just a dream (camren)

forty four

July 4th, 2017

"It's Camila, right?"

Camila blinks in surprise, looking over at the other girl. Her heart speeds up in her chest, and she doesn't know why; the only thing she knows about this girl is that she'd awkwardly told her she liked her shirt during first auditions.

"Um, hi," Camila answers, and then she realises what the girl had said to her, "oh! Yeah, I'm Camila. Hi."

"Lauren," the girl introduces herself, and Camila smiles, because that name really suits her, "I figured I'd come over and stand with you. You're kind of the only person I know in here."

Camila's heart starts beating even faster. Lauren had remembered her? "I, um, yeah, hi."

Lauren just sends her a small smile. "So, um, you're Cuban right?"

"Yeah," Camila nods, "I am."

"Me too!" Lauren smiles, "I've only been there once, for a vacation, but... yeah. I live in Miami."

It's Camila's turn to grin. "Me too, actually. Though, I lived in Cuba for a while. We immigrated here."

"That's so cool!" Lauren grins at her, before she holds out her phone. "Give me your number! Even though we're supposed to be competition, that doesn't mean we can't be friends, right?"

Camila's heart sinks at the thought of this girl being her competition. There's only one record deal to win. Only one contestant can come first. But instead of voicing that, she smiles, and puts her number into Lauren's phone.

Everything seems to melt away, and the next thing Camila feels is the crush of heartbreak. She'd been eliminated. She was no longer a contestant on The X Factor. She sobs into her mother's arms, and she wonders if Lauren got through, but she sees her not too far away, looking dejected and broken.

At least we both got eliminated, Camila thinks, maybe I could text her and ask her to hang out when we're back in Miami.

She doesn't get much time to dwell on that thought, because her mother pushes her forwards, telling her that the producers and judges have called her back to the stage. She doesn't understand why, but she follows the other people who have been selected. Her heart warms a little when Lauren falls into step next to her.

"What do you think they want us for?" The older girl asks, and Camila just shrugs, not knowing.

It doesn't take them long to find out. Once they're back on the stage, they're shuffled into different groups, and Camila finds herself with Lauren again, and three other girls she knows from bootcamp. Dinah, a girl who was practically her soulmate; Normani who had become one of her few friends on the show, and Ally, a protective eighteen-year-old who was the biggest mom friend ever. When Simon tells them, "you are all invited back..." she doesn't even hear the rest of the words, because she's so caught up with happiness.

When Lauren hugs her, Camila feels everything else melt away. Any worries she had, any insecurities she felt at being deemed not good enough before, have all gone. Lauren pulls away from her and sends her a small smile. "I guess we're not competition anymore, huh, Camz?"

Camila's heart warms at the nickname, and as she exchanges hugs with the other girls, she can't remember a time she's ever been this happy. At that moment, she knows.

They're sisters for life.

Camila sits up, blinking in surprise. She rubs at her eyes and yawns, vaguely remembering her dream, but she doesn't really care about it too much. Instead, she rolls over and looks over at Lauren, who is still asleep, sprawled across the bed and looking adorably relaxed.