Are You There? ("Those Eyes" sequel, Camren Fan Fic)

Chapter 5: Far Away

Camila's POV:

"Camila wake up!" I feel someone shaking my body. "Shut up." I mumble burying my face on my pillow. I'm not a morning person, no doubt about that. "Mila come on, we have to record today and we can't be late, you know how important this is." I slowly open my eyes and see Dinah standing next to my bed. "Good girl, now put on some clothes and get your ass out of that bed." She says and walks out of my room. I don't want to get up, but Dinah is right, today is huge for our future. Why am I so tired? Oh, right, I woke up last night for no apparent reason and then I heard steps outside of my room and I saw Lauren sneaking out and then I couldn't really sleep again. She better be back though, we can't record without her. It broke my heart to hear her speaking to Ingrid last night, it really did, and I totally understand what she went through, but I don't know how to help her. We are kind of talking again, but we're not what we used to be anymore, at least not yet. I carry my thoughts out of my bed and walk over to my closet to pick out some clothes. We have been working extremely hard on the studio lately, and today is probably is the most important day, we need to be perfect. And we need Lauren to give her 100% too, but her mind seems to be somewhere else. Her actions affect all of us, we've already gone through this before, and the last time something like this happened she went home and left the tour, and I don't want that to happen again. After I'm ready I walk out of my room and notice Lauren's door is still closed, I can't believe no one woke her up. I knock softly a couple of times, she's usually the first one up in the morning, but considering she went on a midnight adventure last night it makes sense she's still asleep. "Lolo, are you up yet?" I say, but I get no response, so I decide to open her door, only to find her unmade empty bed. "Holy shit." I whisper holding my face, she's not here. I grab my phone and dial her number as fast as I can, but she doesn't answer. I call her again pacing around her room, and after a couple of seconds I hear her husky voice. "Hey." She says sleepily. "Lauren where the hell are you?" I whisper angrily, the other girls can't know she's not here. "Ummm I'm not quite sure." She says uninterestedly. "Well you should be here, we're about to go to the studio and you have to come right now or you'll screw all of us." I tell her trying to control my anger. "What the hell do you expect me to do Camila? I can't just magically appear there. Anyway I can't keep talking, I'll wake up Cole. Have fun." She says and hangs up before I can say anything back. "Camila have you seen Lauren?" Ingrid says suddenly. "Yeah, yeah. She... Umm she had a family emergency, she left earlier this morning and I don't know when she'll be back. Do you think there's anyway we can change the recording session for like tomorrow? We can't do this without her." I say trying to sound convincing. "Okay, I'll see what I can do. If you talk to Lauren could you please tell her she needs to let me know before leaving like this?" She asks me crossing her arms. "I don't really talk to her Ingrid, I'm sorry." I say walking out of Lauren's room. "Right. So I'll tell the girls to get out of the van and I'll talk to the producer. Lets hope he agrees." She says taking a deep breath. "Okay, thank you." I say and she leaves after giving me half a smile. I can tell she really does care about us a lot, and Lauren treats her like crap. And now she's God knows where sleeping with Cole and she doesn't give a shit about us and although sometimes when I look into her eyes I see the same girl I fell for, most of the times she's someone completely different and cold and I hope its not my fault she has changed. Its like she lost herself in the process of forgetting about me and I hate that so much. "Dude what the heck is going on?" Dinah says walking towards me. "Lauren had to leave earlier this morning for some family stuff, Ingrid will try to change the studio dates." I say, but I hate lying to the girls so much. "Oh God, is everything okay? She's not answering her phone." Normani says walking behind Dinah. Of course she's not answering her phone Normani, you fucking kissed her and messed up her mind. And by the way, kissing my ex-girlfriend, who you know I still foolishly love, not cool. "Yeah, everything's fine." Is all I answer, although I should've said the other thing I had in mind. "I guess we can go back to bed then." Dinah says and everyone walks to their rooms, except for me, I go into Lauren's room and lay on her bed. I miss her so much its hard to breathe most of the time. And if I only knew how to win her heart again things would be so much easier, but I have no clue, its like I don't know her anymore. When did she become so distant, and mean, and selfish? I always admired how generous and selfless she was, and now its like all of that is just gone. So if the things I love about her are gone, why do I still love her so freaking much it hurts to hear her name? Why can't I just forget about her and move on and date someone who'll take me to unknown road trips? Why was is it so easy for her? Maybe she never really loved me as much as she claimed. Even though I don't want to, I decide to text her, and hope for an answer.

