I Hate You, I Love You

Chapter 11: Second Base

Walking over to the bed, Dinah lay down with a heavy sigh. Crawling onto the bed, I lay next to her, propping myself up on my elbow. "You must be tired."

"I'm exhausted," she looked at me. "But I needed to see you," she said with such sincerity it made my heart skip a beat.

Leaning over, I pressed my lips against hers. It was scary how natural being with her felt. Even though tonight was supposed to be about the four of us hanging out, now that Dinah was here I just wanted to be alone with her. Pulling back slightly, I used my free hand to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Do you want to sleep? I'm sure the girls would understand."

She smiled gently and turned her head, kissing the palm of my hand before taking it between hers and laying it over her heart. "Would they understand if I wanted you here with me?" Feeling extremely uncomfortable with where the conversation was going, I removed myself from her grasp and moved to sit on the edge of the bed, facing away from her. "Lauren," she sounded confused. There was movement and then I felt her hand on my shoulder. "What is it?"

I shook my head, not wanting to talk about it. It was alarming how quickly all of this seemed to be happening. To be perfectly honest, I wasn't sure I was ready to make anything official and until Dinah and I got to that point I didn't want to share what was happening between us with anyone. But I couldn't tell her that. Or could I?

"Hey," she sat next to me and took my hand while rubbing my back. "Talk to me."

"I-," I swallowed nervously. "It's just, I'm not comfortable with them knowing that we're..." I trailed off. That we're what?

"Dating?" she supplied, nonplussed.

"No," I sighed. "Ally knows we went on a date. She guilted me into telling her." Thinking about our situation, it didn't bother me that people knew we were dating. What bothered me was them knowing the intricate details of it.

Dinah nodded. "I might have tipped Mani off when I asked her about your favorite food."

"As close as we are," I finally said.

She stopped rubbing my back to slip her arm around my shoulder and cocked her head to the side as she regarded me with thoughtful eyes. "Lauren," she said quietly, "I want you to know I would never do anything to betray your trust." She stood, pulling me with her. "We'll see where things go and let them know when we're both ready."

With a smile, I nodded. "I believe you." To have her understand and even agree made the thought of moving forward that much easier.

She kissed me on the forehead. "When we go out there don't hang all over me, okay? I know how irresistible I am."

"Oh, wow." I rolled my eyes. "Someone's got a big head."

The kitchen table held various foods Ally had cooked for the evening and I could smell something delicious baking. There was a drink station that had been setup in the kitchen where Normani was currently pouring herself a glass of wine while she danced along to the music that was playing. Ally had cleaned up. She no longer looked like a mime, but she did look like she was drowning in her oversized t-shirt.

Immediately going to the table, Dinah performed a taste test of every single thing before her. "Hungry?" Ally asked from the kitchen as she checked on what was in the oven. Dinah answered with a nod. "I was thinking we'd just fill our plates and eat in the living room."

Normani didn't need to be told twice. She picked up a plate and began filling it with food.

Once we all had our food and drinks we went into the living room and settled in. Ally chose to sit in the chair adjacent to the couch. Normani sat at the end of the sectional closest to Ally while Dinah reclaimed what I learned was her favorite spot, the corner. Forgoing the couch, I sat on the floor between Normani and Dinah and set my plate on the coffee table, making eating a lot easier.