Lightning (Camren)

Chapter Fifty-One

"Lauren! Lauren!" Annabelle exclaimed as her favorite person in the world walked through the door. 

The little girl had heard the front door open and close, and she knew right away that it was Lauren coming home from watching Camila perform on 'The Voice'. It had been almost a week since Ally and Dinah were eliminated from the show, and it would be revealed the following night if Camila and Normani were still going to be in the game. 

That night, Camila was going to Annabelle's family home to have dinner with everyone living in the household. Camila was never formally introduced to the family, so Annabelle's parents offered to have her over for dinner. Since she would eventually be moving into the house, it was best that she got to know the family that she would be living with. Not only was it good to get to know them, it would also be beneficial for her to get to know Annabelle who was currently enduring the problems that Camila once endured.

"Annabelle! Annabelle!" Lauren shouted back at the small girl who had been running towards her. The house was still fairly new to the girl, so Lauren needed to warn her about the dangers of running around. "Be careful not to trip!"

The blind girl began to slow down, but ended up tripping. Luckily, Lauren was close enough to the vicinity that she could catch the girl that would haven ended up harming herself for sure. Annabelle brought herself back onto her feet, then embraced Lauren quickly as a thanks for protecting her from harm.

"Annabelle, there's someone that I want you to meet. I brought my girlfriend Camila along with me for dinner tonight. She actually used to be blind, like you." Lauren explained to the girl.

"Really?" Annabelle asked in shock. It was extremely rare that she met another person that had ever dealt with the same problems as she did. She held her hand out for Camila to take as she continued to introduce herself. "I'm Annabelle. It's extremely cool to meet you!"

Camila giggled at the tiny girl's introduction, then took her hand to shake it. "I'm Camila! I've heard so many great things about you. You sound like such an intelligent little girl!"

"Hey! I'm not that little!" Annabelle joked.

Camila continued the on-going joke. "Well, you're definitely little to me."

The three girls laughed together until Annabelle's mother Susanne walked over to introduce herself to Camila. She held out her hand for Camila to take, then told her who she was. "Hi, Camila! I'm Susanne, Annabelle's mother. It's great to finally meet you!"

Camila shook hands with Susanne, then replied. "It's nice to meet you too, Susanne. I'm glad that I can finally meet you and your family! Lauren talks to me about you guys all the time. They're all good things, I assure you."

"The same thing for us." Susanne adds. "Dinner is just about done, if you'd want to get seated?"

Everyone agreed to the idea of sitting down for food. It had been a crazy night for both Lauren and Camila, since they were so stressed about the results that were to come the following night. They all took a seat at the dining room table, where Annabelle's father, Laurie, and Cameron were already seated. Prior to Lauren and Camila's arrival, Annabelle's parents had placed the twins in their respective high chairs so everyone was able to start eating as soon as everyone had arrived. 

Once everyone had entered the dining room, Annabelle's father introduced himself to Camila. He, like his wife and daughter, was all excited to meet the girl that made Lauren so happy. Annabelle's parents had begun to see Lauren as a second daughter, so anything that made her happy, made the whole family happy. 

As dinner began, everyone began to talk about their lives and how moving Camila to Los Angeles was going to work. 

"Camila, I just wanted to let you know that you and your story are such an inspiration for our daughter." Susanne began to explain. "You've given her hope that she'll be able to see the world around her. Because of you, we've actually gone forth to put Annabelle's name on the waiting list for the operation. Since she needs a donor for her to be able to see, we have to wait in line for it all to occur. But due to how early we heard about the procedure, we were able to be placed near the top of the list. So I just wanted to thank you for giving us the push we needed, as well as the inspiration, to make our daughter have the best possible life. We're lucky that this kind of thing came into existence since she is still young."

"It's really no problem, Susanne. I'm so happy that my story was able to help those around me. I never would have guessed that I'd actually be impacting someone as much as I did for Annabelle. Speaking of which, that is actually what I want to do with my life from here on out." Camila explained to everyone at the table.

Susanne tilted her head in slight confusion. "Don't you want to be a singer? Isn't that why you're on 'The Voice'?"

"Oh! Of course I want to be a singer. But I also want to be an inspiration. A lot of the musicians that I've become a fan of have inspired me in so many ways. Demi Lovato, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran... They're all very talented. Aside from all of their talents, they also have kind hearts. They save so many lives each day. That's why I'm fighting to win this competition." Camila told her. 

"That's super cool, Camila!" Susanne exclaimed. "I'm confident that you'll win. I've been watching the show from home, and I've voted for you so many times. There are some nights where I feel like my fingers are going to fall off from voting so much!"

This made Camila smile. "Wow, I had no idea! That means a lot, really. Even if I lose, I still want to spread the word about my story. I just want to give people the same gift that I was given. Not only that, I want to grant the same happiness to others that my idols gave to me. That's my dream."

"You have such a good heart, Camila. Lauren is really lucky to have found a girl like you." Susanne replied.

Lauren smiled at her fiance, knowing that this was true. "So Susanne, I wanted to bring up what our plans are for moving Camila here too."

Susanne remembered that they still needed to talk about that subject. "Oh! I've been wondering about that." 

Lauren explained the plan in detail to Annabelle's family. "Well, we've decided to get married at a church in Miami near the start of the summer. We've decided to have it there because it is so close to both of our families and friends. Aside from you three of course. But after the wedding, since we'll already be in Miami, it would be easier to pack up Camila's things so we could just come here after. This would save plenty of time and money, since we'd be doing everything in one go."

"That sounds great!" Susanne exclaimed happily. "Saving money is always a smart option. And it sounds to me like everything will run smoothly."

Lauren nodded, then took another bite of spaghetti. She then placed her fork down so she could feed the twins a bit more before continuing eating her own meal. The rest of the dinner mostly consisted of small talk and finishing up the food that was on top of everyone's plates. Susanne offered brownies to everyone after the meal had concluded, but everyone was far too full to eat another bite. 

Soon enough, it was time for Camila to head back to her hotel room for the night. She had called upon an Uber to get back to her room, since Lauren's car was still all the way on the other side of the nation. Public transportation and Annabelle's family's vehicles had been the current ways of getting around until Lauren could get the car over to the house. She thought about selling her car and just buying a new one from a nearby dealership, but she decided that it wasn't worth the hassle.

The two girls said goodbye, then shared one last kiss for the night. And as Lauren watched Camila go off in the distance, she began to think of the days to come where they wouldn't need to say goodbye.