Lauren's POV
Today was the day. We were filming my coming out video. Yesterday was Joey's birthday, the day before was Mike and Christian's, so like every year we celebrated for all three of them in Joey's day. This year, the only thing that was different was that my girlfriend came too. I never brought anyone to these things and I was a little nervous about that at the beginning. We've invited friends over, but I never invited any of my exes. But it turned up good. After Spencer caught Mike in church, he came to see me to try to understand me, and then the shooting happened and what Spencer did there convinced him that she was good for me. So all my family was now okay with us being together. Joey even defended us with his friends when they said it was weird. It made me feel happy.
After the party was over I sat down with Christina, Lisa and Spencer to figure out how we were going to do that and when it will be posted. After the Q&A video was posted Christina said there were a lot of questions about who I was dating in the comments. We had that idea that the title of the video would be "Lauren has something to tell you", or something like that, Lisa would figure it out, she was good with titles for videos. And I will give some more hints on my Instagram account until then. We're going to the resort with my friends after the filming so that'll probably give me moments to hint with.
I decided I didn't want the intro for the video to be with the girls and I didn't want anyone else in there while I filmed this. Just Christina and I, not even Spencer. It would feel weird having to do that with other people looking. So thankfully, and unsurprisingly, no one was offended with my decision.
"Hi I'm Lauren" I said to the camera, Christina was right behind it. "And today I'm gonna... I have something to tell you..." I thought I had prepared for it, but I blacked out for what I had planned.
"Maybe tell them first that you're not sick or living the band or anything like that" Christina said and we both laughed.
"Oh no, no, no, nothing dramatic like that." I clarified but Christina motioned me to actually say it, "So you probably saw the title and you're confused, but it's not that dramatic, I'm not leaving the band, I'm not sick, and it's not anything like that, it's actually a good thing" I smiled shyly.
"Okay now go ahead, you got this" She looked at me encouraging, this brought my mind straight again and I started to remember what I wanted to say.
"Okay, so... Up until like 2 years ago Dani and I were in charge of... everything that had to do with the Cimorelli merch basically, and then one day Dani told us she wanted to focus just on the design, she didn't want to have anything to do with actually managing all of that, so she left it to me." I hope that didn't sound like I was blaming my sister, "And... I started doing that, but I wasn't that good at it and it was starting to be a lot for me." I saw Christina from behind the camera shaking her head when I said I wasn't that good at it.
"You were good, it was just a lot of work for you that you didn't particularly liked" She tried to help me pick the right words, but I ignored it and shrugged my shoulders.
"So one day I went to Christina and told her that I couldn't do it anymore, so we decided to look for someone from the outside to help us with that."
"From outer space" Christina teased my lyrics.
"Yeah..." I dismissed her, not caring about the reference from our songwriting challenge, "Anyway! So Christina is way better than me at... like... searching people..." I said with computer typing motion with my fingers, and we both laughed, "So she looked up in social media for someone who would be compatible, I don't know what exactly she looked for, but a couple of days later she arranged a meeting with this girl that she found." I took a deep breath at the mention of Spencer and knew there was no turning back now, "So we met her, she studies managing in college, and... So yeah, her name is Spencer, we clicked right away, she is doing an amazing job..." I closed my eyes trying to organize my thoughts again, "So like I said, we clicked quickly and we became friends immediately... We... hung out a lot... And became close friends and..." I stopped to think again, that was the moment I just couldn't figure out how to say. "And then we... Became closer, I guess you can say it like that... And then we started dating, so we're dating now and... Yeah... That's... That's it..."
"Laur, you wanna try that again?" Christina asked me, probably not how she imagined me saying it.
"I don't know how else to say it" I shrugged, not wanting to think so I won't panic.
"Just try, so you became close..." She encouraged me.
"We became close and then one day I realized I liked her as more than a friend and she does too, and now... yeah, we're dating" I think that sounded better and Christina smiled with approval.
