Broken, Honest, Beautiful

Cherish

Lauren and Dinah were in their hotel room with Midnight, trying to stop the not so little anymore puppy from being too inquisitive and destroying it's, well, their surroundings. "Dinah get him!" Lauren laughed. "He's so fast Lauren! Midnight oh my god don't touch that-" Crash. Lauren's eyes widened and she hesitantly padded to the bathroom. "What was that?.." "Uhm, he broke the shower." "Oh my god, Midnight!" The dog looked up at Lauren who frowned at him. "We really should've chosen a smaller breed." "You know what, let's see if someone else can take him for the night cause we need to fix the shower and there's a high chance he'll break something else at this rate." Dinah nodded in agreement. "But who's gonna take-" the door burst open and Normani ran in and threw her arms around her best friends neck. Lauren wasn't sure what was going on, but she returned the hug anyway. "I'll just go and uh, sort the dog out. Later babes." Dinah excused herself, understanding that Normani needed some time with Lauren. "What happened?" The Latina asked warmly when the girl pulled out of the hug and sat on the bed. "Look on Twitter!" She raged, but she was clearly upset. She got out her phone and gave it to Lauren with an angry look on her face but shaky hands. Lauren took the phone and opened up the Twitter app. She saw hundreds of racist comments and pictures sent to her best friend and words that made her feel sick, let alone that they were aimed at her best friend in the world, who was nothing short of a beautiful girl. "Mani. I'm gonna go through and block every single person who sent a horrific comment or picture to you, okay?" Normani nodded and laid back on the bed, closing her eyes and sighing. "It's gonna take a while." She gulped. Lauren sat on the bed and got to work determinedly, she felt like she would throw up on just the 3rd comment, and there were tons more where that had come from. Normani cuddled into her side quietly, but she didn't look at the screen. Lauren had one arm wrapped around her neck so she still had two hands to get the job done faster. It was taking her hours, and she was nowhere near finished as more kept popping up. "Mans I really wish that I could block all of them but it's just too many people babe." Lauren sighed. Normani wiped a tear that slid down her cheek and nodded. "I know." Lauren put the phone down and pulled her best friend into a hug. "Why don't we grab the girls and get some food?" "Yeah, I am kinda hungry." Normani agreed, getting up and checking herself in the mirror. They left and knocked around on the other girl's rooms who agreed and then they were all off. "I know what we said about a tour puppy, but Midnight isn't a little puppy anymore and we can't keep him with us. He's too much work, and we have too much work to properly take care of him." Ally said. "So I asked my mom and dad if they could take him in for us and they said yes." Camila added. "Well at least he's somewhere we know he'll be looked after, and we can all still see him." Dinah said somewhat sadly. "Is she coming to pick him up?" "Yeah, she's getting on a flight as we speak." Camila replied to Lauren. "Babe? Are you alright?" Normani looked up from her phone and turned it off. "I'm fine." Lauren decided to butt in. "She's lying. A ton of people are being racist towards her online, like really bad. There's even a picture of her hanging herself. It's so fucking disgusting. I'd say you should see for yourselves but it's too horrible." Camila immediately reached out and hugged her girlfriend who melted into it with sigh. "They're all dicks Mani." Dinah rubbed her back warmly. "Yeah, I know it's hard honey but you've just gotta ignore 'em and keep your head up high." Ally smiled. "Thanks Ally." Normani smiled weakly, pulling away from Camila. "Where are we eating?" Lauren asked. "I want McDonald's." Dinah blurted out. "Everyone good with that?" Ally asked. "Duh." Camila said simply. "Man I miss their French fries." Lauren's mouth was practically watering. "YAS! Chicken nuggets here I come!" Normani cheered. It was late at night, Lauren decided to room with Normani for the night since her mood dropped so low after the day's incident, so Camila and Lauren switched. It was the middle of the night when Lauren woke up. The bathroom light was on, and Normani wasn't beside her. Lauren rubbed her eyes sleepily and padded over to the bathroom. "Mans?" No reply. Maybe she hadn't heard her. She opened the door, and Normani jumped. An open pill bottle fell to the floor along with a ton of pills in Normani's hand, Lauren's jaw dropped. She looked at her best friend's face and swallowed thickly. "Normani.." "They just won't stop!" She cried brokenheartedly. Lauren pulled the girl into a tight hug and sat on the edge of the bathtub with Normani in her arms. "Shh, Mani it's okay, it's alright. What were you-" "I thought if I took more they'd just stop." Normani whimpered. Oh they'd stop alright. "H-how many did you take?" Lauren asked carefully. "None." Lauren sighed with relief. "Come back to bed." Normani reluctantly followed and let Lauren cuddle her properly in the bed as opposed to an awkward hug in the bathroom. Lauren stroked the crying girl's hair in silence, aside from her best friend's cries into her chest. She was grateful the action wasn't as bad as she thought, she innocently wanted to stop the flashbacks. She wasn't trying to end her life, that was comforting to her. That no matter how much pain Normani was in, Lauren knew that she wouldn't go that far. She didn't think she would. Lauren moved the hair out of her face and kissed her temple, keeping her lips there for a while. "You're gonna be okay, I promise." "Please stay." Normani croaked. "As if I'd ever leave." Lauren said seriously. "Mani, listen to me, okay? I promise you babe, hey, look at me, whatever happens, I'll always, always be here for you." Normani nodded and wrapped her arms tighter around her best friend with red, teary eyes. "I love you Lauren, I love you so much." Lauren leant her head on Normani's and held the girl tighter. "I love you too." "I'm scared." Normani's voice wavered heavily. "You shouldn't be, look at me." Normani looked up into Lauren's mesmerising green eyes. "You're 100% safe with me, I won't let anything happen."

