Serendipity // Camren

Chapter 32

Much to Lauren's surprise, Camila somehow managed to wait until they were both bucked-in in the car before she asked what Hiram had said to her in the living room. Really, she had been expecting the brunette to say something the moment the front door had closed behind them.

Lauren grinned at the brunette as she backed out of the driveway. "It was nothing," she said, as she shifted into first and started down the before she reached across the car to place her hand on Camila's leg. The brunette was wearing shorts, leaving her long, toned, tan legs on display and it had taken all of Lauren's self-control earlier to not touch them.

"Sweetie," Camila laughed as she placed her hand on top of Lauren's, which had started to stroke up and down her thigh. "Stop. And just tell me what daddy said to you."

Lauren sighed and pulled her hand away to shift into second gear, immediately returning it to its previous position when she was done. "He just apologized, Camz. I told him he had every right to give me the third degree, and then I told him that you are everything in the world to me and that I would never hurt you. We stared at each other for a few seconds, he smiled, and then I wolfed down a sandwich in world-record time. The end."

"Okay," Camila said, squeezing Lauren's hand as they rolled to a stop at a stop sign. "Well, thank you for that."

Lauren sighed and turned her hand over underneath Camila's so that she was able to twine their fingers together. She lifted their joined hands to her lips and pressed a soft kiss to the brunette's knuckles, letting her lips linger on soft skin for a moment before she was forced to let go of Camila's hand so she could shift back into first and get going again. "I don't think I did anything worthy of your thanks, but you're welcome."

One of the good things about small towns is that it takes next to no time to get anywhere. Fifteen minutes after they'd pulled out of the Cabello's driveway, Lauren was pulling into a parking space in front of a large, flat gray, warehouse-type building. Camila looked around the area skeptically, frowning slightly as she scanned the business names stretched across the different units' windows. There didn't look to be anything here that would be appropriate for a nine-year-old and her friends.

"Where are we going, again?" Camila asked. When she had asked Lauren when they were packing back in LA, Lauren had just told her it was a party place with lots of trampolines, but she didn't see anything that looked like a 'party place'. The building in front of them looked more like a 'creepy, unshaven, ass-grabbing pervert' kind of a place.

Lauren grinned and pointed at the end unit that was just outside her window. "There."

Camila's eyes followed where Lauren was pointing and she read, "Tramp Zone." Her brow furrowed with confusion as she looked at Lauren and asked, "You aren't bothered by the fact that Shelby is allowing Nicole to have her birthday party at a placed called the 'Tramp Zone'? That hardly sounds like an appropriate venue for a young girl to celebrate her birthday in."

Lauren laughed at the very Camila Cabello-ness of that statement and shook her head as she lifted her right hand to cradle the brunette's aghast face in her palm. "'Tramp' is short for trampoline. It's like an older-kid bounce house place. There are basketball hoops around the outside and the entire floor is a series of trampolines so the kids can just jump their little hearts out."

"Oh," Camila said, smiling at Lauren's touch. "Well, that sounds fun."

"It is," Lauren assured her, stroking the pad of her thumb over Camila's cheek. "And completely appropriate for a bunch of eight- and nine-year-olds. But you know what's even more fun that jumping?"

"Hmm?" Camila hummed.

"Kissing you in the parking lot," Lauren said, smiling as she leaned in and kissed the brunette softly. "Thank you for coming with me to this," she whispered as she pulled away.