The Pretending Game

Chapter 8

The south american tour had started and the girls were landing in Lima. They had a lot of work to do before the north american tour. Perú, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, and a trip to Japan afterwards. The madness was just starting.

Lauren and Camila had been texting regularly. Lauren texted her friend right after she got home from the sleepover to let her know she had arrived safely. They had been texting every day since then. Camila smiled like an idiot every time her phone beeped with a new message. Lauren was keeping her promise. The petite latina was trying not to get her hopes up, after all it hadn't been that long, but she was thoroughly enjoying the situation.

However, she was afraid. She knew that texting every day when they were apart was not the same as being close and affectionate to each other under the public eye where they would be analyzed. Camila was practically expecting that Lauren would break her promise.

So to say that she was nervous about what was going to happen now would be an understatment. She was freaking out.

The madness at the airport was total. It was the first time the girls visited that country and the fans were hysterical. They were glad to make their harmonizers so happy, but it would be nice to make it out of the airport in one piece.

They arrived at the hotel and a lot of fans were already waiting outside. The girls were doing their best effort to get closer to them and take a picture or just say hi, but security had very specific instructions and they had to get the five girls inside as fast as possible. Once they were safe, they gathered in one of the sofas in the lobby where the guy that would be their photographer, and host on the meet and greets, was waiting for them.

"Hello girls," he greeted.

"Hi Marcello," they responded in unison.

"I hope you had a nice flight," he smiled. "Okay. I have the keys to your hotel rooms. This one is Dinah's" he said while lifting a card-key in the air.

The girls received their keys one by one, leaving Camila and Lauren at the end. They had been talking lively when the man with the keys reached them.

"Okay girls, you two have the room 1807," he said checking his notebook.

"Sorry," Lauren said almost immediately. "The both of us? We're sharing a room?"

Of course Camila noticed the annoyance in her friend's voice and couldn't help but feel hurt. It's not like they've never roomed together before...

"That's right. You're rooming together" Marcello confirmed.

"But all the other girls have separated rooms."

"Sorry girls. You're sharing a room. James' orders," he apologized.

Lauren sighed defeated, yanked one of the keys out of the photographer's hand and left towards the elevator. Camila looked at Marcello apologetically and followed her friend.

"Lauren, wait!" she said trying to get in the elevator, but the doors closed in her face. She waited for the next one and went up to the floor where their room was. The doors opened and Camila stepped outside looking right and left trying to find the door with the number 1807 on it. She spotted it, opened it, and the first thing that she saw inside was the green-eyed girl walking frantically from side to side of the room, apparently taking on the phone.

"Lauren?"

The girl turned around and indicated Camila to keep quiet with a hand gesture. The brown-eyed girl obeyed and  decided to lie down in one of the two queen sized beds that were there. Lauren kept pacing until she heard a masculine voice on the other side of the line.