Thinking of Your Skin: The Truth Behind Camren - Book Two

Chapter 5: No Control

Dinah shuffled in, looking dejected as ever, and took the remaining seat next to me while the rest of our team sat around the table, L.A. at the head.

"Camila didn't answer?" I whispered to the Polynesian.

"She did." said Dinah.

"Oh. Well, what'd she say? Is she coming?"

"Does it look like she's coming?"

I simply stared at Dinah, who was avoiding all eye contact with me, baffled by her attitude. It was extremely rare to see her looking so...hopeless. L.A. cleared his throat to snap me out of my concerns.

"Alright, so, not surprisingly, Camila will not be able to join us today." he began.

"So, why are we here? I'm pretty sure the four of us have nothing to talk about." I chimed in immediately, wanting nothing more than to get Dinah out of that room.

"Lauren, please. Not today."

"L.A., man, I'm tired of the bullshit."

"We're here to discuss the future of Fifth Harmony as a foursome."

Well, that definitely shut me up. It wasn't like it was anything new, it was just that no one had actually dared to say it out loud yet. I looked over at Dinah to gage her reaction, but the girl was simply staring down at her perfectly manicured nails tapping lightly on the table surface.

"Wait, really?" Ally spoke up, her voice dripping with confusion.

"I thought she was going to finish the tour with us." Normani joined the conversation.

"She is." Will replied adamantly, staring L.A. down in the process.

L.A. seemed to sense Will's eyes on him and so he slowly turned to look at our tour manager.

"She is.", L.A. confirmed, "However, the tour will be coming to an end soon. We need to start thinking ahead, just like Camila is."

"Where is she today, anyway? Like, how is this fair? Obviously, she's not going to be a part of this in the future but she should be here now and we definitely shouldn't be having this meeting without her." I found my voice again.

"I agree, L.A.", Will spoke up again, "This doesn't seem right. We should wait for her."

"Will, I am a busy man.", L.A. countered, "And you are all busy people. I can't be showing up to wherever you guys are every single day. She chose to be absent, and so she will be."

"Why are you so cool with this?", I heard my voice rising, "I mean, she's still under some sort of obligation, right? She's still touring with us so she should be at our fucking meetings. You should have the power to make that happen."

"Lauren, I told you. Don't test me. Not today."

"I just--"

I cut myself off when I heard Dinah mutter something under her breath. I turned to look at her, eager to hear what she had to say.

"Did you say something?" I asked her, willing myself to calm down a bit.

Dinah finally met my gaze and I could see why she was refusing to look me in the eye before. She knew how much I hated seeing her cry. The Polynesian's eyes were filled to the brim with tears just waiting to fall. She looked back down at her hands on the table and cleared her throat.

"I said,", she began with a shaky voice, "So we're really just giving up?"

With that last word, her eyes flew upward again, this time in L.A.'s direction. I wasn't even the one she was looking at and yet her gaze petrified me all the same. Dinah was really hurting and it was breaking my heart.