Even If You Cross My Mind » CAMREN

Chapter 9 - Under The Covers

[Omniscient Lauren POV]

It had been a couple days since Camila and I shared the night together in what would be the turning point in our friendship, and we did our absolute best to lay low ever since. We didn't talk labels, expectations, or logistics – we were just happily, foolishly, quietly in love with each other. That was the beginning and the end of it. We took our time exploring what that meant for us, and it was the first moment in my life where I didn't lament the passage of time. I wanted life to slow down. That was considered a luxury these days. Simply put: slow was amazing.

We were in LA for a longer stretch of time, mostly due to several back-to-back appearances on talk shows, radio shows, and the upcoming BBMAs. This late afternoon, we had a special appearance on MTV for an "Artists To Watch" segment. Instead of our usual group interview, we also did an exclusive acoustic performance of our song "We Know". The fact that MTV considered us to even be within their radar was a huge honor on its own; we were just happy to be there, as annoyingly cliché as that sounds.

The five of us were hanging out in a large dressing room at the studio before the recording. There was good, upbeat music booming out of the speakers, everyone was well-rested and in love with their wardrobe for the day - jeans, heels, and white blouses. Simple and clean. It was just a damn good day. Mani, Dinah, Ally, and I were on standby, lounging on the large sofa while messing around on social media.

The room was partitioned by a wall covered in vanity mirrors; Camila was getting ready on the other side of that wall, sectioned off by a black curtain. Today's gig was pretty low key, but we did have Melanie, our makeup artist, on site to help us with touch ups.

These were the kind of gigs I loved: no hassle, hang around, get in, do your thing, get out, grab food. Rinse, repeat.

Dinah was shamelessly taking a million selfies and asking Mani's opinion on them while Ally was scrolling aimlessly through Instagram. I got bored and way too easily distracted on Twitter and Instagram, so I just went on a reblogging spree on my Tumblr to kill time. I lifted my head up as I heard a familiar voice call for me.

"Lo, can you, um... can you come in here for a second?" Camila hollered out from behind the curtained area.

"Huh? Sure, what's up?" I said thoughtlessly.

"I need you to...," she left an awkwardly long pause in between, "do that fishtail braid for me. If that's cool. I just want my hair out of my face." She spoke with excessive effort to divert any suspicion - but subtlety wasn't Camila's strong suit. In fact, being inconspicuous was something she was just really fucking terrible at.

**LISTEN: Gold - Bondax

Stop the clocks; can we just slow it down?

She reads your thoughts - they go to a higher ground

Invite the girl you like inside the door...

Gold, Gold, Gold, Gold, Gold

I got up from the sofa and made my way into to the other partition of our oversized dressing room. As I disappeared out of sight, our three other bandmates grew quiet. Dinah caught Normani's gaze from the side, then they both slightly squinted at each other.

"I need you to............." Dinah playfully dramatized the suspicious pause, cracking herself up.

"Oh, gross." Normani rolled her eyes as an amused smile crept up on her face. Dinah mimed sticking her finger down her throat as they both snickered, trying not to make too much noise. They acted very similar to how young kids act when they saw their parents kiss.