Could I trust him? Lately I hadn't felt like I could trust anyone. But then I remembered what he did for me that night. How he saved me. So, I talked. I told him everything that had happened with the man that night up until Shawn found me...minus the vulgar part, of course. I can't even bring myself to think about that right now. I talked about every feeling I have had since the incident. Anxiety. Stress. Fear. Worthlessness...guilt. I talked about the nightmares and the flashbacks. I bared my soul to him and he listened , and it felt....great. It felt like part of a huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. I wanted to keep talking,  but we both had to get home before our families grew concerned. We walked back together in silence until we reached the top of our road, he hugged me good bye, and we went off our separate ways.

     Once I had parted with Shawn I reached my front door, hesitated for a moment or two, and then entered my house. Basically my entire family minus the three little boys and Michael were there watching tv on the couch. The second they saw me enter I was bombarded with questions. Questions I couldn't answer. Questions I didn't want to answer. If it were earlier that day I would have exploded at them, but the talk with Shawn seemed to calm my nerves a bit more. So, I simply walked right passed everyone, said, "I need to get ready for dinner", and headed to my room. I lied down on my bed staring at the ceiling for about an hour thinking about Shawn, and my family, and how I was going to keep them from asking anymore questions. Which leads me to right now, sitting in my room at 6:30 getting ready and thinking about tonight. 

     I didn't feel like changing into a nice outfit, but if I just wore sweatpants and a t-shirt my family would become even more suspicious then they already are. So I made my way over to my closet and found a casual outfit to throw on.

     I had made a mental note earlier after my break Down to control my abnormal behavior. If I started to act normal again then everyone would move past this, and they'd never need to find out what really happened. I think with Shawn here to talk to now this will be easier to do. Hopefully he can be like my distraction from the reality of my situation. It's been working so far at least. I haven't had one flashback since my talk with Shawn earlier, and it's been almost two hours! That's gotta be some kind of record. 

     I had just finished throwing on my tye dye t-shirt when there was a knock on the door. I didn't want to answer it, but again if I avoid it that will raise more red flags.

"Who is it?" I spoke up in the cheeriest voice I could muster.

"Hey Laur, it's Dani. You sound better! Can I come in?" Dani responded.

Great. I really didn't want to talk to her right now. Dani and I are practically best friends, so I know she wants to talk about my recent behaviors, but I haven't even made up a story yet. I feel awful having to lie to her, but I know if I tell her what really happened she'll tell my sisters or my parents. I can't have that. I guess I just have to avoid that talk until shawn gets here. That shouldn't be too long anyways.

"Yeah, I'm feeling a lot better! And sure I'll be right--" before I could finish my sentence the doorbell rang.

Perfect timing.

A/N: hello readers! I'm not sure if anyone is enjoying this, and I might end this soon! I'm you are reading and want me to keep updating please leave a comment or star this! Thanks! Also if you have any suggestions for what could happen comment below! Thanks!