Love Me (Normani)

Chapter 32

"Thanks." Lauren said to her brother once he shut the door. "You still haven't told me why you left school early." "Keep your voice down! Mom and Dad don't know that I did." Lauren scolded the boy. "Sorry. Why didn't you want Normani to come in?" "I just didn't okay? What is this, a quiz?" Lauren deflected, going to her room, dismissing the conversation. Lauren fell back onto her bed and sighed. Lauren was gay, she knew that for sure, but she wasn't out. And she wasn't ready to come out. The begging question causing her head to spin was "how did Austin know?" Did he even know? Or was he just riling her brother up..If Chris punched him for saying it, does that mean he wouldn't accept her? So many questions..and God, what would Normani think, and Camila, and Dinah. What if it came out at school, what if her family got the memo before she told them herself? This was such a mess. Stupid Austin, he's nothing but trouble. Lauren heard her phone ring, Normani was calling, but she declined the call. She didn't want to talk to anyone. Normani pulled the phone away from her ear and looked it in confusion when the voicemail message started, then sighed before bringing it back to her ear. "Hey Lauren, I dropped in to check on you, Camila and I didn't see you at school after break..I hope you're okay. Call me back, yeah? Love you." Normani ended the call and thought to herself. Lauren must have gone home, the only place she would have gone was the beach, but she knew she wasn't there because she'd gone there with Dinah. She decided to try and call Camila, it was early evening now so she imagined the funeral service would be over by now. "Hey Mani, everything okay?" "Yeah, listen I just dropped in to check on Lauren but Chris said she wasn't home. I think she was but she doesn't want to see me." "What about the beach? She goes there sometimes." "She wasn't at the beach because I went there with Dinah." "Oh, well that's odd." Camila frowned to herself. "Do you think maybe I've upset her? Like I did something wrong?" "I'm sure you haven't, maybe she's just sick, remember she said she had a headache this morning." Camila remembered suddenly. Normani gasped as it clicked in her head. "Oh yeah! You're right, that's probably it. Thanks Mila." "Sure, and thanks for checking on her, even if you didn't see her." "Sure, she's both our friends anyway, I couldn't not." "Yeah..night Mani." "Goodnight Mila." "Oh and Mani?" "Yeah?" "I'm proud of you, for accepting help.." Normani took in a sharp breath. Right. "You did good at lunch today." Actually I threw it up. "Thanks." She said awkwardly. "No worries, bye." "Bye Mila." Normani hung up and let out a breath. Baby steps I guess. "Lauren!" Her father called out for her. "Yeah Dad?" Lauren called out, looking up from her sketch. "Can you come down here please?" He called and Lauren bit her bottom lip uneasily. "Now please!" Her mother called after him. Lauren sighed heavily and reluctantly moved her sketchbook aside on the bed, then went downstairs to see her parents. "What's up?" She sighed. "A little birdie told us that you skipped school today." Her mother crossed her arms. Lauren glared over at Chris, if looks could kill, he'd be dead for sure. The boy shook his head and raised his arms to show it wasn't him. "Who is this birdie? They lied. I was there." Lauren lied, crossing her fingers behind her back. "Ask Camila or Normani. They'll tell you." She said confidently. Aka, they'll lie for me. "The little birdie was the headmaster, Lauren. I very much doubt he lied to us." Mike said simply. "Oh." She mumbled. "Why did you leave early?" "I didn't feel well." Lauren said. "Right Chris?" "Right! Yeah she looked really pale when she came home, she said she had a headache this morning too." "Ah yes, we also heard about your week's suspension." Clara said sternly. "He was sticking up for me Ma, it wasn't his fault." Lauren stepped in. "What happened?" Mike asked his daughter, but Chris was the one who answered. "Austin Mahone was just talking a load of trash. It was all rubbish. None of it was true." Well.. "But he kept going on so I lashed out." Chris explained. "Well, you're grounded this weekend." Clara informed Chris. "And you're going to school tomorrow. Headache or no headache." Clara turned to Lauren. "Yes Mami." She mumbled. "Can I go to my room now?" She asked her father. "Yes, but you go straight to sleep young lady." "Yes Papi." Lauren sighed as she went to her room. Ignoring orders, she went on her phone and listened to Normani's voicemail message. "Hey Lauren, I dropped in to check on you, Camila and I didn't see you at school after break..I hope you're okay. Call me back, yeah? Love you." Lauren called her back and waited for her to pick up. "Lauren!" Normani answered the phone quickly. "Are you okay? I was so worried about you!" Lauren fiddled with a thread on her jeans as Normani spoke. "Why did you skip out on the rest of school today?" Lauren pressed her lips together. "Lauren? Are you there?" "Uh yeah, sorry. I need to talk to you." "I'm listening." Normani said seriously. "No, in person, I need to tell you something.." Lauren said nervously. "Okay, I'll come over in the morning before school." "Okay." Lauren said, still fiddling with the loose thread. "I'll see you tomorrow then." "Yeah..Love you Mani." "You too Lauren. Goodnight." "Night." Lauren sighed before she hung up.