You Hold My Heart

Don't Promise Me Tonight

Since meeting Camila in the coffee shop, Lauren's head had been a bit of a mess. But then again, considering the whole thing had been so emotionally charged she figured that was probably normal.

That night, they'd ended up talking for over 3 hours, discussing things that should have been a topic of conversation years ago. Despite the overdue nature of their talk, Lauren was glad it had happened. It was better late than never after all.

There were a lot of aspects of the conversation that had been replaying in Lauren's head. The most prominent one was that Camila had told her she had loved her.

Loved.

Lauren was sure Camila's use of past tense had been entirely deliberate. If that was the case, it meant she didn't love her now. Lauren couldn't deny the disappointment that she felt. She knew she was desperately in love with Camila and had been for years. She'd just never expected that her feelings were ever reciprocated. But hearing Camila telling her she'd felt the same had been both incredible and excruciatingly painful.

She remembered the first time she'd realised she was in love with Camila. It was shortly after their time on X Factor ended. Things had been building and Lauren knew she was falling hopelessly for her friend.

She still didn't understand how, but Lauren had plucked up enough courage to kiss Camila for the first time while they watched The 1975 play live, and, due to Camila's awkwardness around her in the weeks that followed, Lauren had assumed it meant far more to her than it had to Camila.

So began their unhealthy cycle.

Lauren didn't talk about how she really felt. Neither did Camila. Instead, they'd flirt a little but date other people. Over time, flirting turned into kissing and kissing developed into sex. As it all intensified, it only served to increase the pain Lauren felt inside.

So she dated more people and hoped that their touch would somehow erase the invisible scars Camila left on her heart.

Now that Camila had told her that she'd been in love with her, Lauren wished she'd said those same words to Camila all those years ago as 'fallingforyou' echoed through the speakers around them.

Lauren sighed. She knew there was no point going back over events that she couldn't alter. Almost as if on cue, her phone lit up and she felt a smile tug at her lips as she saw a sight that was becoming more familiar again.

She opened Camila's message immediately and was met by a photo of her friend holding a large bunch of bananas, a massive grin on her face.

Lauren couldn't help but laugh. Some things never changed.

Their communication had been like that for about 3 months, a string of simple messages and silly photos sent back and forth. It reminded Lauren of how their friendship had first been and never failed to make her smile.

Surprisingly, it hadn't been too difficult to put their history behind them. It was as though they were finally back to where they were supposed to be, all the pain of the past just a distant memory that was fading away into the background.

They'd seen each other a couple of times, managing to arrange meeting around their equally busy schedules. Camila had been promoting 'Havana' and filming her next music video. Fifth Harmony had done their first live shows for their new tour. Still, they kept in contact, even if their meet ups were only short.

Now, almost 3 weeks after they'd last seen each other, they were both in LA at the same time and, as soon as they'd found out, they had immediately planned to meet.

Lauren tried not to overthink the way her stomach had clenched when Camila had told her she was staying in a hotel just 10 minutes away. She tried to ignore the hammering of her heart as she replied and their scheduled days off matched up.