Glory And Gore (5H AU)

Chapter 11 - Nursery Dury

For the first time in her entire life, Lauren is at a complete loss for words.
Car horns, hollering tourists, and blasting music all fill the empty space between them, but it's not like either notices. In their world, it's as silent as possible, the only sound to be heard is the gears turning in Lauren's head as she tries to compute the bomb that Camila has just dropped on her.
In this situation, Lauren honestly has no idea what to do.
Which is a good thing, because Camila hiccups and clamps her eyes shut, holding up a finger to silence the already speechless captain. The smaller girl shakes her head vigorously, tangled brown hair flying in every direction. "We're not talking about this."
Lauren reaches out, grabbing the girl by the wrist softly to make sure she doesn't throw her off balance. She tries to keep her voice soft, not wanting to startle her disoriented roommate. "Camila-"
The brunette turns looking up at Lauren with furrowed eyebrows, blinking those pools of melted chocolate brown right back up at her. As soon as their gazes meet, Camila shuts her eyes again and turns around. She yanks her hands away from the taller girl, her back still to her.
"No," she hisses, her voice harsh and her words caustic, "You're not just going to do the thing and expect me to open up. Fuck off."
Lauren takes a careful step forward, reaching out once again for the shorter girl. "Camila, just say something-"
"What's there to say?" Camila shrieks, tossing her hands up in the air with a sickeningly pained laugh. She tosses her head back, chuckling at the sky before locking her gaze on the captain, who watches in complete shock. Lauren stares at the girl, her mouth agape as the shorter brunette continues, her cheeks staining a ruddy red color and her eyes threatening to overflow.
"Six-year-old Karla doesn't know how to control herself," Camila scoffs, speaking with a dismembered tone as if she's simply telling another girl's story. "She gets in a fight with her daddy over some stupid toy, wakes up in the middle of the night and her home is burning down around her."
She bends down to pick up a few pebbles on the ground, letting out another humorless laugh as she tosses one of the rocks in a random direction.
"Bye, bye, mommy."
She tosses the second rock.
"Bye, bye, daddy."
She hesitates before throwing the third rock, biting down on her lip to try and keep herself from crying. She exhales sharply and hurls the last pebble with all her might.
"Bye, bye, little sister I never got to meet."
She spins in a circle, her movements wobbly but still balanced enough to keep the girl upright. Lauren can see Camila's fingertips glowing, even as she tries to dig her nails into her palms to ball her fists. Her voice is an aggressive, snappy narrative, taking short pauses to let out chuckles of irritation or basic anger.
"So, there's a recruiter passing through Miami that night, right? Freak accidents just don't happen, and he knows how to pick up on bullshit. So, six-year-old Karla gives up the life she destroyed to start a new one. She hates her first name, she hates herself, and the closest thing to family she has is an orphaned older girl with super speed and another girl close to her age sent over from the UK after being abandoned by her parents."
Lauren swallows the lump in her throat, overwhelmed by the charged confession her roommate is pouring out to her. She exhales quietly, her voice a gentle whisper as she makes the connection, "Demi and Jade."
"Flash forward and ten years later, I still can't control myself," Camila spits, her voice cracking as she reaches her peak of pure anger. "Some things never change, Lern. I'm always gonna be a monster and we can't fix that with some superhero training and a skin-tight costume."
Lauren clenches her jaw, knowing she doesn't want to let her teammate go any further. She sheds her jacket, draping it over the brunette's shoulders as she grabs Camila's arm and leads her to the bus. "Go sleep in the back."
"But that's Ally's-" Camila begins, before Lauren clamps a hand over her mouth, taking her through the door.
"Trust me, when you're all hungover, you'll appreciate it," the older girl murmurs, taking the girl past the concerned eyes of their teammates and into the back room. After watching Camila tumble onto the mattress, the captain lets out a sigh of exhaustion and turns to face the eldest Team 5 member. None of the girls ask any questions, knowing the answers will come when they're ready to talk.
"Hey, Sunshine?"
Ally lifts her head from her snack at the table. "Yeah, Lolo?"
"Can Camila take the back room for the ride? She's kind of... Not doing too hot," Lauren chuckles humorlessly, biting on the inside of her cheek. "I have a feeling she's gonna be puking a majority of the drive."
Ally nods compassionately. She covers her mouth as she stretches, a quiet yawn escaping her lips. She looks over at the hybrid, who has a stuffed tiger given as a present from the guy who ran the circus gift shop. "Yeah, Dinah can stay back there with her to make sure she's good. Right, DJ?"
"I can take care of Mila," Dinah confirms, nodding her head as she heads over to the back room, tiger under her arm as she quietly closes the door behind her.
"Thanks, guys," Lauren calls out, knowing the hybrid can hear her. She groans and cracks her neck, stepping up into her bunk.
"You look like you've seen a ghost," Normani chuckles, watching her friend's lethargic movements. "Where did you end up finding Camila?"
"She found me," Lauren corrects her, a haunted, distant shell of herself as she thinks over the confession her teammate has just made to her. She clamps her eyes shut, letting her head hit the pillow as Ally turns off all of the lights. "I think we all just need to sleep and get on the road as soon as possible."
"Alright then, ladies. Good night," Demi coos happily, shutting her curtain.
So after a few hours of rest, Lauren doesn't even notice as the bus pulls out of the lot and heads back on the 16-hour drive back home. She wakes up somewhere in California, nearly halfway through the trip, due to the retching noises Camila is making from the back of the RV. She peeks her head out of her bunk and spots Camila out of the crack of the door, bent over a trash bag that Ally is holding up for her. Dinah is frowning and holding Camila's hair up, softly patting her friend on the back as the Latina gags up the contents of her stomach.
Normani and Lauren opt to stay up in the front, knowing that having any more people in the room would probably not be helpful. The drive is much more tense on the return, and Lauren blames it mostly on the fact that she's still completely in shock from the events with Camila from last night. By the time they get back to campus, Lauren and Normani are almost too eager to get out of the bus, greeting the humid Seattle air with joy as they breathe away the stresses the mission carried along with them.
After unpacking the luggage hatch, Lauren and Normani look up to find the other 3/5ths of their team coming down from the bus, Ally and Demi carrying most of the remaining possessions and Dinah carrying Camila down bridal-style with the utmost of care and concern.
"You feelin' better, Princess?" Lauren chuckles, holding her roommate's bags for her as the hybrid sets the girl down on her feet.
Camila lets out a soft groan and squints her eyes to keep the cloudy sunlight out of her eyes. "Uh, no. I need a warm shower."
The pair wave to their teammates, heading back on their own to the dorm. Lauren doesn't mention the fact that she's carrying Camila's bags as well, knowing the girl is probably miserable right about now. "Go for it."
"Thanks," the brunette nods appreciatively, dragging her feet as they walk across the quad.
Lauren chuckles, glancing over her teammate's tired features as the Epsilon dorm comes into view. "So, nursery duty, eh?"
"Yeah, it'll be the perfect way to finish off a miserable day of school, practice, and stress," Camila snorts, rolling her eyes. She winces at her own voice, lowering the volume significantly.
"I hope you know I think it's totally bogus that they're busting you," Lauren informs her, keeping her voice low to try and avoid aggravating Camila's hangover any further.
"I'm over it," the brunette shrugs. "Two weeks can't be that bad. I just think Ariana will be pissed about not getting to hang out."
"Hey, what about me?" Lauren pouts, nudging the pyrokinetic playfully in the shoulder as she holds the door open for the two of them to enter the building. "I might miss your nasty banana peels all over the room."
"I'll miss you the least," Camila grins, letting out an exaggerated sigh as she traverses up the stairs to their floor. Lauren follows behind, the bags beginning to remind her just how exhausted she is. The shorter girl purses her lips, unlocking the door promptly as soon as they get to the correct floor. "It just sucks that I have to do this on my own."
"I gotcha," Lauren nods in understanding, before collapsing straight into her bed. "I don't know what time it is and I don't care. I'm going to enjoy my last night of no practice. Sleep tight, Princess."
Camila waves and gathers a few things before escaping into their bathroom and shutting the door behind her. Lauren's not quite sure how long she is asleep, but she wakes to find two warm brown orbs staring right back at her, a sliver of moonlight from the window shining down in a single streak down her face.
"I forgot the lullaby, didn't I?" Lauren chuckles, coughing the rasp out of her voice. The younger girl nods timidly, cuddling up into her own sheets as she continues staring back at Lauren from her bed.
"Can you sing that one, by The Lumineers?" Camila requests, her voice a feeble whisper as she gives Lauren a hopeful smile.
"The one with that chorus?"
"Yeah."
"I gotcha."
She personally loves the song, finding the lyrics to "Stubborn Love" to be both moving and understandable all at once. Camila knocks out almost instantly, until all that's left of the brunette is the quiet whistle of her slumbering breaths.
The next day drags along, each of the girls letting out their individual complaints as they trudge out of their sixth period, preparing to eat before heading out to restart their usual cycle and getting back to training.
Lauren is supposed to go with the girls to Ally and Normani's dorm and call Tori on her way there, but when a genius idea comes to her out of nowhere, she knows she can't ignore the pulsating screams of her conscience to listen to the plan her brain has formulated.
Hit by a sudden wave of inspiration, the brunette hikes her backpack up even higher over her shoulder and deviates from the group, turning instead to walk in the opposite direction as she picks up her pace.
