"Camz I've got you something," Lauren called as she entered the room, a small box in her hands.
Camila looked up from where she was sat laughing with Dinah and Normani.
It had been just over a month since Camila confessed about her past with Austin.
Not much had progressed in their relationship, Camila still hadn't said the words she wanted to most, not that Lauren wanted to pressure her into saying them.
She was beyond patient, assuring her that she didn't care and that she would wait for her, holding her during her moments of insecurities.
They hadn't done anything intimate either, their kisses were still soft and gentle, lacking hunger and desire.
Not that Lauren was complaining, she was happy to hold Camila in her arms all day if she could and after finding out about Austin, she especially didn't want to pressure her into doing anything.
"But it's not an occasion?" Camila questioned innocently, taking the neatly wrapped object out of Lauren's hand.
"I know but just open it," Lauren bounced on her heels excitedly, clasping her fingers together.
Camila carefully began to peel away the wrapping paper, not wanting to break the object if it was fragile.
"Hurry the fuck up!"
Dinah's voice startled them all and they jumped at the sudden loudness, all turning to face the youngest with matching glares.
"Babe leave her alone," Normani scolded but it was too late because Camila had already tore off the rest of the paper, fed up of Dinah's impatient attitude.
"Is this pretend?" She asked nervously, "because I don't think I find it very funny."
"It's not pretend baby, it's for you," Lauren laughed gently, crouching in front of her.
"Is it filled with rocks or something, do you two know something? Is this a prank?" Camila turned to face Normani and Dinah who only shrugged. She lifted the box up to shake it and Lauren hurriedly it off her.
"It's real Camzi, you'll break it if you do that," She told her and Camila took it back, removing it from its box and feeling the cold metal of the smooth iPhone as she held it gently in her hands.
"But why would you get me this?" She giggled confusedly, looking into Lauren's eyes to see if she was being honest with her.
"Because I wanted you to have one," Lauren answered simply, scrunching up her nose and Camila put it on the couch and threw herself into Lauren's arms, nearly knocking the pair of them backwards.
"You're the best Lolo," She exclaimed and Lauren rubbed her back, laughing.
"I'm glad you like it," She grinned and Normani and Dinah awed at the scene.
"But aren't you scared that I'll phone someone, or do something bad?" Camila frowned, pulling back to meet her face.
"Well I've had to get Dinah, the computer genius here, to block a few numbers and stuff and I'll maybe check it if I think you're doing something suspicious but I trust you," Lauren told her and Camila leant forward to plant a kiss on Lauren's lips.
"Thank you so so much," She squealed, rubbing their noses together in a butterfly kiss.
"I love you," Lauren kissed her cheek delicately before releasing the younger girl and standing up, "but I have something else for you."
"Lolo stop buying me things when I can't get you anything in return," Camila whined, pushing her shoulder.
"Hey, I love my bracelet. And besides, I never bought this," Lauren shrugged, taking Camila's hand and guiding her to the front door.
Dinah and Normani were whispering excitedly in the background, giving Camila the impression they knew what it was.
Lauren opened the door and Camila frowned at the empty porch which was in no way different to usual.
"Is this a joke?" Camila whispered, stepping out and looking around. "because if it's meant to be funny I don't understand it."
"Nothing's a joke, stop being paranoid Camz. Just wait a few minuets," Lauren brushed it off, taking Camila's hand and squeezing it reassuringly.
After a few moments of silent waiting, an unfamiliar car drove into view at the bottom of the garden and Camila stepped behind Lauren.
"Is it your father?" She whimpered, grabbing the fabric of her t-shirt and twisting it in her hands.
"Why would i put you in danger munchkin, just wait and see," Lauren rolled her eyes and Camila stepped back into the open.
The car door opened and Camila strained her eyes to see who stepped out, praying it wasn't someone who would be bad.
"No?" She gasped, her hand flying to her mouth and she turned to face Lauren, looking up at her.
Lauren only beamed in response and Camila giggled excitedly.
"Go on then," Lauren urged, tapping her back lightly when she didn't move.
"Ally," Camila shrieked after the realisation that her best friend was there, right in front of her after nearly two months, finally hit her, and she took off running down the steps and across the yard.
