A/N: So after a short visit to the US and some other adult stuff that happen I am back with another update. I know I have been inconsistent but I will try to stay motivated and continue this story. As for my recommendation book. For those who are waiting for another recommendation, you guys have to wait a bit longer. I am trying to also get back into reading and finding a few more gems :D. For now happy reading and stick with this story for more!
Camila was tired of feeling useless. She wanted to go out and play ball, laugh until she couldn't breathe, or even stretch her hands above her head to give her muscles some relief, but she couldn't. This was all because of fucking Matthew Hussey and this damn rib injury. The only thing, well, the person that has been brightening her dark moods was Lauren.
It had been nearly three weeks since Lauren had granted Camila her forgiveness and since then the two girls have been inseparable. Lauren liked spending time with Camila and Camila liked spending time with Lauren. It was that simple. In fact, the only reason Camila was allowed to see Lauren, despite her being grounded, was because the raven-haired girl was keeping her up to speed with their school lessons. Lauren was going over to the Cabello household at least three or four times per week and when she didn't come over, she and Camila would talk or text on the phone. They would be up in Camila's room where she and the brunette would go over school assignments and homework. Realistically, Camila could give a rat's ass what she missed in school, but if it meant more time with Lauren and making Sinu happy, she was fine with it.
During these study sessions, they began to talk and get to know each other better. As the weeks progressed they grew closer as friends. This new friendship was a wonderful thing, of course, however, they both knew there was still an unexplained connection between them. Quite often they would share these little moments that undoubtedly displayed feelings that went beyond friendship. Individually or at the same time, Camila and Lauren found themselves intoxicated by the attraction for one another. They would sense that overwhelming draw, but then quickly push those feelings aside for the sake of their new friendship.
An occurrence of one of these moments happened just last week when Camila had gotten the stitches removed from her cheek.
Camila was in the den, sitting on the couch when she heard her mother greeting Lauren at the front door. Seconds later, Lauren entered the den, looking as beautiful as ever in one of her school dresses. Camila quickly pushed the thought away and gave a friendly smile, concealing her true thoughts. "Hey, Lauren."
"Hi, Camila. Why aren't you up in your room?" She asked quizzically, sitting beside the brunette.
"Pure laziness..." Camila grumbled, from her slightly slump position on the couch. "After I went to the doctor I didn't really feel like battling the staircase until I had to."
"Oh, I see," the raven-haired girl nodded. She knew even climbing a staircase caused Camila to have pain. "So, your stitches are out now. May I?" She asked, indicating she wanted to take a closer look.
Camila smiled lightly and sat up a bit. She raised the leg closest to Lauren onto the couch and turned her body towards the raven-haired girl. "You know I can't deny you that," Camila purred.
Lauren scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Shut up."
Camila let out a soft chuckle as Lauren cupped her face. As the raven-haired girl inspected her wound, Camila could not help but stare at the beautiful girl in front of her. Those striking emerald eyes, those well-sculpted cheekbones, those plump kissable lips. This felt much like the time when Lauren had tended to her nose during the football game at the park. Her heart was beating fast and Camila knew she was still infatuated with this girl. But they were becoming friends now, and that was a line Camila was afraid to cross. Camila attempted to control her breathing as Lauren delicately ran a thumb under the light pink cut on her cheek,
"They did a good job," Lauren commented, still eyeing the injury. "You'll hardly notice a scar there."
"I'm glad you approve doctor," Camila lightly smirked. Again, trying to conceal her true feelings with humour.
Lauren grinned and her eyes met Camila's. Their smiles slowly slipped away as they got lost in each other's gaze and just... stared. Lauren felt her heart skip a beat at the look Camila was giving her. God, that look was the death of her. It was not a lustful I want to take you now look. It was more of an adoring look; like Lauren was the only girl in the world that mattered. The butterflies fluttered like crazy in her stomach. She knew she could get lost in those dark depths. Her thumb unconsciously continued to gently caress under the line on Camila's cheek.
"So, Lauren!" Sinu boomed, coming into the den.
Camila and Lauren quickly pulled away from one another, Camila cringing at the sudden move. She held her side as a sharp pain struck her. Sinu frowned with concern, seeing her daughter's action. "Cammy, are you okay?"
"Yeah, Mami. You just startled me when you came in."
"Sorry, sweetie," she cooed. "I didn't mean to." Sinu looked to the raven-haired girl. "Lauren? Will you be joining us for dinner?"
"Oh, I'm..." Lauren glanced at Camila and then back at Sinu. "I'd love to, as long as I'm not imposing. I feel like I've had so many free meals here. I don't want to seem as though I'm taking advantage of your generosity."
"You're not, mija." Sinu smiled. "I make too much food anyway. Plus, Cammy loves having you around too."
"Mami!" Camila practically shrieked.