"Lauren, aren't you gonna join us for lunch?" Normani asks curiously, the first to notice their captain's separation from the group. "We always eat together before practice."
"I have something I need to do," Lauren replies hurriedly, rushing towards the large building over in the distance. She waves the girl away calmly, grinning at the blue-haired shapeshifter. "I'll see you guys in the Colosseum though. Don't worry about it."
After she practically runs into his office (the front desk attendant practically adores any top 5 team member and would probably let them get away with murder. Just another perk of being Captain of Team 5), Lauren entirely tips over one of the chairs as she fumbles towards the headmaster's desk.
"I'd like to sign up to volunteer in the nursery."
The man lets out a chuckle of entertainment, his eyes remaining glued to the monitor of his computer as he simply continues scrolling down. "Not likely. Get back to work, Jauregui."
The girl pouts, narrowing her eyes at him down from across the table. She folds her arms over her chest, and it's then that she realizes these confrontations with Cowell are becoming a sort of habit. "So what, the nursery is only assigned as punishment?"
The man nods uninterestedly. "Exactly."
Lauren rolls her eyes at his complete lack of interest, always one to be irritated by apathy. She glances around the room, waiting for inspiration to strike at the perfect time like it always does.
And luckily, her brain has never failed her, and doesn't intend to start now.
"Mr. Cowell, I hope you know that I have the utmost of respect for you as a superior and as an educator," she begins, taking slow, calculated steps backwards. She keeps her gaze focused on the man, who can't be bothered to look up, which only further fuels her frustration.
"But it was your daughter who taught me that a captain can never abandon her teammates."
By the time he realizes what Lauren is up to, he's milliseconds too late to keep the captain from completing her stubbornly-rooted mission.
By the end of practice, Lauren is practically sauntering across the field towards the bleachers. Partially due to the fact that she can hardly feel her legs, partially due to the rush of adrenaline from what she had just done. She's convinced she's out of the woods, at least until her trainer singles her out with a terrifying yell.
"Jauregui."
Despite their captain being the only one called, all the other girls turn curiously to hear the aggressive voice of the trainer, each one with their own theory of what Lauren did this time.
"Yes ma'am?" The captain answers calmly, stopping in her tracks to spin and face her trainer with a polite nod.
"My father just texted me and told me what you did," Jojo informs her, holding up her pager with an unreadable (yet unamused) expression.
The rest of the team turn amongst themselves, each sharing questioning looks about what the hell Lauren had actually done. The air is silent as the captain prepares for the verbal attack of a punishment, clenching her fists and tensing her body to prepare for impact.
Jojo comes up and plants a playful spank on the captain's rear, walking past her nonchalantly as she retrieves the Team 5 binder from next to her own bag. She chuckles, walking away from the girls in the direction of her own dorm. "I am immensely proud of you, kid."
Camila is already hurrying out to get to the nursery on time, not wanting to add tardiness to her list of questionable work ethics. Knowing she has no time to explain, Lauren simply gives Ally a big hug, letting the older girl watch the entire scene play out before swooping up her bag, waving to the rest of the girls, and bolting right out of the building.
She uses the map on her pager to make her way to the nursery, stopping by the cafeteria on her way to pick up exactly two to-go meals.
When Camila sees her team captain swaggering through the doors and into the building of the nursery with her bags and two boxes of takeout, she's understandably confused.
"What the hell are you doing?" The younger girl questions, watching her nonchalant captain simply grin in response.
"I may or may not have blasted a hole through the wall of the headmaster's office with a chunk of ice. Two weeks detention, after practice here," Lauren explains, even going so far as to puff up her chest in pride.
"Why the hell would you do that?" A wide-eyed Camila shrieks.
"Because, he wouldn't let me just come and volunteer, and I was not about to let my teammate go through this alone," Lauren chuckles, nudging the smaller brunette in the ribs playfully.
Camila shakes her head in disbelief, letting out a laugh of pure shock. "You'd ruin all your free time to spend it in a nursery with me for the next two weeks?"
The older girl grins and motions to herself. "I'm here, aren't I?"
The brown-eyed girl tosses her head back as she laughs even harder, in complete disbelief that her captain would sacrifice two weeks of free time to keep her company in the nursery. She points at the taller girl, the smile on her face practically lighting up the room. "You, Lauren Jauregui, are crazy."
Lauren smirks and swats her hand away. "Oh yeah, well I'm crazy for you."
Camila quirks an eyebrow at her smugly, crossing her arms over her chest as she simply smirks at the captain. It takes an older girl a quick beat to process the situation before she realizes the slip-up and holds her hands up defensively, green eyes going wide. "Wait, that came out wrong."
"No, I gotcha," Camila winks, using the phrase Lauren had repeated at least twice that day.
"Hey, guys!" Rita greets cheerfully, stepping out of one of the halls towards them. She smiles brightly, messy hair tied up into a bun and paint splattered across her apron. She motions for the girls to follow her, and the trio head through the hall as the recruiter offers each of them a hair tie.
"The usual nursery attendant is out on leave, so I volunteered to help keep this place running. The other staffers are busy with the kids, so I'm gonna leave you two to handle the infants. Shouldn't be too bad. All you're in charge of is formula distribution, diaper changing, and putting them to bed. If one cries, handle it. You're free to go at 9," the blonde smiles, watching as Camila pulls up all her hair into a ponytail while Lauren opts to simply leave it down. After a moment of processing all the information just told to them, the captain's eyes nearly bug out of her head as Rita leads them into the infant room.
"Formula distribution?" Lauren croaks nervously.
"Baby formula," Camila clarifies with a chuckle, motioning to the cans of white powder on the counters.
Lauren lets out a sigh of relief, her body relaxing significantly as she clears her throat. "Oh yeah, um, I knew that."
"Anyways, all you have to do is call if you have any problems. I'll be here as soon as I can. Good luck, girls," Rita smiles encouragingly, before strolling out of the room and shutting the door behind her.
The pair turn to examine the room full of cradles and baby toys and walkers, the shrieking cries of several infants piercing their ears. Almost by instinct, the older brunette steps forward and grabs the first crying baby she finds, rocking him back and forth as she bounces. She points behind Camila at the supplies. "Go get some bottles ready and open a pack of diapers.
"You know how to hold a baby?" The younger girl asks incredulously, raising her eyebrows in genuine surprise as she turns to read the instructions on the can.
"And feed and burp and change a diaper," Lauren informs her, tossing her hair over her shoulder in an attempt to show off. She holds the baby away for a moment to examine him, wrinkling her nose at him as he stops crying and instead smiles up at her with two big blue eyes. "May I remind you that I have two younger siblings and a plethora of little cousins."
Camila huffs and shakes the bottle, using the warmth from her hands to warm the liquid inside them. She smirks at Lauren, motioning for her to take the lead. "Alright then, Captain, let's do this."
The pair work well together on the field and off, and this little endeavor is no different. After a quick lesson on proper baby-handling techniques from her captain, the girls manage to handle a majority of the infants and send them back to sleep with little to no struggle. When it comes to the most difficult part of caring for babies, in Lauren's opinion, Camila is just as reluctant as the captain knew she would be.
"You can't be afraid to get in there, Cupcake," Lauren encourages, keeping her arms crossed as she watches the pyrokinetic simply stare at the baby's messy, bare butt. "That shit isn't gonna wipe itself."
"I'm not sticking my fingers anywhere near that crevice," Camila replies hastily, glaring back over at the taller brunette as she keeps the baby's legs suspended in the air.
"You have a wet wipe! You're fine," Lauren groans. "Quit being a pussy, hurry up before she-"
Just before she finishes the sentence, the infant completely disappears, gaining a small squeal of shock from Camila as she remains holding onto the baby's now unseeable legs.
The green-eyed girl exhales sharply and pinches the bridge of her nose with her thumb and pointer finger. "God dammit, Camila, when you take too long she turns invisible!"
"Hey look," Camila grins cheekily. "We finally found someone as pale as you."
The taller (and, admittedly, quite pale) girl simply glares at her teammate, unamused with the comment.
"Okay, so if I can't see the poop, I can't wipe it. Problem solved," the younger girl shrugs, smirking playfully at the captain.
Lauren rolls her eyes, but the smile still manages to escape her lips. She steps closer, cradling the invisible infant's head as soon as she can find it to try and encourage her to change back. "You never thanked me for this."
Camila raises an eyebrow. "For what?"
"For putting my ass on the line to come and keep you company," Lauren informs her, smirking at the pyrokinetic as she leans against the changing table. She uses a playfully irritated tone, feigning frustration as she waits for the baby to cooperate. "I have a hella hot girlfriend who would happily come and cuddle but instead I'm here, changing diapers and wiping snot from the noses of baby mutants."
Camila rolls her eyes, letting out a snort as she giggles. "Asshole."
"I'll take that as a compliment," the captain grins, reaching over to shove her teammate gently on the shoulder. When the baby girl finally decides to become visible again, both girls let out a sigh of relief and get back to work. Camila grimaces, but goes on and wipes the baby clean like she was supposed to do. She takes the diaper and the dirty wipe and balls them up, heading over to toss them in the trash as Lauren handles doing the powder and the new diaper.
