One Life Stand

Chapter Eight

It's been three days since Camila and Lauren had spoken and it was hard to pick who was more bothered by it. Lauren was frustrated, she wanted to fight for Camila but was scared and it wasn't helping that Camila was actively avoiding her. She hasn't even seen Camila around the apartment and the fact that Lauren wasn't being given an opportunity to fix things upset her. Camila, on the other hand, made sure not to bump into Lauren, she was so worried that she had pressured Lauren to make a decision and was worried what the outcome would be. She figured if she didn't hear the answer, there was no way she could be rejected. Camila carefully planned out each day, she basically had Lauren's schedule memorized so that helped. She would wake up before Lauren if she had morning classes or make sure to stay locked in her room until she was sure Lauren had left. Camila would usually be back before Lauren. If not, she made sure to sneak through to her room without being heard. Until today. 

"Shit, sorry" Camila spoke after colliding with a figure. Camila had woken up late and was running through the apartment looking for her laptop. She looked up to see Lauren. "I have to go, I'm late" She turned around quickly, not wanting to face the girl.

"Camila" Lauren called out but Camila was already halfway out the door. Just my luck, Lauren thought.

"Still nothing?" Ally asked from the kitchen, hunched over the counter with a book in one hand and a mug in the other.

"I can't even get two words in!" Lauren threw her hands up in frustration. She missed Camila, she really did, but the space between them was bittersweet. She wanted to talk to her so badly, but she wasn't sure what she would say anyways.

"You going to ask her out?" Ally put the book down, her gaze now at Lauren as both hands enveloped the mug.

"I don't know"

"Do you want a relationship?"

"I do" Lauren walked over, now standing across from Ally.

"Do you want a relationship with Camila?"

"With her more than anyone." Lauren stated.

"And what's the problem, exactly? "

"I'm scared" Lauren whispered so quietly that Ally didn't actually hear her.

"What?" Ally said, raising her voice a little so that Lauren would get the message.

"I'm scared that making things official is basically a death sentence"

"Because?"

"Because I haven't been in a relationship for longer than two months and I'm not gonna do this if we're going to break up in two months."

"You know Camila's been in a relationship for a lot longer right"

"yeah I know" Lauren shook her head as if she were trying to erase the memory. "And she'll expect things from me!"

"Lauren, you're killing me" Ally brought her fingers to her temples. "Camila is only going to expect the bare minimum and I'm more than confidant you can give her a lot more than that. Your entire hesitation is based on the possibility of you messing up, but you realize you're messing up even more by not giving yourself a chance to mess up right?"

"Wait, back up, I'm not following" Lauren leaned over the counter as well now, waiting intently to process exactly what Ally had to say.

"Okay two pieces of advice, and take them with a grain of salt. First, you can't be scared of breaking up when you aren't even dating. I mean come on, Laur,at the rate you're going, next week you'll be worrying about you Camila's mom resenting you because you picked white instead of red roses for your wedding. One step at a time." She stopped to look at Lauren for a few seconds before continuing. "Second, you realize how awkward everything is going to be for the five of us if you give up this early? You're always preaching about wanting the gain to be bigger than the risk, right?" Lauren nodded "Well then make the gain bigger! Right now this relationship is over before it even started. So my final advice is to grow a pair, and go get your girl"