"I hope you had a good birthday, baby." Lauren turns to her wife as they stand in front of their apartment door. Tonight the two brunettes celebrated Camila's 26th birthday.
"Any birthday that I get to spend with you is always going to be a good one." Camila responds as she leans in and plants a lingering kiss to her wife's slightly chapped lips.
"Did you have fun though? Like dinner and a movie wasn't too boring was it?" The green-eyed girl asks, her voice laced with insecurity.
"Tonight was perfect, Lo. I told you we didn't have to go all out for my birthday. We could've sat in our apartment and silently watched paint dry together and I would've still had a great time." Camila smiles lovingly at her wife.
"Well how about we go inside and I give you your other birthday present." The older Latina wags her eyebrows and Camila just chuckles as she unlocks the door and they both step inside the dark apartment.
"Surprise!" Both the Latinas hear a chorus of voices as soon as they turn on the light to their apartment. Neither of them had been aware that a surprise party would be thrown and after everything that's happened the past year, neither do quite well with surprises and people jumping out at them.
Before Lauren can stop herself, she quickly shoves Camila behind her and takes a swing at the person that pops out from behind the table by the door. That person just so happens to be Dinah.
"Ah fuck!" Dinah yells as she clasps both hands over her nose.
"Oh shit! Dinah I'm so sorry i-it was just a reflex of mine because we weren't expecting anyone tonight and it caught me off guard!" Lauren tries to explain herself as Normani rushes over to her wife and pulls her into the kitchen so she doesn't get blood everywhere. The green-eyed girl quickly turns to face her wife and notices that Camila's eyes are wide and her chest is rising and falling quickly. Lauren immediately pulls the smaller girl into her arms and rubs her back soothingly. "You're okay, it's just our friends. You're safe. I've got you."
Camila nods, her face buried in her wife's neck. She's embarrassed that her body reacts this way, but after everything she's been through, she just can't help it. After she feels her own breathing settle, she places a quick kiss to Lauren's neck and then pulls back to face her wide-eyed friends.
"Mila we are so sorry..." Ally steps forward, her eyes apologetic. "We just wanted to do something nice for you since it's your birthday, but we should've thought it out more or at least ran the idea by Lauren."
"It's okay, Ally." Camila steps forward and puts her hands on the shorter girl's shoulders. "It was a sweet gesture and I'm so glad that you all are here." She gives her shoulders a light squeeze before turning her attention to the tall boy standing behind Ally.
"Happy birthday, Camila." Shawn offers her a shy smile while extending a nicely wrapped present in her direction.
"I'm glad you could be here." The brunette grabs the present and places it on the couch. She then closes the distance between the two of them and wraps her arms around the boy's torso. "Thank you so much for the gift." She mumbles when she pulls away from the hug.
Camila glances over her shoulder to see that her wife is standing in the kitchen with Normani and Dinah. "If you'll both excuse me, I need to go check on Cheech." They both nod and Camila walks swiftly to the kitchen and stands by her friend, who is holding an ice-pack to her nose while sitting on top of their counter.
"Hey DJ, you okay?" Camila places her hand on Dinah's shoulder.
"Ralph has a hell of a right hook." The Polynesian chuckles as she takes the ice-pack off her nose. All three girls grimace when they see how bad it looks. Luckily, her nose doesn't look broken, but the skin around both of her eyes is already starting to blacken and there is dried blood all over her face, neck, and shirt.
"Dinah I am so so sorry I can't apologize enough for that." Lauren look sympathetically at her wife's best friend.
"You were just protecting my best friend. I can't be mad at you for that." Dinah shrugs and a smile forms on all the girl's faces.
"Aw Cheech, I love you so much. Thank you for throwing me this party." Camila leans in and plants a wet kiss to her best friend's cheek before turning to Normani. "Why don't you take her into our bedroom and get her cleaned up? You can grab a shirt from mine or Lauren's closet for her to wear."
"Will do. We will be right back." The dark-skinned girl leads her wife into the bedroom and when they are gone, Camila turns to Lauren.
"Thanks for trying to protect me, my little Superman." Camila leans in and kisses her wife on the nose.
"Anytime, Camz." Lauren reaches her injured hand up and caresses Camila's cheek. The younger Latina reaches up and carefully grabs her wife's hand in hers. She notices that her knuckles are already bruising so she quickly makes her way over to the freezer and pulls out an ice-pack.
"Now lets ice that hand, Rocky." The younger girl offers her wife a playful wink before grabbing her hand again and pressing the ice-pack to the back of it.
