Always and Forever (Lauren/You)

Chapter 5

Lauren was standing in the hallway with the rest of the girls, who were having a small break before going back on stage to perform their final few songs.

Lauren leaned against the wall, staring at the bracelet on her left wrist. She smiled because it reminded her of you. It was very thoughtful of you to give her something with such meaning. But her smile soon turned into a frown when she thought back to how upset you got.

She had watched as your eyes filled with tears. And she could almost physically see you force your tears down when you opened your eyes. It quite literally hurt her heart to see you so upset. But what hurt her more, was how easy it was for you to put on this facade of you being okay.

How often had you had to do that?

Her hand still tingled from when you held it and it had taken almost everything in her not to hug you when you gave her the bracelet.
But she knew that if she did, you would have cried and it seemed that you really wanted to refrain from doing that.

Then another thought came to the forefront of her mind, the whole 'never knowing what people have gone through and not wanting to be touched'.
Lauren had smiled but she had seen the way Natalia had looked at you.

It was as if it was with a solemn understanding.

She wondered what you had meant. And why the mention of this Jake guy had, for the second time since she met you, immediately stopped you in your tracks.
Who was he? What had he done to you?

"Lauren?" Lauren looked up to see the girls watching her intently.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sure Alyssa's okay." Ally said, but she didn't really seem to believe what she was saying.

"I don't believe that and I can tell you don't either. She just seemed so, God, I don't know. But what I do know, is that I want to find out what's up with her and why this guy seems to affect her so much." Lauren said, exasperated.

"Why don't you invite her backstage after the show and talk to her then?" Normani suggested.

"Yeah, girl. I mean, she seems to mean something to you and I wanna know what's up with this chick too, she seemed so happy one minute, then so sad the next." Dinah agreed.

"Will she be allowed?" Camila asked Big Rob who stood a few feet away from them.

"I don't see why not. So long as it's done discreetly, it'll be fine." Big Rob replied.

"Okay, thanks, Big Rob." She sighed, "Okay, girls, we have one final show to give. Let's go."

***

You and Tala were stood right by the rail, watching as Fifth Harmony rejoined the stage, and began to sing their song, "Brave Honest Beautiful."

You looked at Tala, smiled, and then looked back to the girls.

After you had left the meet and greet, you had gone to the bathroom, collected yourself, and went to the arena, where you waited for them to perform. Tala didn't say anything, she didn't even mention what had happened. She just understood and gave you a reassuring hug which you were very grateful for.

Dinah and Normani had just finished singing the first verse and now Normani, Camila and Lauren were singing the pre-chorus.

This was one of your favourite songs of theirs, lyrically, and after everything that had happened today, from thinking of your Mom, then Jake, you just started tearing up again.

As Lauren sang, you watched as she made eye contact with you and smiled, making you smile back. Then you watched as she nodded to someone off stage during the chorus.

You felt a tissue being placed in your hand then glanced up at Tala who smiled at you. You quickly wiped your tears, thanked her, and watched as the girls finished their song, and clapped with the rest of the fans.

After they had performed "Everlasting Love", they had gone off stage to get ready for their encore. As you waited with the rest of the Harmonizers for their encore of "Body Rock", a man with a headset and a clipboard approached you and handed you a folded piece of paper. He told you to open it during the last song and you nodded in response.

When the girls came back on stage, everyone cheered whilst you and Tala huddled together to look at the note you were given.

Hi, Alyssa. After the show, can you and Natalia go to the hallway by the private bathrooms? Someone will be waiting for you guys to bring you backstage to our dressing room. I hope you come, I want to thank you for the bracelet.

P.S. I have something that belongs to you ;)

~ L (and the girls) ♡

"Oh my god!" Tala whisper-shouted in your ear. "You have to go! And look, they said I can go too!"

You tucked the note in your shorts pocket and looked to the stage where the girls had begun dancing and singing. You made eye contact with Lauren who raised her eyebrows, as if asking whether you had gotten the note and if you were going. You took a moment to think about it, then looked at Lauren and nodded making her beam with a smile.

Why the hell not?

A/N: I know it's a small chapter but I wanted to update for Christmas :)