To: Lauren

I had to tell Ingrid and the girls you had to deal with some family stuff and hopefully the producer will agree to meet us tomorrow. You need to be home by then, please. Call me when you can.

I send it and close me eyes letting all of the memories I have about us fly through my mind. Where the hell are you Lauren? Are you still there?

Lauren's POV:

"God, could you turn that thing off?" A half asleep Cole says pointing at my phone. I woke up in this hotel room that smells like beer and weed to answer a call from Camila. She seemed pretty upset, but like I said I don't give a damn anymore. And since then Normani has been calling me non stop, but I don't feel like talking to her until I sort my mind. Cole and I drove all night, and somehow we ended up here. I'm naked, and cold, and I wish I had someone's arms around me, but Cole doesn't seem to care. Maybe I should call Camila like she asked me to on that last text, but its so painful to hear her voice. I just decide to text her back, its the easiest way.

To: Camila

I'll be there as soon as I can, I owe you big time! Thank you Camz, I appreciate it.

I send it and close my eyes, remembering about all the times we had together. I remember about the scent of her hair, and the color of her eyes when the sun was just about to set. Why do I keep thinking about her? I have a boyfriend who loves me, why can't I just accept that? I'm horrible at this "I don't care about life anymore" act, because the truth is I do care, I care way too fucking much. "Hey baby I need to go home right away." I whisper in his ear and kiss his neck softly. "And I'm trying to sleep here Lo, you're killing me." He complains turning away from me. "Come on, you promised you'd take me back home if I asked you to." I say getting out of bed and I put on some clothes. "I will take you home, just not right now." He answers and closes his eyes again. " I guess I'll have to take a bus or something, but I need to go right now." I say walking towards the door. "Lauren, wait, I'll take you home." He says stopping me and groans. "You're a pain in the ass, you know that?" Cole adds getting out of bed. "Yeah, so I've been told." I say grinning and throw a shirt at his face. "Now put some clothes over that delicious body of yours and lets go!" I add leaning against the door. When Cole is finally dressed he sits back on the bed looking at his phone with a huge frown on his face. "Hey babe, is a everything okay?" I ask sitting next to him and put my hand on his leg, but as soon as I get close he hides his phone from me. "Yeah, its just football stuff, don't worry." He says and kisses my forehead. "Now let's go, I thought you were desperate to be home." Cole says walking towards the door and I follow him. "Yeah, lets go." I answer and we walk to his truck. He's acting extremely weird, who the hell was he texting and why did he hide it from me? What if he's cheating on me? I don't think he would, but what the hell do I know about him anyway? We start driving back home, and after a couple of miles he stops at a gas station. "I need to fill the tank and to use the bathroom, I'll be right back." He says kissing my cheek and walks out of his car, but when he does his phone falls from his pocket. Fuck, this is so wrong, but the curiosity is killing me. Who was he been texting? I'll probably go to hell for this, but I quickly grab his phone and my jaw drops at my discovery.

"One missed call: Normani K."

What? Why was Normani calling him? Was he texting her earlier? Fuck, I'm so confused. I rapidly leave his phone back where it was as soon as I see him walking back to the truck. "Now we're ready to go." He says kissing my lips softly. I'm dying to ask him why Normani was calling him, but I can't or he'll think I'm a psycho stalker who goes through his calls when he's gone for two minutes. "California, here we come." I say smiling, trying to hide my confusion. We get back on the road when he's phone starts ringing. He quickly glances at it and puts it back in his pocket. "Hey do you want me to pick that up for you?" I say sweetly but he shakes his head. "No, don't worry, its just a guy from college." Cole says with his eyes set on the road. "Okay, suit yourself." I answer laying my head against the window. I have no freaking clue where we are, but I just want to be home as soon as possible. And just to make everything worse, Cole's truck suddenly slows down until it stops. "What the hell?" I ask getting out of the car and he does the same. "Fuck! A flat tire." He complains holding his head. Great, just fucking great.