The Fall (Camren)

Home Is Wherever I'm With You

It was 3am and Lauren was wide awake. It was infuriating. Who comes home for a break and then cant rest?

She was restless and uncomfortable in her surroundings. She missed the noise, the hum of the engine of their bus, the whispers and murmurings of their crew and her bandmates. It was strange, not having the other girls around her. They had become dependent on each other in a sense. They were pieces of the same puzzle and to be broken up and separated felt wrong.

Lauren had had many people in her life, people that came and went, friends that she thought she could rely on that left when times got hard. She was thankful really that those 'friends' (note the parenthesis) fucked off when they did, because they left spaces in her life for true friends to slot into. And yeah, maybe the Fifth Harmony puzzle was pieced together by Simon Cowell through pure coincidence, but they fit y'know? She missed them. It had been two days and she missed them. It was ridiculous.

She clicked her bedside lamp on, resigned to the fact that sleep wasn't coming. Lauren looked around her dimly lit bedroom; it remained relatively unchanged for the last few years. It was scattered with memorabilia from high school, photos of old friends, posters of bands she no longer listens to.

It was testament to how much she had grown up and changed these last few years, she had lost things, things that she previously had clung to, things that made her feel safe. She had lost the familiarity and all that greeted her here was a sense of homesickness that warped its way through her gut like a growing vine.

It was shocking, how out of place she felt. She wanted to feel home but home wasn't here anymore. Home was on tour, home was with her girls, home was a poorly functioning tour bus and... home was Camila.

She was terrified of what that meant.

Lauren reached for her phone, calling the girl in question. Camila picked up after barely two rings and Lauren knew it was because she wasn't sleeping either.

'Hi.' Camila answered. Lauren breathed a relieved sigh, the heavy homesick feeling lightened with that one breathy syllable. Camila was her silence in this world filled with noise.

'Hi.' Lauren echoed.

'Why is it weird?' Camila asked quietly, her voice a delicate whisper through the receiver.

Lauren found it oddly bemusing that they were both feeling the same emotions regarding being home and from the texts she'd received from Ally, Normani and Dinah they were experiencing similar emotions. It wasn't the same anymore for any of them.

'Because we don't belong here anymore.' Lauren answered. 'I miss them, my family, when we're away. I miss them everyday but now I'm back it's just...I can't wait to leave.' Lauren whispered the last part, feeling ashamed that she felt this way. She had felt guilty ever since the car pulled up at her house and the nostalgic feeling wormed its way into her heart.

'Me too. It's great to see them but it's been like 48 hours and they're driving me crazy.'

Lauren chuckled into the phone, strangely glad that Camila felt the same way but it did nothing to assuage the guilt she felt. Her family should be her home and she felt bad that that wasn't the case anymore.

'I can't wait to see you.'

'It's just three days.'

Christmas day was in two days and Lauren was going to stay at the Cabello's the day after and then stay until the New Year.

'Yeah.' She knew these next few days were going to drag.

They slipped into a comfortable silence; Lauren could hear the quiet murmuring of music coming from Camila's end. 'What are you listening to?'