I stretched my legs underneath the covers and felt the soft fabric brush against my skin, burying my face in my pillow and hearing faint whispers from somewhere inside the room.
"Should we wake her up?" Camila spoke quietly to the other girls.
"I don't know, she looks like a pretty heavy sleeper. We may have a hard time," Dinah answered deviously.
"How will we ever get her out of bed?" Normani asked, the same mischievous tone in her voice.
"I think I have an idea," Dinah stated, skipping quietly out of the room and leaving the other girls in silence.
I didn't move a muscle, waiting to see what their genius plan to get me out of bed would be, none of them aware that I was already awake.
Dinah reentered, two pans clinking together in her hand while she tried to make her presence as silent as possible.
I tensed up under the sheets and waited for the ear splitting sound of the pans crashing together, assuming that was her plan. The room grew eerily silent and I thought for a moment that they had decided against waking me until I heard the crash of metal against metal which made me jolt upright despite having braced myself for the sound.
"GOOD MORNING!" Dinah yelled as she splashed water on me, followed by Normani who rubbed a huge blob of whipped cream across my face.
"Seriously?" I hissed, wiping the whipped cream off my face and flicking it back towards Dinah.
"It's already ten, sleepy head. Wakey wakey," Camila cooed, reaching across the bed and spooning some of the cream off of my face with her finger tip and depositing it onto her tongue.
"Ew, you don't know where her face has been," Dinah scolded Camila, contorting her face into a disgusted expression.
"Sure I do," Camila shrugged. "She's been sleeping. Her face was obviously on her pillow."
"But what if she got up in the middle of the night and like...wiped her face with a dirty dish rag or something?" Dinah argued.
"Why would I do that?" I asked in a low, hushed tone, staring off into the distance and waiting for the girls to finish arguing.
"She didn't," Camila continued, shaking her head from side to side and crossing her arms over her chest. "I was here all night, I happen to know for a fact that she was in bed from the time she fell asleep to just now."
"You spent the night here?" Normani asked, a hint of surprise in her tone.
"Yeah, I guess I just fell asleep on the couch," Camila answered.
Ally, Normani, and Dinah all shared a troubled but pleased look with one another, Dinah turning towards Camila with a smirk plastered on her face.
"What did you two get up to last night? Lauren slept in pretty late, I guess whatever it was it made pretty tired," Dinah question mischievously.
"Whoa, whoa," Camila said, holding her hands out in front of her and backing away from Dinah slowly. "Don't even go there. It's too early in our friendship for inappropriate sexual humor."
"We watched Harry Potter," I added, finally dragging myself out of bed. "Camila fell asleep on the couch, that's it. That's all that happened. Just two perfectly straight girls watching a movie and getting to know each other."
Camila dropped her gaze to the floor in front of her, a small smile appearing on her lips as she tried to hide it, followed by the other girls who did the same.
"What's wrong with all of you?" I wondered aloud.
"Uh...Lo, you're not wearing pants," Ally informed me.
I looked down at my bare legs and realized that I was, in fact, only wearing underwear and a large t-shirt.
"You say it's too early in the relationship for sexual humor, I say it's too early to see Lauren without pants," Dinah exclaimed, turning on her heels and walking out of the room.
"Yeah, I think I agree with Dinah," Normani said, following her out of the room with Ally on her trail.
I glanced at Camila who was still standing firmly in place.
"You're not going to run out at the site of my bare butt like the rest of them?" I asked her.
"It's not bare..." she half-whispered, "and besides, we're all girls here. And for the record, if it makes you feel any better, I don't sleep in pants either."
"Wow, thanks Camz, now I feel so much better about exposing myself to all of you before you've even gotten to know me," I laughed sarcastically.
"Just trying to help," Camila said, feigning insult. "Sorry about the literal rude awakening. That wasn't my idea by the way."
"I know," I told her, walking over to my bag and retrieving a pair of sweat pants. "I heard you all discussing it. I was awake the whole time, I was just waiting to see what you would do."
"Why didn't you try and stop her?" she pressed.