Lauren giggled lightly.
"What?" The older woman shrugged. "Okay, I've got to finish up the food. I'll leave you two alone," she grinned before exiting the den.
Camila covered her eyes with her hand. "God, that woman..." she grumbled.
Lauren chuckled some more, looking at the embarrassed girl beside her. "She only holds your best interest at heart, Camila."
"Yeah, yeah..." the brunette mumbled.
Lauren bit her lip slightly, as she attempted to hide her smile. She was going to ignore what Sinu mentioned, but she couldn't resist. "Do you really like having me around?"
Camila removed her hand from her face and narrowed her eyes at Lauren with a smirk on her lips. "I knew you wouldn't let that go."
Lauren only smiled at her, waiting for a response.
Camila only shook her head before looking at the raven-haired girl earnestly. "I think you already know the answer to that."
Lauren shyly looked away with a small smile. She immediately knew that Camila was referring to the confession at the aquarium. Since that day, they had avoided rehashing that moment between them but sometimes it would be sidestepped in conversation. It was the past and this was the beginning of their new friendship.
Camila ran a hand through her untamed hair. "So, how'd school go?"
Lauren noticed Camila was attempting to break the heavy tension between them so she proceeded to tell the brunette about her academics for the day.
Present Time
It was Thursday evening and they were currently up in Camila's bedroom, just finishing up some school work. The brunette closed her math book and slowly reclined back on her bed, placing her right arm under her head. Lauren set their books aside and moved over to sit beside the brunette. She frowned with concern when Camila let out a pained grunt.
"How is your side feeling?" The raven-haired girl asked, looking down at Camila.
"Mmm, better," the brunette replied. "It still hurts. I just want to be okay again, yeah know? "I wanna go out and play... something, anything! Hell, I'll even do fencing!"
Lauren raised an eyebrow at her. "And that's saying a lot."
"Yep," Camila smiled lightly. "No offence to your sport of course."
"Oh, none taken."
They both smiled at each other, enjoying the light-heartedness of the conversation.
"Have you been taking your pain medications as scheduled?"
"Yeah," Camila grumbled. "And that's no fu- freakin' picnic either."
Lauren smiled softly as the brunette stopped herself from cursing. She thought it was adorable with Camila was pouty and grumpy like this.
"How does your bruise look?"
"It's kind of this awesome yellowish-brown colour right now," Camila proudly said. The brunette looked at Lauren in amusement and played with the hem of her t-shirt. "You wanna take a look?"
A look of shock suddenly crossed Lauren's features. "No!" She quickly sputtered. The raven-haired girl did not mean to be so sudden with her answer, but she did not know how she would react, seeing those perfect abs again. Probably drool and stare like an idiot.
Camila noticed how flustered the raven-haired girl became and it made her grin giddily. She found she liked to tease Lauren, but only in a friendly matter. "You sure? Cus, it kinda looks like you wanna look under my shirt."
"I do not!" Lauren defended, trying not to blush. "I'll take your word for it, thank you. I don't need to see it."
"Okay," the brunette shrugged. "You're missing out."
Lauren glanced away for a moment, and then a smile came across her face. "There's not much to look at under there anyway."
Camila's mouth gapped open, pleasantly surprised by the raven-haired girl's comment. "Lauren Jauregui, are you insulting me?" She grinned.
Lauren gave a sideways smirk. "Maybe."
"You've been hanging around me too long."
This had been another common occurrence between them now... friendly flirting. But they always knew not to take it too far or interpret things the wrong way.
Lauren felt her stomach flutter at the smile Camila gave her. She cleared her throat and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear to distract herself. "Um, the yellowish-brown colour of your bruising is called bilirubin. That's the normal breakdown of heme catabolism. The yellow is a good sign because it indicates the final stages of healing. The haemoglobin from your blood cells-"
"Lauren..." Camila cut in.
"What?"
"You're doing that nervous rambling thing. You know, when you go on about science stuff and I have no idea what you're talking about?"
"Oh..." Lauren said in realization. "I'm sorry," she lowered her eyes sheepishly. "It must annoy you."
"No... I don't mind it. Actually, it's kinda cute..."
"Really?" Lauren asked with surprise.
"Yeah," Camila shrugged. "You're just really hard to comprehend, Doctor."
Lauren smiled and narrowed her eyes, knowing Camila was poking fun at her. "Why do you keep calling me Doctor? I don't have a license, Camila."
"But that's what you want to be, right? So, as your friend, I have every right to call you Doctor. Even though it's unofficial," she smirked.
Lauren's breath caught and she looked at Camila. "So, we're friends?"
Camila shifted her eyes from her ceiling over to Lauren. She saw the shimmering hope in the raven-haired girl's eyes and the sight melted her heart. "Yeah, I think we've reached that point, Laur," Camila softly smiled, before looking up at the ceiling.