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"Tonight we're gonna end this concert with some special. Lauren wrote this amazing song." Lauren blushed and smiled at Dinah. "Hope you guys like it." Everyone looked at each other with soft eyes and then the music started.

Dinah:
"I can't pretend
To know how you feel
But know that I'm here
Know that I'm real"
Dinah cupped Lauren's face with the hand that wasn't holding the mic.
Normani:
"Say what you want
Or don't talk at all"
Camila:
"I'm not gonna let you fall"
Camila wrapped an arm over her girlfriend's shoulders.

Ally:
"Reach for my hand
'Cause it's held out for you
My shoulders are small
But you can cry on them too"
Lauren:
"Everything changes
But one thing is true
Understand
We'll always be more than a band"
Camila:
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah."
Normani:
"You used to brave the world
All on your own
Now we won't let you go, go it alone"
Normani looked into Lauren's eyes and smiled warmly.

Dinah:
"Be who you wanna be
Always stand tall"
All:
"Not gonna let you fall"
Camila:
"Reach for my hand
'Cause it's held out for you"
The girl held out her hand and twirled Lauren making a grin form on her face. As well as some screams of "Camren"
"My shoulders are strong
But you can cry on them too"
Lauren:
"I never knew you could take me so far
I've always wanted to hope that you are, the ones that I need, yeah, yeah"

Ally:
"Reach for my hand
'Cause it's held out for you
My shoulders are strong
But you can cry on them too"
She wrapped her arms tightly around Dinah from behind.
All:
"Everything changes
But one thing is true
Understand
We'll always be more than a band"
Lauren:
"Reach for my hand
'Cause it's held out for you
My shoulders are strong
But you can cry on them too"
Camila:
"Everything changes
But one thing is true"
Camila and Dinah:
"Understand (Understand, yeah)"
All:
"We'll always be more than a band"

The girls all moulded into a tight, long group hug as the audience cheered. "It's a really great song Lauren." Ally kissed her cheek. "Thanks Ally." Lauren grinned. "Goodnight lil sweethearts!" She blew kisses into the audiences. "Love you so much it hurts!" Camila said, dramatically holding her heart. "Come on weirdo." Dinah grabbed her arm and laughed. "Night y'all!" Ally waved. "Stay pretty!" Normani smiled as they all went offstage.