Love Me (Normani)

Chapter 30

It was the middle of the night when Normani groggily opened her eyes. Lauren was next to her, sleeping peacefully cuddled up to her Nala. The girl smiled and turned over, just watching how angelic she looked. Normani knew it was late, but she'd forgotten to text Dinah earlier so she decided to call her. The phone rang a couple times before the girl picked up and mumbled a tired "Hello?" "Hi, sorry were you sleeping?" Dinah perked up and smiled immediately. "Hey, no, but I was falling asleep. How're you feeling? Any better?" "Uh yeah, kinda groggy 'cause I just woke up." "You do realise it's like 2am, nearly 3 I think." "Oh, it is?" Normani raised her eyebrows, all she knew was that it was dark. "Sorry." She apologised. "I don't mind, it's fine. I like hearing your voice." Normani felt her cheeks getting warm. "Cute." "I miss you babe." Dinah pouted. "Can we switch over to FaceTime?" Normani looked around. "It's pitch black in here, and probably at your house too." "There's still some light over here, and you can open up your curtains. Please? I wanna see you." "Alright, the things I do for you, Hansen.." Normani pressed the button that switched to FaceTime. "Heyy, where's Lauser? Is she there?" Normani turned the camera on Lauren who was sleeping with the cutest pout on her face. "Aww, look at her.." Dinah smiled. "Isn't she cute." Normani smiled adoringly. "But I'm even cuter, right baby?" Normani looked at her girlfriend and chuckled awkwardly. "Obviously." Dinah smiled widely. "So what did you do when you got to Lauren's?" Had a massive breakdown to the point of basic sedation. "Just slept, mostly. What about you?" "Ugh I had to take Regina to the park. Do you know how irritating it is to chase a little brat around for hours? Especially when you're as unfit and fat as me." "What? You're not fat!" Normani said quickly. No way would she ever let Dinah think badly of herself like that. Dinah chuckled. "Girl I know, I'm just thicc, my mama made me this way." Normani let out a relieved breath. "Don't ever say that again, you hear me Dinah?" "Loud and clear." Dinah giggled. "Promise?" Normani said determinedly. "I promise..hey, are you okay?" Dinah squinted in the low light, it looked like Normani was upset. "Yeah I just, don't like to hear you talk so badly of yourself." "Babe I was being sarcastic, I love myself, didn't used to admittedly. I was super insecure but now I like the way I am. I'm proud of my body." Normani smiled sadly, she wished she felt the same, but she was happy Dinah was happy with herself. "Speaking of..bodies.." Dinah started, and at that, Normani became nervous. "you're really thin Normani, I'm worried about you. It's not healthy." "I'm fine Dinah, you really don't need to worry about me." Normani tried to reassure the Polynesian, but it didn't appear to work. "I saw the way you acted today at lunch, I knew something was wrong." "Nothing's wrong-" "I know you have an eating disorder." Dinah interrupted her simply. Normani sighed and looked away from the camera. "Who told you?" "You, just now. You confirmed it." "You fucking tricked me!" Normani yelled. "Shh, be quiet, Lauren's sleeping." Dinah whispered. "Look, I know it must be hard for you, but it's gonna be fine, you have people around you to help you." "Like you?" Normani asked timidly. "Of course! You didn't even have to ask that question babe, it's obvious." Dinah said gently. Yeah right. She'll leave you again. She left for months before. What's to stop her doing it again? Common sense.. "But..I need to be skinny." Normani mumbled. "You're already skinny, but you can't see that. What you need is to get better." "No if I get better then I'll get fat again!" "You were never fat Normani, you were healthy, and you were happy." Normani sighed, she was right in that respect. She was happy, now she's not. "Don't you want to be happy?" "Yeah.." she muttered. "Then we'll get you there; me, Lauren and Mila. Together, okay? We'll get you healthy and happy again." There was a hesitance in Normani's response. "We'll be with you every step of the way." Dinah promised. "Okay." Normani mumbled. "Okay?" Dinah smiled. "Yeah." Normani half smiled. No. Normani closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Thanks." "You're welcome, now it's coming on 4 o'clock so I'm gonna have to get some sleep." "Okay, night." Normani said, watching uncomfortably as Dinah blew a kiss to the camera. "Night Mans." The call ended and she looked over at Lauren who was awake and smiling at her. "I'm proud of you for accepting help." Normani rolled her eyes. "You heard all that?" "Mhm." Lauren confirmed, opening her arms to hug her best friend. "Good job Mani." Normani cuddled up to Lauren and smiled. "I just wanna be happy, Lauren." "And you will be, when you're better.." "D'you think I'll really get better?" "I know you will." Lauren kissed the tip of her nose and smiled widely. "Thanks Lo, I love you." "Love you too Manibear. Now let's get some sleep, we're up in like three hours for school." "Ugh." Normani huffed. "At least you'll see Dinah after." Lauren said pointedly, nudging Normani. "I guess. But I have Mr Hathaway tomorrow for Geography, as if Geography wasn't boring enough his voice makes it even worse." Lauren giggled. "Yeah I had him last year, he's a good teacher though." "I guess, well, goodnight." "Night." Lauren yawned, closing her eyes again. Normani smiled and closed her eyes. I'll be happy again soon.