Serendipity (Camren)

Chapter 10: Being Normal

"Man loves company - even if it is only that of a small burning candle." - George C. Lichtenberg

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Camila squinted at Lauren, and took a chance. "What would you have done in college?"

"What?"

"You said you wanted to be normal. So if this was a normal college afternoon, and you had just finished swim practice, what would you have done?"

"I don't know. We probably would have gone to a bar and played pool or something."

"Put your clothes on. Let's go do it."

"What? No."

"Everyone needs a break, Lauren, even broody rockstars." Lauren looked up from her seated position and laughed. A real laugh that gleamed against the relative darkness of the pool-lit deck and hinted at someone that Camila would very much like to get to know. "Come on," Camila taunted, "are you afraid you might have fun with me?"

Lauren watched Camila as she stood there with crossed arms, her eyes sparkling and her lopsided grin mischievous. Lauren needed to say no, could think of a hundred different reasons not to go, but she didn't want to. Fuck it, she finally decided as she nodded her acquiescence. Let's see what Camila Cabello is really made of.

An hour later Lauren was leaning over a pool table at a bar on Ramona street. A live band was playing covers in the corner of the large room, and a number of college students were saddled up to the bar or playing their own games on the other tables scattered throughout the room. Lauren hadn't come here in a couple years, not since dropping out. It felt surreal to be here again, as if the years in between had been quietly and surreptitiously erased. Before she took the shot, she looked back at Camila, who was just to the side of play. She was leaning against a high wooden table, a neon light advertising a beer just above her head, her pool cue propped next to her, and she was sipping a gin and tonic. She'd be great in a black and white movie, Lauren thought suddenly.

"Side pocket," Lauren mentioned as she turned back to the table.

"You'll never-" thwock "-make that." Camila winced as the ball missed by a wide margin.

"You're not allowed to heckle me as I make the shot. That's a violation of house rules." Lauren straightened and walked to Camila, picking her drink up off the smooth wooden surface and tipping it back, allowing the alcohol to slide through the ice and onto her tongue.

"I wasn't trying to make you miss it. I was trying to prevent you from taking it. You were set up completely wrong for that."

Lauren's eyebrows shot skyward, "Wow. Give it to me gently, why don't you?"

Camila chuckled and grabbed her cue. "If you watch me, I'll show you how you should have shot it." She brushed by on her way to the pool table, and Lauren could smell the clean scent of her shampoo as her long locks caressed Lauren's shoulder.

Lauren shook her head immediately. It wouldn't do to seduce the band's manager. Lucy would probably kick me in the throat if she thought I even tried.

"Lauren!" Someone yelled from a few tables over, and Camila and Lauren both looked to see who had called out. A bear of a guy with a full dark beard leapt up from a seat and quickly began walking toward them.

Lauren put down her drink and grinned widely at him. When he reached her, he engulfed her in his tree trunk arms and lifted her off her feet.

Camila heard a muffled "oof" before he set Lauren back down, and she watched intently as the scene played out in front of her. She hadn't seen Lauren be friendly with anyone except Lucy and Carson, and this dynamic was especially interesting. Lauren always seemed to have an invisible hands-off barrier around her, but this man either didn't notice it or ignored it. Then again, as big as he was, who could stop him from doing exactly what he wanted?

He grinned widely at Lauren, "It's great to see you. It's been too long."

She looked down and shoved her hands in her pockets. "Yeah it has," she said, a half smile still lifting one side of her lips.

"Hey, we're getting a bunch of people to go down for a party by the bay tonight. You should come."

"I don't-"

"We'd love to come." Camila interrupted Lauren's refusal before she could finish it. Benny looked over at Camila and then looked at Lauren again with an amused expression on his face.

"Benny, this is my manager Camila Cabello. Benny was the bouncer at the bar we used to play at in Palo Alto," Lauren said by way of introduction. "We played there a lot."

"Best band to come out of Stanford in my opinion." He held up his huge paws. "Listen, I don't wanna intrude. Just come see us. Some people are setting it up now. Don't be late and miss the bonfire lighting."

As he walked away, Lauren's smile disappeared. "We don't have to go. It'll be a bunch of fucking drunk college kids."

Camila looked directly at Lauren. "I can handle them as long as you can."

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"Sing with me."

Camila and Lauren had watched as Benny lit the fire earlier, the behemoth first dousing the kindling with lighter fluid before pouring some in his mouth and spitting it out, igniting it with a lighter as it left his lips which in turn ignited the woodpile.

Everyone cheered and then began talking amongst themselves in intimate circles of people. Several party goers knew Lauren, and Camila stood next to her, politely smiling and introducing herself at Lauren's side while Lauren succinctly explained what she'd been doing since they last met, humbly thanking them when they told her how much they loved the band. There was no trace of anger this evening, and Camila could swear she actually felt the heavy air that usually clung to Lauren dissipate into the chatter of the party.

At the moment, there were maybe 20 people sitting on logs and other makeshift chairs around the bonfire, and Benny had pulled out his guitar and asked Lauren to accompany him.

He began to play a folksy melody, and Lauren put down the solo cup she had been sipping from and began to sing.

Camila watched from her perch, enchanted by the light of the flames playing across Lauren's face. The fire was glowing against her skin, giving the appearance that she was burning somewhere inside, the embers heating her up just as a furnace turns cold black steel into molten and malleable and bright red metal.

Lauren's rough voice fit the song and the easy mood of the night perfectly, and the lyrics of the Jack Johnson song suddenly broke through Camila's entrancement.

And all of these moments
Just might find their way into my dreams tonight
But I know that they'll be gone
When the morning light sings
And brings new things
For tomorrow night you see
That they'll be gone too
Too many things I have to do

But if all of these dreams might find their way
Into my day to day scene
I'd be under the impression
I was somewhere in between

With only two
Just me and you
Not so many things we got to do
Or places we got to be
We'll sit beneath the mango tree now

Yeah, it's always better when we're together
Mmm, we're somewhere in between together
Well, it's always better when we're together
Yeah, it's always better when we're together

As the song died down, the listeners clapped and whistled, and Lauren closed her eyes and remained quiet for a moment before turning and opening them to look at Camila. Her eyes shimmered in the darkness, illuminated by the bonfire that was now low and beginning to cool.

"It's time to go," Lauren said softly and simply, her words the final breath that blew out the last of the flickering flames within her.