The Bad Girl ➳ Lauren Jauregui

sixteen

"You know we haven't done that project, right?" Lauren said laying down on her stomach on my bed.
I walked over with my TV remote and laid beside her. "Do you wanna work on it right now?" She shrugged and rolled over to wince quietly, but it was loud enough to alert me. "Babe, are you okay?"
"Yeah. I'm fine." She breathed out, but I could tell she wasn't.
"Take your shirt off." I demanded. There was something wrong with her back.
She gave me a weird face, "No. You've seen me naked enough for the day." Lauren joked fiddling with her fingers.
I grew more worried as she kept trying to avoid the topic, "Lauren, please."
She sighed deeply and slipped the shirt off of her then turned her back to me after moving her hair out of the way.

What I saw was indescribable. There were scratches from me, but there were worse things. Black and blue bruises trailed up and down her pale skin. I barely touched the skin and it caused her to wince again. The sensitivity of her flesh was enough to worry me. How did I not notice earlier?

"Did I do this to you?" I asked innocently.
Lauren giggled and put her shirt back on to avert my eyes from her back, "No, babe. Well, the scratches were yours but-."
"Who did that to you?" I needed to know.
Lauren scooted closer to me to start kissing my neck and make me change the topic, "Does it even matter, babe?"
I pushed her away, "Stop trying to sex me into another world, Laur. I want to know why those are there and who put them there so I can kill them."
She smirked, "Your aren't going to kill anyone, babe."
"Tell me." My patience was running short.
"It was just a misunderstanding. It wasn't that big of a deal, ok?" She seemed a little sketchy about the whole topic.
"Not that big of deal? You have bruises everywhere. It looks painful. Relationships are built on honesty. I'm usually the last person to be preaching about this stuff, but I don't want to be in the dark about you." I admitted.
Lauren smiled and grabbed my hand, "You will know. Eventually. This is just one of those things you have to let simmer before you move on."
"You promise you'll tell me eventually?" I asked. She nodded and brought my hand up to her lips to kiss it.

--

After we worked on the project for a hour or two, we were called downstairs.

Dad and the twins were home now and they were all chilling in the living room with Mom.

I lead Lauren to the couch where the twins were. "Move!" I said to Grayson.
"Make me." He retorted, sticking his tongue out.
I grabbed his tongue and pulled lightly making him whine. "Knock it off, you two." Mom warned us.
After I let his tongue go, Grayson and Dylan got up from the couch and sat in between Mom and Dad for comfort because they're little brats.

I sat down close to Lauren and looked at Mom, "Whatdya need? We were working on that project." Grayson and Dylan started making kissing noises which caused me to grow deeply irritated. "Shut up, idiots!"
"That's enough. All three of you apologize to each other. Now." Mom demanded.
We all sighed deeply and simultaneously said, "Sorry."
"Now, Lauren you are welcome to join. So keep that in mind. But we are all going to the family reunion down in Boca for the next two days since you've apparently forgot to tell me you don't have school on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday, y/n." Mom smiled.
Ew, I hate most of my family. I mean I'm sure Ariana and Frankie will be there, which is cool, but I don't want to spend my days off with annoying Italians. Especially MY annoying Italians. "Do I have to go?" I whined.
Mom nodded, "Yes. Your Nonna has been asking to see you for a year now."

I frowned thinking about why she'd want to see me. It's because I stayed away from the family when Grandpa started to die. I didn't want to see that lovely soul move on. I couldn't handle it. I loved him so much, and he was one of the only people who made me feel like I was just a little bit special. Sometimes even more special than Ariana, and I liked that.

"I'm down to go." Lauren spoke up as she slightly started sliding her arm behind my back. "I'll have to go get some clothes from home, but it sounds cool. I've never been to Boca before. I mean, we've drove through it a million times but I've never got to see it."
"Then it's settled. We are leaving tonight at 6 though. So, pack your things. We're going to Boca." Mom smiled widely in celebration. "Lauren, would you like us to pick you up from your house so you don't have to ride that motorcycle with a suitcase?"
She nodded, "That'd be great, ma'am. I-I mean Stacy."
Mom was overjoyed, "There Ya go."

Lauren grabbed my hand and she pulled me towards the front door. "I'm gonna go ahead and start packing. You should pack too." Lauren leaned into my ear, "Plus I gotta find your panties. I think they're in my fern by the front door but I'm not sure." She quickly pecked my lips before leaving me to pack for myself.

--

We drove up to Lauren's house in a black escalade. She waisted no time getting out of her house, putting her bags in the back, and taking refuge in the back seat beside me.

She slipped something into my hoodie pocket. I looked to see it was my underwear. She leaned in close to say, "They were on the kitchen table."

I cackled a little which caused my Mom to shoot a glance to the back. "What's so funny?" She asked.
I shrugged, "Just a joke that Lauren told me."

--

It only took 45 minutes to get to Boca, and I'm thankful for that. I hate sitting in traffic with the two most annoying brothers in the world. Thank god Mom let them have their video games, or else I would've become a only child due to the instantaneous death of two children.

Lauren helped calm me down for the most part, but once we arrived at my Nonnas complex, she tensed up a little. I interlocked our fingers and squeezed her hand, "Just stay with me and you'll be okay."

Lauren nodded and we got out of the car.