XYXX (Camren)

Chapter 4

The skirt was a little tighter than she remembered, but she wasn’t about to complain when it looked so nice on her. The meet and greet was the perfect excuse to take another one of the pills, and although the line looked like it was winding out across the mall, she knew she only had a good half hour left of this body.

It was both a relief and a stress trigger whenever she took one of the temporary effect pills. The relief came from being back in the body she felt most comfortable in despite her insecurities she’s had since childhood, and the stress trigger came from knowing that if she lost track of time, she’d revert back to the Laurence body in front of the public and that wouldn’t be good news.

Fan after fan stepped up and took a picture with the girls in front of the backdrop and despite the smile on her face, Lauren felt incredibly upset. She hated to think that this meet and greet would be cut short for her, and that some of her fans towards the back of the line would have to deal with not being able to see her. The management already had an excuse on hand – she would feign sickness and leave a little earlier, and the other girls would stay another hour to finish taking pictures with the fans. She hated having her life dictated by one hour increments, but she supposed it was better than none.

“You’re my role model. I love you so much. You’re so gorgeous.”

A crying fan hugged her and she hugged back just as tightly, feeling incredibly touched every time a fan expressed love towards her.

“Look who’s talking, beautiful!” She said, posing for a picture with the fan before the fan ran off looking incredibly happy.

“Aw, you’re sweet.” Camila whispered to her, poking her side before another fan stepped up to the backdrop.

Lauren stuck her tongue out at Camila before posing for the next fan. This was routine for the next ten minutes, but by then, she realized her time was running short. Groaning, she leaned over to Camila and whispered the time into her ear.

“Ah, gotcha.” Camila muttered, before calling out to the mall manager.

“Lauren’s got to go back to the tour bus out back. She’s been feeling ill all day.”

“Oh! That’s fine. I’ll have one of the security guards to escort her out back.”

“Thank you.” Camilla said before returning back to the fans stepping up.

Lauren left with the beefy security guard, feeling her mood go down when some of the fans looked incredibly distressed at the sight of her leaving. She wished she could stay the whole meet and greet, but there wasn’t much she could do when the pill was five minutes away from wearing off. As soon as she reached the tour bus, she input the password and jumped in, closing the door behind her. Rushing to the back of the bus, she pulled off her clothes and slid into the small bunk where she slept on the road.

She could already feel the changes happening. Shutting her eyes tightly, she waited until the tingling sensation left her bones and the soreness faded. When her breath returned to normal, Lauren slid out of the bunk and grabbed the small bag underneath.

Walking over to the small bathroom, Lauren looked into the mirror and there he was. Back to before. Sighing, he pulled on the extra pair of men’s jeans he packed and a black v-neck. Grabbing one of Dinah’s studded snapbacks, he pulled it on over his messy hair, too tired to try and style it. He pulled it on backwards, his hair sticking out just a little through the clasp, but with a shrug, he made his way out of the tour bus.

There was no way in hell he was going to sit here feeling shitty while the girls finished the meet and greet. He figured he might as well explore the mall a little bit.