Shattered (Lauren/You)

Chapter 5

(Lauren POV)

"SEVEN! EIGHT! NINE! TEN!" Ally jumps up from the table and then looks at us standing by the door. "Oh, hey guys! Sammy finished coloring and wanted to bring it out to show you but we got her to play hide-and-seek instead. How is everything, all good?"

"Yeah, it's fine now." Y/N says and turns toward me. I give her a smile and reach over to quickly squeeze her hand.

"Oh my gosh! Did someone slap you!?" Ally yells.

"What?" I ask, furrowing my eyebrows. All I saw outside was Brian trying to force himself on Y/N, I didn't see him hit her.

Bre steps in front of Y/N and moves her face back to my direction. "How did I not see this before? I'm gonna kill that fucking bastard." She whispers through gritted teeth. I can feel the anger radiating off of her. I step next to Breanna and look at Y/N's right cheek.

I'm right there with you Bre, he's so fucking dead if I ever see him again. I can't believe that anyone would want to hurt such a beautiful person.

"Where do you keep your make up? Your room?" I ask Y/N. She lets out a frustrated sigh and nods. "Okay, come with me and we'll cover it up." I grab her hand. "You guys just make sure Sammy stays busy and doesn't come in Y/N's room."

"Oh, right! I forgot that they're hiding. I expect to get the full story from someone when I'm done playing. READY OR NOT, HERE I COME!" Ally yells before taking off toward the basement door.

I pull Y/N to her room.

"It's in my bathroom." She says softly.

~

(Your POV)

Lauren drops my hand and walks over to the sink to start searching the drawers for my makeup. I take this opportunity to stand in front of the other half of the mirror and see just how bad it is.

Holy fuck.

My whole right cheek has a perfect red handprint, with my cheekbone starting to slightly bruise right in the middle of it.  It was a really hard fucking slap.  This isn't even the first time a drunk Brian has left a bruise on me.

You're so fucking stupid Y/N. Why did you even let him stay on the property longer than 10 seconds? You couldn't even protect yourself from him. What if the girls weren't there and he got into the house and something happened to Sammy.

Tears start running down my face and I feel myself start shaking. My heart is now pounding and my breaths are becoming shorter.

No no no. Not now.

Lauren comes over behind me and smiles through the mirror, but her face quickly changes to one of worry. "What's wrong?"

I grip the counter with both hands. "I'm. Freaking. Out." I struggle to say between breaths.

She immediately wraps her arms around me. "Come on, sit down." She leads me to the ground until I'm sitting between her legs with her arms securely holding me and rubbing calming circles.

"Listen to me, you have to take deep breaths. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Just listen to my voice. You're safe. We're all safe. No one is in any danger. You just need to try to calm down." Her slow soothing voice itself is already starting to calm me. I try some deep breathing.

"Good job, you're doing great. Now I need you to start slowly counting to ten as you slow your breathing. Can you do that for me?" I nod my head. "Just concentrate on your breathing. Stay in the present. I'm right here with you."

"One...two...three..." She keeps saying calming things into my ear. I focus on her and her hand on my back while I continue counting. My breathing starts to go back to normal. "Nine. Ten."

"Tell me what you need now." Lauren whispers.

"Can you just sit here with me for a minute?" I say with my voice barely audible.

"Of course."

After about 5 minutes I start to sit up from my place against Lauren's chest. I look at her. "Thank you. I have anxiety, and sometimes I get attacks when I overthink things. I've only met you just today, and you've already helped me three times. I'm sorry I'm such a mess. You probably have so much better things to do than keep coming to my rescue."

She offers me a small, but genuine, smile. "It's really no problem." She tucks a stray piece of hair behind my ear. "Please don't apologize. You really had no control over anything that happened today, and I'm glad that I was there to help you each time. Besides, you're my friend. That's what friends do for each other."

"Wow. I'm sorry, but I just can't believe the Lauren Jauregui just said that I'm her friend.  No matter how embarrassing this is for me to say, you were always my favorite in Fifth Harmony. It would always be my favorite part in an interview when you would talk, or seeing you on social media because you have such a beautiful mind and kind soul. When I would listen to your songs, I shit you not, your parts were always my favorite." I see her smiling brightly at me. 

"And I guess you're kind of pretty, if you're into that whole gorgeous badass with piercing green eyes thing." I add sarcastically.

Lauren throws her head back laughing. "You're sweet. And you're not so bad yourself, I mean if you're into that whole beautiful girl that's an amazing older sister thing." Now it's my turn to laugh.

Lauren starts to get up and offers me her hand to help me up. She turns me so that my back in toward the mirror and then lifts me up onto the counter. I slightly squeal and then giggle. "You could've just told me to hop up, I could've done it myself Laur."

She giggles too and grabs the concealer to start applying it to my cheek. "Where's the fun in that? Now shut up and let me do this."

I can't help but study her face while she's so up close. Even things that she would see as flaws are just so perfect. God, she's so beautiful.

After a couple minutes of applying different cosmetics to my face, she finally stops. "All done." She smiles softly.

She keeps her hand on my face as she catches me starting into her eyes and returns the gaze. We both stay frozen for a couple of seconds before my eyes quickly flicker down to her lips which are only a few inches from my own. I look back to her eyes to see her do the same to my mouth.

Wow. Is she thinking of kissing me too?

We stare into each other's eyes again.

This is crazy. She doesn't really want this, she just feels bad for you right now.

I clear my throat and see her slightly jump. "Uh, thanks." I mutter and look down to my hands in my lap.

Lauren takes a step backwards but grabs my hand, causing me to look up again. "You seriously have to stop thanking me. It's not like you asked me to do anything for you today, I chose to do all of it. I'm 100% honest when I say that we're friends. You're a really amazing person Y/N and I'm glad that I met you." She smiles at me. I smile back and pull her into a hug, feeling her melt into it just as much as I do. When I pull back she helps me off the counter and grabs my hand. "Let's go eat some pizza."

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WC: 1285