Beautiful When You Don't Try

Chapter 104

           

Lauren couldn't even hide the fact that it had been lonely around without Kim and Meg. They had been gone two weeks now. Even as she wrapped up her photo shoot for the day and the last of the crew left, she felt so alone. Well, she was alone, but she had been many times before. Hell, she spent most of her young adult life alone but this was different. Maybe it was because Camila was doing some interviews before the show so the diva wasn't around, but it was all a little depressing.

She slowly walked into her office and sat down behind her desk. The space was so big now, with Meg's half empty beside her. The furniture had been moved in but the walls still weren't done. Meg had opted to do the same thing as Lauren and put a mural on her half of the office but wanted to wait until they got back from the honeymoon and could use some of their pictures from Ireland on it. Seeing as that's where Lauren's mind was at, she booted her computer and began shuffling through photos that she wanted to use. She'd arranged them and blend them tomorrow to pass the time until the other couple got back. They were supposed to be in tonight, but wouldn't show up anywhere until tomorrow to try and recover from some of the jet lag.

"You two are a little feisty in there. You better not be having a dispute over position again." She spoke aloud to the babies. She couldn't wait to have pictures of these two to add to the wall. She didn't want the typical posed family photos. She wanted the candid one of Camila staring in awe of a baby in her arms and then one of the diva in pure panic as she had one in each arm, unsure of which one to look at so the other didn't feel neglected or overlooked.

Lauren stretched back in her chair and looked at the clock. It was only noon. Time was passing by so slowly so she got up to walk the perimeter of the studio. It was her easiest form of exercise and she hoped it would help with the back ache her new chair was giving her. She'd talk with Keaton about his choice of chair tomorrow because this was not acceptable for a pregnant woman.

She stopped at one of the side windows and looked out over the street, running her hand over her stomach. That would have been a good picture for Meg to capture in her sneaky ways. The brunette took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, moving her hand to the underneath of her stomach and then holding her breath completely. "Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no. You two need to stop that right now." She leaned against the wall and took a few slow, deep breaths, trying to convince herself that this feeling wasn't anything like it was with Alex. But that stupid chapter from one of Camila's baby books was screaming in the back of her mind that 'while each pregnancy can feel different when it comes to labor, you will know when it is that time'.

"It's not time. It's not time. It's not time." She clinched her teeth as a tightness ripped through her lower abdomen just like it had a few minutes ago. "Fuck. It's time." Thankfully she had her cell phone in her jacket pocket because she really wasn't wanting to try and waddle back to the office. The line rang five times before it went to voice mail. "Fucking interviews... You would have an interview when I'm going into early labor. As soon as you get this call me. I'm calling Mom."

She hung up and tried to calm her rising anxiety. She pushed out all of the fears of what this could mean. The complications, under developments... it needed to leave her mind. That was another chapter in one of Camila's books. She needed to stay calm. Her panicking would only cause the labor to speed up. She even tried to calm herself even further by thinking about how much of a laugh Meg would get out of her freaking everyone out and this turning out to be false labor. "She'd laugh her ass off and I would never hear the end of it."

No one was in the office at Clara's work. Of course, it was lunch time. So, she called her cell phone. No answer, which actually wasn't surprising. Clara rarely remembered to take her phone off of silent when she stepped out for lunch with the girls. Lauren held her stomach as another contraction ripped through her and she nearly doubled over in pain. She only had one more number to call before she tried her luck with New York City's ambulance services. With the luck she was experiencing now, it would probably take them two hours to get there.