Camila finishes washing her hands before letting out a quiet sigh, biting her tongue as she searches for the appropriate tone to use. She goes for the same playful approach the older girl had used a few moments ago, leaning against the counter as she swallows her pride and looks over at her older teammate.
"Thank you, Lauren. You're the most irritating human being I think I've ever met, but I know that you'll somehow always be there when I need it," she tells her, rolling her eyes as the brunette looks up and smirks at her. Camila ignores it and continues, having already thought out her entire speech. "You're constantly saying 'I got you, I gotcha.' And you mean it. You always have my back, and I appreciate that."
The room is quiet for a few moments, and Camila is just waiting for some snarky reply from her roommate that will undoubtedly make her hate Lauren even more. Lauren checks her pager for the time, then takes the infant back to her crib. She passes by Camila to wash her hands, swooping down to grab her backpack and practice bag as she smirks at the pyrokinetic.
"And that's how you change a diaper," is all Lauren says before heading out the door.
Camila stands in complete shock, convinced that someone has taken over Lauren's body and has replaced her annoying roommate with someone who doesn't find joy in irritating her. She rushes to gather her things before following after the captain, who turns and adds one last thing as they walk out of the building.
"You're singing to me tonight, you hear me, Princess?"
Aaaaand she's back, Camila thinks to herself, before she grins.
"I was wondering when you'd say something like that. You had me worried, Jauregui."
The next day passes by before they know it, and before long, it's right after their Wednesday team breakfast. Lauren walks to class with the girls as usual, but Normani is the first to notice the extra bounce in her step. Ally suggests it's the interaction with the children, but Lauren can tell that her teammate is suggesting it as an excuse and not a genuine answer. So the captain gives her an appreciative nod and goes with it, because she's obviously never going to admit that maybe, just maybe, she kind-of sort-of likes hanging out with Camila on her own.
So, the day passes, and by the time they get to the nursery, the babies are already mostly asleep, much to the pleasant surprise of the girls. A few soothing chords from Camila's ukelele help lull them all off to a deep slumber, and they've now got a free hour to kill. The girls spend it as a study hall, working on the homework from today that they should have been doing earlier.
They both work near the counter, since there are no seats in the room to avoid having the infants bump into something when they're wandering around in the morning. Lauren is on the squishy foam floor, lying on her stomach and using her binder as a hard surface to write on. Camila writes on the counter itself, standing beside it and leaning her hip into it.
"Cupcake."
"What?"
"I need help with #4."
"On what sheet?"
"Case Studies."
"I'm working on Evasion Tactics."
Lauren blinks in disbelief at how fast her teammate blasted through her work. "Did you already finish the Case Studies worksheet?"
"Yes," Camila answers calmly.
"Can you help me?"
"No," she answers, just as calmly.
"Don't be a meanie," Lauren pouts, after having been reprimanded yesterday for swearing around the children. She stands up, hopping up onto her feet as she glares playfully at her teammate, setting her binder and pencil down on the counter. "I'm warning you now, don't make me seduce you."
Camila seems genuinely entertained by this threat, letting out a cackle as she tosses her head back. She grins patronizingly at Lauren, which only fuels the captain's fire.
"You couldn't seduce me if you were Karlie Kloss herself," Camila laughs.
Lauren furrows her eyebrows, always hating when her threats don't get taken seriously. "Is that a challenge?"
"Uh, no. It's a fact," the younger Latina grins, catching her breath as she returns her focus to the paper in front of her.
Lauren still takes it as a challenge.
The two sit in silence again for a few minutes, as Lauren turns into the ultimate seductress she know she can be. She's seduced Camila before, that one time when she was about to go out on her first date with Tori, but that was nothing more than a little harmless teasing. But it got her what she wanted and it was fun as hell to see Camila react like that, so she prepares herself to find her inner siren and mess with Camila until her mission is accomplished.
She leans onto the counter, folding her arms across her chest as her hip presses into the smooth wood to support her body weight. She takes in a deep breath, narrows her eyes, and locks onto her target as if they're the only two people in the world.
It takes less than a minute before Camila gets twitchy, tapping her pencil against the counter irritatedly as she feels the captain's unwavering gaze. Finally fed up, she drops the pencil onto the counter and turns to face the older girl, letting out a huff of irritation.
"Lauren-"
"Don't move," she immediately cuts the younger girl off, holding up a finger to silence her as the emerald smolder only intensifies.
"Why?" Camila questions, although she does as she's told and keeps her profile facing the captain.
Lauren shakes her head as if the reasoning is not important, her gaze softening and her words curt. "I'm staring."
Camila stands up straight, glaring at her captain with a confused squint as she realizes there's no true important reasoning to obey the order. "Why are you staring at me?"
Lauren, already having predicted her roommate's answer, smirks to herself, completely pleased with how her plan is playing out. She takes a single, slow step towards Camila, never once breaking eye contact. "If we were in an art exhibit, would you be asking why I'm staring at a painting?"
"No," the younger girl responds with a raised eyebrow, although it's more of a question than an answer because frankly, she has no idea what the hell is going on.
"Why?" Lauren questions, motioning for her to continue.
Camila's eyebrows knit together, even more confused than she was to start with. Her words come out slowly, as if she's worried to say the wrong thing, or not answer the question correctly. "Because you're admiring the art."
Lauren's eyes smolder at Camila, a faint smirk playing on her lips. "Exactly."
It's the reddish burn of her cheeks that make Lauren grin, watching Camila turn away hurriedly and roll her eyes in an attempt to hide how embarrassed she is. "I'm not art."
"But you're beautiful, and you make me feel things. That's art. So, I'm gonna stare," Lauren tells her, the conviction in her voice enough to move mountains. The younger girl refuses to look at her, focusing down instead at the paper in front of her with a nervous bite of her lip and a shaky hand. And it's these signs that cause Lauren's confidence to build, encouraging her to keep pushing forward with the comments. She lowers her voice to a raspy murmur, turning to face Camila with a smoldering gaze as she adds one last comment, just to try and get the reaction she's seeking.
Lauren's mouth moves in, her warm breath tickling against Camila's ear as she watches the girl struggle to keep a steady breathing rate, especially after her next comment.
"And honestly, art like you deserves to be nailed against the wall."
A loud hiss erupts from Camila's lips, shoving the older girl away as her skin blazes red, the blush spreading like a wildfire. She refuses to look up, keeping her focus on the worksheet as she tries to steady her shaky, struggling voice. "Don't ever say anything like that again," she growls.
But to Lauren, it's still a game, and she's just taking it to the next level. She's not flirting, she's not trying to make a move. To Lauren, she's trying to get a reaction, like always, and she's willing to go to great lengths to get this reaction. So, she kicks it up a notch, pulling her hair down from its ponytail on the top of her head and letting it fall down over her shoulders, slowly moving towards Camila again as her snake-tongue works wonders, murmuring to the obviously distracted younger girl. She lets her mind go blank, allowing her words to come out in ways she's sure any girl would want to hear.
"Why? Because it makes you feel things? Does Ariana say things like that, Camila?" Lauren questions, watching as the younger girl scoots her stuff farther down the counter and takes a giant side-step away from Lauren, which is only further encouragement. "Does she tell you how perfect you are, how lucky she is to be the one holding you at night?"
Camila clamps her eyes shut, barely able to hold the pencil without the plastic beginning to melt into the shape of her grip. "Stop talking to me," she manages to hiss out.
Lauren smirks, continuing her slow, sauntering steps towards the girl to bridge the gap between them. She's not quite sure when the idea to say this comes to her, but the words escape her mouth before she can stop them.
"I bet, if I tried hard enough right now, I could get you to kiss me."
Camila lets out a frustrated laugh of complete disbelief, finally turning to face Lauren with a hand on her hip. "You're honestly the most arrogant person I've ever met in my life."
"You didn't deny it," Lauren points out, grinning playfully as she takes another step forward.
"Because the answer should be obvious!" Camila shrieks, taking another step back to try and put some space between them. She shakes her head, continuing to laugh. "You're gross, we both have girlfriends. I'm not even remotely attracted to you."
That last one genuinely bothers Lauren, because she's 99% sure it's not true.
She pouts, furrowing her eyebrows. "Not even a little?"
"Not even if we were the last two people on this earth," Camila hisses, smirking as she realizes she's hit a nerve.
Lauren growls to herself, cracking her neck as she prepares to take it up yet another level.
Alright, Princess. You wanna play? Let's play, then.
"You want to know what I think?" Lauren asks, examining her fingernails as she stops approaching the younger girl.
Camila chuckles, partially out of entertainment, and partially out of relief. "Not particularly."
The older girl shrugs, staring disinterestedly at her nails as a knowing smirk plays onto her lips. She speaks slowly, letting each word rest on her tongue for a few moments before it escapes her lips. "I think you, Camila Cabello, are lying."
The moment she has to grip onto the counter, her knees going weak beneath her, is the moment Camila has never hated her name more in her life.
"You're delusional," she croaks, taking in a deep breath to try and steady herself, regaining the use of her traitorous legs.
"In all honesty, I don't think you mean half the things you say to me," Lauren continues, the smirk only growing in magnitude as she starts to walk towards Camila once more, taking painfully slow steps as the tension builds and the distance shrinks.
"If you told me that you don't enjoy the way it feels when we're in my bed, cuddling like no one would catch us, I wouldn't believe you," Lauren murmurs softly, ducking her head down to try and get Camila to look at her. Within seconds, her kind expression turns mischievous, the smirk returning even more ferociously than before.
