Broken, Honest, Beautiful

Returned

"Are you nervous?" Ally picked up as she stole a glance from Lauren in the car that would take them to the venue

Lauren gulped without looking at Ally and nodded slightly

"Nothing's changed with the Harmonizers either Lauren, they've missed you too." Ally promised

"Yeah Lo, honestly the fans blew up on the first show without you." Normani insisted to help relax Lauren

"They missed you more than us." Camila intervened and the four girls glared at her

"Oh." Camila realised how bad her sentence sounded

"Let's just go." Lauren muttered getting out the car as they arrived

"Lauren! Wait up!" Dinah called coming after her

"Dinah would you leave me alone?" Lauren insisted teary eyed walking at a quicker pace, almost running away

Dinah speeded up and came in front of Lauren giving her no choice but to look at the taller girl

"Camila didn't mean it like that, we all missed you. You know that."

Lauren didn't know that, she didn't believe it. Camila had accidentally confirmed Lauren's fears.

Lauren wondered if coming back to Fifth Harmony was the best choice.
She'd missed how things used to be, but she didn't know if it would ever be the same again. She hoped so.

"Don't be scared, it's been a year, love stretches to at least an eternity."

"I'm. not. scared." Lauren said harshly

"It's okay to be a little nervous about it Lauren, come here." Dinah soothed outstretching her arms

Lauren gratefully reciprocated the hug and Dinah held her resting her head on Lauren's without a word

"It's been so long, I don't know if I can do this." Lauren said shakily on the verge of tears

"You can do this Lauren, we all believe in you. You just need to believe in yourself." Dinah smiled

Lauren simply scoffed in response

"Don't be like that, have a little faith."

Lauren giggled "Now you just sound like Ally."

"Okay that's enough get your ass into makeup young lady." Dinah rolled her eyes forcefully guiding her inside

Lauren stared into the mirror as she got her makeup done. She was so scared of how the night would go, she kept repeating "brave, honest and beautiful" to herself until Camila came over to speak to her

Lauren panicked suddenly as the shorter girl sat beside Lauren.

"Can we talk?" She asked nervously

Lauren's heart rate increased rapidly, her mouth went dry and she lost her words already

Lauren felt a pang of guilt but mostly relief as she shook her head

"Leave me alone Camila." She said seriously and Camila gave a heavy sigh before obliging to Lauren's request

"Mila what's wrong?" Normani asked grabbing the girls arm as Camila walked past her

"Ask Lauren." She said pulling her arm away and walking away

Normani sighed and left it at that, she knew it was a bad idea to confront Lauren in the state she was in.

"Are you ready?" Dinah asked taking Lauren's hand and squeezing it as they stood at the side of the stage waiting to go on

"No." Lauren breathed petrified