Dreams (A Camren Story)

Three

Monday rolled around faster than Lauren wanted it to. Over the weekend, Lauren barely received any attention from Camila because the young girl was either going somewhere to grab necessities or on the phone with various people. At least she had Alexa to keep her busy.

They weren't leaving until later tonight, leaving Lauren with an excited four-year-old while Camila wrapped up all the loose ends. She tried thinking of different activities they could do to make time past faster, but she had already done everything she could think of.

She was tired of building their Lego city – that was mostly done except for the school – and she could only take so much more of the annoying Disney Junior shows. She wanted to get out of the house, so she called Ally up asking her if Aidan and her wanted to join them for lunch at Kings.

Kings held a lot of memories for Lauren. It's the restaurant her family would go to every two weeks for their family dinner outings. She had fond memories of having an eating contest with Chris and their chicken tenders. Every time, she became sick from stuffing herself, yet every time she went, she continued participating because she had to keep her title as the champ. Her favorite thing about those nights were when her parents order the famous Kings Sundae. It was a giant bowl filled to the top with eight scoops of ice cream, hot fudge, caramel, M&M's, Kit Kats, Reese's, Gummy bears, crumbled cookies, and of course, whip cream and a cherry.

Kings was also the place where Lauren took Camila for their first date. Little did Lauren know, Camila shared similar fond memories of the restaurant. The next time they went, they brought Alexa along with them. Lauren challenged Alexa to a chicken tender eating contest and the little girl agreed to it. Camila tried to end it, knowing it would end badly, but the two girls didn't listen. That night, Camila had two girls sick to their stomach.

"How many?" The hostess asked, already grabbing the wrapped silverware and meus.

"Four."

"And a high chair please," Ally added.

The hostess sat them down at the table towards the back of the restaurant. They were only two tables away from where Camila and Lauren shared their first date.

"Your waitress is going to be Hannah. She'll be with you shortly."

"Thank you," the two girls said in unison.

Lauren and Ally never spent much time around each other. Ally was often busy with her chaotic life. They had only exchanged a few words here and there whenever their parents got to together, and Ally always made sure to give her a hug.

"Lamp, I bet I can eat more chicken nuggets than you," Alexa challenged as she stared at the laminated children's menu.

For only being four (and a half as Alexa always added) she was quite advanced academically. One of her many strengths was reading. She could sound just about any word out and a few of the words she could read effortlessly. One of them being chicken nuggets.

"You're going to lose."

"I've been practicing. The last time I came here with mommy, I ate all my food."

"There's no way your little body could hold eight chicken nuggets."

"Mhm, it can," Alexa said, staring straight into Lauren's eyes with a serious expression. "You can even ask mommy."

"I love watching the relationship you two share. Camila is really a lucky girl. I can only hope to have someone who will give Aidan and I the same type of love and respect."

Lauren looked up at the girl sitting across from her. "I am truly the lucky one and I promise the right person for you is out there. You just have to wait. Anybody would be lucky to have you."