just a dream (camren)

twenty

January 14th, 2017

"So, my last theory was wrong." Lucy frowns down at the mug of coffee Camila had made her. "We won't just blink out on the date we came, which means I'm not going back tonight. So, what the fuck could this be?"

"You really think I have any idea? The only thing I've been thinking about, or, well- realised, actually... there's something I forgot to ask you in all the shock of you actually being here and confirming that I'm not insane," Camila says, picking at the rim of her own mug. "Um... you left in January. Which means I'd been gone an entire month. Had I been... acting weird?"

"Well, I wouldn't know, since we didn't exactly hang out or have any actual contact," Lucy points out, and Camila has to admit that she has a point, "but... from my perspective, just from your internet presence, you seemed perfectly normal. You even tweeted that you hadn't showered since last year on New Year's Day."

Camila laughs a little, because that's kind of a running gag on her Twitter. But she's mostly concerned. "So... everything seemed fine?"

"Yeah," Lucy confirms, "why? Do you think that maybe we switched? Like, the versions of us from here are there?"

"That's what I thought, but if I'm apparently acting normal, then I don't know." Camila bites down on her bottom lip. "And- um, there's something else."

At the way Camila seems to collapse in on herself, Lucy squeezes her hand comfortingly. "What happened?"

"I've started to... remember things," Camila admits. "Things from here. That I shouldn't remember. Like, I was with Lauren the other day, and I just started talking about this time Dinah and I did a talent show together. For a second, I was worried, but I brushed it off as a lie I constructed easily. But when I spoke to Dinah, she confirmed that it did happen. How is that even possible, that I remembered something I didn't even experience?"

Lucy frowns in thought, seemingly trying to rationalise this already crazy situation. "Maybe we don't just go to sleep and wake up somewhere else. Maybe it's a gradual process, once you remember everything here, you'll go back."

"Or... or we're becoming the people we replaced," Camila voices the option neither of them want to consider. "What if I start forgetting Fifth Harmony? I- I can't be stuck here. I have a life there too, and I can't just forget it. Right?"

"At least... if that did happen, you wouldn't remember. You'd have nothing to miss." Lucy theorises, but looks just as worried as Camila feels. "But it won't happen. You don't feel like your memories of that are fading, right?"

"No, but... but what if it starts happening?" Camila scares herself with the thought. "Even though I don't... I don't hate it here, it's not my life. And Dinah- oh my god, does this mean I've pretty much killed the other me? Because I know Dinah is okay with me, but she still wants her Camila, I know that."

"It's not going to come to that," Lucy shakes her head, "we're going to figure this out. The last thing I want is to be stuck here."

"I mean, it's not so bad," Camila admits, because she has Lauren here. She has all the girls here. "But I do miss... everything. My career. Making music. I know it's what I've got to do."

"At least you have people to talk to here." Lucy mutters, and Camila thinks she wasn't supposed to hear that. "Anyway, you won't forget. That's just... too much."

"Hey, no," Camila frowns, "you have me to talk to."

Lucy just sighs and shakes her head. "Don't worry about it. What we need to figure out is-"