Sofia's PoV
I sat across from her at the restaurant she chose to have our date. She looked different but not in a bad way. No, she looked very grown up. Her brown hair was swept back in a loose clip, her eyes were being complimented by the nice blue eye shadow and her lips were a natural tone. "You look really beautiful," I murmured and she ducked her head, blushing.
"Thank you," she softly spoke and bit her lip, looking at my buttoned up shirt I had borrowed from Camila, "you look absolutely stunning."
It was my turn to blush as I ducked my own head down, reading over the menu. "What made you pick this place out?" It was an Italian restaurant with a very expensive taste.
"Never been here before," Sammy shrugged and took a sip of her water while looking around, "thought we could share this together."
"It's a very nice place," I offered politely, my fingers skimming over hers briefly before pulling back. When I did pull back, she grabbed my hand and stroked the back with her thumb, not letting go.
"I don't want to hide anymore Sofi," Sammy breathed, "I don't know what that entails, but I just know that I hate hiding us."
"Are you sure?" I asked carefully. "This is a big deal Sam, I mean, I know I'm ready but are you sure?"
Sammy laughed softly and nodded. "Would I be bringing you here if I wasn't? Holding your hand?"
I smirked. "We're in the city, no one really knows us here."
"Sofi," she sighed and squeezed my hand, "when we get back home, I'll drive up to Johnny's and kiss you senseless, will that help you believe me?"
I sat there in shock. "You would?"
"Yes." Sammy chuckled and let go of my hand to move as the waiter came by. "Um, we'd like two Fettuccini Alfredo with Chicken Souvlaki," she looked at me as I nodded, confirming that was what I'd love to have.
The waiter nodded and excused himself. "So, how was the rest of your day?" I asked.
"Your eyes are so gorgeous in the candle light." Sammy blushed at her own words, "Sorry, I wasn't supposed to say that out loud."
I chuckled softly and licked my lips. "Well," I looked at her appreciatively, "thank you."
It grew silent before she realized I had asked her a question. She giggled nervously and answered, "pretty good. I had to stack like, a ton of shelves with book returns but it was nice. Being a part time librarian has its perks."
"Like quiet time?" I smiled and bit my lip. "Oh," I realized I had yet to tell her the big news on Austin walking in on Camila in Lauren's bed with the lack of clothing, "since this is our date and all, I'll only bring this up once in case I don't get a chance," her blue eyes peered at me curiously and I hesitated briefly but continued, "Austin knows about Camila and Lauren so it may be a little tense for a while."
"I see," she nodded and frowned, "well as long as they can just stick it out together, I'm sure they have nothing to worry about."
"Camila isn't exactly out of the closet," I raised an eyebrow, "and Lauren still has to live with Austin for another five months."
"True," Sammy nodded in agreement and inhaled sharply, "at least they have us, right? We're on their side, so that's a start."
My heart swelled and I felt my stomach flip slightly. "I really like you."
Sammy grinned and tilted her side in a cute way. "Good, because I really like you too."
I chuckled and sat back in my chair, staring into the eyes that held mine.
I was going to enjoy that evening with my girlfriend no matter what happened. We deserved to have our fluffy moments and I didn't want drama to over power that.
* * *
Camila's PoV
I don't think a knife could've cut through the tension that circled our booth in Johnny's. Her eyes were constantly on me and I tried to avoid them, but I couldn't. Those deep dark emerald green eyes penetrated through me and even though I was a little upset, I couldn't help but feel that tingle in my body course through me. "Why do you keep looking at me like that?" I whispered, digging my fork into my salad.
"Like what?" Lauren asked, just as softly. It was as if we were afraid to shake the dust up with our normal volume voices.
"Like you're sorry." I sighed quietly, blinking slightly.
"I am sorry Camz," Lauren whispered, a death grip on her own fork, "we don't need to be at each others throats."
"Lauren, I'm not at your throat. I'm just a little confused at your comment back in the vehicle." I shrugged and pushed the croutons around my plate. "That was a little out of left field."
"Left field?" She hissed, her eyes narrowing in anger once again. "You were blaming me!"