"You wanna tell a little about her?" Christina asked me, we did plan for me to tell some details about Spencer and I went through it with her so I'll know what she allows me to say and what not.
"Umm... Spencer... she's my age, she's like 5 months older than me" I rolled my eyes, never liked the idea of her being older than me, even if it was just a couple of months, I don't know why, it was kinda funny how I felt about this honestly. "She has 3 siblings, one younger sister and 2 older... twins... brother and sister... she's from New York originally, they moved to Nashville like 10 years ago, it's now her last year of college and she's doing great, so... yeah..." I smiled with the thought of my girlfriend and felt proud of myself that I talked about her in what's going to be really soon in front of thousands of people.
"Okay, what's her relationship with music?"
"What?" I was not prepared for this question and the way she asked it made me laugh.
"Like, she sings? Likes music? Likes our music?" Christina asked better.
"Oh she... she's not really a singer, I mean, she can sing but not... not that good" I knew Spencer would laugh at me when she'll hear that, "But she loves music, she actually has great ear, she heard our songs and could tell who exactly is singing in our harmonies."
"Oh wow, that's impressive" She said impressed.
"Yeah, for someone who's not a musician it's very rare, and impressive" I said to the camera, "But it's fun when we listen to music together."
"Okay, is there something else you wanna say?" She asked me with a smile and I shook my head, "Do you think she'll want to be in one of our videos?"
"Probably not, she's pretty shy."
"Oh yeah, you guys are pretty similar" She chuckled but I just shrugged, I knew it, there was nothing I could do about it. "Okay, wanna wrap it up?"
"Yeah, thank you guys for watching and listening, I don't know if and when I'm gonna convince Spence to do a video or something, but I'll try if you want me to"
"Comment if you want!" Christina immediately said.
"Oh yeah! It'll help my case, comment if you want her in a video" I laughed, "I waved at the camera and looked at my sister who smiled and put her thumb up after stopping the record.
"Alright, that was great, what did you think?" Christina asked me as she started to pack up the stuff.
"I think it was good, I wanna see the final cut though"
"Don't worry about it, Lisa's gonna do the best job and then she'll send it to you, and if you want you can ask her to be there when she edits it, I'm sure she'll love it" She told me and I started to think about it, maybe it was a good idea to just be with Lisa when she's editing, I don't know if I'm gonna be able to handle the waiting.
"Okay, yeah, I'll ask her" I smiled and got up and pulled my phone out to text my sisters in the work group.
Me: Hey, just finished filming and I wanted to thank you for your support, for letting me do this alone and not push me. I love you so much!
Amy: QUEEN LUV U 2, now come on we waitin for u!
Kath: Proud of you
They both responded right away and I smiled and texted Lisa privately.
Me: Call me when you edit the video? I wanna help you
She didn't answer the text in the group so I knew she wouldn't answer right away. And anyways I knew she would be up for it. So I left my phone and started helping Christina with the stuff when she was looking at her phone and typing, then I got the beep from my phone and looked at it.
Chris: What do you mean ALONE?? What am I?? A sheep??
She responded in the group and I laughed, just responding with a sheep emoji. I saw her rolling her eyes and laughed even harder.
**
"Tough crowed?" Spencer asked when I picked her up to go the resort, it was almost a 3-hour drive.
"What do you mean?" I furrowed my eyebrows at her and started to drive away.
"The video, you filmed it, right?"
"Yeah" I answered after hearing her a little dubious, "But why'd you say tough crowed?"
"I don't know, if you think it was good, if the fans will be okay with that..."
"Babe, that sounds weird, it went good, I promise" I put my hand on her thigh and rubbed it, "I don't know what the fans will think, but I feel good with the filming, and Lisa promised she'll tell me when she's starting to edit it so I can be with her and help her" I wanted to reassure her.
"Okay" She just said and looked away to the window, the music from my phone was pretty low and none of us reached to raise the volume.
