Don't Spin the Bottle || Camren

by fireeefly

"But you have to kiss me, those are the rules," Camila insists, not looking away from
Lauren's eyes.

(Except to look at Lauren's lips, Lauren does notice that.)

"Well, I'd rather kiss someone else, no offense."

Don't Spin the Bottle

I wrote this listening to Hearts Don't Break Around Here by Ed Sheeran. Hope you
enjoy
•••
ONE SHOT
It all starts when Lauren refuses to kiss Camila.
It happens when they are in the house of a friend of a friend (probably
Camila's, definitely not Lauren's) and it is Lauren's turn to spin the bottle.
Some random poor drunk girl suggested to play Spin the Bottle when
they were running out of alcohol to drink and since there are just girls in this party
—a party that is dying, by the way—, no one disagreed with the suggestion because
well, girls.
That has to be enough, right?
So they have been playing for a while and when it is Lauren's turn to
spin the bottle, she hopes she gets to kiss some cute girl that is in the circle around
the bottle and never think about it again like it always happens.
The bottle spins for four seconds before it lands on Camila, the girl
who is beside Dinah, Lauren's best friend.
Bright green eyes meet warm brown ones and Lauren recognizes
immediately the petulant smirk curving the girl's lips that make Lauren fight back the
urge to roll her eyes. The smug grin is still on Camila's lips while she teasingly licks
them in preparation, so Lauren doesn't think twice before she reaches for the bottle
to spin it again.
Whatever.
The reaction causes many of other girls around the circle gasp in
surprise because one, no one has ever denied Camila a kiss, and two, Lauren doesn't
even seem bothered by the fact that Camila is practically burning a hole in her temple
once she notices the bottle spinning again.
"Wait, wait, wait," Camila says, stopping the bottle mid-spin and
kneeling in front of it to look at Lauren properly. "You can't just do that," she protests
with furrowed eyebrows and parted lips.
"I think I just did," Lauren replies shrugging carelessly one of her
shoulders. Over the months she has gained some respect amongst her classmates
and teammates, so Lauren knows that no one will dare to tell her something.
Except for Camila, of course.
"But you have to kiss me, those are the rules," Camila insists, not
looking away from Lauren's eyes.
(Except to look at Lauren's lips, Lauren does notice that.)
"Well, I'd rather kiss someone else, no offense," Lauren shrugs again,
gaining a few chuckles around the circle that make Camila's blood boil in her veins.
Or that is what it looks like.
 Camila opens her mouth in protest again, not noticing that the bottle
has stopped on the girl beside her, who just happen to be her friend, Hailee. She
watches Lauren with wide eyes and an open mouth and she doesn't take her eyes
away from the black-haired girl as Lauren kneels in front of her to place her hand on
Hailee's neck and pull her closer until she can kiss the girl fully on the lips.
Lauren takes Hailee's bottom lip between her own, softly traces her
tongue along the tender skin, letting her lips linger for a moment too long before she
is pulling back with a satisfied smirk once she is done. "There we go," she says,
sitting back on the spot beside her best friend.

Dinah just looks at her stunned and Lauren winks at Hailee, completely aware of the
fact that Camila is still watching her closely and she probably saw everything
unfolding right before her eyes —like, quite literally.
The game goes on and as the minutes go by, Lauren grows
uncomfortable under Camila's gaze.
"I need to go to the bathroom," Lauren whispers to Dinah when she
realizes that every now and then Camila throws glances at her.
Glances that are not at all friendly, by the way.
After she leaves the circle, Lauren can feel Camila's eyes on her back
until she disappears around the corner of the hall that leads her to a bathroom that
she doesn't need to use.
•
"So...why didn't you kiss her?" Dinah asks her after she gets off of
Lauren's motorcycle when they reach their building.
"Who?"
"Mila," Dinah specifies, although she is sure that Lauren knows who
she is talking about.
"Didn't want to," Lauren says after she takes off her helmet. "Do you
want me to carry that for you?" she asks her best friend kindly, already taking
Dinah's helmet from her hands.
"Lauren," Dinah insists, looking at the shorter girl as they walk to their
dorm with a look that says: 'tell me the truth or you won't use the shower tomorrow
morning'.
"Did you notice how many girls she kissed even before I had to kiss
her?" Lauren relents and raises her eyebrows curiously as she looks back at her best
friend.
"Of course I didn't, who does that?" Dinah inquiries with a chuckle,
crossing her arms over her chest to keep herself warm as they finally enter the
building where their dorm is. "And it's not like she was asking to be kissed, anyway.
That's just her luck."
Lauren huffs and ignores Dinah's point. "Well, I did," she states
proudly. "Nine, Dinah. She kissed nine girls before and it wasn't just a peck, in case
you didn't notice that," Lauren explains, waiting for Dinah to open their dorm door.
"She fully made out with some of them," Lauren finishes after she takes off her boots
once they are inside the room.
"And you didn't want to kiss her because..." Dinah trails off, taking off
her own shoes and unbuttoning her jeans.
"Because, Dinah, what if she has herpes or something?" Lauren asks
and it truly shouldn't make Dinah laugh, because her answer is really-fucking-stupid
and Lauren's face is way too serious for the situation, but it does and Lauren leaves a
laughing Dinah behind her to brush her teeth and take off her makeup, wondering
why she feels like she is not telling her best friend the truth.
•
"So..." Normani trails off, catching up with Lauren the next Monday
morning. "I've heard your name at least thirty times in less than ten minutes," she
shares, looking ahead as she walks side by side with the green-eyed girl.
Lauren furrows her eyebrows and tilts her head before she glances
back at her friend. "Wait, isn't that what happens every day?" she asks, raising up an
eyebrow curiously at the dark-skinned girl.
"Don't be a dick, Lauren," Normani laughs, intertwining their arms as
they walk. "Is it true, though?"
"What is it, Mani?" Lauren inquires with a sigh. She has a pretty good
idea where this conversation is going.

"That you didn't want to kiss Cabello at the last party?" Normani asks, slowing their
pace until they are both standing in front of the other in the middle of the huge
campus yard.
Lauren sighs again and rolls her eyes. "Yeah, it's true," she shrugs,
giving Normani a sharp nod.
"You, my friend, are a legend," the brown-eyed girl grins, offering
Lauren a high-five that the green-eyed girl happily returns —she is a sucker for those,
okay?—. "Just between us, though, I heard she was quite mad about it," Normani
shares in a low secretive tone.
Lauren raises an eyebrow and smirks at Normani, feeling like she has
made a difference between herself and the rest of the girls that attend the school.
And after thinking about it, something clicks in Lauren's brain and she
finally realizes the true reason as to why she didn't want to kiss Camila in the first
place.
She doesn't want to be like the others, simple as that.
Lauren wants to stand out from the rest of the girls but she still hasn't
figured out exactly why she wants Camila to notice her.
In the meantime, Lauren will do what she does best and what she has
been doing since the first day she saw Camila: ignore her.
•
 "Hi, chicken," Lauren greets Dinah as soon as the girl steps into their
dorm.
"You are not going to believe this," is the first thing that leaves
Dinah's mouth after she looks at her best friend. "Mila asked for you," she says, way
too excitedly for Lauren's taste. "She tried to play it cool, but I'm too smart for that,
you know me," she winks at Lauren, flipping her hair.
Lauren fakes a sigh, ignores the way her heart flutters and looks away
from Dinah to glance at the textbook that she has in her lap. "Should I care?" the
green-eyed inquires, flipping her hair to the side once she looks back at Dinah.
The Polynesian girl leaves her backpack on the floor before she skips
her way towards Lauren's bed. "What's the deal with you and Mila?"
"There's no deal," Lauren responds in an obvious tone, lowering her
gaze to the book one more time.
"There could be a deal, though," Dinah smirks, watching attentively
the way Lauren looks at her with a poker face. "She's coming to your game
tomorrow," she lets Lauren know, not missing the way Lauren swallows and purses
her lips.
"Good for her," Lauren replies and pats herself mentally when Dinah
huffs frustrated. "Hope she enjoys it."
"Mhmm," Dinah hums, walking towards their bathroom. "She is totally
going to enjoy seeing you in those tight white pants, believe me," she laughs,
disappearing from Lauren's sight.
Sadly, now it is too late to flip Dinah off.
•
It is not like Lauren is nervous that Camila is in the crowd but she kind
of is.
Slightly. Like, it is nothing, really.
Maybe just a little.
They are halfway through the game and her team is (thankfully)
winning so when it is Lauren's turn to step into the batter box she doesn't feel too
pressured by her coach or any of her teammates, like, she is free to fuck it up if she
wants to.

