f.m. ~camren

chapter 15

Camila pops open her trunk outside Lauren's apartment on Friday evening as they prepare to take off for the weekend. Lauren's large duffel bag squeezes in beside Camila's suitcase with room to spare.

"Good thing Dinah's shoe obsession isn't contagious or luggage would be a nightmare," Camila muses as she closes the trunk and gestures for Lauren to get into the car.

"It's only two nights though. That's hardly worth dragging out your entire closet," Lauren replies as she is buckling her seat belt in the passenger seat.

"The world needs more reasonable human beings like you," Camila teases as she switches her headlights on and turns the key to start the car.

"Just don't get any bright ideas about cloning me. The last thing we need is an identity crisis about who's the real Lauren Jauregui."

"We better think of some difficult test questions to put the fake Lauren on blast just in case," Camila suggests.

They joke about potential questions for the first several minutes of the car ride until they reach the freeway and begin their journey outside of the city. Eventually Camila turns the radio on and they sing along for a while, keeping themselves entertained. It's just over an hour into the car ride when some of their energy beings to wear off and they return to normal conversation.

"I did research on all the bands that will be at Rock Shock. I checked their web pages and fan sites. There are are a few I've heard before from suggested videos on YouTube. I came up with a couple possible schedules we can follow to guarantee you catch the best sets," Lauren explains while pulling out a notebook from her messenger bag she brought along to keep with her in the front seat.

"Which one of us is supposed to be working this weekend again?" Camila asks with a raised eyebrow upon learning of Lauren planning details for them.

"When I said I'd have you covered, I meant it. I'm not going to freeload on this trip without at least contributing to its purpose for you in some way."

"All right, so summarize it for me. What should be our game plan tomorrow?"

Camila keeps her attention on the road while also listening to Lauren brief her on the details about how they'll structure their Saturday. They occasionally get sidetracked as Lauren attempts to describe the sound and fanbase of specific bands she took notes on, and Camila asks questions as they arise.

When they make their first rest stop they are over halfway to their destination and in need of a stretch. Lauren grabs a snack from the vending machines while Camila braves the public restroom. It's already dark so they decide not to wander too far on their short walk before getting back into the car.

The last hour and a half of the car ride is mostly filled with random road trip games suggested by an app on Lauren's smartphone mixed in with small talk about their friends and work. They check into their hotel room around 11 PM, making them grateful once again that they both packed light because they would be too exhausted to carry anything otherwise.

"Does Stella always get assigned to a suite?" Lauren wonders after they've entered their room, set down their bags, and taken a peek around.

"I guess so. I've never asked. I honestly expected a regular room with a double bed or something," Camila admits.

"I could get used to this," Lauren concludes after kicking off her shoes and hopping onto the king size bed, elbows extended behind her head with her hands supporting it above the pillows.

"I'm gonna get changed into pajamas. If we get up early enough I think we're allowed to order room service for breakfast," Camila adds while grabbing clothes from her suitcase then zipping it back up.