Love Me (Normani)

Chapter 7

It was a Saturday. Normani had finally agreed to stay over at Dinah's, after her continuously pestering her with a pouty face for an entire week. Eventually, the dark skinned girl gave in. So Dinah was currently asleep, and happily cuddled into Normani's body. As was Normani, she was asleep as well, but unlike her friend, not dreaming, screaming. Dinah was the one shaking her, which successfully jolted her friend awake. Normani immediately broke down into sobs and clung to Dinah in tears. "Shh, it's okay. It was just a dream." The girl soothed her. Normani wasn't very affectionate lately, with anyone, she kept to herself. So to some degree, the action had surprised Dinah. It was hard to get Normani to spend time with anyone. It wasn't like the foursome didn't spend time together, they did. But while Normani was there, she also wasn't. She was vacant, in her own head. Another thing they had noticed, particularly Lauren and Dinah, was how much weight Normani had been losing. Camila was with her boyfriend for the most part, Austin Mahone. So she was pretty oblivious due to her sickening relationship. She was hopelessly lovesick. Truthfully, as much as Lauren and Dinah knew they should be supportive for their friend, they couldn't wait for Camila and Austin to break up. "You're okay." Dinah rubbed her back soothingly. "What happened?" Normani shook her head in her hands and wiped her eyes. "I-I don't want to talk about it." "Normani-" "I need to go to the bathroom." Dinah sighed and watched the girl go into the bathroom to clean up.

Dinah: normani was screaming in her sleep, she's losing weight fast, something's definitely wrong. question is, what do we do?
Laurenza: i think someone needs to confront her.
Dinah: i didn't think you'd be up. it's the middle of the night.
Laurenza: couldn't sleep, worrying about mani.
Dinah: then maybe you should be the one to ask her what's going on.
Laurenza: what if i mess it up??
Dinah: all of this is messed up. whatever happens, happens. we need to know the truth.
Laurenza: i'm seeing her tomorrow. should i ask then?
Dinah: ask her whenever you feel the time is right.
Dinah: i think she's coming out the bathroom now, gotta go.
Laurenza: alright, goodnight.
Dinah: night boo.

