Serendipity (Camren)

Chapter 22: Don't Talk

Absence is to love what wind is to fire; it extinguishes the small, it enkindles the great." - Roger de Rabutin

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When Ally and Dinah glanced down at their phones as they simultaneously buzzed, they were shocked to see '911' as a message. The girls hadn't used that since high school, and it meant their friends needed them immediately. Dinah and Ally exchanged looks over their respective desks.

"I'll call," Ally said.

Dinah nodded to her and closed her laptop.

"Hey, what's going on?... Oh, ummm, I think we're clear..." Dinah walked over and bent over Ally's back, trying to listen to the other side of the conversation but failing, and Ally shooed her away. "Really?... Okay...We will be there as soon as we can."

As soon as she hung up, Dinah asked impatiently, "What is it?"

"Normani said to come to Camila's, and to bring wine."

Dinah looked confused, "It's ten a.m. What are we celebrating?"

Ally frowned, "If it's what I think, it's not exactly going to be a party."

When Ally and Dinah knocked on the apartment door a half hour later, Normani answered it. The girls could see Camila curled up on the couch beyond, a box of tissues in her lap.

"Mila had an interesting house guest last night," Normani said sarcastically.

Ally sighed and walked over to sit on the couch arm next to her friend, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You're still sleeping with her, huh?" Ally questioned.

"You knew?" Normani was indignant across the room, her mouth hanging open in the way that it did when she was surprised and angry all at once.

"Knew what? Sleeping with who?" Dinah looked among her friends in confusion.

"Whom," Normani corrected as she crossed her arms, "Lauren Jauregui."

Dinah's eyes grew wide. "Holy crap!" She looked down at the bottle in her hand. "We didn't get enough wine."

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"I was wondering when you were gonna show up." Lucy was standing on the stairs of the tour bus when she greeted Lauren in the parking lot of the Edgefield amphitheater in Oregon.

"I had a thing," Lauren said noncommittally as she pulled herself up onto the bus.

Lucy wasn't deterred. "You see her?"

"Yeah."

"She hate you?"

"I don't think so."

"Good. Now go get dressed. Let's blow this bitch out." Lucy clapped her best friend on the back as they headed to the rear of the bus where a little private area with a door was.

Carrie, pretending to watch TV from a couch, surreptitiously glanced over to Lauren as she eavesdropped on the short exchange. Lucy caught the look and stuck her tongue out at the blonde as she passed by.

"So you're like, in love with Lauren Jauregui? Why didn't you tell me?" After her initial shock, Dinah cuddled up and made herself comfortable on the couch next to Camila.

Camila sniffled, a tissue in her hand as she kept the tears at bay, "It's not exactly rainbows and roses, Dinah. She doesn't love me back." Camila couldn't hold back a sob then. "She loves Carrie."

"Wait. My Carrie?" Dinah asked incredulously.

"Yeah, pregnant engaged Carrie." Normani added, rounding the couch to sit on a chair on the other side.