"I got the job!" Camila yells as she hangs up the phone. Seconds later, Lauren enters the room, scoops her up in her arms, and spins her around. "I can't believe I'm going to teach again. Even if it is just a long term substitute position, I'm still happy to be back in the classroom." The younger brunette sighs in contentment as her wife puts her back on her feet.
"They would be crazy not to hire you, Camz." Lauren kisses the corner of her wife's lips. "I'm so proud of you." Camila smiles and snakes her arms around her wife's neck.
"Just try not to waltz into this classroom and force me to leave the school again, yeah? I'd like to keep this job." Camila smirks and Lauren quirks an eyebrow at her wife's not so funny joke.
"Not funny, Camz. Still too soon." Lauren groans as she buries her face in Camila's neck.
"Sorry." The younger Cuban says sheepishly. "So did you hear back from your friend from Venice?"
After the wedding, Camila and Lauren went on their honeymoon to Venice. Lauren surprised her wife with the trip and the two ended up taking strolls all over the city. They were able to reminisce and see all the places where they made memories together. They even got to visit Camila's old school where she taught at and the art studio where Lauren worked. By the time the honeymoon was over, both girls knew what they wanted to pursue when they got back to Miami. Camila wanted to get back into teaching and Lauren wanted to open an art studio in Miami with the help of her friend in Venice.
"Yeah, she said that she still wants to think it over and for me to be looking for possible buildings that we could turn into a studio." Lauren says as she makes her way over to the Keurig for some coffee.
"Well that's good news! It sounds like she's really interested." Camila follows Lauren to the kitchen and grabs a banana.
"She kept encouraging me to open one regardless of what her answer is though." The green-eyed girl pours the coffee into her mug.
"Well it'll all work out I'm sure." Camila plants a kiss to her wife's cheek. "I'm going to drop Sofi off at school and then I'm headed to the high school to see my classroom." The Latina peels her banana as she walks to the front door. "Sofi, let's go! You're going to be late."
"Coming, coming." The young girl comes barreling into the front of the house with her backpack strapped to her shoulders. She runs over to the kitchen where the green-eyed girl is holding out her lunchbox. She goes to grab it, but Lauren jerks it away from her and points to her cheek. The youngest Cuban rolls her eyes playfully, a huge grin making it's way across her features.
"Bye, Lolo." Sofi says as she stands on the tip of her toes and plants a kiss to the green-eyed girl's cheek.
"Bye, kid." Lauren says as she extends the lunchbox to the girl once more. "Have a great day at school."
"Thanks for making her lunch, baby." Camila opens the front door and leans against it. "Speaking of lunch, we still on?"
"The Panera Bread by my work. I'll see you there at noon." Lauren smiles tenderly at her wife. "Love you, babe."
"I love you back." Camila winks at Lauren before exiting the house and driving to Sofi's school.
The two girls ride in silence for most of the way to the school. That is until the younger girl hears a particular song come on the radio.
"Kaki! It's your song!" Sofi turns up the radio as loud as it'll go and Camila chuckles. Sofi starts belting "Back to You" by Selena Gomez, which was written by Camila. Epic wouldn't let her out of her contract, but they did agree to let her stop performing and touring as long as she continued to write songs that they could pitch to other artists. It was actually a win for Camila because she loves songwriting. Plus, hearing her favorite artists, like Selena Gomez, singing her songs on the radio is pretty fucking awesome.
When Lauren arrives at work, she immediately goes to talk to her boss and lets them know that she won't be coming back to Miami Arts & Design next semester. Even if her friend in Venice doesn't want to open up an art studio in Miami with her, Lauren knows she is just going to open one herself. That has been a dream of hers and she refuses to put it off any longer. When Camila's parents died, all their money went to Sofi and Camila. Not to mention, all three of the girls are living in a house that is paid off and Camila is making a shit ton of money from all the songwriting she does on the side. They are all well off and so Lauren doesn't feel bad about quitting her job. She knows they will all be okay no matter what and she believes in herself enough to know that this art studio that she opens will be a success.
Meanwhile at the school, Camila is getting her new classroom ready. She starts unloading a box of her things, starting with pictures of her with friends and family. She sets the picture of her kissing Lauren at their wedding on her desk. Not seconds later, she hears a knock at the classroom door.
"Come in!" She yells and watches as a man who appears to be in his 60's walks into the room.
"I'm just coming by to introduce myself. I am Mr. Stevens, the assistant principal here at the school." He walks over to Camila and extends his hand. She stands up from her desk and shakes it.
"I'm Camila. Thank you for giving me this long term sub position. I've been dying to get back into teaching." The Latina offers him a warm smile. He returns it, but she watches it fade from his face when his eyes land on her desk.
"It looks like you are all set for tomorrow. Well just put that picture away and then you will be all set." He says and she looks back at her desk to see what he is referring to. She picks up the picture of her and Lauren.
"This one?" She furrows her eyebrows and he nods his head. "This is a picture of me kissing my wife on our wedding day. This picture is really important to me."