The closer she got to the small blonde, the faster she ran and the three girls on the porch were quite surprised that she never fell due to her lack of coordination.
"Camila?" The figure questioned, "is it really you?"
The closer Camila got, Ally recognised her friend's mass of brunette hair and her clumsy movements and she immediately burst into tears.
She tried to force her frozen limbs forward she couldn't move from shock and it wasn't until Camila's body crashed into hers, sending the pair of them flying backwards, that she finally moved.
"Don't you recognise me, it's only been a few months," Camila laughed and if she hadn't recognised her before she definitely knew it was her by now because of the terrible joke that only Camila could make.
"It's you, it's really you," Ally gasped, holding Camila's head tightly in her hand.
"Yeah, it's me Allycat. I've missed you so much," Camila nodded, throwing her arms around her body.
The pair stayed like that for a few minuets, Camila with her arms wound around Ally's waist and Ally with her head buried in Camila's shoulder, clinging to her neck for dear life.
"I thought you were dead Mila, I thought he got you, I thought you were dead," Ally sobbed once she could form words.
"I'm here, you're here, how are you here?" Camila shrieked, rocking the hysterical girl.
"I don't know, someone came to pick me up and brought me here, are you okay? Did they hurt you, who's keeping you here?" Ally asked frantically.
"No, I'm not hurt. I'm fine Ally, I'm fine," Camila assured her older friend, kissing the top of her head.
"I'm never letting you go again, I can't believe I lost you," Ally cried, still clinging onto the Latina.
"Don't cry," Camila laughed softly, "I'm okay Alz, see. You're here now and we're going to have fun!"
"B-but how are you here, and why are you so happy. Your Dad, he's dead, I can't believe he's actually dead. Why can't you come home with me?" Ally frowned through her tears, wiping her eyes.
"Because, I can't go. It's a lot to understand but I'll explain everything and just know that I'm happy," Camila insisted.
"I've missed you so much Mila," Ally told her seriously and Camila squeezed her.
"I've missed you too Allycat, more than you could possibly know."
"Okay okay, I'm done," Ally laughed, blowing on her face to try and calm herself down, "are you gonna tell me who's staring at us?"
Camila was unaware that the other three girls had joined them until Ally pointed them out.
"Aren't you gonna introduce us?"
"Ally, this is Dinah and her girlfriend Mani. This is Lauren, she's, she's my person," Camila pointed each of them out, releasing Ally from the hug but still clinging to her hand.
Lauren and Normani waved shyly whilst Dinah beamed.
Ally nodded her head at them bashfully, aware of her tear-stained face and how unappealing it must look.
"She'd say hello but I think she's a bit shocked," Camila spoke on behalf of her friend who was blinking in confusion.
"You two can go inside and talk, we'll wait out here," Lauren told her and Camila nodded, smiling gratefully, ignoring Dinah's whining about missing out and how 'she was always left with the boring people'.
They two best friends walked back to the house with their hands still linked, scared to let each other go.
On the way, Ally filled Camila in on the gossip, which mainly consisted of multiple memorials for her father and herself, a girl from Camila's English class getting herself pregnant and that Ally's father was insisting she should move out of the house because she was getting old.
"Wow I missed a lot," Camila joked sarcastically with a roll of her eyes and Ally smiled up at her fondly.
"You haven't changed, have you?" She shook her head and Camila stuck out her tongue.
"Same old Mila," She shrugged and Ally's eyes widened as she walked into the house.
"Is this where you've been staying?"
"Yup," Camila popped the P, "we'll go into the living room and I'll explain everything."
Once they were both situated comfortably on the couch facing each other, Camila took a deep breath before opening her mouth to explain.
"Remember me telling you that I was going to follow my father to find out what he was doing?" Camila started and Ally nodded.
"Yeah, a few days before he was declared dead."