The raven-haired girl felt her heart expand when she heard Camila abbreviate her name. She smiled warmly and looked at Camila. The brunette felt Lauren's stare and quirked her eyebrow before turning towards her.
"What?" Camila smirked.
"Nothing," Lauren said. "This is just nice. I've never had a real friend before."
Camila smiled softly at that. She heard the genuine truth and a bit of sadness in Lauren's voice. "Well, I'm proud to be your first," Camila grinned cheekily, wiggling her eyebrows.
Lauren rolled her eyes and blushed.
Both of them felt warm-fuzzy feelings inside. The moment was broken by a sudden knocking on Camila's door.
"Yeah?!" Camila called.
The door opened and Sofia popped her head through the doorway.
"Hey, guys. Dinner is done."
"Cool. I'm starving," Camila groaned as she slowly got up from the bed.
Sofia met them in the hallway as they began to walk towards the stairs.
"Cammy, can I talk to you a minute?" She gave a friendly look towards Lauren, indicating she wanted this to be a private conversation. Camila saw this and turned to the raven-haired girl as well. Lauren smiled softly with a nod.
"I'll meet you downstairs," whispered to Camila, lightly grasping the brunette's bicep in passing.
Camila smiled at her. "Okay." Camila looked after her until she began descending the stairs. She turned to Sofia and saw a sly grin on her face. "What's up?"
"I wanna be just like you when I grow up."
Camila furrowed her brows. "What?"
"So I'll be able to have a hot girl in my room all day too."
"Very funny, Sofia. Was that it?"
"Nope. You and Lauren"
Camila shrugged with impatience. "What about us?"
"You're in there making out with her aren't you?" It was more of a statement than a question.
Camila's eyebrows shot up and she gapped at her sister. "Wha... No! Why would you think... no!"
"Come on, Cammy. You can tell me."
"There's nothin' to tell, Sofia. You're way off base." Camila was beginning to get annoyed.
"Are you sure? Because you guys spend a lot of time together."
"That's what friends do and she's helping me with school."
"Yeah, right friends... you guys look at each other all day with mushy eyes."
Camila scoffed with a frown. "No, we don't."
"Yea, you do," Sofia smirked knowingly.
"Look," Camila began in a hushed whispered so they weren't overheard. "Me and Lauren are just friends. There's nothing else going on between us."
She shrugged. "If you say so, Cammy. But if there was something going on, I'd be okay with it. Lauren is a cool girl. That's all I'm sayin'."
Camila thought that was nice of her sister to say, but she was still pissed at her insinuation. "And all I'm sayin' is we're just friends."
"Fine," she relented. "Have you at least seen her boobs?"
Camila punched her in the arm and roughly pushed her head to the side. "Hey!" She cringed, holding her shoulder. "Girls do that stuff."
"We don't flash our boobs at each other you ass." She rolled her eyes.
Sofia shrugged once more before turning and hustling down the stairs. Camila followed but at a much slower pace.
When Camila entered the kitchen, Lauren and Hayley were already seated at the table and Sofia was behind the stove, plating her spaghetti. The raven-haired girl looked up and softly smiled at her when their eyes met. Wow. There was a certain way Lauren would look at her. An 'I like you' look. Camila lightly smiled back.
"There you are. Come and eat up before your food gets cold," Sinu said.
Camila headed over to the stove.
"Oh, Camila," Lauren began. "This is yours." She pointed to the plate of spaghetti next to her. "I fixed your plate for you."
"Oh..." Camila glanced towards Sofia. She had a smug smirk on her face as she took her seat at the table, besides Hayley. "Thanks, Laur."
"How's the studying going?" Hayley grinned.
Camila heard the insinuation in her voice and she shot Hayley a nasty look.
"It's going really well, Hayley. Thanks for asking. Camila should be all caught up before she goes back to school Monday."
Of course, Lauren was oblivious to Hayley's suggestive remark, but Camila knew something was up. Hayley and Sofia must have had a little discussion about her and Lauren's relationship. Now she was really pissed off and self-conscious; two feelings that were a bad combo in Camila Cabello. What right did her sisters have to analyze her and Lauren's friendship? A part of her guessed that they knew she had a crush on the raven-haired girl. She was constantly mentioning Lauren for the past two years. And now that they have become close, Sofia and Hayley now had their suspicions. Those little fuckers.
As dinner progressed, Lauren noticed Camila seemed to be acting strangely. Her answers were in short replies and she barely made eye contact with Lauren. As if she was distracted by something.
When Camila walked her out to her car later that evening, Lauren had to know what was troubling her friend.
"Camila, is there something wrong?"
The brunette shook her head. "No. Why?"
"You seem... distant. Did I do something?"
