"So you and Camila are going to a party today?" Milika asked Dinah as she tried to feed little Seth, who was just having fun while spitting out his food.
It was breakfast time and the big family was sitting around a small dining room for six in which they somehow managed to eat thirteen at the same time.
Camila loved this. Not just having a family, but being so close that she never realized how uncomfortable it was.
"Yes," she replied happily as she hurried to eat. She would be late for her college classes if she took too long "Ally and Mani decided to stay to do silly crafts."
"Incredible crafts" Ally corrected it from the other side of the table.
"Whatever you say, dwarf."
"I guess you're going with Noa," her mother sensed.
"That's right" she said with a smile. Camila hated him, felt something was not right with him, but if he made Dinah happy she had nothing left but to accept it.
"And with whom will you go, Camila?"
"I'll go with Marco. Nothing special."
Milika sighed. She trusted Dinah, but not Noah so much. The fact that Camila accompanied her gave her much more peace of mind.
"I thought you were going with that girl from the restaurant, Mila," Gordon muttered surprised, while reading the newspaper.
Her heart stopped and she felt her cheeks burn when her ten siblings and Milika turned to look at her with their eyes wide open.
"How do you know... about her?" she stammered.
"I was meeting my boss at the back table. I'm sure you didn't see me. You were too busy looking at that panda painting... and that girl."
"Weren't you going to tell me, Mila?!" Dinah was shocked.
"It was just a lunch" She replied hastily "It was nothing important."
Or it was, but she didn't plan on accepting it.
"It didn't seem to be just lunch, Mila." Her adoptive father followed. She couldn't see his face, but she knew he was laughing at her.
"Is she pretty?" Milika asked
Although she was ashamed, she thanked her parents for their attitude. Years earlier, when she had confessed her sexual preference to them, the atmosphere of the house had remained tense for quite some time. They ended up accepting her, of course, and now they were even able to joke with her.
She was grateful because not everyone was running with the same luck.
"So pretty" she said. She couldn't lie "You should see her eyes. They're amazing."
"You should bring her home," suggested Sofi, her biological sister, sweetly. There was no curiosity in her as in her adoptive parents and siblings, no anger as in Dinah, only the deep desire to see Camila happy.
"We just had lunch, Sofi. It's no big deal."
"I think it is. She even paid for you" Gordon came in, who seemed more interested in Lauren than Camila herself "... Besides, I don't think the way she looked at you is something you should let go of."
"How does Dad know more about your date than I do, Mila?! Don't you love me?!" Dinah continued to complain.
Camila took a big breath and laid her forehead on her hands. She loved her family, but it was overwhelming.
"I made her a tattoo a few months ago and two days ago she came back for another one. She invited me to lunch. I accepted. We talked. She gave me her number. We said goodbye. That was it" She said tired of the topic "Why do you have to make everything a whole movie?"
"Tell me you called her!" Dinah demanded, ignoring the rest of her speech.
Camila huffed, but still denied immediately.
She had almost done it a couple of times, but whenever she was about to mark her sisters or brothers would come into the room asking for some favor, and when she returned the courage would go away.
"What's her name, Kaki?" She was the only one who called her that, and she liked it. She loved Dinah, Ally, and Normani and their foster brothers, but Sofia was special. Sofia was the only link she had to what she really was.
"Lauren Jauregui" answered automatically.
With just saying her name she automatically remembered her expressions, her words, the way her body moved with the grace of an angel, seducing her like a demon.
She smiled.
She smiled because she liked her and she knew it, but she had no idea what to do from there.
"Be careful, okay?" Milika warned her, "Ariana has hurt you too much already."
"Okay"
***
"Why are you wearing that coat, Mila?" Ally asked as she helped Dinah with the zipper of her black dress "The party will be at Alexa's house and there will be more than a hundred people in a room that was designed for twenty-five. I'm sure it'll be hot."
Alexa was studying with Dinah in college. They didn't get along very well, but Dinah wasn't going to miss a good party because of it.
"I have to cover my arms. If one of my clients goes to that party it will ruin my career."
"You can make a henna, Mila," Normani suggested and shrugged her shoulders.
Of course, it wouldn't have been the first time that Camila was forced to do something like this. She used to resort to this method when she had to go to the pool, and even once she must have used it when a very suspicious customer asked her to see her arms to be touched by the needle.
"I forgot the template in the studio" The process of getting a fake tattoo was complicated, especially since it had to be always in the same place. In addition, she had to ensure that it was always the same design, as she couldn't appear a day with skulls and a month later with beautiful roses.
"You're an idiot, Mila," Dinah just said.
When the two were ready they sought the approval of their sisters, who simply smiled pleased at such a vision.
"Do you think Noah will like it?" Dinah questioned nervously.
"He's gonna love it," Normani encouraged.
"How about you, Camila? Don't you want to know how good you look?" That was Ally.
"My date is Marco. I don't care. He'll like the dress better me."
"But you could get someone there. I don't know, Alexa has pretty cute friends." Dinah tempted her with a smile. She was tired of her poor sister being the single of the group.
"I really don't care. I don't want to conquer any girl today, I'm sorry."
"What if that girl was Lauren Jauregui?" Normani raised an eyebrow.
Camila laughed in her face.
"Believe me, there's no chance Lauren's gonna be there."
***
Camila adjusted her coat on her short red dress before entering what was Alexa's huge house.
Upon entering the room the lights were off, the searchlights on, the loud music and the drinking glasses in the hands of each of the guests.
She took a deep breath. Cigarette smoke couldn't be missing, and neither could the typical sex smell of any party at home.
"I'll go say hello to Alexa. You stay here, or meet someone, or do something..." That was Dinah.
"What if I don't want to?"
