The Art of Us

Chapter Five

Lauren's POV

Camila, Normani, and I were sitting in the living room watching Titanic, well Camila and I were watching, Normani was asleep, which was annoying since she wanted to watch it. To be honest, I wasn't really watching it, I was too focused on my thoughts.

Camila was twirling a strand of my hair around her index finger absentmindedly.

"We should take the kids to Disneyland." She said suddenly, she sighed contently.

I turned to look at her with a confused expression. "What?"

"As a family holiday - we should take the kids to Disneyland." She said, turning to face me.

I smiled softly. "Okay."

She smiled back. "What are you thinking about?" She asked softly.

"Hmmm, working with the autistic kids next school year." I said softly.

Normani shifts slightly and reaches her hand out, a soft whine escaping her lips.

I take her hand and squeeze it gently.

"Are you excited to do that?" Camila asked softly. "I think you'd be good at it. You're amazing with Oli."

I smiled widely, "I honestly can't wait, I mean I'm teaching them music."

Squeezing my hand back, Normani shifts and slowly opens her eyes.

She smiled softly.

"Teaching them music sounds fun." Camila said with an approving nod.

I hummed and shifted on the couch. "Oli seems to really like music therapy."

Normani suddenly stands up and leaves the living room, heading into the kitchen.

Camila nodded. "Yeah. He does." She frowned and watched Normani leave the room.

Normani walked back in with a bottle of blue A TREAT soda.

She plopped back down on the couch beside Camila and took a drink.

Putting the lid back on her drink, she turns and looks at us. "What did I miss?"

"Nothing really." Camila said, running her fingers through her hair.

Beast and Lilo suddenly ran to the back door and began barking.

Standing up, Normani slowly walked to the back door, before letting out a fearful scream.

I jumped, my eyes widening in fear.

Normani rushed back toward us and curled up on my lap, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Stay here." Camila said. She got up off the couch and made her way to the back door.

The two dogs continued to bark.

I held Normani close. We were both shaking, but she was worse than me.

Normani kept her face buried in my neck and held onto me.

A few minutes later, Camila walked back in with a sheepish Dinah.

"Sorry guys. I didn't mean to scare you." Dinah said, looking down at her feet sheepishly.

Normani just curls around me and her body shakes as she holds in a sob.

I took a deep breath, feeling slightly suffocated by Normani's grip. "It wasn't funny, Dinah." I breathed.

"I know, Camila already yelled at me." She said softly.