Habit

Chapter 26

By the time she got into her car, she realized she'd only gotten one of her eye's make-up done. If it weren't for the situation, she would never go out looking such a way. But she was so late. And she needed to get Camila's corsage. She'd worked too hard to make it special to leave it to collect dust on her mom's flower room counter.

Lauren drove as fast as she could to get to the small boutique. Upon walking in, she greeted the assistant behind the desk (her mom was at home trying to get things set up for prom pictures), and headed into the back to receive the little flowery wristlet. When she picked it up in her hands, she delicately placed it into a small white box to protect it from the outside world. She kissed the box once before walking out of the back room and heading to the front. Looking around a bit, she finally chose one long-stem rose to give to Camila, just for memory's sake.

She went up to the counter, grabbing a ten out of her wallet to pay when a guy beside her, browsing the different seed packages, stopped what he was doing and said, "I'll take these," motioning to the daylily seeds he'd picked out, "and whatever this pretty girl wants." Lauren looked up at the stranger and laughed. He was a normal looking teenager, short brown hair, light green eyes but different, so very different from hers, and he had a tattoo imprinted on his arm big enough so that anyone would recognize him solely from seeing that tattoo. "What's a beautiful girl like you doing buying your own rose for prom?" He eyed her curiously, and she responded with nothing but truth.

"Actually," she said very matter-of-factly, "this rose is for my girlfriend. I'm going to prom with her tonight." She looked to the guy, and he just rolled his eyes.

They talked for a bit, but Lauren was only half listening; she was trying her best to get out of the conversation so she could get back home and finish getting ready, but this guy was really persistent. She found out three things about him: 1. He went to a neighboring school, 2. He was going to be at Lauren's prom because a friend invited him to be her date, and 3.

He was convinced he would get Lauren to dance with him tonight. When that last fact came up in the conversation, she made it a point to leave quickly. "Yeah, we'll see about that." She rolled her eyes playfully and immediately regretted the action. He took it as a sign of flirting and responded, moving closer, with a sensual I'll see you tonight... babe.

Lauren shivered and walked quickly away, brushing off the occasion as purely temptation. Sure the guy was cute; but he had nothing on Camz. And that made every difference in the world.

Lauren got in her car and drove away; she didn't give the guy a second thought.

When Lauren got back home, she finished getting ready quickly, putting on her long, white prom dress she'd picked out with Normani. Being prom dates, her and Camila didn't want to pick out dresses with each other-they wanted it to be an element of surprise. Lauren loved this dress-she was sure Camila would too. The straps were sparkly, and the back was wide open, stopping just over her butt. The dress was silk; it was beautiful. But more than that, Lauren was looking forward to seeing Camila's dress. She'd begged countless times just for a sneak peak at the color, the texture, anything, but Camila refused to let a word peep out of her pretty little mouth.

So, when she heard the front door open and Clara say, "Oh, Camila. Your dress," Lauren rushed out of her room to look over the banister. Sure enough, her beautiful, gorgeous, potentially perfect girlfriend was standing in the doorway, one end of her dress in hand to keep from running along the floor. It was pink, but not anything Lauren would have expected. It was a pale pink, not Camila's usual extravagant hot pink. It was long, of course, with shredded ends to make it layered. The top was crisscrossed fabric with a single band running around her torso. She had on pearl earrings; her hair was up in a braided ponytail that trailed down her left shoulder. Her make-up was subtle, but equally as beautiful.

Damn, Lauren thought. So damn beautiful, and she doesn't even try.

Camila looked up to see Lauren and Lauren could see her take a breath. She smiled down to the girl, winked once, and ran back into her bedroom to receive the corsage. She picked up the box, momentarily thinking about Luke, but then pushed the thought out of her head. This was their night-hers and Camila's. It was their night, and it was all about them. Lauren kissed the box once more and walked down the stairs with it in her left hand. Normani followed her down and kissed her on the cheek, telling her she'd see her there; she was meeting Arin at his house.

With Normani gone, Lauren could finally really focus once more on the beautiful girl in front of her.

Camila.

She was beautiful, so simply beautiful.

Lauren waltzed up to her, placed her hands on the girl's hips, and pressed slightly against her, placing a chaste kiss on Camila's perfectly applied pomegranate-flavored chapstick.

Camila's eyes reopened from the kiss and looked up and down Lauren once; Lauren prayed she liked her dress as much as she liked Camila's. When Camzi's smile lit up so bright, so wide, Lauren laughed giddily. "You like it?"

Camila smiled heartily.

"Of course I like it."

Lauren smiled again, grabbed Camila's hand, and kissed her once more.

Tonight was their night.

A/N:Get ready to see something i know some readers were all hoping to see in the story. :-) FINALLY, the time has arrived to include this aspect that was so crucial to the storyline