"Well...I didn't think she'd do that. It's too early in the friendship for sexual humor and half-naked Lauren, shouldn't it be too early for pranks too?"
"Oh, no. It's never too early for pranks. Dinah is the obvious prankster of the group, if you couldn't already tell. She'll stop at nothing to make sure we all know that, I'm already convinced," Camila warned me.
"I'll be sure to keep that in mind," I chuckled, walking out into the living area where the other girls were waiting on us.
"So what's the plan for today?" Camila asked everyone, swinging herself over the back of the couch and landing in between Dinah and Ally.
"Well, I thought it was supposed to be a free day, and it mainly is, but apparently we get our group name today," Normani informed all of us.
"What do you think it will be?" Camila asked, her attention on the conversation but her gaze elsewhere.
"Dinah and Those Other Girls," Dinah suggested, scrolling through her phone and not paying us any attention.
"Okay, good, so she's the prankster and the diva," I teased.
The other girls laughed in response and Dinah rolled her eyes, her attention never leaving her phone.
"We're supposed to go down to the stage at eleven and Simon will tell us," Normani added.
"I'm kind of nervous," Ally admitted. "What if it's something stupid? It doesn't matter how good we are on stage if our name sucks."
"I'm sure it'll work out," Camila encouraged. "I mean, think about One Direction. Simon put them together and they're taking over the world. Their name doesn't make a bit of sense. 'One Direction?' Which direction? North, east, south, west? It's confusing as hell yet people still love them."
"Well, that's because they're hot," Normani concluded.
"I don't know, I think we're kind of hot too," I chimed in.
"Not all of us," Camila laughed, her lack of self-esteem clearly evident despite her attempt at a joke.
"Actually, I think you're the hottest, Mila," Dinah admitted.
"Oh, give me a break," Camila dismissed.
"No, really. Right now you're super adorable. You're only fifteen, you have these big brown eyes and a baby face and the cutest little laugh, but mark my words...give it a year and you'll be making every straight girl gay and every gay guy straight," Dinah said.
"Are you serious? Look at me. I'm destined to look like a child forever. I still have my baby fat and I'm fifteen years old," Camila argued.
"Now. You're fifteen now. But just wait. You'll hit your peak. You'll always be adorable, but within a split second you'll go from 'Aww, she's the cutest thing ever!' to 'Oh my God Camila, have my children.' Just wait," Dinah finished, looking back down at her phone.
Camila smiled, clearly pleased with Dinah's scenario, and I couldn't help but smile too, even though I didn't agree with Dinah. I couldn't picture Camila as anything but adorable with her button nose and her crooked smile and her short stature. She didn't look as though she even knew the meaning of the words "hot" or "sexy," and she definitely didn't look as though she could embody them.
"I think the same thing is going to happen to Lauren," Ally said, continuing with the topic of conversation. "Like, you're hot now, but in a year or two you'll be too much to handle."
"I'm pretty sure that will happen to all of us," I laughed. "We're not going to look like children forever."
Ally shrugged and considered my words and Normani checked her phone, getting up off the couch and sliding it into her back pocket.
"Well, time to go get our name," she announced, and the rest of us followed her as she made her way to the door.
We all made our way to the elevator, Ally and Normani engaged in conversation, Dinah laughing or smiling when she found it necessary, and Camila and I at the back of the group.
"I think Ally's right you know," Camila whispered.
"About what?" I asked with a furrowed brow as we slowed our pace so the other girls couldn't hear our conversation.
"About you being hot...in the future I mean. You're pretty now but I have a feeling in the future you'll be a heart breaker," she told me.
"Are you flirting with me, Camz? You better take it down a notch, the girls already think we slept together last night," I joked.
"What if I am?" she asked in a hushed tone, her voice low, raspy, and seductive. She had a serious look on her face, her deep eyes staring intensely into my own.
I swallowed and looked away, not sure if I was more disgruntled by the way she was looking at me or the fact that I didn't really mind. I looked back at her to see if she was still watching me, letting out a sigh of relief when I saw a smile slowly spreading across her face.
