Broken, Honest, Beautiful

Stuck

"Girls, we have rehearsals in 2 hours, we need to get up." Ally said as she peeked into their curtains, Camila and Dinah were both in their respective bunks, but Normani and Lauren weren't. "Lauren? Mani?" Ally called, Normani shouted back "Back here Ally!" Ally spun around and went to the lounge area where Lauren lay with her head on Normani's shoulder peacefully asleep with dry tear tracks on her cheeks. "Cried herself to sleep. Do I wake her up?" Normani asked, Ally smiled sadly and nodded. "She has to get up now, we all need to be ready on time Mani." Normani nodded and stroked the hair out of her face gently. "C'mon sleepyhead, time to wake up." She coaxed, Lauren squinted at the light and opened her eyes. "I'm up." She yawned and lifted herself from leaning on Normani. "Sorry." Lauren apologised when she realised Normani must have been in that position for quite some time. "It's okay Lo, we have rehearsals soon." Lauren nodded and got up from the bed, heading for the bathroom. Lauren knocked on the door to check no one was in there, after no response and she walked in, she found no one was in there. Brushing her teeth and washing her face to wake up she came out feeling more refreshed. She took her pills and did everything she needed to before she was tackled to the couch by a girl she was just heading to see. "Morning babe." She giggled when she saw Dinah hovering over her with a wide smile on her face. "Good morning. Did you sleep well?" Lauren gave her a sad smile. "Eventually, what about you?" Dinah nodded, "Yeah, good. Camila is asking for you." Lauren nodded, "Okay but I want my good morning kiss first." Dinah smiled and leaned down to kiss her girlfriend gently. Lauren kissed her softly and pulled back, kissing her on the cheek for good measure and Dinah lifted herself off of Lauren so she could get up. "Camz?" Lauren called and then Camila appeared in front of her with a pout. "Morning." Lauren smiled but all Camila did was wrap her arms around her waist and nuzzle her face into her neck appreciatively when Lauren held her instantaneously in return. "Are you okay? Do you still feel sick?" Camila nodded her head, Dinah sat down next to Ally and grabbed a piece of toast. "That's not it though. She had a bad dream, you were in it, I couldn't get all the details out of her last night. That's all I know." Lauren sighed and ran her fingers through her silky hair gently to relax her. "I'm okay Camz." She promised. "I was scared." Camila sniffled and Lauren frowned. "Hey don't cry, I'm fine Camila. You're fine, we're all good. And we're all gonna kick some ass in rehearsals." Normani smiled "Damn right, we lookin fly as shii" She high fived Dinah over Ally's head who crossed her arms in annoyance. "Don't be sulkin' Smalls." Dinah smirked and Lauren rolled her eyes at them. "Leave poor Ally alone, can I have some toast now?" Ally smiled and held a piece up for Lauren, who opened her mouth eagerly to take a bite. "Camz, can you let go so I can eat?" Lauren whispered in Camila's ear. "Only if we can cuddle later." She insisted and Lauren leaned back and held out her pinky, Camila smiled widely and intertwined them tightly. "You haven't done that in a while." Ally noticed as she handed Lauren her toast slice. "There's no harm in it." Camila almost snapped, Lauren sat in Dinah's lap and leaned back into her body. "Eat up girls, we have 2 minutes before we have to leave." Ally clapped her hands together and Camila let out a gasp before she groaned loudly in frustration. "There's no bananas!" Lauren giggled "I bought you some yesterday, check your bunk." Camila gasped and rushed to her bunk and pulled out a bag of perfectly, ripe and bright yellow bananas. "I FRICKIN LOVE YOU LAUREN JAUREGUI!" Dinah laughed loudly, "So she bought you a bag of bananas, big deal." Normani looked at her in shock. "Girl, bananas are the way to Mila's heart." Lauren smirked at Dinah who frowned and held her tighter and closer to her. "Well she's mine. Paws off." Camila spoke while she ate her first banana. "She's all yours Dinah I just want the bananas." "Oh thanks!" Lauren scoffed. "Oh hush up Lolo, you're the bestest friend ever!" Camila reached over and hugged her tightly making Lauren giggle at the gesture. "Thank you, now, rehearsal time?" Lauren looked up at Ally who nodded and lead the way. An hour had passed until Camila had to take a break, when the rest of the girls had their break, it was maybe around 15 minutes later. "You feeling okay?" Normani sat down next to Camila on the bench who was hunched over. "No." Camila answered but it was shaky from her holding back tears. "Aw Camila," Normani rubbed her back "Would you prefer to head back to the bus and rest up?" Camila shook her head carefully. "No I need to do this." Camila insisted. "Hey Mila, still not feeling well?" Ally crouched in front of her and rubbed her knee affectionately. "She doesn't want to sit this one out." Normani said to Ally who hummed. "Well we're going to be rehearsing all day. So why don't you sit here for a while, and you can join us when you feel better?" Ally offered, the Cuban would have declined the offer, but Ally was too sweet to turn down, so she nodded. "Thanks Ally." Ally smiled and kissed her cheek. "Feel better." She got up and went to talk to Sean about a move she was struggling with. Camila rested her head on Normani's shoulder and closed her eyes for a bit. "Camz? I got you some water." Camila opened her eyes sleepily. "Thank you Lauren." She mumbled, Normani smiled at the girl gratefully and