Chapter 20

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Chapter 20:
"Get the pasta for me? I can't reach" I mumble as my attention is centred on trying to depict Sams horrible hand writing on the shopping list while pushing the cart.
"Were you even listening to me?" Sam asks from behind me as he jogs to catch up with me and throws the pasta into the kart.
"No, not really" I say monotonously as I grab tomatoes from the lower shelf.
"She's changed Mila, I see it in here. She's grown up" he rambles as I walk ahead, disregarding him.
"Why won't you just get your head out of the sand Camila?!" He half yells at me and I feel myself brinking the line of explosion.
"Sam I am hurting right now, a lot. The only person I trust right now is you, but it's deteriorating rapidly since you're being such an obsessive ass over this; I don't want anything to do with her right now, okay? Just respect that" I say calmly before I continue walking.
"You're not going to get over her by ignoring everything. And that Grace chick is bad for you" he fires back.
"This job is helping me move on, and I can see her helping me move on too...I still have to except her invite to dinner; I've not decided" I say, trying to convince him how I was feeling.
"She asked you out?!" He yelled and I sigh.
"She actually had the nerve to ask you out, I knew she was a joke" he huffs out.
"She's pretty" I say lightly and he groans.
"Lauren's pretty" he shoots back.
"Im not thinking about Lauren anymore" I say as I keep walking.
"You're delusional" he mutters and I sigh, leaving us to continue our shopping in silence.
The walk home was as tension filled as the car ride to the store, yet neither of us uttering a word until we approached the apartment complex and Sam decides to break the ice.
"Sorry" he mutters.
"Sorry back" I say reaching over and grabbing his hand, pulling his arm into my body and I huge it as we continue to walk.
"We'll have a good time tonight, okay? But please just leave your mind open about Lauren, just give her a chance before this Grace chick plagues you" he says softly and I nod.
"Okay, just for tonight" I sigh. I didn't know what was going to happen since it was just Sam, Lauren and I but I was rather comfortable knowing it wasn't going to just be her and I.
We get in to Sams apartment a while later and he gets started on dinner as I try to clean, but I give up after the first two rooms; it's not like her place isn't messy either. I find myself staring off into space thinking about how tonight will unfold. What will she be wearing? Will she flirt with me? Were her and Sam working together now? I wasn't even sure, but I was extremely nervous.
I didn't know how long I had been day dreaming until the doorbell rang through the dim silence of the rooms and my heart started to hammer against her chest.
"You're girlfriends here!" Sam yells from the kitchen and I roll my eyes.
"She's not my girlfriend!" I shout back and make my way to the door. I take in a deep breath and grip the door handle, my heart hammering in my chest and finally build up the courage to open the door only to have my breath taken away.
She wore a simple short white flowly dress and half her hair pulled back off her face, her make up made her perfect eyes look even greener and I could see the sprinkle of freckles in place on the bridge of her nose. She held a small bunch of roses in her hand nervously and I would have teased her over how anxious she looks if I could tear my eyes away from hers. We stood in silence of the dingy doorframe of the dirty hallway, drinking each other in and it felt like it was the first time I had seen her before.
"Hi" I breathe out, breaking the silence with my mouse like voice.
"Hi back" she answes with a small smile forming on my face and I feel myself start to blush.
"Ah lauren! Lovely to see you, but I'm sur Milas a little more excited" Sam says as he pulls his jacket on.
"Now take the food out of the oven in 20 minutes and ill be back by one, so finished your funny business before then" he instructs and confusion and panic waves over me.
"Where are you going?" I ask in a strained voice and he swaps places with Lauren so he's now on the other side of the open doorframe.
"Date with Normani" he smirks. "Have fun kids" he says with a wink and with that he strides down the hall, but not without turning around and giving me a thumbs up and another wink.
"What the fuck" I mumble as I shut the door and turn to face a nervous looking Lauren.
"Did you know about this?" I snap and cross my arms.
"I swear I didn't" she says quickly and I study her, trying to read her and I can only come to the conclusion she's not lying.
"These are for you" she says softly, holding out the small bouquet with a shy smile.
I can't help but smile softly at the cute flowers she hands me, I take them in my arms and beam down at them.
"Ill go get some water for them" I say softly, still staring at them as I walk into the kitchen with her trailing behind me.
"This is nice" she says as I finish off the lasagna and of course, she just watches me work. I get a sudden flash back of the time we made pancakes in her old apartment and a shiver runs down my spine. We haven't spoken a word since we entered the kitchen and the silence is board line uncomfortable as I feel her eyes on me.
"Not really" I answer back, not falling into the trap I did before.