She stops about a foot away from her, leaning nonchalantly on the counter as her raspy change in voice causes Camila's fingernails to curl into the wood. The reaction is nothing but pure encouragement to Lauren. "If you told me that you haven't thought about kissing me, I'd call you a liar."
"I fucking loathe you," the younger girl spits, finally lifting her head to glare at the captain with a defiant, enraged squint.
Lauren feels the chill run down her spine, nearly throwing her off balance as she loses any and all train of thought. But then Camila's fingers glow, burning a small indent into the wood, which leads her to yank her hands away immediately. Watching how nervous the pyrokinetic gets, the way her body's reactions abandon her words, is only more fuel to Lauren's fire.
"I'm not stupid, Camila," Lauren tells her, running a hand through her own raven hair to pull a few stray pieces out of her face. "I know that behind all that snark and pretend-hatred, there's something in there that keeps bringing you back to me. Because if you really did hate me, you wouldn't bother with me. You'd hate me, and that'd be that."
The younger girl's jaw moves, attempting to form words, but the only thing that escapes her lips is a limp croak.
"I think you hate the way you feel when our eyes meet, those little butterflies in your stomach," Lauren continues, pools of emerald green studying over each and every reaction the younger girl has as her words reach her ears. The younger girl clamps her eyes shut, struggling to hide how shaky her breath is and how her hands could melt glass at this point.
"I think you hate the fact that you think about my lips, wondering what it'd be like to kiss me. Wondering how I taste, what kind of chapstick I use," she murmurs, lowering her voice as she only keep moving in, closer and closer, fearless and determined to get the reaction she wants.
(In all honesty, she's not sure what this reaction is exactly supposed to be. She'll know when it happens, right?)
Lauren reaches out, her chilly fingertips ghosting along Camila's jawline, tucking a rebelling lock of hair back behind her ear. She can feel the heat of the girl's skin seeping into her pores, and something about the sensation encourages her into tracing her hand along her face. The warmth of Camila's skin is something addicting, making Lauren's body beg for more contact, which she gives it gladly by tracing her thumb along Camila's chin, along her jaw, down her neck.
And yet for some reason, it's still not enough.
Her impulses take over, and in a matter of seconds, she has Camila pinned between the counter and her body, leaving nothing but a mere inch of space between them. She traps the younger girl by putting down an arm on either side of her, before her left hand decides to rebel and do its own thing. It finds Camila's hip, resting on her side and threading a single finger through the belt loop of the girl's skinny jeans.
Camila's breathing stops entirely, her eyelids shut so tightly, the pressure is hurting her entire face.
"I think you hate the way your skin sets on fire whenever I touch you, even if I should be cooling you down."
Lauren thrives off of the reaction, going so far as to lean in, her lips barely ghosting against the girl's earlobe as her husky voice murmurs directly into her ear.
"But see, Camila, I don't think you hate me at all."
"I'll help you with your damn Case Studies homework," the younger brunette whispers, her voice trembling as she tilts her head up to the sound of Lauren's words. Her breaths are short and shallow, leaving her perfect pink lips slightly parted after each struggling exhale.
She finally opens her eyes, but nothing in her life could have prepared her for the wildfire that sparked as soon as brown meets green.
"Is that what you want?" Lauren questions, her steely, smoldering gaze never once breaking from Camila's.
"I want... I want..." The brunette struggles, before loudly swallowing down a dry lump in her throat and simply stopping at that.
"Say it, Camila," Lauren demands, her words coming out as a low rumble.
"Y-you have a girlfriend," Camila reminds her, her voice cracking as Lauren's body begins to lean into her's, feeling the girl's hot breath on her face and her approaching hips. Lauren is dangerously close, and it's destroying every single cohesive thought Camila even comes close to developing.
"I know. I haven't done anything," the older girl smirks, before licking her lips temptingly. Her voice is low, a rough, smoky question as her hot breath blows softly into Camila's ear, sending an eruption of shivers rattling down her spine. "What would you want me to do, Camila?"
Brown eyes flicker up again to meet green, but both pupils are so dilated to the point of simply being two pairs of smoldering dark eyes. The pyrokinetic licks her lips, biting down on her bottom one with shiny white teeth as she stares at the pair in front of her. She shakes her head, her body finally caving in as she reaches out to grab the older girl's hips with a low growl.
"Fucking hell, Lauren, I want you to-"
And then someone's pager goes off, and the moment is completely and totally ruined.
The noise snaps both girls out of their own intimate moment, jumping apart at lightning-fast speed in an attempt to put as much space between them as possible. One of the infants wails out at the sudden noise, which triggers a few others to wake and cry out as well.
"I want you to go take care of those kids," Camila chokes out, clearing her husky throat in an attempt to return it to normal. She dusts off her jeans, doing something, anything, to distract herself from what had just happened. She turns to search through one of her folders, rattling through the papers with shaky hands, "I'll give you the worksheet."
The older girl tries to respond, but her throat is so dry it comes out as nothing more than a squeak. She simply nods, heading over towards the cradles to pick up one of the crying infants and start rocking him back and forth.
"Lauren."
Finally regaining her thoughts, the brunette turns to the sound of her name, clearing her throat. "Yes, Cupcake?"
Camila's gaze is deadly. "This never happened."
Lauren laughs feebly, feeling the warmth radiating everywhere on her fucking body. But she laughs, smiling weakly at her teammate in an attempt to bring things back to normal. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
But she knows. She knows she took it way too far. And, in all honesty, she doesn't know what came over her. Everything just turned off in her head, all at once, and something completely new and unfamiliar just took total control over her every word and action.
The worst part is that she's not sure if she regrets it.
"I'm spending the night at Tori's," Lauren blurts out, as the pair are heading out the door. She had no plans to do so originally, but it's the first thing she feels like she should do after such an interesting situation.
Camila lets out a bitter laugh, but shrugs anyways, not even bothering to make eye contact with her teammate as she simply continues towards the Epsilon dorm. "Fair enough."
So after a quick 'can i spent the night?' text, Lauren finds herself in the Gamma building, which is more like a giant apartment complex than the boarding houses of the students. It's kind of interesting seeing a few of her teachers out of the classroom, in sweats and a t-shirt, but she waves and greets everyone she knows with a polite smile.
(She's essentially the face of Team 5. It's always important to make a good impression.)
She makes her way up to Tori's apartment, finding the correct letter on the door after a few minutes of wandering down the hall. She knocks, and within moments, she's greeted by the bright smile of a blonde in one of Lauren's old sweatshirts.
"I missed you so damn much," Tori squeals, practically launching herself into Lauren's arms as she crashes their lips together, smiling the entire way through as she wraps her arms around the captain's torso and lifts her up happily. "It sucks only being able to text you. Why would you get in trouble like that?"
"Well hello to you too, babe," Lauren simply laughs, planting a soft kiss to her girlfriend's forehead as the two melt into a tight hug. As soon as she meets the hazel glare lurking inside the room, Lauren clears her throat nervously and nods at her trainer. "Jojo."
The woman nods back, which is a sign that she accepts the greeting. She takes a sip from her mug, motioning for the girl to enter. "Jauregui."
"Hey, Lauren!" A third voice calls out, and Lauren immediately recognizes the tanned boy sprawled out on the couch next to Jojo. She steps in, setting her bag on the floor and interlacing her fingers with Tori's as the blonde shuts and locks the door.
"Hey, Noah!" The captain greets with an enthusiastic smile, waving happily to him as she follows her girlfriend into the living room area, taking a seat down next to her on the loveseat.
"Hi, Lauren," the pig greets her, waddling out from behind the sofa and coming up to the girl. "They're gossiping."
Lauren chuckles and gives him a vigorous head rub, glancing around at the three. "Why, what happened?"
"Well, my lab assistant and his teammate got into a fight," Tori tells her, letting out a groan as she tosses her head back. "Connor's being expelled and Bradley's contract is being terminated. They're kicking them out."
Lauren's eyes go wide, turning in her seat to face the blonde. "Holy shit. What'd they do?"
Tori sends a hesitant glance over at her roommate, who nods in approval.
"Be gentle when you tell Normani, okay?" The trainer warns her, taking another sip from her mug as she tucks her feet underneath her body. "Handle with care, Fishcake."
Tori bites her lip, rubbing her thumb along the ridges of Lauren's knuckles. "You know how Brad and Jesy Nelson had their thing?"
She nods, furrowing her eyebrows as she awaits the full story.
"Well, apparently," Noah continues, visibly irritated as he remains sprawled out next to Jojo, "since he wasn't getting any from Normani, he popped right back up with Jesy. Connor, who's liked Jesy for forever, found out and was furious. Punches were thrown, and now my team is a trio and Tori's missing a lab assistant."
"Damn," Lauren huffs, rubbing at her jaw in shock as she processes the situation. "That's intense."
"I'm going to bed. If I hear you two, I swear to god, Tilapia, I'm going to make you miserable at practice," the trainer threatens, pointing an accusing finger at the captain.
"Jesus, I don't need to hear about this part of my sister's life," Noah groans, bolting off the couch and heading over to plant a quick kiss on the blonde's cheek. "I'm heading back to help Connor pack. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Bye, Jojo. Bye, Lauren."
