behind the lights | camren

Chapter Fifteen

A soft breeze tumbled across the streets of Paris, gusting passed the bustling townspeople and tourists, calming the seemingly fast lifestyle of the city. Lauren wrapped herself in her beige hued trench coat, glad that Ally forced her to wear it out of her hotel room. Lauren felt a bit silly, wearing a coat with rounded, over sized sunglasses in October, but while the sun was beaming through the clouds, the weather was fair, and honestly, beautiful.

In a fit of tourist syndrome, Ally woke Lauren up early that morning by laying on top of her and poking at her cheeks, insisting that they spend an entire day sightseeing. Lauren obliged, even though Ally practically had pushed her out of the house, and picked up Dinah on the way. Their first stop was to a bakery located in the outskirts of the city, and Ally had insisted on ordering everything herself, surprising her two friends with French goodies.

Dinah tapped away on her iPhone, and Lauren could see that she was on Instagram, swiping through the filter options for a photograph.

"What are you posting?" Lauren asked, leaning her elbows on the table so she could get a closer look.

Shielding her phone away, Dinah replied, "Just a cute candid of you."

Lauren gasped, "No don't! I look like a piece of wood with legs," Lauren commented, pulling her sunglasses down off the bridge of her nose.

Just then, Lauren's phone buzzed with an Instagram notification, telling her that she had been tagged in a photo. Lauren swiped right on her phone, and the picture revealed itself in front of her. The photograph already had a couple hundred likes, and Lauren eyed herself, sitting pretty in the patio chair. The sun hit Lauren's face in the most perfect way, and her short, brown hair swept over the shoulder of her trench coat. Lauren's sunglasses sat perched on her button nose, her lips parted slightly as she watched unknowing pedestrians. The picture seemed so posed, but Lauren couldn't be caught more off guard.

"How do you do that, Lo," Dinah questioned, shaking her head, "If I get caught behind the scenes, I literally look so bad, like I have to spend several minutes finding a good angle and pose," Dinah pouted, and Lauren scoffed.

"Dinah, you're the queen of selfies, be quite girl," Lauren teased, grinning genuinely.

Beaming with her, Dinah commented, "Hey, there's that gorgeous smile. I missed it Lauren, I miss you," Dinah said, suddenly causing their conversation to get rather sad, "You haven't been the same ever since you and Camila split," Dinah frowned, and a pang of sadness rushed through Lauren's heart, "You were so happy with her, more alive than I've ever seen you before."

"Well, I guess that's over now," Lauren exhaled, avoiding eye contact.

"Have you guys spoken since," Dinah started, but then she interrupted herself, and obviously, Lauren knew what she was talking about.

Lauren nodded, admitting it to someone for the first time, "Last night I riled up the courage to talk to her, and she told me she wants to be just friends. What kind of bullshit is that?" Lauren whispered, her skin prickling up, remembering how sympathetic Camila had looked in the light of the hotel lamp.

Dinah rolled her eyes, "Don't let me waver your opinion, but you and Camila are made for each other, I'm sure of that. I've never seen two people click so easily and fall in love like they had been training for it their entire lives, even though you're both scared as hell," Dinah said, "You're going to get back together, I can feel it."

Lauren shrugged, "I can only hope," She commented, looking behind Dinah to see Ally balancing an assortment of drinks and pastries in her hands, "Here comes Ally."