Paper Scars || camren

Chapter Eighteen

It was beautiful—the city. Lauren's eyes lit up like never before. She'd always dreamt of living in New York. Of course, the time they had there was limited due to the tour, but she didn't plan on wasting any time. She didn't plan on sleeping. She had a day before her show tomorrow, before they left the beautiful state, and she wasn't going to waste it brooding—no matter how hard it was to clear her thoughts. Although New York was laced with thoughts of Camila—the endless conversations they had about spending their lives living here—Lauren couldn't allow herself to cry right now. She was in New York. Memories from their pointless conversations on the countless hotel roofs weren't welcome right now.

Camila, on the other hand, was thinking only of the beautiful brunette that had so carelessly kissed her days ago. It wasn't something she could help, Lauren was always on her mind. Being in New York wasn't helping, either. New York was their place, or it was supposed to be. They'd talked about it forever, wrapped up in each others' arms, countless times, over and over. Now they were here.

It was only a matter of time before they ran into each other while exploring—fate, you could say.

-

Is that her? That cannot be her. I'm not even in the same city as the one we're staying in. Oh, God—that's...that's her. Oh my God. Act cool! Act. Cool. Camila glanced up at the confident girl with red lips walking in the opposite direction she was. The girl was smiling. It was obvious she hadn't spotted Camila yet. "Lauren?" She watched as the girl's smile faded, realizing they'd ran into each other.

"Camila?" She stopped in front of her, ignoring the audible sounds of annoyance from passerbys. "What are you doing out of Queens? I thought you and the girls had something planned."

"If so, they didn't invite me." Camila brushed it off. "I wanted to see the infamous city. You know I've always wanted to." This is weird. Is this weird? Am I being weird? I'm being weird. Oh my God, say something else! "Do you want to hang out?" No! Camila, I hate you. I hate myself. Lauren's eyes widened. "I mean—," Camila scrambled to find the right words. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to—" Her face flushed a deep red. "It's just that—well, we've always talked about this place. And now we're here. I figured that maybe—you know, in some other world—you'd want to spend it together." Lauren looked down. "But you know, we don't have to. God, I would totally understand. I can't believe I asked you that. I'm so embarrassing. You traveled all this way to get away from me—well, it's only half an hour, so I guess it's not that long." I'm rambling. Please kill me. "You know what? Just forget we ever ran into each other." She let out a nervous laugh. "I'll just be on my way." She started to walk quickly before she heard a voice.

"Camila!" Lauren called out. Lauren, what the hell are you doing? "Hey, wait." She jogged up to her. "Things have been pretty bad between us lately." Camila nodded, still in shock Lauren had addressed her again. "But, you know, we can't stay like that forever, right?"

"Right." Camila's voice was small.

"I know, uh, this particular city has a lot of meaning to our relationship—or whatever we're calling it." Lauren looked away uncomfortably. "But it's the middle of the day in New York City. And I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss you." Camila broke out into a grin when Lauren met their eyes. "We're both tragically alone. What better way to spend a day out in our dream city than with each other?" Her expression was hopeful as she held out her arm. She was relieved when Camila linked their arms.

"I don't want to risk anything by saying this but—" Camila began.

"Then don't." Lauren kept her gaze forward, walking with Camila down the busy street. "We don't need to talk about it right now. We're in New York." She glanced at Camila. "Let's be adventurous." She smirked.