(She doesn't, obviously. Especially when Camila is in the crowd.

Wait.)
As soon as she steps into the field Lauren hears her friends chanting
her name and while she is walking towards the home plate, the green-eyed turns her
head to look over her shoulder and finds Ally, Normani, and Dinah jumping and
screaming at the top of their lungs.
Lauren catches a certain brunette staring at her and she keeps her
gaze locked on Camila's eyes enough time to catch the girl winking at her before she
turns her head to look at the front again.
 She doesn't know exactly why she feels her heart beating faster but
the sensation makes Lauren upset nonetheless.
The black-haired girl grips the bat tightly with her hands and she
cracks the bones of her neck a couple of times before she licks her lips and locks her
eyes on the pitcher.
The image of Camila winking at her is still pretty much present in her
mind so Lauren tries to ignore the words of the catcher behind her, who is trying to
make her lose her concentration, in order to keep thinking about the brown-eyed girl.
It is working, because suddenly the ball that the pitcher has in her
hands becomes Camila's head and Lauren wants nothing more than to hit it with the
bat. Even if it is just in her imagination.
Lauren is so upset that she doesn't register the way the pitcher swings
her arm to throw the ball at her, but she is thankful for the way her body reacts on its
own. Before she knows it, Lauren hits the ball so hard that she barely has time to see
where she sends it flying before she starts to run to first base.
The outfielders are running towards the flying ball when Lauren runs
to second base, not even stopping to catch her breath. The crowd gets incredibly loud
when Lauren reaches the third base and she knows she only has a few seconds left
before she runs towards the home plate.
She hears the opposite team screaming but it is too late for them
because as soon as Lauren reaches home plate safe, the crowd gets even louder and
she sees the catcher groaning in defeat.
"Ha!" Lauren yells, resting her hands on her knees as she tries to
catch her breath. "In your fucking face," she pants, raising her gaze to the crowd.
"That's my best friend, ya'll!" Lauren hears Dinah scream proudly.
"You're killin' it, boo!"
Lauren laughs happily, momentarily forgetting what made her so
upset in the first place. But then her eyes betray her, and she finds herself watching
the way Camila is biting her bottom lip as she stares back at Lauren.
"Fuck," Lauren manages to say before her teammates congratulate
her when she makes her way back.
•
"Somebody told me you are always the last one to leave."
Lauren turns around and looks over to the doors of the locker room.
She instantly groans and turns back to mind her own business, ignoring the girl's
presence.
"I'm talking to you, Lauren," Lauren hears Camila's voice again. She
shakes her head with a small smile —because really?— and keeps her eyes locked on
what she is doing.
"You shouldn't be here," Lauren replies after a moment, sending
Camila a glance over her shoulder.
(She really should put a shirt on, but legally Camila should not be
there, so.)

"This is the school property, I don't see why I shouldn't be here," Camila says
shrugging and leaning against the doorframe of the locker room.
"You're not part of my team, though," Lauren tells Camila, bringing
the joint she has been rolling up to her lips. "So you shouldn't be here."
"And you shouldn't be smoking that," Camila fights back, although
there is an amused smile slightly curving her lips. "And I do believe that we're part of
the same team," Camila emphasizes, raising an eyebrow sassily.
Lauren snorts, finally puts a shirt on (much to Camila's annoyance),
takes her bag and walks up to Camila, leaving a mere inch between their bodies.
(She won't ever admit it, but Lauren really likes the height difference
between them.)
She takes the joint between her fingers again and rests the same hand
on Camila's waist, barely touching her. "I'm not smoking it," she whispers, way too
close to Camila but somehow not close enough. "Yet," she adds then, almost
seductively.
Camila swallows and tries to keep her eyes on Lauren's green ones
even though the idea of looking at the girl's lips is really tempting.
"See you around, Cabello."
And with that Lauren leaves.
•
Camila has a reputation and so does Lauren.
While Lauren is mostly recognized for playing for the school's softball
team and has a really badass and mysterious vibe, Camila is completely the opposite.
People don't want to mess with Lauren but with Camila is different.
People admire Lauren in a way that she can't quite understand. She
thinks that maybe it is her style or maybe it is the fact that she rides a motorcycle, or
speaks freely and passionately about things that matter in the world, she doesn't
know.
Camila, on the other hand, is mostly known for being friends with
everyone. She has probably talked with 90% of the school, knows them all by name
and she is definitely one of the coolest girls around.
Lauren has been attending school for three years and Camila two and
in all this time, Lauren has learned that the girl makes no mistakes. She is perfect in
everyone else's eyes and what irritates Lauren the most, is that everyone wants
Camila and she guesses that that is why Camila is the way she is —cocky, irreverent,
petulant, egocentric, narcissistic—, but Lauren knows that there has to be something
that makes Camila weak.
And she is going to find out what it is.
•
Camila has been coming to Lauren's games for the past three weeks
but as soon as the game ends she leaves, much to Lauren's relief.
It is after the fourth game that Lauren finds her in the locker room
again, leaning against the doorframe like she did the first week that she came to see
her.
"Hi, Lauren," Camila greets her after a few moments of silence.
Lauren turns to the voice of the girl and pretends to be surprised to
see her even though she knows that Camila has been there for at least five minutes,
just watching her. "Oh, hi," she greets back, turning back around. The joint is not
going to make itself, is it?