"You know I'm kidding, right?" she asked, her voice still low and hoarse.
"Of course I know that, although I'm not so sure considering you told me and the guys of Emblem3 that you like girls," I smirked.
"Also kidding," she chuckled. "But in all honesty, if I did like girls..."
She trailed off as we approached the elevator, waiting until the other girls had stepped inside and were once again engaged in conversation before she turned her attention towards me once again.
She bit down on her bottom lip hungrily and looked me up and down, her eyes stopping momentarily on my chest and then my lips. "Mmm..." she finished, winking at me and then turning to the other girls, joining their conversation.
I rolled my eyes and leaned against the wall of the elevator, convinced that she was just joking or that she was up to some prank with Dinah.
The doors slid open and we all stepped out, suddenly becoming silent at the memories of the last time we were on the stage, first to be eliminated as solo artists and then to be placed together. We walked out onto the stage and stood in the center, our hands entwined like they had been before we'd received the news.
"Girls," Simon greeted in his thick accent. "I figured we'd just get right to the point."
We all stood silently and waited for him to continue.
"So your group name is Lylas. Not The Lylas, just Lylas. You'll all be staying in the judges' house with other contestants as a group. Learn each other's voices, but most importantly learn each other," he instructed.
Each girl shared a smile with the one closest to her, pleased that our name wasn't as bad as it could have been and knowing that we were already off to a great start of a beautiful friendship.
"That's all, you're dismissed," Simon concluded.
We all thanked him and began walking off stage, suddenly halted by the sound of his voice once again.
"Girls, one more thing," he continued. "You're not the only group in the competition, keep that in mind. Also, you're not the only group under my name. Emblem3 is also mine, and they're still competition. You're young, this a great experience for you, but please, for the love of God, stay away from those boys."
"They're good kids, but romance in a competition like this calls for nothing but failure," he added. "All of the contestants have been told that they aren't allowed to date other contestants. Of course, we can't stop you, not really. Just be mindful of the decisions you're making."
"We will, thank you sir," Ally promised.
"And girls," he said again, "you may not be my only group, but you're the only one I'm betting on. Let's keep that our little secret."
We all gave Simon a grateful look and then headed off stage, his words etched in our minds as encouragement.
"Well, Lylas, who's ready to go to the judges' mansion?" Dinah asked us all.
We huddled together and hugged each other tightly, jumping up and down and squealing about how far we'd made it, believing now that it was only the beginning.
...
October, 2012
"No...freaking...way," Ally gasped as our limo pulled up outside the judges' mansion.
"This place is gigantic," Normani observed, her mouth hanging open as she stared at the beautiful home from inside the car.
"Uh, guys, it's probably even better on the inside," I laughed, breaking them from their daze, Camila and Dinah already outside the limo standing next to me.
They quickly got out of the car and retrieved their bags from the trunk, still in awe over the size of the mansion. We made our way through the front door and found our rooms, myself rooming with Camila and Dinah, Ally and Normani in the room attached to ours. Once we were settled in we decided to give ourselves a tour of the house, gasping around every corner and laughing about how small we felt compared to the size of everything. Finally, we made our way to the patio and grew silent.
"So this is where it happens, huh?" Dinah whispered, staring at the set of stools that was lined up in front of the judges' chairs.
"Yeah, this is where we perform. This is where they decide if we go on or not," Normani answered, talking more to herself than anyone else.
"This is so surreal. I never thought I'd see this place...much less live in it and perform at it," Camila shared with us.
"Well we're here now. Let's make the most of it," Ally prompted.
"Lauren, you okay? You haven't really said anything," Camila pointed out.
"Yeah, I'm good. I'm just trying to take-"
"Lauren?" I heard a familiar voice call, cutting me off before I could answer.
"Keaton!" I yelled back, turning to face the source of the voice and being scooped up in his arms.
"What are you doing here? I thought you were eliminated," he asked frantically.
"I was...we all were," I told him, pointing to the group of girls behind me. "But now we're back as a group."
"I fucking told you so," Keaton laughed, clearly pleased with himself. "I told you that Simon would put you all together, did I not?"
