Camila and Lauren had been best friends since middle school and Camila was one of the few people who had always known about Lauren's biggest secret.
And sure, there had been a time when she had been shocked about it, but those days were long gone.
Nowadays, she mostly just imagines what it must have been like for Lauren to have this kind of pressure on her at all times, never knowing who to trust, never knowing if she could reveal herself to someone or if it was too dangerous and she couldn't fathom how Lauren could still be so sure of herself when she's been through so much.
But that was a story for another time, now she really had bigger fish to fry.
Because even though her best friend was different from everybody else, Camila had always admired her for standing up for herself, for never yielding, never giving in, never relenting, whereas Camila, albeit opinionated and not afraid of confrontation either, had never been able to get the neanderthals of the hockey and football team of Miami High off of her back.
Now matter how often she told them to mind their own business, they never seemed to get it and kept on harassing her whenever they saw fit.
Of course they didn't have the balls to throw slushies in her face when Lauren was anywhere around because they knew very well how fast Lauren and then in turn Dinah could beat the shit out of them for even trying anything fishy around her. Unfortunately those two couldn't always be around her and even though Jake followed her around the rest of the time like an over-grown puppy, he was never brave enough to stand up to them for her sake or to push himself in the line of fire.
So naturally, Camila was always awed by Lauren's courage, so much that some of the time it was almost close to the hero-worship Camila felt for Ed Sheeran Streisand. Although, admittedly, her love for Sheeran differed greatly from how she felt about one Lauren Jauregui.
After all, they were best friends.
And Camila knew, even though Lauren was strong in every sense of the word, she could never hurt Camila, which was the exact reason why Camila was about to ask what she was about to ask. Because behind the black haired girl's strong exterior and all the walls she had built over the years to protect herself, she was kindhearted and tender and would do whatever it took to make sure Camila was always as comfortable as she could be.
She just hoped that Lauren would accept her request.
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"Lauren, may I ask you a question?"
Camila and Lauren were sitting in the black haired girl's bedroom, up until a few minutes ago they had been busy with their homework and Lauren was still lounging around on her bed, flipping through her argyle folder, searching for the biology homework she had finished last week and that was due on Monday.
Raising her head, she looked expectantly at Camila, frowning slightly as she watched the tiny girl fiddle nervously around with a pen in her lap.
Camila was almost never nervous around anyone, least of all her.
Usually, it only happened when the singer wanted something from Lauren. Something the brunette knew Lauren wouldn't willingly give to her, or she had a problem she knew Lauren wouldn't take too kindly to.
Maybe Jake had done something stupid again.
If that big idiot does one more thing to hurt my baby, I swear, I'm going rip his fucking lungs out and shove them up his ass, she thought as she examined Camila more thoroughly.
"Are you okay, Camz? You've been acting fidgety all day," in a second Lauren was across her room, gabbing the fiddling hands of her best friend. "Did Jake do something stupid again? I swear, that ass-"
"No. He's actually been kind of sweet lately. I just think he wants to... you know." She couldn't do it, she couldn't just ask something this important of Lauren. It just wasn't right.