Noa, the weakling, red-haired boy who had stood behind the girls, went to Dinah and wrapped his very thin arms around her very waist.
"You can come with us. I have some guy friends who..."
"She's a lesbian, idiot" Dinah reminded him quite angry. She always had to remind him.
"Oh, never mind, I also have some girl friends who..."
"Noa, just go away."
And that's how, miraculously, Dinah and her stupid boyfriend left her alone. Or almost at peace, because she still had to get rid of Marco, that dark-haired guy who was clinging to her arm so he wouldn't run off to a group of very handsome boys.
"Honey, I know I'm your date, but do you mind if I dance for a while?" Apparently he was going to make things easy "I swear I'd never seen anyone so charming."
Camila turned to look where Marco was going, and discovered a blond boy waving shyly at him.
"Go with him. I'll be fine."
"Are you sure?"
"Sure."
And with a little shout of happiness Marco ran to the arms of that boy, who looked at him with surprise.
Camila then, seeing herself alone, walked to the bar and asked for a glass of water. She had nothing better to do.
Next to her a boy with an odor of alcohol and the fly below looked at her shamelessly. Dragging the words he offered her some of his drink.
"It's just vodka, precious. I promise."
Camila refused and slowly walked away. That, clearly, wasn't just vodka.
An hour later she was still in the same place. Dinah danced with her boyfriend, Marco tried to conquer that blond by making strange movements, in the corners the young people had sex without any shame and there, at the bar, Camila simply watched.
And then she heard that voice.
"Fantasizing about naked women, Camila?"
Completely surprised the girl turned her gaze in the direction of the hoarse voice of Lauren Jauregui, who sat beside her with elegance. She wore a loose blue dress, was barefoot and had a lit cigarette between her lips. Her eyes looked really seductive under the spotlight, and her legs...
"If you're fantasizing about me right now I could even show you a little" She volunteered before putting out her cigarette in a nearby ashtray. Camila swallowed slowly.
She hadn't been fantasizing about Lauren, of course, but that didn't mean she didn't want to see her.
"What are you doing here?" She asked. She needed to get those fantasies out of her mind.
"Alexa invited me. She thinks she's my best friend or something. What she doesn't know is that I think she's a bitch... I'm only here for the booze and the pretty tattoo artists."
Camila looked down immediately and blushed at such words.
"Is there any other tattoo artist in this place?"
"Only you" she said. "And if there're others, I assure you they are quite ugly."
Camila nervously laughed and turned her gaze to the painter's bare feet. She was not willing to look her in the eye being so ashamed.
The skin on her feet was as pale as the rest of her body, perhaps as smooth as that of a baby, and her fingers were delicate and perfect. Her nails were well trimmed and painted neatly in black, not disastrous like her hands.
"If you're wondering why I'm not wearing shoes the answer is simple: I love my feet too much to have blisters" She whispered almost bored, moving her fingers slowly, as if they were dancing to the beat of a song very different from the one heard at the time "... And if you weren't wondering, then I guess it was a good time to confess to you the hopeless love I have for them."
"Actually, I didn't..."
"Don't you think it's too hot to wear a coat, Camila?" She interrupted her, clearly not wanting to know what she was about to say.
"I'm not hot."
Of course she was, but her job was at risk.
"You're sweating, Camila" Lauren didn't seem to want to joke, but still there was a certain grace in her words that made her laugh "Believe me, if you don't take that off right now, you might end up fainting."
Was that concern in her voice? Were those warm hands trying to take off her coat gently?
"Sorry, I have to leave for a moment" She said abruptly as she walked away from Lauren, fixed her coat and turned around.
She didn't want to leave Lauren alone, but she definitely needed to get some fresh air and take off that stupid coat without anyone seeing her.
She made her way among the people with a certain clumsiness, stumbling several times and being constantly forced to apologize to the annoying couples.
When she was outside, she took a deep breath and walked to a bench away from Alexa's house. There was a lamppost on the bench, and on the lamppost the moon and the stars.
She took off her coat with a sigh. She took a deep breath as she felt the breeze of night refreshing her and embracing her body as if it wanted to sing her some kind of lullaby.
She looked up at the sky.
It was a beautiful night.
"I expected to find scary tattoos, Camila, or at least a embarrassing one" The tattoo artist was alarmed to hear her voice. What was she doing there? "Still, it's a nice surprise."
She didn't know if it was those green eyes staring at her or the situation they were in, but Camila was paralyzed.
She took a deep breath when she saw Lauren sitting next to her and pulling a cigarette from between her breasts. Her dress continued to look like it was taken from the cleaners, without any wrinkles or dirt, and her feet remained in the open.
She trembled as she glanced at her and smiled with the cigarette between her lips.
"Do you have a lighter?"
She immediately said no. She didn't smoke.
"Well" She sighed in defeat before holding the cigarette between her fingers. The painter was silent a few seconds before speaking again. "Don't go. I'll go to my car, get the lighter and come back."
Camila simply nodded and swallowed as she left.
How was she supposed to explain that? How could she convince her not to tell everyone that Camila Cabello, a growing tattoo artist, didn't have tattoos?
Simon would fire her. She would lose her honor and the trust of the clients. She would no longer have opportunities.
"I'm fucked" Murmured.
She thought she was right at the time.
Anyway, I tried to make Lauren more real. With Camila I'm doing the same, just wait for the drama to start.
-Lore-
Note: Let's just say I had a very good day. I wasn't supposed to work today, so Juan, Damián and I went on a walk as a happy family. It's simple, but it means a lot to me. Plus, we have pizza for dinner, so it's understandable that I can't stop smiling. Now I just hope the insomnia doesn't attack me again.
I guess that's the only negative thing about traveling so often. You don't completely adapt to a schedule when you already have a new one.
How are you doing?
Have a good life.