The Fall (Camren)

Highs and Lows

The music finished with a final boom, Lauren panted to catch her breath from the singing and vigorous dancing as the crowd let out an enormous cheer. None of their shows to date had been this loud, it was almost deafening.

She felt it; the energy pulsed through her like an electric charge, making her hairs stand on end and her body thrum. This is what she lived for, this feeling. This adrenaline rush. Singing to thousands of fans and hearing them sing back to you, the rush was incredible.

Lauren looked out into the sea of people, a dark tide of camera flashes. She used to be part of that crowd and now she was facing it, to be this side of it was so obscure to Lauren, it still felt so unbelievable she felt a huge amount of gratefulness at every show they did.

Her heart pounded in her chest, coincidentally just like the song they had just finished on. As the applauding and screaming subsided they thanked the crowd sincerely and made their exit backstage.

‘Whoa,’ Normani said sounding out of breath as they reached their dressing room, ‘that was so loud.’ She reached the table of bottled water and passed them round to everybody.

‘What?’ Dinah asked loudly, pulling her earpieces out and wiggling a finger in her ear.

‘New Jersey can bring it, Yo.’ Camila said, dropping down on the couch and reaching down to pull off her shoes.

Lauren dislodged her own earpieces and downed half her bottle of water, she was still catching her breath and there was a slight buzzing in both her ears.

‘What?’ Dinah asked again, looking between the band members.

‘Y’all that was amazing!’ Ally chimed in, flopping down next to Camila on the couch. ‘Easily our best show yet. The crowd were just so…so…’

‘Loud?’ Lauren offered, her voice sound muted in her head.

Dinah was looking around a little frantically, ‘What?!...Like seriously what are you guys saying? I can’t hear you!’ she looked distraught for a second. ‘Oh my God I’m deaf!’

Normani rolled her eyes at Dinah’s dramatics, ‘Don’t worry D, we will all learn sign language for you!’ She said loudly and with very emphatic hand gestures.

Lauren laughed as Dinah replied with a hand gesture of her own, flipping Normani the bird.

‘See,’ Normani said smiling, ‘You’ve already got the basics.’ Then gave Dinah an exaggerated thumbs up.

Dinah rolled her eyes and sat down heavily in an unoccupied chair.

‘Okay well, I am going to shower.’ Camila said, starting to stand up.

‘Not so fast!’ Lauren stopped her. ‘You were first yesterday, Cabello.’ She watched as Camila folded her arms with a huff and stuck her bottom lip out in a pout that Lauren found ridiculously cute.

‘Come on Cab, don’t be harsh.’ Camila sulked.

Lauren squinted at her in an attempt to look stern at the use of the nickname. ‘I told you to stop calling me that.’

‘Are you ever going to tell us where that nickname came from?’ Ally asked.

‘No.’ Lauren answered, Camila just smiled a little smugly.

‘Can you guys speak up?’ Dinah interrupted, so loudly that Normani flinched being stood next to the Polynesian. ‘Are they being cute?’ She asked Normani, ‘I bet they’re being cute.’

Lauren ignored the girl and opened up the notes app on her phone. She had made a chart a few weeks back to stop the shower arguments; it was a shower rota of sorts.