"Can I ask you something?" the smaller girl asks, walking up to the benches that are
in the middle of the room.
"Sure," Lauren shrugs and nods her head, her back still facing Camila
—Camila is not mad about that, though now Lauren is actually wearing a shirt.
"Why you didn't kiss me that night?"
And it is a really simple question but Lauren doesn't know what to say.
Especially when a few weeks back her first answer to the same question was 'herpes'.
"Is it really that hard for you to believe that I didn't kiss you just
because I didn't want to?" Lauren questions mostly out of curiosity, sitting in front of
Camila. She guesses that she will find a proper answer if she keeps asking questions.
That is how people say that you win an argument. Or something like
that.
"No," Camila replies, making Lauren narrow her eyes because if there
is one person who is more egocentric than Lauren, then that is Camila and her answer
should have been something along the line of 'duh'. "It's not hard at all," she
confesses, and it seems like a genuine confession, even though Lauren doesn't know
the girl at all.
"Then what is it?" Lauren questions softly, somehow feeling like the
girl she is seeing right now is not the girl that everybody else knows.
Camila lets out a small sigh and gives her a small tight-lipped smile.
"It's just that, you know..." Camila trails off, fidgeting with her hands. "Everybody
kissed everybody and you didn't and, you know, it was just kind of humiliating," the
girl finishes, not meeting Lauren's gaze.
"Oh," Lauren responds after an awkward moment, scratching the back
of her neck.
She didn't want to make Camila feel like that. That wasn't her
intention at all but before Lauren can apologize properly —she has manners—, Camila
is already getting up from the bench.
"I should get going," the brown-eyed girl says after she clears her
throat.
"Wait, Camila," Lauren calls out, standing up from her seat and
awkwardly standing in front of her locker. Camila turns around and patiently waits.
"Uh, do you...do you want to share it?"
Camila looks down to the joint that Lauren is offering, and a small
smile pulls at her lips. "No, thank you," she says with an amused twinkle in her eyes.
"I don't know how to smoke," she adds with a shrug.
"Right, sorry," Lauren nods, feeling like an idiot and feeling her cheeks
burning with embarrassment. "I'm sorry," she apologizes again, although she doesn't
know if she is doing it because she still feels like she owes Camila an apology or if it is
because she doesn't know what else to say.
Camila nods and looks Lauren up and down before a smirk curves her
lips. "I like your shirt," she says and turns around to leave.
Lauren looks down at her Ninja Turtles shirt and snorts. "Thank you,"
she shouts to a now empty locker room, hoping Camila hears her.
•
Lauren doesn't have many people around her, like, she only has three
real friends. Literally.
Dinah is Lauren's best friend and people often get suspicious about
their friendship because Lauren is kind of a bitch sometimes and well, Dinah is not.

(Though Lauren would totally disagree because Dinah can be a real bitch when she
wants to. Especially in the mornings.)
Dinah is a kind-hearted person, she cares, she is delicate and has the
most beautiful smile Lauren has ever seen.
Dinah is basically everything that Lauren is not, and over the years
they have been dealing with comments like "Dinah is only using Lauren for
popularity" or "Dinah is just friends with Lauren for convenience" and things like that
when in reality, Dinah has been by Lauren's side ever since Lauren turned one.
(See? Such a bitch, Dinah couldn't even let Lauren have a birthday for
herself. The bitch was born literally five days before Lauren turned one for fuck's
sake.
Or that is what Lauren tells her, which only makes Dinah smile brightly
in return.)
Dinah has been by Lauren's side through thick and thin, so it is safe to
say that the Polynesian girl has a big part of Lauren's heart.
Normani is the other girl that Lauren considers her friend. They have
only been friends for a few years, bus as soon as they introduced each other
something clicked for Lauren.
She is possibly one of the most stunning and beautiful girls that
Lauren has ever seen. Normani is so effortlessly beautiful that often she is the one
who gets more attention from boys and girls but that only means that often she gets
her heart broken.
That only showed Lauren how beautiful Normani is on the inside too.
Even more than on the outside —that is still really hard to believe for Lauren because,
seriously, the girl's beauty is probably out of this world. Normani has forgiven every
single person that has broken her heart and Lauren is pretty sure that Normani's
heart is made out of gold, which is exactly why Lauren gets so protective of her.
Normani has a big part of Lauren's heart too.
Ally is definitely something else. She is Lauren's sunshine like, almost
literally.
Ally is the girl that keeps Lauren grounded and sane and the green-
eyed is not really sure how they became friends but Lauren is really fucking glad that
she has someone like Ally in her life.
When she needs advice, Ally is the first one on Lauren's list. When
Lauren needs to rant about anything in her mind Ally is always there to listen to her.
And when Lauren needs a good laugh Ally is always the first one to notice and to
make her laugh until her tummy hurts and until she feels like her ribs are going to
snap at any given minute from laughing so much.
Ally is more important than anyone could imagine, even though their
schedules suck and they don't get to see each other as much as they would like to.
But Ally and Lauren seem to have developed a weird connection
because every time Lauren needs Ally and Ally needs Lauren, one of them shows up
at the other girl's door and everything falls into place.
Not many people know about them being friends, but Ally has a big
part of Lauren's heart.
They are all different but they all have something in common: Ally,
Dinah, and Normani have seen Lauren at her very best and her very worst and they
have never left her side through it all. They all have Lauren's trust and knowing
Lauren and how hard it is for her to trust people, that means the world to them.

•
Something weird happens the next week.
Camila ignores Lauren.
Well, it is not like she is ignoring Lauren but she doesn't look her way
and Camila kind of stopped going to her games so...basically they are just like they
were before they started talking.
And to be honest, it sucks because Lauren thought that maybe they
could become more than acquaintances or something like that even though they have
only spoken like, two times.
Whatever, she will survive.
•
They are all playing Spin the Bottle again but this time Lauren is not in
the circle. Camila is, though.
As soon as they start playing, Lauren tells Dinah that she will be in the
yard and with no other word, she leaves for a more calming environment.
Lauren doesn't know exactly how much time has passed thanks to the
joint between her lips. She has been alone in the yard for awhile because well, it is
raining and if it weren't for the roof over her head Lauren would be completely soaked
by now, so pretty much everyone is inside the house.
She is letting out a puff of smoke between her lips when Lauren feels
her presence. She doesn't know exactly how she is able to tell that Camila it is the
one walking towards her but suddenly Lauren's heart is beating in her throat.
Lauren feels Camila sitting beside her on the tiled floor, keeping her
eyes closed and her breath pattern even, even though the mere presence of Camila is
doing weird things to her body. Or maybe she is just high, Lauren is not sure.
"Do you always have a joint when I'm around or..." Camila trails off
with a raspy voice that drowns Lauren's senses as she speaks.
"Do you ever mind your own business when I'm around or..." Lauren
replies a moment later, keeping her eyes closed and feeling like time has stopped.
Camila huffs, wrapping her arms around her legs and resting her chin
on her knees as she stares at Lauren. "No need to be so bitchy about it," the smaller
girl murmurs later.
The green-eyed girl brings the joint to her lips and lets the smoke fill
her lung once again. Lauren holds the smoke in for a moment before she slowly
releases it, feeling more relaxed than she has been all day. "What do you want,
Camila?"
"I just wanted fresh air," Camila replies dumbly, trying to get Lauren
to look at her.
Lauren just clenches her jaw, opens her eyes and listens to the
incessant sound of the rain against the grass, the roof, the windows and the streets
and the music coming from inside the house, drowning out their voices. She barely
notices Camila's hand in her tight when she speaks with a low and smooth husky
voice.
"I only smoke when I know my knee is going to hurt."
Lauren lets the silence linger before she finally looks at the girl beside
her and finds Camila's eyes already on her lips.
"I had an accident a few years back in a game and my knee is a bit
fucked up ever since," Lauren shares, locking eyes with Camila as she touches her left
knee. "It hurts when it's cold," she adds, giving Camila a lopsided smile that only
curves her lips for a second. "I only smoke at night because sometimes the pain
doesn't let me sleep."

