"Mom! She didn't actually mean she'd do it for free! This is her job, and it is the only way she can afford her house and expenses! Lauren was using an expression to show how much she loved working for me!" Camila yelled to her mother, who was on the other line of her phone call. "Fine! Bye!"
Camila hung up her phone in a fit of rage, and Lauren pulled her into a hug to comfort her. To her best understanding, Lauren only assumed that Sinu had made her decision final about cutting her payments. At this point, the only thing Lauren could do was sell her house and stay there with Camila until she found another job, unless Camila wanted her to stay there permanently. Lauren wouldn't mind being there forever, since Camila brought her all the joy and happiness that she would ever need.
The two pulled apart from each other, and Lauren said, "I guess that means I'll be staying here."
Camila gave a slanted face and replied, "That's what seems to be happening. I really wouldn't mind it if did stay. Although, I really must apologize for my mother's words and actions. It was extremely rude for her to start an argument with me while you were here. I'm truly sorry Lauren, I really am."
"It's totally okay, Camila. Why don't we go out somewhere tonight? Are you up for it? I think we just need to get out of the house for a little while to take a breather." Lauren said.
"Well I definitely agree that we both need a break from all this and need a night out. You know what I've always wanted to do that my mother would never even think to let me do?"
Lauren gave Camila a bewildered look and responded, "What might that be?"
"I want to go out to a club or something fun like that. My mom thinks that I'd be irresponsible to go to one, and well, I don't suppose I'm under her rule any longer."
"Camila, don't take this the wrong way, but I kind of agree. I mean, I don't think you're irresponsible, but what do you plan on doing at a club?"
"You know, what everyone else normally does. I want to dance!" she answered excitedly.
"Do you even know how to dance? And wouldn't you hurt your arm dancing?"
"My arm will be fine if I'm careful. And no, I can't dance, but do you know the expression 'dance like nobody is watching?' Well, I figured that I would enjoy dancing because I'm blind. How can I know if anybody is watching if I can't look to see if they are?"
Lauren replied, "That's very... insightful, Camila. I never thought you would ever insult your non-ability to see."
"There's two types of people in this world, Lauren. The ones who complain about what they're stuck with, and the others like me who accept it and live life to the fullest. Even though I can't see, that doesn't stop me from being able to have fun. Let's go to the club, Lauren! Come on!" Camila said enthusiastically.
"Alright, Camila. I'll take you to a club tonight. Just don't have too much to drink, okay?"
"Of course, I'm not that stupid. Plus, I've never had alcohol, and all that I ask is that you let me try some tonight. Like, come on, I'm twenty-five and I've never had anything to drink!"
"Sure." Lauren answered with a nod, unsure of how good of an idea this whole club thing was. "Now, we should probably start getting ready."
As she said this, Lauren glanced down at herself to see that she was still in her pyjamas from rushing to Camila's in the storm. She remembered that she didn't have any clothes with her, then she looked up at Camila.
"Camila, I just remembered that I don't have anything with me. My clothes are all at my house, as well as my make-up. Should I stop there on the way to dinner?" Lauren asked.
"I was actually hoping that you could make me look nice for the club at your house. Like, let me borrow something to wear? Maybe even do my make-up for me? I can't exactly do stuff on my own, you know."
Lauren agreed to Camila's request, then she grabbed her keys and brought Camila out to the car. When they were both successfully buckled in, Lauren put the keys in the ignition to start the car, then backed out into the street.
During the whole ride, they both jammed out to whatever was playing on the radio. They sang along to every song that they knew, and had a great time without even being at the club yet. Camila sang along without a care in the world, while Lauren thought to herself the whole time. Usually, she would be singing along much more and would be admiring Camila's raspy voice, but her mind was too far set on whether or not this was going to be a good idea.
Clubs were bad news to Lauren, since she has had bad experiences with them in the past. She remembered taking her old friend Alexa to a club on her twenty-first birthday, and they had gotten completely wasted. Alexa was drunk enough to leave Lauren at the club alone while she went off somewhere with a random stranger. When Lauren had calmed down enough to go look for her, it was too late, and she had discovered that her best friend had been murdered by the guy she went off with. She didn't want that to happen to Camila. Not her.
