Never Look Back Chapter 5
RECAP :
"That's the Miami sunset. I've seen it too. Once or twice." I smiled at her, staring at her eyes. She looked back at the painting, admiring it once again.
"Well, I hope I see it too and do THIS picture justice. It's beautiful." She whispered the last words. Why did that make my stomach flutter. Oh gosh.
"Hey, I kinda know the artist behi—" I was about to tell her I was the artist, when I heard an ear piercing scream from behind me. I know that voice.
"Ava!" I ran to the table as fast as I could to check what was going on with my daughter.
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Lauren's POV
I ran to Ava as fast as I could. The 4 year old kid was sobbing on the floor, cradling her wrist to her chest. Mani was beside her, wiping away the child's tears, and trying to hush her down.
"What happened? What hurts baby?" I kneeled down the floor, wiping the forming sweat off her forehead.
"Ouchie Momma. Stop it, please. Por favor Momma." She was begging me to stop the pain. the tears won't stop pouring down her eyes.
"Hey it's okay, Momma's here." I said kissing her. She tried to stand up, leaning on her hurt hand, earning another piercing scream and loud sobs from the little girl. A blonde haired girl sat beside me, holding a bag of ice.
"Hey honey, I'm DJ." The blonde girl was smiling at the sobbing child, stroking her arm for her to calm down. "I'm a doctor, and you know what makes that boo boo feel better? This one right here." the stranger said showing a bag of ice wrapped in a scarf.
"Hey Ava, this Doctor would make you feel better okay? Come on, let's put ice on your hand." Mani said, as she was still sitting beside me.
"Please make it stop. Please." Ava looked at the blonde stranger, eyes still filled with tears.
"Come on and let me help you up." The stranger held her hand to the toddler. "Does anything else hurt, or is it just your hand?" They sat down on the chair, and the blonde stranger, DJ, if I'm not mistaken, was holding the ice bag on Ava's wrist.
"I already called the ambulance, they'll be here in a few." An quite familiar voice said behind me. I didn't bother looking at her, because I need to focus on Ava. She was hurt, and it's my fault. I was busy talking to a stranger, and she got hurt.
"Thank you" I said not glancing at the stranger. The little kids sobs subsided, but she was still whimpering with pain. She most probably broke her wrist, from falling down the chair.
"What happened Mani?" I said as I looked at Mani with a confused and frustrated face.
"She wanted to go to you, and tell you about her eating and liking cheese and toast. You were taking so long, so she wanted to bring it to you. She caught her foot on her bag, and then she fell on the floor. I'm sorry Laur. I was watching her, but I was too slow to catch her." Mani said worriedly as she reached for my hand.
"It was an accident Mani, I understand. It's okay." I weakly smiled at her and held her hand. The medics came in, and asked questions about what happened. Mani filled them in, while the medics worked on Ava. I also heard the blonde stranger, DJ calming down Ava who was crying from whatever they were doing.
"Ma'am. Would you fill up this form for us please?" The medic said as he he handed me the papers. I read the chart and filled out the basic information like name. Birthday? Place of birthday? Allergies? Medical History? Medications? I just signed Ava's name, my name and my contact information. I don't even know her birthday for crying out loud.
"I'm sorry I can't answer some of the questions in there." I handed the papers back to the medic who looked at me with a confused face. Yeah, I don't know shit about my child. I'm new to this okay.
"We're going to NY Downtown. Anyone want to ride the Ambulance with us?" the head medic said, as Ava was sitting on the stretcher with DJ beside her.
"Go Laur, I'll just meet you there." Mani said as she pushed me foreword to follow the stretcher and my daughter on it.
"Momma!" Ava said as she was put up inside the ambulance, looking for me. I quickly sat beside her, combing her sweaty locks.
"I'm here. Okay." I said as I kissed her forehead. They almost shut the door, and Ava called for the blonde stranger.
"No! Doctor!! Come with me!" she was holding out her good hand for the tall stranger, who was left outside the ambulance.
"Can I also ride with you guys?" the tall stranger said as she hold onto Ava's shaking hand. The medic's allowed her to jump in, and were on our way to the hospital.
"Hey didn't really introduce myself. I'm Lauren. Thank you for helping out. It really means alot." I said as I reached out my hand to the blonde stranger.
"I'm Dinah Jane, and it's my pleasure." she said as she shook my hand, her smile wide. "How old is she?" she said referring to Ava.
"She's four." I smiled at Ava, who was falling asleep on the stretcher. Thankfully she had calmed down. Hopefully we're done with the waterworks tonight.