Normani emerged and sat on the bed weakly. "You took a little while in there, huh." Dinah noted. "You timing me or something, creeper?" Normani raised an eyebrow. Dinah smirked and raised her arms up. "Shoot. Busted." Normani shoved her lightly and smiled. "You're so stupid." Dinah giggled and chewed on her bottom lip thoughtfully. "Mani?" "Yeah Dinah?" Normani asked, settling herself back into bed. Dinah paused to regain herself, she had to be careful. "If there was something, like, you know, upsetting you, you would talk to me, right?" Normani nodded instantly. "Of course." It's not upsetting me, so it's not a lie. Dinah decided not to tackle the issues head on in the middle of the night and by theirselves. So she left it at that. For now. "Goodnight." Normani said, closing her eyes simply to avoid anything else being said on the topic. There was no way she would sleep after that. "Yeah, sure, goodnight." Dinah mumbled. Their backs were now facing each other. It felt odd suddenly to have no contact, so Normani rolled over and moved closer so her body pressed against Dinah's back, making Dinah blush for some reason. Not that Normani could see that. "Mani?" "Hm?" Dinah didn't want to ruin the moment so she just ignored it as best she could. "Nothing, goodnight." "Night." In the morning, Normani was gone. Dinah looked around for the girl, there was no note. She checked her phone, there was no text, or call for that matter. The time read 7:52am so it was pretty early for her to leave. Dinah decided to call Lauren. Lauren groaned when her phone rang loudly and woke her up. "Hello?" She sighed, shielding her eyes from the early morning light. "Lauren!" "Don't fucking shout, it's too early." Lauren groaned. "Lauren, I do know it's morning." "Why did you call me before 8 o'clock? And on a Sunday!" "Don't you think I'd be asleep too if it wasn't important. Mani's gone." "What do you mean she's gone?" Lauren asked calmly. "I mean that she's disappeared. She's not here. No note, no text, no call from her. She's missing. She was fine last night!" "Really? I thought she woke up screaming." "She did-Lauren quit it I'm scared!" "Don't be. She'll turn up, okay? Maybe she's on her way over here. I told you I was seeing her today." "This early? Are you crazy?!" Lauren pulled the phone away from her ear. "Dude! Calm the fuck down. If you're not careful you'll wake up everyone in your house, and mine." "Sorry." "Dinah, just chill out. If Normani doesn't turn up to see me, then we'll start worrying." "Okay." Dinah breathed out nervously. "In the mean time, hang up the phone, go to bed, lay back down, and get some more sleep. It's too early to be awake and worrying. I know you're crushing on her so it's worrying you more, but you need to calm down." Dinah gulped and sighed, Lauren was right. "Okay." "Okay..I'll text you later." "Thanks Lo." "You're welcome, love you." "Love you too." Dinah mumbled, hanging up the call. She settled under the covers and stared up at the ceiling. Normani is fine. She's totally safe. She's probably at home relaxing. Yeah, that's it. She's gone home and she's absolutely fine. She just didn't want to wake me up so early. Everything is okay. Dinah let out a deep breath and closed her eyes, going back to sleep. But Normani wasn't okay. She was home, in her bathroom, crying, while she stood on a scale. She didn't understand what had changed in her, what switch in her head flipped and made her feel this way. But she felt it. All she knew was she needed to get that number down. To get rid of all the fat on her body. She wiped her eyes, got off the scale and pushed it back, far under her bed. She sat on the edge of her bed with her head in her hands. A knock at her bedroom door made her jump. She ran to the bathroom and washed her face, to make it look like she hadn't been in tears minutes before. "Come in!" She croaked. For fucks sake. "Hi sweetheart, you're home early." Her mother said as she collected the washing. "Yeah I forgot to pack my toothbrush, so I came home." It came out like it was true, so easily. "Oh, fair enough. What are your plans for the day?" "I'm seeing Lauren later." Normani said, fiddling with a thread on her jeans. "Well, have fun." Normani gave the woman a small nod and sighed with relief when her mother left her bedroom. Normani closed her eyes and tried to breathe as the same numbers shown on the scale plagued her thoughts. "Oh Normani?" Normani cursed under her breath. "Yes Mom?" "Have you eaten this morning?" "Yes Mom!" "Do you want anything else?" "I'm good!" "Okay, I'm just going out to the store, do you want anything?" "No thanks!" The front door shut and she fell back onto her bed and curled up in a ball. As if it would protect her in some way. She knew it wouldn't. She was the person causing the problem. Her phone rang, but she declined Dinah's call, she declined Lauren's few calls when she was late, she ignored the texts she was receiving from both girls. She remained on her bed, alone, curled up in a ball, hungry and sad. She didn't notice when Lauren came into her bedroom, said something about how the door was left unlocked and how she was worried when she didn't answer her calls. "Mani? What's wrong?" Normani just stared into space as Lauren sat on the bed. Lauren put a hand on her leg to try and get a reaction, or a simple glance, something to indicate she was listening to her. Lauren didn't miss the lone tear that rolled down Normani's cheek as she stared at the wall. The girl sighed and crawled onto the bed, over her friend, hugging her from behind and simply laying with her. "When you're ready to talk, I'll be here." She said quietly. Normani felt Lauren take her hand and intertwine their fingers. She felt how Lauren gave it a light squeeze and she let herself be held. Normani couldn't bring herself to speak, or to move, or to eat, or to sleep. She just laid there, staring at the wall as a million thoughts and fears wracked her brain. Lauren rubbed her thumb over the back of her hand to try and help. Normani inhaled deeply and squeezed her eyes shut at the simple gesture. Lauren didn't know what to do, she didn't know why her friend was so distant, but she wanted to. She wanted to figure out her head. She needed to in order to help her. Normani let out the tiniest whimper, like a squeak, as if she was holding everything in. And she was, but no one knew that. Lauren squeezed Normani's hand and moved her other hand from under her own cheek to put it on Normani's shoulder supportively. Normani wanted to turn over and look at her friend, ask for help with her eyes. But she couldn't do that. Because no one knew, and she didn't want them to know. But at the same time, she did. Normani felt like crying again, but she couldn't. She just felt numb. She knew she was incredibly lucky to have a friend like Lauren. Because she didn't leave the girl, not once, she didn't even consider it. She didn't move in the slightest except to rub her shoulder or to stroke her cheek gently to soothe her in some way. Normani couldn't help but cry when she stroked her cheek, it was so gentle, soft and sweet that it evoked a reaction. Normani kept hold of Lauren's hand when she reached up to wipe her eyes, even then, Lauren didn't let go. She didn't fall asleep, she just laid there with her, for hours.

A/N: I WANT A LAUREN