"Lauren? Are you okay? You're not singing. Do you not know the song?" Camila asked, snapping Lauren out of it.
"No, I do. I'm just thinking."
"What about?"
"It's just... I don't know if I should take you to the club tonight. I've had a bad experience in the past at a club, and I guess I'm just not feeling ready to go back. One of my old best friends was murdered when she got drunk and went off with a random guy she didn't know. I don't want to lose you in that same way." Lauren explained to Camila.
"I'm sorry, Lauren. I shouldn't push you to take me somewhere that you're uncomfortable going to. Maybe we could just hangout here at your house tonight? I wouldn't mind. Plus, I've never been to your house." Camila smiled.
Lauren returned the smile and replied, "Thank you for understanding. We can do that. And if you'd like to try drinking alcohol, I would mind having a couple drinks with you here. I'm not exactly worried that a stranger will come into my house and kill you, so it'll be fine if you have a few."
Camila nodded as they finally pulled into the driveway at Lauren's house. Lauren turned off the car and pulled her keys out of the ignition. The two of them unbuckled, then Camila waited for Lauren to come around to her side of the car so she could lead her to the house. After opening the car door, Camila reached for Lauren's hand that finally slipped into hers a second later. When Camila was out of the car, Lauren shut the door and led her to the front door of the house. With her free hand, Lauren chose the house key to unlock the door, then walked into the house with Camila right behind her.
Together, they went into Lauren's kitchen and Camila sat down at the table like Lauren had instructed her to. Lauren went through her refrigerator to find a couple bottles of red wine, which would probably be more than enough for tonight. She grabbed one of the bottles and placed it on the table, then went into one of her cupboards and picked up two wine glasses to place them next to the wine on the table.
After opening the new bottle of wine, Lauren poured a full cup for her and a much smaller amount for Camila in the case that she didn't like it. She slid the cup over to Camila, who reached for the cup after hearing the sliding noise.
"I put a little in your glass in case you didn't like it." Lauren explained.
Camila nodded then took a sip of the cool red wine, with Lauren watching her as her soft, pink lips pressed against the edge of the wine glass. A small smile was drawn onto Camila's face as she quickly finished the remainder of the red wine. She placed the glass down on the table, then slid it back over to Lauren.
"I'm only going to assume that you want some more?" Lauren questioned Camila.
She smiled, then nodded. Lauren poured Camila a full glass this time, then slid the wine over to her. When Camila had acknowledged the fact that there was another glass of the delicious wine in front of her, Lauren was finally able to take a seat and enjoy her red wine as well. After they had both finished at least two full cups, Camila was starting to feel the beginnings of getting tipsy. This became obvious to Lauren, who could only guess that Camila was a light drinker.
"Am I supposed to feel a little more mellow than usual?" Camila asked.
Lauren giggled a little then responded, "Yes. You're beginning to get tipsy. Maybe we should stop before you actually get drunk."
"Lauren, we're the only ones in the house. It's not like we're going anywhere, so who cares if we get drunk or not? I'm in, if you are."
"I don't know, Camila." she answered.
Camila brought up the excellent point, "We've been stressed, so I think it might be a good idea to forget about it for a night. Don't you think so?"
Lauren looked up at Camila and responded, "I'm in."
After the two bottles of red wine were empty, Camila was completely wasted while Lauren was only half-drunk from being a heavy drinker. The two of them went into the living room, where they started to have some pretty hysterical conversations.
"Sooo... What's your favorite color?" Camila slurred.
"Twenty-seven." Lauren giggled. "What's yours?"
"Pizza." she laughed.
"Wait, sorry. I forgot that you couldn't see colors. What color is pizza?"
"What kind of color is twenty-seven?" Camila countered.
"Good point."
