"What did you say?" Lauren asked, making sure she heard correctly. Did Camila really just say they were going to Disney World?
"You heard me," Camila squealed as she spun around the room in a circle. "We're going to happiest place on earth."
Camila began to hum and spin around like Cinderella dreaming about attending the ball. She took a bite out of one the nuggets, still humming along to the tune of Wishes.
"Camila," Lauren said, trying to bring the fanatic back to reality. "You know we can't afford that. I can barely afford a meal at McDonalds and you have your own expenses with Alexa and school and everything else. And what about that apartment you were saving up for?"
"Would you stop worrying?" Camila asked as she stride into the older girl's arms. "I have everything taken care."
"Camila, we can't afford it."
"I can afford it."
"And how exactly can you do so?"
Out of the two of them, Camila had the better job that paid quite well. Camila held a contract with Vigori, a designer clothing company located in Los Angeles. Throughout the year she would post various photos from her shoots that would attract the eyes of horny grown men or prepubescent boys. Lauren wasn't fond of the type of attention Camila attracted, but at last she supported everything Camila chose to do.
Camila gave Lauren an assuring kiss before spinning out of Lauren's arms and over to the closet. "I just got off the phone with Brian."
"Brian? Who is Brian?"
"A guy."
Rolling her eyes, Lauren replied. "Well I knew that."
"Then why did you ask something that you already know?"
"You know what I meant."
"We're doing a partnership with Disney. They pay for our entire trip and we post all about it on my Instagram," Camila explained.
"What's the catch?"
"There is nothing?"
"Now I know that's a lie." Lauren folded her arms. "There is always a catch with trips like that."
"Well, there's kind of something we have to do, but it's not that big of a deal.
Kind of.
"What's this kind of something."
"We have to come out," Camila mumbled too fast while staring at the back of her dark closet. Lauren didn't catch a single word that came out of the Latina's mouth.
"What was that?"
Camila closed her eyes tightly as she braced herself for what she was about to say. "We need to announce our relationship to the world."
Lauren hated the words "coming out." They made her uncomfortable. It made her feel ashamed for liking someone of the same sex because she didn't want to be labeled as different. She wanted to love who she wanted without having to "come out." You don't see heterosexuals coming out, so why did she have to?
After their family vacation back in June, the two girls kept their relationship from anyone. It wasn't because they feared everyone's reactions, but they didn't know how to go about it. They wanted to make sure they were confident in themselves and their relationship before everyone found out. However, their plans quickly changed when Dinah accidentally released the news to everyone at the Jauregui's End of the Summer Barbeque. Lauren was more embarrassed than anything.
There's nothing more embarrassing than accidently pulling off your girlfriend's bikini bottoms while playing a game of shark attack, and having your best friend say, "Damn Lauser, save it for the bedroom, would ya," in front of the entire party. Lauren wanted to drown right there and then. Thankfully, Ally was there to help hide Camila while she slipped her bottoms back on and Mike distracted everyone by bringing out cake. Lauren was thankful for the time being, but she knew it would spark a conversation later, and she was right.
The conversation wasn't as painful as Lauren imagined in the multiple scenarios she ran through her head. She pictured her parents being upset for keeping something this big from them, and she didn't even know how Camila's family would react to the news. However, in the end, both of their parents were supported of their relationship, even if it took them awhile longer to get used to it. The only concerns they had were with Alexa.
Camila was picky over who she allowed into Alexa's life. For all Alexa knew, Lauren was only Camila's friends. A part of Camila wanted to introduce Lauren as her girlfriend, however the motherly side of her kept her from doing it. Lauren and her hadn't even been in a relationship for a full year yet. Their relationship was one of the more serious ones Camila had ever been in, and it helped that they shared most of the same values and desires in life, but life is unpredictable. She rather Lauren walked out sooner rather than later. Paul already was walking in and out. Camila didn't want to add more people to that list.
To this day, Lauren and Camila haven't formally introduced their relationship to the little girl. Alexa wasn't dumb though. She didn't need someone to tell her what was going on. She could already tell and she was excited because she loved Lauren.
