FORGET YOU LAUREN

CHAPTER 47

Track 33. You Belong with Me
CAMILA POV

**Several hours later**

The ship softly swayed from side to side as Lauren held me in her arms. Tonight was the umpteenth night in a row that I'd stayed in her room as she made love to me—falling asleep against her chest as she whispered promises against my lips.

From the moment she'd boarded this ship, we were utterly inseparable.

I was happy that I no longer needed to set aside time to pen letters describing my travels or anxiously wait weeks for her response. She was by my side all day, every day, and we experienced all of the foreign cities and sites together.

For the first time in my life, I felt like I was living in the pages of a romance novel, but my real-life girlfriend was far more impressive than any of the heroes I'd ever encountered in a book. She knew me inside and out, completed my sentences when I struggled to find the words to say, and even when we were sitting in silence, she could tell what was on my mind.

"I'm glad you came on board,Lauren ," I said softly. "Like, you have no idea."

"You tell me this every night." She smiled, running her fingers through my hair. "Let me ask you something. If I'd stayed in business school, do you think you would have eventually caved in and sent me a letter?"

"Not until after I exhausted every other option."

"Please tell me that you didn't send any pen pal letters to prisoners."

"I was one day away from doing that." I laughed, and she kissed my forehead.

Rolling me on top of her, she squinted at the clock on the far side of the room.

"Why are you still wide-awake right now?" she asked. "It's one o'clock in the morning."

"Get your eyes checked," I said. "It's three."

"Well, that makes it even worse." She laughed, caressing my sides. "I need to get up in a few hours to work on something important, so I need you to promise me that you'll go to sleep within the next twenty minutes. If not, I need you to go to your room, so I won't be tempted to have sex with you again."

I blushed and leaned back. "There's nothing important going on tomorrow,Lauren . No programs, or country customs seminars. We're having 'at sea' days for the rest of the week. What could you possibly need to work on?"

"Okay, fine." She pulled me down for a quick kiss, and then she pointed to the door. "You've picked your room for the rest of the night. Out,Camila ."

"What? You're seriously putting me out now?"

"Unless you can promise me that you'll go to sleep," she said, looking serious. "Last night, you didn't promise, and we ended up talking and having sex until ten in the morning."

I knew I couldn't agree to that promise, so I rolled off her and stepped out of her bed. "I'll see you later this morning when you wake up."

"I thought so." She smiled, and as if she knew how I was about to spend the next few hours, she grabbed her printed Forget You, Camila binder from her nightstand and handed it to me. "Have you finished reading it yet?"

"Not quite."

"Are you telling me that after three weeks of begging you to read this, that you're about to DNF my novel?"

"Close, but I'm still holding out hope," I said, smiling. "I'm not sure if I like this author's writing style yet. I need a few more chapters to be sure."

She laughed and gave me one last kiss—making me want to get back in the bed and return to her arms, but I stuck to my guns. After catching my breath, I hit the lights and stepped into the hallway.

Right outside her door, she'd taped a coffee ship gift ticket with a note.


For the next time that you sneak out of my bed just to read in the café

—Forget You,
Lauren .

PS—Hurry up and finish reading the damn book, please..."


I smiled as I pulled the card, then I made my way down the hallway and onto the elevator. Before heading to the café, I stepped into the senior lounge and took in the scene from hours earlier one last time.

Shattered champagne glasses and beer bottles littered the floor, the scent of buttercream frosting and vanilla cake still filled the air, and the glittering streamers that celebrated the belated occasion hung high from the rafters.

Welcome Aboard SAS,Lauren Jauregui !

I picked up one of the remaining cupcakes and walked up to the lido deck. As I was handing over my gift card to the overnight barista, someone cleared her throat from behind.

Turning around, I found myself face to face with the redheaded senior who lived right across fromLauren . "Hey there, Thea." I smiled. "What are you doing up so late?"

"It's become an unfortunate habit," she said, narrowing her eyes at me. "Please tell me that you're staying up here for the next several hours."

"Um...yeah?" I grabbed my coffee. "I have a book to finish reading."

"Well, isn't that lovely?" She looked like she was tempted to strangle me, so I took a step back. "So fucking lovely..."

"Yeah, it is." I noticed that her eyes were starting to bulge out of her skull, like she was some type of zombie. "Is there something wrong?"

"Not at all." She snatched my half-eaten cupcake from the counter and stuffed it down her throat. "What could possibly be wrong this early in the morning?"

I gave her a blank stare, tried to think of how to get the hell away from her sudden bout of crazy. "Well, it was nice chatting with you. I hope you—"

"You know what I hate the most about living on this ship?" She cut me off.

"No..."

"Why don't you take a few guesses, then?"

I shrugged, giving her my own list. "The slow satellite internet that's pretty much dial-up speed, the limited bottles of shampoo in the gift shop, or the lack of phone service? Those stress me out the most from time to time."

"No, all of that I can easily deal with." She stepped closer, glaring at me. "The worst part, for me, is that I can't seem to get any goddamn sleep."

That explains this, then. "Really? The sound of the ocean's waves hitting the window helps me go to sleep every time."

"Well, if I could ever hear those waves over you incessantly screaming, 'Laurennnnn,' 'Oh My Goddd,' or 'Ohhhh Right Thereeeee,' perhaps sleep would actually be possible."

