f.m. ~camren

chapter 30

Normani hears a loud banging on the front door of her apartment as she's laying, relaxed in a bubble-filled bathtub.

"This place better be burning down!" She shouts at the mystery person who has disturbed her while stepping out of the tub and reaching for her bathrobe.

She scowls after opening the door and discovering her roommate on the other side, panting, and frantic.

"Thank God, Mani. I was gonna be so fucked if you weren't home," she manages after a deep breath before strutting around Normani and hurrying down the hall toward the bedroom she hasn't slept in on a regular basis for at least six months.

Normani follows her with curiosity and watches as Lauren tears apart her closet.

"I almost forgot that you live here. I guess you did, too, considering most people don't have to knock to get into the place where they pay rent," she teases.

"I need to find it...I don't have much time," Lauren mumbles as she begins knocking down shoeboxes from the top shelf and tossing them onto the bed. She also sweeps the floor for loose shopping bags and tosses them beside the boxes before turning around to search through each one individually.

"What are you looking for anyway?"

"The ring. You got me so wasted the night that I bought it because I wouldn't shut up about whether I would ever get up the nerve to ask Camz to marry me or if she would even want to take that step. I don't have a clue where my drunk ass put it," Lauren explains in frustration.

"I have it. You wanted it to be somewhere Camila would never look. It's behind my fifth grade dance trophy," Normani reminds her with a smirk.

Lauren tosses the bag she was looking through onto the floor and pushes past Normani to go into the other bedroom as quickly as possible. She locates the shelf full of her roommate's childhood achievements and grabs the dance trophy to look for the ring behind it. She spots the box immediately and sighs in relief. Normani comes into her room and watches as Lauren replaces her trophy on the shelf and slips open the box to view the desired jewelry.

"So what's the rush?"

Normani interrogates, joining Lauren as she sits down on the bed and continues starring at the ring she purchased weeks ago.

"Camila's moving to Miami. Hype-R Records wants her to be the head of their marketing department at their studio down there. Dinah is at our place right now helping her cook us a special dinner so she can break the news about her promotion."

"Dinah didn't tell me any of this," Normani replies with a pout.

"She barely had time to tell me. We just got off the phone like maybe five minutes before I got here which is why I didn't have time to get my key."

"Wow...this is a big step. Are you sure you want to move to a completely new city? I know you've decided she's the one but this is a lot of adjustment all at once," Normani reasons.

"Think about it, Mani. She has done the long distance thing before. It didn't work. And I've lived long term with a woman I wasn't engaged to before. Also a bust. This is our chance to correct the mistakes of past relationships and solidify a commitment that I've already made in my heart."

Normani places a hand over Lauren's hand that isn't holding the ring and smiles.

"You will always have my support, Lauren. I'll miss you, but you know the next vacation I take will be me flying out there to help plan the wedding."

"Don't get too far ahead of yourself. She still hasn't said yes," Lauren points out with a look of worry crossing over her features.

Normani shoves her soon-to-be-ex-roommate playfully.