Serendipity // Camren

Chapter 42

"Here, make yourself useful and take this," Normani grumbled, as she thrust a reusable grocery bag into Lauren's arms and pushed past the raven-haired woman into the house. Even without the one bag she'd passed off onto Lauren, she still had her arms full with two bottles of tequila and two plastic two-liter bottles that the actress deduced contained Normani's homemade margarita mixer.

Lauren smiled at her friend's predictably gruff greeting and readjusted her grip on the items that Normani had shoved off on her. "Yes, it's so lovely to see you too, Mani."

"Lauren!" Dinah cried, bounding happily into the house and wrapping her arms around the former head Cheerio's neck in a crushing embrace.

"I'm a ray of fucking sunshine and you know it, Jauregui," Normani replied with a smirk, winking over her shoulder at Lauren. "Where's Cabello?" she asked, as she sauntered down the hall to the kitchen. The bottles she was carrying were getting heavier by the minute and she needed to put them down before she dropped them.

Lauren ignored Normani's question and instead wrapped an arm around Dinah's waist, squeezing the dancer lightly she juggled the bag Normani had shoved into her arms. "How you doing, DJ?"

"So good!" Dinah enthused, releasing her hold on Lauren and backing away to look speculatively down the hall. "Where's Camila?"

"She's up on the deck," Lauren said, smiling. "You can go up if you want. Normani and I can handle the stuff down here."

"Okay, cool," Dinah replied, dropping a quick kiss to the shorter woman's cheek before she skipped down the hall and took off up the stairs.

Lauren shook her head and walked down the hall to the kitchen. "How in the world you ended up with a girl as sweet as that one, I'll never know," Lauren teased as she dropped the bag she'd been handed onto the island. "You didn't have to bring that, you know." She tipped her head at the alcohol. "Besides, it's just the four of us, you said you have to go pick up your parents at the airport tonight, and Camz and I have to be at work at six tomorrow morning – how much drinking do you really expect we'll be doing today?"

"A lot," Normani said, grinning. "I did it."

Lauren stopped digging through the bag and looked up at her friend. A wide, proud smile creased her face as she instantly understood what wasn't said. "Really?"

Normani nodded. "Really. I did it. First in my class. And, I heard from Cregg and McGarry today too," she said, her smile growing wider as she referred to the largest and most highly respected Entertainment Law firm in Los Angeles. "I got it, Laur. I got it!"

"Holy shit!" Lauren shouted as she jumped over to pull Normani into a bear hug. She knew how badly her friend had wanted an associate position at the firm and she also knew exactly how selective they were. Last year they had accepted only one new associate. The year before, they hadn't taken anyone. It was either the-best-of-the-best or nothing, so far as they were concerned. "I'm so proud of you, Mani."

Normani smiled and hugged her friend tight. "Thanks, Laur," she murmured, lingering in the embrace for a moment before she pulled back and slapped at Lauren's shoulder. They both laughed as Normani wiped at their eyes, swatting away their tears before they could fall. "Get me that big-ass red plastic chip and dip bowl so I can get this ready," she said, changing the subject as she pulled a large Tupperware container of salsa and an equally large bag of tortilla chips out of the bag she'd foisted onto Lauen the minute she opened the front door. "So, how's the flick going?"

Lauren set the requested bowl onto the island and went to find a spoon for Normani to use to scoop the salsa out with. "It's going. The usual sixteen- to eighteen-hour days, you know?"