"She kissed you? Again?" Normani questioned me as she tangled her legs together like a pretzel at the end of my hospital bed. "And then just left?"
"You have no idea how confused I was, Mani," I sighed. "One second she's going at me and telling me that she will never like me back, and the next she is just kissing me!"
"Did you tell her to stop?"
"I-I couldn't," I mumbled, making Normani's posture shoot up with widened eyes.
"What the fuck, Lauren! You could've ended this whole messed up story right then and there!"
"Maybe I don't want it to end!" I argued with tightened fists. "Maybe a part of me still has deep feelings for Camila and I just can't let her go!"
"It's a little too late for that," Normani pointed out. "Camila and Austin are official now."
"And after she kissed me, she told me that she'd miss me," I lowered my voice while maintaining eye contact with Normani. "But I mean, I'm not going anywhere."
Normani instantly hopped away from the bed, "Maybe she put some drug in your IV! Shit Laur, she's trying to kill you!"
"Normani, sit your ass back down," I commanded with furrowed eyebrows; Normani followed. "Camila isn't trying to kill me, my god if she was I would've been dead by now."
"How did you even respond to that, Lauren?"
"I told her that'd I'd miss her too."
"So, you do know why then," Normani slowly raised an eyebrow. "Why she said 'I'll miss you'?"
I shook my head miserably, "No, I don't."
"Why'd you say it back, Lauren! Now she thinks that whatever she's going to do is okay!"
"Do you think" -I paused to take a gulp of air- "she's going to try and kill herself?"
"We don't fucking know that, Lauren."
"But what if she is," I felt my cheeks begin to heat up and my forehead bead with sweat droplets. "I basically gave her permission!"
"Lauren, I promise you, Camila isn't going to try and-"
"Lauren! It's time for you daily test!" The doctor's tone seeped through the crack under the door into the room.
"I'll try and visit later, but we have a rehearsal," Normani whispered and gave my hand a light pat as the doctor rolled an unusually large, yet familiar cart into the room. Once Normani had left, the doctor and her assistants began connecting different wires to me in different places- not technically caring how much pain these tests actually caused me.
"Ready, Lauren?" The doctor gave me a smile that I returned with a slight nod. Before I could reassure myself that everything would be okay, the doctor jammed her finger into a button that was constructed into the crate; sending a horror-movie like scream to escape from my mouth. Electricity jolted through my body and seemed to singe at my insides.
It broke me down, but I was doing it for Camila.
*
After my test the doctor informed me that I was allowed to leave the hospital for a few hours, but was to return at the requested time. For emergency reasons, they had chained a tracking device to my wrist so that if I did decide to escape the horrifying science being put inside of me- I could be found.
I informed Normani about the miracle of being released, and she immediately responded that we were going to get lunch together. A few minutes later, a black van that I recognized right away pulled up in front of the hospital. I cautiously opened the door and slid into an empty seat, eyeing around and realizing that it wasn't just Normani; it was everyone, including Austin.
"Sorry," Normani leaned over to whisper in my ear. "When I tried to leave, everyone bothered about where I was off too. I had to tell them."
"It's fine," I shook my head. "The more the merrier, right?"
Wrong.
"How you feelin' Laur?" Dinah turned her shoulder and stretched to face me from the front seat.
"Like crap," I honestly answered which lead Dinah to laugh.
"Fantastic," Dinah gleamed.
"How are the tests treating you?" Ally kindly asked, wanting to know more about my health and how I felt.
"Tests?" Camila perked up from the back seat. I shifted a quick look at her, noticing Austin with a lazy arm tied around her neck; just barley an inch a way from putting her in a choke hold.
"Lauren has to take some tests," Normani spoke up for me. "So the doctors can go into more depth when it comes to recovery and medicine."
"Oh. I didn't know that," Camila confessed and I could feel her glaring brown eyes boring into the back of my neck.
There was a long period of silence, besides Austin's obnoxious slobbering kisses on Camila's cheek before Dinah cleared her throat, "We're here! Let's try to enjoy the time we have with Lauren before the hospital sends in helicopters for her medical ass."
*
Lunch wasn't going so bad; it was actually appealing.
Everyone had delightful conversations about different topics, even Camila and I talked about Cuban food and cooking for a short time. I even communicated with Austin, the douche who pounded his gorilla fist into my head. We didn't exchange many words, it was really just him asking for me to pass the salt. I didn't mind the boy, but what still hung with me was the fact that he never apologized for busting open my head.
Or for pushing me to my limit that I know I don't have anymore.
"A toast," Ally picked up her glass of Diet Coke. "To the ongoing future."
"And a hope for Lauren to grow her attitude back," Dinah added.
"It never left," I smirked at her.
We clinked our non-alcoholic drinks together and that lead back to bubbly laughter and chatter between everyone. I felt my eyes suddenly land on Camila and Austin. Austin had both eyebrows raised and was softly saying something to Camila; something that seemed important to him, but not much to Camila. She carefully placed a hand on his cheek and nodded, then replying to him.
"Laur?"
"Hm, yeah?" I turned to face Normani.
She stared at my straight in the eye, "It's time to move on."
"I know," I sighed.
"Say it," Normani noticed the confusion in my expression. "Say it aloud to me."
"There's people around-"
"Whisper."
I rolled my eyes and looked back at the other two pairs of people. Dinah and Ally were debating away at some random topic, and Camila and Austin were still in their deep conversation. I turned back to Normani and took a short breath, "I'm over Camila Cabello and it's time for me to move on."
"Good," Normani patted my shoulder before turning to Dinah and Ally in attempt to get them to stop bickering.
I was reaching for another french fry when Camila's voice spoke up with an eager tone, "Guys."
In that moment, everyone shut up and directed their attention to the newly taken girl.
"I have an announcement," Camila coughed in attempt to make her sound louder.
"Jesus, Mahone," Dinah squinted her eyes at Austin. "Did you get her knocked up already? Honestly, it's been a few days-"
The idea caused me to cringe noticeably, and I was surprised no one saw me do so.
"I'm not pregnant, Dinah!"
"Oh," Dinah simply responded before continuing. "But if you were, I would be the godmother right?"
"I think, personally, that I should be the godmother," Ally raised her hand in opinion.
"You can be the godfather, Allyson," Normani punched a joke which made Ally purse her lips and Dinah chuckle uncontrollably.
"I'm quitting Fifth Harmony."
And everything stopped; from the joyful laughter, to the silly debates among personal conversation.
The table was dead silence, and so was the rest of Fifth Harmony's future.