Paper Towns (A 5H Fanfic)

T w e n t y T w o

Day 3: Lauren's Note

It was three in the morning and the girls had switched drivers. Dinah drove now, Lauren stayed in the passenger seat since she was completely and utterly unable to sleep now that she knew where Camila was. All that was left was for her to read her note on the back of the map. The map sat unfolded in her lap. She couldn't bring herself to read it. The green highlighter was taunting her and tempting her but she didn't budge. She was nervous and scared for what Camila would say.

"You gonna read it?" Dinah asked.

The other two girls had fallen asleep in the back so it was just Dinah and Lauren now.

"I'm honestly nervous." Lauren confessed.

"I can tell." Dinah nodded towards Lauren's hands that were continuously rubbing each other. Another nervous habit that Dinah knew of.

"Camila and I fight so much that I don't know what to expect from this." Lauren shrugged and let out a deep breath. "I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna read it." she turned on the flashlight on her phone and started reading out loud for Dinah to hear too.

LAAURREEENNN!!
Hi! I miss you! I hope you're doing ok. I'm doing fine, don't worry. And yes, your note is in green because of your crazy green eyes. Listen, I will never forget the first time I met you. And not the "hey I like your shirt!" time we sort of met, but the time you actually sat down and introduced yourself. You were like, "hi I'm Lauren! Nice to meet you!" and I was so intimidated by you. It was those green eyes Lauren. It was your damn eyes that made me think you'd either kill me or hate me. Turns out neither were true. You look like you could kill with a glance but reality is, as much of a badass as you think you are, you're a freaking puppy dog. You're adorable and talk in a baby voice more often than most people.

But meeting you isn't what I want to talk about. Your note is about to be the longest note of all of them because you were the first friend I made at X Factor. So rightfully, you get the longest note. (Thank me later)

This isn't a happy note either like the other girls' notes. Our friendship has been anything but a smooth and happy ride. In fact, I've totally lost count of the amount of times we've gotten into fights and yelled at each other.

That being said, let's go back to that night in London. That night the two of us nearly got kicked out of the hotel for arguing and yelling at each other at full volume at four in the morning. (Which is loud, we're Cuban, we're loud human beings.)

The drinking age in the U.K is eighteen and all of us were at a night club. I wanted to leave, you wanted to stay. You drank, I didn't. What else was new?

I don't know if you even remember this night, you seemed drunk before I even left. But when three in the morning came around, I was still up in our shared hotel room quietly reading when you walked in. Or should I say, stumbled in. I love you to death but this was honest to god the worst night of my life and the worst night of our friendship. I said hi and asked if you were ok. You mumbled something inaudible and just kinda dropped onto my bed since it was the closest bed to the door. You told me to, and I quote, "Camila stop spinning the room I'm gonna fucking throw up if you don't".

No offense Lauren, but drunk you is still a puppy dog. Drunk you is like overly affectionate, clingy and you always look lost.

Anyway, I sat next to you and played with your hair for a half hour while you rambled on about how much you loved life, how you thought I was so nice and such a good friend and how you'd befriend SpongeBob if he was real. After the half hour of calm and adorable drunk you, something changed. You started talking about 'Camren' and something in your tone changed, something in your eyes changed. You got mad about the ship then you got mad at me. I didn't do anything though. I still to this day don't know what I did to inflict the anger you expressed that night.

I knew you were drunk but I still argued back. Something in me wouldn't let you get away with it. I hate arguing with you. I hate the days we're barely friends, I hate the days we won't even look in each other's direction.

You always talk about wanting life to be like it used to before X Factor, before people cared about your dating life. So I'm taking you home. Back to Miami even if it's just a day, this is for you. I know this business we're in is scary and so much has changed since Simon put us in a group but at least you can go home for a bit and just have your normality for a minute.

If you didn't find my other note for you at the back of the Paper Towns book, go look now. If you already saw it, congrats. Thats where I'm sending you. Put this note and that one together and I'm sure you'll figure it out. You're a smart girl.

Lauren, I love you and I miss you. Please be good to yourself. For me.

With love, Camila. (Camz)

Lauren finished reading and couldn't even form a sentence to explain her feelings.

"I didn't know about any of that." Dinah admitted. "I know you two fought that night but I didn't know it was over that and I didn't know that's how you felt about the group."

"Dinah no I-"

"It's fine Lo." Dinah sounded hurt but she tried to hide it as best as she could. "If you want a break you can take it. You know that."

"That's not what I want-"

"What do you want then?" Dinah cut Lauren off again. She didn't respond because she didn't know what to say. "Because if you want normality this group isn't going to give that to you. We're getting bigger, better, if you want out, now is the time to say so."

"I don't want out I just.." Lauren paused and rubbed her face with her hands. "I don't know." her voice became softer and quieter. "I want stable friendships and to not be accused of dating my best friend."

Dinah raised an eyebrow. "Basically you just want your best friend back. Your day one X Factor best friend. That's normality for your absurd reality."

Lauren looked down at her legs. "I'm just mad that it took her disappearing for me to realize this."

The younger girl took a hand off the steering wheel and placed it on her friends shoulder. "We're gonna find her though. In the morning, this will all be over. You can talk to her first ok."

"If I talk to her first I don't know if I'll yell at her or hug her." Lauren bit her lip and shook her head. This wasn't what she expected from Camila's note.

A/N:
"That's normality for your absurd  reality" is my favorite thing in this whole part. Next to drunk Lauren talking about Spongebob of course. This was both a fun and sad part to write. In case you didn't know or couldn't tell, there weren't really any references to real life things in this part other than Lauren's love for SpongeBob. I hope you enjoyed this update! I'm almost done posting this story which is crazy bc it took all summer to write. Hope you enjoyed!