Broken Memories

Stubborn

The four girls ate dinner silently, and the atmosphere was nothing less than awkward. Lauren barely ate at all, she had a few bites but she mainly moved her food around the plate aimlessly, of course catching Camila's obvious glares whenever she looked up. "Mila, stop it. Just leave Lauren alone." Ally nudged her shoulder disapprovingly when she caught her. Lauren just smiled gently at Ally in gratitude. When Lauren got up to put her plate in the kitchen Normani cleared her throat. "Uh Lauren? Where do you think you're going girl?" Lauren shifted her gaze to the floor, feet firmly on the ground. "T-to the kitchen." Lauren stuttered. "Nu uh, eat some more with us." Normani said determinedly. "I'm not hungry." Lauren mumbled, nerves coursing through her body. "Oh Lauren c'mon, please just try." Ally pouted. As much as Lauren didn't feel like eating any more food, she couldn't do that to Ally. So she dragged her feet back to the table and ate some more. Normani laid a hand on her knee under the table and Lauren sighed. When she finished nearly the whole plate she looked at her best friend, who nodded in approval. "The pie can be eaten later if you guys are full." Ally said, noticing Lauren's discomfort. "Mila, will you stop glaring at Lauren?!" Normani groaned. "Please Camila, I don't want to fight with you." Lauren sighed. Camila looked down to her lap and nodded after a minute. "I'm sorry, I just miss Dinah, it's all so weird right now." She admitted. "Yeah. You're telling me." Lauren mumbled. Normani rubbed her back and nodded her head towards the stairs. "I'll meet you in my room, okay? I'll be up in just a second." Lauren took a deep breath and nodded, trailing up the stairs. She missed Dinah a hell of a lot, and come to think of it, why didn't she call her? Lauren got out her phone and called her number, the phone rang several times before Dinah obviously denied Lauren's call since it went to voicemail. Lauren stared at her phone blankly before having the sense to hang up. Lauren hadn't even realised she was crying until Normani pulled her into her arms and she finally heard herself sobbing. Lauren wrapped her arms around her best friend and buried her head in her neck. "I miss her Mani. I want her back!" Normani shushed her and played with her hair gently. "I'm so sorry Lo." Lauren ended up falling asleep but was woken up by Normani God knows when. "What?" Lauren mumbled, rubbing her eyes sleepily. "Your phone is ringing." Normani said, Lauren's heart skipped a beat. Was it Dinah? "Hello?" Lauren answered without looking at the caller ID, she wanted some hope. "Lauren." She was actually right, it was Dinah. "Dinah!" Normani looked up in shock. "I just, I had to see you were okay. You haven't called me before, I thought something was wrong." Dinah explained on the other line. "Something is wrong! You're not here." Lauren huffed. She heard her ex sigh on the other end. "Laur you know I can't come back to New York." "No I don't, you never told us why you even left." Lauren said simply. "Dinah Jane, Ally cooked twice for you!" Dinah heard Normani shout to her in the background. "Shut up Mani." Lauren hissed. "Can you go somewhere private Lauren?" Dinah asked gently. Lauren mumbled a yes begrudgingly before she went to her own room. "Can you tell me why you're not coming back here? We all miss you, especially Camila and I." "My Mom was really struggling with the kids, Lauren I promise I wanted to come back.." "But your family needed you." Lauren finished. "Right." "Does this change anything?" Lauren sighed. "Hold on, just give me a second." Dinah said hesitantly, about five minutes later she returns. "My mom agreed I can go back to New York as long as she can get a babysitter for the kids to replace me." Lauren grinned. "Really?" "Yeah." "But wait Dinah, you broke up with me. Why did you do that?" "I couldn't stand not being with you in person, and I guess I didn't even see it as a break up, more of a break, or like a relationship on hold." Dinah said, her voice softer. "Well you should have explained that to me." Lauren said stiffly. "I'm sorry, but can you ask the girls if I can come back?" "It's a no brainer, of course you can DJ. Camz will be so glad to see you." Dinah giggled on the other end. "I miss Walz." "Hey! What about me?" "I miss you too babe." Lauren blushed and bit her lip. "When will you be back?" "I don't know for sure, it depends how long it takes to find a babysitter. Maybe a week or two, but soon, hopefully." "Okay. Can I tell the girls?" "No way, make 'em squirm." Same old Dinah. "I can't believe you've been gone for over 2 months." Lauren mumbled. "I know." Dinah said sadly. "I miss you Lauser." Lauren smiled at her words. "I miss you too." "I gotta go, Gina's being a pain in the ass." "Go take care of the kids, text me okay?" Dinah agreed and hung up. Lauren smiled to herself but let it drop when she saw Normani. "What did she want?" "Just to check up on me, give an explanation as to why she left." Normani sat down and suddenly Ally and Camila were in her room. "Why did she leave?" Camila asked. "Apparently she left because her mom was struggling to look after all the kids alone." Camila smiled slightly and nodded. "Yeah that sounds like Dinah." Normani cleared her throat. "So is she coming back or not? We miss her a lot." Lauren bit back her giddy smile and she swallowed the lump in her throat. "She wasn't clear on it, maybe." Lauren decided. Ally nodded and huffed. "Man, I gotta redo the cooking schedule." Ally felt a light shove on her arm and looked to Camila who was laughing. Lauren shoved the girls out of her room after that, she couldn't hold her excitement in for long. Dinah was coming back.