And there Lauren is, sharing her thoughts with a complete stranger. A stranger that
she has missed more than she would admit.
Camila nods, hiding her lips behind her fist, keeping her eyes on
Lauren's face. "I didn't know that. I'm sorry," she apologizes quietly.
"There are lots of things you don't know about me," Lauren shrugs
and looks ahead, looks at the falling rain and feels the cold breeze of the wind against
her cheeks.
"You're beautiful," Camila blurts out suddenly, making Lauren's blood
rush to her cold cheeks as soon as the words leave Camila's mouth.
And suddenly it is really fucking hot in there.
Lauren doesn't know what to say. For starters, she has never been
good at dealing with compliments. Secondly, how the hell is she supposed to answer
that when Camila has barely spoken to her all week? And lastly, she doesn't trust
Camila at all right now.
Maybe Camila is the one high and not Lauren.
"I know that," Camila adds right before she gets up and leaves Lauren
alone again.
•
They don't acknowledge each other when people are around. It is an
unspoken rule between them.
Somehow Lauren is okay with it.
•
"Good game today," Camila whispers a few weeks later, in one of
those secrets reunions that Lauren and she have.
They are not friends nor they are acquaintances. They just happen to
exist at the same time and be there when the other wants to talk but to be fair, it is
always Camila the one searching for Lauren and it is never the other way around.
"Thanks," Lauren smiles, looking up at the girl before Camila sits
beside her in the grass.
They sit against a tree, hiding from the people in the party that is
inside. Lauren has a joint between her fingers but she hasn't sparked it up yet,
although her knee is hurting like a bitch tonight.
It is probably around three in the morning and Lauren is pretty sure
that the people inside the house are playing Spin the Bottle, but she is glad Camila is
here with her.
The silence is always present between them but it is never awkward
and they never have the need to fill it with nonsense conversations.
Tonight is different, though.
"Can I tell you something?" Camila asks Lauren, facing her as she
wraps her arms around her knees like she always does when she is with Lauren.
"Yeah," Lauren nods and brings the joint up to her lips, feeling
vulnerable all of a sudden and feeling like Camila can see her in ways that nobody
else does.
"Do you remember the night we talked for the first time?" Camila asks
Lauren in a soft tone while the green-eyed sparks up the joint with her lighter.
"The night I didn't kiss you?" Lauren asks with a ghost of a smile that
makes Camila laugh in return.
And suddenly it is not just the weed that is burning. It is also Lauren's
heart.

"Yeah," Camila nods, fighting back another giggle as Lauren takes a drag of her joint.
"What happens with that?" the short-haired girl inquiries curiously,
looking at Camila with half-lidded eyes and a smile on her lips.
Camila seems to think a bit her answer, but she finally relents and
locks eyes with Lauren, licking her lips briefly before she finally speaks. "I really
wanted you to kiss me that night," she confesses, shyly tucking a strand of hair
behind her ear.
Camila is close. She is so close that Lauren can feel her warm breath
on her cold lips and her sweet perfume. She is so close that Lauren can see perfectly
each eyelash and the color of her eyes.
"See you around, Jauregui," the brown-eyed girl whispers, leaving a
lingering kiss on the corner of Lauren's lips.
•
"Camila, come on, you don't have to do it," Lauren fights back,
although there is an amused smile dancing on her lips.
"But I want to," Camila whispers between gritted teeth, trying to take
the joint from Lauren's hand. "Let me fucking try it," she laughs, tangling her legs
with Lauren's in an attempt to take control of the situation.
They are up in a treehouse now and even though no one was
supposed to go up there, Lauren found her way and later Camila did the same. It is
snowing but that didn't stop the girls; instead, they took advantage of the fact that
literally no one wants to be outside in this weather and they have been together for at
least an hour now.
"Please, Lauren, can I have some weed?" Camila asks politely, unable
to stop the giggles that leave her mouth as she speaks.
"Jesus fucking Christ," Lauren huffs, letting Camila straddle her hips.
"Okay," she relents, rolling her eyes as hard as she can, just to let Camila know that
she doesn't like this idea at all. "I'm not forcing you or anything, I just want to make
that clear."
Camila just shushes her with a giggle.
"Okay, how do I do this?" Camila asks, comfortable enough to
completely let her weight fall into Lauren's lap. She takes the joint from the green-
eyed girl and looks at it suspiciously for a few seconds.
"Here," Lauren says, taking back the joint and placing it on Camila's
parted lips. "Now take a drag, but slowly, okay?" Lauren emphasizes, raising her
eyebrows seriously and letting her other hand rest on Camila's hip. "Slowly, Camila,"
she repeats when she sees the end of the joint sparkling as Camila does what she is
told.
But then Camila coughs and Lauren can't help but laugh. The cloud of
smoke comes between them and slowly disappears, making Lauren laugh harder at
Camila's red face. Or maybe it is the fact that she is a bit high and everything seems
to be more amusing now.
"I think I'm dying," Camila comments between coughs. "Oh, god, how
do you do that?"
"It's just practice," Lauren giggles, bringing the joint up to her lips and
silently bragging about her awesome smoking skills. "I didn't like it either at first,"
she confesses shrugging her shoulders. "I do like it now, though," she says, unaware
of the fact that she is caressing Camila's hip with her thumb. "Do you want to try
again?"
"Am I high already?" Camila asks instead but lets Lauren place the
joint between her lips again anyway.
"It takes a bit, Camz," Lauren giggles happily, holding the joint as
Camila takes another drag. This time, the smaller girl succeeds. "Hold it in your lungs
for a moment, as much as you can, hold it, hold it, hold it, come on," Lauren advice
watching Camila closely, "now release the smoke like a pro," she says after a
moment.

And surprisingly, Camila does.

"Good job," Lauren tells her, leaning back against one of the walls of
the tree house. Camila smokes again, this time having less difficulty than before but
still managing to cough a couple of times.
They lock eyes and there is a small and subtle shift in the air. There is
a subtle shift that both of them notice but none of them acknowledge out loud.
Maybe it is the fact that Camila is straddling Lauren or maybe it is the
fact that the tension between them has been building more and more with each
passing day that they spend secretly together.
Lauren doesn't know what to do.
Camila does, though. She takes the first step.
Wrapping her arms around Lauren's neck, the brown-eyed girl pulls
herself against Lauren's body to breathe the same air. Lauren inhales the last bit of
smoke from her joint, puts it out on the cold wooden floor of the treehouse and rest
both of her hands on Camila's hips.
Emboldened with Camila's actions, Lauren brushes her nose against
Camila's and she slowly exhales the smoke against Camila's mouth as the girl inhales
it, lips brushing and hearts beating fast.
And then Camila's lips are softly pressed against Lauren's and the
green-eyed girl's heart is thumping wildly in her chest.
"Wow...So soft," Camila whispers, bringing her fingers up to Lauren's
lips once they pull apart.
"Kiss me again," Lauren whispers back and this time doesn't wait for
Camila to act. She grabs Camila by the neck and pulls her in, instantly parting her lips
to take Camila's bottom lip between hers.
 Lauren traces her tongue along Camila's lip before the smaller girl
grants her access to her mouth, and Lauren doesn't know if it is because of she is
high or not but Camila's mouth is everything she expected to be and more.
So they kiss until the snow stops falling and even after the party is
over.
•
Lauren is alone in the locker room with a towel wrapped around her
body when she feels two slender arms around her waist and feels a pair of lips that
she has kissed before in the back of her neck.
There are fresh droplets in her body and she closes her eyes at the
sensation of Camila's warm lips against her cold skin.
"You were the star of the game today," Camila murmurs, tightening
her arms around Lauren's waist. "Again."
Lauren giggles and turns around, bringing her own arms around
Camila's neck. "Thank you," she says, kissing the girl's cheek before she pulls back
with bright eyes and a bright smile.
Camila embraces Lauren warmly, nuzzling her nose in the crook of the
taller girl's neck, feeling Lauren's scent invading her senses in just a few seconds as
she lets out a deep sigh.
"What's on your mind?" Lauren asks softly, kissing the side of Camila's
neck and feeling the girl shivering beneath her touch.
"I'm thinking," Camila begins, and her tone is way more seductive
than Lauren thought it would, "that you are naked under your towel," the brown-eyed
continues, pulling away enough to lock eyes with Lauren. "And I just need to pull on it
to have you all for myself," she finishes, brushing her lips against Lauren's.