"It was a lucky guess," I scoffed.
"Nice to see you again Camila," Keaton greeted as he pulled her in for a hug, eliciting a series of strange looks from the other girls as Wes and Drew appeared on the patio.
"Girls, this is Keaton, Drew, and Wes, also known as Emblem3," I introduced.
Normani stuck out her hand for them to shake, realization washing over her.
A series of "nice to meet you's" were exchanged and then we all headed inside and into the kitchen, the girls and I sitting at the bar while the guys made us drinks.
"So where is everyone else?" Camila asked Wes who was situated in front of her.
"Around here somewhere. They're mostly solo artists. No one really likes to hang out with the groups. We're too much to handle apparently," he answered. "You're still cute by the way."
"I thought I told you I like girls," Camila joked, causing Dinah to spit her drink out on the counter in front of her.
"Oh, that's right, I think you did mention something about that heaping pile of bullshit," Wes smirked.
Camila shrugged and sipped her drink while Keaton and Drew joined Wes against the counter.
"So we have what, like, five days until we perform?" Drew reminded us all.
"Something like that," I responded.
"Have you guys practiced at all yet?" Keaton asked us, his attention on Normani.
"No, we've mainly been trying to get to know each other," she answered.
"What have you learned so far?" Wes asked, this time turning the attention to Ally.
"Well, Dinah's the prankster, Camila is wickedly smart, adorable, and loves Harry Potter, Normani is more reserved but definitely funny, and Lauren...well, I'm not really sure. All I know is that she doesn't like pants. She's kind of hard to figure out," she explained.
Wes opened his mouth to say something but Camila cut him off before he had the chance.
"She's not hard to figure out. She's mysterious, sure, but it's kind of intriguing. She's honest- sometimes brutally- and well spoken. She's very...eloquent, like she thinks about everything she says before she says it but in reality, that's not the case. She's intelligent and open minded, and I can tell because she never talks when we're having a conversation. She listens like she expects to learn something from our nonsense," she rambled.
"And if there's one thing that I've learned about her so far, it's that she's the most selfless person I've ever met," she finished.
"Wow, I sense a romance brewing between the two of you," Keaton joked.
I smiled appreciatively at Camila, amazed that she had figured that much out in the short amount of time that we had known each other. It would have been different for me had she rambled about physical qualities or characteristics that were easily distinguished, but she didn't. She dug down deep and came up with a handful of the juicy stuff- stuff that, evidentially, no one knew existed unless they took the time to figure it out. She had taken the time to figure me out, and I had no idea why.
"I ship it," Dinah announced, snapping me from my daze. "Their mashup name can be Camren. You know, like Camila and Lauren."
"That's cute," Ally laughed.
"Guys, we're not gay. Especially not for each other. How did that even start?" Camila huffed, annoyance evident in her voice.
"That's a good question," Dinah admitted. "I don't know, I guess we could just kind of...feel it."
"Okay, well, as much as I'm enjoying this conversation," I said, pushing my chair out from underneath me and stretching my arms out behind my back, "it's late and I'd like to get some sleep. We have a lot of work to do tomorrow."
"Yeah, I'm kind of tired too," Camila announced, getting up from her chair and hurrying after me.
"We'll be in there in a little while," Dinah called from the kitchen.
Camila I entered the room and shut the door behind us so we could change into our pajamas in private, both of us rummaging through our bags as soon as we got into the room. I watched Camila as she sifted through her bag, throwing her unwanted items on the floor around her feet.
"Are you always this messy?" I laughed, only half-joking.
"You have no idea," she answered.
She unbuttoned her shorts and slid them down her legs until they crumpled around her feet.
"Enjoying the view?" she chuckled.
I felt my cheeks grow red at the realization that I had been watching her. Not intentionally, of course, just distracted as my mind was wandering elsewhere. She slipped off her t-shirt and threw a clean one over her head, reaching up under the back of her shirt once it was on and unclasping her bra, sliding it off her arms and throwing it on the floor.
