September 19th, 2018
3:00 P.M.
Lauren
Our eyes met the second I walked into the room. I really couldn't stand the way he looked at me anymore; like I had just ripped his heart out of his chest and thrown it out the window. I think I mostly couldn't stand it because I knew that it was true.
"Hey." I said as I approached Ty, my manager, Dan, and Tara.
"Hey." he returned half-heartedly.
I was pretty sure that everyone else had greeted me, too, but all I could hear was his defeated tone of voice. I simply smiled weakly at the other two.
"How are you on this fine Wednesday afternoon, Lauren?" Dan asked.
"I'm don't think I can fully answer that until I know why we're here." I said honestly.
I looked over to see Ty rolling his eyes.
"What?" I spat.
"What?" he shrugged.
"Why are you rolling your eyes at me?"
"He just asked a simple question, Lo. Is it that hard to just say 'fine'?"
"Is it that hard to not be an asshole?"
"Ok, stop.", Dan's voice appeared again, "We definitely didn't bring you both here to fight."
I returned my attention to Dan, unable to even look at Ty anymore. Things seemed to be getting worse with us. I thought that we would be able to do all of this with our biggest problem being leftover feelings, but I was dead wrong. We were finding new things to be mad at each other for every other day.
After the whole 'arresting' thing, we had reunited to show up to Teen Vogue's Body Party, an event our teams had agreed we'd show up to together. The night had turned out to be a disaster anytime we weren't around cameras, mostly because Ty decided to get a little...handsy during one of our photoshoots.
"It's force of habit, Lo. Chill the fuck out. You know I wouldn't do that shit."
I wanted to believe him, but, at the same time, it seemed like he was doing anything to piss me off at this point. I didn't really blame him, but I just hated what we were becoming. Was this going to be another Lucy situation?
"So, what's up, then?" I asked Dan, trying to get out of there as soon as possible.
"We've...we may have a solution to this problem." Dan responded.
"Are you breaking us up?" I asked.
"You'd like that wouldn't you?" Ty chimed in.
"Wouldn't you?" I snapped, turning my attention to him.
"I don't really have much of a choice."
"I don't even-"
"Guys!" Tara interrupted our bickering.
We both looked over at the dark haired woman only to find her with something completely unexpected in her arms. I cupped my hand over my mouth while my eyes widened at the sight.
"Oh my god." I mumbled into my palm.
I looked over at Dan and Ty who were both now sporting light grins.
"What is going on?" I asked, finally taking my hand off of my mouth.
Instead of waiting for their answer, I immediately moved towards Tara and bent down slightly to get a closer look.
"Hi, baby." I whispered to the sleeping puppy resting in her arms.
"So...meet your new dog." Dan spoke up again.
I looked up at him, the tips of my fingernails caressing the puppy's small stomach.
"Are you serious?" I scoffed.
"Yeah.", Dan chuckled, "You get to name her and everything."
"She's a her?" I squealed, returning my attention to the little angel in front of me.
"Yeah, she's a her." Tara said as she rocked the puppy back and forth.
I placed my hands over my mouth again and stepped away from Tara and the small creature. I slowly turned towards Dan, still in awe at everything that was happening. This dog was SO. Fucking. Cute.
"Why is this happening?" I asked, as if waiting for the punchline.
"Well, you've been talking about wanting a dog for a while now and...like I said, she's a solution." Dan explained.
I let my eyes wander over to Ty briefly. He was standing there with his arms crossed, cool as a cucumber. I had a feeling he had already been told about all of this.
"How is she a solution?" I asked slowly.
"She's not just yours." he said, looking over at Ty.
I looked back and forth between the two of them, waiting for them to say this was all some sort of joke. They didn't.
"Wait...you got us a dog?" I asked, putting the pieces together.
"We-" Dan started.
"You got us a fucking dog just to make people think we're still together?"
"Lauren, think about it." Tara chimed in, causing me to turn towards her.
"Think about it? Tara, this is like deciding to have a child after a fucking divorce! You all expect me to put this dog through this nonsense? Look at her, for fuck's sake! She's a baby!"
"Lo-"
"You know about this, didn't you?", I stopped Ty, "You didn't even stop to question this?"
"I did.", he said in a calm tone, "Lo, would you rather have her sitting around waiting to be adopted again? Or would you rather she's given to two loving people? And one who has a daughter who would love to take care of her. Besides, this is different than a kid and you know it. Don't be difficult for no reason."
