Buzz (Camren)

Chapter 1: Out of Bounds

"Camila Jauregui-Cabello is a solid for this team, I'd hate to think what would happen to the Devils should she get traded or retire. I mean look at her form and the way she drives into the play time and time again.  This one's a real gem, and from what I hear, Coach Williams knows it." Mike Jones, ESPN radio's morning host gives a recap of last night's Devils versus Bobcat game.  "Of course, we can't help but wonder what happens when she steps off the court with wife and team-mate Lauren Jauregui-Cabello. From what I hear, once they've stepped out of bounds, all conversation of work and basketball stay on the court.  They're family motto truly is 'leave it all on the court.'"

Lauren laughs as she hears Mike talk about her family life publicly.  If someone would have told her five, heck even three, years ago that her life would have turned out this way, she would have laughed and walked away.  Sometimes life has a strange way of playing itself out, literally.  

"Babe, I'm home!" Lauren yells as she puts down her bag and walks up the stairs to see where her family could possibly be. She walks into the playroom to find Samuel, their three year old, and Camila snuggled up on the couch watching Barney.  "Hey baby, how was your workout?" Camila scoots over so that all three of them can fit on the loveseat. "Pretty good, just did a simple one today, I couldn't stand being away from you guys for too long." Lauren reached over and Samuel greets her, "Mommy, miss you" Lauren smiles and kisses his cheek, "Mommy missed you too sweet boy."

The three of them watch Barney until a little after Samuel's lunch time and Camila hears his stomach growling.  He's too wrapped up in the show to notice it and Lauren has dozed off into a light slumber.  Camila tries to maneuver herself out of the awkward yet comfortable position that they've seemed to get themselves tangled in.  In the process, Samuel just clings to her tighter and Lauren wakes up.  "Where ya going?" Lauren realizes how long she's been asleep for and tries to regain her sense of being,  "Just to make some lunch.  Someone's tummy was rumbling and asking for attention." She tickles Samuel and he giggles loudly. "Bring him down in 20 minutes for lunch? He could use some Mommy time right now, I think he's fighting off a cold." After rearranging the pillows and getting Samuel resituated, she kisses him on the forehead and walks off to make lunch.

"Check our emails while you're at it. Ally and Normani were supposed to email us some stuff about the Vegas tournament next week.  Forward it to my phone if there's something."

"Will do sweet cheeks!"

Thirty minutes later, Lauren returns with a sick Samuel. "He's got a temp and has a slight cough, tell me you've worked some Momma Magic and whipped up some soup?" Lauren begins to set the table and give her baby boy some medicine.  "So did you check the emails? I didn't have anything on my phone, so I assume there was nothing about Vegas?"

"Nope, nothing, but that was like 15 minutes ago, check again"

Lauren logged on to their server where they've got their separate email accounts and joint accounts merged into one place.  

"Nothing from Ally or Normani, but there's something from Dinah about a three-way trade to New Orleans....." Camila drops everything.  “A three-way trade?! You’ve got to be kidding me!”

“Unfortunately, I’m not.” Lauren proceeds to log on to their secure Google accounts and types her wife’s name in the search box. “Why is it that I seem to learn more about our careers from Google than I do from Ally and Normani? I knew that it wasn’t the best idea to make our best friends our managers...” After clicking on a few links that lead her nowhere, Lauren finally finds one that actually makes sense. JAUREGUI-CABELLOS and HANSEN BIG EASY BOUND? As Lauren's eyes quickly scanned for viable information, Camila's cell phone rang. "Normani Kordei Hamilton, I think you have something to tell me!," Camila was pacing back and forth while Lauren dealt with Samuel and tried to pick up clues from the actions and facial expressions of her wife.  Camila grabbed a pen and paper from the countertop and scribbled as Normani talked.

"NEW ORLEANS", "50 MILL x 2", "NEXT SEASON"

None of those words were making sense. Lauren tried every possible combination of those three phrases and every single time she tried, she came up with nothing.  Samuel wasn't making multitasking for her any easier. He was babbling, playing drums with his baby utensils, putting syrup on everything within reach. Suddenly he wasn't such a sick baby anymore. All she could ask herself was why. Why this morning? Why now, when things are going so well? WHHHHYYYYYYY?

Camila could see her wife trying to place the pieces of the puzzle, thankfully Normani was finishing her explanation. "Ally and I think that this is a really good deal. Fifty million dollars. Honestly, you guys would be stupid to pass it up." Camila sipped her coffee and took a moment before she responded, "What about our life here in Miami though.  We grew up here, went to college here, I can't just uproot my family, and for what? Money? It's not worth it Mani." Normani was quick to respond. She and Ally made a list of possible responses before they presented it to their friends. "Don't you think I know that Camila? Okay, I'm taking off my manager's hat and putting on my best friend hat. Think about it, there are only two more games this season. It's not a midseason trade so you'll have plenty of time to make the transition smooth. And Samuel, my precious god-child. He's two, about to start school. If you agree to the trade then you and Lauren would have plenty of time to find a school, the prefect park, and get some normalcy in his life. Mila, seriously, don't pass this up." They actually had thought of it all.

"Alright, let me talk it over with Lauren. It's not just me and her anymore. We've got a Samuel, two sets of parents, and friends to think about." Camila rested her head in her free hand as Lauren came up behind her.

"How about I come and take Sammy for some ice cream and we go to the beach for a little while? That'll give you and Lauren some time to be alone and think" Normani must've really liked this deal because she was offering to take a sick baby off of their hands.

"Sammy's sick, but you can still come get him. I'm sure he'd love some cuddles from him ManiBear," Camila smiled as she looked over to see Lauren reading to Samuel in the living room.

"I'll be over in ten."

Camila hung up the phone and screamed, 'UUUUUGGGGGHHHHHHHH." She felt just as frustrated as Lauren did and she knew all the details. Walking over to the couch, she heard Lauren humming and the soft sound of her baby boy slowly falling asleep.  Camila motioned for Lauren to follow her upstairs so that they could pack a bag for Samuel.

"What'd she say? Is it a done deal? You don't seem to stressed. How many boxes should I order?" Lauren was full of questions and Camila could not bring herself to answer them.

"Babe, not here,  we're out of bounds. Here," Camila pointed to their surroundings," is home. This," Camila pointed to her phone, "this is work. We don't bring work home. Let's pack Sam and then we can go to the office and talk about it." Lauren immediately agreed, she stopped asking questions for the time being. Her silence only left room for more questions to come.