"Hey Camz," I muttered, trying to break the silence that was growing between us before it became too awkward.
"Yeah?" she answered, her toothbrush in her mouth.
"What you said out there...about me, I mean...when did you figure all that out?" I asked.
She spit into the sink and took a swig of water from the faucet, draining that as well and then drying her mouth on a washcloth.
"I've noticed it since day one," she informed me.
"How'd you figure all that out so quickly though? We were never really alone until we watched Harry Potter and even then we didn't talk about-"
"No," she interrupted, "I mean since the first time I saw you at the audition, in line."
"We didn't even talk though," I protested. "You were arguing with that lady about getting an audition and-"
"You're still a few steps ahead," she laughed. "I'm talking about the very first time, when we were outside, waiting to go in, and the line was wrapped all the way around the building, and for some reason we ended up being thirty feet away from each other. You were talking to your brother and he kept looking at me."
"You saw me?" I asked in disbelief. "I didn't think you noticed me."
"How could I not?" she blurted out.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked deviously, leaning against the doorframe and now perfectly aware that I had her trapped.
"I mean...okay, I mean this in the straightest way possible. I may like boys, but I know a pretty face when I see one. I noticed your eyes and then after that I couldn't look away. I remember thinking to myself, 'Shit, she's pretty. If she can sing I'm done for.' Not that it really matters now," she admitted.
"But how did you figure out that stuff about me just by looking at me?" I pressed, still not getting my answers.
"I could see it in your eyes," she whispered. "They were the first thing I noticed, and when I looked into them it's like they were telling me all your secrets. I could see that you're proud, determined, trustworthy. They looked honest, like if you lied- which I know you never would- the glimmer in them would tell the truth for you. I could see the intelligence shining off of them. I could feel the thirst that you craved for knowledge just by the way you looked at the things around you. Your eyes give you away, yet for some reason they make you incredibly hard to read."
"Whys that?" I asked, inching closer to her, her voice now hushed at the sudden recollection.
"They're beautiful. They're unlike anything I've ever seen. I've never seen, never even imagined eyes that color, and they're so unique. But if I've learned anything in the last fifteen years of my life, it's that beautiful things always have a story," she attempted to explain.
"I don't follow," I told her honestly.
"Think about, like, a Willow tree. They're so beautiful and majestic when they're big, but where do they start from? They start from a tiny seed buried under the damp, dark ground. You can see the Willow tree when it's grown and you can think about its beauty all you want, but you can't tell where it came from. You can't tell what kind of weather beat the ground it rested in, or how many boots stomped all over it," she said.
"Your eyes are the same way. They're so beautiful and looking into them, I could figure out all those things about you, but they don't give away where you came from. They don't give away what you've been through, and I think the number one most important step in appreciating someone's existence is understanding why they are the way they are," she finished.
"Why are you so concerned with appreciating my existence?" I questioned, stepping into the doorframe and blocking her from leaving the bathroom.
"You appreciate mine," she said simply, and she pushed past me just as Dinah entered the room.
I watched her crawl into bed and pull the covers up over her small figure, Dinah pushing me out of the bathroom and shutting the door to get ready for bed. Camila twisted in the bed so that she was facing me and sat up on her elbow.
"And in case you were wondering, I figured that out from your eyes too. There's a lot that your eyes tell me that you don't even know," she added.
"How often do you look into my eyes?" I asked, crawling into my own bed and flipping off the bedside light.
She became silent and I assumed she was asleep, leaving me to process everything she had just told me. I laid awake for ten minutes, rolling through her words in my head. I heard her shift in the bed opposite mine and turned towards the sound, the little bit of light from the crack under the bathroom door enough for me to see her face in the dark.
"I look into your eyes every time you look into mine, so...a lot," she said, and then Dinah emerged from the bathroom and settled into her own bed, a comfortable silence falling over all of us.
•••
As a side note, my girlfriend and I have started a YouTube channel and would love for you guys to check us out. If you enjoy watching us, like, comment, and subscribe! Here's the link!
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC4ZJ21CQo3RKqz-CIpuVgyQ