She waves, chuckling to herself as Jojo disappears into her room and locks the door behind her. The physician laughs sheepishly and heads over to lock the door behind Noah.
"They're so embarrassing," she complains, trudging over to her room as Lauren follows.
"One of them is hilarious, the other one will kill me if I call her annoying," Lauren responds, snorting as she tosses her bags onto the floor and examines the physician's neatly kept bedroom. "I only came here to cuddle, just to clear things up."
"Sounds perfect," Tori assures her, taking the younger girl's face in both hands and smiling into the kiss before she flops backwards onto her bed, taking off her glasses and setting them down on the nightstand. She lets out a long sigh. "I've had a long day."
"I know you have," Lauren smiles, coming over to plant a gentle peck to her girlfriend's forehead. She goes back to rummage through her bag for a few things. "I'm gonna go get showered, I'll be back to bed in a few minutes. Good night."
"Just look through the top drawer for something that fits, you can wear that," Tori tells her, keeping her eyes closed as she presses a few buttons on her pager. The lights all turn off, except for the one in the adjacent bathroom. She burrows underneath the covers, letting out a content sigh. "Don't be too long."
The next day, Lauren decides it's probably best not to mention the cheating boyfriend of the group, instead distracting Normani all day by getting Dinah to accidentally say something inappropriate or by irritating Ally into going all soccer-mom on her. She can tell that the girl is upset, but her efforts don't go to waste, because eventually, all the girls pitch in and have Normani laughing and back to normal by the end of the day.
"Did you hear about Brad?" Lauren asks curiously, towards the middle of the Thursday-night shift.
"That piece of crap is halfway across the ocean by now," Camila hisses, securing the straps of the invisible baby's diaper in record time, scooping her back up into her arms. "If I ever see him again, I'm setting him on fire."
"Mani seemed to be handling it well," Lauren points out, bouncing a boy with bright red eyes on her hip to try and get him to burp.
"Normani has a talent for hiding her true feelings," Camila replies. "She's not the type to complain, I don't think. She sort of keeps her problems to herself. If she's hurting, she's not gonna let us know."
Lauren purses her lips, acknowledging the valid point. "We can always just ask Dinah or Sunshine. They'll probably know."
"Probably," Camila echoes, nodding in agreement.
Another hour of small talk and sharing homework responses passes by, and Lauren still has just one thing on her mind. She desperately wants to bring it up, the entire story she had told her while she was drunk, but she's not exactly sure how to approach such a sensitive topic, being the naturally insensitive one. So, she takes a more subtle approach, glancing up at her teammate, who has her lip between her teeth as she tries to work out the answer to a short response question.
"People keep saying we're good together," Lauren tells her softly, hesitation evident in her voice. She ignores her own nervousness of bringing up the topic and presses on, clarifying her statement for the younger girl, who is staring back at her with lost brown eyes. "Obviously not as a couple, but just in general. Our personalities complement each other."
"What are you trying to say?" Camila questions, shifting her weight to her other hip as she quirks an eyebrow at the captain.
Lauren lets out a tired sigh, biting the skin along the inside of her cheek nervously. "I'm wishing you weren't so distant. I'm wishing we were actually friends, that you'd let me get to know you. I know you're not happy about the way you had to tell me about your parents, and I think we could have avoided that."
"You want to be actual friends?" Camila clarifies, huffing in disbelief with wide eyes at the captain.
Lauren can feel herself shrinking at the not-so-positive reaction Camila is having. She shrugs weakly. "Wouldn't hurt."
"What do you want me to do?" Camila asks curiously, crossing her arms as she examines the girl.
"Just be vulnerable with me," Lauren pleads, playing with her fingers nervously. "Don't be afraid to tell me things, to trust me."
Camila laughs in disbelief, smiling down at the ground as she shakes her head. "God, you really don't get it, do you?"
"I'm the reason Tori and Ariana broke up," she continues, staring Lauren straight in the eyes as she starts her monologue. "I had never had a boyfriend before- Austin doesn't count because that was for 30 minutes when we were 12- but then Ariana came along and we just clicked. Obviously, I realized that the boyfriend thing was for a very specific reason, but she helped me figure out who I was. She was my first kiss, my first relationship, and my first real love."
The brown-eyed girl exhales deeply, bracing herself as she goes on with the story. Lauren listens attentively, holding on to every single word that leaves Camila's lips.
"We didn't have sex until I was 15. People hated the age difference, and for a while we almost broke up because of it. But after she took my virginity, she told me she loved me. I don't doubt that it's the truth."
Lauren knows it's probably not appropriate to grimace, recalling the four year age gap and the fact that it was technically illegal, but she doesn't want to lose the honesty she's getting out of Camila. As softly as she can manage, she looks up at her roommate. "Why are you telling me this?"
"My whole life revolves around this girl," Camila reminds her. "Yet she has no idea about my family."
The younger girl checks the time, packs up all her things, and takes a single step closer, staring up into Lauren's eyes with a light of something she cannot explain for the life of her. There's a fire, playful but serious all at once, and it makes Lauren feel like she's the only girl in the world.
"If you still think I don't trust you, you're very, very wrong."
And with that, Camila is gone.
So when Lauren walks to Tori's apartment again after an invitation, she's smiling the entire way through. Because this is a massive victory, and she takes it with pride.
Friday night rolls around, and the pair aren't all that bothered to be in the nursery instead of hanging out with their friends. Camila is warming up a new bottle for one of the infants, staring up at the ceiling as she tries to bring up the next point for her current debate with Lauren.
"Okay, but she's gotta be hiding something after being so cute and sweet and innocent," Camila protests, pointing the bottle accusingly in Lauren's face as she moves to pick up one of the babies and starts feeding him.
"Cupcake, you're crazy," Lauren chuckles, still refusing to see the other girl's side in this particularly strange debate.
"Oh, so now I'm the crazy one?" The younger girl shrieks. She shakes her head vigorously, determined to prove her point. "Nuh-uh, I'm an incredible psychoanalyst. I bet you she's into the kinkiest things ever."
She pauses, before her eyes go wide and she leans in a bit closer towards Lauren, her voice a low whisper. "I bet you she calls Troy 'daddy.'"
"Oh my god, stop," Lauren howls, a wave of laughter erupting from her lips. She works her very hardest to keep her grip on the child, feeling her muscles grow weak as the laughter sucks all the strength from her bones. She gives in and grins, arguing once again for the innocence of their teammate. "She probably has to stop and pray every time his hands try to get anywhere. I bet you she makes him rinse his mouth with holy water after they use tongue."
"You know how sure I am?" Camila challenges, waving an accusing finger in Lauren's face as she starts to burp the baby. "I'll bet you $50 and a lap dance that Ally's the kinkiest out of all of us."
"A lap dance?" Lauren repeats, quirking an eyebrow.
"Yes, and a lap dance. As in you take me somewhere that provides lap dances and pay for the expenses," Camila clarifies slowly, as if it's the most obvious thing in the world.
"Done deal," the older girl chuckles. "But can't you just get the dance from your girlfriend?"
Camila pouts playfully, sticking a pink tongue out at her teammate. "That's no fun. Let me put some pressure on you, Lauren."
The older girl grins, before a shrieking sound interrupts their fun moment. She groans as she locates the source of the noise, motioning over to one of the cradles. "Leah's crying. Can you go get her burped, please?"
Camila happily sets down her original child in her cradle and moves to pick up the screaming one, cooing to her quietly for a few moments before the room falls silent. She purses her lips, deciding to change the topic of the conversation. "I need a new book."
"Do you?" Lauren replies, letting out a chuckle as she starts to rinse out a few dirty bottles in the sink.
The younger Latina nods, bouncing up and down in a perfect rhythm to lull the baby to sleep. "I mowed through the last one. I'll just wait until the next time we head out into the city. I'll stop at that little bookstore in Town Square. The McVey Librarium?"
"Nerd," Lauren teases.
"I like books," Camila defends happily, shrugging after she sets down the baby. "I can't help it."
Lauren laughs, before checking her watch and showing the face of the clock to her teammate.
Camila lets out a sigh of relief, taking her hair out of the messy bun as she bends down to gather her bags and make her way out. "Well, the shift is over. I'll catch up with you later, I'm gonna run across to get some chips from the student store."
"Sounds like a plan," the captain waves. "See ya, Buttercup."
Lauren's halfway through the quad before she decides to send a message to her girlfriend (a cute one with smiley faces and hearts, Tori's a sucker for that shit), until she hears the girl's familiar giggle in the distance
And then she turns and sees her walking, side by side, with the most irritating person Lauren has met to this day.
"Hey there, Jauregui," Ariana greets after spotting the girl, a smirk playing on her features as she tucks her hands into the pockets of her pastel pink letterman's jacket.
"Oh, hey, babe!" Tori smiles, running up to plant a quick smooch onto her girlfriend's cheek. She motions back to the shorter girl, her bright grin never faltering. "Ari and I were just hanging out."
Lauren tries to pull a fake smile, but it's increasingly difficult when her least favorite person in the world is so close to her damn girlfriend. "You, um, you didn't think to let me know?"
Tori's smile fades slightly, her sculpted eyebrow quirking up at the brunette in confusion. "I never thought it was important."
"I'm just gonna let you two work this out," Ariana coughs, heading a few yards away towards the fountain as she waits on the pair.
