the secrets we keep [camren]

seventeen

After more screaming from Kendall, Lauren managed to get her to leave. Once she did, she went to comfort her daughter and who she hoped was her girlfriend. She ventured into the kitchen where Camila was sitting in the breakfast nook with Harper wrapped in her arms.

Sinu was opening windows to let the smoke out that came from the burnt turkey.

"Alright," she sighed as she turned back to the kids. "I'm honestly not sure this is edible anymore."

Lauren had slipped into the breakfast nook behind Camila and was holding her and Harper. She looked up at Sinu and quickly offered their house for dinner. "Well.. If your dinner is ruined, you're all welcome to have dinner at our house. We're already having the Hansens and Hamiltons over, the more the merrier."

Camila looked at her in surprise. "Are you sure?"

Lauren nodded and smiled. "Yeah, of course."

"Mamí?" Camila turned to her mother, who was staring at the turkey in dismay. "Are you up for that?"

Sinu looked up from the burned bird and paused, nodding. "I suppose. Only if it's okay with Clara."

Lauren grinned in excitement. "I'll go call her and see." She kissed Camila's cheek gently before slipping out and leaving the room to make the call.

Camila watched her and smiled to herself, then paused and kissed Harper's cheek, putting her on the seat next to her then got up and followed Lauren.

Harper whimpered and quickly got up, following her out. "Mommy!"

Camila turned and looked down, seeing Harper clutching at her skirt with a pained expression and picked her up, feeling guilty for leaving her. "I'm sorry sweets." She kissed her forehead and went after Lauren again. She saw her on the porch and stepped out as she hung up with a huge smile.

"Alright, my mom is waiting for us all. She's pumped about you all coming over for dinner."

"Okay great. I'm just going to change out of this dress, since it's ruined." Camila replied, looking down at the dress then at Lauren. "I'll be right back." She leaned in and kissed her cheek before carrying Harper up to her bedroom.

xxxxxxx

In the end, Camila came to the conclusion that it ended up being a pretty good Thanksgiving - disregarding the incident before dinner. But having Thanksgiving at Lauren's house with Normani and Dinah and being there after so many years brought back strong nostalgia it sent a chill down Camila's spine as they all sat around the formal dining table.

Harper sat in between Lauren and herself and Sinu took one head of the table while Clara took the other. Across from Camila was Ally, who was next to Normani and then Dinah sat by Taylor. Chris sat on Lauren's other side.

Looking at Lauren and Dinah, Camila felt like she was a child again, when they used to spend every Thanksgiving together (before Normani moved to town). She, Dinah and Lauren would always sit together. Lauren would sit in the middle because Camila and Dinah would fight over who got to sit by her. The memory of that brought back a small giggle.

The first Thanksgiving the Jauregui, Hansen and the Cabello family spent together was the year Lauren, Camila and Dinah were in the third grade and Ally was in the fifth. It was the year 2005 and the three inseparable friends were eight years old. Ally was ten and extremely psyched to be 'double digits'.

This was Camila and Ally's first Thanksgiving without their father and Camila was having a rough time accepting it. Her parents had divorced earlier in the year, at the end of the summer.