Even If You Cross My Mind » CAMREN

Chapter 4 - Float

                 

**EXPLICIT! You've been warned ;)**

[Lauren POV]

"Megan Monroe here with HollywoodHub – we have the lovely ladies of Fifth Harmony with us today! How're you guys doing?" the petite, blonde haired, olive-skinned TV host said enthusiastically. All five of us flashed a smile at the camera and waved.

"Hiiii! What's up?" we all collectively gave our salutations. Sitting down on some bright teal couches surrounding Megan, we had 3 microphones shared among us. A small crew hid behind the cameras, running our segment in a systematic and professional manner.

"Now ladies, I hear you've got a new album in the works - how are we feeling about that?"

We all smiled at each other and nodded eagerly, giving short individual comments. Normani took over from there.

"Oh my gosh, yeah, we've already started recording and it's just - it's amazing. Seriously, the vibe and the sound of it - there's a little Beyoncé, a little old school in there like, uh... what was it? Who did we say?" she turned to Dinah, Camila holding their shared mic up to her friend's face.

"Ooh, uh, kinda like Missy Elliott meets Gwen Stefani sort of sound! I think that's what we picked up on. There's a lot of movement and like a dynamic range of style on this album. It's all crunk, though. I think y'all are gonna dig it." Dinah gushed proudly as we all nodded, grinning with excitement.

"Yeah, it's definitely a more matured sound than Reflection - like there are a lot of influences from the 90s and early 2000s in there, but it's still us, you know? We're just - we're really excited." I followed, sharing a big smile with my bandmates.

"Amazing. Can you give us a little, uh... you know, sing a little for us? A teaser?" Megan suggested in her dorky, slightly awkward way. We laughed and Ally responded on our behalf.

"No, it's all under wraps for now - we don't wanna get in trouble! But... soon!"

"Aw, damn, it's still a secret! You're killin' me."

"Sorry!" Ally flashed a big smile at the camera.

"So, I don't know if you guys have talked about this yet. I understand it happened just this past weekend, but - Camila, I heard you got violently ill in the middle of your concert in Orlando! What happened?" Megan gushed, furrowing her brow with exaggerated concern.

And then the panic slowly started to set in. I pursed my lips so hard, I was afraid I'd ruined my red lipstick. It was one of those moments where you weren't afforded any time to think of an answer. We all instinctively looked over at Camila, unintentionally putting her even more on the spot. I gulped and felt like a deer in headlights. We basically told Barry to fuck off and let our PR team deal with the Orlando show fiasco, but we didn't really talk about how they would handle it. So, apparently Camila got 'violently sick'. I was ready to go along with it, but we all quietly panicked as an awkward silence set in. Camila wasn't responding. Dinah placed an affectionate hand on Camila's back, trying to show support for our bandmate.

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[Camila POV]

Several long seconds passed after Megan hit me with her question, and I could feel everyone's eyes burning through my head. A wave of intense heat rushed into my face, and the pressure weighed so heavy on my chest it felt like the air had been sucked out of my lungs. I had no idea what to say. I stalled and stared off into the blank space between Megan and I. The following seconds of silence felt like hours. I just wanted to crawl underneath the couch like a child and hide there until everyone was gone. Why can't I just go along with this? Why can't I nod and tell her I ran away to go barf my brains out? It's not that hard.