strangers [camren]

thirty-six.

[A Week Later]

"After months of working on this project, I'm glad to announce that we have completed it!" Lauren announced as she popped the bottle of champagne. Her team cheered and held out their flutes to be filled with the bubbly beverage.

"Let's go hit up a club to celebrate!" Someone suggested. "I'll pass." Lauren said while everyone including Normani agreed on clubbing. "Come on, boss. Just a couple of drinks, nothing crazy." The same person said and others started to encourage it. "Alright, a couple of drinks, it's on me." She gave in.

•/•

Normani took the shot glass out of her boss's hand and dragged her out of the club. "The fun is just getting started, Mani. Let's go back!" Lauren struggled to get out of the secretary's hold. "You're drunk, I'm taking you home." She answered.

"Fine. Buzzkill." Lauren mumbled, leaning against her while they waited for a ride home. The COO looked down at her hands quietly, thinking about what has happened in the past week. "Am I a bad mom?" She asked quietly. "What? It's the alcohol in your system, just get home and rest." Normani dismissed and their ride arrived.

The African-American managed to get the Cuban-American into her apartment and got her in bed. "Camzz..." Lauren groaned, grabbing Normani's arm. "You'll be fine, Lo." The secretary sighed then left her apartment.

Lauren sat up, stripping out of her clothes clumsily and stumbled out into the kitchen. She grabbed a bottle of wine and water before going back to her bedroom where she rolled out a large blunt. She turned on the TV and laid back, helping herself.

Normani headed back to her home and Camila was awake. "Hey."The mother greeted. "Hey, can't sleep?" She asked, placing her bag down. "Yea, Dinah told you that you were out celebrating?" Camila asked. "We finished our project so we went out for a few drinks." The secretary explained.

"Kind of late, isn't it?" She asked. "Erm, I had to send Lauren home, she got really drunk." Normani replied.

The last time I saw Lauren drunk was our wedding night. Camila thought.

"Well, get some sleep soon. I'm going to bed." The African-American smiled and got up, heading towards her shared bedroom with Dinah.

•/•

Lauren woke up the next day, head pounding and cotton mouth. She reached for the bottle of water she used for her bong and chugged it down, not before grabbing the Advil in her drawer then fell back asleep.

Camila woke up with her phone blown up with texts, missed calls and voicemails. She looked at it and sighed, clearing her notifications before getting out of bed. She went out to the kitchen to cook breakfast for her roommates and daughter.

"I smell bacon." Dinah entered the kitchen and started to brew the coffee. "I'm cooking bacon." Camila said, flipping the sizzling pork in the pan. "I'm glad you moved in with us." The Polynesian said, feeling blessed to have breakfast already cooked for her. "This is only temporary, Ally said that Lara and I can move in with her by next week." The Cuban-Mexican replied.

"You don't have to pay rent, just cook for us." Dinah pleaded. "Really convincing, Dinah." She placed the plate of food on the table and turned off the stove. The mother looked up when her daughter walked into the kitchen. "Hi, baby. Did you sleep well?" Camila smiled as she watched the little girl yawn and rub her eyes. "Mhm." Lara mumbled and climbed onto her chair.

Camila's smile widened, watching her daughter being adorable. "Do you want some bacon?" She asked and the little girl shook her head. "Are you ready to see Grandma and Grandpa?" The mother asked.

Saturdays were for seeing Mama. Lara thought and nodded, eating her breakfast.

"Mommy?" Lara asked as her mother drove them to her grandparents' house. "Yea?" Camila asked. "Why did we leave Mama?" She asked. "Things just didn't work out, baby." The mother gave a fake smile. "Okay." Lara mumbled and looked out the window.

"Be good for grandma and grandpa, okay?" Camila kissed her daughter's head and ruffled her hair. "Okay." Lara smiled and ran over to her grandparents who greeted her with a giant smile on each other's faces when they carried their granddaughter in their face.

The brunette went back to her car and sighed, watching her daughter waved at her before heading into the house. She checked her phone to see if there were any problems at work. Then decided to look through those texts Lauren had sent.

From Lauren:

I'm sorRy

Sent at 1:55am

From Lauren:

pLeaaaAAse cume beeck. i luve you!

Sent at 1:57am

From Lauren:

M hoorrny, come ove rr n fuCk

Sent at 2:23 am

From Lauren:

Cammzzzz cime ovwer

Sent at 2:25 am

From Lauren:

i GueSsd thatss a nooo

Sent at 2:43 am

From Lauren:

okAY, i'm sorryt i wont botherr u

Sent at 2:53 am

From Lauren:

CAMZz i miss LAras

Sent at 3:01 am

From Lauren:

I'm sorry

Sent at 3:21 am

•/•

Lauren woke up again, feeling less shitty than when she first woke up and got out of bed, looking at spilt wine stains, rolling papers thrown everywhere and broken bong pieces.

Dammit, I liked that bong. Lauren frowned and went to get a broom to sweep up the glass.

The hungover COO took a shower to get rid of the wine that had dried onto her skin from spilling it when she was drunk and cleaned up her apartment. She picked up her phone and saw the drunk/high texts she sent to her ex-wife and groaned at how stupid she was acting. She saw that Camila had read the texts and decided not to send an apology text for her behaviour last night.

She has already lost all her pride and ego, why bother to fix it?

The Cuban-American finished cleaning up and checked that there was nothing in the fridge then decided to leave her house to get food. She drove to a brunch place, not Lara's, to eat and sat down in the corner of the restaurant.

"Mind if I sit here?" A tall, slim brunette walked up to Lauren's table. Lauren looked up, briefly checking her out and smiled, gesturing to the vacant seat in front of her. "All alone?" The stranger asked. "Yeah, I'm guessing you're alone too?" The COO asked, sipping on her coffee. "Yea, I'm Lucy." The stranger held out her hand. "Lauren." She took her hand and shook it.

"So tell me, Lauren, why are you alone?" Lucy asked when her food arrived and they started eating. "Had a bad break up, got wasted last night, starving. You?" Lauren asked. "I just have no one to hang out with. Bad break up, huh? Mind sharing?" The Puerto Rican took a sip of water. "It's complicated." The Cuban-American said. "Alright, I won't push." Lucy smiled.

The two women finished their brunch and walked out. "Do you have any plans?" Lucy asked. "No, do you?" Lauren asked. "I'm free, let's hang out." The tall woman suggested. "Sure, wanna come over to my place?" The COO asked after determining that her new friend wasn't a creep. "Okay." She shrugged her shoulders and got into Lauren's car.

"Your place looks really nice." Lucy looked around. "Thanks, would you like a drink?" Lauren offered. "Sure." She smiled and Lauren went to the kitchen to get two bottles of beer. She opened them with the bottle opener and went back to the living room where her guest sat.