Hey guys! Happy new year ♥ Again and like always :) - Thank you so much for reading ♥ I just wanted to let you know that even though people tend to say since it's a new year, one has to change things about ones life. I just wanted to let you know that you don't have to change anything. love yourself and your life rather than feeling pressured ♥ if you do want to change something, that's perfectly fine as well, but please don't think that you have to because you're perfect in the way that you're now. You can make changes for yourself but only if it's your decision ♥
lots of love ♥
Part 71.
Weeks flew by and the girls settled down in a monotonous rhythm, living their lives, going to school, studying in the afternoon for upcoming exams. Even the witches sat down in front of a book. The girls planned all the presents for Christmas and are completely in fall/winter mood. Even though Miami isn't getting super cold, they snuggled up in their sweaters. They stopped teasing Lauren since her sweaters almost swallow her up, hanging all baggy on her body. Lauren is sitting on her desk, a calculator beside her. Steam is almost coming out of her ears as she day dreams while the other girls have long gone to sleep. Her long, black hair frames her side profile. Her hands carry the weight of her head which is rested upon them. She took care of the homework that she pushed away and thought about the future. She's deep in thought indeed and doesn't hear the door opening and closing. Dinah stayed at Normani's house. They ate dinner with Normani's mom and the girls are really glad that Mrs. Kordei has caught on what's been going on between the girls, but isn't pressuring them to tell her anything. They are dating somehow but don't want to make it exclusive just yet. Normani is still getting used to all the magic stuff, she doesn't need to worry about explaining her mom why she can't meet Dinah's parents. Dinah saw that Lauren's light's still on and decides to check up on her. After walking up the stairs, she gently knocks on the door before opening it. She spots Lauren in the corner of her room and looks concerned as she greets her friend.
"Hey Lauser, I saw that your light's still on and thought I'd say hi", she begins. Unsure of what to say before she knows in what mood Lauren is. The raven-haired girl turns her head around, but lets her chin rest on her hands. She smiles weakly at her friend and Dinah sees just how tired she is. Something must be bothering her to keep her awake.
"Come on girl, get ready for bed and I think you deserve some Dinah cuddles", she cheers her up and watches how her friend sighs before getting up. She drags her feet to her bed and flops down beside the blonde. "I'm ready", she grumbles. Dinah can't even protest since Lauren is already wearing sweats and she looks like she was either make-up less or she took it off earlier. Her arms wrap around her pale friend.
"What's keeping you up?"
Lauren snuggles closer. She enjoys being held for once. Camila used to do that a lot but she's not around and Lauren really misses that kind of support. "Just a lot on my mind."
"Do you wanna talk about it?"
Lauren shakes her head. She's driven herself nuts about all the things that swirl around her head lately. So much has happened during the last weeks that she barely kept up with the news and the bills. It seems to be too much for her to handle. Normani asked Dinah if she knew something about Lauren during dinner. The two agreed that their friend changed into a more distanced version of herself lately which concerns both. They made up the plan of observing her behavior while Dinah's more important since she's staying with her.
She shakes head and pulls her blanket closer to her body. The lack of sleep makes her feel colder than she would normally be.
Dinah's fingers are tingling. She knows pushing Lauren to answers isn't the best idea if not one of the worst, but they all just want to understand to help her.
She's about to open her mouth when she hears some soft snoring coming from the raven-haired beauty. It didn't take her long to fall asleep after all that's been on her mind in the end.
It's been like this for a few weeks now. None of the girls get her to open up while they see the changes in her behavior and daily schedule. She's been sleeping in while trying to catch up to her homework during the night. Ally told them that she saw light in her room when she needed to go to the bathroom around midnight the other night. She even went up to check if she just fell asleep but stopped at the door when she heard movements. Lauren was still awake and looked like shit the morning after. She told the girls that her car needs fixing that's why they have an old pickup truck at the moment, but they are guessing that she should have gotten her car back by now. Moments after Dinah fell asleep, Lauren's head shoots up again waking her up in a hurry. She jumps off the bed, sits down in front of her desk, turning on the little lamp before she starts to write something down. She checks it twice, nods and then joins Dinah again, who looks at her suspiciously.
"Come on, Lauser, spill the deeds please. We just want to help", she sighs as Lauren settles down next to her. It's again way too late to shoot up from sleeping just to scribble something down.
"I just forgot to write something down that I'll need tomorrow."
"Do I have to check to get details?", she teases but gets the wanted reaction. Lauren's eyes widen in shock as she sits up, debating whether she should tell her. If she should tell her only half the story or the full one.
The pale girl fumbles around, her fingers doing all kinds of twists and Dinah almost thinks that she'll not start talking. She observes how Lauren opens and closes her mouth a few times without saying a thing.
She finally sighs loudly, "I need money that's why I sold the car and some other stuff. I also got a job where I'll have to be at after school. That's why I haven't been around and took my skateboard so you guys could take the car."
Dinah is speechless even though they expected something like that. They just never expected her to go as far as selling her car that she loved so much. Her badass asset when she looks like a puppy. Her escape in a way.
"You sold your car?", it slips out of her mouth. Lauren nods sadly. "It was too expensive to maintain and we still need one.." Dinah shuffles closer to be able to touch her friend in a comforting way.
"Had no chance", she hears her say and scoffs. "Why didn't you tell us? You know that since we live here we actually should pay for it and we haven't so far. We are in this together, hun."
"How deep in are we?", she asks since Lauren doesn't seem to be spilling the details any time soon.
"I just need money to pay the bills, you know. And then start to save some for college", she rambles.
"But we can help you, Lauren", Dinah says seriously. She doesn't like to think of her friend making herself crazy when it could be easier for her.
"No, you're my guests. Camila's friends.."
Dinah tries to understand what she means by that until it clicks in her head. It's way too late and she's tired, but tries to focus as much as she can while her friend is opening up to her.
"You think you'd depend on Camila? Or do you think that she won't like it in case we would start to give you money for food and stuff?" She tries to think of options she could suggest to get some sort of sense into it.
She sees how green eyes lifts up and find hers. She stays connected while she tells what she's been thinking. "You came because Camila asked you to. To protect me. The only thing I can do is pay for everything since I'm holding you back from the chance of living with your families and I think that's unfair and cruel if I'd ask for money when you aren't here for fun."
It feels like someone punched all the air out of Dinah's lungs as she stares at her speechlessly. "I think we need to clarify some things here. Yes, we came because Camila asked us to, but it was just the best possibility for us to come over. We always wanted to live here for a while. There's no one holding us back or a place where we would rather stay. We became your friends, Lauren. We aren't like them. You are no burden to us, we like you and friends help each other."
She tries to find the right words and knows that Ally would be so much better at this than her. But it's just her right now and she needs to show her support and not her shocking expression.
She sees how Lauren starts to get more nervous since she spoke the truth.
"We- I mean I am not angry just disappointed to be honest. You are my Lauren", she hugs her friend.
"You're still not paying for anything just so that we're clear."
"We are and if it's just the food because you know how much we eat."
Lauren thinks about it for some time. The food swallows up a good amount of money but less than gas and water. She could live with that deal and it would help her save more. Thinking that she's safe with the bet since Dinah promised not to be mad, she agrees.