"Baby" I called her and she turned to me, "Are you nervous? What's up?" I took a glimpse of her before looking back at the road and her sad face made want to cry.
"Yeah, a little" She looked down and played with her fingers, "But I knew it was coming since I started working with you"
"Wait, hold on, since you started working with us?" I asked amused by that statement.
"Well I mean, that people will know me at some point, or know about me"
"Well, you're pretty boring, so there's not much to know about" I pulled my tongue out with teasing and she pulled hers back at me.
"You don't care that they'll know you're with a girl? What if you lose fans for that? A lot of your fans are Christians" She asked concerned.
"We've talked about it with the girls, and at the end of the day we just wanna have the fans that will love us and who we are and the things that we love" I told her honestly, "I'm not worried... I'm nervous, yeah, for sure! But I love you, and it's time for me to do that for you, and I don't care about anything else" I said truthfully.
"You did this for me? You sh-"
"No, no, stop" I interrupted her, I knew exactly what she was going to say, that I should've done this for myself, not for her, "You've been holding on for me for so long! You never judged me for keeping it a secret, never pushed me to tell, you always had my back with understanding and support... all of that pushed me to tell, like in a good way, to have courage... it's a good thing... I love you" I said it again, feeling like I didn't say it in a while.
"No one has ever said something like that to me... wow..." She looked emotional and I smiled softly at her when I stopped at a red light, I didn't it was that dramatic, but if she felt like that I'm not gonna put her down.
"You deserve it" I decided to push her comfort zone a little more.
"Stop, okay? Stop" She smiled at me blushing and I chuckled.
"I love making you blush"
"It barely happens!"
"Exactly!" I laughed and pulled into a gas station, "Can you fill the tank? Please..." I turned off the engine and made a puppy face towards her.
"Stop it" She laughed rolling her eyes and put her hand on my forehead to stop my pout, then she took her seatbelt off and got out.
"Yes! Thank you!" I celebrated and got out too, "You want something to drink?" I asked her.
"Yeah, whatever you want" Spencer smiled and I nodded.
When we got back on the road the music was still low and we were talking about everything that came to our mind. It was probably the first time in my life I had a road trip that long without jamming to the music even once and just talking with the other person. It happened sometimes when we were driving with my family, but then it was like 6 to 7 people in the car, so I didn't to talk the entire time. Spencer was getting me out of my comfort zone in so many ways and I don't she even notices.
**
"Oh wow, that's big" Spencer said as we got into our room, it was more like a big suit and with a private pool.
"And romantic" I said and felt myself blushing, so I flopped on the bed to try to hide it.
"You said it so many times! What's up with that?" She asked and jumped beside me.
"Nothing" I shrugged with shyness.
"I'm sorry I'm not really that romantic, I still love you though" She smiled at me and that made me swoon, I put my hand on her neck and closed the gap between us to kiss her, but after just a couple of seconds my phone rang.
"Ugh..." I took my phone out of my pocket and answered, "Hey Kiera" I answered with Spencer still on top of me and really close to my face.
"So where are you? When are you getting here?" She asked me, I heard my friends in the background like I was on speaker.
"We just arrived, we're in our room, where are you?"
"Oh why didn't you tell us you arrived?! Come over, we're in the pool in our room, it's 510, where's yours?"
"723, but I don't think it's that far from you, we'll be there soon"
"Alright, be quick" She said and hung up.
"Wanna go?" I asked Spencer with a hint of wanting to stay.
"Yeah let's go" Spencer kissed me and got up, I was surprised but then realized she didn't catch the hint and it made me smile, I couldn't believe how much I loved her imperfections.
We put our swimming suits on with our clothes on top of them and walked to my friend's room. I texted Kiera that we are outside because they couldn't hear us knocking from the pool and she opened the door within seconds.
"Finally!" She gave both of us a hug and let us in. We went to the pool an Amy got out of it to hug us. Everyone else greeted us from inside the pool, not wanting to get out.
