Even If You Cross My Mind » CAMREN

Chapter 8 - Little Bit

                 

Normani, Dinah, and Ally sat in a cluster on top of Normani's neatly-made hotel bed - each of them holding a solo cup full of vodka and cranberry juice. Extra vodka. Flustered, they were liberally guzzling down the liquor in an effort to soothe their nerves from the soap opera that unfolded before their eyes just moments ago.

"So... what do we do?" Normani darted her eyes between her two bandmates, whom she considered sisters.

"The hell you mean 'what do we do'?" Dinah mocked her with a melodramatic tone of ridicule, "We aren't doin' shit. I don't wanna get involved - you ever tried breaking up two cats in heat? Shit gets real scary real fast."

"Dinah!" Ally exclaimed, grossed out, as Normani fell over cackling.

"You are rude as hell, Oh my God," Mani said through a fit of laughter, dabbing the tears from her eyes.

"Nah. I am not about to tap dance across a field of land mines just so I can scream 'CAMREN IS REAL' to get a rise out of Lauren. As satisfying as that would be. Hell no." Dinah fired back sassily, taking a huge gulp of her drink. She shook her head rapidly to recover from the harsh taste of the vodka.

Calling out their two bandmates was just as potentially disastrous as pretending nothing ever happened. The three girls were terrible liars, but they also had a talent for making awkward situations 5000% worse.

"Damn. I never saw this coming." Normani shook her head, then looked around to meet the eyes of her friends. After a short beat of silence, they all simultaneously took a large sip from their solo cups - as if to toast to the losing question in a game of "Never Have I Ever". Of course they all saw it coming; it's just that nobody ever said anything

"I have a confession," Ally blurted out, her eyes flashing with a tinge of anxiety. Dinah and Normani looked at each other, then suspiciously back at their older friend.

"Please don't tell me you're gay, too," Dinah begged, horrified as Normani fell over cackling again, "because I don't know if I can handle this much drama in one day - y'all are gonna give me a fucking stroke."

"No, I'm serious!" she tried her best to stifle the smile that crept on her face. She always found Dinah hysterical - but she genuinely felt pressed to come clean.

"Well?" Normani pressed.

"I... kind of already knew."

"What?!" both girls howled.

"Why the hell didn't you tell us?" Normani threw a pillow at her. Ally met them with wide eyes, trying to defend herself.

"It wasn't my secret to tell! I walked in on them when they were having a moment and... it just - it wasn't my business! I didn't want to mess with Lauren's privacy," the petite Latina exclaimed as her friends settled down.

"Yeah, I guess that's fair. When did it happen, though?" Normani took another sip of her drink.

Ally bit her lip and cringed, "Uh... which time?"

Normani and Dinah looked at each other and screamed, both leaning over to smack Ally with full force.

"Ow!" Ally cradled her arms from their heavy blows.

"Oh my GOD! You're joking." Dinah was beside herself. Ally pursed her lips and nodded in sincere confirmation.

"Wait, this is not real. Are you serious?" Normani guffawed to herself. Dinah ran her hands through her hair, completely dumbfounded.

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[Lauren POV]

As the door shut behind us, Camila lead me to the center of her hotel room that was illuminated by the natural light of a hot California sun. She squeezed my hands in hers and turned towards me.