"Mrs. Cabello, we-"
"Cabello-Jauregui." The Latina corrects him while crossing her arms across her chest defensively.
"There are some parents who do not want their kids to be taught by homosexuals. I am not asking you to divorce your wife. I am simply asking that you just don't display pictures of the two of you in your classroom." He says and Camila starts seeing red.
"So you are telling me that not one teacher in this school has a picture with their spouse displayed anywhere in their classroom?" She quirks an eyebrow up, her jaw clenched tight.
"Our male teachers have pictures with their wives displayed and our female teachers have pictures with their husbands displayed." He nods his head as if what he is saying makes sense.
"Fucking hell it's 2018 what is wrong with you people?" She throws her hands up and moves back around behind her desk. She starts reloading every belonging of hers back into the cardboard box. "Find another substitute you homophobic son of a bitch." She looks him up and down with disgust before exiting the classroom.
"Mrs. Cabello please turn in your teacher badge at the front office before you leave!" She hears the assistant principal yell back to her before she walks out the doors. When she gets to the front door, she stops and takes the badge off her shirt. She walks over and throws it in the trash can by the door.
"I returned it to the trash. The same place that you should be returned to." The angry Cuban holds her middle finger up in the air and then exits the building.
When she gets in her car, she looks at her watch to see that she is late for lunch with Lauren. She quickly speeds to Panera and runs inside the restaurant. She looks around and finds Lauren at a booth near the back, a table full of food in front of her. Camila swiftly walks to where she is sitting and slumps down in the seat in front of her. She puts her head in her hands and groans loudly.
"What happened?" Lauren questions.
"I quit my job." The younger Cuban raises her head up slowly and looks at her wife. "The assistant principal of the school paid me a visit today while I was unloading my things into the classroom. He took one look at the picture of the two of us on our wedding day and told me to take the picture down from my desk."
"That sorry piece of shit I'm going to-" Lauren slams her hands down on the table and starts to get up, but Camila reaches for her arm to stop her from leaving the booth.
"I already gave him a piece of my mind." Camila informs the angry brunette in front of her.
"He won't get away with this." Lauren reaches across the table and takes Camila's hand in her own. She slowly brings it to her lips and places a kiss to the back of it. "I'm sorry you went through that. I'm sorry that there are such small-minded people in this world."
"Thanks, Lo. Let's eat, yeah?" Camila eyes her food hungrily. "I'm starved."
Camila spends the entire lunch telling Lauren about the incident at the school. After the two finish their meals, they head their separate ways. Camila heads back to the house so she can start the job hunting process again and Lauren heads back out in search of buildings that could potentially be her new art studio. However, before continuing her search, she takes a little detour to the school Camila just quit from.
The green-eyed girl parks her car in front of the school and makes her way inside. She follows the signs to the front office and then proceeds to walk past the secretary who is telling her she has to have an appointment if she wants to talk to the principal. Lauren just ignores her and walks straight into the principal's office. The man looks up from his computer, his eyebrows furrowed.
"May I help you?" He asks curiously.
"Yes, my name is Lauren. My wife Camila Cabello-Jauregui was just hired here as a substitute." Lauren says.
"I was informed that she quit this morning." He takes his glasses off his face and lays them on his desk.
"She quit because she was told by the assistant principal that she needed to remove the picture of the two of us at our wedding from her desk." Lauren clenches her jaw and crosses her arms. "Now I suggest you fire this man or I will have every single news outlet at this school tomorrow morning. I'm sure the people of Miami would be infuriated to know that the assistant principal at this school is a homophobic asshole who asks teachers to pretend to be straight even if they aren't."
"Mrs. Cabello-Jauregui, I can assure you that this will be handled. I am very sorry for our assistant principal's actions." He starts to stand up from his desk.
"See to it that it is handled." Lauren says assertively before walking out of the office. She then heads to the assistant principal's office and walks right up to his desk.
"Ah I see that you have a picture with your wife on your desk. That's a nice picture of the two of you." Lauren says sarcastically as she picks up the picture from the desk, studies it for a moment, and then puts it back down. "See how easy it is to give a compliment to someone and be nice? Trust me you'd live a happier more carefree life if you'd stop being a homophobic asshole and remove all of that hate from your heart." She shakes her head disdainfully at the stunned man. "The world has bigger problems than boys who kiss boys and girls who kiss girls." With that, she exits the school and gets in her car. Camila got to give him a piece of her mind and Lauren is glad she got to as well.
Camila is the kindest human being Lauren has ever met. She always sees the good in people and has a beautiful heart. That's exactly why Lauren will never just stand by and watch anyone talk down to her or hurt her. She will always defend her with every fiber of her being. When Camila is hurt, she's hurt and when Camila is happy, she's happy.
Lauren always vowed to keep Camila happy no matter what because the brown-eyed girl deserves all the happiness in the world.
And Camila's smile just so happens to be Lauren's favorite thing in the world.