"I'm not being-"
"Lauren, think about what this means.", Dan interrupted, "You and Ty get to go about your days but the second people see you with the dog, they'll be all 'oh yay Tyren's dog so cute blah blah'. You two won't have to see each other as much as long as she's around."
"And then what? Who gets her when all this bullshit is done?"
"You can have her." Ty huffed.
When I turned to look at him, he was making his way out of the room.
"Where are you going?" I asked.
"Anywhere, honestly." he sighed, his hand now on the doorknob.
"Ty, wait."
He slowly turned to look at me, expressionless. God, it was like I had sucked the life out of him. I had told him to do whatever would be easier for him and if he thought this was a good idea...who was I to continue to make things worse for him?
"Graciela?" I asked softly.
"Huh?" he asked.
"Graciela. Her name. After my grandma.", I said again, turning towards the puppy still cradled in Tara's arms, "What do you think?"
I moved over to finally take the small dog from Tara, placing her in my own arms. I carefully carried her over to where Ty was standing, lightly caressing her tummy as I walked. Once I was right in front of him, I lifted the dog slightly, as if presenting her to him. We finally locked eyes.
Ty stared back at me for a few seconds, still completely expressionless. He looked down at the puppy and held a hand out to grab her tiny foot. I couldn't help but smile at the sight, and, finally, neither could he. Ty's gaze returned to me, a small smirk now present on his face; one that I hadn't seen in weeks.
"Lil Gracie it is." he said softly.
I smiled up at him, happy to see a fraction of the old Ty, the man who I had loved for over a year of my life. Maybe Gracie was a good idea. Who could fight when they were around this little ball of cuteness? As I looked down at the small puppy, all I could think about was how fucking adorable she was; and so, everyone's famous last words popped into my head:
What could possibly go wrong?
..............................................................
September 30th, 2018
9:00 P.M.
Camila
"Alright, have we had enough yet?" I giggled as I mindlessly stroked her side.
"You tell me. This was your brilliant idea." she answered, the vibrations from her throat tickling my forehead.
Lauren and I had spent practically the entire day kissing, cuddling, and watching movies at her place, seeing as we both had a day off, finally. I had been in Mexico for a few days and Lauren had been ridiculously busy with events and working in the studio, so we hadn't even seen each other since that night at my house in Miami. Missing her had been torture.
I pushed off of Lauren's stomach so that I could lean back and look into her eyes. We met each other with playful smirks, our gazes dancing between each other's eyes and lips. Every time I looked at her I remembered how freaking lucky I was.
I couldn't help but lean forward and press my lips against hers. We both smiled into the kiss, Lauren's hand lightly tugging at my locks running down my back. The second we pulled away, I took a deep breath before licking my lips.
"You ok?" Lauren teased.
"I think you're going to send me into cardiac arrest." I responded.
"Woah, let's not do that." she laughed as she poked my side.
"Well, then stop being so..."
"What?"
I simply bit my bottom lip in response as I stared back at her, scanning her up and down. Taking things slowly was starting to get harder and harder, especially since we were always apart for so long. Every time I saw her I just wanted to jump her bones, and I knew that she wanted to do the same. In fact, I had basically been planning for tonight to be the night.
"Alright, well, you're going to send me into cardiac arrest if you keep looking at me like that." she said, licking her lips.
"Maybe we should just make sure that our hearts keep beating." I whispered.
With that, I moved to straddle Lauren on the couch, my knees falling to the plush surface on the outsides of her legs. Her hands immediately moved to my waist, holding me in place on her lap. I leaned forward to place my lips against her ear.
"Just to be safe." I added with a quick nip to her earlobe.
"Babe, you're killing me." she groaned.
I giggled as I pulled away again to look at her. Her pupils had grown 40 sizes in the past two seconds, and I couldn't help but smile smugly at the sight.
"Come onnnnn.", I pleaded, rubbing my nose against hers, "We've been good enough."
"We've barely seen each other." she countered.
"That's the point! We talk allllll the time, babe. We should be using this time more...wisely."
With that, I placed a tender kiss on her lips then started to make my way down to her neck, my lips forming a trail on her warm skin. I heard Lauren's breath hitch as her grip tightened on my waist, her hips gently bucking into mine.
"Camila." she warned.
"Come on, baby.", I said as I pulled away, "Isn't it pretty obvious that it's different this time? We're not going to screw anything up by...by just showing each other how much we love each other. Right?"
"It's...it's not that..."
