Just Once (Camren)

Chapter One

There's silence for a moment, and Camila doesn't remember when it became so tense between them. It's a pregnant pause, and she swears this is the longest she's ever been quiet around Lauren. When did her own hands become so fascinating?

"Come here."

The words send a twinge of heat to Camila's stomach, and she looks up quickly. Lauren is staring at her, emerald eyes two shades darker than usual, lips parted slightly. She bites her lip and studies Camila's face, desperately trying to gauge her reaction.

Unsure of what else to do (and really, really wanting to find out what will happen if she obeys Lauren's request), Camila crawls closer to Lauren, the floor hard beneath the fabric of her jeans. She leaves a few inches of space between them, not sure just how close Lauren meant for her to come.

Lauren's gaze travels from Camila's eyes down to Camila's lips, lingering on the fullness of them. As if it hadn't already occurred to Camila what Lauren wanted to do, the realization hits her hard, and her heart begins to thrum quickly against her ribs. Are they going to kiss? Are they going to do more than kiss?

The taller girl averts her eyes back to Camila's looking into them questioningly. "Is this - are you okay? Like." Lauren clears her throat and looks at the ground. "Do you want to?"

Camila's head is spinning, and the room feels like it's shrinking. "Yeah," she breathes, watching the way Lauren's eyes seem to sparkle with her response, body growing calmer.

There are no established boundaries. No plans, no discussion of what this might do to their friendship, no thoughts of the negative consequences that might come out of kissing your bandmate (and best friend). Camila's weight is rested on her arms as she watches Lauren start to lean into her, eyes flitting over each of her facial features.

She can feel Lauren's breath against her mouth as she starts to lean in, too. There's not a large distance in between their lips, but as it grows smaller, Camila feels like she's going to explode if she doesn't kiss Lauren. If she doesn't have Lauren in this way, at least. She'll take her in any way that she can get her.

That's it. Their lips are a centimeter apart, noses bumping together softly as Camila turns her head to the left slightly. They're there. They're going to kiss.

Lauren closes the small distance, pushing forward against Camila's lips softly. Camila feels it- she feels everything: the warmth of Lauren's mouth on her own; the temperature of the air go up; the soft pounding of her heart. It's perfect.

Their lips move slowly against each other; Lauren brings her hand up to rest against the back of Camila's neck, pulling her closer. Camila pulls Lauren's bottom lip between her own, tasting her red lipstick.

It's all too good. It's so good, that when Camila hears a noise, she finds it hard to pull away. Lauren's other hand has moved to rest on her knee, and she doesn't want to lose the taste of her lipstick. But then she hears it again, and she realizes that if they get caught, she might never see Lauren again.

That thought is terrifying enough to make her pull back, releasing Lauren's lip with a pop. Lauren looks confused, but then the sound comes again, and Camila recognizes it as footsteps. Lauren's eyes widen she nods in acknowledgement of Camila's smart action.

They grow louder, and Camila scoots farther away from Lauren. She bites the inside of her cheek nervously, looking up just in time for Ally to walk into the room, half-asleep.

The small girl blinks. "Guys? What're you still up for?"

Camila knows that she's blushing. She looks down at the ground, opening and closing her mouth multiple times, unsure of what to say.

Lauren clears her throat. "Couldn't sleep," she says, voice sounding higher than usual. Camila hopes more than ever that Ally doesn't notice. "Why'd you get up?"

Ally sighs, running a hand through her messy hair. "I was gonna get water. But hey, you guys should probably get some sleep. We're waking up pretty early for that plane ride tomorrow." Her eyes move between Camila and Lauren, looking concerned.

They're all silent for a minute before Camila nods, eyes flicking to Lauren in apology. "Yeah," she agrees, slowly rising from her spot on the floor. She prays that if there's any remnant of Lauren's lipstick on her mouth, Ally doesn't notice it. "Goodnight, guys."

With that, she stalks off to her bunk, the complete opposite of tired. The feeling of Lauren's warm mouth against hers is fresh in her mind, and she has a feeling that it will be for a while. She pulls off her jeans and drops them next to her bunk, leaving her loose t-shirt on.

As she crawls into the bunk, pulling the covers over her body, she has a feeling sleep won't come easily to her. The same will probably go for Lauren - if that kiss was as good for her as it was for Camila.