Lauren's heart doesn't beat just between her lungs. Suddenly she feels her heartbeat
in every inch of her body and she doesn't listen to her mind this time. She just walks
forward with Camila's arms still wrapped around her waist, until the back of Camila's
knees collide with the bench in the middle of the locker room.
This time is Lauren the one straddling Camila and she lets her arms
wrapped around the girl's neck before she whispers, "what are you waiting for, then?"
They lock eyes again and after a second Lauren easily recognizes the
lust in Camila's eyes. There is something else, though, that Lauren can't quite
pinpoint but it is enough for her to let herself fall in the most intimate way as soon as
Camila touches her where she needs the most.
•
Lauren is taking off her helmet when she hears a hiss. Furrowing her
eyebrows and narrowing her eyes, she looks around to only see the parking lot
empty. Shrugging her shoulders, she puts her keys in the pocket of her leather jacket
to make her way inside the building when she hears the hiss again.
"Lauren."
 "What the fuck?" Lauren murmurs to herself, growing incredibly
paranoid with the situation. She is not even high. She hasn't smoked since yesterday.
"Up here," she hears and Lauren looks up, finding Camila on the roof
of the building they live in.
"What the hell are you doing up there?" Lauren almost screams with
wide eyes. "Is that a joint, Camila?" Camila only smiles mischievously and motions for
Lauren to come to the roof.
Lauren obliges and within three minutes, she is by Camila's side.
"Who gave you that? God, it's fucking cold," Lauren complains, happily
letting Camila cover her with the blanket that she has around her shoulders, even
though she is not so happy about the weed situation.
"Don't be a hypocrite," Camila laughs, with half-lidded eyes. "You
smoke every day."
"For medical reasons!" Lauren defends herself, shaking her head but
taking the joint from Camila's hand anyway. "What are you doing here, babe? It's
freezing," she comments in a softer voice, unaware of how hard Camila's heart beats
when she comes closer.
"I was waiting for you. I wanted to talk to you about something,"
Camila says, watching Lauren taking a drag of the joint. "Did you ever notice that
there was a week when I didn't show up to one of your games?" she asks and Lauren
sees that vulnerable look in her eyes again; the same one when Camila asked her
why she didn't kiss her when they played Spin the Bottle, the week before she
stopped going to her games.
"I did notice," Lauren responds, nodding softly her head.
"I realized that day when we talked in the locker room that I could be
myself around you, you know?" Camila starts, fumbling with her hands. "It wasn't
hard for me to open up to you or anything," the girl continues, glancing back up at
Lauren every now and then. "Everyone knows this perfect girl that makes no mistake
but you..." Camila trails off, locking her eyes on Lauren's, "I'm afraid you are the only
one that could see the real me, no masks needed."
Lauren wraps an arm around Camila and pulls her closer to her body
until Camila is resting her head on her chest and is listening to her beating heart.

"It scared me to think that you had this power over me knowing that we barely knew
each other," Camila shares thoughtfully.
"Why are you so afraid, Camz? You're friends with everybody,
everyone loves you," Lauren says, voice soft and sweet. "Like, you're so popular..."
"No one loved the old me, though," Camila says lowering her gaze.
"High school was a nightmare," she adds with a small voice, "and now I pretend to be
this strong, carefree and outspoken kinda bitchy girl when in reality I want to be in
my room, reading a book or watching a movie most of the time," she adds as Lauren
holds her closer under the moonlight.
 And Lauren realizes then that even if it is in her own Camila way,
Camila is telling her something that not many people must know.
And so Lauren lets her own walls crumble down.
•
"Hey, Lauren!"
Lauren turns around in the middle of the cafeteria to find Hailee
walking towards her and a very upset Camila trailing behind her friend.
"Hi, Hailee," Lauren greets politely, sending the girl a friendly smile
and ignoring Camila's presence once she reaches them. "What's up?"
"Nothing, I was just wondering if you're going to the school party
tomorrow night," the girl lets Lauren know, smiling happily at her. "I mean, do you
want to come with me, maybe?"
"Oh," Lauren says lowly, understanding perfectly where this
conversation is going. "As your date?" she asks, gaining an instant huff from Camila,
who is just awkwardly standing with her arms crossed beside her friend.
"I don't know," Hailee shrugs making Lauren giggle at how carefree
she seems to be. "It's nothing serious, though, but maybe we could have a good
time," she adds, this time making Camila roll her eyes in return.
And since Lauren has had the intention to tell Camila what she is
about to say, she finds the perfect opportunity to tell her in a more subtle (and
hopefully not that painful) way.
"Well, I'm sorry, Hailee, but I'm not going," Lauren speaks truthfully,
squeezing apologetically Hailee's arm.
(The gesture only makes Camila groan lowly and look away and
suddenly Lauren really likes seeing this jealous side of her.)
"Why not?" Hailee asks curiously and hell, this is perfect because
Lauren was hoping Hailee would ask that.
"Because I think I like someone else," she confesses and it is way
harder than she thought it would. "Like, it's getting out of control..."
"That's how much you like them?" Hailee asks with wide eyes like she
can't believe that somebody like Lauren is capable of loving or liking somebody.
"Even more than you think," Lauren nods and watches Camila from
the corner of her eyes lowering her head to maybe hide a smile, Lauren won't ever
know.
But her own heart is beating fast at the subtle confession and Lauren
hopes Camila's is beating just as hard as hers.
"I just, I don't know if I should tell her because you see, we have
nothing serious but I'll have my dorm for myself tomorrow 'cause Dinah will be doing
her Dinah things and I'm hoping that the girl I like comes to spend the night with
me," she adds, completely aware that she has Camila's full attention from the
moment she started to speak.
"Aww, Lauren, that's so nice," Hailee comments sincerely.
"Hopefully she catches the hint," Lauren shrugs, growing nervous
under Camila's gaze.
"Why don't you tell her? I think you should tell her, shouldn't she,
Mila?" Hailee asks Camila, looking down expectantly at her friend, but Camila has
only eyes for Lauren.
And it is quite overwhelming because this is the first time that Camila
has looked at Lauren in public and with no bottle between them.
It is such a weird feeling because even though they are surrounded by
people, in that moment it feels like it is only them in the world.
"Yeah, you should," Camila nods, with a ghost of a smile dancing on
her lips. "She would like that," she adds as the small smile reaches her eyes.
"See? I hope everything works out in your favor, Lauren," Hailee tells
her genuinely, going as far as squeezing Lauren's arm back but Camila doesn't seem
too bothered with it now.
"Thank you," Lauren says with a smile of her own. "Thank you for the
invitation and I'm sorry for not coming with you..."
Hailee just waves her hand dismissively and gives Lauren a grin. "It's
for a good cause. We should get going, Mila. Have a nice day, Lauren."
"You too," Lauren wishes as Camila and Hailee walk past her.
Lauren really tries to fight back a smile when Camila brushes their
hands. She tries but she fails.
•
Lauren thought that having her and Dinah's dorm to herself for the
night would be exciting. Turns out that it is not.
After smoking her sacred joint of the night, Lauren puts her earphones
on and tucks herself into bed, hoping to have a good and very much needed night of
sleep without Dinah's snores.
And she is falling asleep when she hears three knocks on her dorm
door, forcing her to keep her eyes open and her mind running.
"Fucking hell," she mutters under her breath, dragging her feet to the
door. "Who is it?" she asks loudly, in a not-so-friendly way.
The other person only responds with three new knocks.
Lauren turns the doorknob and finds a shadow in front of her and it is
so dark that Lauren has a really hard time trying to make out the figure of this
shadow, partly because she is still half asleep.
But the shadow gets closer and Lauren swears it is a dementor from
the Harry Potter books before she recognizes the perfume, the touch, and the
warmth.
"Camz," she croaks out with a husky voice, immediately falling into
Camila's warm embrace. "What are you doing here?" she inquires, closing her eyes
again.
 She literally could fall asleep right then and there.
"I thought you wanted me to come tonight?" Camila asks back, pulling
away enough to look at Lauren properly.
"Oh, you did catch the hint," Lauren smirks, placing both of her hands
on the sides of Camila's neck to pull her in for a peck. "Welcome to my crib," she
jokes, letting out that goofy side that only three other people know.