I furrowed my brow, wondering what she meant. I looked into her dark green eyes, searching for answers, and suddenly realized that she was a lot more serious than I thought she was. I leaned back, giving her some space.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Nothing's....wrong, per say." she answered.
"Don't be annoying."
"I'm not being annoying.", she chuckled, "I just...it's sort of dumb."
"I doubt that."
"Ok, yeah, it's not dumb, it's just..."
"Lauren, spit it out."
"I don't think this is fair to you."
Ok, now I was seriously confused. I slowly slid off of her lap and returned to my position next to her on the couch. I placed an arm on the back of the couch and rested my head in my palm as I looked over at the green eyed girl.
"What are you talking about?" I asked.
"Look...obviously, there's still a lot of shit going on with Ty and...and now, Gracie..." she began.
"The only problem I have with Gracie is that I don't get to see her as much as you do."
"Babe." she laughed.
"I'm serious. Gracie is not an issue."
"The point is Ty and I are still, like, ridiculously intertwined. And...and last time..."
"Last time what? Last time we had sex?"
"Yes.", she huffed, "I...I know I'm ready to be with you but...I just don't think I'm done...making shit up to you, yet."
"Lauren, stop."
"Baby, I'm serious.", she said, taking my free hand in hers, "I know we're not, like, keeping score and I know that you've forgiven me, obviously, but...I just...I don't think you understand how much our past tears me apart. All of the pain I caused you...I want to be the best I can be for you, Camila. I want...I don't know, I want to make sure you know how much I love you, outside of all of the physical shit. I want to show you that I'm different now. I didn't think I was ready last time, and I regretted that night for so long. I regretted jumping into that bed with you without a second thought."
"Yeah, because you just left in the morning. Baby, things are different now. You're telling me that if we have sex right now, you'll feel like you took something from me? Like you're disrespecting me or something?"
"Honestly, yes."
I pressed my lips into a hard line, disappointed with her answer. She had never expressed these concerns before, but that was probably because I hadn't tried to seduce her in the middle of her living room before. It killed me that she was thinking this way.
"Look...", Lauren began, "I love you so much. You know I do. I just...can I at least do something first?"
"What?"
"Just sit here."
Lauren held my hand up to her lips and kissed my knuckles before shooting up from the couch. I watched as the green eyed girl scurried out of the room without another word. Ok, now I was officially confused out of my mind.
After a minute or so of waiting, I heard footsteps approaching again. The second I shifted in my seat to look in the direction Lauren had gone, her voice stopped me.
"Don't turn around.", she commanded, "Close your eyes."
I smirked as I let my eyes flutter to a close and faced forward again. I had no idea what was going on anymore, but everything about this was absolutely adorable. I heard Lauren's footsteps approaching me again and soon was met by the sweet scent of her perfume.
"Hi." she whispered into my ear just before placing a soft kiss on my cheek.
"Hi.", I giggled, "Lauren, what the heck is happening?"
"Open."
I opened my eyes to find Lauren down on one knee in front of me, smiling mischievously with her hands behind her back. My eyes widened immediately.
"What the fuck?" I scoffed.
"I-" she began.
"Do you think you need to marry me before we have sex?"
"No.", she laughed, "Chill, babe."
"Why are you down on one knee?" I asked, placing a hand over my mouth.
"I just wanted to freak you out."
With that, she pulled her hands out from behind her back and revealed a large heart-shaped box of chocolates to me. I let out a deep breath I didn't even know I had been holding in, running my fingers through my hair.
"Lauren, what the fuck?" I giggled.
"Just listen, ok?" she said with a smirk.
I placed my hands neatly in my lap and pressed my lips together, waiting for her to explain. She bit her bottom lip and exhaled sharply before finally opening her mouth to speak again.
"Ok, so, I was planning on doing this after our movie marathon, but then you came at me with the straddling and shit so the conversation sort of took a detour.", she laughed, "But, I'm doing this now before that conversation goes any further."
I stared back at her, nodding my head back and forth. I couldn't believe she was doing this. I watched as Lauren set the box of chocolates next to me on the couch and scooted forward to grab my hands.
"Camila, when I say I want to do this right this time...I fucking mean it.", she continued, "I mean it more than I've ever meant anything in my entire life. We've been through hell and back together and I just...I want to make sure that I never hurt you like that again. I want to make sure that you know that."