I raised an eyebrow and tapped my fork on my plate, pronouncing my words perfectly and sternly. "Did I say 'Lauren this is all your fault?', no. So don't go putting words into my mouth." I ducked my head and sighed.
"Camz, I'm sorry." Lauren brought her hand to mine briefly, from across the table. The touch felt warm and comforting, contrasting with how I felt everywhere else.
"Were you serious?" I looked up at her, our eyes meeting with intensity once again. "Your promise to me, are we really going to get through this together?" I laughed and shook my head, looking around the semi-busy diner. "This is just the beginning Lo. Austin knows, Mrs. Mahone is not a stupid woman so she would have to know, Normani knows and on top of all that, I've yet to come out to my mom! This is a huge fucking deal and I just really need to know that your promise is solid."
I watched as Lauren swallowed thickly, her eyes blinking unshed tears before she stood up and slid into the seat next to me. "I am serious," she whispered, clasping my hands in hers, "my promise is solid."
"Are you sure?" I pushed. I needed to know for sure. I was in love with Lauren, there was no doubt about that, but I needed to know if we could survive this as a couple.
If we couldn't, we'd have to survive it separately and I wasn't ready to let her go. I was almost willing to throw myself back in the closet.
If only it were that easy.
Lauren bit her lip and looked down at our hands that were still linked. "I won't lie to you Camz," she cleared her throat, "I'm scared the fuck out of my mind." A laugh escaped her lips as she looked up at the ceiling. "I fell in love with my cousin's girlfriend, now ex-girlfriend, I committed myself to one person and I'm scared because that person is you."
I shook my head and looked at her quizzically. "What does that have to do with this?"
"Did you know I wanted to run from you the moment we became serious?" Lauren whispered, not looking at me. "I'm not used to being this Lauren."
"This Lauren?" I frowned, my anger quickly dissipating at the look of fear in her eyes.
"When I'm around you Camila, I don't know how to act. I just do." Lauren wrung her hands in front of her. "With you I feel like I don't even have to try and act like someone. Back home, that's all I ever did. I wanted people to like me. I wanted people to accept me and when they didn't, I fell into the wrong crowd and became 'Dirty Jauregui'."
"Dirty?"
"I told you I wasn't great at commitment, I told you that I cheated on my last girlfriend because she wouldn't have sex with me." Her emerald eyes scanned the place and then closed them, willing herself to continue. "And then I walk into your life, take you by storm and you take the one thing that has never been given to anyone."
I bit my lip and brushed a few strands of hair from her face, "what's that?"
"My heart." Two words that sent me falling all over again. "That's why I'm scared. I don't know how to handle this, Camz. I would usually run from things when they got this intense-"
"Me too," I interrupted gently, "you know I do. I can run from the stupidest things and I definitely run from the most important ones too."
Her eyes search mine for something. An answer? Hope? Reason? "You're not running now," she said quietly.
I shrugged. "There's nowhere to run now, Lo. Whether we like it or not, we're in the spotlight and there is no going anywhere. We have to face it."
"Together." Lauren breathed. "I have to go home and face this alone though, I have to live with them for the next five months."
Five months.
Two more words the really sent me falling, just not in the good way.
"You're leaving." I whispered and propped my elbow on the table, biting my nails as I looked around blankly. "We're about to go through all of this only to have you leave, right?"
"Camila," she warned me not to go down that road; a road that we've both been avoiding for months now, a road that we wanted to remain closed permanently.
"No Lauren," I laughed coldly. It was like one thing after the other. "Don't 'Camila' me!"
"Camz, baby," Lauren cupped my face, forcing me to look at her, "we have plenty of time to talk about that, okay? Let's just focus on this."
I squared my jaw and bit my bottom lip that quivered, nodding. "Okay." I choked out and pushed my salad to the side. "Want to get out of here?" I smiled as she nodded enthusiastically. She stumbled out of the booth and held out her hand for me to grab.
"Figures." A snort came from behind us and we turned around to find Austin standing there with Kyla by his side. "So much for it being a drunken one night stand."
