Lightning (Camren)

Chapter Forty-Six

A/N: Guess what? Here's the next chapter of Lightning! I've been unable to update because of college, but I'm back for a few weeks or so. Going to be honest, my writing skills are a bit rusty, but I hope this chapter will suffice! 

Lauren read through the many texts from Ally, Normani, and Dinah, questioning what the fuss was all about. As she searched for the answers to her many questions, she just decided that it was best to call one of the girls. She didn't even care which one, so she just decided to call Ally since she was at the top of her contacts list due to its alphabetical ordering. It didn't take long for Ally to pick up once Lauren had started calling.

"Lauren!" Ally exclaimed from the other line. "Something has happened with Camila, and we're hoping that you could help us out."

These words cause Lauren to freeze up. Whenever something went wrong with Camila, she always felt like her heart was going to break into little bits and pieces. "What's wrong? Is she okay?" Lauren asked while being terrified of whatever that answer was going to be.

"She'll be fine as long as you talk to her. As it turns out, it's actually shocking to take in the image of your own self for the first time," she explained to Lauren. "None of us realized how big of a deal this whole thing was until it happened."

"What exactly happened though?" Lauren asked for clarification.

"She went to the bathroom to... you know, do her business. Then she was frightened by her own reflection. We don't know if she's weirded out by herself or the mirror, but I think you should talk to her. I don't think we've ever seen someone jump as high as she did when she came running out of the bathroom. She's here now if you want to calm her down for us? We've tried, but I think it's better that you explain it to her."

Lauren sighed, wishing she was there to do it in person, but talking over the phone might do as much justice. "Put her on the phone please," she finally answered.

Ally agreed, then the line went silent for a few moments. "Lauren?" Camila's voice erupted from the silence. Lauren could tell that she was worried about the events that had taken place that day just by the worrisome tone in her voice.

"Camz. Ally told a little bit about what happened earlier. Are you alright?"

Camila sighed. "I think I'm okay. I'll be honest, I think I'm over it by now, but I was just freaked out by the concept of a mirror." There was a pause for a moment, as if Camila were thinking. "What I saw in that mirror though... To my understanding, that is me, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is. And you are beautiful... the most beautiful. I hope that you don't think that you aren't," Lauren answered.

"It's not that... I'm just shocked by how accurate you were in trying to describe me back when we first met. I mean, it was also that concept of a mirror that made me all jumpy, but I was more surprised about the fact that what I saw was actually me. It's hard to accept that this is what I am stuck with for the rest of my life, but I suppose that it's not too bad." Camila explained.

"What did you think before you saw anything, Camz? Didn't you know that you will always pretty much look the same? Well, if you don't take aging into account anyways."

Camila responded, "Again, it's not that. I'm aware that the way that I look is essentially permanent, but I just kind of liked not knowing. When I couldn't see anything, I liked to imagine all of the possible forms that I could possibly possess. It was a mystery as to what people even looked like to me, but it was fun to guess at it. Now that I know, the fun is kind of gone for me. My looks are set in stone now, and even though I'm not disappointed, I'll miss what used to be not known to me. Does this make any sense?"

Lauren understood it all completely. It wasn't at all the answer she expected, but it was probably better that things were this way. If things rolled the other way, Camila would have hated the way that she looked, and Lauren would have a hard time trying to explain to her otherwise. Although this wasn't the case, it was still a sticky situation. Lauren didn't know how to deal with this, as she hadn't dealt with anything like it. But then again, who has?

"Yeah, I understand you Camz." Lauren spoke finally. "But hey, you can alter your look if you want to."

"What do you mean? Like, I could have purple hair if I wanted to? Or blue? Or red? They have stuff for that?"

"I, uh, yeah. Don't get too crazy there, but they have this stuff called hair dye. Don't know if you're aware of its existence or not, but you can use it to change your hair to just about any color. You could have purple, blue, or red. Then you could also have typical hair colors like blonde and brown, which is your hair color." Lauren explained this, internally praying that her fiance wouldn't actually die her hair purple.

"That makes me feel a little better, knowing that I can control some aspects of myself. I thought it was one of those what-you-see-is-what-you-get situations. What else can I willingly change about myself?" Camila asked.

Lauren didn't want to tell her all of the things she could do, but she knew that it would help Camila get through this if she knew of it. "You could change your features with specific surgeries, but I encourage you not to unless it's needed. Instead, you could just wear make up to make yourself look a little different. I would say that it hurts less, but that just depends on how good you are at it. And, although it doesn't pertain to your bodily features, you can get new clothes or something. So don't feel too down on yourself about how you're stuck being the same, because there are a variety of things that you can do to make yourself look at least a little bit different. I don't get why you'd want to change though, Camz. You're flawless just the way that you are. And I don't know what you saw in the mirror, but it sounds like it lacked a 'things may be more beautiful than they appear' warning."

Camila giggled on the other line at Lauren's silly joke. "You always know how to change my frown into a smile, Lauren. I don't know what I did to get a girl like you."

"Well, your mother hired me, then--"

"Not literally!" They both broke into laughter. "Anyways, how is the back at home life treating you?"

"I had dinner with your family just now. It was nice." Lauren told her lightly, hoping that she wouldn't be too mad at her for doing such a thing. Hopefully she didn't just destroy Camila's great mood.

There was a short silence before Camila spoke. "What's that all about? Did my mother end up kicking you out of the house? That's all I can imagine every single time I think of you in that house."

"No, I didn't get kicked out. I think your mother and I are on semi-good terms now. And your father likes me I think."

"While this sounds great, I think it might be a little too good to be true. My father was expected to like you, but I don't think my mother would give in that easily. The only way to actually gain her complete respect is to treat her the way she treats you." Camila informed her. "Remember, she's nothing but an old, crazy woman. I love her, but she can really drive me up the wall. What was the purpose of this dinner anyways? Were you trying to get my parents blessings again? I told you that would never work."

"I have a question for you then, Camz." Lauren began. 

Camila questioned, "What is it?"

"How was it that I was able to get both of your parents blessings in the span of twenty-four hours?" Lauren smirked.