"Babe-"
"I know you say you do.", she cut me off with a squeeze to my hands, "But, you've been too quick to trust me before and I've screwed that up. So many fucking times. So, I just want to show you how different things are this time, even though you're not asking me to."
Lauren slowly stood up and moved the box of chocolates out of the way so that she could sit next to me. She joined our hands again.
"So, I know you're not huge on material shit.", she went on, "So, I didn't bother with jewelry. I got you what you love most in this world."
"Food." I smirked.
"Food.", she chuckled, "There are a dozen little Ferrero chocolates waiting for you in there, plus a gift card to that little Cuban restaurant on the corner that I know you love."
"Lauren." I laughed, mostly to try and stop myself from tearing up.
"You'll have a little taste of home when you're here.", she said with a smile, "Plus, I've got 5 handmade free meal vouchers in there with your name on them."
"What does that mean?" I giggled.
"That means that whenever we're together you can whip one of those bad boys out and I'll cook you anything your beautiful heart desires."
"You're kidding."
"I'm not. Also, turn around."
I let my eyes linger on the green eyed girl in front of me before slowly turning away from her. Once I was fully turned around, I was met with a giant teddy bear sitting next to us on the floor, its head just barely poking out over the arm of the couch.
"Oh my god." I let out.
"For when I'm not here.", Lauren spoke up again, causing me to return my attention to her, "So you have something to cuddle at night. Other than your mom, that is."
"Why are you like this?" I laughed, my eyes now inevitably welling up with tears.
"Because I love you.", she said as she moved her hands to cup my face, "And because I want you to be my girlfriend."
"Oh my god. Is this the prom-posal?"
"This is the prom-posal."
"I can't even..."
I sighed as I took in the sight of the green eyed girl, unable to finish my sentence. She really was serious about all of this and it meant the world to me. She had been right about me not asking her to prove herself, but I couldn't deny that this all made me feel more sure about her than I ever had in my entire life.
"So..." she said softly.
"So, what?" I asked.
"Karla Camila Cabello Estrabao..."
"Oh my god." I said with a playful eye roll.
"Let me finish.", she said as she stroked my lower lip with her thumb, "Rude."
I smiled into her touch just before placing a light kiss on the tip of her thumb. She moved her hand to the side again to caress my cheek instead.
"Will you be my girlfriend?" she finally asked.
I licked my lips as I looked into those perfect eyes of hers, feeling like I was in some beautiful dream, a distant fantasy; but this was really happening, and I was on top of the world.
"Yes." I giggled.
"Yeah?" she asked.
"Yes, stupid."
With that, I leaned forward and connected our lips. I couldn't stand not kissing her for another second. My hands moved up to bring her face impossibly closer to mine while our lips danced together. I reveled in the taste of her laughter on my tongue as we kissed and basked in the warmth of her skin under my fingertips. After a few deep kisses, I finally pulled away to look at her again.
"And you seriously expect me to not want to have sex with you after all of this?" I asked.
"No. I mean, I expect you to always want to have sex with me." she answered sassily.
I bit my bottom lip as I playfully pushed her away from me.
"You suck." I rasped.
"You'll thank me later." she grinned.
"I'd rather thank you now."
"Don't be difficult."
"You're difficult!"
I lunged forward and practically tackled Lauren so that she was laying on her back. I immediately started peppering her face and neck with kisses while my hands wandered under her shirt.
"Camila!" she laughed, squirming underneath me.
After a bit of struggling, Lauren finally got control of my hands and pulled them out from under her shirt, holding them in between our bodies instead. I stopped my actions and looked down at her, allowing myself to marvel in her beauty.
"I love you so much." I whispered.
I leaned down to place a tender kiss on Lauren's nose and watched her eyes fluttering open once I pulled away. I couldn't help but smile at the adorable sight.
"I love you, too, babe." she returned.
"You know what I want to do now?" I finally said.
"What?" she asked with a smirk.
"Eat some chocolate."
"Why am I not surprised?"
"Come on." I giggled.
I placed one last kiss on her lips before finally getting off of her and moving towards the box of chocolates that had fallen onto the floor. Once I had picked it up, I felt Lauren's hand on my back and I immediately turned to look at her. She started to scratch lightly while she smiled up at me from her spot on the couch.
We stayed there like that for a while, just staring at each other like we were committing every detail to memory. I knew that this would definitely be one of my snapshots with the green eyed girl, maybe even the best one to date. We were really fucking doing this. Lauren Jauregui was my girlfriend.
What could possibly go wrong?