Rising Love

The Beginning Part 2

So Lauren and Zayn made a deal: Zayn would help Lauren take on the world and open a jack of all trade bakery (pies, pastries, breads, you name it), and in return Lauren  gave Zayn full control over décor and the general look of the bakery.

"It's gonna look so edgy,"

Lauren couldn't help but smile as she watched Zayn talk and beam over possible designs of the place once Lauren got it. "The walls will be like, coated in graffiti - and we'll be selling, like, lavender tarts and birthday cakes."

As she listened to Zayn continue speaking, almost at a rate too rapid for her, Lauren smiled. Yes - things were still uncertain at this point, but the future was always uncertain, and Lauren refused to let that scare her. Life was too short for her to fret over the future. She was a determined, persistent type of person, and she had her best friend by her side. As long as she kept strength of mind, nothing could stop her.

The days went by like breeze possessed tumbleweeds. Graduation came and went, the night after the ceremony being filled with cheers and booze. The next day, Lauren and Zayn decided to rent an apartment down in Southern California. They moved down to the San Diego area, a perfect mix of bakeries and ocean, of small town and big city. It was everything meshed into one, which was what made it perfect. Rent was steep in California, and the two wanted to raise as much money as they could for the place. Zayn took up teaching music lessons, while Lauren started looking for work at the local restaurants and bakeries.

Despite the lack of luck at first (not many people were looking for artisan bakers, even down in Southern California), eventually Lauren got some job invitations. Bakeries came biting when Lauren decided to adopt a new job getting strategy: showing the employees just how damn good she was by bringing her work to the interviews.

In other words, she won over the employees with her basket full of homemade sourdough rolls and snickerdoodle cookies.

Somehow, it worked, and Lauren was hired at Rob's bakery, called To the Crust, and the pay was good, and surprisingly benefits were attached.

Oftentimes, Lauren would come home from work just as Zayn was falling asleep, or asleep already. On days off, they would spend their time as they did before, resting and binge watching TV like they used to back in culinary school. They would rest and talk and catch up and dream. Living off fast food, Trader Joe's baguettes, and leftovers from the bakery, the two would dream. Their own bakery - they were getting closer to it by the passing minutes - since by now it was Zayn's dream almost as much as it was Lauren's. All they needed to do was be patient, raise a little more backup money to help pay, and it would happen.

"Technically, all we need is a small loan of a million dollars," Zayn told Lauren, who immediately cringed.

"Oh god, don't mention the Orange Bastard in front of me. I wouldn't even take his money." Lauren replied as quickly as possible, shuddering in disgust. Zayn just cracked up laughing in response.

The money came faster than expected. The duo borrowed. They borrowed from their friends, from their parents, from the bank.

And they got a place. It was small, in the middle of a business complex within a technology district. But the rent and overhead was cheaper than other places, so they made do. The equipment came not long after, and once Zayn had painted the bakery and given it a fresh coat of artistic graffiti, the equipment was placed, and the bakery was ready.

The place was called Sammy's. It used to be an old Lebanese restaurant and bar, and the previous owner had named it after a friend of hers who had passed away. When she sold the place to them, she had only one condition of purchase: keep the name.

Lauren and Zayn, being people of their word, promised they would.

So after years of wanting and weeks and months of preparation, Lauren had her place, decorated by Zayn like she promised. They hired two sellers, who would handle the cash based matters up front. Lauren and Zayn would stay in the back - Lauren making breads and pastries, Zayn making cakes and cookies, doing elaborate sugar decorations and frosting patterns to catch the eyes of passerby who glanced at the display windows. Rosa and Cole were young, ambitious, and easily swayed by food - the perfect workers for Sammy's. While Lauren was somewhat apprehensive at first - her mind's eye had only imagined her and Zayn there, whilst not making accommodations for other people being in on the dream she had kept since high school. But the two's work ethics convinced her otherwise.

They opened Sammy's, and by five months after the opening, they had a decent clientele. A lot of businessmen and executives would stop by for lunch - come for sandwiches and coffee in the cafe-bakery hybrid shop. It wasn't as much as they wanted or dreamed of, customer wise, but it was enough to make ends meet while still giving them a bit of profit.

Things were good. Lauren was happy. Even as she closed the bakery with Zayn each night, and headed home, she would always think, I could get used to this. This could be my new normal.

Little did she know, though, that less than three months later, her life would be turned upside down - just not in the way she expected.

Perhaps you could just call it a twist of fate.

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A/N: Hey all its me again!

I finally updated this after like 14 years so yaaaaay (:

No Camila yet but she'll be here next chapter, I promise

Dedicated to Flxxmebug for asking for an update and motivating my writer's soul

Also, if you can, nominate me for Best Upcoming Camren Writer and Oneshot God on theharmoawards ! Would love you all if you did it and read the interview I had with them (:

You're loved. Treat yourselves kindly today and pay some kindness forward to others, even if you haven't recieved much kindness to give. I'm always here if you need me

Love you all ❤ Stay Lit (;

- Sel