"Did someone not get to nap today?" Tori jokes, although her tone is definitely more deflated than earlier.
Lauren is instantly irritated by how lightly the girl takes the situation. She furrows her eyebrows, grabbing the girl's wrist softly to get her to look at her. "No, seriously, Tori, is something going on between you two?"
"No, oh god, no!" Tori shrieks, yanking her arm away with a disbelieving glare. "What in the world would make you think that?"
"You're all giggly and doing that thing where you play with your hair, you only do that when you're trying extra hard to be cute," Lauren points out, biting down on her jaw as she feels the frustration building in the pit of her stomach. "Listen, I just get this weird feeling that she's still totally into you and-"
"And what, Lauren?" Tori snaps, laughing humorlessly as she takes an angry step back. "You're gonna trust your strange insecurities instead of having faith that I'm loyal?"
She pauses, taking another step away with a more innocent, wounded expression. "I'm your girlfriend, it kind of hurts that you have so little confidence in me."
"Alright then, build my confidence," Lauren hisses, crossing her arms. "What were you two doing?"
"I can't tell you!" Tori all but yells, tossing her hands up into the air.
"Fine then," the younger girl growls, hiking her bags back up onto her shoulder and storming away, glaring at Ariana as she passes her. "Sorry to interrupt your date, have a nice night," she spits caustically.
Tori groans, her footsteps coming up behind her as she starts to follow the brunette. "Babe..."
"Don't 'babe' me right now," Lauren hisses over her shoulder, picking up her pace.
"Where are you going?" Tori pleads, the desperation building as she watches the brunette storm away.
"Oh, I can't tell you," Lauren repeats, spinning around to face the shocked pair several yards behind her. "Have some fucking confidence in me, Victoria."
She doesn't look back as she switches directions and heads towards the parking lot, yanking her pager out of her pocket and searching through her contacts at a furiously quick pace. After she gets an idea of where she wants to go and with who, she presses the button and brings the device to her ear as it begins to ring.
"Hello?" The cheery voice answers almost instantly.
"Sunshine?"
"Hey, Lolo, what's up?" Ally greets happily, and Lauren can already feel some of the stress built up in her body just melt away.
"Are you up for heading out?"
"Like, into the city?" The older girl asks, sounding a bit hesitant. "It's 9:14."
"Yeah," the younger girl laughs, signing out at the front desk with a happy smile at the familiar man. She steps out into the parking lot, bags in tow. "I need to get away."
"Alright. I'll tell Mani she's on Dinah Duty."
"No um, don't bother her. She's going through a rough patch."
"Okay, I'll tell her to go hang out with Camila. She loves being with that girl, those two meatheads are sisters separated at birth, I swear," the older girl giggles.
A few minutes later, Ally comes skipping out into the parking lot with a set of keys, smiling brightly as she greets her friend with a wave. Dressed in an oversized sweater and some jeans, with her hair tied up, Lauren can tell that she wasn't planning on going out, which makes her appreciate the gesture even more.
"What, don't feel like driving on your own?" The older girl asks, grinning as she leads them to the 5-seater car she had checked out for the two of them.
Lauren chuckles, entering through the passenger's side and chucking her bags into the back seat. "I never got my license back in Florida."
"17 years old and no license? Slacker," Ally teases playfully as she pulls out of the parking lot and makes her way onto the roads.
Lauren simply grunts out a humorless chuckle.
The older girl immediately pouts, an expert in recognizing her teammates's odd behaviors. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Lauren assures her, staring out at the lights of the city as they make their way onto the freeway.
"I'll pull over and sit on you if I have to," Ally threatens, and the captain knows it's probably not outside her capabilities.
"Don't be a dick," the brunette groans.
"Just give me your hand," Ally prods on, holding out her right arm to the girl. After a few moments of internal debate, the captain lets out a sigh of defeat and pulls her hand out of the pocket of her jeans.
"I'm not going to let you in all the way," Lauren warns her.
"All I want to do is feel what you're feeling," Ally replies simply, before reaching out and clasping her hand around the younger girl's.
"Oh, wow," she murmurs, her eyes widening, but remaining focused on the road. "You're-"
"Tori and I got in a fight," Lauren explains, clamping down on her back teeth to tighten her jaw.
Ally purses her lips, trying to search a bit harder through Lauren's emotions while the girl remains distracted. "Must have been some fight."
"I think she's cheating on me," the captain whispers, closing her eyes as she admits her fear to her teammate.
"With Ariana?" Ally clarifies, her voice soft in an attempt to soothe her obviously distressed teammate.
"Yeah."
"She adores you. She's not cheating on you," the older girl assures her, giving her hand a squeeze of encouragement before returning it to the steering wheel.
(She knows what Lauren's going to ask anyways, and she's gotten all the information she needs to know. The lovely thing about being Ally is that nobody suspects a single thing when you fluff their egos and tell them you can't read them any more. God, she gets a kick out of that.)
But still, when the question leaves Lauren's mouth after a few minutes of silence, it's just as powerful as if she wouldn't have known it was coming.
"Do you think it's possible to be falling in love without realizing it?"
Ally takes a few moments to choose her response carefully, never once glancing over at Lauren. She smiles softly. "Why do you ask me?"
"Because you're the emotional specialist," the captain answers easily.
"Why are you asking?" Ally prods on, trying to reach the deeper root of it, to see just how in-touch Lauren is with herself. "Because of what Natasha said?"
"Well, obviously," Lauren chuckles. "But I'm kind of trying to figure out what I'm feeling, with Tori."
"With Tori," Ally clarifies.
"Yeah," the captain nods, before sitting up a bit straighter as she tries to explain herself further. "See, I've never been in a real relationship before, like none of them lasted very long. But I'm hella jealous, I'm ridiculously protective, I just want to know if this is any indication of what I'm like when I'm in love."
Ally pauses, narrowing her eyes as she tries to give the most honest, most helpful answer she can muster.
The response she gets is not the one Lauren wants.
"No, I don't think it's possible. You always know when you're falling in love."
There's a pause, and before Lauren gets the chance to argue, Ally continues.
"Whether or not you choose to acknowledge it is a completely different story."
Intrigued by what the girl means, Lauren gives Ally her full attention, turning to play close attention to every word that leaves her lips.
"I think you always know, but it's definitely possible to fight it. You can spend all your time and energy trying to resist your feelings, but you're gonna hurt yourself by forcing them down. Keep something bottled up for too long, and it'll blow."
She lets out an exhale, chewing on the dead skin of her upper lip for a moment in thought before she keeps going.
"That's part of our humanity, Lauren. We exist, we feel, we fight. There are always things we have to fight, both in the world and in ourselves."
"When we stop fighting, we die."
She chuckles, letting out a snort to turn the mood much less serious and more playful. "I think you know what I'm going to say, but you don't want to hear it."
"Tori is good for you. She's super sweet, mature, smart, easy to get along with, and she's gorgeous. But if you don't figure yourself out, you're gonna break that girl's heart. Both of you deserve good things, be that for her."
"Does she love me?" Lauren asks, before a more important question presents itself and leads Lauren to grip onto Ally's arm in desperation. "Does she still have feelings for Ariana?"
The older girl lets out a knowing laugh, shaking her head. "I know a lot of people's secrets, Lolo."
She expertly parks the car, and it's in that moment that Lauren realizes they're finally at Town Square. Ally adds one last thing as she unbuckles her seat belt.
"But just because I know them, doesn't mean I have the right to spread them."
"Thanks, Sunshine," Lauren sighs, stepping out of her own door and tossing her head back, welcoming the humid cold of the Seattle night. "God, I'm so fed up with teenage bullshit."
Ally giggles, leading the girl towards the shopping center. "I feel you."
"I'm just gonna go get a book, I'll come back to the car when I'm done," Lauren informs her, holding up her pager to indicate that she's easily reached. "What are you looking for again?"
"Oh, I'm gonna go buy some snapbacks," Ally answers happily.
Lauren glances at her in disbelief, her eyes going wide as she lets out a laugh. "Woah, thug Ally, comin' for ya."
The older girl laughs, burying her face into her teammate's arm as they walk side-by-side down the sidewalk. "I took a selfie with Troy on our last date. I was showing her when she came over, but Dinah was more interested in his hat than him. So, I'm gonna surprise her and get her a few."
"I love that she's starting to develop her own style," Lauren smiles proudly, admiring the lights of the city night and the displays in the window of each store. "We've literally gotten to watch her grow up from scratch. Remember when she wouldn't even talk to us?"
"She wouldn't even make eye contact!" Ally shrieks, her smile threatening to split her face right down the middle.
"Now she won't shut up half the time," Lauren grins, earning her a playful slap on the arm from her older teammate. She pauses, still grinning, before nudging the girl curiously in the shoulder. "Hey, we're always talking about everyone else's feelings, but you never talk about yours."
"That's the fun part about being me. People spend so much time talking about themselves, they never think to ask about you. I never have to talk about my feelings," Ally answers, with a mischievous smirk as she splits off and heads towards a skate shop right in front of them. "We can save those for another time."
Lauren shakes her head with a chuckle as she finds the McVey Librarium, a rather large store stocked with unorganized shelves and messy baskets full of children's titles. A bell chimes as she pushes past the doors, and within seconds, the manager is in her face with the sleaziest smirk she's ever seen in her life.