Besides Alexa, the only other people the two didn't tell their relationship about was the world. Camila already received criticism for having a child at fourteen and for being a model. According to society, once you have a child you're no longer allowed to show off your body.
"I-Camila, you know we can't do that. I couldn't even tell our parents. How am I going to tell seven billion people?"
"We're not going to do anything you're not comfortable doing. It was only a suggestion."
"But you want to."
"I want to show you off to the world." Camila turned around to face the green-eyed girl. "I like sharing some of my private life to others. It allows them to get to know me better, and who knows maybe I'd be able to help other teenage mothers or other youth struggling with their sexuality. However, I'm not going to force you out. We'll do it when you're ready whether it's tomorrow or never."
"I'll come around."
"I know you will," Camila smiled before turning back around to grab clothes off the hanger.
"So are you going to tell me more about this trip?"
Camila held up two different shirts in front of the mirror. One was a light floral shirt that hung off her shoulders and the other was a sleeveless white blouse. She ended up choosing the floral shirt because flowers brought happiness and right now was the first time she's been happy all day. "What do you want to know?" She asked as she hung the blouse back up.
"Oh, I don't know, maybe you could start with how you managed you book a last time trip in two hours or why you booked it after we discussed earlier that we weren't going?!"
"I want to make this Christmas memorable since this is our first Christmas and all. Besides it's already going to feel weird with none of our families being in town, so why not visit our second home?"
Sinu and Alejandro were spending their holiday tanning on a beach somewhere in the Caribbean. They had originally planned the trip for last Christmas, but with it being Aidan's first Christmas they decided to stay. Well, more like Sinu wanted to stay. There was no way she was going to miss her grandchild's first Christmas. Meanwhile, Lauren's family was up north visiting her Aunt Pamela. The trip was a bit unexpected. For a while they knew Pamela's health was decreasing. Out of the last twelve months, Pamela had spent nine of them laying in the hospital due to countless surgeries ranging from her heart to back and even her hip. Just recently she was placed back in because of a stroke. Due to the snow I'm Wisconsin and flights being sparse, it was nearly impossible for her family to get a flight out, so they decided to drive. As much as Lauren wanted to tag along, she had finals that needed to be complete which meant she needed to stay in Florida.
"I need to get out of Miami," Camila continued, pulling out more clothes and placing them on top of her dress. "We all need to get out Miami. Especially my sister."
Ally had her own handful of problems. Towards the end of the summer her life was going perfect...well as perfect as perfect can get. She was entering her final year of her nursing program and got the two-bedroom apartment she was looking at for a few months. In her limited free time, she was planning her fairy tale wedding filled with lots of flowers, colors, and love. She was the happiest she had ever been until she came home early one night to find Jay making out with another female on their couch and Aidan screaming from his bedroom. What happened next was a complete blur. The only thing she remembered was driving to her parents with Aidan in the back seat and blood smeared on her hand.
"Ally is a badass," Lauren commented as she fell back onto the bed.
"Yeah well that douche ass should be glad he left town as fast as he did. If he would've been around when I found out, I would be in jail right now."
"Aww Camzi," the green-eyed girl cooed.
"What? Don't act like I can't fight. I can hold my own."
"I know you can," Lauren replies, remembering the time Camila got suspended in elementary school for punching someone in the library. It was the earliest memory she had of the brown-eyed girl. When she first saw it happened she was scared to even be around Camila. Now she hates to be away.
"This is my way of helping her out. She's been struggling a lot not just emotionally, but financially and she refuses to let any of us help her. I've been watching Aidan a lot more recently because she's been working more overnight shifts to afford a few Christmas presents for him. I hate seeing her struggle. I hate seeing anyone struggle which is why I invited Dinah, Normani, and Lucy too."
"You did what?!" Lauren asked shocked as she sat straight up. Lucy?
