The Curse

Chapter 4

"I loved all of the pictures I took of her. I would never tell her that, though. She didn't deserve to know she was my favorite to photograph out of all the girls."

"Would you say she was your favorite from the start?"

Lauren tapped her fingers against her leg in contemplation before chuckling. "No. That spot definitely goes to Normani, but my wife was quick to steal her spot after we put our differences aside."

-

"Taking pictures again?"

"Trying to," Lauren didn't bother turning to look at Normani. "Is everything alright?"

"Simon asked me to see if you were willing to come with us around town before our show tonight. One of our old buddies lives here now and we figured we'd pay him a visit. He figures it'd be a good photo-op to see all of us getting along."

"Uh," Lauren lowered her camera. "Is she—"

"Yes, she'll be there. But don't worry, she told Sel she was done trying shit and being a bitch towards you. Everything should be just peachy. So... You coming?"

Lauren hesitated for a brief moment. "Sure, why not?"

Normani waited for her to grab some more things from the bus as Selena gathered the rest of the band. Meanwhile, Big Rob was interrogating their Uber driver who was being as patient as possible with all the questions.

Lauren quickly sprayed a small spritz of perfume all over herself before meeting Normani outside. Dinah, Selena, and Camila came barreling out of the last tour bus on the end—the three of them playfully shoving each other.

"Better sleep with one eye open tonight, Gomez," Camila jested. "Or maybe both would be better,"

"Fuck you," Selena straightened out her shirt and smiled brightly upon seeing the photographer. "Lauren! Are you coming with us?"

"I hope not," Camila muttered under her breath.

"I am," Lauren answered enthusiastically as if she was trying to purposely piss Camila off. "Normani said it would be a good opportunity to get pictures of you guys,"

"Atta girl," Dinah nudged Lauren with her elbow, smiling. "But you're going to have to squeeze into the back with the rest of them cause I call shotgun,"

Dinah bolted for the passenger door, their Uber driver seemingly fed up with how long they were taking to just get in the car. Normani and Selena filled in the backseat, forcing Lauren to be sitting next to Camila.

Half of her body was on the seat while the other half remained on Camila's leg. She tried to move as far away as possible, but only ended up being smushed more against the door.

"We could've gotten an Uber XL, y'know?" Camila grumbled.

"No way, Jose. That's an extra fifteen bucks out of my bank account. Why are you being such an asshole? Ralph has your little wiener doing cartwheels or something back there?"

Normani and Selena giggled quietly to themselves while Camila kicked the back of Dinah's seat with her heavy boot.

"Hey!" The Uber driver shouted at her. "I just got my seats cleaned, watch it."

Lauren tried to not think about Dinah's sly remark—telling herself over and over that Camila hated her and she had a better chance at winning the lottery compared to hooking up with the lead singer.

Not that she wanted to hook up with Camila, it was just a thought that crossed her mind briefly because of Dinah.

Though, sometimes she couldn't help but think about the swell of her biceps she had seen the first night she spent taking pictures of Camila. The patchwork of, what she assumed to be painful, tattoos covered her arms. Her too-perfect jaw could perhaps give somebody a small cut if they pressed just a little too hard.