"Lauren are you okay?" Lance asked. She had a tighter then normal grip on his arm. Her face was pale and it seems almost as if her heart had stopped. "LAUREN!" "Huh, what?" "I asked if you are okay?" "Um, yeah sure." Lauren looked at the people standing at the end of the aisle and turned quickly. 'It can't be them what are they doing here in New York? But it looks like them.' Lauren hushed her thoughts and said "Can we leave? I have a headache." "Okay let's go!" Lance said, "What's going on?" "Oh, nothing. My head hurts and I think I need a nap." They walked out of the store and into a waiting limo. Lauren had sat quietly all the way back to the hotel a then locked herself in her room once they go there. Lance had no clue what was going on and went to get Justin. "JUSTIN!" Lance yelled opening Justin's door. "What?" "Something's wrong with Lauren!" "What? What is wrong?" Justin stuttered concerned about his friend. "I don't know we were at the store and…" Lance went onto tell Justin how they had been kissing, talking and giggling throughout the store. But then how all of a sudden she stopped dead in her tracks and got pale. Lance finished the story and then looked at Justin. "Let me try to go talk to her." Justin said as he left the room and went to talk to Lauren.
"What did you and Justin talk about? Everytime I have tried to get you to tell me you won't and he won't spill it either. Is there something I should know?" Lance asked Lauren. He looked at her and realized that while he had been talking that she started to cry. "Lauren, what is it?" "Oh Lance! There's so much you don't know." She thought of what he had been remembering and then her conversation with Justin. Turning towards Lance she looked into his eyes and saw all the love her held for her. She started to explain "Well, Lance I did not tell you because I thought it wouldn't matter but those people that I saw in the store, were people I knew along time ago, before I knew you or Justin." Lance shook his head in understanding and Lauren continued. "Um…where do I start? Well here goes. Those guys used to be like a second family to me. One of them was married to my sister but they all treated me like their family too. I turned to them for everything and in the beginning it was okay. Always getting hugs and kisses and all the little stuff that a teenager wants. Once my sister was married to them though things began to change. They became overpowering and tried to control my life and my sisters. I guess you could say that is when their true personalities came out. My sister's husband would yell at her and me, and they all would be verbally abusive to us. But there wasn't anything I could do about it. I was only 14 or 15 at the time and I just had to stand there and take it. I am not completely sure how my sister and I got away from them. All I remember is my sister saying she was leaving her husband and that she never wanted me to talk to him again. Later I was informed of the true reason. See being that young I didn't understand everything and it was a painful time in my life, my family seemed to be falling apart and I felt unloved in many ways. Well one weekend we were all camping and while we were there I was goofing around and made one of them mad. I don't remember this so please forgive me if the details are messed up. She said the next thing she knew was that one of them had a knife out and was threatening me. He said if I didn't shut up and listen to him that he would cut me. This is all the stuff I blocked out. That was what finally made her leave the family. She divorced him and about two years later I started to remember some of the stuff that happened. Like I remember the whole day but I don't remember the knife. It doesn't make sense. The only stuff I remember about the knife incident is what my sister told me. After that incident she packed her bags and left. Her thoughts were as confused as mine were. We both seemed to be under some sort of trance when they were around. They did nothing wrong in our eyes, until the day they pulled the knife on me." Lauren paused and looked at the concerned face of her boyfriend. Her feelings were flowing out of her as her voice became quiet at points and loud at others."Lance when I saw them I freaked that is all. I just wanted to get away from them. I love you and don't want to lose you. But when I saw them in the store all my insecurities came flying back. That family is the main reason I have trust issues. See I trusted them to be there to protect me and then they ended up trying to hurt me. When I saw them I was not scared of them for what they had done, but more for what they threatened to do. If they saw me then there could be some major problems. I guess I should explain this too." Lauren moaned as she buried her head into Lance's chest then started. "After my sister left the family, taking me with her, they were not happy. They wanted her back and me because we were easy to control. They did some stuff nothing completely against the law but enough that my parents wouldn't let me go out at night or be alone. We would get phone calls, harassing us, or just trying to scare me when I was alone in the house. It was almost like they were watching us. We got some threats to slash tires and other stupid stuff but we weren't0 really scared until one of them said something about getting her back by using me. My sister knew how they thought and knew that they meant that they would kidnap me if they had to, if it meant getting her to come back to them." Lauren watched, as the concerned look melted into absolute fear for her. "They never accomplished it but the threat was enough. That summer I was never alone. If I went for a walk dad went too or if I went out I could only go would with certain people. They knew that my dad would protect me at all costs. And that if they did actually try anything he would kill them. But see it wasn't just me that was in danger anyone I was around was too. Well this all slowly died out and I got to live a couple good normal years with out worries or fear. But I have always known that they would do almost anything to try to pay my sister and I back for leaving. This leads me to now and what this all means. See if they saw me they know I am here and that most likely, my father isn't around, which is the only thing that used to scare them. This could mean real problems for me and for those around me. I don't want to put you or any of the guys or even Chrissy or Carla in danger. If they came after me then they may not stop at me and go after them or you. I just don't want to have to deal with this, I love you all too much to put you in danger. That was what Justin and I talked about. I told him I wanted to leave early and he said he didn't want me too." Lauren finally finished telling everything to Lance and buried her head in her hands as she sat up. Lance laid there a second trying to understand exactly what she had just said and then sat up beside her and put his arms around her then pulled her close. "Well what do WE do from here?" Lance asked. "Hun, I love you with every inch of my body and I am not going to let some ass holes who get their kicks by threatening and hurting those around them get to you. I can't live without you. You can't go back early it would drive me nuts. So what can I do? What do I need to do?" "Lance, I love you more each day, but like I said before I can't let them get to you guys. I love all of you too much for that. I am going home in a couple days. I was going to tell you today anyway, but this way you know exactly why. I am going to go back home and be the strong independent girl I have always been with and deal with all this the way I have always do. I need to be careful and being with you guys out here is not a very careful thing for me. I know they saw me in that store so they are looking for me and if they find me there could be problems. Let's just say this family holds grudges for a long time…" Lance interrupted her by saying, "I am tired of this." Lance pushed Lauren a little out of his arms to look at her and make sure she was paying attention. "You don't have to be strong and independent. You can stay with us and we will protect you. You can't tell me Justin wants you to go because I know other wise. And as for this I have to be strong and independent don't give me that line of shit. You may think you have to be strong and independent but you have just as much right as everyone else to be scared and hide. I am here for you and I want to have you lean on me for support. That is what we are suppose to do. We support each other through everything. Please let me help you, let's face this together. If they come around looking for I will take care of it." "Lance I don't know if I can. I am so used to not telling anyone about this." "Well I will be there for you. Wether it is a sleepless night, or you just need a hug because something scared you. What ever it is I just want to spend the rest of this summer with you, loving you and holding you! Please stay. Don't leave me, not yet atleast." "Okay babe! I love you and I will stay. I will trust you with everything. But you have to understand how hard this is for me. I still will have a hard time with trusting." "Honey I will be here!" Lance said leaning down to kiss her. Lauren continued to cry and Lance sat holding her. Both silent in their thoughts. After a while Lance noticed that Lauren wasn't crying now and looked down to see that she had cried herself to sleep. He gently picked her up in his arms and then laid her on the bed. After covering her with a blanket he kissed her forehead and whispered "I love you!" then walked to his own room.
