Chapter 22
Your POV
After visiting with Ally and Jerry for a little bit, Dinah drags me over to a group of little kids playing soccer. She introduces them as her younger siblings. They all greet me cheerfully, and I greet them back. They’re all very hyper right now.
“Wanna play soccer with us?”, one of them asks.
“Sure. Thanks!”
I love playing soccer. I know I’ll have to go easy on them, but it’s better than nothing.
One of her younger siblings-Regina, I think-lightly taps the ball towards me. I kick it up with my toe and start juggling it. Several pairs of eyes follow the black and white ball as it continuously bounces off my shoe, then back in the air. Then, as the ball’s back up in midair, one of the older kids grabs the ball.
“Woah, what was that for?”, I ask, pretending to be annoyed.
“I wanted the ball”, he explains.
“I would’ve given it to you if you’d asked”, I say as sweetly as I can.
“Taking things is funner.”
“Did Dinah teach you that?” I raise my eyebrow.
“No!” His cheeks turn red. I turn to Dinah.
“You’re a horrible influence”, I say. She just glares at me.
“May I see that?” Her brother hands her the ball. The second it touches her giant palm, she throws it at me and hits me in the face. Not too hard, but hard enough to sting. Her siblings laugh.
“You’re a dead woman”, I say.
“You’re no match for my secret weapon”, she smirks. “KIDS! BLOCK THE MONSTER!”
All of a sudden, five little kids charge at me, catching me off guard and giving Dinah a chance to escape. I try to push them away, but they’re really strong for little kids.
“YOU WON’T GET AWAY WITH THIS!”, I shout.
“LOOKS LIKE I WILL!”, she yells back.
At this, her siblings let their guard down, allowing me to break free. I run full speed-which is fast-towards Dinah. She must have no idea I’m so close, otherwise she’d be going faster. Without warning, I jump on her back, and she nearly loses balance. I wrap my legs around her waist and my arms around her shoulders, linking my hands at her collarbone.
“Get off!”, she screams as she tries, unsuccessfully, to shake me off of her.
“No! I must get revenge!” I tighten my grip on her.
“We were already even! Now get off!”
“No!”, I repeat. “This is too much fun!”
“Oh, for God’s sake, Y/N, get off before you break her back”, Camila says amusedly.
“If you insist.”
I release my grip and slide off Dinah’s back, landing on my feet. As I brush my shirt off, Dinah gives me a little shove.
“Now we’re even”, she says, returning my glare with a smirk.
“Sure we are”, I say sarcastically.
Now it’s her turn to glare.
“Do I need to give you a Poly Beatdown?”, she questions menacingly.
“I’ve never heard of that. What makes it different from a regular Beatdown?”
“Wanna find out?”
“No thanks, I’m good.”
“That’s what I thought, fool.”
I roll my eyes and walk away. Camila quickly follows.
“Where are you going?”, I ask.
“To look for my little sister”, she replies. “Wanna come with me?”
“Sure.”
We walk side by side in easy silence. I take a look around the large backyard as we pass by everyone. They all seem to be friendly with one another, and obviously very familiar.
“How long have you all known each other?”, I ask.
“Practically our entire lives”, Camila says happily. “We’ve always gone to the same church, and eventually the same schools. We just became friends naturally.”
“Do any of them know about-you know”, I trail off, deciding not to say it out loud.
“No. Just you, Lo, and Mani.”
“Is it because of religion? Because if it is, there are a lot of ways you can handle that besides keeping secrets.”
“No, that’s not it. It’s just none of their business.”
I doubt that’s all there is to it, but don’t press the issue. If she wanted me to know, she’d tell me.
We eventually make our way to the end of the yard, where Lauren is kneeling in the dirt with two other people; one of them a girl around my age, the second a young girl of maybe seven or eight. The littler one is digging in the dirt with a small shovel.
“Whacha doin’ here?”, Mila asks.
“We’re digging for gold”, the young girl replies.
“That’s a brilliant idea”, I say, genuinely awestruck. Why didn’t I think of that as a kid? I thought of doing everything but that. I did the typical dress-up and fort building, of course, but digging for gold-that’s creative.
“Can we dig with you, Sofi?”, Mila asks sweetly.
“Sure.” The girl, Sofi, smiles brightly, showing all of her teeth. She’s so adorable.
“Y/N, this is my little sister Sofi. Sofi, this is Y/N”, Camila introduces.
“Hi!”, Sofi greets.
“Hi.” Her enthusiasm makes me smile.
Mila and I kneel to the ground, grab some miniature shovels, and start digging. Just before I start, Lauren introduces me to her sister Taylor, the other girl with her. Apparently, they both got talked into digging for gold with Sofi.
“It’s the eyes. They get you every time”, Taylor explains.
“I have no trouble believing that”, I respond, glancing over at Sofi. The resemblance between her and Camila is clear; they both have dark hair, brown eyes, and an air of cuteness that makes you want to pinch their cheeks and wrap them in bear hugs.
We spend about fifteen minutes digging and conversing with one another. I learn that Lauren made it to USF on a softball scholarship, and she still has no idea what she wants to study. She’s stuck between Pre-Law and English.
“It’s a really hard decision”, she laments, putting the shovel down. “And I really need to pick soon.”
“What are you leaning towards?”, I ask.
“Probably English.”
“Well, there you go, then.”
She laughs, a sweet, melodic sound. I haven’t heard it very much since I moved in, but I always enjoy it when I do.
“GIRLS!”, Dinah shouts unnecessarily loudly, seeing as she’s right in front of us. “FOOD’S READY!”
“Awesome, Dinah. I think you obliterated my eardrums”, I deadpan.
“Too bad.”
Camila gets up, grabs Sofi’s hand, and walks with Dinah towards the food. Taylor and Lauren follow suit, but after I get to my feet, I reach into my pocket and pull something out. I step over to Sofi’s ‘claim’, careful not to make any obvious footprints, and drop the small objects onto the ground. Quickly, I kneel down and bury them under a layer or two of dirt. Then I stand up just as quickly and walk around the corner-smack into Lauren.
“Ow! Sorry for running into you, but-” Lauren cuts me off.
“I saw that.”
“Did you now?”
“Yeah”, she giggles. “It’s a sweet thing to do. Now Sofi will find something when she comes back.”
“Yeah. I figured, ‘hey, they’re in my pocket, I don’t want ‘em, they’re close enough to gold, and she’ll be happy with it’.”
“She’ll definitely be happy. You’re a sweet girl, Y/N.”
“Thank you”, I smile.
Then I notice something strange. Lauren’s bright green eyes keep switching back and forth from my own eyes to the lower part of my face. Her hand moves towards my face and ends up on the side of my head, tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear. Her gaze fixes on my lower face.
Then she leans her face forward and kisses me.
Her lips move lightly against my own, almost too lightly, I realize. I pull her head closer to me as I kiss her back.
It doesn’t last long. We both pull away after a few more seconds.
“We should go eat”, she suggests.
“Yeah.”
She presses her soft lips to mine again, just for a second, before heading over to the barbeque, where people are lining up.
I can only follow her, hungry and dumbfounded.
Author's Note: So, I wasn't originally going to have Y/N be in a relationship with one of the girls. As demand for you/Lauren increased, I started considering it, but didn't make a decision until a couple of days ago. I realized that there wasn't much going on, and a lot of you wanted it, so why not? So, there you go.
Thank you for your patience for these updates. Track will be over for me in a month, so I'll have more time to write. Thanks for reading!