"Explains the brittle bones. I suggest you let her drink more milk. I'm a pediatrician, by the way. " She said as she chuckled. That explains the voice and the approach she did earlier.
"Uhm, do you mind checking up on her after all this mess? I kinda have some questions about this whole parenting thing." I asked her shyly. Well it's the truth. I have to ask alot of questions about parenting this child, and I'm not ashamed asking for help.
"Actually, me and my best friend Cam—-" Dinah was interrupted by the Ambulance door opening, and I wasn't able to get the answer from her anymore. We rushed inside the emergency room, and Dinah was left in the waiting room while I was dragged around the hospital, following my 4 year old daughter.
An hour later, Ava was sporting a cast, and we still had to pick a color. This child is as indecisive as I am.
"Come on Ava, pick a color." I said as I was pointing at the colored bandages in front of her. "You have to pick just one, baby."
"But I don't want just one, Momma. I want 2 colors. I want pink AND black." Ava said as she was furrowing her eyebrows at me, holding up the pink and black bandage.
"Well, let me make you a deal. If we put on a pink bandage, will you let me draw on it with a black marker, with anything you want on it. How does that sound?" I said earning a surprised gasp from the little one.
"Anything I want? You can draw anything on it, Momma?" She said with her mouth still hanging wide open.
"Yes, so please close that little mouth of yours before a bug flies in." I said as I chuckled, grabbing a piece of paper on the table beside me. I grabbed a pen from my purse, and nodded at the doctor who carefully placed the pink bandage, covering Ava's cast.
"So, what do you want Momma to draw? A flower, a parrot? A dog?" I said as I touched her nose, erupting a loud giggle from the little girl.
"How about a big big dragonfly, Momma?" Ava said excitedly, smiling widely.
Dragonfly?
FLASHBACK:
We were in our playhouse, right across my room. It was a hot summer night, and we have a week left before the first day of Junior High starts, and Lucy just came from another heated argument with her father at home.
"You know Lucy, we just have 2 years left here, then we're free from all the shit that our parents are putting us through. We'll make it, you and I, you know that right?" I said as we were laying under the stars, listening to Lana del Rey, our favorite artist at the moment. I didn't hear her answer me, and she was just staring at the stars with tears in her eyes.
I pity Lucy for not having siblings to talk to or play with whenever she feels lonely. She just has me, and Luis, and that would be the only times she would smile or have fun. Music is a big help for us too. I know her troubled mind relaxes when we put some music on.
"Lo, you remind of a Dragonfly." she finally said after a few moments.
"A dragonfly?!" I said shocked at what she was saying. "Are you high, Luce?" I said giggling, pushing her arm.
"I'm serious Lo." She said laughing. "But I am definitely high too" I smacked her arm. Why did she get high without me?
"Your eyes remind me of a dragonfly, how the streaks around your pupil is different from the color of the outer layer." She shuffles to another position, staring at my eyes, observing it. "How it's green on the outside, with gold streaks, and a black pupil. Sometimes it's just blue, like the sky." She paused for a moment, sighing. "I once read dragonflies symbolizes change and light. And you changed my life just being the best sister I never had. You bring light to me, even at the darkest of times, and I'm forever grateful to have a dragonfly with me. I don't know what I'll do without you, Lo." She said seriously, looking up at me with tears in my eyes.
That night, Lucy opened up about her abusive father. She told me everything about her family that she was too afraid to mention to me. And in that moment, I swore that I will always be by her side.
END OF FLASHBACK.
"Mommaaaa!" I heard Ava as she was waving her head in front of my face, waking me up from my thoughts. I absent-mindedly touched the Dragonfly tattoo on the nape of my neck, the ones I've gotten before graduation day. This was just coincidence right?
"We're all done, Ms. Jauregui." The doctor said, handing a sheet of paper for prescription drugs. "You'll have to come back after a week, so we could check if we still need to reset the bandage when it stops swelling. Pain killers would be a big help, so you could just bring that to the pharmacy downstairs. And we're all set." The doctor smiled at us.
"Thank you so much, Doc. We'll see you in a week." I said as I helped Ava down the exam table. "Ava, what do you say to the Doctor?"
"Thank you for taking care of my boo-boo, Doctor!" Ava ran to the Doctor and she gave her a big hug.
We made our way outside and we saw Dinah, Mani and another female sitting down the waiting room. Ava instantly ran to the girls, showing off her pink cast, and blabbing about how I would draw something on it when we get home. I knew her face was familiar. She was painting girl!