"He died that night. I followed him here and all I saw was his body unconscious on the floor, I ran out to see him and I was stabbed with a syringe that sent me unconscious too. I woke up tied in the corner of the kitchen whilst my father was tied down to the table. The girl who did it to us was shouting about him murdering my mom and how she would do the same to him. He insisted he never but she wasn't convinced. He shouted for me to run and I did, I only got half way down the yard before I fell over and sprained my ankle and chipped the bone in my wrist. The girl caught me and carried me back, throwing me back in the corner. I watched as she slit his neck, I watched my father's eye drain of life right in front of my eyes," Camila was getting choked up as she relived the memories and Ally reached out to pull her into a hug but Camila shook her off, wanting to finish her story.
"I stayed in the basement for the first week, it was cold and I never ate for fear of being poisoned. One day, when there was a thunderstorm, she left the house and I ended up having a panic attack. When she returned she held me until I could breath and treated me like an actual person instead of a hostage. After that it improved slightly, I was aloud around the house and I started to eat again after building up a bit of trust towards her," She continued but was cut off by Ally.
"I knew you'd lost weight, you aren't okay are you, you're sick," She fussed, immediately panic stricken.
"Let me continue," Camila huffed, "I'm fine Alz, I promise you," She gave her a reassuring smile before proceeding.
"The night of my birthday we argued and she locked herself in her bedroom. I scoured the house was any possible exits but after an hour or so I gave up, sobbing. I cried until I ran out tears, where I then decided to go check on her. We talked and I ended up sleeping in her bed. The next morning I woke up to find she'd planned a surprise for me, there was a huge spread of Cuban food on the table and we ate and talked until we were full to bursting. And that night, for the first time since I arrived here, we went on a walk. A few days later she had another mission, to kill a boy called Brad. I went with her and he threatened to attack me, she protected me. Later that day we went to her friend's house so she could have help killing the boy and I met her friends," Camila's story was brief, missing out many major details because she didn't want Ally to judge without knowing the full story.
"It's her, isn't it. The girl with the emerald eyes, you're person," Ally cut her off softly and Camila bit her lip.
"Yeah," Camila admitted in a whisper.
"Mila she kills people," Ally frowned, "she killed your father."
"It's not like that, she's told to do it. It's like her job. She kills the evil people, the murder and the rapists and then other bad people out there," Camila explained, praying to god that Ally would understand.
"What about Austin, what if she hurts you. I can't let you get hurt, especially when I'm not here to help you," Ally shook her head.
"You wasn't there to help last time, remember, I pushed you away. She'd never hurt me, I know she wouldn't, she loves me," Camila said confidently, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips.
"Okay," Ally whispered unsurely, "if it's what you want. I suppose if you're trapped here you might as well enjoy it."
"Thank you, you don't know how much your approval means to me," Camila wrapped her arms around the older girl who buried her head into her neck, smelling the familiar vanilla scent of the Latina's body spray that she'd missed so much. "How long are you here for?"
"I don't know, the driver told me if he brought me here to see you I'm sworn to secrecy, that I must be the only one to know," The older girl shrugged, equally confused, "I figured it'd be worth it to see you, I'd have probably climbed in a car if the driver had an axe in his hand."
"Awe I'm glad he didn't," Camila laughed, "I don't think I could hug you if you were missing an arm, I'm squeamish."
"Wow thanks Mila, I loose an arm for you and you can't even bear a hug," Ally shoved her away, "some best friend you are."
Camila was glad that although the situation wasn't the best, nothing had changed between them and they still teased each other like siblings.
There was a knock on the living room door and the two girls turned to see Lauren stood there, Normani and Dinah in tow.
"Can I come in?" She asked, scared to intrude and Camila waved her over.
"Have we spilt the tea, you best have told her the details, we wouldn't want her to miss out on anything," Dinah rushed forward, sitting on the other couch before turning to Ally, "has she told you about their kisses?"
Ally's mouth dropped open and she turned to her friend in disbelief.
"Karla Camila Cabello how dare you not tell me," She exclaimed and Camila blushed bright red at her full name.
"Who the fuck is Karla?" Normani asked incredulously.
"It's my full name, I hate it so I go by Camila," Camila explained, rolling her eyes. "But it's okay, we all have names we hate, don't we Allyson," She shot Ally a meaningful look and everyone laughed.
"I missed you," She sighed, hugging her friend tightly and the younger girl snuggled into her side.
"I've missed you more."