*Camila's P.O.V*
It's been a few weeks since my first date with Baylor. It wasn't long after that she asked me to be her girlfriend. We've been keeping it quiet at school but at home everyone is so supportive, my parents adore her. Baylor comes over to my house at least twice a week for dinner with my family. Slowly things seem to be getting on track, I feel happy.
Today's the day that Baylor and I decided we were going to actually act like a couple at school. I still haven't told any of my friends except Dinah. I promised Baylor I'd tell my friends during lunch and I'd walk her to class after proudly holding her hand.
I sighed heavily as I sat down at the lunch table. I spied Baylor across the cafeteria and she gave me a reassuring smile as she sat down to tell her own friends about what was going on. Looking at all my friends I realize Lauren isn't at the table.
"Guys," I said, getting their attention so they would all look at me. "Where's Lauren?"
"Oh, so now you want to talk to her?" Normani, the girl who was closest to Lauren, scoffed.
"Mani!" Ally scolded. "Come on, you know when she's having a bad day she goes to the orchestra room during lunch, just like you go to the piano hall."
I nodded, "Okay, well when I'm done telling you guys something, I have to go talk to her.
They smiled at me, urging me to go on.
I took a deep breath, "So, I'm just going to come out at say it." I looked at each of them individually. "I like girls."
My friends didn't looked shocked. They all exchanged a few glances and just burst into hysterical fits of laughter.
"Why are you laughing?" I said worried. "Didn't you hear what I just said?"
The girls nodded. "We know you do, Mila." Ally finally said through a fit of giggles.
"Wait, you do?" I asked completely confused, "But how?"
Dinah raised her hand sheepishly, "I may have mentioned how excited I was about Baylor so I had to divulge the information."
My cheeks began to heat up at the sound of her name.
"Awww! Mila's blushing!" Dinah squealed.
"I could kill you right now," I glared at her, then directed my attention towards Normani and Ally. "So you guys are okay with it?"
Ally smiled sweetly, "I love you no matter what, Mila. No matter who you like, I support you. I want to get to know Baylor more too! Let's all do something!"
I was overjoyed by her answer, "Mani?" I asked, peering over at her.
She reluctantly nodded. "Camila, I'll always love you, no matter who you like. I'm just upset about this whole thing with Lauren, you know that. It's not the same with our whole group not together."
"I know. I'm going to go talk to her before lunch is over, I just wanted to let you guys know first. Buuuut, looks like someone already beat me to that!" I sent dagger eyes and Dinah jokingly. "You didn't tell Lauren did you? She's the one person I really want to tell myself."
Dinah shook her head, "She's your best friend. I knew you wanted to tell her, go, I'll tell Baylor where you are after lunch."
"Thank you!" I said happily as I rushed off to the music wing.
- - - - - -
I made my way quietly into the orchestra room, sitting myself in the back of the room watching Lauren intently as she gracefully ran her the bow across her violin strings. Watching her play has always mesmerized me. Lauren plays man instruments but there is something about the way she plays the violin that just gets to me. Many people don't know that Lauren has been classically trained in violin since the age of 5 but it's one of the things I admire most about her.
Her eyes were closed, she was letting herself fall into the music like she tends to do. I didn't make my presence known until she was clearly done with her piece. As she put her violin in it's case, I stood and cleared my throat. Lauren spun on her heels and her eyes widened when she sees me. She turns back around so her back is towards me. I see her furiously wiping her face with the back of her hands before she looks me in the eye again. Taking a few steps closer, I realize she has been crying. This isn't the first time I've seen her cry while playing but this time she seemed almost ashamed of her emotions.
"What are you doing here?" she asked cautiously.
I tried to take a step closer but she stiffened in response so I stayed where I was. "I wanted to talk to you about a few things." She just eyed me up and down. "You song was beautiful by the way. I missed watching you play."
A small smile danced across Lauren's lips before disappearing again, "What do you need to talk about?" she asked rather roughly.
"Lauren, please don't be like this. Here me out okay?"
"Fine," Lauren shrugged. "Nothing is stopping you. Start talking."
I sighed and looked at my beautiful best friend. My heart began to pound like it always does when I'm around her, but this time it was more from my nervousness than anything. Her eyes pierced into mine and I felt so self conscious with her looking into my soul like that.
"Lauren, I wanted to apologize for how I've acted these past couple weeks. We're best friends and there are no excuses for my actions. I acted out because I had a lot on my mind I didn't know how to focus on. I was overwhelmed and felt like I was drowning in the simplicities of life. I know that doesn't make up for anything but you know I'll always care about you and I'm so sorry for leaving you, if you don't forgive me I may regret this for the rest of my life."
Lauren just looked at me, "I forgave you a long time ago Camz." My nose crinkled at the sound of my old nickname given to me by her. "Just, what was bothering you so much? You know that's what I'm here for." Her voice cracked slightly.
"Lauren, I had all these feelings jumbled up in my head I didn't know how to comprehend. It took me a moment to figure it out and come to terms with it. But Lo, I'm into girls. Like, I'm a lesbian, I hate putting labels on things but if you have to I guess that's what it would be called. If you don't accept it, okay, but I can't change who I am. I'm just trying to figure this all out. I hope you accept me for who I am because if you didn't-" I stated but was abruptly stopped.
"Shut up."
"Laur-" she cut me off again.
"I said shut up." Lauren took a step closer to me and wrapped me into a hug. She pulled away as the bell rang. She continued to speak with the biggest smile on her face as we made our way to the halls. "Camzi, you're my best friend, I accept you actually how you are. If this is you, then I'm proud of you and I admire you greatly for being so honest with me and yourself."
We stood in the hall just smiling at each other, this felt content. I was so happy Lauren and I were talking again, I was happy about Baylor, I was happy Lauren excepted me.
Lauren reached out and put her hand on my arm, my skin started on fire at the touch. "I love you no matter what, Camila." she was cut short by my stunning girlfriend bounding up behind me.
Baylor pushed all my hair to one side and laid a swift kiss on my exposed shoulder, wrapping her arms around me. She kissed my cheek and took ahold of one of my hands, playing with my fingers. Lauren released her grip on me quickly taking a step back, her mouth agape.
"Good Afternoon, Babe." Baylor smiled sweetly, "Is this the illusive Lauren I have heard so much about?"
I nodded my head quickly. "Bay, this is my best friend Lauren. Lauren, this is Baylor. My girlfriend."
Lauren just stared at us, stunned.
"It's nice to meet you!" Baylor said excitedly, shaking Lauren's hand before intertwining her fingers back with mine.
"Yeah, you too." Lauren said in a weird tone of voice I had never heard before. "I uh, need to go to class. I'll see you two later."
Before I could say anything she scurried off down the hall, getting lost in the sea of people.
Baylor took Lauren's place and stood in front of me. "Come on babe, we're going to be late for class. Let's go."
She kissed my lips softly before skipping happily down the hall, her hand in mine.
I followed Baylor happily but I couldn't get Lauren's reaction out of my mind.