Camila snorts and closes the door, looking around to familiarize herself with Lauren's
room. "You were clearly waiting for me," she tells Lauren with a playful glint in her
eyes, looking at the green-eyed and seeing how she is rubbing her eyes sleepily as
she makes her way towards her bed.
"I wasn't expecting you, to be honest," Lauren confesses, standing
before Camila. "I did want you to come, though," she says, reaching for Camila's
hand and intertwining their fingers lazily.
"Well, luckily for you I did get the hint and I am spending the night,"
Camila says, wiggling her eyebrows teasingly and standing on her tiptoes to plant a
kiss on Lauren's lips.
"Get into bed then," Lauren demands, unbuttoning Camila's coat and
finding her mismatched pajamas underneath.
"Oh my god, I'm a mess," Camila laughs after she sees her outfit.
"You look perfect," Lauren responds immediately, kissing Camila again
before she gets into bed and pats the small space beside her.
Camila joins her right away, covering both of them up to their necks
with then bedsheets and the covers on Lauren's bed.
Somehow they start talking, lying on their sides and one in front of the
other. The seconds turn into minutes and then minutes into hours and before Lauren
knows, she has learned a big part of Camila's life and Camila now knows a big part of
hers as well.
There are no walls, no masks, no pretending; it is just them and
Lauren keeps falling just as hard for the girl beside her.
Lauren lights up a joint, not because her knee hurts, but because she
wants to enjoy one with Camila. They share it between them and fifteen minutes later
they are a mess of giggles, laughing about everything and anything and Lauren finds
herself with the privilege of kissing Camila's laugh away multiple times over the night.
"Tell me, Lauren," Camila pleads after a few moments, mouth on the
side of Lauren's neck as she speaks. "Please tell me what you're so afraid of telling
me," she asks with a small voice and suddenly there is a shift in the air just like there
was a shift in the air weeks ago.
Lauren pulls away and looks at her, resting one hand on Camila's
cheek while she wraps her arm around the girl's waist lazily under the covers.
"I'm falling for you, Camz," she confesses with a voice that is just as
soft as Camila's. "And even though I haven't felt this way in years, I hope you
understand that is just as real as the air we breathe."
Camila looks at her, enjoying the way the moonlight reflect perfectly
on Lauren's green eyes, enjoying the way the light coming from the window makes
Lauren's face look like it is sculpted by Greek gods and enjoying the sincerity that
exudes from Lauren's soft and husky voice.
"I have fallen for you, Lauren," Camila whispers, locking eyes with the
girl beside her, unaware of the way Lauren's heart beats against her ribcage. "Please
don't break my heart," she says in a low voice, pleading with her eyes and hoping
that Lauren is the last human on earth to claim Camila's heart as her own.
"I won't," Lauren promises, confident that she is not going to break
the promise. "I won't break your heart, love, I promise."
Lauren leans in and traps Camila's bottom lip in her mouth. It is
supposed to be a small kiss; a kiss that seals the deal and shows Camila that Lauren
means what she is telling her. Instead, Lauren finds herself kissing Camila deeply and
she keeps her lips against her girl's skin until Camila is naked under her body; until
she is moaning against her lips; until Camila is panting her name and until she is
trembling under Lauren's sweet touch.

And Lauren learns then that it is love what makes Camila weak.
•
"Ally," Lauren says after a moment of silence. Ally is reading one of
her magazines while Lauren is just looking at the ceiling of the girl's dorm, with a
small smile on her lips.
"Yeah, Lo?" Ally asks munching on a green apple and not taking her
eyes away from the article she is currently reading.
"I'm in love," Lauren confesses, making Ally stop what she is doing to
look at her with wide and dark brown eyes.
"Are you serious?" Ally asks, unable to hide the surprise in her tone.
"Who is it?" she asks even before Lauren can reply.
"Camila."
And Ally's excited grin disappears as soon as Camila's name leaves
Lauren's mouth.
"Lo..."
"Just don't, okay?" Lauren tells her, holding up her hand to stop
whatever Ally wants to tell her. "I just wanted to tell somebody, that's all..."
"Lauren, you know how she is," Ally tries to fight back, ignoring
Lauren's request to keep her mouth shut. "She's trouble."
"No, Ally. You are the one who doesn't know how she is," Lauren
replies sending Ally a glare. "The Camila I know it's not like the one that you know
and everybody else does, okay?"
"Lauren, I've never seen you interact with her, are you serious? 'Cause
I'm still hoping this is a joke," Ally tells her, and honestly, Lauren knows that Ally only
has good intentions in her heart, but her attitude is pissing her off.
"Ally, please, don't make me doubt if what I feel for Camila is right or
not," Lauren pleads with a small voice, locking green eyes with brown ones.
"I don't doubt that your intentions are good, Lauren," Ally says softly,
sitting beside Lauren to take her hand. "I just don't trust Camila, that's all. In fact, I
don't trust anyone around you," she tells her sincerely. "I know how hard you love,
Lo. I know your heart, honey, and I don't want you to go through the same thing that
happened the last time..." she trails off, hoping Lauren understands her point of view.
"If you're keeping this a secret and if it's not serious or official..."
"It won't happen. It's nothing like that."
"Lauren..." Ally tries again but knowing how hard it is to get through
Lauren's head she gives up. "Just be careful, okay?"
Lauren nods sharply and looks at Ally. "Okay."
•
Lauren has never had a girlfriend. At least not officially.
The last time she had a 'relationship' she ended up with a broken
heart and it happened two years ago.
She still has to see her (sort of) ex around campus and even when
years have passed, Lauren still feels a pang of pain every time they happen to lock
eyes.
Lauren is not sure if she loved her or not, but she is sure that at some
point she fell in love.
The girl was never her girlfriend, although everyone knew they were
together or something was happening them both.

