Lauren sets aside the art portfolios she's currently grading and picks up her phone that just dinged.
[4:31 pm] Dinah Jane💄: Sleepover at our apartment tonight. You in?
[4:32 pm] Lauren🎨 : I have a lot of art portfolios to grade 😫
[4:34 pm] Dinah Jane💄: It wasn't a question. Your girl has been extra on edge lately after seeing her attacker. She needs this.
[4:35 pm] Lauren🎨 : Of course I'll be there then...
[4:36 pm] Dinah Jane💄: Knew if I played the Mila card your pale ass would come running 😏
[4:37 pm] Lauren🎨 : What can I say? I'm whipped💁🏻I came to terms with this a long time ago.
[4:38 pm] Dinah Jane💄: Ugh my ship is the cutest I swear. See ya at 5:30, Ralph.
Lauren shakes her head at the Polynesian before finshing up the art portfolio she's grading. After setting it aside, she gets up and throws on a pair of sweats and her favorite The 1975 sweatshirt. She combs her fingers through her disheveled curls before applying a little bit of powder to her face and a light shade of lipstick. When she enters back into the living room area, she smiles at the not so little puppy sitting by her front door.
"Maybe Dinah won't be mad if I bring a plus one." Lauren smiles when Cam cocks his head to the side. After grabbing her phone and keys, she escorts them both to the apartment across from hers and knocks on the door.
Dinah opens it and raises an eyebrow at her when she sees the puppy sitting between the girl's legs. "Did I say you could bring a plus one, Ralph?"
"Oh c'mon, DJ. You said it yourself, Camz needs cheering up and I know for a fact that this little guy will do the trick." Lauren scratches the top of the dog's head and Dinah huffs before stepping aside. Lauren smiles triumphantly as she enters the apartment. "Hey guys." She greets Mani and Ally, who are fiddling with the DVD player.
"Hey Laur." They both say in unison before returning their attention to the DVD player.
"Where is Camila?" The brunette's brows furrow when she doesn't see the younger Latina anywhere.
"Her room." Dinah points to the back. "Tell her we are about to start the movie so she needs to get her Cuban ass in here." Lauren nods and leads Cam down the hallway.
"Camz." Lauren knocks once. She smiles when she hears a muffled 'come in.' She opens the door and Cam runs in first. Her smile widens when Camila squeals.
"Hi, baby!" The brunette jumps up from the bed when she sees her favorite animal saunter into her room. "Whatcha been doing, bud?" Camila cooes as she scratches behind his ears.
"Chewing up his dog bed and peeing all over everything." Lauren chuckles as she enters Camila's room.
"Hi, Lo." Camila smiles up at the older girl momentarily before returning her attention back to the puppy. "You been giving your mom a hard time?" She asks and Cam just licks her face in response.
"So Dinah told me to tell you that the movie is starting." Lauren bends down to join Camila in petting Cam.
As if on cue, Dinah yells from the living room. "Camren! We are going to start the movie without you if you don't get your asses in here!"
Camila chuckles before standing up straight. "You heard the woman." She playfully rolls her eyes and leads them all out of the room. When they enter the living room, all three of the girls are curled up on the big couch, which leaves Lauren and Camila to sit on the smaller one.
"What are we watching?" Camila sits down on the sofa, tucking her feet underneath her. Lauren sits beside her and Cam opts to lay down by the front of the couch.
"The Notebook." Normani rolls her eyes.
"Mani! don't you dare disrespect my movie like that." Dinah slaps her fiance's arm.
"We just watch it all the time." Ally huffs as she takes a bite of her popcorn.
"Shut it, short stacks. This movie never gets old." Camila shoots back and Ally narrows her eyes at the Latina.
"That's why we are best friends." Dinah states and gives Camila an air high five.
