take a picture of all my flaws

9

"Absolutely nothing," Camila replies, and Lauren feels relief, "do you want to come over? I have the house to myself for a little while, since Ally's out at her boyfriend's and Normani and Dinah are... somewhere. I was thinking about baking some cookies and could definitely use adult supervision."

"I'll be there in fifteen minutes?" Lauren says it like she's not certain, even though she's already getting up and grabbing her car keys. "And I'm definitely down to bake cookies with you."

"Nice," Lauren can practically hear Camila's smile, "see you soon, Lo!"

"See you soon," Lauren murmurs, and when she hangs up, she lets out a happy little sigh and practically hugs the phone to her chest. "Don't screw this up, Jauregui. Be cool."

Finally tucking her phone into her pocket, she turns her car keys over in the palm of her hand, and considers not driving there, wondering if she should get an Uber instead. If a college student shows up driving a Tesla, it would obviously ring some kind of alarm bell. Camila will ask questions, and Lauren won't know what to say. Certainly not the truth. Oh, I bought it with my salary as an actor on a successful TV show, here's the DVD boxset, surprise!

She decides against the Uber, and as she locks up her apartment and gets the elevator to her building's parking garage, the guilt builds in her stomach. She'd feel dirtier sneaking around and parking her car on a different street, and instead she's decided to just park outside Camila's house and hope she doesn't ask about her car. If she asks, Lauren knows she won't have the guts to lie, especially not to someone she likes so much. She'll have to tell her.

(That'd be one way to stop her from chickening out like she always does.)

When the elevator dings, she gets out and heads over to her car, trying to ignore the way she feels sick to her stomach. Please don't ask, she thinks to herself as she gets in and starts it up, plugging her phone into the aux and playing some of The 1975's slower songs to calm herself down.

She drives to Camila's place, and tries not to think about how she'll have to tell Camila the truth if she asks. Deep down, she knows Camila wouldn't be weird about it; she knows Lauren enough to just see her as her friend, not some celebrity. Even if Lauren admitted that she had a platform, Camila wouldn't be weird about it, right?

She feels like she's walking to the executioner's block when she parks outside of Camila's house, and gets out of her car. She puts her phone into the back pocket of her jeans, along with her car keys once she locks it, and she walks up to Camila's front door. Knocking lightly, she tries to ignore how sick and anxious she feels, and when the door swings open she feels like she's going to puke.

But Camila just sends her a bright smile, stepping aside to let her in. "Hey! I found a box cookie mix in the cupboard, so we're making that since I'm definitely not talented to make it from scratch."

Lauren blinks in surprise, and she realises she's lingering on the doorstep when Camila's words sink in. No comment on her car, no questioning on why the fuck she's not driving some old beat up car, which she was until her old Ford she'd been driving since sixteen had literally fallen apart and died and she had to buy a new car.

"Okay." She forces a smile, and when she steps inside, Camila seems to notice how nervous she is. "Sounds good."

"Are you alright?" Camila asks her, and Lauren forces herself to nod. Instead of accepting her answer, Camila pushes a little more. "Are you sure? You seem really nervous."

"I'm okay." Lauren says, slipping off her shoes and trying to relax. She didn't ask, you're fine. She didn't even look at your car. "Are you okay?"