"Have you ever wondered what being with a girl would be like?"
It's the question that takes the game of 20 questions up ten notches. Camila is the one to ask it, and she revels in the warmth of having caused the utterly surprised look on Lauren's face.
Lauren narrows her eyes and shrugs. "I mean, I've thought about it." Camila laughs. "Yeah, funny," Lauren says, tapping her chin in thought. "Oh, I've got one. Have you ever skinny dipped?"
Camila rolls her eyes, having a feeling that Lauren already knows the answer. In the terms of any past sexual experiences, it's an automatic no from Camila, and of course the light blush the happens to take over her cheeks. All of the girls in the group are quite aware of the face that Camila hasn't even had her first kiss yet - they've all had their turn of teasing her about it, too.
"No," she answers, reaching for the can of coke resting on the coffee table in front of her. She brings it to her lips, taking a big sip of the sticky sweet liquid and trying to come up with another good question for Lauren.
They've been playing the game for almost half an hour, and it's a surprise that the other girls are able to sleep soundly in their bunks through the occasional giddy laughs that come from Camila. She can't help it: whenever she's with Lauren, her usually hyper mood escalates for an unknown reason. Or, maybe not so unknown? It's... Lauren's nice, yeah? Camila might even has a little tiny crush on her. That might be a factor to her obnoxious noise-making.
And maybe it's been going on for a few months (or ever since they met on the X-Factor - is there a difference?), but it's not like she's in love with Lauren. No. She's definitely not.
So, pushing those feelings aside: "would you ever be with a girl?"
After she asks, Camila can feel the blush spreading up her neck and to her cheeks. Way to push those feelings aside. Lauren raises an eyebrow at her, eyes narrowing in suspicion, and Camila's stomach twists into nervous knots.
They stare at each other, and Camila is so sure she's just ruined their friendship. She's ruined the tower of progress they've been making over the past months: sharing secrets, helping each other get ready for shows, being best friends. And she's just knocked that entire tower down with the wrecking ball of a question, in a stupid game of 20 questions. It's unbelievably upsetting.
Camila's eyes are burning a hole into the floor beneath her when she hears it: a laugh. Not just any laugh, either - the same, warm laugh she's heard constantly since the X-Factor, and when she looks up, Lauren's smiling at her. "Camz, chill," she says, placing her warm hand on Camila's arm. "You don't have to get so red. It's not that weird of a question."
With relief flooding through her, Camila's chocolate colored eyes lock into place with Lauren's emerald ones. The taller girl removes her hand slowly, picking up her own drink and taking a long swig. Camila watches the way her hair falls down over her shoulders as she tips her head back, and resists the urge to reach out and run her fingers through it.
Lauren places the drink back onto the table and looks back at the table. "So. Oh, yeah - the question. Uh, I'd definitely..." It's Lauren who blushes this time. ".. Yeah, why not? Experimenting is pretty normal."
Camila bites the inside of her cheek and nods slowly, feeling like a bobble head. She forces the dirty images of Lauren and her out of her mind, because she knows it's not gonna happen.
"Camila?"
Looking up, Camila is met with a thoughtful look on Lauren's face. "Yeah?"
"Would you be with a girl?"
Her stomach stirs as she looks back down at her hands. The perfect shade of blue nail polish on her nails looks ocean green under the lighting of the bus. "Yeah. Like what you said, about experimenting and stuff."
There's silence for a moment, and Camila doesn't remember when it became so tense between them. It's a pregnant pause, and she swears this is the longest she's ever been quiet around Lauren. When did her own hands become so fascinating?
"Come here."
The words send a twinge of heat to Camila's stomach, and she looks up quickly. Lauren is staring at her, emerald eyes two shades darker than usual, lips parted slightly. She bites her lip and studies Camila's face, desperately trying to gauge her reaction.
Unsure of what else to do (and really, really wanting to find out what will happen if she obeys Lauren's request), Camila crawls closer to Lauren, the floor hard beneath the fabric of her jeans. She leaves a few inches of space between them, not sure just how close Lauren meant for her to come.
Lauren's gaze travels from Camila's eyes down to Camila's lips, lingering on the fullness of them. As if it hadn't already occurred to Camila what Lauren wanted to do, the realization hits her hard, and her heart begins to thrum quickly against her ribs. Are they going to kiss? Are they going to do more than kiss?
The taller girl averts her eyes back to Camila's looking into them questioningly. "Is this - are you okay? Like." Lauren clears her throat and looks at the ground. "Do you want to?"
Camila's head is spinning, and the room feels like it's shrinking. "Yeah," she breathes, watching the way Lauren's eyes seem to sparkle with her response, body growing calmer.
There are no established boundaries. No plans, no discussion of what this might do to their friendship, no thoughts of the negative consequences that might come out of kissing your bandmate (and best friend). Camila's weight is rested on her arms as she watches Lauren start to lean into her, eyes flitting over each of her facial features.
She can feel Lauren's breath against her mouth as she starts to lean in, too. There's not a large distance in between their lips, but as it grows smaller, Camila feels like she's going to explode if she doesn't kiss Lauren. If she doesn't have Lauren in this way, at least. She'll take her in any way that she can get her.
That's it. Their lips are a centimeter apart, noses bumping together softly as Camila turns her head to the left slightly. They're there. They're going to kiss.
Lauren closes the small distance, pushing forward against Camila's lips softly. Camila feels it- she feels everything: the warmth of Lauren's mouth on her own; the temperature of the air go up; the soft pounding of her heart. It's perfect.
Their lips move slowly against each other; Lauren brings her hand up to rest against the back of Camila's neck, pulling her closer. Camila pulls Lauren's bottom lip between her own, tasting her red lipstick.
It's all too good. It's so good, that when Camila hears a noise, she finds it hard to pull away. Lauren's other hand has moved to rest on her knee, and she doesn't want to lose the taste of her lipstick. But then she hears it again, and she realizes that if they get caught, she might never see Lauren again.
That thought is terrifying enough to make her pull back, releasing Lauren's lip with a pop. Lauren looks confused, but then the sound comes again, and Camila recognizes it as footsteps. Lauren's eyes widen she nods in acknowledgement of Camila's smart action.
They grow louder, and Camila scoots farther away from Lauren. She bites the inside of her cheek nervously, looking up just in time for Ally to walk into the room, half-asleep.
The small girl blinks. "Guys? What're you still up for?"
Camila knows that she's blushing. She looks down at the ground, opening and closing her mouth multiple times, unsure of what to say.
Lauren clears her throat. "Couldn't sleep," she says, voice sounding higher than usual. Camila hopes more than ever that Ally doesn't notice. "Why'd you get up?"
Ally sighs, running a hand through her messy hair. "I was gonna get water. But hey, you guys should probably get some sleep. We're waking up pretty early for that plane ride tomorrow." Her eyes move between Camila and Lauren, looking concerned.
They're all silent for a minute before Camila nods, eyes flicking to Lauren in apology. "Yeah," she agrees, slowly rising from her spot on the floor. She prays that if there's any remnant of Lauren's lipstick on her mouth, Ally doesn't notice it. "Goodnight, guys."
With that, she stalks off to her bunk, the complete opposite of tired. The feeling of Lauren's warm mouth against hers is fresh in her mind, and she has a feeling that it will be for a while. She pulls off her jeans and drops them next to her bunk, leaving her loose t-shirt on.
As she crawls into the bunk, pulling the covers over her body, she has a feeling sleep won't come easily to her. The same will probably go for Lauren - if that kiss was as good for her as it was for Camila.