3 A.M. (Camren)

1

My day—Well my night started off like any other. I had woken up around seven. Taken a quick shower, gotten dressed and went down stairs to start school. Surprisingly enough, my mom didn't have too much work planned out for me. A couple of worksheets and a quick test. Nothing out of the ordinary.

It was about nine when she ended my studies, earlier than usual.

"Do you have anything planned for tonight?" She asked gathering up my papers.

I shook my head. "No, I don't think so. Mani is out with some of her other friends. She invited me out yesterday but, it was too early.."

"Oh," She nodded. "How is Normani? I haven't seen her in awhile."

I sat there at the table, mindlessly doodling. I wasn't avoiding her question; I just didn't want our conversation to last longer than it should.

Maybe that's a little rude but, I feel my personal life is personal.

"She's good mom." I replied closing my journal. "She's going to NYU in the fall."

"Well good for her." She beamed. "That's wonderful. I'm sure Andrea is happy for her."

"Yeah, I wouldn't know. I haven't seen her since the ninth grade."

Normani's mom has never liked me. I guess that's fair enough. I never really gave her enough leverage to like me in the first place. I always showed up at their house in the middle of the night and brought Mani back just in time for her to get ready for school. I guess her mom didn't like that much either. Once, I heard Andrea telling Normani that she shouldn't be friends with somebody like me, that I was weird and I had no real future.

I always thought maybe she was right. Maybe I am weird. I mean Normani is my only friend.

"Lauren? Honey, are you alright?" My mother's voice pulled me back into reality.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine mom." I smiled.

She smiled back.

"I think I'm going to go for a walk." I excused myself away from her, grabbing my jacket off the hook on the way out of the house. I didn't know what to expect from tonight.

Although I have a car, I've always preferred not to take it simply because I didnt want to make a bigger dent in the world's carbon footprint. I enjoy walking, it always give me time to think. It gave me time to explore the world. Even it was just for a little awhile. That was more than enough.

After a few hours of walking around the city. I found myself at a little quiet café. When I entered the shoppe, the vibe was so peaceful. John Mayer was softly playing throughout the place. The smell of freshly made coffee--I was loving every moment of it. Everyone inside just seem to have this cool vibe about them. Walking over to the counter I noticed three girls standing there but, as soon as I placed my wallet onto the counter top. Two of them just ran off, leaving the last girl seemingly uncomfortable. I just kept my head down the whole time.

I let out a stifled laugh. "Can I have a piping hot Vanilla Latte?" I took out a couple of dollar bills out of my wallet placing them onto the counter top next to the register.

"Yeah, sure. Anything else?" She asked.

I shook my head slightly. "Nah, I don't think-" I began raising my head up when I did I noticed the pair of big brown eyes staring at me. "Sorry." I laughed once more. "I won't be needing anything else."

"We'll have that right out for you." She smiled awkwardly. "Well, if you need something just let me know."

"Camila, come help me clean the tables." One of the other girls asked the girl I now knew as Camila. The name seemed to fit her well.

With that; I searched around the place for a good spot to sit. Somewhere secluded yet, surrounded by other things. I didn't want to feel more out of place than I already was. Luckily, there was a sofa in a corner far enough from everyone. I liked it. Moments pass by as I sit there on the couch, drifting off into space; quietly roaming the room silently with my eyes.

"Either you a huge creep or you're uncomfortable." A voice said, It startled me briefly.

Focusing my vision on the person with the voice I noticed it was her again. "I've never been out by myself. Kind of nerve wrecking."

She giggled, the corners of my mouth formed a grin. "Interesting. You're not normal are you?"

Probably not

"What is 'normal' exactly?" I asked.

She didn't reply, I watched her silently think. It was entertaining to say the least, in a way. She was so confident yet, so indecisive about what the really wanted to say. She mindlessly bit her lip and I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Mila! Give her the freakin' latte. She said 'piping hot' not lukewarm." The other girl yelled at her.

"Sorry! Here you go." She said, frantically putting the cup down in front of me.

"No. You're fine."

She nodded. As I reached for my cup, I noticed a perfectly manicured hand taking the cup and holding a Sharpie marker in the other. "I forgot to ask, what was your name?"

"Tell me yours and I'll tell you mine." I replied.

"Camila but, I bet you already knew that."

"Lauren."

After that she didn't say anything, she just wrote on my cup and handed back to me. "You know, for this being your first time out alone..you're doing--"

One of the girls came rushing up to her cutting her off. "Dinah said she needs you right now." She whispered to Camila.

"Hi, I'm Ally." She said cheerfully, briefly acknowledging me.

"Hi."

"I'll be there in a minute." Camila replied back to the shorter girl.

"It's a level 10, I don't think you have a minute." Camila groaned at the response she had gotten from Ally.

"Enjoy your latte, Lauren." And just like that she was gone.