stranger // camren

five

lauren contacted one of old friends from high school, normani, when she found out she was in town.

-

"lauren!" the darker girl ran towards lauren with open arms.

"oh my gosh!" lauren met the girl in an embrace. "how long has it been?!"

normani pulled away. "i don't know! two, three years! wow you look so good!"

"you do too!" lauren smiled.

they both sat down at the table, they were meeting at a nearby starbucks.

"so what have you been doing?" lauren asked the girl about her occupation, siping her coffee she ordered before normani arrived.

"well you know me," she smiled. "i love dancing so i decided to make a career out of it."

"are you like a dance teacher or something?"

normani shook her head. "backup dancer. i've been on a couple tours. i'm auditioning for justin bieber's upcoming tour."

"really?" lauren's eyes lit up. "i'll put in a good word for you; yanno, me and the biebs go way back." she joked.

normani laughed and waved lauren off. "whatever."

lauren kept the smile on her face. something about normani's energy never made you frown when you were around her. "no but seriously, when i go on tour, you'll be the first person i called."

"you're on a break remember?" normani raised her eyebrows up teasingly.

"i know, i know."

"how'd your fans take that anyway?"

lauren blew out air. "not good. my twitter mentions were blowing up with just people crying, yelling at me. no matter what i said, they didn't understand."

normani frowned and rubbed lauren's arm. "awe, sorry boo. but hey when you're over your break and back in that studio making fire, they'll be eating their words."

lauren started to laugh. she laughed so hard, she couldn't breathe.

"so i've got one question for you..." normani said pulling out her phone.

lauren plastered a confused look on her face. normani slid her phone across the table to lauren's side. there, lauren saw several pictures of her and stranger leaving denny's last night.

"who is she?" normani smirked.

"a friend." lauren laughed lightly and scrolled through the pictures of her protecting brown eyes. "i can't believe they followed us out there."

normani took her phone back. "i know, a little far from home weren't we?" normani's eyebrow raised and smirk toyed at her lips as she took a sip of her tea. "a little romantic getaway?"

lauren playfully rolled her eyes. "nah, it's not like that. she's just a friend."

"what's her name?" normani asked.

lauren shrugged.

"aw, come on tell me." normani begged.

"dude seriously, i don't know!" lauren said.

normani furrowed her eyebrows together. "what do you mean you don't know?"

"she won't tell me her name!" lauren held her hand up in a waitress pose to add a dramatic gesture. "she always says 'it doesn't matter', or 'i'll forget."

"wow." normani said. "sounds complicated."

lauren laughed and ran her fingers through her hair. "you have no idea."

"how'd you meet her?" she asked.

"i wasn't paying attention and i bumped into her."

"ah," normani nodded. "and what about vanessa? are you guys over?"

lauren was getting slightly annoyed that everyone was constantly asking about her and vanessa. was it really that big of deal?

lauren shrugged. "complicated." but was it really?

normani told lauren she was running late, she had to pick her friend dinah up from work because her car was getting repaired.

lauren stayed and took out her phone and typed her name into google.

lauren jauregui with mystery date yesterday

lauren tapped on the link and instantly pictures of her and brown eyes popped up. she smiled and saved them to her gallery. she clicked the home button and went to the messaging app. she opened up her conversation with her. she attached the picture with the words: cute right?

almost instantly she got a reply back.:

oh totally. HAHAHA your face when you noticed the camera!!

lauren laughed, typing her reply.

me? look at your face.

lauren watched the little bubble thing that meant stranger was typing.

that's what real admiration looks like.

lauren stared at the words, feeling her heart twitch. she knew what she was talking about; her and vanessa. she remember how she said that vanessa didn't look at her the way lauren looked at her.

lauren turned her phone off without replying and walked out of the starbucks. she quickly rushed to her car before anyone could see her.
a new message appeared on her lock screen.

too soon?

"way too soon." lauren said out loud to herself, driving off.