took the water from her, putting it to the side for Camila to have later. "Mani don't get up, you're comfy." Camila pleaded, Normani was torn, sighing in defeat. "Hey, can I sit out with Mila for a little while?" Ally and Sean both held a thumbs up and nodded. "Look after the kid." He smiled and Normani nodded appreciatively. "I don't feel good Mani." Camila sniffled. "Don't get upset, do you want a drink?" Camila nodded gently and Normani motioned for her to sit up, Camila was too tired and achy to hold it herself so Normani had to hold the bottle up to her lips so she could drink. "Camila if you feel this bad you should skip out on rehearsals, you can't dance if you're too achy to even hold a bottle of water." "No it's fine, you go back to rehearsing, just give me a minute." Normani sighed but still rejoined the group. Camila went to get up but as she tried to stand on her feet, her legs buckled. "Woah!" Dinah was the closest person to Camila so she just lurched forward and grabbed the girl. "Okay the rest of rehearsals are going to be cancelled for today, you guys did really good." Camila groaned. "No Sean! I barely did anything." Ally walked over with a concerned expression on her face. "But what you did do was good, don't be so hard on yourself." Dinah held Camila close to her body for support so she wouldn't fall. Lauren put the back of her hand to Camila's head. "I think we should take her to a hospital, she's hot, like, really hot." Camila smirked. "Well thank you." Normani laughed. "Even when she's sick she's got humour." Ally chuckled but nodded. "Yeah, but Lauren is right though. Come on Mila, you can't fight us on this one." Camila sighed, the frustration evident in the exhaled breath. "I don't want to. Look can't we just go back to the bus and I'll sleep it off." Ally contemplated it before Lauren stepped in. "No Camz, you've had this for a couple days now. There's no harm in checking you're okay." She spoke seriously, that was something all of the girls admired in Lauren. Despite her own situations everybody else came first and the girl herself came second. It was in her nature to be so caring for the people she knew and didn't know. "You suck, all of you suck." Camila groaned as they sat in the waiting room. "Oh for the love of," Ally shot Dinah a warning glare "Of..Beyonce..shut the hell up and drink some water." Camila snatched the bottle from her with an annoyed expression on her face. "Mila, go, they called you in." Normani nudged her. Camila got up slowly, finding her new balance and turned around to face the girls. "You won't-" "We wont leave you, we'll all be waiting here Camila." Ally promised, knowing what she was going to ask. "Okay." She mumbled and went into the office where a male doctor had been waiting with a smile at the door. A while had passed by before the girls could hear screams coming from the room Camila was in. They all shot up from their seats and Dinah burst into the room first. "Hey! What the hell is going on in here!" Normani pulled back the curtain to see the doctor hovering over Camila and said girl looking a mix of scared and traumatised. "Come on babe it's alright." Ally ushered her out while Dinah and Normani basically beat the doctor up. Lauren handed the Cuban her clothes and Camila took them with shaking hands. "Camz, say something." Lauren frowned when she was dressed and silent. "How far did-" Ally started but Camila shook her head and Lauren pulled her into her body for a hug. "Later, okay?" Lauren mumbled, Camila didn't reply, she only hugged Lauren back around her waist lightly. Normani and Dinah had knocked out the doctor and laid him in the bed. Then they left the hospital and drove back to the bus. The ride back wasn't filled with light conversation or music like it usually was, it was just the sound of the car moving on the road. Normani had a quiet Camila resting her head on her shoulder, staring ahead into space. Dinah and Lauren were cuddled up in the back seat too, Lauren had started to fall asleep in Dinah's arms but refused to let herself, Camila needed her. She was the only one she would talk to after something like that. "We're all going to get us some dinner, so you two can talk okay?" Ally said to Lauren who gave a small nod and watched as Ally, Dinah and Normani left the bus. That just left Lauren and Camila by themselves, this way Camila would hopefully open up to her better. "Camila?" Lauren called out gently and she found her in the lounge area rather than her bunk, where she had first expected her to be. "Hi." She mumbled quietly, it was soft, but at the very least she was talking to her. "What happened in there?" Lauren asked in a gentle tone, comforting. "Oh it's just a virus thing going around." Camila said, ignoring what Lauren meant. "Camila, you're a smart girl. You know that's not what I was talking about." Camila took a deep breath. "You guys came in time. He didn't get, he didn't, you know. He just tried." Lauren nodded and let out a sigh of relief, wrapping her strong arms around Camila and kissing her temple. "Are you okay?" Lauren asked, Camila's brown eyes watered, she whimpered in Lauren's hold and shook her head. "I was so scared Lolo." Lauren nodded and scooped Camila up, placing her in her lap. Camila buried her head in her chest so she wouldn't be seen crying, she had always hated that. "We don't have to say anything else, okay? Just take however long you need Camz. I'll stay right here with you." "My heart is so tired." Camila croaked, Lauren felt her own eyes brim with tears. "Yeah. I know the feeling babe."