The fact that they weren't official made Lauren believe that her ex could do anything
she wanted and so Lauren caught her multiple times with other people.
The fact that they weren't official made Lauren think that it was okay
for the girl to step all over her heart over and over again.
The fact that they weren't official made Lauren's trust disappear and
she ended up with her heart shattered.
Lauren remembers everything. And she remembers it all because it is
happening again.
•
Lauren is sitting in one of the couches where the party is taking place
at when somebody yells "let's play Spin the Bottle!"
Everyone around cheers with beers and red cups in their hands and
soon enough there are people around an empty bottle of wine and everyone is
chatting excitedly amongst themselves. Including Camila.
Lauren furrows her eyebrows and looks at the girl for a moment
before Camila looks up at her and ignores her.
Lauren remembers being okay with no one knowing about them, but
now it is pissing her off. Especially when Camila laughs at something that Hailee says
and ignores Lauren's pleading eyes.
It is Hailee's turn to spin the bottle, and Lauren grows incredibly
nervous because so far, Camila has not kissed anyone but she knows that that is
about to change because it is Camila's turn next.
When Hailee is done, all Lauren can think is: don't do it, don't spin the
bottle, please don't spin the bottle.
But her prayers are not answered because then Camila giggles right
before she spins the bottle. It lands between two girls that are sitting right in front of
Lauren, which technically means that Camila should kiss Lauren but Lauren is not
playing.
So the girls play rock, paper, scissors and soon enough, Camila is
leaning in to plant a kiss on the winner girl's lips. Unable to see what is going to
happen before her eyes, Lauren stands up from her seat and leaves, listening how the
people around the circle cheer once Camila and the girl stop kissing.
"Fuck," Lauren mutters, searching for her joint and her lighter.
Camila comes looking for her twenty minutes later.
"Hey," Camila says, taking Lauren's chin to place a kiss on her lips.
But before Camila can kiss her, Lauren turns her face roughly and looks away. "Babe,
are you okay?"
Clenching her jaw, Lauren closes her eyes and leans her head back
against the wall.
"Come on, are you seriously not talking to me right now?" Camila
chuckles, trying to take Lauren's hand but Lauren only crosses her arms over her
chest. "Babe, kissing them means nothing to me," she adds a minute later, searching
for Lauren's eyes.
"Just like it means nothing to you when you kiss me, right?" Lauren
speaks loudly, not caring if someone listens to them or not.
"It means everything with you," Camila says with a softer voice,
looking around to see if anyone is near. "You know what I feel for you, baby, I
thought we were on the same page about people not knowing about us."
"No. Actually, we aren't on the same page," the black-haired girl fights
back, locking steely green eyes with vulnerable brown ones.

"Lauren," Camila whispers like she is about to say a really important confession. "I'm
in love with you."
But the confession means nothing to Lauren in that moment. "Wow,
you do a splendid job at showing it, don't you?" she asks sarcastically, shaking her
head in defeat. "Go back to playing your stupid game, I'm done," Lauren tells Camila,
getting up from the floor and walking pass her.
•
Sometimes Lauren wonders how Camila can pretend to be someone
she is not.
Sometimes she wonders how long she can last.
Other times Lauren wonders if her love is enough to stop all of this lie.
Most of these times, Lauren wishes Camila wouldn't exist in her life.
•
Not even a week later, the same situation happens. Except that this
time Camila has to kiss Lauren's ex. And that is way too much for Lauren to handle.
She doesn't watch the exchange, though. She turns her head to
whisper in Dinah's ear, "I'm leaving, can you get someone to give you a ride?"
"Of course, Lo," Dinah says, knowing Lauren will explain later and lets
Lauren kiss her temple before the green-eyed girl leaves her side.
"Dinah, is she leaving?" Lauren hears Camila ask loudly as she makes
her way out of the house. "I'll go ask her if she wants to play..."
Lauren jogs over to her motorcycle and she is putting on her helmet
when Camila shouts her name to stop her. She doesn't stop, though, and she climbs
the bike as Camila reaches her.
"Please don't go," Camila pleads and there are fresh tears in her eyes.
It saddens Lauren but if there is something that she has learned over the years, is
that she needs to keep her heart safe. "Lauren," Camila cries openly, wrapping her
fingers around Lauren's arm to stop her from leaving.
Lauren's motorcycle comes to life and roars beneath her, making
Camila cry desperately as Lauren avoids her gaze. The green-eyed starts to drive
slowly, hoping Camila lets go of her, but it only makes Camila grip her arm tighter.
"You promised me!" Camila shouts but there is no one around to listen
to her. No one except Lauren and the music coming from inside the house is still loud
enough to drown out Camila's words. "You promised me you weren't going to break
my heart," she adds and now her tears are falling freely down her cheeks.
Lauren swallows the lump in her throat before she speaks. "I gotta
go."
"Are you breaking up with me?" Camila hisses, standing in front of the
motorcycle to stop Lauren from going any further.
"There is nothing to break here, Camila," Lauren insist, feeling tears
forming in her eyes. "God, please just let me go," she cries with trembling lips.
"Baby, you know that means nothing, please stay with me," Camila
tells her, pleads her. "Let's pretend..."
"I can't keep pretending," Lauren cuts her off trying to drive around
Camila.
The brown-eyed girl wipes her cheeks but it does nothing to the new
tears that fall from her eyes. "Please, Lauren, don't go," she says, wrapping her arms
around Lauren's shoulders.

Lauren tries to pull Camila away from her, but the girl is tightly holding on to her, so
Lauren just lets her hold her for a minute or two, not sure if she will ever be between
Camila's arms again.
"I want you, Camz," Lauren says softly and takes off her helmet to
look at Camila properly. "But I don't want to share you," she confesses, wiping her
cheeks with the sleeves of her leather jacket.
"You don't have to share me, I'm yours..."
"No, you're not, Camila," Lauren fights back, but her voice sounds so
tired that all Lauren wants to do is just go and leave this behind. She doesn't have
the strength to keep doing this. Especially when the situation triggers so many bad
memories for her.
"I love you," Camila tells her and it sounds and feels genuine, even
fragile and her tone breaks Lauren's heart.
But it is not enough.
"That's not going to change the fact that I can't hold you or kiss you
whenever I want," Lauren says with a shrug of one shoulder. "I get why your
reputation is important to you and you want to bury the old you but if it's more
important than this then I'm afraid I can't do anything to change your mind," Lauren
says, taking her helmet again to put it on her head.
"Lauren, no, no, no," Camila says crying again, following Lauren down
the path as she starts to drive again. "You're breaking my heart, please don't do
this..."
Lauren stops and looks at Camila straight in the eyes.
"You already broke mine."
And with that, she leaves.
•
"Oh my god, Mani, just fucking go," Lauren complains, watching as
Normani looks over her shoulder for the hundredth time to the girl that is a few tables
away from them.
If Normani likes a girl there is literally no one happier than Lauren, but
Normani is being a nightmare right now and if she doesn't go to this girl's table in a
minute, Lauren will do it herself.
"She's studying, I'm not going to interrupt her," Normani hisses,
sending Lauren a glare.
"I think she's is just doodling," Dinah chimes in, sipping on her
milkshake carelessly and glaring at Normani's crush.
"Come on, Manibear, there's nothing to lose," Ally encourages beside
Lauren, making the green-eyed roll her eyes at Normani.
"Ugh, guys, I don't know..."
Lauren stops listening from the moment she sees Camila walking in.
She is with Hailee and Lauren doesn't know if Camila can feel her eyes or not but
within seconds they are both looking at each other from a distance.
Ally —being the only one that knows what happened between them—
reaches for Lauren's hand under the table and gives her a gentle squeeze. Lauren
takes her eyes away from Camila and keeps looking at Normani.
"Fine, fine, I'll go," the dark-skinned girl relents, standing up from her
chair and making her way towards her crush.
Ally and Dinah are solely focused on the interaction happening a few
tables away, so Lauren takes advantage of the moment and steals a glance towards
Camila.

