Maybe Next Time Perhaps (Camren)

Maybe Next Time Perhaps

Lauren Jauregui is aware that she’s been reincarnated… again. And every single time she falls for Camila Cabello.

At least she’s pretty positive it’s her.
Sometimes, Camila has brown hair, sometimes black or blonde, even red at one point.

Sometimes she’s shorter than Lauren. Sometimes he’s taller—there are times when Camila is taller and muscular and
male . In others, she’s petite and curvy and graceful.

The lives start to blur after a while.
But every time they meet, even if it’s for a brief second, Lauren’s head starts to pound, her heartbeat resounds in her ears, her mouth dries, and her hands shake slightly.

It has to be love.

---
They meet as teenagers. They both attend the same high school in the same grade with the same homeroom teacher. Camila is loud and outgoing, befriending everyone almost instantly.

Lauren wants to go up to her. She wants to tell her everything she remembers. The things they did and the love they shared that spanned millennia.

But she did that once.

And it didn’t end well.

So Lauren stays silent and admires her soulmate from afar.

She quietly sit in the corner and stares as a tall football player walks in and Camila gets up to embrace him.

She doesn’t move an inch as they kiss and she is reminded of all the times before where it was her lips instead of his.

She looks away and starts to do her math assignment.

---
It’s rare for Camila to ever love Lauren back.

Whatever movies or books depicted about soulmates is entirely wrong. Just because you deem someone your soulmate doesn’t mean it has to be reciprocated, let alone in each and every lifetime.

Lauren’s all too familiar with this. She just happens to be one of the few that fell for the same person each and every time.

---
She remembers the first time they fell in love. She likes to think this was their first life together.

At least this is the earliest one she can remember.

They were kids on the playground. Barely four feet tall.

Life was happier then.

They were neighbors and played every day at the nearby park. Karla was a bright and carefree girl that always dragged Lauren into trouble.

“Laur, let’s jump off the swings!”

Lauren had to be taken to the emergency room for a possible broken arm. She left with no broken bones but an arm covered in white bandages. It didn’t hurt much.

Especially not after Karla apologized with eyes full of tears and cheeks a light pink. They turned a dark red after Lauren pecked her cheek and gently reassured her that it was an accident.

“Daddy said being mad at someone for something they didn’t mean to do is silly. He said that forgiving someone first makes me strong and brave.”

Karla looked at her in awe and admiration. She hiccuped slightly before speaking.

“Lauren, you’re the bravest person I know.”

It was Lauren's turn to blush as she grabbed Karla and pulled her inside to get some cookies and milk.

Lauren still thinks about that life a lot.

She’s Laurence in this lifetime and staring at Karlo as the taller boy gets ready for a date with a girl they met at a cafe.