weak ➸ camren

chapter 8 ➸ she's trying

Lauren practically ran through the grocery store to grab the things she and Camila would need to take care of the tiny bird. She'd spent a fair share of money to accommodate them both in the past few days. Not like it was much of a problem for her, though. She tapped her foot impatiently while the cashier shamelessly tried to flirt with her. When he asked for her number, she pretended not to hear him and hurried out of the store, through the parking lot, and to her car.

As soon as she opened the door to the house, Camila was by her side, pulling her into the kitchen.

"He just made the cutest noise, Lauren, you missed it," she said, leaning over the crate and studying the small bird intently. Lauren laughed and walked over to set the bags on the counter. She could feel Camila's eyes boring into her as she started unpacking them.

"That's a lot of food for one little bird," Camila said hesitantly.

"It's not all for the bird," Lauren said. She walked over and set a can of cat food, a container of eggs, and a special formula she'd gotten at the pet store down in front of Camila. "Those are. The rest is for us."

"Wh-what?" Camila asked. She quickly crossed the kitchen and started looking through the bags. Her heart sped up and she looked at Lauren anxiously.

Lauren walked beside of Camila and started unloading the bags. Black beans, quinoa grain, green peppers, corn, all made their way to the counter in-between them. Lauren had bought ingredients so her and Camila could make dinner together.

When Lauren was younger, she hated onions. She'd pick them out of every meal, much to her mother's annoyance. Finally, her mother grew fed up with how picky she was, and made Lauren help her prepare dinner one night. Lauren had been in charge of chopping onions, and she was so proud of herself for contributing to the meal, that she didn't bother picking them out that night.

Lauren had hoped this would work on Camila, too. That maybe if they made dinner together, Camila would want to try a little of something they'd worked so hard on. She also thought that if Camila saw exactly everything that went into making their meal, she'd realize it wasn't all that bad for her.

"I figured we'd make dinner together," Lauren said, turning to Camila. "I got stuff for Quinoa salad. My mom used to make it a lot and it's supposed to be super healthy. Plus it tastes good," she gave Camila a soft smile and disposed of the grocery bags.

"B-but I..." Camila started but Lauren took a step towards her and Camila quickly hushed. Lauren placed a hand on her shoulder and made sure Camila was looking at her.

"You don't have to eat anything, okay? I'm not going to force you to. I just thought it'd be something fun to do together."

Camila nodded softly and swallowed, realizing how close they were to one another. She didn't like being touched. She hated physical contact.

"Awesome," Lauren smiled, removing her hand from Camila's shoulder and grabbing a chopping board. She set it down in front of Camila and set a bowl in-between them.

"What a-?" Camila was cut off when Lauren tossed an onion at her. Camila scrambled to catch it before it fell to the floor.

"Chop it," Lauren said, digging through the doors and handing Camila a knife. The small girl looked at the blade like she'd never seen one before in her life. Lauren grew confused.

"It's a knife," Lauren giggled. Camila nodded quickly and started peeling the onion.

"I know. I just don't get to use one much," she shrugged, causing Lauren to raise an eyebrow.

"What?"

"I mean, we weren't even allowed to have forks in rehab. And on tour I never cooked, so..." Camila scraped the outer layer of skin off of the onion and threw it away. Lauren watched her closely.