take a picture of all my flaws

15

Once the lecture is over, and Camila is packing her things away, Lauren takes up the conversation again.

"So, impromptu lunch date aside, what else do you have planned for the day?" Lauren asks her, pulling her backpack onto her back. "Anything interesting?"

"Well, it's a Friday, so obviously I'm hitting up all the clubs," Camila jokes, throwing her own backpack over one shoulder, "total party animal, you know me. Seriously, though I'm doing absolutely nothing."

"Want to come sleep at my place?" Lauren asks, and it's the first time she's ever extended an invite like that to Camila. "I figured I could make dinner, and then we can have a quiet night in."

"Yeah, I'd love that," Camila grins, even though she had had plans to catch up on Silverhollow tonight; she'd seriously neglected watching it, and she's pretty sure that tomorrow's episode is the attack on Lauren. Vanessa. Whatever. "I didn't know you cooked."

"I've lived away from home since I was seventeen. You pick up a few things," Lauren shrugs, surprising Camila completely and taking hold of her hand as they walk down the stairs to exit the building, "it's that or takeout every night, and when you have a personal trainer, they're never happy about it."

"You have a personal trainer?" Camila asks; she'd never been super into exercise and going to the gym herself, and while Lauren has mentioned that she goes, she figures just being a casual gym-goer is a different thing to having a straight up trainer. "Why would you do that to yourself?"

Lauren snorts in amusement. "I don't anymore, I left her back in L.A. She pretty much came with the show, plus there's a lot of pressure in the industry to basically be a stick thin model, and I feel like I eat chips and salsa a little too much to get away with it. It was either stop eating chips or keep eating chips and get a trainer. Obviously, I opted for the latter."

"Duh, you can't give up chips." Camila agrees, because that's the obvious choice. "What have you been doing since getting here, then? Exercise wise, I mean. I'm interested; I've never been super sporty, so... my exercise is walking up and down all the fucking stairs."

"I joined the student gym, and I tend to go there after class on some days. Not every day, because I'm not a sociopath, but like... three days a week?" Lauren shrugs. "I just do an hour or so on the treadmill and then go home and immediately crack open a jar of salsa and a bag of tortilla chips."

"The right way to do things," Camila grins, swinging their hands as they head off campus, "so where's this sandwich shop?"

"Like, halfway between my apartment and campus, so literally a five minute walk." Lauren assures her. "What're you in the mood for for dinner tonight? Chef Lauren takes requests."

"Ooh, I get to choose?" Camila hums in thought. "Lasagne?"

"Done." Lauren smiles. "I'll grab the ingredients from the store on my way home. Come round about... six?"

"Okay," Camila nods, and just to make sure, "This is a date, right?"

"Of course," Lauren confirms, and Camila's whole heart flutters. "This lunch date is unofficial, but tonight is our official second date."

Camila blinks in surprise. "Okay, so... there are unofficial dates? Aren't all dates just dates?"

"Well, yes, but also no," Lauren says, and when Camila looks at her like she's crazy, she blushes, laughs, and adds, "I'm not insane, I swear. For me, anyway, in the early stages it's like... when it's a super serious kind of situation, like our date the other week, and tonight, then it's an official date. But if it's just a casual thing, like right now, then... it's not."