Write On Me

Chapter 18

"Yeah," Dinah nodded her head thinking over what Normani had said, "I guess you're right."

Normani huffed, "I'm always right."

The two joined the rest of the girls who were watching Maite on stage.

After a couple of songs, Maite started to sing a slower type of song that instantly caught Lauren's attention. It was different from all the other songs she had been singing before that were more fast paced and got the crowd excited. This time, it was just her and her pink guitar that Lauren had seen her with earlier that day.

As Maite's hand strummed the chords to "Skinny Love" by Bon Iver Lauren found herself completely infatuated with the girl. It was like her voice was actually the one plucking and strumming strings in her heart, creating a song that was only meant for Maite. Oh, how Lauren loved Maite's voice. It was as smooth as a waterfall and she longed to reach out and touch the loveliness. Yet she was torn. Something as perfect as that shouldn't be touched, it should be kept in a special place and never be harmed.

Suddenly Lauren was washed over with sadness for she had touched the perfection that was Maite and brought her pain.

I've got to fix this, she thought.

It was like Maite was keeping her afloat. Looking at the girl made her realize how fast her heart beat got and how her lips always twitched into a smile just at the thought of the brown girl.

Lauren took a deep breath, remembering that even though Maite took her breath away, she still had to breathe. 

"Lauren," Normani called gently placing a hand on her shoulder, bringing Lauren out of her thoughts, "we've got to go."

Reluctantly, Lauren tore her eyes off of the tall girl with the pink guitar and headed backstage.

As her makeup artist, Monica, touched up her makeup, Lauren scrolled through her social media feeds. The hashtag "Valren" kept coming up in her mentions.

She ran a hand through her hair, "what the fuck is 'Valren?'" 

"Chin up," Monica demanded as she retouched Lauren's lipstick.

"Sorry," the Cuban replied, ashamed, she was told to keep her chip up at least five times every time she was getting her makeup done.

Monica's lip formed a tight line, then curved into a smile as she inspected Lauren, "I think you're ready to go m'lady."

Lauren hopped off the chair she had been sitting on and quickly thanked the makeup artist. 

"You know," Monica said, bringing Lauren's attention back to her, "if I had to take a wild guess, I'd think that 'Valren' is a combination of yours and Valentina's name."

An 'O' expression formed on Lauren's face, then she tried to bite back a smile, she liked that they had a ship name, "yeah-that'd make sense."

******

The girls quickly hurried on stage and performed the same songs that they had been doing every show. Right after the show ended, Lauren immediately ran off stage in search of Maite. 

To her dismay, she couldn't find her anywhere. 

"Hey, Guy," she called out to her manager, who was backstage, "have you seen Maite anywhere?"

He looked up from his phone, "yeah, I believe she left quite a bit ago, apparently she wasn't feeling well."

Lauren nodded her head, she figured that Maite was most likely down from what Lauren had said. The guilt inside her returned at just the thought.