just a dream (camren)

thirteen

November 11th, 2016

"You're leaving?"

"I have to," Camila stares at Lauren, squeezing her hand. "You don't understand. I'm not happy in the group, and I have a chance to get out."

Lauren frowns at her friend, wondering why she looks older all of a sudden. "What group? I just wanted to know where you're going?"

"What group?" Camila looks at her like she's crazy. "Obviously I'm talking about-"

Lauren sits up with a frown, blinking the sleep out of her eyes. She doesn't know what the hell that dream was about, but she shrugs it off. Probably just her mind taunting her. If Lucy left, what was there to assure her Camila won't?

She sighs, stretching, shutting off her alarm. She hates the mornings she has to get up to go to work, and even though she never usually works Fridays, one of her colleagues had asked her if she could cover for them, since they were going on vacation and had to set off early, but had forgotten to book the day off. She'd said yes, but waking up at 4AM makes her wonder why she'd done that.

She gets ready and drives to work, yawning a little as she walks through to the back, dumping her things in her locker, making sure she's got her clothes at the front so she can grab them quickly to change once she's finished.

She pauses before putting her phone in the locker, unlocking it and opening it up on her conversation with Camila. They'd been texting last night before Lauren had gone to sleep, and Lauren decides to ask if Camila can spend time with her tonight. She just feels a weird connection to Camila, especially after Lucy had broken up with her. She's still in disbelief that Camila ditched school just to see if Lauren was okay; even Normani hadn't done that, and they'd been best friends since preschool, when Lauren cried because some boy had stolen Nala, and Normani had yelled at him to give her back.

She smiles, locking her phone again, putting it in her locker, and heading into work.

She spends most of the three hours she works listening to music, until the store opens at seven and she has to take her earbuds out in case customers need help. She hates that the store opens when she's still working, since she doesn't particularly want to deal with customers before her morning coffee.

When she's stacking the shelves on the cheese aisle and someone taps her on the shoulder, she wants to roll her eyes, but instead, she plasters on her fake work smile and turns to face them. That work smile turns into a real one once she realises it's Camila.

"Hey," Lauren grins, "did you need a ride to school?"

"Nope, I needed to pick up a sandwich for my lunch, because cafeteria food sucks," Camila replies, smiling a little. "Also, I wanted to check out that really hot girl who stacks shelves. Not that you can tell she has much of an ass in those pants, but whatever."

Lauren smiles, and she can feel herself blushing. Camila's comment, even though it's a joke, had made the numbness she has in her heart go away for a moment. "Camz, I told you already, I didn't make the uniform."

Camila puts on a mock frown. "Oh, I wasn't talking about you, I was talking about that obviously sexy lady over there."

Lauren follows Camila's gaze and laughs at the sight of her sixty-year-old co-worker. "Sorry, but I'm pretty sure she's married. I guess your only options if you want to date a shelf stacker are the fuckboy I work with, or yours truly."

Camila smiles as Lauren turns and starts stacking the cheddar. "You know I'd pick you any day, Laur."

Lauren blushes again, but this time she knows Camila can't see her. "You're cute, Camz. Someone has come a long way from the girl who couldn't tell me she likes my shirt."