Full Circle (Normila/Laurinah)

1.

It had been two years. Two years since Camila had last seen any of her bandmates. Two years since she had spoken to any of them. Two years since they all but blocked her on social media. Two years since she had left the group and never looked back. Two years since the girls she had called her sisters had abandoned her, just how she had abandoned them. She didn't mean to, she really didn't.

It was just, she felt stuck while with Epic Records. She hadn't been able to express herself musically. She wasn't able to emerge from the typical girl group stereotypes of being overly sexualized and used, and forced to be someone she wasn't. She hated it, she hated feeling alone, feeling used, feeling trapped. She thought the girls would have understood. At least, Lauren or Dinah. Neither of them did. Lauren, Lauren had stopped talking to her long before she had decided to leave the group.

Lauren left first. That was what Camila had thought. Lauren left emotionally before Camila decided to leave physically. Lauren gave up. She chose to give up. She chose Lucy, and then she chose Ty, and she left Camila behind. Camila wasn't hurt (yes, she was), she was just upset. She was upset because even after five years of friendship, Lauren decided she didn't exist anymore. That was another reason Camila had chosen to leave. She couldn't stand watching Lauren ignore her, pretend she didn't exist. Camila gave up.

Towards the end, it had seem as if the girls had been torn between two sides. Lauren's or Camila's. Camila hadn't even realized their were sides until after she left. Dinah had chosen Lauren, ignoring Camila more, spending more time with Lauren, avoiding interactions. Normani didn't make her choice obvious. She talked to Camila more, made her feel welcomed when the others didn't, but then she would ignore her for a week to spend time with Lauren. It confused Camila to say the least.

Because one minute, Normani would spend every waking moment with Camila. Watching movies with her, sharing a hotel room with her to hold her at night when she felt like breaking down after shows, making sure Camila ate and drank, and one time she had even helped Camila finish a song she had been writing. But then, she would disappear for a week. Normani would avoid her like a plague, spend time with Lauren and Dinah, or lock herself in room or her apartment or her bunk, only emerging when it was time for meet and greets, or shows.

When Camila had made the decision to leave, Normani had started to avoid her more. All of the girls did, even Ally. It hurt. It hurt like hell, but Camila had chosen and she knew it would be better for all of them if she left. The girls didn't need her around, and it was obvious they didn't want her around.

"Camila, where's your head at?" Camila heard from her left, and she turned her head to see her guitarist, Ashley Juno, looking at her, her brows furrowed in confusion. Camila sighed as she reached a hand up to run her fingers through her hair, shaking her head slightly.

"Sorry, Ash, I was just thinking," Camila said, offering a shrug of her shoulders, "Let's do this," Camila flashed her guitarist a grin just as the lights on the stage cut off. She watched as Juno ran on stage with the rest of her band. Camila watched as the overhead projector played a video that she had made just for the tour.

Camila ran onto the stage once it was her cue, and she walked up to the microphone that was placed in the center of the stage just as the band played Never Be Same and she started to sing. She smiled as the crowd instantly began to sing with her.

The show went by rather quickly, ending with her single Havana. She held the mic to her mouth, "Thank you, Houston! This tour, this journey, has been an amazing opportunity for me. And I am so thankful I've gotten to share it with all of you," Camila said as she smiled happily, she lifted a hand up and ran her hand through, "Thank you all for coming out! I love you all," she said before she turned to run off of the side of the stage as her band began to play again.