Paper Towns (A 5H Fanfic)

S e v e n

Day 0: The Message
It was hours later and the girls still continued flipping through Camila's iPod and book. Camila had thousands of songs on her iPod. She had circled more letters in another chapter. The four girls wrote out each letter on a piece of paper and decoded the message. The first word of the hidden message in chapter fifteen was as simple as it could be. 'Lauren'

"Why me?" Lauren rhetorically asked, knowing no on in the room knew the answer.

"She's been clinging to you lately." Normani explained.

"If this was a few months ago, it would've been Dinah's name I bet." Ally added.

"But we've been fighting so much besides this week. Why me?" Lauren questioned.

Dinah and Lauren exchanged confused looks. Why did Camila pick Lauren's name? The girls continued flipping through chapter fifteen and unveiling the next few words. 'Our little secret'. More confusion came over the girls but they kept decoding. The next set of words were found. 'For your sweet disposition'

"I have no idea what this is supposed to mean." Normani exclaimed and laid down on the bed, Ally started playing with Normani's hair as if she were trying to calm the girl down.

'Lauren our little secret for your sweet disposition.' Lauren knew exactly what that meant.

"It has to do with tumblr." Lauren said. "Our little secret is Camila's blog title, sweet disposition is my blog url." Lauren pulled her phone out and opened the tumblr app.

She went over to Camila's blog and noticed one familiar post siting atop her blog. A post Lauren reblogged from Camila last night. The same post was also siting atop Lauren's blog.

An Ernest Hemingway quote in a vintage font was siting at the top of Camila and Lauren's blog.

"Where should we go?"
"I don't care. Anywhere you want. Anywhere we don't know people."

Lauren looked over at the rest of the girls. They all stared back at her in a concerned manner. "She ran away. But where to?" she looked back down at the blog post. She felt guilty for not realizing Camila's motives earlier. It was all making sense now.

Camila had been asking Lauren about running away and asking about her adventures she'd gone on back in high school. Lauren did all the things Camila wished she could've done but was too scared to do. But not anymore.

"Did the cops go check in Mila's room already?" Dinah asked.

"They can't until the twenty four hours are up. Why?" Ally responded.

"We need to go look for more clues in there. I'm sure she left something behind somewhere in there." Dinah continued.

"None of us have a key card though." Normani rebutted as she sat up on the bed.

The girls all fell to silence as they thought about other options or ways to get into Camila's room. Dinah's head perked up and she side eyed Lauren.

"Oh god what?" Lauren said, taking notice of Dinah's side eye and smirk.

*** *** ***

"Why do I have to do this?" Lauren asked in a whisper to the girls.

The four girls were huddled near the elevators, Lauren looked over at the front desk, seeing the young man playing around on the computer as he waited for someone new to come check into the hotel.

"You're the best actress of all of us." Normani explained, putting a hand on Lauren's arm but she quickly shook the hand off.

"Lo, no one can say no to those eyes. Especially not a mid twenties guy probably looking to hook up with a rockstar." Dinah laughed as she playfully punched Lauren's side.

"Ally you're awfully quiet right now." Lauren said, noticing Ally was standing a bit distant from the rest. Lauren pushed past Normani and Dinah to be face to face with the shorter girl. "Do you condone what these two are having me do?" Lauren knew Ally didn't want to lie to anyone and flirting with a random hotel worker to get a key card to a room that wasn't theirs fell under lying to someone.

"I uh.." Ally started, she picked at a strand of hair and looked at her feet. "It's just so mean to do this to that guy."

Lauren turned to face Normani and Dinah. "Well it should be a unanimous vote and if Ally-"

"No. You got this. Go." Dinah butted in and shoved Lauren out from behind the wall and into the lobby.

The guy at the front desk noticed her nearly falling before she caught her balance and made awkward eye contact. Lauren turned to Dinah and the other two girls, shooting them a glare. Dinah and Normani gave her a thumbs up, to only get a response from Lauren's middle finger.

"Can I help you?" the man said from behind the desk.

Lauren nearly choked. "Ok. Funny story." she started then walked over to the desk. "My friend is out right now and it's her birthday, I wanted to get into her room and put some streamers up and surprise her but I don't have a key." she lied, her green eyes staring him down.

She could tell he was nervous in her presence. She was labeled the 'intimidating one' of the group after all. The man swallowed hard as she leaned on her elbows on the desk.

"I know it's not professional of you to just hand out a room key like this but you can make an exception right?" her voice was low and more raspy than usual. The man narrowed his eyes at her. "Do it for Cam." she continued.

"For who?" the guy asked.

"Cam. It's her room." Lauren perked up slightly. "Her room is 315 by the way."

"If this is a prank or-"

"You think this is a prank?" Lauren laughed. She started to feel nervous, he wasn't buying it. "I just want to give my," Lauren let out a real cough. ".. Friend, a birthday surprise."

The guys eyes widened slightly. "315 right?" he asked for a confirmation. Lauren nodded, still leaning on the desk. "So she's your girlfriend?" he asked.

Lauren coughed again. "What?" she said between coughs. His question threw her off and sparked a cough attack for whatever reason. "Uh.. Sure." she answered, clearing her throat.

The man handed her a key and picked it out of his hand.

"Thanks." she smirked and winked as she walked away. She felt his eyes still on her as she walked away.

Lauren approached the rest of the girls who were collectively quietly giggling.

"Did you get it?" Normani asked.

Lauren rolled her eyes. "Those damn Camren shippers better be happy if they hear this story." she held the card up and Dinah grabbed it from her hands excitedly.

"You're a rockstar Lauren!" Dinah exclaimed as Ally pressed the elevator button.

"What'd you say to him?" Ally asked as the girls entered the elevator.

"A lot of fucking bullshit." Lauren scoffed as she leaned her back against the hand rail in the elevator.