Gone Away are the Golden Days (One Shot)

(One Shot)

It was a week after Lauren's twenty-fifth birthday when Camila called her squealing, rambling about big news and not being able to breathe.

"He proposed!"

She was blind-sided, and a flurry of disappointment twisted in her gut, but she still smiled and felt that almost-decade-long familiar flutter in her chest when Camila insisted Lauren be her maid of honor.

"We're flying back to LA in like three days. Dinner as soon as I get there, okay?"

"Yeah," Lauren nods while she looks at her chipped polish. "Congrats, babe."

Their third world tour had ended four months before, and it was a group decision to take a break for a while before they started working on more music. That break had Normani finally taking a leap and gearing up to film a movie in New York City, Ally traveling all over the planet with Troy, Dinah back home with her family in a ridiculously large house she'd purchased the minute she had the ability.

Camila was engaged. And Lauren in Los Angeles, alone in an apartment way too big and way too empty.

His name is Ethan and Camila couldn't have found a guy more perfect for her if she tried. He got along with the girls, surprised her with chocolate instead of flowers and Lauren tried to hate him for a really long time. She was rude and snappy for the entire first three months he and Camila dated. But then Camila came home from seeing him one night to the apartment she and Lauren had shared since Lauren was twenty-one, and gnawed on her lip before nervously spilling that she was falling in love with him. She knew he was sticking around, and the glow on her best friend's face was enough to give him a real chance.

Camila moved in with him five months later, and then another year after that, Lauren's phone rang with the news.

Lauren wanted to be happy for her. She should have been happy for her. Camila was her best friend and she'd found someone that looked at her the way she deserved to be looked at, treated her the way she deserved to be treated.

She had no reason, no right not to be happy for her. And maybe that's what ate away at her the most when she got into bed and waited for Camila to come back to town with a new ring on her finger.

-

Camila almost tackles her when Lauren answers the door three days later.

"Missed you," she sighs into Lauren's shoulder, and Lauren says it back, then there's a flash of diamonds waving in her face.

It's beautiful, and Camila looks happier than Lauren can ever remember her looking.

They go to dinner and Lauren is quieter than usual, the nagging feeling of Camila slipping away keeping her from focusing on what the girl is actually saying.

-

She helps Camila pick out every detail of the wedding, mostly just taking over completely because Camila really didn't care that much about anything other than the cake.

She drags Lauren to help her pick that out too because Ethan is out of town to visit his parents. Lauren spends most of the time wiping icing off of the corner of Camila's mouth, and Camila keeps feeding her the cake herself to "practice so she doesn't look stupid." When they pick one out, the owner wishes them a happy marriage, and Lauren can't help but feel a twist of hurt and regret in the pit of her stomach when Camila corrects them with a laugh.

-

A month later, Lauren goes with her to get a dress, and when Camila steps out of the dressing room looking bashful and unsure, Lauren can't really breathe.