Camila is already looking at her and considering the fact that the coffee house is
packed to the fullest, Lauren says to herself that this is a massive step for them, even
though nothing has happened in the last couple of weeks.
"Hi," Camila mouths, keeping her eyes on Lauren's face.
Lauren's heart races.
"Hey," Lauren mouths back with a small smile on her lips.
The gesture makes Camila grin and Lauren watches the way Camila
tries to tame down the smile by biting her bottom lip but that only makes Lauren
smile brightly at her.
"I love you," Camila mouths again and Lauren's heart does that weird
thing where it flips between her lungs and thumps against her ribs.
And it is beating harder than ever.
Unable to fight back her laughter, Lauren giggles happily and Camila
laughs too, giving Lauren a bright smile. Fortunately, Dinah and Ally laugh at the
same time Lauren does, so she doesn't get weird looks or something like that and so
Lauren keeps her eyes on Camila as Hailee tells the cashier their orders.
Lauren can hear Ally and Dinah discussing something when Camila
walks in front of Lauren's table and waves at her goodbye. Lauren has to fight back
the urge to blow her a kiss and she realizes that she has missed Camila more than
she ever did before and she would do anything to take her back.
(FYI: Normani gets a date by the end of the night)
•
"Hey, can we talk?"
Lauren turns around and finds Camila against the doorframe of her
locker room, just like she found her months ago.
The green-eyed girl nods her head and watches how Camila slowly
makes her way over her until they are standing side by side against the lockers.
"Can you give me a chance?" Camila asks, turning her head to look at
Lauren. "I won't let you down, I promise."
"I don't know, Camila," Lauren says, looking down and fumbling with
her fingers. "I don't want it to be like before, you know?" she inquires softly, looking
up at the girl she loves. "I want to love you with strings attached but freely. I know it
may sound weird but like, I don't want to hide anymore. I was okay with it before but
what I feel for you got to a point where I can't keep hiding it anymore. I want to call
you mine and I want you to call me yours," she shares sincerely. "My feelings for you
are somehow stronger than before and I do love you, Camz, I do, but I don't want to
love you like this."
"Lauren," Camila says, leaning on her shoulder to face Lauren. "Let
me show you," she says, reaching for Lauren's hand and intertwining their pinkies.
She brings Lauren's hand up to her lips and kisses it softly. "I will show you," she
promises with tender eyes.
"Yeah? What about your reputation?" Lauren asks loudly as Camila
starts to make her way out of the locker room.
"I'm going to win your heart back," is all Camila says before she
leaves Lauren alone but Lauren is not sure if her heart ever stopped being Camila's.
•
It happens faster than Lauren thought.
She is finally done with her classes that day when she finds Ally,
Dinah, and Normani sitting on a bench and talking happily amongst themselves in the
campus yard. Normani is talking about the date she had the day before when Lauren
joins them.

A few minutes later she gets distracted by a familiar figure. Lauren looks up and sees
Camila. The sight makes her heart flutter and her stomach turn into butterflies.
She is not expecting Camila to talk to her. After their conversation a
couple of days before, Lauren doesn't know how she is supposed to act around the
brown-eyed girl so she just keeps talking with her girls until she sees Camila walking
towards her with a couple of daisies in her hand.
The other three girls grow silent after seeing Camila and they look up
curiously at Lauren, knowing that she is the reason as to why Camila is there with
them.
"Hi," Lauren greets, unable to stop the smile that curves her lips.
"What's up?" she asks, unsure if she should talk to Camila at all, even when the girl is
literally in front of her.
"Here, for you," Camila says offering Lauren the daisies and it feels
like time stands still and everyone has stopped doing what they are doing to watch
the interaction.
Seriously, everyone is watching them.
Lauren wraps her fingers around the daisies and giggles, feeling
Camila's arms suddenly around her waist.
There is an immediate murmur going on around but Lauren only has
eyes for the girl who is holding her —and proudly so.
"Why are you giving me these?" she asks curiously, dropping her tone
an octave as she wraps her arms around Camila's neck and pulls her closer to her.
The murmur grows louder.
"Because I love you, Lauren," Camila tells her honestly, shrugging one
shoulder like it is not a big deal.
But for Lauren is. And it means everything for her now.
"I know you do," Lauren replies, brushing her nose against Camila's.
(She is pretty sure she hears somebody screaming "when the fuck did
that happen?" at the top of their lungs.)
"I also wanted to ask you if, you know...Uh, I wanted to know if
maybe you would like to be my girlfriend?" Camila inquiries and seriously, her voice
sounds way too adorable for Lauren to handle. "The past couple of days I've been
thinking a lot," Camila adds before Lauren can answer. "And I've never felt happier or
safer than when I'm with you, you know?" she asks and bites down on her bottom lip.
"You know me like no one else does, Lauren, and I don't want to let that go," Camila
confesses, tightening her hold on Lauren's waist. "I'm aware of how hard it is to find
that and I found it with you so...from now on, no more promises. I'll just show you if
you let me."
Lauren giggles and brings her hands up to tuck a strand of hair behind
Camila's ear. Then, she softly caresses the side of Camila's face with her fingers and
lastly, she locks her green eyes with Camila's browns ones.
And she finally recognizes the glint in Camila's eyes that she couldn't
recognize before.
It is love and Lauren has never been this sure of anything else before.
"I'd like that," she nods for only Camila to hear, "I'll be your girlfriend
if you're mine," she says goofily, gaining a laugh from the girl between her arms.
"I will," Camila says and pulls Lauren in until they are kissing in front
of the whole school. "This will be us now, okay?" Camila asks her in a hushed tone,
once they pull apart. "No masks, no more pretending, just us, alright?"
"Okay," Lauren smiles and kisses her again.
"Alright, lovebirds, how about we go out and celebrate?" Dinah asks,
wrapping her arms around Lauren and Camila who are still wrapped up in a warm
embrace.
"Wait, you're not going to ask me anything?" Lauren looks up at her
best friend confused, just as Normani and Ally join them and Camila finally releases
her.
"Bitch, please," Dinah says flipping her hair to the side. "After the
school's party our dorm smelled like sex and Mila ain't that sneaky," she says, pulling
away from them.
Camila's cheeks turn bright red and she hides her face in her hands.
"Dinah, that was weeks ago," Normani comments with an incredulous
chuckle. She is still surprised with the whole thing, Lauren can tell by the look on her
face.
"Exactly, so these two have some explaining to do," Dinah nods,
taking Ally's hand and forcing her to start making her way to her dorm.
The other girls start to walk and Lauren sees Normani skipping her
way over to where the girl she likes is; Lauren sees her friend wrapping her arms
around the girl's neck and she gets excited when she realizes that now she can do
exactly the same with Camila.
Lauren is starting to walk behind Dinah and Ally when she notices that
Camila is not following them.
She probably has a thousand questions —especially those ones
wondering if Lauren's friends will welcome her—, but Lauren will make everything in
her power to ease those insecurities and so she offers Camila her hand.
"Come with me?"
Camila smiles —that crinkly-eyed smile that Lauren is starting to love
so much— and nods, taking Lauren's hand and lacing their fingers.
"Always."
•••
a/n: this wasn't supposed to be 12k words long lol but i hope you
enjoyed the read(: and thanks to those who vote, comment, share and recommend
😋 have a nice day.
ami, x.