"Hey guys. Sorry for keeping you up that long. This little girl was so indecisive of what color her cast should be." I said as caught up with Ava, smiling at the painting girl. "We haven't really met, but I'm Lauren. I was talking to you about the painting at the restaurant earlier." I giggled as I held out a hand for her to shake. She shook it, and smiled at me sweetly.
"Oh yeah. I'm Camila. I'm a friend of Dinah's. And I also work for Normani." She said smiling at Normani
"Oh so you're the new one they were talking about the other day. The straight A's from Harvard? Impressive." I smugged at her earning a hearty laugh. Oh gosh. Her laugh sounds so good. And her smile. Her lips! It's so pink and— Lauren! This is not a time to check painting girl out. You have a daughter who might be hungry after all that chaos before actually eating dinner.
"Momma, I'm hungry. Can we have spaghetti, please?" Right on cue, my little girl might have read my mind.
"Laur, Ally texted me she sent the food at your apartment. She heard about the accident and felt bad we couldn't eat her Spaghetti-O's." Mani said as she stood up and fixed her dress. She gave us our jackets before we walked to the hallway.
"Hey, are you guys up for some dinner and wine at my place? It's not really far from here, and we would reallly appreciate if you two could come, for helping out with my little girl." I said as I faced Dinah and Camila. They looked at each other and talked with only their eyes. That was weird. Was that twin telepathy?
"I'm sorry Lauren. We actually have to take our things to the hotel tonight, so we could work on the apartment tomorrow. Dinah will only be here until tomorrow night, maybe dinner tomorrow before she leaves?" Camila said frowning a bit. In all honesty, I got a bit sad that they won't be having dinner with us. I was actually looking forward to getting to know them, especially Camila. She has an impeccable taste for art, maybe she has good taste with good looking people too right? Well I think that's too much confidence right there.
"That's okay. But dinner on me tomorrow? Dinah has to check up on Ava, so my house maybe? If that's okay with you guys? I'll send you the guys the address. Can I have your number, if that's okay." I smiled nervously. Why am I acting all nervous? My hands are already sweating, and I'm just talking to Camila. Calm down, Lauren.
"Yeah ofcourse! Here, punch in your number and i'll give you a ring." Camila handed me her phone, and I punched in my number. I gave it back with a smile.
"So we'll see you guys tomorrow?" I smiled at her widely, looking at her chocolate orbs that still sends butterflies on my stomach. Gosh she has this effect to me.
"See you tomorrow, Lauren." she said as she walked to where Dinah was. I looked at her at she said goodbye to Ava and Mani. We walked separate ways, and Mani, Ava and I walked back to our car, that drove us back to the apartment.
After dinner, Ava passed out my bed. Her room wasn't really finished yet, and she insisted on sleeping on my bed that smelled like me. She was getting cranky so I just laid her there. She passed out a minute later, and finally I was alone with my own thoughts. This day was eventful, and draining - emotionally and physically. There's only one thing that could calm my thoughts.
I walked through the empty halls of my apartment, slightly touching the pictures on the wall as I passed by. The past years flew by so fast, and I can't help think what would things seem like if things didn't happen the way it is right now. What if Luis and Lucy didn't have Ava? Will Luis still be my boyfriend? Would I still be friends with Ally and Troy? Would I meet Normani, and still party and pass out? I guess things really happen for a reason, and I guess this is how things should turn out.
I sat my self in front of the piano, opening the song book I've had since I've been writing my own music. I was scanning through the old ones when I saw a piece of post-it fall out. "FINISH ME", says the post-it. It was the song Lucy and I were working on. I played the chords how I remembered it, and sang the parts that I knew. I scribbled down lyrics, finishing the song in just a couple of minutes. I sang the whole song again to check if I had some things to change.
Fathers, be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers who turn into mothers
So mothers be good to your daughters t—
I heard some foot steps behind me, and I stopped playing to check who it was. It was Ava, walking up to me with tired looking eyes.
"Momma, what you playing?" She said as she sat on my lap, cradling her pink arm.
"Well, this is Mommy and Momma's song. You want to hear it?" I said smiling at her.
"Yes!" She nodded her head excitedly, hair bouncing all over the place. "What's it about?"
"Well, it's about Mommy, and her daddy, and Mommy, and you." I kissed her nose earning a giggle I would never get used to.
This song is for Lucy.
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A/N : Here it is! They already met! I don't really know how to write smut, so pleaaase bear with me. I'm new to this. :)
The next chapter will be in a couple of hours. Thank you for reading!! :)
-Sarah