Yn POV:

It was late when I finally arrived back at Lauren and I's apartment in Miami, and I was exhausted, having been awake for what had to have been at least 24 hours, due to the whole time difference thing. But I was finally home, and that meant I could go to bed, where my beautiful, warm, snuggly girlfriend would be, probably asleep, waiting for me. If she wasn't asleep I would be very surprised, it was almost 4am Miami time after all and Lauren was not one to skip on sleep when she didn't have to.

Quietly, I snuck through the apartment, going to the bathroom, brushing my teeth and stripping down to my underwear, my usual sleeping garments, then I made my way into the bedroom, where, sure enough, I found Lauren, curled up in a nest of blankets and pillows. I smiled at the sight and gently climbed in right next to her. Instantly she snuggled into my side and I pulled her closer to me, so she was flush up against my body, nose buried in my neck.

I was already drifting off to sleep when I felt more than heard, a very quiet, 'I love you', mumbled against my neck.

'I love you too', I whispered back, then soon fell asleep.

—————————————-

The next morning I woke up to an empty bed and the smell of coffee drifting into the room. I slipped on a hoodie and made my way to the kitchen where, sure enough, I found Lauren, in sweat pants and a t-shirt, humming a random tune while waiting for the coffee to brew. It was a beautiful sight, one that made me smile the biggest goofiest smile you've ever seen, because this is so surreal, I've just woken up, and I've walked into the kitchen of our apartment and she's stood there, making coffee, with 2 mugs out ready for us, and it's totally normal, because she's my girlfriend and by some miracle she loves me just as much as I love her and we live together, and this is actually my real life, not just some movie or TV show, it's real and I'm so goddamn happy right now. Everything is ok. My Dad actually doesn't hate me and Lauren actually does love me.

'Coffee?', I was broken from my thoughts when said love of my life was stood directly in front of me, holding a mug of coffee out for me to take, which I gladly took, 'hello, by the way, I missed you', she said before pecking my lips then turning back to pick up her own mug.

'Hello, good morning, I missed you too', I replied going to her and pulling her into a hug with my spare hand, careful not to knock either of our mugs. Coffee is precious and must be saved.

We stayed like that for a while, until Lauren pulled away.

'I need to tell you something', she said, with a look on her face that worried me beyond belief.

'What is it? Did someone die? Are you dying? Please don't tell me you're dying-', I was then cut off by her grabbing my shoulders.

'Babe! I'm not dying, chill', I sighed in relief, 'Camila is leaving the group', she then sighed.

'What?', I asked in pure disbelief.

'She's decided that leaving the group is the best thing to do'.

I had known that Camila had not been happy recently, non of the girls had been particularly happy to be honest, but I hadn't seen this coming. Their contracts are being renewed soon and they had been trying to get a better deal, I thought Camila was going to be a part of that, but apparently not.

'When did you find out?', I asked, curious as to how long this had been going on.

'A couple days ago', Lauren stated, 'I wanted to tell you in person, she's been thinking about it for a while I think, but I thought we'd convinced her to stay, apparently I was wrong'.

I could tell she was hurt, they were meant to support each other and Camila had abandoned them at the worst time possible, there was no way this wasn't going to have a massive impact on their careers.

'How do you feel?', I asked cautiously, not wanting to upset her, but she clearly needed to talk about it.

''Hurt, betrayed, she's meant to be our best friend and she just abandoned us, we were meant to all be in this together, I totally understand the shitty management thing but our contacts are almost up, we're gonna try get something better this time, I just don't understand, I thought she was with us on that'

'She's just doing what she thinks is best for her, and her career', I stated, 'it's a little selfish but she's been miserable recently, even your fans have noticed', I tried to reason a little, 'she could have handled the situation a bit better but, if the music industry is anything like Hollywood, it's a selfish business, and you can't get anywhere if you don't help yourself, sometimes that means leaving people behind, I'm sure she doesn't mean to knock you guys down'.

'I get why she did it, she wants to actually be able to do her own thing, instead of whatever our stupid fucking contract tells us to do, we were young and stupid when we signed that thing, I just wish she went about it a different way, that's what hurts, that she decided without really telling us she was for sure doing it'.

I wasn't really sure what else to say, so I brought her into a hug, attempting to reassure her that everything would be fine.

'You and the other girls will be fine, you've been through a lot together, you can get through this, get a better contact, write your own music, everything'll work out eventually', I muttered reassuringly into her ear.

We stayed like that for a while until we pulled away to finish out coffees.

'What d'ya wanna do today?', Lauren then asked.

'I dunno, it's been so long since I've been home with nothing to do', I explained, 'I usually have so many people to go visit, or auditions or fittings to attend, or shooting to do'.

'Well I'm perfectly ok with sitting at home, catching up on all the tv I'm behind on, and catching up with my incredibly sexy girlfriend, whom I have not seen in several excruciatingly long weeks', Lauren said, as she walked closer to where I stood in the archway between the kitchen and the living room, slipping her arms around my waist when she reached me.

'Sounds nice, but only if we can get pizza from down the street', I agreed.

'I'm sure I can accommodate for that', she almost whispered, leaning in to press a gentle kiss on my lips.

——-

It was now around 7 in the evening and we had successfully caught up on all the tv we had missed while being away, while taking a few breaks to get pizza and partake in activities that led us to currently laying on the couch naked, hidden mostly beneath a blanket that had been pulled off the back on the couch to keep us warm.

I was struggling to stay awake, even though it was still very early, and Lauren's hand gently rubbing up and down my arm was not helping keep me awake, only relaxing me more.

'I love you', she whispered, so quietly I'm surprised I heard in my half asleep state.

'I love you too', I mumbled back, leaving a quick kiss on her collarbone.

'No like, I really love you', she stated, like she was trying to get me to understand.

'I know, and I really love you too', I stated back, in a similar way to her.

'No I, I'm in love with you, like, I've loved other people before, I loved my first boyfriend, but I wasn't in love with him, I'm in love with you, like if I lost you, I would, I don't know what I'd do but it wouldn't be good, and it's not just like I learned to love you, it was always there, from when we first met, it just took me a while to notice, but I always felt it, and it's scared me at first, but it doesn't any more, or it does, but in a good way, like if we were in a different reality or an alternate universe or something, we would still be together, because we are meant to be together, and no matter how hard we try or other people try to separate us, we'll always end up back together', she finished her little speech.

'So, I'm never going to be able to get away from you?', I ask her.

'Shut up, I'm trying to be serious', she shoved my shoulder gently, 'there's isn't enough words in the universe to describe how irreversibly in love with you I am and I really hope you know that, and feel the same way'.

'I do', I said simply, 'maybe in another universe, I'm the one who's good with the words', I say, smiling up at her.

'I doubt that, I write my own words, yours are written for you'

'You don't write all your own words'

'Not yet, but I will'

'Good, your words are better than anything anyone else could come up with'

Soon enough it was late and I was even more tired than before, having managed to keep myself awake long enough to watch about 4 episodes of Game of Thrones season 1, Lauren had decided we were going to rewatch it all from the beginning, which I had not necessarily complained about, but now I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open to find my way to the bathroom to wash my teeth, then from there into bed, where I was met with an already half asleep Lauren, buried under a mountain of blankets and pillows. I cuddled up into the mountain, as close as possible as I could get to her and started to drift off to sleep.

This is my life now, and I am so happy.