Lauren could see why Camila would invite Normani and Dinah. The three of them because best friends quickly over the summer, especially Dinah and Camila. Once Dinah overcame her obsession and threw out the stupid list of questions, they began to bond over everything; food, shows, making fun of Lauren, and much more. Camila even helped set the two girls up over the semester after Normani broke up with boyfriend, John. She was their Cupid. Lucy on the other hand was a different subject.
Camila pulled her large black suitcase out from underneath her bed and began filling it up with the clothes she pulled out. "Normani needs some happiness after her parents disowned her for continuing to pursue a relationship with Dinah, and Dinah has a four-year-old sister who's going to help keep Alexa busy."
"But this whole Lucy thing. Why is she coming along?"
"We're all friends aren't we?" Camila asked, looking Lauren straight in the eyes.
Friends?
"Uh no."
"Why do you say that?" Camila frowned, Camila had been texting Lucy for months and there has never been a problem. She just assumed everything was fine between everyone.
"Because-because it's just weird," Lauren spit out.
Raising her eyebrow, Camila replied. "Do you still have feelings for her?"
"No, you know this. You're the only person I love and you know that."
"Then I don't see how there should be problems."
"It just makes me uncomfortable, you know with everything that happened back in June. I don't want anything to start or relationships to end.!Vacations bring out the worse in people."
"There isn't going to be any drama unless you start some, so stop worrying."
The only person to seem bothered by Lucy was Lauren. Her feelings for the other girl were long gone, but she couldn't help feel a bit uncomfortable that her girlfriend was becoming best friends with the girl she once felt attracted to.
Walking back into the bathroom, Camila rummaged through the drawers, pulling out various hygiene products she was going to need. "We'll be staying at the Polynesian and the Grand Floridian for two weeks. I've always dreamt of staying at those resorts since I was a little girl.
"Yeah, they're okay," the older girl replied, her mind still distracted.
"You don't seem excited," Camila noticed as she returned back into the bedroom.
Fake smiling, Lauren replied, "I'm ecstatic," while inside she was full of dread.
"Wonderful because we leave Monday."
"Monday?! Camila, how on earth can we be ready tomorrow?" All she wanted was a relaxing evening after struggling with her biology final earlier that day. Instead she had to pack for a trip in three days that she knew hardly about.
Running her hands through her dark hair, she took in a deep breath knowing full well how sick she got whenever stress overtook her.
"I told you, everything is going to be fine. All I'm asking you to do is to throw your already pack suitcase in the car and I'll handle the rest."
"Camila, you're crazy-insane! What about Christmas? And-and baking your grandma's cookies, or what about Alexa visiting that creepy Santa at West Point Mall?" A moment of realization spread across her face. "What are we going to do about Christmas? We can't possibly spend Christmas in a hotel room. What are we going to do about gifts?"
"I told you, I have everything planned out," the brown-eyed girl said, rolling her eyes. "We're taking two different cars so one car will hold all the children and the other will carry all the presents. Then when Christmas Eve rolls around we'll be in a suite so Ally, Normani, and I will make sure the children are still asleep while you and Dinah do all the hard work of getting the presents out of the car."
"This is going to be a disaster."
Camila walked over to Lauren and place a small, love-filled kiss on her lips. "This is going to a be a dream come true."
"You think so?" Lauren questioned, pulling the petite girl onto her lap.
"I know so," she replied, closing the gap between them again.
"Mommy! Lamp!" Alexa screamed at the top of her lungs. It sounded like she was being murdered.
Falling off Lauren's lap, Camila quickly picked herself back up. "I'll go check on her. She's probably having a nightmare."
Lauren quickly got up. "No, no, I'll go check on her."
She completely forgot Dr. Facilier caused Alexa to have nightmares. It was one of the reasons why Camila tried to avoid that movie even though Alexa had an obsession with Tiana.
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I'll call you if I need help."
Lauren scrambled out of the room and down the hall to Alexa. Camila found it quite attractive how Lauren interacted with her daughter, meanwhile Lauren was doing it to save both of their butts from being in trouble. A Hispanic woman is the last person you want to set off.