off camera.

chapter ten

Camila almost laughs, because Lauren knows how she's been, but that's when she realises she's talking to her mother, not her. "Oh, we've been good. So proud of our little Karla for everything she's achieved. We have her subscriber plaques up the wall over there – what's the next one for you to get, mija?"

"The diamond play button," Camila embarrassedly replies, "you get that when you hit ten million."

Before Sinu can continue basically bragging about everything Camila has done, like she does to everyone that enters the house, Lauren sends Camila the softest smile and says, "Well, I think everyone knows she's going to do it. Even if I have to make another 6.4 million accounts just to subscribe."

"Please do," Camila laughs, before she blushes, remembering something she'd done back in her early days, "Back in school, when everyone was making fun of me, I actually made some accounts to subscribe to myself so it looked like I had over fifty subs."

Lauren snickers at the story, squeezing Camila's hand again, "I subscribed, you know? And commented, on an old dummy account. I've technically been your number one fan since the beginning."

"Trust you to find that technicality," Camila murmurs, and she's never wanted to kiss her more than in that moment, but she remembers her mom is there, and blinks, breaking eye contact, "Um, anyway, mom... I think Lauren and I are going to go."

"It was really nice seeing you again," Lauren politely says as Camila pulls her up and practically drags her from the room. She knows that her mom had noticed some kind of romantic tension between the two of them, and she doesn't want her asking any awkward questions in front of Lauren. "Bye puppies!"

Camila grabs her backpack and pulls it over her shoulder, opening up the front door for Lauren. "After you."

Lauren smiles, and walks out of the door, Camila letting it swing shut behind the two of them. She grabs Lauren's hand as they walk down the driveway, and the older girl sends her a soft grin. "You weren't wrong; you're chivalrous as fuck."

"Exactly, I'd be the best girlfriend on the planet," Camila says, and she's definitely dropping a hint, "Can you believe I've only ever been in one real relationship?"

"Yeah, your fans are kind of... passionate about that," Lauren comments, opening the passenger side door of her car for Camila. Camila recognises the car as Lauren's parents' old car, and she guesses they'd handed it down to her once she'd gotten her license. "It's kind of weird."

Camila frowns, but she waits until Lauren gets into the car and buckles herself in. "What do you mean, it's weird?"

She worries that the fans are scaring Lauren off. Maybe Lauren reciprocates her feelings, and she knows how Camila feels, but the fact that her fans are so obsessed with her old relationship is scaring her off. Lauren had straight up told her that she's still not very open about her sexuality, that she doesn't like to talk about it, and Camila being a public figure could be the reason why they're not together, why Lauren won't make a move.

"I just think it's a little odd, you know. That they're so invested in your relationship," Lauren shrugs, "it's like... it's not even their relationship, and it's over. They care about it more than you do, and they treat you like you're not a real person, constantly tweeting you about it. I understand liking the idea of it and being respectful, but I don't get aggressively commenting on all of your things, telling you to get back together with your ex."

Camila knows what she means; it annoys her sometimes, too. She tries to be as nice as she can to her fans, and she knows she'll never tell them to stop, because it's not like she's with someone new, and her fans are the reason she is where she is. "Yeah, I know, but they're... they mean a lot to me, even if they can be kind of... passionate about stuff."