A Light in the Dark

Chapter 7

"Camz, can you get the door? I'm still wrestling with the popcorn over here!" Lauren called out and Camila chuckled. What a dork.

"Yeah, sure. Don't let it win!"

"Haha, very funny!"

Camila walked to the door, shaking her head at the ridiculous antics of the green-eyed girl. She didn't want to accept the assistance or suggestions of Camila regarding the popcorn. You could have honestly thought that Lauren never had microwave popcorn before, she mused to herself.

She took a deep breath to calm her nerves a little bit. This was the first time she would meet Lauren's group of friends. Ally had seemed nice enough, but what about the other two? Would they like her? Would she just annoy them? Would they be pissed that she crashed their weekly movie marathon?

Lauren had refused to leave her out of her sight after everything that happened. She couldn't blame the girl, after all she had been contemplating to end her own life. So it was decided that they would spend the entire weekend together. Lauren meant, they could look at it as some kind of trial to see if they could actually live together. Although two days weren't really equivalent to spending all of their free time together and sharing a household. But did Lauren consider that? No, of course not. She was so stubborn.

Camila snapped out of her thoughts and pulled slowly the door open. Hopefully they wouldn't hate her...

"Hi there! You're Camila, right? Lauren's neighbor?" a beautiful dark-skinned girl asked her. She was stunning. Camila didn't know that people like her existed in real life. Beside her was a taller girl who was smirking slightly and had obviously caught her checking out the other girl. Damn. Embarrassing. "I'm Normani and this is Dinah Jane."

"Uh, yeah. Hey," she managed to get out and waved awkwardly.

"Girl, we don't wave and we don't shake hands... get in here," Normani said, laughing slightly and opening her arms.

Before she could comprehend what the other girl meant by that, Dinah Jane had already pulled her and Normani into her arms. "Group hug!"

"A group hug without me?" a vaguely familiar voice called out in the hallway. "So typical, DJ."

"Oh, get in here, shorty!"

In all of that confusion and completely overwhelmed, Camila didn't really know what happened. But somehow she ended up lying on the floor with three other girls on top of her.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" Ally quickly apologized, while the other two laughed their heads off. "Hi Mila! So nice to see you again!"

"Guys, what are you doing?" Lauren's voice came from behind, sounding thoroughly amused.

"Just welcoming the new chick into our group, Lauser!" Dinah called out and slowly stood up, pulling the others up one at the time. "In the proper way, of course."

"Of course." Lauren chuckled. "Get in here, idiots."

Camila blinked in confusion as Dinah helped her up. "Lauser?"

Lauren playfully rolled her eyes. "You remember the friend I told you about, the one who gives everything a ship name? Meet Dinah Jane Hansen. She seems to think it's funny to ship me with loser. Who knows what's going on in that crazy mind of hers..."

Dinah snorted. "Better Lauser than Lauis," she mumbled quietly, so that Lauren was the only one who couldn't hear her.

Camila raised her eyebrows questioningly. Lauis? What the heck?

Normani covered a laugh with loud coughing noises while Ally shot the tall girl a disapproving look. What was going on? She obviously missed something here...

"Uh, did you manage with the popcorn, Lauren?" she asked the green-eyed girl.

"Sure did. No problem at all. Psh. As if there was one in the first place. Ridiculous," Lauren mumbled and turned around, quickly heading back into the kitchen.

Dinah snorted. "Don't tell me she's fighting with the popcorn again? What a loser..."

Camila's eyebrows shot up. "Does that happen a lot?"

"A lot? Try every single time," Normani threw in and chuckled. "I really don't get why though. But I have to admit, it's nice to have some stability." She smirked, but Ally shook her head.

"Don't be mean!"

"I'm not!"

"Yes, you are!"

Camila watched the two of them with growing confusion as they walked into the living room. Is that what friends usually did?

"They're just bickering, It's completely harmless," Dinah explained quietly and Camila looked startled at the other girl. "Don't look so scared, Mila. I'm an expert at reading people." She smiled smugly and they followed the others.

That might become problematic in the future.

"Hey, where's Lauser? I swear, if she's still in the kitchen with this damn popcorn..."

"Nope," Normani interrupted. "She got a phone call."

"From whom?" Dinah asked curiously.

"Eh... the devil himself."

"Ugh, no!" The taller girl let herself fall dramatically on the couch. "Please don't say... him?"

"Who else?" Normani rolled her eyes. "Honestly, that guy is the definition of the term fuckboy. If you looked into a dictionary for fuckboy, you would find his name and picture. Wanna bet?"

"Girl, I don't bet on things that are one hundred percent true."

"Guys, don't be so mean," Ally reprimanded them. "You don't have to like him, but can't you just keep that opinion to yourself? After all these years you would have thought that you learned how Lauren reacts when you start this..."

"And that's exactly why we only say stuff like that when she isn't in the room," Dinah whispered and nodded to the kitchen. "But I seriously don't get what she sees in that guy. He's trouble and she deserves better. You know it, I know it, Normani knows it. And as soon as Mila meets him, she will know it too."

"It's her life and I'm sure he has some... inner values that we don't know of," Ally tried to reason.

Dinah snorted. "Yeah, keep telling yourself that. Do I have to remind you of what happened a little over a year ago? He's a bad influence."

Camila watched with curiosity as Ally grimaced. "Trust me, I remember quite well... not so sure I will ever forget that night..."

"I think neither of us will," Normani said somberly and Dinah nodded.

"What are you guys even talking about?" Camila finally asked and the heads of the other girls snapped towards her.

"Um..." Dinah exchanged a long look with the others. "Maybe we shouldn't have talked about this in front of you... it's just... it's Lauren's story to tell. But if you ever meet Luis, you'll see what we mean. Just don't tell Lauren, okay? She'll get pissed and you don't want her to get mad at you."

Camila frowned. There was something weird going on. She couldn't piece everything together, yet, but she would keep her eyes and ears open to find out what was going on. She only knew Lauren for two days, but she already knew that the green-eyed girl deserved the world. And that Luis guy didn't sound good at all.

It wasn't jealousy. Well, at least not entirely, she grudgingly admitted. But she wanted to protect Lauren.

"Yeah, no problem," she promised the girls and they sighed in relief.

She was going to get to the bottom of this.

"Hey, sorry about that," Lauren apologized, carrying a bowl of popcorn into the living room. "So, what did I miss?"

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A/N: Sorry, I didn't really have time to write something since yesterday was my birthday and all that crap... but yeah, I hope you liked it regardless! And if you did, please click on that little star at the bottom! Thanks for reading!!!