Yours Truly, Camila (Camren Fanfic)

May 9, 2015

Dear Friend,

Well... I graduated!

I want to spare you the details of the ceremony as it was your typical graduation. But to sum it up, each student walked across the stage to retrieve their diplomas while their family members got up from their seats to cheer their son/daughter on. During this time, I kind of made a fool of myself because when Lauren's name was called; I jumped out of my seat and started yelling "Go Lauren! That's my girl!" while proceeding to blow her kisses. One of the school administrators glared at me too so I had to sit back down. It's whatever though because it's not like I'll see these people again anytime soon.

After the ceremony, Dinah, Normani, Lauren, Ally, and I proceeded to congratulate each other as well as take multiple pictures. My cheeks started to hurt after a while from constantly smiling. Nonetheless, it was worth it because graduation photos are one of those things that you'll look back on years from now while you reminisce about the good ol' days.

I was also introduced to the rest of Lauren's relatives who attended graduation. All of them were very kind and friendly people. Lauren's parents insisted on inviting my grandma, Sofi, and I to come over their house as they are having this family cookout. Lauren's mom, Clara, informed me that I'm basically part of the family too. She said that she sees me as one of her own and this made me feel warm inside. The other girls were also invited, but they had other plans with their own families.

Once we arrived at Lauren's, many of her relatives began cooking various dishes. Even Lauren took part in this. From my point of view, it looked like a TV show of a cooking competition. It was fun watching them though.

"Camz, try this," Lauren said as she held the spoonful of soup up to my face. "It's my abuelita's recipe."

"That's really good, baby," I told her after tasting the dish as Lauren wiped the side of my mouth. "You'd be a good mom, you know."

"Thanks, but let's not go in that route just yet," Lauren laughed.

"I'm just saying," I began, "you can cook and do all these things that a mom can do like for instance you can take good care of me and I'm pretty much a child so..."

"You really think I take good care of you?" Lauren smiled.

"I do. You feed me, spoil me, and make me the happiest girl," I told her honestly.

"Only because I love you," Lauren said as she kissed the top of my forehead. "And you're actually not that hard to care for, Camz. A child on the other hand..."

"I think we could do it to be honest. Like when we get to that point, I think we could handle a child together," I replied as I envisioned a family with Lauren in the back of my mind.

"How many kids do you want?" she asked.

I thought for a moment before answering.

"I think I want two kids," I told her whiles holding up two fingers. "A boy and a girl."

I pictured watching Lauren teach our little boy how to play baseball while our little girl and I would be running around the backyard playing with bubbles. I also imagined Luna watching us from the deck whilst her puppies chased us.

"Okay babe. We can make that happen, just not now," Lauren chuckled.

"Yeah, Luna is a handful as it is," I agreed before helping Lauren set up the table as we ate lunch with the rest of her relatives.

As I sat at the table, I began to think. I wonder what my life will be like in thirty years. I looked around the table and found some of Lauren's aunts and uncles to be around their early to mid 50's. Some of them looked happy while others looked to be faking a smile. I wondered which one I will be years from now when I'm their age.

After chatting and getting to know some of Lauren's relatives mostly her cousins; we went swimming at the local neighborhood pool with Sofi. My little sister got in an accident though but it's not anything serious. She scraped her knee whilst running so we had to go back to my house. Sofi cried for a while, but she stopped when Luna bombarded her with lots of kisses.

"Shes one tough cookie," Lauren acknowledged as we made our way into my room.

"She gets it from me," I joked.

"Yeah okay. If you were in her position, you'd be crying for hours."

"That's not true!" I disagreed. "I'll have you know, I got a paper cut the other day and I didn't even shed a tear."

"Wow Camz," Lauren said sarcastically. "I really should give you more credit."

"Shut up," I said playfully. "By the way, I got you a little graduation present. I was gonna give it to you earlier, but we were spending time with your family."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but just like Luna, this gift is kind of for me too," I told her as I shuffled through my bag to get the present.

"It's not a dog is it?" Lauren asked concernedly.

"Yeah, no," I told her as I handed her the wrapped present.

"A camera?" Lauren asked, tearing the wrapping paper apart.

"Yeah, it's a polaroid camera. I thought that you could take pictures while you're in Alabama and you could mail them to me," I told her. "I know it's kind of old school to send mail when we can just text pictures or email, but I think having a physical copy is better."

"Aww Camz, thanks. I love it," Lauren said as she pulled me into a hug followed by a deep kiss. "I'll send you a letter every day that I'm away."

"Lauren, you don't have to send me a letter every day," I replied, not knowing if she was serious or not. "This isn't The Notebook."

"Yeah our story is far from The Notebook," Lauren began, "because in our story, no matter how old I am, I don't think I could ever forget you or the things we did and will do. And in our story, I will never hesitate to always pick you."

"I will always pick you too Lauren," I smiled as I pulled her into a kiss once more.

Starting this school year was tough as I was still recovering from my parents' death. At one point, I thought that the whole world was against me. I didn't think that things would get better, but they did. My letters to you were never meant to be a love story, but that's what they pretty much ended up being. And it's because that's what the past several months of my life has been; a love story. A story of my first kiss, my first girlfriend, and my first time falling in love. I've shared with you a part of my life, including the highs and the lows. This was a story of not only love but of me; of Ally, Dinah, Normani, and Lauren.

If you can take one thing away from reading my letters, it's that world is not a wish granting factory. I got that from the Fault In Our Stars. What I'm trying to say is, for the longest time, I wished to be happy or at least content; I wished to have answers to questions that I didn't even think I would be asking at this point in my life. Although I am happy now, I know that it won't always remain that way. And I'm okay with that because it's what life is. You won't always know the reason as to why something happens and your answers may never be answered. Sometimes the stars will align in your favor and other times they won't. You just have to remember that the light emanating from moon will be present during those times of darkness. I found that light in my friends, my family, and Lauren.

Yours Truly,
Camila

The End.

If you've made it this far, I just wanted to say thank you from the bottom of my heart. Prior to writing this story, I had only planned on creating 20 chapters max, but I had a lot of fun with it and decided to keep writing. The epilogue of the story will be uploaded sometime this week. Another Camren story is also in the works as I am writing this so stay tuned for that. Anyways, thank you so much again for reading and have a blessed day<33