"Rocky just wishes he had a right hook as legit as mine." Lauren smirks and the younger Cuban just chuckles.
"I'm sure he does, babe." Camila playfully rolls her eyes.
"Hows the hand?" Ally asks as she walks up to the two Latinas.
"It'll be okay. I just hope Dinah's face will." Lauren replies, still feeling a bit guilty for making Dinah's nose bleed.
"Dinah is one tough Polynesian. She'll be fine." Ally offers the worried teacher a comforting smile.
"So can we please address the elephant in the room?" Camila clears her throat and cocks an eyebrow.
"And what elephant would that be?" The shorter girl questions.
"Umm the 6' 2", curly haired elephant that is sitting on my couch playing with my dog." Camila nods over to where Shawn is playing with Cam. "I noticed you two hitting it off at your restaurant and I couldn't help but notice how friendly you two seem tonight."
Both girls watch in amusement as Ally blushes furiously.
"We've been on a few dates." She shrugs nonchalantly.
"Allyson Hernandez! Why did you not tell me?" Camila shouts and Ally immediately covers her mouth with her hand.
"Because I knew you'd make a big deal about it and I didn't want to tell you until I knew it would turn into something." The restaurant owner replies.
Camila removes the girl's hand from her mouth so she can speak. "Well you brought him with you tonight, does that mean it's something?" The younger Latina smirks.
"Camz, stop interrogating the poor girl." Lauren snakes her arm around her wife's waist and pulls her into her side. Camila just scoffs.
"I am not interrogating, I am just wondering what is happening with my ship. I introduced the two of them so I think it's only fair that I know everything that's going on with Shally." The birthday girl rationalizes and the other two girls in the kitchen roll their eyes at the ship name.
Before any of them can speak up, they hear Dinah yell from inside the bedroom. "No, Mani, I will not have sex with you on Camren's bed how dare you suggest such an inappropriate idea!" Seconds later they hear an arm being slapped and a muffled "ouch" come from Dinah. Not long after, the two emerge from the bedroom, Dinah sporting one of Lauren's band t-shirts. The two girls saunter over to the kitchen area.
"There better have been no funny business happening on our bed. You two were in there for awhile." Camila crosses her arms, one of her perfectly sculpted eyebrows raised.
"Oh hell nah I wouldn't touch that bed with a ten foot pole. No telling what kinda kinky shit you two do on that thing and ya nasty asses probably haven't even washed the bed sheets since you moved into the place." Dinah makes a gagging noise and once again, Normani swats her arm.
"Well I'm glad to see that Lauren didn't knock the sarcasm out of you." Ally pats her friend's shoulder.
"Maybe she should take another swing at her then. This one always has something smart ass to say." Normani says and the whole kitchen erupts in laughter, except for Dinah, who scoffs and mumbles something about how no one appreciates her hilarious self.
"So where's the cake?" Camila asks simply as she looks around the kitchen area for the delicious treat.
"And what makes you think we bought your old ass a cake?" Dinah retorts.
"Um you nearly gave me a heart attack and you did give me a panic attack so there best be cake." Camila points out and all the girls shake their heads at her bluntness. Without a word, Ally exits the kitchen and then returns minutes later with Shawn, who happens to be holding a cake.
Camila's eyes widen immediately upon seeing the dessert. It is a white cake with bananas all over the top of it and "happy birthday Camila" written in yellow icing.
"BANANA!" The Latina yells in a voice that sounds like one of the Minions from Despicable Me.
"I'm married to a dork." Lauren mumbles while she sticks birthday candles in the cake.
Camila leans in to her wife so that her lips are hovering over Lauren's ear. "You love me." She whispers before nibbling on the green-eyed girl's earlobe and effectively spreading chill bumps all over Lauren's body.
"More than anything." Lauren replies without hesitation and butterflies fill Camila's stomach when she hears her wife mumble those three words.
"Okay lovebirds, I'm about to light the candles so Camila be ready to blow them out." Ally chimes in. Everyone watches as the restaurant owner lights all the candles on the cake. As soon as she finishes, they all start obnoxiously singing Happy Birthday to the girl. When the singing stops, Lauren holds Camila's hair back while the younger girl leans in to blow out the candles.
"Don't forget to make a wish." The green-eyed girl reminds her wife and Camila just nods her head before she blows out every single candle. Truth is, she didn't wish for anything because she couldn't think of something to wish for off the top of her head.
She has amazing friends who love her enough to throw her a surprise birthday party.
She has a cute, loving dog.
She has a phenomenal wife that she is madly in love with.
What more could a girl want?