Even though Lauren was half-drunk, she was still able to control herself somewhat. Although she couldn't avoid thinking that twenty-seven was a color, she still had some logical thinking left. Since she currently had no filter for the words that she spoke, she knew that the truth always came out when you were drunk, which made her ask a question that she was dying to know the answer to.
"So, Camila. Do you like me?" Lauren asked.
Camila giggled, "Of course I do, silly. I would have scared you off already if I didn't."
"No, I mean do you like, like me?"
"Obviously! You haven't picked up on the signs?" she laughed.
With a puzzled look, Lauren responded with the inability to ask a straight forward question, "Signs? Like, street signs?"
"No! Silly Lauren! I've been showing you all along. That's why I asked you if we were a thing last night! Duh!" Camila continued to laugh hysterically, which caused Lauren to laugh a little as well.
"Remind me why we aren't a thing?"
"The person you like! Who is it anyways?!" she smirked at Lauren.
Lauren face-palmed and said, "It's you! It's always been you!"
She knew that neither of them were going to remember one word of this in the morning, so Lauren didn't mind the fact that she told Camila the truth now.
"Oh! Wow, am I blonde or what?!"
"You're a brunette." Lauren giggled.
Camila smiled, then leaned in to placed a soft kiss on Lauren's neck. Lauren reached up to caress the delicate skin on Camila's cheek, and Camila did the same to her. At the same time, they both leaned in for a passionate kiss, which turned out to be more than just one. They began to fall deeper and deeper into the kiss, letting themselves continue this motion freely. Camila's good hand moved from Lauren's cheek to the back of her head, where she grasped onto some of Lauren's hair without pulling too hard. Lauren moved her hand away from Camila's cheek and snaked her arms around her waist while being careful not to hurt her arm, causing the kiss to grow stronger.
When Camila moved on to kissing Lauren's neck, Lauren moaned with pleasure. With her one working arm, Camila slowly moved her hand to the rim of Lauren's pyjamas that she had stayed in all day. It was then that Lauren regained enough consciousness to stop Camila by placing her hand on hers. This caused Camila to give Lauren a puzzled look.
"Is something the matter, Lauren?" she asked.
It took Lauren a moment to collect her thoughts before she answered, "This is something I would rather do with you when you're sober. Even then, I don't think I'm ready to go that far yet. We aren't even a thing yet. I really do like you a lot, Camila, but I want our first time to be right, not when we're drunk and can't remember it the next morning."
"Okay, can I just go to sleep now? I'm quite tired." Camila asked with a heavy slur.
"Sure. Let me carry you." Lauren said.
Camila held her good arm out to Lauren, and she was lifted up in a warm and comfortable hold from Lauren. Carefully, Lauren brought her to her own room that was down the hall, then placed Camila gently down on the bed. Due to her experiences in the past dealing with her drunk friends, Lauren was able to pick someone up without dropping them when drunk. She pulled the covers over Camila and made sure she was comfortable. Then she grabbed an extra blanket and pillow from the side of the bed, since she was sleeping on the couch. As she was about to shut the lights off, she was halted by Camila's tiny, squeaky voice.
"Are we a thing now, Lauren?"
Lauren just smiled, then responded, "Maybe. We'll talk about it when you're sober, okay?"
"Okay, Lauren." she answered, then paused. "I think I love you, Lauren."
"Camila, you don't know what love is."
"That's right." Camila paused. "Am I getting a kiss goodnight?"
Lauren walked over to Camila's bedside, then placed a small peck on her forehead.
"Goodnight, Camila." Lauren smiled.
"I meant on the lips, gorgeous." she giggled.
"Maybe when we're a thing. Our next kiss will be when we're both sober."
Camila just nodded, then adjusted herself so she was comfortable. Lauren shut off the light in the room, then made her way over to the living room couch where they just had their make out session. She placed the pillow on the end of the couch, then shut off the living room light. After laying down on the couch, she covered herself with the blanket.
As Lauren was about to go to sleep, a single tear shed from one of her eyes. The last thing she thought about before drifting off into a deep slumber was the fact that this all just happened when they were drunk. Would it happen if they were sober?