During almost the entirety of the movie, the green-eyed girl finds herself watching Camila instead of focusing on Ryan and Rachel. She does turn her attention to the screen when she hears music playing. Her heart warms when she sees the older versions of Allie and Noah slow dancing in the nursing home. The warmness is soon replaced with sadness when Allie forgets who he is again and starts to panic. The older brunette doesn't even realize she is crying until she feels her tears plummet from her chin to her shirt. Lauren quickly wipes at her wet cheeks and gets up to go to the bathroom.
Camila, too engrossed in the movie, doesn't notice that she has left until Dinah gets her attention.
"Chanch." Dinah whispers and Camila pries her eyes away from the movie. It's then that she notices Lauren isn't there anymore.
"Where's Lauren?" She furrows her eyebrows as she scans the room.
"She got up about ten minutes ago and went to the bathroom, but she hasn't come back." Dinah points to the back of the apartment and Camila immediately gets up and walks back there. She sees the bathroom door is cracked and so she slowly peeks her head in. Lauren is sitting on the floor watching a video on her phone, tears streaming down her pale cheeks.
"Lo?" Camila slowly pushes the door open and approaches the girl. She takes a seat by her on the floor and frowns when she watches Lauren hastily wipe her tears away. "You okay?"
Lauren nods. "Sorry for leaving. That scene with Allie forgetting Noah got to me."
"Yeah that's a sad... oh." The younger brunette's eyes widen when she realizes why that particular scene would make Lauren sad.
"I'm sorry I'm such a mess." The green-eyed girl apologizes and Camila shakes her head immediately.
"No don't do that. Don't apologize for how you feel." Camila whispers as she takes Lauren's hand in her own and intertwines their fingers. "You're always comforting me and taking care of me and sometimes I forget that you were affected by my accident almost as much as I was." Camila gives the hand in hers a light squeeze before turning her attention to the phone in Lauren's hands. "What were you watching?"
"Just an old video." Lauren looks down at her phone screen.
"Can I uh see it?" Camila asks hesitantly and Lauren nods. She restarts the video and Camila scoots closer to her, their hands still intertwined. The younger Latina's eyes light up when she sees herself on the screen. "When was this?" She asks.
"The first night of our honeymoon." Lauren smiles and plays the video.
Lauren: Camila put the camera away so I can kiss you.
Camila: Lo, it's our honeymoon. I want to document our first night in Paris.
Lauren: Exactly, it's the first night of our honeymoon so we should be doing this.
Camila smiles when she watches Lauren lean in and place open mouth kisses on her neck.
Camila: Mmmm well I've changed my mind. Instead of videoing us exploring Paris, why don't we go back to the hotel and I can video me exploring you?
Camila's cheeks redden as she watches her past self lean in and capture Lauren's lips in hers. The video cuts off seconds later.
"Well that escalated quickly." Camila chuckles. "For a second there I thought you were showing me a sex tape, Jauregui."
Lauren laughs and looks at Camila. "You would like that wouldn't you?" She nudges the girl's shoulder playfully.
"You caught me." Camila sends the green-eyed girl a quick wink and chuckles when Lauren only yawns in return. "Wow is my company that boring?" She smirks and slowly stands up.
Lauren immediately shakes her head. "No, never, just a long night grading art portfolios." She replies before standing up next to Camila.
"Well lets go and get some sleep, yeah?" Camila suggests and when Lauren nods, she leads them both into the living room. They walk in to see that the three girls have blown up two queen size air mattresses.
"Camren, we built you a bed. You're welcome." Dinah plops down on the air mattress that her fiance and Ally are already occupying.
"Cheech, I have a bed." Camila raises an eyebrow.
"Well I do too, but this is a sleepover." Dinah reminds her.
"Okay, okay." Camila relents and lays down on the mattress. Lauren turns the lamp off before following suit. She smiles when she sees Cam sneak onto the air mattress and lay down at their feet.
"Night, guys." Camila yawns and all the girls bid her a goodnight before they all fall into a deep slumber.