"Hi there, thanks for coming in. If you have any questions, any at all, just let me know, yeah? The name's James," he winks, and Lauren feels her spine crawl. She nods appreciatively and bolts out of his way, practically ducking behind a shelf to try and avoid his stare.
She finally finds a decently organized shelf and starts on the tedious task of picking a book Camila might actually like. The only problem with this: there's not just one problem. She has no idea what Camila likes to read, and she personally has no interest in reading anything that isn't Harry Potter or Game of Thrones. She hasn't really had the time to read lately, so she's sure as hell Camila hasn't either, and that's probably another problem.
"Trust me dear, you are miles out of his league."
Lauren looks up and is met with a bright, playful gaze from a pair of beautiful greenish-cerulean eyes. The voice is familiar, but she can't quite place it.
"Thanks," Lauren chuckles, not quite sure how else to respond to the stranger's kind comment.
"That's a great read," the stranger informs her, motioning to the only title in Lauren's hand, which had been unfortunately bent out of shape by a copy of 50 Shades Of Gray.
"Oh, really? I always heard people talking about it, I never got around to it," Lauren confesses, examining the bent cover. "I'm trying to pick out a book for a friend."
"Yeah, it's something incredible. I've read it millions of times, at least," the girl nods, smiling brightly as she gives Lauren a quick, subtle glance over. "You know, it's not usual for people these days to give books as gifts. Is this for someone special?"
Lauren wants to let out a groan, but instead opts for a small chuckle. "That's a loaded question."
"Well..." The girl starts, before looking at the brunette with a pair of searching eyes.
"Lauren," the captain finishes.
"Well, Lauren," the girl continues, nodding appreciatively. "I'm just a mere stranger who's not judging the way you answer this question."
She thinks for a moment, before realizing that she's probably never going to see this girl again. A small sigh escapes her lips as she turns to lean back against the sturdy book shelf. "A lot of people are starting to say that this person is special to me. I'm obviously not seeing it."
"Human emotions are a very complex topic, Lauren. You strike me as a particularly intellectual girl, so I'll give you my crudely-developed opinion," the stranger tells her, immediately impressing Lauren with her elevated manner of speaking. "Whoever this person is, you're making an extra effort. Whether romantic or platonic, value those that make you want to be a better person. Keep them in your life."
"Yeah, but I think what we have is too complicated to be enjoying properly," Lauren explains, tossing her free hand up in the air out of frustration. "I mean, I just started acting so weird the other day and I didn't even notice. I think they're diving me crazy."
"I've a solution for you, hear me out," the girl pleads, holding up her hands defensively as she leans in towards the brunette. "Quit givin' a damn flying fuck."
And for some reason, that just kills Lauren, and causes an eruption of giggles to burst from her mouth. The shop is incredibly quiet, likely due to the late hour, so she tries to cover her mouth to muffle the noise. The stranger grins charmingly and continues, speaking with a passionate conviction.
"Listen, if you enjoy being around this person, stay around them! Even if you act strange every once in a while, it's not a bad thing, dear. It's showing how special this person is, to be able to bring out a new side of yourself not even you knew you had. Quit letting formalities get in the way of something beautiful."
The captain takes in a deep breath, giving an appreciative smile to the kind stranger. "Thank you so much, that was really great of you."
"My pleasure," the girl waves nonchalantly, before she motions to Lauren's copy of The Alchemist in her hands. "Oh, and don't worry about paying for that book. I've got you covered."
"No, I can't-" Lauren starts, shaking her head furiously, before the girl cuts her off.
"Please, please. Consider it a gift. To wish you luck with this special someone," the stranger smiles, before letting out a soft chuckle. "And also for you to see that I'm not only a monster."
Lauren quirks an eyebrow, confused by the girl's curious comment. She simply laughs and shakes her hand, smiling kindly at the stranger.
"I never caught your name?" Lauren informs her, acknowledging the stranger's powerful handshake.
"Oh, you've no need for my name," the girl chuckles, her mischievous eyes only lighting up even brighter as she smirks. "You already know it."
Lauren's blood turns to ice, her breath catching in her throat.
"Cara."
The blonde's grip solidifies on her arm, fingers locking around her wrist. She remains frighteningly calm, examining Lauren's arm. "I have three gentlemen in the back, who've taken the shopkeeper hostage. These boys can hear every word I speak, the moment the words leave my mouth. Those beautiful mutations come so in handy, Lord bless the DNA that helped craft these soldiers," Cara gushes, shaking her head proudly, "Lord bless."
Dinah's DNA. These guys were at the lab with her, the captain realizes, watching in complete fear as she wonders just how much Cara is truly capable of.
The blonde chuckles, before twisting the girl's arm at the elbow, causing her to cry out and contort in an attempt to relieve the pain. Cara grins calmly, talking to the girl as if she were still just an old friend.
"Yeah, so, Lauren Jauregui, you're gonna do me a favor."
Lauren lets out a sharp gasp as her arm begins to tingle where Cara's fingertips dig into her skin, a stinging sensation that drives her to her knees with a whimper.
"Tell your headmaster that I want the beacon-seeker," the blonde says slowly, making sure Lauren can understand each word that leaves her lips. She crouches down, to remain eye-level with the girl crumpled in agony on the floor. "Tell him to take it out of whatever hiding he's put it in, and we'll retrieve it ourselves."
She closes her eyes, wincing a bit as the stinging in Lauren's arm only intensifies. The blonde continues, opening her eyes again after a few moments. "If he refuses to cooperate, that stubborn old prune, that man, tell him I've got all my pieces in place. It's his move."
"If I find that he hasn't respected our humble request, I'll start small. Maybe I'll even let him in on our plan. I'll start with you guys, then work my way up. How do you think the world would react to find that mutants have been surrounding them for centuries?"
Cara lifts her other hand, holding her empty palm out in front of her. She focuses her cold gaze on her fingers, narrowing the intense stare with the utmost intensity. Lauren cries out in terror as she sees the beads of water in blonde's palm, watching as they turn into tiny shards of ice. Cara rolls her eyes and wicks the frost away, clamping the hand over Lauren's mouth.
"Your people have until tonight," she warns, smirking as she takes in Lauren's terrified reaction of her little 'show.'
"Oh, and tell good old Dinah-girl we miss her, won't you?" She adds, pursing her lips into a pout, furrowing her thick eyebrows together. She grins, continuing to talk in the friendly, charming manner that sickens Lauren. "Give her one of these from all of us."
The blonde leans in and softly kisses Lauren's forehead, smiling calmly as she leans back and straightens out her leather jacket, clapping her hands together to rid them of any dust. She clears her throat, keeping her volume exactly the same, not bothering to raise it as she calls out for her soldiers. "99, 82, 04."
Three boys, not much older than Ally, come marching out, standing in a stiff salute that reminds Lauren of her first interactions with Dinah when she had first been recruited.
"Why are you half-activated, 99?" Cara asks, noting that two of the boys look perfectly normal, but the third has some inhuman characteristics.
"The shopkeeper has been dealt with, ma'am," he replies curtly, keeping his hands tucked behind his back as he and his fellow soldiers stare into the distance with an impeccable amount of focus.
Lauren stares at him in complete terror, observing the scaly texture of the skin around his forehead and eyebrows. His eyes are a murky yellow, his hair slicked back entirely to his skull. His pearly white teeth are sharpened into dangerous points, his voice coming out as a low hiss. Her eyes only widen in shock as she realizes the labs had done much more than just hybridizations with wolves. They extended this horrific work to include other animals.
The boy in front of her is not just a boy. She realizes that she's staring at the human hybridization of an alligator, a creature that only exists in her nightmares and leads her to wonder what the hell else they've done to the poor boys at the lab. She doesn't want to begin to imagine what Dinah has had to go through, realizing that it's probably a million times more horrendous than anyone would have been able to imagine.
"He's still alive, isn't he?" Cara asks, quirking an eyebrow at the blonde as he swallows down an intimidated lump in his throat.
"He struggled," the boy explains. "I had to handle it."
"Did you kill him, 99?" Cara prods on, stepping towards him with a narrowed squint. She stands with just inches of space between them, examining his face as he tries to focus straight ahead, ignoring the glare of the girl.
"Did you, Tristan?" She asks one last time with his real name, her voice harsh yet genuinely curious. After a hesitant pause, the boy nods solemnly, clearing his throat.
"Affirmative. Yes, ma'am," he finally confirms, keeping his gaze on the wall in front of him.
The blonde lets out a sigh, turning on her heel to examine another bookshelf. She snaps her fingers behind her, telling the command with a calm disposition that solidifies Lauren's theory that Cara is a complete and total psychopath.
"Handle him."
The boy is barely given a moment to react before his former teammates ferociously leap in towards him, the other blonde holding him down and the brunette making easy work of snapping his neck. Lauren tries to scream in horror, but her lungs can barely function enough to inhale and exhale properly. She has to turn away as she hears the tear of ligaments and bone, averting her gaze as she hears the boy's skull fall to the floor after his decapitation.
Cara seems entirely unbothered, staring at the fresh corpse with a blank expression and a shrug, as she turns to focus on the metallic cover of a children's book. "At least the others will understand that I demand complete obedience."
She drops the book carelessly on the ground, turning to face Lauren with a grin. "And now you understand just how serious I am about this."
