"So which song off of your debut album are you performing tonight, babe?" Lauren asks as she curls a strand of her hair with her curling iron.
"It's actually not on the album. I um started writing it when Austin started abusing me verbally and physically." Camila bites her lip as she finishes applying her mascara in the mirror and Lauren just frowns when she thinks of everything he put her wife through.
Tonight, Camila is performing at the bar for the first time in a couple of months. Eric from Epic Records called her a couple of days ago and told her she needed to start performing again at the bar and uploading her performances on Youtube so that she can get her name more well known before her album is released this summer. He also informed her that she will need to spend her summer in LA so that she can promote her debut album. Lauren was not too thrilled at the idea of leaving their friends and moving to LA, but she would do anything for Camila so of course she told the girl she would move to LA with her. Lauren is just glad that she is a teacher and gets the summers off.
"You know, we really need to tell the girls soon." Lauren walks up behind Camila and wraps her arms around the girl's waist while resting her chin on the girl's shoulder.
"I was thinking we could tell them tonight. I was going to invite them over so they could listen to the album." Camila watches in the mirror as Lauren's eyes light up.
"You have a copy of it?" The green-eyed girl asks excitedly.
"I do, babe. They sent me one in the mail and it came in today." Camila pries Lauren's hands off of her and walks into the bedroom. She grabs the copy of the album from out of her purse and holds it up for her wife to inspect.
"Camz!" Lauren shouts as she snatches the album from the girl's hands. "This looks incredible, babe. I love the album cover. You look absolutely flawless." The green-eyed girl gushes as she runs her fingertips over the front of the album.
"You really like it?" Camila looks at her wife hopefully.
"It's perfect. Just like you." Lauren wraps an arm around her wife's waist and pulls her closer so she can plant a kiss on her soft pink lips. "So when can I hear this masterpiece of an album?"
"Tonight." Camila smiles tenderly at the older Latina. "I invited the girls over tonight and after my gig we can all have a listening party. We can also tell them about moving to LA tonight."
"How do you think they'll take it?" Lauren questions.
"I think they will be happy for me, but also a little sad that we won't be around this summer." Camila answers truthfully. "I mean we will only be there for 3 months tops. We should be back in Miami by the first of August."
Lauren just nods before leaning in to kiss her wife on the nose. "I'm sure they'll take it well. Dinah will probably be a little sad, but she will be okay. We will fly them out to LA to visit." Camila nods in agreement. "Now lets go or you'll be late for your show."
Lauren grabs Camila's guitar case in one hand and grabs her wife's hand with her other. Once they say goodbye to Cam and lock up, Lauren drives them both to the bar. When they arrive to the place, it's a bit more crowded than usual and Lauren knows it's because Camila has gotten considerably more famous since people in Miami have gotten wind that she signed a record deal with Epic. Once inside the bar, Lauren kisses her wife's cheek and watches as she makes her way up to the stage. The green-eyed girl sits down on her usual stool and orders her usual beer.
"Hello Miami." Camila speaks into the microphone and the bar erupts in cheers. "Long time no see." She chuckles into the mic and Lauren swears it's the cutest sound she's ever heard. "I don't know if many of you know this, but I spent all of January in LA recording my debut album. It'll come out this summer so be on the lookout for it." She says while strumming her guitar.
Lauren listens intently as she plays a few of her songs from her new album for the audience. Once she finishes with them, she covers "Don't Let Me Be Yours" by Zara Larsson. Last night when Camila was making her set list, Lauren begged her to cover that song tonight and the musician agreed to it. She spent the entire night learning the lyrics and the chords. Once the song is over, Lauren claps loudly and Camila looks up from her guitar and smiles at her wife.
"That one was for my wife. She loves that song and begged me to play it tonight." Camila speaks into the microphone and everyone lets out an 'aww' while the green-eyed girl blows the musician a kiss. "The next and last one I'm playing tonight was written during a dark time in my life. I was completely broken during that time and I was in the kind of pain that's uncomfortable to talk about. I actually only wrote half of it during that dark time and then stopped writing for six months because I couldn't really deal with the emotions that I was going through." Camila shudders when she thinks about all the dark times she went through because of Austin. "I feel like I went through a situation where, and I feel like a lot of people have, you're in this relationship or friendship, whatever it may be and you're just kind of left with all of these questions about why things went wrong." She starts to strum the chords on her guitar. "This one is called 'I Have Questions.' I hope you like it."
Why did you leave me here to burn?
I'm way too young to be this hurt
I feel doomed in hotel rooms
Staring straight up at the wall
Counting wounds and I am trying to numb them all
Do you care, do you care?
Why don't you care?
I gave you all of me
My blood, my sweat, my heart, and my tears
Why don't you care, why don't you care?
I was there, I was there, when no one was
Now you're gone and I'm here
I have questions for you
Number one, tell me who you think you are
You got some nerve trying to tear my faith apart
Number two, why would you try and play me for a fool?
I should have never ever ever trusted you
Number three, why weren't you, who you swore that you would be?
I have questions, I got questions haunting me
I have questions for you
My, my name was safest in your mouth
And why'd you have to go and spit it out?
Oh, your voice, it was the most familiar sound
But it sounds so dangerous to me now
I have questions for you
Number one, tell me who you think you are
You got some nerve trying to tear my faith apart
Number two, why would you try and play me for a fool?
I should have never ever ever trusted you
I have questions for you
Do you care, do you care?
Why don't you care?
I gave you all of me
My blood, my sweat, my heart, and my tears
Why don't you care, why don't you care?
