just a dream (camren)

fifty

because i won't be posting another chapter before christmas i hope you all have a great one

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August 4th, 2017

"What?"

"Yeah."

"You're joking."

"Nope," Lauren shakes her head, looking over at Camila. "She's not joking. We think Ally is here. And since Normani has been pretty AWOL, maybe she is too. We don't know if they've just woken up or if they've been here before and remembered everything. We just know that they might be here."

Dinah studies them carefully, considering Lauren's words. "I mean, I had a feeling that Ally could be here too. She was being kind of cold with Mila, and I didn't think this Ally would be, but then she had all of her memories. Like this Ally's memories, so I ruled her out."

"So we've got to talk to them. Both Ally and Mani," Lucy says, "or at least drop a lot of hints."

"Yeah, speaking of which, I'd rather not be there," Camila announces, not meeting their eyes. "I don't want any... arguments."

Dinah frowns. "They need to know the truth. All of it. You're part of that."

"I know, it's just..." Camila sighs, "they're being my friends and I miss that. I'm allowed to miss that."

"But you've got to be honest," Lucy quickly tries to persuade her, "we need you there, Mila."

Camila bites down on her bottom lip, debating it in her head. She'd always been good at running away from things, if she knows it might end in an argument. It's why she didn't tell the girls about her song with Shawn. It's why she didn't go to the group therapy sessions management scheduled for them; she didn't want confrontation.

She considers her options for a moment, before her gaze flicks over to Lauren. "You agree with them? That I should be there?"

"Yeah," Lauren nods, "I do."

That settles it, in Camila's mind. It'll be hard, but she'll do it. "Alright. Fine. I'll be there."

Dinah coughs. "Whipped."

Camila fixes her with a glare, and Dinah just smiles at her innocently. She rolls her eyes at her best friend, before she looks over at Lauren. "So, uh, how do you think we should do this?"

Lauren pauses, humming as she thinks. Unconsciously, she plays with the hair tie on her wrist, before shrugging. "Maybe we could invite them out somewhere for a group thing. Pretend it's... I don't know, a really belated party for Ally's birthday."

Lucy snorts. "I don't think they'd buy that."

"Fine, just a casual hang out but it's super important that they're there," Lauren reasons, biting down on her bottom lip, "we could head out to a waterpark or something. Mess around, go on some slides, butter them up before we say hey, are you also from this weird alternate universe that we happen to be from? If they say yes, then we can talk everything out, but if they say no... we'll pretend we've all taken lots and lots of drugs."

Dinah laughs. "Ally would bitch-slap you if you'd given us anything."

Camila chuckles lightly at the mental image, and rests her head on Lauren's shoulder. When Lauren's hand easily finds its way to her waist, Camila relaxes, loving the way her girlfriend's touch can calm her in an instant. "I think Lo's waterpark idea is good. It's still early, we can call them up and then drive out somewhere."

"Whipped," Dinah coughs again, and before Camila can protest, she continues on, "Ralph could've said, hey, why don't we hold them at gunpoint until they confess, and you would've been like great idea babe, let's go make out somewhere!"