The next morning, Camila wakes up when she hears someone snapping pictures and letting out of string of "awws." She flutters her eyes open and they immediately widen when she sees what position she is in. Currently, her face is tucked into Lauren's neck and her arm is slung over the girl's waist. She looks down to see that their legs are intertwined and she blushes. Carefully, she untangles her legs from the green-eyed girl's and slowly removes the girl's arm from around her. She takes a moment to pet the loyal dog at the foot of the mattress before walking into the kitchen quietly so she doesn't wake the other three girls.
"That was a cute position you two were in." Dinah smirks as she stirs her coffee. Camila immediately covers her face and grabs Dinah's keys from the bar.
"I'm going to uh get breakfast." Camila points to the door and Dinah just raises an eyebrow.
"Running from our problems are we? Or should I say running from our feelings." Dinah takes a sip of her coffee and Camila just rolls her eyes. "The heart wants what it wants, Walz." Camila doesn't respond, she just walks to the door and exits the apartment.
The sound of the door shutting wakes Lauren and she slowly flutters her eyes open and stretches. A frown makes its way across her features when she realizes the bed is empty. She stands up and walks to the kitchen in search of the Latina.
"Sleep good?" Dinah smirks at the other half of Camren.
"Like a baby." Lauren suppresses a yawn.
"Mmhmm I'm sure you did." The Polynesian smirks.
"Where's Camz?" Lauren looks around the kitchen as she fixes herself a cup of coffee.
"Went out to get breakfast. All that cuddling must have made her quite hungry."
Dinah takes a sip of her coffee to hide her smirk while Lauren chokes on the sip she just took.
"What?" The brunette sets the mug down and Dinah fumbles with her phone before extending it to Lauren. The brunette takes the phone into her hands and smiles at the image on the screen of her cuddling with her favorite girl.
"Cute, huh? You're welcome for capturing an iconic Camren moment." Dinah dramatically tosses her hair back and Lauren just shakes her head, a small smile playing at her lips. She sends herself the photo before giving the phone back to it's owner. "For Christmas, I'll blow that picture up for you and you can hang it on your wall."
"An 8x10 will suffice." Lauren laughs before picking up her coffee and taking another sip. She pulls out her own phone from her pocket and sets the picture as her background.
"It means something, you know." Dinah speaks up after a couple of moments of silence. "Her head may not remember you, but her heart sure does."
The Latina just nods. "You know she remembered some of the attack." Lauren nurses her coffee.
"Yeah she told me." Dinah answers. "That's amazing, Laur. It means-"
"She could remember us." The brunette finishes her thought. "I'm just trying to not get my hopes up."
"Yeah, I understand." Dinah offers a sad smile. "Camren will be endgame though. Mark my words."
"Maybe so." Lauren smiles as she looks at her new background. "In the meantime, can we have more sleepovers?"
"Duh." Dinah scoffs, faking annoyance. "I'll be the official Camren sleepover photographer."
"You do take good pictures." Lauren takes another sip of her hot drink.
"Damn right I do." The Polynesian agrees and Lauren shakes her head at the cocky girl.
"Okay well on that note, I'm going to head back to my place and finish up some grading." Lauren rinses her cup out and sets it in the sink. "See ya later, Captain."
"Bye, Ralph." Dinah waves as Lauren exits the kitchen. Before Lauren leaves the apartment, she walks to Camila's room and looks for her stationary. When she finds it on her desk, she writes a note.
I had a great time with you last night, Camz. Have a wonderful day! You deserve to.
- Lauren
She lays the note on her floral bedspread and walks out of the apartment, Cam on her heels. As soon as she gets in, she sits down and grades the rest of her portfolios. This time, she does it with a smile on her face and anytime she finds it fading or finds herself getting frustrated, she just presses her home button and the picture of her and Camila cuddling graces her screen.
And like clockwork, her smile returns immediately.