Come Back, Be Here (Camren)

Chapter 29

Camila spends her first week in California dodging phone calls from all of the girls she left in Miami. She has about a million texts and voicemails from all four girls, but she can't bring herself to check any of them. She knows Lauren will beg her to come back and she knows Dinah, Normani, and Ally will reprimand her for leaving so rashly and without even saying goodbye. Plus, she knows if she hears Lauren's voice she will drop everything and go home to her.

The first week at Epic Records is spent showing Camila the ropes and getting the new musician acquainted with singing in the studio. Next week, she will start recording some of her songs and she's ecstatic about it. It's Saturday now and Camila has the day off to explore the city. Naturally, she ends up visiting every record store and bookstore around the hotel where she will be staying for the whole month of January.

After visiting two record stores, she decides to stroll through a bookstore. Since she will be spending a lot of her spare time at the beach, she wants a book that she can read while tanning. She thumbs through the young adult section first then the mystery and when she comes up empty handed after both, she heads to the classic book section. She runs her fingers along the spines of the books and only stops when her eyes see a familiar one. She pulls it out and holds it in her hands.

To Kill a Mockingbird

It's her all time favorite book and she used to read it from cover to cover once every year.

"Good choice." She hears someone say and she looks over at the old lady beside her. She offers her a smile.

"Yeah, it's my favorite."

As soon as the words fall off her tongue, she remembers a time in her past that she thought was lost to her forever.

Flashback

Camila sits down in a desk at the back of the classroom and pulls out a book from her backpack. This is her first day of classes in Venice for her study abroad program and naturally she is the first one in the class. She wanted to make sure she was on time.

She opens up her book and starts reading. A couple of minutes later, the door to the classroom opens and she hears people start to file in, but she doesn't bother looking up from her book.

"Good choice." She hears a husky voice say and she finally looks up from the book and looks to her right. Her eyes meet a pair of emerald eyes and her breath catches in her throat. Never in her life has she seen prettier eyes and she can't help herself from getting completely and utterly lost in them. Camila drops her gaze from the emerald eyes down to plump red lips and when she sees them form a smirk, she clears her throat and returns her attention back to her book.

"Yeah, it's my favorite." Camila smiles shyly, her face flushing a bit under the green-eyed girl's gaze.

"I'm Lauren." The girl pipes up and when Camila sees a hand extend to her out of the corner of her eye, she shifts her book so she's holding it in her left hand and reaches her right one out to shake the pale one that belongs to the beautiful stranger. When their hands touch, Camila feels her whole body tingle.

"Camila." She exchanges names with the girl and watches as the dark-haired girl's lips form a smile.

"Nice to meet you, CamEEla." The girl beams and a smile graces Camila's features when Lauren pronounces her name correctly the first try.

"Nice to meet you too, Lauren." Camila smiles warmly at her and before either of them can say anything else, the teacher enters the classroom and class starts. Throughout the class, Camila feels a pair of green eyes staring at her and every time she looks over, brown eyes lock with emerald ones. Surprisingly, Lauren doesn't look away, but instead a small, tender smile just makes it's way to her lips, which causes Camila's cheeks to turn pink. Both girls spend the rest of the class stealing glances at the other and smiling like idiots when their eyes lock.