camren one shots

[p1] the polar express but make it camren

wc: 3100 words - one of four (?) parts n merry christmas (it's fluffy and cute and fun and i loved writing this)

Lauren always thought it was obscene, how many people cared about Christmas and Santa Claus and the stupid little elves and the dainty lights that broke after two days and Christmas music that made her head hurt.

She stopped believing years ago. She tried staying up three times; when she was 8, when she was 12, and when she was 13. Each time she fell asleep and she'd wake up to the sun in her face and her younger siblings cheering about the presents under the tree. Her parents would insist that they didn't put all of them there, only some, but Lauren always felt skeptical.

Yet the excitement continued, and she'd comply by nodding along to the songs and humoring her parents and going to bed on Christmas Eve without thinking too much. It's one night and one day. Nothing to lose sleep over.

It helps that her girlfriend shares the same sentiments, but she still keeps up with the excitement because of her younger sister. Lauren does the same with her two siblings, and if they have been skeptical at all, they haven't voiced it to her.

The one time she almost started believing again was when she was fourteen. It was two months after she met Camila, and she was questioning her sexuality more than ever.

She'd opened her stocking and pulled out the usual. An iTunes gift card from her dad, perfume and nail polish from her mom, candy from her grandparents, and small plushies from her siblings.

However, at the bottom of her stocking, hidden under newspaper wrapping with nothing on it, she found a small pin. It was just the pride flag. Nothing else. But she hadn't told anyone about her newfound attraction to girls or ever talked to her family about gay issues.

She still couldn't explain it. Maybe her parents checked her search history and saw the endless articles that she'd read about sexuality. Maybe it got left in the stocking when they bought it, it had been new that year. She doesn't know. But it still doesn't feel like enough to believe.

Either way, her parents were accepting two years later when she came out and that was her best Christmas gift that year.

-

It's maybe 9 pm when Lauren climbs into Camila's window. She saw Camila with her mom in the kitchen before she climbed in, so she puts down her gift for Camila and just lays in her girlfriend's bed and waits for her.

Camila's room is everything anyone would expect once they met Camila. Light yellow walls and a full-size bed against one wall with her desk pushed up against another. Posters of various bands on the wall above her bed, photos of her friends on the wall opposite of that, a large window on the third wall with sheer white curtains, and the last wall with her closet that can't close. There's always some kind of clothes pile on the floor and journals scattered about with song lyrics all over them. Her guitar is in the corner and there are always guitar strings on her desk.

It's all just so Camila that Lauren can't help but be endeared by it.

She pulls off her jacket and curls underneath the blankets, enjoying being surrounded by the scent of Camila, which is normally something of vanilla but is now mixed with gingerbread from the scented candles she keeps in her room this time of year.

She runs the soft fabric of Camila's blanket between her fingers, almost dozing off until the door slams open, "Night Mami!"

Camila closes the door behind her and smiles wide when she sees Lauren, who opens her arms, "Hey babe."

"Hey!" Camila grins, climbing into bed with her and pulling the other girl into her chest, "How long have you been waiting?"

Lauren yawns, pressing a kiss to Camila's neck before responding, "Not long. I had to see you tonight."