"I gotta pee, be right back" I told Spencer putting my hand on her back to encourage her to go in the pool without me.
"Come on, the water's great" Amy encouraged her too and I saw Spencer stripping off to her bikini and get in, so I felt safe to go to the bathroom.
When I got back Spencer had her back to me and didn't notice I was back, she wasn't really talking. I stripped down and got behind my girlfriend, I patted her shoulder lightly to make her move from the edge so I could stand right behind her, she recognized it was me without even looking and when I settled between her and the edge of the pool she leaned her back on me and I hugged her from behind, giving her a kiss on the cheek.
The pool wasn't big and not that deep. You could walk inside and the water would only reach your shoulders, unless you're Amy. I noticed Spencer had a bottle of something in her hand.
"What's that?" I whispered to her, not wanting to interrupt the conversation that was on.
"It's like a sweet cocktail, it's really good"
"Can I?" I asked wanting to taste.
"It's with alcohol babe, not much, but some" She told me, thinking I won't take it.
"Yeah, I wanna try" I reached my hand to take it and she gave it to me with an impressed and surprised look.
"Oh it's good!" I said after taking a sip and giving it back to her, I'll definitely take some more.
"I'm not gonna watch Narnia unless they pay me, okay?" Kiera said with real passion.
"I wish someone paid me to watch a movie, I'd watch anything" Elli laughed and Spencer turned her head to look at me.
"Would you watch more Marvel movies if they paid you?" She asked me with clear intentions and I bit my lips shrugging my shoulders.
"I can't make any promises..." I played it safe and took the cocktail bottle from her hand.
"Wait, 'more'? You saw a Marvel movie?" Angela asked shocked.
"She convinced me to go see Spiderman with her" I answered, blaming Spencer.
"I begged you to come with us to see the movies and you said there's too much violence, and then you go with her to watch one?"
"Cause she's whipped" Amy interjected and yanked my hand, but in the water it didn't have any effect.
"I'm not whipped!" I tried to convince her as I took another sip from the drink, but Amy knew better.
"Oh come on, tell me when was the last time you had alcohol Lauren?" She asked making a point.
"What, it tastes good" I argued and saw her rolling her eyes with a chuckle, she was probably right, I was shipped, but I didn't care.
"Can't believe you watched Spiderman without us" Elli said with fake disappointment.
"That means you're gonna watch all the MCU from the beginning now?"
"No way" I answered without thinking and heard Spencer laughing as I gave her the bottle back, she was definitely plotting to convince me to do that.
"Probs to you for convincing her Spencer" Kiera said with honesty, but Spencer was too shy to come up with a response and I hugged her waist tightly and kissed her shoulder.
"You'll have to come with us to see Black Widow now" Angela said.
"Yeah Spencer, if you're into Marvel movies you can come with us" Kiera looked at Spencer and for a second I got confused, I thought Angela was talking to me since she was looking at me.
"Oh I was telling to Lauren" Angela explained and there was an awkward silence.
"But Lauren doesn't really like it, Spencer you watched all the movies?" Kiera insisted and I could tell she was probably the only one, except for Amy, that really accepted my girlfriend and wanted her to be part of the group.
"Yeah, I started like two years ago and did a marathon of all the movies, so I'm up to date now" She spoke and I smiled taking the bottle from her, "It's empty."
"Already?" I groaned.
"Go get another one whinny" She pointed at the table behind me on the deck and I groaned again but shook my head.
"Nah, I'll pass" It wasn't worth getting out for that.
"But I want" She said clearly wanting me to go get another one, so I got out to bring us one.
"See, whipped" Amy joked and I rolled my eyes.
I took my phone from my towel and called Amy and Spencer, they turned around and got closer to each other to smile at the picture I took of them. Then I took some more with everyone else, some spontaneous and some with poses. I'll filter some of them when I'll get to our room later to decide which ones to post.