Lauren squinted and snarled. "What the hell is your problem Austin?" She raised her voice, pushing him back slightly, "do you really think you should be judging us at the moment?"
Kyla's eyes widened as she looked at me. By the look of it, she still hadn't told the guy he was going to be a father.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Austin shrugged away Lauren's offending arms and stood straight.
"Austin!" I stepped between the two cousins, taking a look at them before glancing at Kyla. "Why don't we just take this conversation somewhere more quiet?"
"Why?" Austin crossed his arms over his chest. "Just tell me it was nothing but a mistake and we'll just let it go, Mila."
I shook my head in disbelief. He wanted me to tell him that sleeping, no, falling in love with his cousin was a mistake? Fuck that. "I can't tell you that, Aus." I said firmly, turning to face him fully now. "I won't tell you what isn't true."
Austin let out a loud laugh – a laugh that bounced off the walls of the diner as he ran his fingers through his hair, tugging on it slightly. "I cannot fucking believe I've been so fucking stupid and blind," he pushed past me and got in Lauren's face, "all this time you were telling me she loved me Lauren! All of this time you were trying to give me the reassurance that we were solid and you were the slut sleeping with her the whole time."
Oh no he didn't.
"What do you just call me?" Lauren flinched and shoved Austin back. "Fuck you Austin, you're acting like you're the only innocent one in this fucking mess. Yes, okay? I slept with Camila! I fell in love with her and as much as I tried to stop it, I couldn't!"
"Doesn't change the fact that you betrayed me." Austin hissed and composed himself slightly.
"Betrayal?" I raised my voice and laughed uncontrollably. "You want to talk about betrayal, Austin?"
"She's my cousin, Camila!" He yelled.
"Kyla's my best friend!" I challenged him. "Leave Lauren out of this, okay? She didn't force herself on me. I was the one that kissed her first, I was the one that encouraged her when she gave me the chance to say no, I was the one that told her I was in love her – so don't go putting all of this on her. You want to place your anger somewhere, I'm right here."
"Camila," Lauren whispered, trying to get me to stop.
"You think putting the blame on you is going to make everything okay?" Austin raised an eyebrow. I looked around to notice that we had a rather large audience and on top of the few people that knew, I was sure the school would know come Monday.
"HEY!" Kyla stepped in and pushed me away slightly, giving space between Austin and myself. "You told me you weren't going to approach them like this," she spoke calmly to the guy, "remember? This afternoon when you showed up on my doorstep, you promised me you'd handle this reasonably."
"That's before I knew they were an item." Austin clenched his jaw, staring at us.
"So? What the hell were we?" Kyla stepped back, her eyes narrowing. "Camila may have forgiven me for all of this Aus, but I don't forgive myself because I fell in love with you. My best friend's boyfriend and I'm starting to wonder why I risked my only real friendship for a prick like you."
"Your best friend slept with my cousin."
"Would you shut the hell up about that?!" Kyla screeched, her hands flying in the air, laughing slightly. "So they went behind your back! Wow, it's not like you're innocent! You came to me. You knew how I felt about you and you used that to your advantage. You got what you wanted because your girlfriend wasn't putting out. Do you really think it's fair to put all this fucked up shit on their shoulders?" I've never seen Kyla so wound up before. I wasn't sure how she was going to deal with all of this.
I felt Lauren's fingers slide into mine as I backed up more into her, the closer Kyla got to Austin face.
"Kyla!" Austin shouted, "Lauren is my best friend and cousin! Blood is thicker then water, don't you think?"
"So while Camila and I aren't your family, our feelings don't mean a goddamn thing? The four of us are in this together, why the fuck are we arguing?" Kyla placed her hands on her hips, glaring at the boy.
"Camila and Lauren slept together!"
"Oh for fuck sakes," Lauren started to get fed up and went to step forward. She was stopped by Kyla's final words before fleeing out the door and into the cold night.
"And YOU got me pregnant, you asshole!" Kyla screamed before running out the door, where the snow fell down like crazy.
Austin, Lauren and I exchanged looks of surprise.
"Fuck." Austin muttered.
Yea, not that innocent, now are you, Austin?