like a forest fire | camren (au)

1

Fucking hell. She curses at herself under her breath while she stirs the milk. Sure, the girl may be insanely pretty, but what the hell - get it together already.

"Um, one cappuccino for - um," Her breath hitches. "For... Camila, was it?"

The girl takes the cup. "Thank you, Lauren."

"You're welcome," Lauren mumbles. "I - um - I should probably..." She pulls on her shirt and trails off.

Camila gives her another smile. "Yeah - not that I'm not enjoying the view, though..."

Lauren can feel her eyes go wide at the girl's comment. She looks down. The outline of her bra is completely visible under the wet shirt. She can feel Camila staring and she coughs, trying to cover up the fact that she feels extremely hot and bothered for no specific reason.

"Hey," Camila says then, a little surprised, eyes falling down to the cup. "You got my name right."

Lauren is still completely dazed, so all she manages to respond is, "Hm?"

Camila smiles. "You spelled my name right on the first try. Most people write down Camilla, so consider me impressed."

"Right," Lauren mumbles. "Ok, well - I've got to..."

She makes an awkward gesture to the backdoor and then points down at her shirt - like the fucking idiot that she is - drawing the girl's attention right to where her nipples must be very visible right now. Oh my god, she thinks to herself, get your act together already.

Camila grins. "See you around?"

"Yes, for sure - I mean, yeah. I'll be here." Lauren bites her lip hard. "I mean - sometimes I'm here. Not always. I also study and, you know, see... friends. So - yeah. Not always. But sometimes, sure. Ok. Bye."

Camila easily winks at her and it sends an entire new wave of emotions through Lauren's body. Then, Camila turns around and takes a few steps in the direction of the door, but not before looking back and holding her cup up. "Maybe next time I can get your number on this."

Lauren stares after her as she disappears out of the door. This is not good. This is not good at all - because she's actually considering it.

:::

The next time Camila walks into Starbucks, Lauren's so startled by it that she bumps straight into Normani as soon as she catches sight of Camila by the door.

Normani frowns at her. "What are you doing?"

"I need to-" Lauren points over her shoulder. "I just - I need to go - backroom. Get... coffee... beans..."

"What the fuck are you babbling about?" Normani says, blocking Lauren's path to the door.

"I just-"

"We've got more than enough coffee beans, we're a freaking Starbucks." Normani won't step aside. "Break's not until twelve, Jauregui, so get your ass back to the register."

"But I-"

Normani turns around and Lauren curses under her breath, quickly running a hand through her hair and taking a deep inhale. For fuck's sake, she tells herself, find your chill.

"Lauren."

She spins around. Camila is standing in front of the counter, smiling at her.

"Hi," Lauren squeaks out, before coughing and running her hand through her hair again.

"So," Camila says, leaning a little bit forward against the counter. "What kind of bra are you wearing today?"

Lauren pretty much chokes on her own breath. "W-what?"