all i need is you

sight of a soul when it's breaking

"You snooze, you lose." Camila is giving her major early 2000s vibes: she's got a pale blue cropped zip-up hoodie and a matching miniskirt, both velour and probably straight from Juicy Couture. She looks kind of like a hotter, younger, brunette version of Paris Hilton, complete with the oversized sunglasses perched on top of her hair, which is tied back in low pigtails. Well, actually, she looks more like-

"Maddy from Euphoria ripped her style from me, not the other way around. Deadass." Camila tosses her hair and tilts her chin up at Lauren, like she's daring her to argue. "The costume designers contacted me to see if they could borrow some pieces from my wardrobe."

Lauren squints at her. She legitimately can't tell if she's joking or not. She is Camila Cabello, after all. Is it really that far-fetched?

 Camila blinks up at her. "No, I'm serious."

"You're sixteen and Alexa Demie is twenty-five."

"And? I'm kind of a fashion icon, if you hadn't noticed."

If she's being honest, when Lauren had read headlines about Camila in the past, she had been paying more attention to her being completely wasted and a drunk, indecent, underage mess than her fashion sense. She does seem to favor the early 2000s style. Her Paris Hilton comparison wasn't that far off, but seriously, she's begging God to at least wait until Camila is eighteen before she has a sex tape scandal.

"The only thing I don't condone is the crazy eyeshadow." Camila pouts at her. "I tried the whole powder blue to go with my outfit and it just made me look sickly. And the jewels take way too much time to do." Instead, she's wearing thick winged eyeliner. It suits her, definitely. It makes her look so hot.

Lauren opens her mouth, not quite sure if she's about to compliment her or confront her about the other day, when she hears her mother's footsteps behind her and her heart drops all the way into her toes.

"Lauren Michelle." Her mother's tone is cold as ice. "Who is this?"

Lauren looks at Camila frantically, but the girl seems cool as a cucumber as she extends her hand for a shake. "It's really nice to meet you, Mrs. Jauregui. I'm Camila, I just moved here. Your daughter has been a fabulous tour guide, by the way." And then the kicker: she smiles, all dimples and glimmering white teeth, and the sex goddess Lauren saw just thirty seconds ago, despite the less-than-modest outfit, is now radiating all kinds of girl-scout honor-code straight-As energy, smart, mature, and polite. It's almost insane, but then again, Lauren figures Camila's used to putting on a show for an audience. Ever since she (allegedly- she's still trying to determine if this is legit or not) cleaned up her act, she's been doing this thing a lot - or at least that's what Camila told her when they were over at her house. You know. When they kissed the first time. Okay, probably shouldn't be thinking about that right now.

Lauren sneaks a peek up at her mother's expression. Wow. Even she seems vaguely charmed by Camila's good manners. "Yes, I'm aware of who you are. Nice to meet you, too." She shakes her hand, and her mother's eyes cut over to Lauren, and she cringes. Uh oh. There's definitely still some hostility there. She's really gonna get it once Camila leaves. Maybe she can convince her to stay the night?

Ha. Like her mom would ever let that happen.

"You have a beautiful home." Camila clasps her hands in front of her, like a child, and bounces on the balls of her feet (an arduous task in the borderline-ridiculous white go-go boots she's wearing) as she surveys their house with her big, innocent eyes. "Oh, that piano is gorgeous!" She points a pale pink claw-like nail at the piano in the corner of the Jauregui's living room. It is noticeably untouched - there's probably even dust on it if Lauren ran her finger over it - but Camila walks over to it anyway, the high heels of her boots clicking on the tile floor. That girl is a whole production. She looks straight out of some cheesy teen movie, with her outfit and her makeup and her hair and her attitude - she's almost like a cartoon character, larger than life. "Who plays?"