"Good night, Lauren. I wish you the best of luck in your endeavor. I hope the next time we meet will be a bit more pleasant than this one," Cara waves with a chuckle, motioning for the boys to come along as she heads out towards the exit. Just to get one last kick out of Lauren, she entertains herself by sending chunks of ice out to destroy the cameras by the exit, shattering each of them into countless pieces.
Everything after that is fuzzy, and she can only clearly remember slumping into the passenger's seat of the car, gaining a squeak of surprise out of Ally as the girl drops her pager, mid-text. She tosses the book into the backseat, having taken it with her for some odd reason, before letting out a shaky sigh.
"Book it."
"Why, what happened?" The older girl asks, starting up the engine as she glances over her teammate with furrowed eyebrows, her concern growing by the second at the brunette's pale, colorless face and clammy skin.
Lauren simply clamps her hand around the girl's wrist, revealing the horrific scene as the telepath speeds out of the parking lot, getting them back to the campus in a record amount of time.
"I'll tell the headmaster," the older girl assures the captain, slamming the car doors closed as they rush back into the main building, bags in tow. "You go get everyone else on board, make sure the campus is safe."
Lauren's status as a Team 5 member comes in handy, because when she tells a couple of snotty tween kids to "get the fuck back to their dorms before she freezes their punk asses solid," they instantly realize just who she is and do as she says promptly. She manages to get the late-night inhabitants of the quad cleared out entirely before an announcement booms out over the sound system Lauren never knew the Academy even had.
"All students are to return to their designated dormitories. Your pagers are to be on you at all times to respond to the DNA check in."
She runs towards the Alpha dorms, knowing the youngest children are definitely their top priority. She whips out her pager as she enters the building, shaky hands searching through her contacts as she tries to figure out which teammate to text first, before she rams straight into a figure right around her height.
"Jojo?"
The trainer smirks, nodding as she brushes off the sleeves of her jacket. "This is a real world problem, and I'm going to help you handle it."
"Where's Tori?" The captain instantly asks, searching around them frantically.
"She'll be okay, she's back at the dorm," the trainer assures her, before letting out a quiet whistle and motioning over the girl's shoulder. She gives the captain a quick pat on the shoulder, before turning to return from where she came from. "Work your magic, Jauregui."
The brunette turns to find four pairs of brown eyes staring back at her, each their own shade of the color. Lauren can feel the tension already melting away, letting out a sigh of relief as she rejoins her team, knowing they work better together than they ever would separately. The captain wastes no time in dishing out orders, motioning to each girl as her words flow easily.
"Dinah, go on surveillance. The rest of us will split up at the nursery and the younger dorms."
The group nods, each girl wishing Dinah luck as the hybrid bolts out the door, her eyes glowing a warm amber as she hunches over to run on all fours.
The girls head upstairs to where the slightly older kids are rooming, watching as the lights are all on and a mass of the 7 and 8 year olds are gathered around the hall windows facing outside. Ally starts to herd some of the kids back to their rooms, her voice a gentle coo of encouragement. "Go back to bed, kids. We'll protect you."
The children don't seem interested in anything the dirty blonde has to say, instead remaining pressed up against the glass as they stare down at the lupine beast down beneath them, standing up straight to examine her surroundings with superhuman night vision.
"It's Team 5, guys!" One shrieks, jabbing a finger into the glass in his attempt to point out the hybrid. "That's Dinah Jane Hansen!"
"She's the strongest person alive," a girl chimes in, gaining a mass of "ooh's" and "ahh's" from her fellow classmates.
"They're not afraid?" Camila asks curiously, glancing over at Lauren with a look of pure confusion.
"You wouldn't be either," Normani answers, finally putting the pieces together with a soft smile, "if a bunch of superheroes were watching over you."
And then it clicks for the rest of them.
The children begin to rattle off statistics for each of the girls as soon as they recognize them, as if they're talking about trading cards at recess.
"Camila Cabello can shoot fire from her hands!"
"Lauren Jauregui can freeze a bad guy solid!"
"Ally Hernandez can make forcefields that can defeat anything!"
"Normani Hamilton, you make everyone feel safe," a little boy tells the blue-haired girl, staring up at her in awe.
"Yeah, one touch and we turn into superheroes," another gushes excitedly, leading the group of older girls to simply laugh amongst themselves.
"Well, that's what they are," Jojo tells them, coming up behind the girls with Rita besides her. She looks over at Lauren, giving the girl a nod of approval and a playful grin. "Superheroes."
"Everyone, head back to your rooms and check in on your pagers. They're investigating," Rita tells the little people, motioning for all of them to scurry and get back to their own dorms. After a rumble of excited whispers, the children all comply and head back to bed, clutching their pagers in their tiny hands.
"Jojo, how come they haven't just handed over the beacon-seeker?" Lauren asks, grabbing her trainer by the shoulder and pulling her back to face her as the rest of her teammates help get the kids to bed. The captain lowers her voice into a hiss, irritated with the irresponsibility of the school. "There are children here, children in danger and administration is being stupid enough to ignore all these damn threats."
Jojo exhales sharply, tilting her head down to meet Lauren's steely gaze with her own harsh hazel glare. She keeps her voice a low whisper, to stay out of ear-shot of anyone around them. "Jauregui, if you want to know the truth, we can't give up the beacon-seeker."
"What even is that?" The brunette questions, shaking her head in confusion.
"It does exactly what the name implies. It seeks out the beacon," Jojo replies snarkily, rolling her eyes at the captain's inability to put the pieces together on her own.
"What beacon?" The younger girl prods on, her eyebrows knitting together as she only spirals further and further into the tornado of confusion.
"I'm not allowed to talk about that with you," Jojo tells her, giving an apologetic shrug. She holds up a finger, motioning for the girl to hear her out. "But the problem is, we can't give it to them."
"Why the hell not?" Lauren hisses, crossing her arms over her chest in pure irritation.
Jojo lets out a hesitant chuckle, biting down on her jaw.
"We can't give it to them, because we don't have it."
And it's the first time in her life she's ever seen her trainer express anything in her life other than snark and the occasional sensitivity. For the first time, Lauren realizes that Jojo is genuinely scared.
But then the trainer's pager beeps, and after her hazel eyes glance over the message, she looks up at Lauren, the same old frosty confidence returning to her. "I'm being put on patrol. Can you four handle the dorm?"
"We've got it handled," the captain assures her, patting her on the shoulder encouragingly. "Just go."
The trainer nods, wishing the girls good luck as she jogs out towards the stairs to join the outside night patrol. Before long, a massive simultaneous beep is heard coming from each and every single pager.
"Check #1," Rita tells them, holding up her own pager for each of them to see as she passes by the open doors. "Kids, please make sure each of you responds to the message as soon as you receive it."
The girls go through each and every single room, ensuring that each child has checked in correctly.
The pagers all beep again, which immediately starts to concern Lauren, reminding her vaguely of her event at the breakers and the situation with Ariana.
"Check #2," Rita calls out, sharing a look of nervousness with the captain as they all go back for a second round of ensuring each child has checked in.
Hours pass by slowly, and Lauren is finishing up with doing yet another head-count in the room she was assigned to, before her pager goes off in her pocket, ringing repeatedly. The girl fishes it out of her pocket and answers, bringing the device to her ear with a confused furrow of her eyebrows as she glances over the caller ID.
"Hello?"
"Lauren, it's Troian. I'm with Alejandro."
"From the front desk?"
"Something happened."
The recruiter talks hurriedly, but the words all begin to blur to Lauren as soon as the woman drops the final bomb on her, after minutes of small talk in an attempt to prepare her for the news.
"No, you have to be making a mistake," Lauren hisses, her blood running cold all throughout her body.
"He doesn't make mistakes, Lauren," Troian whispers, her voice cracking with an apologetic croak at the end.
"What's going on?" Camila asks, noticing the distress plastered all over her roommate's face. She takes a tentative step forward, but Lauren shoos her away with a reassuring nod.
"You'll find out," the older girl murmurs, after hearing the instructions of the recruiter and then hanging up. She slips her pager into her pocket, sticking her finger into her mouth to bite on her knuckle out of pure frustration. She turns to face Rita, letting out a sigh with her teeth still sinking in to her knuckle. "Turn on the projector."
Each dorm building had two or three, depending on how many common rooms the building contained, as a substitute for buying TV's. The blonde does so slowly, the air thick with a heavy tension as they all await the bad news they know is in store for them. The picture plays against the wall, and the usual cartoons are replaced by a solemn-looking Headmaster with the front desk man behind him, hanging his head with a disappointed gleam in his usually bright eyes.
"Despite our increase in security, our resident clairvoyant has confirmed that the threat was indeed real."
Lauren wants to throw something at the wall, to impale the goddamned headmaster right there and then, because he's only echoing what Lauren has been repeating for the past two weeks. The rest of the girls lock hands, before Normani's pager goes off. She uses her free hand to answer it, setting it on speaker with a sigh of relief.
"Dinah, are you okay?"
"Affirmative, Mani, but what's going on?" The hybrid pleads, and everyone's hearts break as they can hear the pure, desperate confusion in her voice. "I can hear the announcement but I'm not understanding what's going on-"
And then the headmaster makes the most painful revelation yet, and none of the girls (Lauren included) can truly admit that they were prepared for this.
"We must regretfully report that a student is officially missing."