Serendipity // Camren

Chapter 24

Late afternoon found Lauren once again in the kitchen while Camila was sprawled across the couch in the great room, her nose buried in her working copy of their script, trying to memorize her lines for the coming week. Lauren, for her part, was busy slicing squash and zucchini into thin rounds while the lasagna noodles boiled and the sauce simmered on the stove behind her. She was cheating a little, using a canned sauce instead of making one from scratch, but she knew that with a little fresh basil and garlic thrown in that it would be nearly as good as homemade.

Lauren smiled as the Pandora station that was playing at a decent volume in the background – because Camila swore she learned better if there was music playing – switched to one of her favorite Melody Gardot songs.

"Deep within your heart you know it's plain to see... like Adam was to Eve, you were made for me," she sang quietly as she set her knife down and turned to have a look at the noodles and to give the sauce a stir. Everything was shaping up nicely. "They say the poisoned vine, breeds a finer wine... our love is easy," she crooned, smiling at the lyrics as she turned her attention to the microwave tucked under the island and turned it on, setting the mixing bowl full of tofu, Italian seasoning, and more garlic spinning on the glass tray.

After the morning's dramatics, for lack of a better word, the day had shaped up to be rather nice. A little lovemaking in the morning followed up by a light breakfast of fruit and coffee and then they just spent the afternoon lazing on the couch going over lines. Once Lauren was satisfied with her own work and Camila insisted she could learn hers on her own, the raven-haired woman got to indulge in one of her favorite activities – a little light reading. Any day that she could lounge on the couch and reread Alice in Wonderland was a good day. Music had played constantly in the background, shifting from pop to rock to jazz, depending on when one of their moods changed and who had the clicker to control the internet radio that was fed through the blue-ray player. The day had been remarkably comfortable.

Easy.

And now, as the sun was beginning to inch below the horizon, Lauren was doing her best to try and make up for the fact that their celebrity prohibited her from taking Camila out like she had wanted to. "I like the touch of your hand, the way you make no demands, our love is easy," she sang as she turned off the timer for the noodles and then turned off the burner. She carried the large pan over to the sink to drain, leaving the pasta sitting in the colander as she bustled about, gathering everything she would need to actually make the lasagna onto the island. The microwave dinged that it, too, was finished and she hummed along with the music as she bent down to retrieve the tofu mixture that was going to be her 'cheese' in the lasagna which was now perfectly melted.

"Do you need any help?" Camila called out over the back of the couch.

"Nope, I got it," Lauren answered as she flicked the heat off on the stove and went to grab the lasagna noodles from the sink. She set the colander onto a dishtowel to catch any drips and carried it over to the island where she was working.

"You sure?" Camila asked.

Lauren looked up at the brunette who was on her knees, forearms crossed over the back of the couch as she looked into the kitchen. "I'm sure, Camz. I can't take you out, so let me do this much for you. Please?"

Camila smiled at Lauren's desire to do this on her own and nodded. "Well, since you said 'please'."

Lauren grinned and tipped her head. "Thank you."

Camila blew Lauren a kiss before she turned back around and curled up in the corner of the sofa so that she could both study her lines and occasionally watch Lauren in the kitchen. Which, if she was being completely honest, was how she'd spent most of the day. Half working, half just staring at the woman beside her, wondering how in the hell she had gotten so lucky. Never before in a relationship had she felt so immediately comfortable with somebody. Granted, her history with Lauren made this relationship different from all the others, but it was still so easy to sit back and just be with her.