"I missed it" she says softly and I bring the food to the candle lit table and sit down, waiting for her to accompany me.
"That's nice" I say as I chew my lip, deep in thought.
The silence hangs over us again to only be broken by the clank of plates and silverware as we start to eat.
"Camila?" She asks over the table and I look up to see her, with her deep green eyes and wavy hair dimly lit by the candle light. I have to avert my gaze as my heartbeat picks up and the palms of my hands start to sweat.
"Am I making you nervous?" She asks shyly, not in a snide way but more concerned.
"You're just-you're trying to pick up where we left off before this whole thing and I'm not okay with it" I say finally, trying not to let the frustration get to me. I hear her sigh and I look up to see her sad eyes looking into mine.
"What do you want then?" She asks softly.
"I want to start over, as acquaintances, then maybe friends" I say slowly, trying to convince myself that this is what I want.
"So we're back to this 'friends' thing..." She says almost hurt and I put down my fork and sigh.
"Well what do you expect Lauren? You break my heart and I just drop everything and run back to you when you suddenly want me?" I ask a little too harshly and I regret it the second it leaves my mouth.
"Im sorry, I-"
"It's fine" she says softly and the silence stretches out.
"If you want to be friends, ill go with it. I'm not going to reject anything with you" she says finally and I let out a breath of relief.
"But that doesn't mean Im not still in love with you" she whispers and I look at her again with shock.
"Don't Laure-" I start again but she interrupts me.
"This is my second chance, so I'm not going to blow it" she says softly with a smile and I can't help feel a warm glow in my chest when she looks at me like that, but friends don't feel that why when their other friend looks at them so I shoved it down to the back of my mind and looked away.
"So, how many of your friends do you have romantic dinner dates with?" She asks with a smile and Im glad her tone is playful.
"This isn't a romantic dinner date" I say piking at my food.
"Camila there's candles, wine and La Vie En Rose is playing in the background; if this isn't a romantic dinner date I don't know what it is" she smirks out and I shove some food in my mouth.
"Okay, then it's two friends sharing a cosy dinner" I answer challengingly and she sighs with a laugh.
"Whatever you want baby"
_____________________
"Why do you get the last bit of ice cream?" I whine from my position tucked under her arm. After dinner we sat down to watch a movie with ice cream, but out of habit we sat too close and I believe neither of us are willing to admit we're far too deep into each others proximities, as far as standard friendships go.
"Since your leg has made mine go dead" she says gesturing to my legs draped over her lap. I chewed my lip as I thought about how I'm probably leading her on, how she's probably got her hopes up already and how I need to stop it now.
"Sorry" I say softly climbing off her and tucking myself into a ball at the other end of the sofa.
"Hey, come back" she says softly and I sigh.
"Friends don't cuddle like that" I say quietly and I see her shift to look at me.
"Some friends do" she answers.
"But we don't"
"But we just were"
"And now we're not" I say finally.
"Maybe it's time for you to go Laur" I say, the pet name slipping out before I time to stop it.
She runs a hand through her hair and I hear her sigh before she begrudgingly agrees and stands up and walks to the door to which I follow.
"I had a lovely time tonight, thank you" she says with a gorgeous smile as we stop at the door.
"I did too" I say, lazy smile forming at my face as I saw the sparkle in her eye.
"We should do it again" I continue and her smile gets in possibly bigger.
"Defiantly!" She says a little too enthusiastically and I giggle at her cuteness.
"Goodnight Laur" I say softly and pull her into hug me. My head automatically nuzzles into her neck and I breathe her in, but not just her smell; how her arms wrapped around my waist with delicately but a strongness that makes me feel safe, how her back inflates and glides down with every breath she takes, her silky hair cascading down her back and how her hands softly rub my back.
"Night Cams" she says softly into my ear and then pulls back but only so much so she could look into my eyes and our noses brush. I can't help it when my eyes scan her face and up on her lips, her cute lips that smirk and get bitten and plant the softest kisses I've ever felt. I finally look back up to her eyes and I see a glint in them and I know I've gone too far.
I step back and give her a shy wave as she walks backwards to her door just across the hall, her gaze never shifting from mine.
"Goodnight" she says with a smile and I giggle.
"Goodnight" I reply and she opens her door.
"Goodnight" she says again biting her lip and I giggle harder.
"Goodnight" I reply as she stops moving and just stares into my eyes.
"Goodnight" she whispers finally and I give her a shy wave again as our eyes stay connect until both our doors shut, my back falling to my just closed door and I look up to the roof biting my lip, trying to fight off the hoard of butterflies running wild in my stomach.

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