Chapter 7: Oh, I'm Holding My, Holding My Breath, Until I'm Turning Blue

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Camila's POV:

"Thanks Jenkins!" I said, closing the door behind me and walking through the familiar entrance of Jauregui Multinational. 

I slowly made my way through the lobby, walking towards Ally, Dinah and Normani sat on the furnishings- deep in conversation.

"Morning guysssss" I said, 

"Morning Mila!" they replied excitedly, 

"How was your night?" Dinah asked,

"Good... After you left I got everything finished, Lauren's said she's going to check through it today..."  I began,

"So we can finally finish up with this project?" Dinah sighed with relief,

"With Lauren's help yes." I began,"She actually came in last night after you guys left to apologise for not helping us out on the project- she's really not as bad as everyone thinks..." 

"Lauren... apologised to you?" Dinah said. 

"With whiskey..." I smiled. 

"That's a first." Normani laughed.

"What? She can actually be a nice person when you get to know her..." I said. 

"Nice to you." Dinah teased, playfully punching me on the shoulder. 

Ally stood up, looking at her watch, "We're going to be late..."

"It doesn't matter...Camila can get us off the hook..." Dinah said, bursting out into laughter. 

"Don't push it..." I said- giving Dinah a death stare as I caught the grin slowly spread across her face. We got up, moving from the group of small chairs in the corner to the elevators located in the centre of the room- pressed against the back wall. I leant across the three girls, pressing the 'up' button and patiently waiting for the doors to open.

*Ding*  

The doors opened- causing a wave of people in suits to pour out. Some were on their phones, others were reading the newspaper, the rest were holding their folders- but all of them rushed past the four girls and out into the lobby. We stepped inside, pressing the button to the 57th floor and standing patiently inside the metal box... As the doors closed, I looked up at the numbers- the digits slowly rising as we passed by every floor...  

44th floor

45th floor

46th floor

*Ding*  The doors opened, revealing Lauren on the other side like a game show prize. 

"Good morning Miss Cabello." She smiled, as she stepped into the elevator, pressing the button to the top floor and standing to the left. She was tapping her fingers on the side of her leg rhythmically and looking up at the numbers being displayed on the small screen above her... watching them increase as they gradually crept up the floors of the skyscraper...

"Good morning Miss Jauregui." I responded- reciprocating the smile and moving over to the right, leaning against the metal handrail and looking down at the floor. I could feel Ally, Dinah and Normani staring at me- their gazes practically burning a hole in the back of my head. 

52nd floor 

53rd floor 

54th floor

Today Lauren was wearing a black dress with black heels- her long brown hair had been straightened into a middle parting and she wore heavy eye makeup. The smokey eyeshadow and heavy mascara was enhancing the emerald green colour in her eyes. They caught the light, playing tricks with anything and everything...

As she turned her head, the changing light caused the emerald green to shift into the colour of the ocean shining in the moonlight. She turned to me and smiled... Her lips coated in a thin layer of dark red matte lipstick. Unlike every other time I had seen her, Lauren wasn't wearing a blazer- leaving her arms bare and her tattoos visible. I could see the Roman numerals 'XXVII' written clearly on the inside of her right forearm, and the date '6.6.18' marked on the other.  

*Ding*  The doors opened, forcing Lauren to stand to the side- allowing Ally, Dinah and Normani to walk out. 

When they noticed I hadn't followed them, they turned back around to look at me in confusion...

"I'll meet up with you guys later" I said,"I need to go over this pitch with Miss Jauregui..." 

I moved towards the back right corner of the lift, leaning against the back wall and watching the doors close in front of me. 

Lauren's POV:

Camila moved away from me to the stand in the back corner of the lift- leaning against the wall apprehensively, 

"You seem nervous?" I chuckled, turning around. 

"I'm worried that you're going to turn down my work for the hundredth time this week." She chuckled, raising an eyebrow and smiling at me.   

"That was a veryyyyy low blow Miss Cabello..." I joked, "Although I think it was closer to a couple hundred..."  I said- winking at her playfully. Camila laughed, her eyes lighting up at the sight of me joining in. 

They looked different to the way they did last night- the deep swirls of brown that coloured her pupils had darkened. However, the outside of her eyes remained as the mesmerising translucent honey colour, accentuated by the light mascara she wore on her long eyelashes. 

She was wearing a tight fitting white dress with white heels- her hair brushed into a middle parting, flowing beautifully over her shoulders...

*Ding*  The doors opened to the 58th floor. 

I walked out, Camila trailing behind me as I quickly made my way towards my office. 

"Good morning Miss Jauregui." Carol said, standing up from her desk and walking alongside Camila,

"Miss Cabello..." she said, nodding at her with acknowledgement before turning her attention back to me. 

"Good morning Carol." Camila responded, giving her a small smile before looking back down at her feet. 

Carol was holding multiple files in her hands- reading from the clipboard that was precariously balancing on top: 

"You don't have any meetings scheduled for today... but you have one with the directors tomorrow...You should be expecting a couple of calls but other than that your schedule is fairly empty-"

"-Miss Cabello will be joining me in the meeting with the directors- make sure she has a copy of the pitch before the end of the day." I interrupted,

"What?!" Camila said, looking at me, shocked.

"I'm teaching you everything I know...which includes persuading the directors to sign off another contract..."  I smiled "So... stop looking so scared and come here..." 

I opened the door to my office, letting Camila inside and watching her take a seat before sitting down in the desk chair opposite her.  

"Lets get started then..." I said, giving Camila a small smile before opening up the folder resting on the desk in front of me... 


Writers note: I'm so sorry about how rushed this chapter is: I've been super busy with school the last couple days so its hard to fit in the time to spend the 2/3 hours I normally take to write each chapter.

I'm super swamped with work, but I'm still trying to write 2/3 chapters a week...so hopefully my updates stay fairly regular...




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