I felt my cheeks reddening, felt my jaw dropping. "I am...I am so sorry...She always told me that I'm not that loud."

"She's lying." Her roommate, Kristen, stepped onto the deck and rolled her eyes at me. "I don't think either of us has slept for more than a few hours a night since she got here. I mean, we're happy someone on this never-ending voyage is getting laid, but you two take things to an entirely different level."

"Yeah. So, if you don't mind," Thea said, letting out a breath. "Could you let us get some sleep this weekend, or maybe—just maybe—occasionally take your late-night romps with her to your room on another floor of the ship?"

I nodded, unsure of what else I could say to that.

"Thank you so very much." She walked away, but her roommate lingered behind for a few seconds.

"Quick question," she said, lowering her voice. "Does Lauren make you orgasm every time? I mean, it sounds like she does, so can you like, give me some details? I haven't had an orgasm with my boyfriend during sex yet—well, unless it's oral, so I'm curious."

I gave her a blank stare.

"Ohhh, I see." She smiled. "You can only be super vocal when Lauren is inside of you, huh?"

"Come on, Kristen!" Thea called from the steps. "Let's get some sleep while we can."

Kristen shrugged and walked away, and I made a mental note to tell Lauren about her lie later.

I carried my coffee and the book binder over to the bow of the ship, and then I propped my feet on the edge of the pool.

Opening the binder, I flipped to where my bookmark was and stared at the opening lines of chapter twenty-one. I tried to convince myself that it was time to finally read the next twenty chapters, but I couldn't do it.

I was stuck in chapter twenty, but it wasn't because it was awful. It was perfect, and I never wanted the story to stop. I never wanted to reach the two words at 'the end' that broke my heart time and time again, so I'd simply reread the same twenty chapters whenever I had the chance.

The two main characters were undoubtedly us, and reading her words was like reliving the past few years of my life.

Her writing style was all-consuming, and I already knew that I was her biggest fan. The "can't eat, can't sleep" hours before her new book goes live type of fan. And if her next book was even half as good as this one, I was certain that I would harass her for sneak peeks as she wrote it.

Maybe I'll just read chapters twenty-one and twenty-two today. Maybe get to twenty-five?

I still couldn't do it. I flipped back to the beginning of the binder and started reading the book all over again.


****************************


Hours later, the sun rose in the distance, and my fingers flipped the page into familiar territory.

Sighing, I underlined one of my favorite lines. We had three more port cities on this part of the voyage, and I was now convinced that I could read half a chapter a day to make this novel last a little bit longer.

I was highlighting another one of my favorite quotes when I heard a familiar deep voice behind me.

"It only takes you a day to read a book,Camz,"Lauren said softly, kissing the back of my neck.

"It only takes me a day to finish the good ones."

She smiled as she moved in front of me. "What are you trying to say?"

"That you're a brand-new author, and this is your first book. Maybe you should lower your expectations."

She narrowed her eyes at me. "How far have you gotten?"

"I'm in chapter twenty."

"Okay..." She crossed her arms, and then she laughed. "How many times have you reread those same twenty chapters?"

"Maybe fifty."

"Why?" she asked. "Is there something that I could've written better? A part that's tripping you up somehow?"

"No, but there are a few inconsistencies," I said. "For one, I remember our prom night a little differently than you do."

"Well, that chapter is in my point of view, so that makes sense." She smirked. "What else?"

"The night of the make-up prom isn't in here," I said. "You left that part completely out of the story. I feel like you went out of your way to avoid it, and decided to move on to our graduation."

Shee didn't say anything. She just smiled.

"I need an explanation," I said. "Is there any reason you left out that scene?"

"Yes." She grabbed my hands and pulled me up. Then she ran her fingers through my hair. "A certain someone told me to forget it ever happened, to never mention it again." She looked into my eyes. "Didn't she?"

I blushed. "Yeah, but that was before. When I wasn't sure if—"

She pressed a kiss against my lips, silencing the rest of my sentence. When she finally pulled away from me, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a set of folded yellow sheets.

"I wrote it," she said. "I just wasn't sure if you'd be okay with it being included. Especially since reading it might force you to admit some things about us and how we really felt about each other at that point in our lives."

"I doubt it. I still hated you that night."

"That's not what I'm talking about," she said. "I still hated you that night as well."

"Then what are you talking about?" I reached up to grab the sheets, but she held them up a bit higher.

"I'll only give these to you if you promise to finish reading the rest of my novel today."

"Today?" I couldn't fathom that. "You could at least give me until the end of next week."

"I've seen you read a five-hundred-page book in one day," she said, still holding those scenes high and hostage. "One day. What's it going to be?"

I quietly weighed the pros and cons. Agreeing to finish it today meant the next 'at sea' days wouldn't hold the promise of new words. Not finishing it today meant I wouldn't get the bonus scene.

"I think you should be nice to your favorite reader and let her have it anyway."

"I don't think so." She started to step back and place the sheets into her pocket.

"Ugh, okay. Okay," I said. "I'll finish the rest of the book today."

"Promise?"

"I promise." I nodded, and she handed the sheets to me. Instead of staying still and reading it on the deck, I gave her a quick kiss before rushing back to a private lounge so I could read it in peace.

Shutting the door, I cleared a space to devour more of her words.

I made it through the first lines and was suddenly transported to my high school prom again. Even though it was written in her point of view, I felt like I was reading it in mine...