Never Be The Same (Camren short fic) (COMPLETED)

VIII

"Haha, nice try, Mila." Normani quips with a playful eyeroll, making Camila pout. "And don't pull the 'I-just-got-shot-in-the-stomach' card again too. Ain't gonna work anymore," the dark-skinned girl adds as Camila is about to open her mouth to say something back.

The brunette then huffs and trains her gaze at Lauren, who immediately looks away as she already knew what the brown-eyed girl is going to do.

"Laurennnn," Camila coos and strokes Lauren's arm, trying to catch her attention and making the green-eyed girl bite her lip as she looks at anywhere but Camila. "Baby Lolo," Camila purrs and Lauren's eyes widen at the pet name. The green-eyed girl then makes a mistake of looking at Camila, who reaches to stroke her fingers on Lauren's cheek. "Won't you tell your Camz what it is?" Camila continues and gives Lauren puppy dog eyes.

"U-Uh.." Lauren gulps and stares at Camila, unable to look away from those beautiful chocolate brown eyes she had come to love all these years.

"Hook, line and sinker," Ally mutters and facepalms, shaking her head. "Lauren," Dinah warns and narrows her eyes at the raven-haired girl. "Don't you dare.."

"Well..." Lauren winces and finally turns away from Camila and looks at the girls. "I mean, we're going to tell the whole world soon anyway, why not tell her now...?" she trails off as she hears the other three members of the group groan. "Fucking whipped," Lauren hears Normani mutter.

"Um, excuse me," Lauren scoffs, "Lauren Jauregui ain't whipped for nobody," she says sassily and flicks her hair behind her shoulder.

"Um," Camila mocks Lauren's tone and giggles. "You falling for my puppy dog eyes begs to differ." She throws a smug look Lauren's way, making the other girls laugh and for Lauren to blush.

"Fine," Lauren admits after she recovers from her slight embarrassment. "You don't get to know what it is then." She sticks her tongue out to Camila, her turn to smile smugly as the brunette pouts once more. "Aw no! Laurennnn," Camila whines and koala hugs Lauren's side, making the older Latina yelp as she tries not to mess with some of the IV tubes still connected to the brunette's arm. Dinah and Normani watch and giggle, trying to make bets on whether Lauren will be able to manage scraping Camila off of her.

"Alright alright, children. Enough!" Ally yells over the noise and shakes her head. "Damn. Just like old times," she mutters and shakes her head once more, a hint of nostalgic smile plastered on her face as the short blonde feels extremely happy that the dynamic between all of them didn't change despite their differences before. She'd give her life for her sisters and if being their 'mother hen' means she'd get to be around them for a very long time then she'd gladly take on the job.

"Okay Mila, we'll tell you," Ally says and sits on the foot of the hospital bed. Dinah and Normani follow suit, circling the bed and forming a huddle.

"We uh," Normani clears her throat, glancing at her sisters before looking at Camila with a bittersweet smile. "The girls and I have decided to go on a hiatus."

Camila's eyes widens as she looks at the four women on her bed with her intently one by one. "W-What..?" She stutters, "a-are you--"

"We have already talked about it, Camz." Lauren reassures softly and gives Camila a small smile. "It's time."

"Time to grow into our individual selves," Ally says and reaches for Normani's hand while she smiles at the girls, looking at them through her unshed tears.

"Time to grow up," Dinah adds and throws her arm around Lauren and Normani. "I love you girls so much. All four of you."

"We love you too, Dinah." Lauren smiles and wraps her free arm around Camila, bringing her into the group hug. The brunette bites her lip to keep her tears at bay. Happiness surged through her having these four women close to her again. It was all she wanted to have for the past couple of years, to have each other's backs once more.