Faking It | Wattys 2022

Chapter 22

Camila sunk into her chair, the bland cup of coffee that had gone cold a while ago staring right back at her. She had been stuck in meetings all day and spent the majority of her lunch trying to fix the security breach that happened while she was in Miami with Lauren.

"I'm going to throw myself off of a bridge," Camila said under her breath, looking up from the paperwork in front of her when she hears the door opening.

"Can I get the keys to your brownstone before you jump?"

Camila blinked in surprise. "What are you doing here? I thought you had a yoga class with Normani?"

"I just got out," Lauren gestured to her sweaty workout attire. "I figured you'd want some banh mi from your favorite sandwich place,"

"I'm starving," her stomach growled. "God, I could kiss you right now,"

The tips of Lauren's ears turned a soft pink as she cleared her throat and placed the small plastic bag down in front of Camila.

"I got your usual and some iced coffee,"

"Come here," Camila rose from her seat, practically throwing herself across her desk to kiss the corner of Lauren's mouth. "You're heaven-sent, thank you,"

"So," she cleared her throat. "I thought we could talk a little bit before you spend the rest of your days yelling at old white men,"

Camila signaled for her to sit down as she took a large bite out of the sandwich. "I'm all ears,"

"We have to figure out a breakup story," Lauren said bluntly. "And it has to be something believable, Taylor is a little bit nosier than Chris is... So, she'll probably try to do some digging to see if it's actually true."

She nearly choked on her sandwich, putting it down on the parchment paper it came wrapped in. "I thought we agreed to talk about this after New York?"

"I was thinking maybe I could call her and complain a bit—foreshadowing, I guess you can say."

"Lauren," Camila frowned. "I know my dad kind of fucked up the timeline we had set, but that doesn't mean we have to rush it. We're good where we are, aren't we?"

"We can't keep living in this..." Lauren made some weird gesture with her hands. "Fairytale story that we created to deceive everybody."

"Would it be so wrong if we did?"

Lauren's scalp prickled as she shifted nervously in the chair. "Camila, can you be serious for one second?"

Camila didn't bother saying anything right away, understanding that Lauren was dodging her question on her purpose. Sure, she may have caught feelings amidst their fake relationship, but that doesn't mean Lauren did too.

"You could say that with my new position at the company, I wasn't home enough. That me being away so much didn't help our barely developed relationship."

"She's going to think you're the bad guy,"

"And?" Camila shrugged. "It's believable, isn't it?"

"Well, yes, but I don't want any of us to look like the 'bad guy'."

"There's no way we both get of this unscathed," the dark-haired woman twisted her mouth to the side. "I knew that when I approached you with the contract. You shouldn't be the one getting the bad end of the stick when it wasn't even your idea."

"Camz..." Lauren's eyebrows knit together in frustration. "Are you sure about this?"

"I think I've bothered you enough—forcing you to dress up and meet my parents, dragging you around the city where I know people will see us. This is the least I can do for you."