Shit. Lauren could tell something was bothering her, but Camila did not feel comfortable sharing what was really on her mind.
"Wha... no, Laur. I guess I'm just, thinking about going back to school again, that's all. I'll have a lot of work to catch up on."
"True, but I told you everything you need to know. You'll be fine," Lauren encouraged.
"Yeah..."
Lauren studied the brunette, knowing Camila was still not telling her everything. "Are you sure that's all that's bothering you?"
Camila lowered her eyes for a second then met Lauren's gaze. "I'm sure."
Lauren narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Did Sofia say something to upset you?"
Geez, was this girl able to read her mind? "Okay, yes she did."
"And?"
"And it's... personal... a family thing." Camila scratched behind her ear nervously. "I can't talk to you about it."
Camila noticed Lauren's face drop slightly and she immediately regretted what she just said.
"Oh..." the raven-haired girl softly replied. "Okay then." She opened her car door.
"Lauren..."
"No, I understand. It's a family thing," Lauren replied with a hint of hurt in her voice. She climbed into her car and shut the door.
"Lauren!" Camila knocked on the window.
Lauren reluctantly rolled it down.
"Don't be mad at me."
"I'm not."
"You are."
Lauren sighed heavily and lowered her eyes.
Camila nervously ran a hand through her unruly hair. "Look, I wanna to tell you but..."
"You can't," Lauren firmly finished for her.
Camila hung her head as the raven-haired girl started the car. "Good night, Camila." Lauren rolled up her window and pulled away from the curb.
The brunette watched the Lexus disappear down the street and she felt her heart drop down to her stomach. She was too much of a coward to tell Lauren about Sofia's assumption about them being romantically involved and now the raven-haired girl was upset with her. How did this shit storm happen so fast?
"And the award for the worst friend goes to... me... fuck," she cursed herself.
The next day, Camila had not heard from Lauren. She knew her texts were being ignored because even if Lauren was in school, she still managed to text her back fairly soon, but there was nothing. She had even waited until the raven-haired girl was out of school before trying to call her. Nothing. This was really unnerving the brunette. She may have ruined her friendship with the most wonderful girl in the world in just a matter of weeks! She needed to talk to someone, so she called old reliable.
"What's up, Camila?"
"Hey, Mendes. You have time to talk for a little bit?"
He heard the tone of Camila's voice and immediately knew something was wrong. "You alright?"
"Ugh... not really," Camila mumbled.
"Talk to me."
Camila told him about Sofia's assumption of her and Lauren dating and how she thinks Lauren is mad at her because she shut the raven-haired girl out.
"So why didn't you just tell her what Sofia said?"
"I don't know. I was fucking embarrassed I guess. And what pissed me off, even more, was that she was right."
"Sofia was right that you guys were making out?"
"No!" Camila whined. "That Lauren and I look at each other with mushy eyes. I didn't notice it until she mentioned it to me though. Have you noticed too?"
"Oh, yeah," Mendes replied. "For a while."
"And I'm the last to know," Camila huffed. "But I can't help how I look at her. Whenever she's around me I just feel... I don't know... happy."
"I think she feels the same."
"Yeah?"
"Dude, whenever Lauren talks about you at school, her eyes light up with freakin' stars in them."
This made Camila smile briefly. "I thought if I told her it would scare her away and things would change between us."
"Camila. You used to bully the girl for God's sake and she's become one of your best friends. She likes to be around you. She's had plenty of chances to be scared off."
The brunette bit her bottom lip in contemplation. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I have to fix this now."
Her cell phone suddenly made a beeping noise, indicating she had a text message. She held the phone away from her face and her heart stopped when she saw who it was from. Camila quickly put her phone on speaker.
"I just got a text from Lauren."
"What's it say?"
"Hang on." She opened the message.
Sorry, I won't be able to come over and study today. I do not feel well. -Lauren
Camila let out a disappointed sigh. "Well, that shows she's still pissed at me."
"Maybe she really is sick."
"Nice try, Mendes. But I doubt it. I have to go see her."
"Now?"
"Yeah, now. Can I borrow your car? My mom is out with a few friends tonight."
"For the sake of love, I shall grant you this favour."
"Thank you. And shut up. It's not love."
Mendes let out a knowing laugh. "I'll meet you by the stop sign."
Camila quickly got dressed and walked a block down the street to the stop sign. This was halfway between Mendes's house and hers, so the distance was not too bad. After getting her mode of transportation and 'go get your girl' cheers from Mendes, she made the drive over to Lauren's house. She would be damned if she was going to ruin this relationship.
A/N: I can tell you guys that this is the last chapter before we get another breakthrough so I'll give you guys a day to prepare the snacks and of course yourself because it is gonna happen tomorrow!
Be sure to click the little star and remember that you are enough.
Have a great day-J<3