Tempting Fate

Chapter 4

As she was fumbling with her guitar strap trying to get it secured, camila nervously looked around. She saw people. A fair amount
of people, but no one she recognized. She began to adjust the microphone stand but found it difficult to focus. Every time she took
a breath, her stomach would drop. Anxiety was setting in. She hated this part. The part right before she began performing. It was the worst.
What made it even more difficult right now was the fact that she didn't have an ally in sight.
She knew her mom was unable to make it, but Eli…she was hoping he'd make good on his word and show up. Also, in the back of her mind, she thought there might be a chance that
David would actually show up and support her.
But she knew the odds were slim on that one.
The one person she wasn't worried about was Lauren. She knew lauren would show up. More than
likely it would be five to ten minutes late because it just wouldn't be Lauren if she didn't make a fashionably late entrance. It's not something lauren does intentionally.

She justnever saw the point of living life by other people's schedules when her schedule suited
her just fine. She always said life was much less stressful that way. Camila smiled to herself and shook her head as she thought of this. 'She'll probably show up in the middle of
my second song.'
As camila finished unwinding the cables and
plugging in to her acoustic guitar, she looked around once more, just in time to see Eli walk
through the door. Eli looked up on the stage and saw his sister beaming at him. He nodded his head, waved and took a seat at the bar.
Camila stepped up to the mic and took a deep
breath.
"Hey everyone. Um…my name is camila," she
stopped and looked around one last time for David. Then she continued. "Camila Cabello.
Um…okay. Hopefully you like what you hear."
Camila shyly looked down at her guitar and started playing. She kept her eyes closed during the entire first song. She wasn't ready to see anyone's reactions just yet. Eli grinned as he watched his sister. She was so modest
and unassuming. She couldn't see what he saw: the entire audience was captivated. Hardly anyone made a sound. As soon as camila started
singing, everyone just stopped what they were doing and listened. When the song was over,
Camila opened her eyes and was greeted with an
erupting applause. She giggled and thanked the
crowd then turned her focus to the door as she saw Grace walk in. Eli jumped off the stool
and waved Grace over to him. They took their seats at the bar as camila started her next
song. This time, she only kept her eyes closed part of the time. Partly because she was finally getting into the rhythm of things and
partly because she wanted to keep her eye out for Lauren.
As she was singing, camila's focus was
immediately pulled to the door. Just like clockwork,Lauren was standing there as camila
was halfway through her second song. The girls locked eyes. Lauren didn't move. She stood in the middle of the doorway and just watched
Camila sing. Camila didn't take her eyes off of lauren.  She always found it difficult to look away from her, especially since she rarely saw
her these days. Lauren slowly started moving over to where Grace and Eli were sitting, and camila's eyes followed her the entire way.
Neither girl broke eye contact until lauren, being ever-so-smooth, ran into the bar stool and knocked it over. It made a loud clanging sound
and everyone in the bar turned to see who was making such a ruckus. Lauren's shoulders tensed
up and she looked down in embarrassment.
Grace helped her pick up the stool as Eli started laughing.
"Very suave, lauren," teased Eli.
"Yes I am. You should try it sometime," replied lauren.
Eli opened his mouth to say something,but Grace shot him a look so he backed down.
Camila was trying to get through the rest of her song without chuckling at lauren's momentary clumsiness, so she thought it best to look away from the bar for the time being.
"She sounds great," Lauren whispered to Grace as she finally took a seat on the barstool.
"Yeah. I keep telling her she's gonna be
famous one day. She refuses to listen," Eli chimed in. "I'm trying to get her to start a band with me."
"And what did she say?" asked Grace.
"Oh, well…she says she totally wants to but… um…I don't know. Something about David not liking it or whatever." Eli tried to play it off as
if it were nothing, but both Grace and lauren could see that it disturbed him a little bit.
As Grace and Eli continued talking, lauren looked over at camila. She studied her. Well, at least
as much as she could from 15 feet away. She could tell something was off. It was in her eyes. Lauren could always tell what camila was
feeling just by looking in her eyes. And she remembered how alive and passionate camila's
eyes were. There was a fire inside her that Lauren just loved. And, though she could still see a trace of passion in those brown eyes, Lauren
could tell it was fading fast. Something had wiped her spirit away. In a way, she looked almost…defeated. But still, Lauren was even
more in love with her than before.
"Lauren?"
"Hmmm?" Lauren tore her eyes away from camila to look at Eli.
"How have you been? I haven't seen you since the wedding."
"I've been…surviving. I guess that's the best way to put it."
"Yeah? Camila said you were in Vegas last year.
How was that?" asked Eli.
"Oh, yeah I was only there for a couple weeks.
It was…..different," Lauren grinned,
remembering the odd people she encountered
while she was there.
"I was thinking of getting out there one of
these days," said Eli. "I think I could make
some good money out there."
"Oh yeah. You'd be perfect as one of those guys who hands out free porn on the strip," quipped lauren.
Eli just gaped at lauren. "Really. I've missed this. Truly. But, no. I meant as a musician."
"Ooohhhhh, I see. Okay," Lauren played dumb.
Eli shook his head. He knew he had to
constantly be on his toes whenever lauren was around.
"Well, I hate to interrupt this insult-a-thon between you two, but I should get going," said
Grace. She turned to lauren "Can you tell camila she did awesome? Let her know I'll call her tomorrow."
"Sure," said lauren.
As Grace was turning to leave, she looked back at Eli and remained fixated on him. He looked over at lauren. "Oh…uh. Yeah, I should go, too.
But can you tell her that she was amazing?" He
leaned over and whispered, "And let her know
I'm sorry I had to leave early."
Lauren smiled. "I'll let her know."
Eli leaned in and gave lauren a one-armed hug and a kiss on the cheek. "It really was good
seeing you again. Don't be a stranger."
As Eli and Grace walked out, lauren was finally left alone to focus on her reason for coming
here: Camila.
As the applause died down again, camila looked directly at lauren and  started to speak. "Okay, so
I've got one more song for you. Hopefully it'll
speak to you the way it speaks to me."
Camila tried to make it look like she was referencing the whole audience, but with the way camila was staring at her, lauren had a gut
feeling she was talking to her.
Camila started in the with the guitar, not once taking her eyes off of lauren. All of a sudden,
Lauren became alive. She became elevated by the look in camila's eyes. She could see something had changed again. That intensity
and passion that Lauren thought was lost was
now back in camila's eyes and every fiery
emotion camila was feeling was now being projected directly towards lauren. And all lauren
could do right now was watch and listen as camila began to sing.