"She's gonna hate me."
"No she's not."
"I bet she already does. I bet this is all a ploy so she can somehow turn you against me as well so you can hate me right along side her."
"Impossible."
"Lauren."
"Camila." The green-eyed girl was no letting up. Her eyes were stern and her smirk set.
Tonight Camila would be meeting Ashley and there was no way around it for the brunette. She just had to suck it up. The fact of the matter was; it was important for Ashley to like Camila because if she didn't, she could very well veto the idea of Natalia ever truly meeting the celebrity. But Lauren wasn't all that concerned, she knew it was near impossible to dislike the anxious little brunette, especially when she was so openly nervous despite having performed in front of masses of crowds.
"You can do this." They pulled up to the all-too familiar apartment building and Lauren still felt the tang of gratitude that Ashley had gotten the apartment and she had gotten a house. She knew living in a high-rise would have one day made her lose her mind. She liked the tranqillity of the suburbs.
"And if this goes well, I get to meet Natalia." The brunette reminded herself. Because for her, that was the end goal. She so desperately wanted to meet the little girl that had claimed the heart of her best friend, she wanted to know her and build a relationship with her that would prove to Lauren that she was there to stay for good.
"Exactly." The raven-haired woman watched as Camila eyed the apartment building and sighed, slipping out of the car first with Lauren following suit. "You've got this."
"I bet Evan is freaking out just as much." Camila scoffed, hoping that the boy was. She could almost imagine that meeting Lauren would warrant more hesitance. The woman was stern in her judgements and rarely did she allow any leniency.
"He better be," Lauren scoffed. "I'm the alpha mama, I ought to terrify him."
"And Ashley's okay with that?"
"Ash has had so many flings since our divorce that she knows I'm more than entitled to be a little protective of Lia. I want people in her life that'll stay, I don't need her worrying why she's not good enough for people to not want to stay."
And it was fair.
Camila understood that because she'd lived with that kind of anxiety for a large portion of her life. After Shawn had walked out, she remembered feeling worthless because he had always promised to stay and he simply...couldn't back then. Now she knew better. Now she knew that he'd left so she could work on herself and she had.
After Lauren and after her dad, Camila had left and she'd found her solace in her sound an she'd honed in on that solace and turned it into her dream career. Now she was at a time in her life where she felt like it would be okay so slow things down, to experience life again.
It was why she'd decided to reconnect with Lauren, it was why she wasn't travelling as much as she had two, three years prior. She wanted to slow things down, she wanted to know the people around her again and share her thoughts and memories with them.
"I'm staying, Lauren." Camila spoke softly, for only the green-eyed woman to hear and no one else. "I swear, I'm not going anywhere. Here is perfect for me."
"Yeah?" Lauren found those familiar set of chocolate brown eyes. "Good, cause you being here is kind of perfect again."
The pair made their way up the building and to the apartment, Camila fidgeting nervously as they waited outside the door for Ashley to open it. Lauren knew there wasn't much more she could say to alleviate Camila's nerves but she could also tell that the brunette was handling it in a much more mature manner than she would have as a teenager.