I was there, I was there, when no one was
Now you're gone and I'm here
I have questions for you
Foul play, no, foul play, no
I have questions for you
I have questions for you
When Camila strums the last note, the whole bar, including Lauren, stands up and claps for the young musician. The green-eyed girl doesn't even realize she's crying until she feels the tears cascade from her chin to her chest. She quickly wipes them away and makes her way up to the small stage where her wife is currently wiping her own tears away.
Camila looks up and sees Lauren making her way toward the stage. She quickly props her guitar up on the wall behind her and steps down from the platform. As soon as she does, Lauren wraps her arms around her and pulls their bodies together.
"That was beautiful." Lauren whispers, her voice thick with emotion. "I know that was hard to sing... and write. I'm so proud of you for being strong enough to share the song with others."
"Thanks, Lo." Camila whispers and Lauren pulls away from the hug so she can kiss her wife. "Your support means the world to me." The musician mumbles against her wife's lips.
"I'll always support you. No matter what." The green-eyed girl looks into the chocolate eyes in front of her. "I love you."
"I love you." Camila smiles softly at her wife before leaning in to place one last kiss on her cheek. "Let me pack up and then we can head home. Go ahead and text the girls and tell them to head over." Lauren nods and pulls out her phone as Camila steps up on the stage and gathers her things.
The girls leave the bar 15 minutes later and drive home to find that Ally, Normani, and Dinah are already there. When they make it to the top of the stairs, they see the three girls waiting by their apartment. Well Ally is waiting by the apartment and Normani is trying to stop Dinah from knocking on the door to the apartment that her and Camila used to live in.
"Baby, stop. You don't know who could be living there. It could be some psychopath or some grandma who goes to bed at 8 pm and will yell at us for waking her up." Normani stands between Dinah and the door so the Polynesian can't get to it.
"Ugh fine. I'll just knock tomorrow morning. That way if it's a granny, she will be up and if it's a psychopath, they won't kidnap or kill me since it'll be daylight." Dinah rationalizes and all the girls chuckle at her absurd game plan.
"So I guess you are just assuming that we are going to let you all sleep over, huh?" Lauren raises an eyebrow as she puts her key into the lock and opens up the apartment.
"We brought alcohol to celebrate Walz's music career and we figured we shouldn't drive home drunk." Dinah shrugs as she pushes past everyone and walks into the apartment. She immediately goes to the kitchen to look for food and the other girls just roll their eyes.
"This is why we don't have many friends, babe." Normani announces as she sits on the couch and watches Dinah raid Lauren and Camila's pantry for food.
"Ralph and Walz don't mind." The Polynesian yells back as she grabs the last honey bun from the box and walks over to the couch to sit beside her wife.
Once all the girls are seated, Camila grabs Lauren's hand and gives it a squeeze. "Okay guys, before I play you my album and we get drunk, we have something to tell you all." All the girls turn their attention to the Latina and Camila finds herself getting nervous. Lauren senses the younger Latina's hesitation and squeezes her wife's hand as an encouragement for her to continue. "Epic Records called today and told me that I would have to move to LA for the summer to promote my album."
Both Latinas watch as Dinah pouts.
"All summer?" Dinah asks.
"All summer. We will be there from the first of May until the end of July." Camila confirms as she stands up and walks to sit on her best friend's lap. "But I talked with Lauren and we decided that we would pay for you guys to fly out to LA at least two times to come and visit." Camila watches as the frown leaves Dinah's face.
"Really?" The Polynesian smiles excitedly.
"Mmhmm. I'll fly you guys out on weekends that I am free." Camila promises.
"That sounds great, Mila. We are really proud of you." Ally chimes in and Camila reaches out her hand to the girl. When Ally grabs it, Camila squeezes her hand and offers the shorter girl a warm smile.
"I know I speak for me and Dinah both when I say that we are so damn proud of you too." Normani adds in and Camila places her free hand on Normani's leg and squeezes it.
"Thank you guys. Your support means the absolute world to me." Camila smiles warmly at her friends before sending a wink Lauren's way.
"You have it always, Chanch." Dinah leans forward and plants a kiss to Camila's tan cheek. "Now go get that album and play it for us." The Polynesian stands up with Camila still in her arms. She places her down on the ground and watches as the younger girl saunters off to her and Lauren's bedroom. Camila returns minutes later with her album in one hand and her computer in the other and all the girls squeal loudly.
Camila opens up the CD case and places the disc into her Macbook.
"Wait!" Dinah shouts before Camila can play the album. "Where is your utility closet?"
"What? Why?" Camila asks.
"I need some glue for my wig so it doesn't get snatched." Dinah says with a straight face and all the girls double over in laughter.
The rest of the night is spent listening to Camila's album on repeat and getting wine drunk. Dinah spends the rest of the night reminding Camila of just how bald she is after hearing her debut album. Camila spends the rest of the night with a smile on her face and at the end of the night, before she falls into a deep sleep, she realizes that the past year of her life can be summed up in three stages: the hurting, the healing, and the loving.
Thankfully, the hurting is over. It was over as soon as Austin was put behind bars. The healing stages were her recovering from the damage that the boy caused. She turns over on the bed and faces her beautiful wife who is sleeping soundly. As she studies every serene feature on Lauren's face, she feels her heart speed up. Only Lauren can cause her heart to beat that fast. Love is the only thing that can cause any heart to beat that fast.
She knows that in this exact moment in her life, she is in the loving stage and there's nowhere else she'd rather be.