Reunion (Camren)

Chapter 3

"Ally Cat," Reagan was quick to throw herself into Ally's arms, her legs wrapping around the woman's waist as she held the little one close.

"Hi, baby girl. I missed you so much!" The woman gushed, peppering Reagan's cheek in kisses.

"Mommy and I want to move to the beach too," Reagan said, leaning back in the hold while placing her hands on Ally's shoulders.

"Rey, don't say things that aren't true," Lauren said, sighing at her kid's embellishment. "She wants to move to the beach," The mother corrected, hugging her small friend past the child in her arms and turning back to Normani and Devon.

"I speak for the both of us," Reagan informed her aunt, giggling as she got a kiss on her nose.

"Go say hi to Dev and Mani," Ally said, placing the girl on the ground. She scurried to the dancer quickly and wrapped herself in a similar embrace to the one she had with Ally.

"You sure you don't want to move to the beach?" Ally playfully bumped Lauren with her hip as the woman cooed at the puppy in her arms.

"As nice as that sounds, raising a kid costs a lot more than I anticipated," The brunette said, running a hand through her hair and allowing Tucker onto the ground.

"She's starting kindergarten this fall. Maybe it's time you considered getting a full-time job," The older woman said, leading her friend into the kitchen while Normani and Reagan spoke and laughed loudly and Devon went to bring Lauren's bags up to the guest room.

"I still have some money saved, but I do need to start making more to keep up with Reagan. She keeps growing and her clothes can't seem to follow," Lauren said with a shake of her head.

"Kids will do that," Ally said, smiling at the duo who entered the kitchen.

"Mommy, Mani Bear can spin really fast!" Reagan said happily, playing with the curls of her aunt's head.

"I showed her a video from my recent performance," Normani explained, nuzzling the tiger child in her arms and placing her on the counter top. "Aren't you hot in that, missy?"

"Nope," The child chuckled, shaking her head, which caused the hat to fall over her eyes again.

"Silly, Reggae Sun," Ally said, laughing as she fixed the covering and looked up to Lauren and Normani who both had bottles of water. "You might want to avoid taking a sip of that when I tell you something, Lo."

"What?" The brunette asked with a smirk. Normani's eyes widened in sudden realization as she shut her bottle and took Lauren's from her.

"You might not want to be holding anything for that matter," The woman explained herself, allowing Ally to continue.

"So Camila called yesterday."

"And?" The brunette prompted, hiding the fact that she was hurt that her former best friend and lover hadn't reached out in months.

"She's coming for the week. Dinah's picking her and Eric up on her way over."

Lauren laughed suddenly, making both women look at her in absolute confusion. "Camila coming is one thing," She began in a falsely amused tone, "It's another that she's bringing that Eric dude with her."

"That's her boyfriend, Lo," Normani said delicately, eliciting another laugh from her friend.

"The one that, need I remind you, was only exposed to us by a gossip magazine after she was caught kissing him," she said bitterly, crossing her arms.

"She didn't want others to know," Ally tried to say.

"Please don't defend her, Ally. She posted about him on Instagram and still didn't think to tell any of us. She could tell the whole world but she couldn't even speak to one of us first. So much for those four years together."