The Way to Love (Camren)

Chapter 1: Wide Eyes, Crimson Hearts

I.

"Okay." Lauren Jauregui began, flexing the muscles of her back as she dipped around the corner of the kitchen and into the small living room area. The Latina had a dark bottle of Pinot Noir under her arm and two glasses pressed between her thumb and index finger. "I hope you like red."

"Whatever we've got in the house is good." Came the response from across the room. Camila Cabello had her body stretched out along smooth leather cushions, her feet just dangling over the bottom arm, head propped over her hands. "It's a Friday night, and of all the things I could be doing, I'm doing this." She nodded. "Boxed wine would work for all I care."

Lauren set the glasses down with a chuckle before moving to pick up a stack of cue cards that were balanced on the arm of her chair. Meanwhile, Camila had arched her back, sitting up to pop the cork on the dark bottle and tip a generous amount of deep crimson into each of the glasses.

"I still can't believe we actually agreed to go through with this." The small brunette muttered, picking up her glass and sipping at it carefully. She blinked when the alcohol burned it's way into her body. "This has got to be the stupidest thing I've ever done."

"Normani insists that psychology is the bread of life." Lauren responded, thanking her friend and taking her own glass. "Come on. The sooner we start, the sooner we finish. Think of this as just another opportunity to prove them wrong."

Lauren and Camila were two of five best friends who shared the Manhattan home on the lower east side near the NYU campus. With the pair, lived Dinah Jane Hansen, an energetic child, youth and family major, Normani Kordei, the lover of psychology, and Ally Brooke Hernandez, who was doing her graduate work in music therapy. While the other three encompassed the brain's right hemisphere; exuberant and creative, Lauren and Camila were the logical, analytical, number-loving left hemisphere, both in their second year of biomedical science.

So naturally, when Normani had rushed home with a new and inventive way to prove the insanity of the human psyche, the debate had taken a rather unique turn.

***

"A study published in the journal of Personality and Social Psychology says that there are thirty-six proposed questions that anyone could use to accelerate intimacy, and fall in love. All you have to do it go on one date, ask each other the questions, then look into each other's eyes for four minutes straight!" Normani had just gotten home, and was explaining her day with a grin on her face and a stack of cue cards in her hand. "We got these today from our guest lecturer, look!"

Camila just snorted with laughter into her mug of tea, her legs propped up on the dining room table. Lauren was sitting up on the kitchen counter with an apple between her teeth and one eyebrow raised. She looked equally as unimpressed.

"What?" Normani looked over at the sound, her voice full of mock incredulity. "Ugh, come on Mila. There have been actually cases where this has worked you know. One of the couples actually fell in love and got married!"

Normani bent over to yank a magazine from her backpack, holding out the glossy crumpled book to her friend. Displayed on the page was a picturesque photo of a pretty brunette in an off-pink sundress. Her forehead was pressed to that of a man, who was buttoned up in a blue and white vertical striped dress shirt. They had been photographed behind what looked like a realistic representation of Candyland, bright green trees and a perfectly round sun.

"That's got to be the cheesiest thing I've ever seen." Lauren chuckled, setting the fruit down and combing her fingers through her hair as she hopped off the counter and walked over to peer over Camila's shoulder. In bold letters, the headline read: "I Fell in Love with a Stranger."