Come Back, Be Here (Camren)

Chapter 17

Camila wakes up the next morning and glances at the clock sitting on Lauren's dresser.

5:00 a.m.

She tries to get up, but realizes Lauren's arm is still wrapped tightly around her waist. She carefully removes the pale arm and lays it back down on the bed. After crawling out of the bed slowly, so she doesn't wake the green-eyed girl or the snoring dog at the foot of the bed, she steals a quick glance at the sleeping brunette. A smile tugs at her lips when she sees Lauren's dark hair sprawled all over her pillow and face. The younger Cuban can't help herself from walking over to Lauren's side of the bed and brushing some hair from her face. Before she realizes what she's doing, her lips press to the sleeping girl's forehead. After a beat, she pulls away and walks over to Lauren's desk that is situated in the corner of her bedroom. She digs out a pen and paper from one of the drawers and scribbles out a note. Satisfied with her words, Camila lays the piece of paper by Lauren's phone on the nightstand.

"Bye, Lo." She whispers before exiting the room. She shudders when she steps out of the apartment and her eyes land on the wall directly across from her. The one Austin had her pinned to just last night.

Lauren wakes up about an hour later and sighs when she sees her that her arm is touching the bed spread and not a certain brown-eyed girl. She sits up from the bed and stretches. While doing so, she notices the note by her phone. She quickly scoops it up and her eyes scan over the familiar handwriting.

I woke up at 5 and I figured I would just head back to my place to start the day. You looked too peaceful to wake, and I figured leaving notes is sort of our thing anyways so I opted on pen and paper as a way to bid you a good morning. I hope you have a wonderful day at work, Lo. Thank you again for taking care of me last night. You're always saving me. I kinda feel like I have my own personal Superman.

I'll be seeing ya,

Camila

Lauren smiles as she sets the note back on the bedside table. After taking a shower, feeding Cam, and eating breakfast, she heads to her job.

Camila, however, spends her quiet morning writing music. When her phone rings, she sets her notebook to the side and places it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Ms. Cabello, it's Eric at Epic Records. We had previously contacted you about coming to LA and pitching your music to the label. We were calling to see if this coming weekend would be a good time for you?"

"Uh-yeah this weekend would be great." She agrees eagerly.

"We know you are coming a long way so feel free to bring some friends out with you. Just shoot us an email with who you want to bring and we will get it all set up for you."

"Wow okay thank you!" The musician smiles into the phone. "I'll talk it over with my friends and get back to you at the end of the day."

"Sounds good, Ms. Cabello. We look forward to seeing you this weekend. Safe travels."

"Thank you, Eric. See you this weekend." She says before hanging up. Normani and Dinah are the first call she makes since they are together. Instead of getting an answer, she just gets screaming so she takes that as a yes. Ally is next, and she immediately agrees because apparently she is looking into scheduling a meeting with some big wheel who wants to make her pizza place a chain. Camila's finger hovers over Lauren's contact, but instead of pressing the call button, she just locks her phone. As a thank you for last night, she decides to get ready and bring Lauren lunch at her work. There she will ask her about California.

Putting on makeup deems difficult for the Latina when she realizes that normal makeup won't cover the black and blue bruises lining her neck. Instead of busting out the tattoo makeup, she just shrugs and leaves them exposed. It's not like she can hide them anyway, the green-eyed girl practically watched them form on her neck last night.