"He's staler than week old bread, Walz, seriously." Dinah sneered without taking her eyes off the toenail she was painting.
"Hey, ease up," Lauren was quick to chime in because she knew how much Camila liked Matthew and the last thing she wanted was for the brunette to fall into a rut because she felt as if she didn't have her friends' support in her relationship. "He seemed okay. And look, he might not be our cup of tea, but Camz likes him so for her...we're gonna be friendly and patient." She gave the younger Cuban's knee a gentle squeeze as Camila's lips curled into a soft smile.
Lauren loved seeing that smile as well, it'd been missing for so long after Camila's previous boyfriend so for it to return...well, it warmed the green-eyed girl up again.
"I don't know how Lucy puts up with you two being so chummy," Dinah eyed the pair with skepticism that they'd grown accustomed to. "Lauren, you're not even this close with your own girlfriend."
This wasn't something new that they'd heard from Dinah; more often than not the blonde was calling them out on their affection but they paid it no mind. Since they'd met, Lauren and Camila had been attached at the hip and they would be damned before they allowed someone to come between them.
"Lucy knows I'm all hers," Lauren rolled her eyes, tossing an arm over Camila's shoulder before pressing a kiss to her temple. "But Camz will always be my ride or die."
"So you expect me to just...put up with Matthew Has-No-Personality?" Dinah rolled her eyes, sitting back with a satisfied smile on her face after she'd finished painting her toes.
"Yes, because you love me," Camila spoke up softly, hesitation in her tone and Lauren knew her anxiety was getting the better of her again. "Please, Di? I really like him...and after Shawn...he's a good guy."
"Besides," Lauren shrugged casually. "I will break every single one of his fingers if he ever hurt Camz," She smiled sadistically at her best friend beside her who nudged her ribs in a warning. "What? You know how this works. You'd do the same to Luce."
"I never have to worry about Lucy," Camila scoffed, that smile that Lauren loved playing on her lips once more. "You two are gonna get married, I swear."
"Yeah, you two put up with each other's shit so well," Dinah agreed. "But I will always stay true to Camren."
"You're delusional," Camila giggled softly and Lauren was glad to hear the sound because it always left her feeling light. "Lauren and Lucy are meant to be."
"A shame they can't just stick with each other." Dinah decided to poke the bear as she watched Lauren's eyes form a glare directed at her. "Hey, I'm just saying...this open relationship business is strange to me."
"We both get our freedom to do as we please with the full knowledge that we will always come back to each other," Lauren shrugged, picking up her phone as it buzzed in her lap. "I love her, she loves me, we just...like living our lives without restrictions."
"Weird as shit," Dinah scoffed and opened her mouth to say something else only to have herself cut off by the opening of Camila's bedroom door.
"Mija, are the girls staying for dinner?" Sinuhe poked her head in and smiled at the occupants in the room. "Hey girls."
"What's up, Mama C?"
"Hey, Sinuhe, how are you?" Lauren looked to the woman that acted as her second mother.
"Good thank you, Lauren," The older Cabello smiled at the raven-haired girl, her eyes lingering on the arm tossed over her daughter's shoulder but she'd learned many years ago to dismiss those things. That was just how Lauren and Camila were. "How's the family?"
It was needless to say that the Cabellos and the Jaureguis were close family friends due to the bond formed between the two eldest daughters. They saw each other often and had gone as far as to take annual family trips together. Taylor and Chris treated Sofi as if she were their siblings and Camila did the same with the other two. The only two who did not act like siblings were the two best friends themselves.
They were too affectionate for it to be considered familial. The families had long since accepted that Lauren and Camila would always hold hands, would always be found cuddling, would always turn to one another with anything that happened in their lives.
Sinuhe had worried on many occasions that Lauren would develop feelings for her daughter and the feelings wouldn't be reciprocated. She knew the older girl was always the more affectionate of the pair, but as soon as Lucy entered the scene, those worries were put to rest. It wasn't that Sinu wouldn't approve of their relationship, she just didn't feel that Camila would be as invested as Lauren and the last thing she wanted was for their friendship to end in heartbreak.
She didn't quite know what the pair would do without one another. They were all the other knew.
"They're good. Mom wanted me to invite you guys over again some time, they're hosting a barbecue and Dad's got this new bar set up next to the pool he's been wanting to show off."
"If he's mixing up the cocktails, then I'm there." Sinu mused. "Tell your mom to send me the details."
"I will do and yeah, I also will be staying for dinner. Whatever you're cooking smells amazing."
"I can't stay," Dinah interrupted the pair before they started their own conversation because she knew how easily Lauren got along with Camila's parents. "My mom would beat my ass if I showed up with a full stomach again."
"Language," Sinu chastised halfheartedly. She was well aware that Dinah would say what Dinah wanted to say regardless of what anyone else thought. She'd learned this the day she met Dinah three years prior. "Send your family my love as well."
Dinah offered the older Cabello and wide smile before pushing herself up from the bed. "I'll see you two losers around," She eyed the pair on the bed. "Think about what I said."
"We won't." Lauren rolled her eyes, lifting her arm from Camila's shoulders and getting up from the bed as well. "We'll catch you tomorrow at the arcade for Lucy's birthday."
"Can't believe that idiot wants to spend her birthday at the arcade, she's turning twenty for Christ's sake."
"My girl wants to hold onto her youth, I will let her hold onto her youth." Lauren chuckled softly. "Speaking of youth, where's Sofi? I miss her."
"Miss me instead, I'm your best friend not her." Camila stood up quickly and flung her arms around Lauren's neck from behind and jumped, the older girl catching her with ease. "Hi Lauren."
"Hi Camila." The raven-haired girl looked to her left to see her friend's face perched on her shoulder. "Comfy?"
"So comfy. Onward to the food please, noble steed." The brown-eyed girl pointed ahead of her, catching her mother's eye roll and slight shake of head and Dinah's risen brows and pursed lips.
Lauren walked the pair downstairs to the kitchen and finally dropped the younger girl down onto a seat but not without missing the slight intake of breath her friend sounded and the way Camila's face scrunched up in pain as she held onto her side.
"Whoa, Camz," Lauren crouched down in front of the younger girl and put her hand on her knee to keep herself steady. "What's wrong?" Her hand travelled to Camila's shirt and she raised the material slightly to see a tennis ball sized bruise settled on the brunette's left side. "Fuck, Camz, what happened?"
She'd said it loud enough to raise the attention of Alejandro perched in front of the TV and Sinuhe who had followed them down. The parents were quick to crowd around their daughter and take in the bruise before Camila eagerly went to cover it.
"I walked into the corner of the counter yesterday," She spoke so smoothly that her parents could instantly write it off as a truth, they knew how Camila could be. But Camila had purposely avoided Lauren's eyes as she spoke and the green-eyed girl felt fear rush through her for a moment.
Because Camila didn't lie to her...ever. No matter how bad things were, they never lied to each other.
And she had just done exactly that.
And if Lauren didn't know Camila's exact tell for lying...she would have been as easily fooled as Alejandro and Sinu, but she saw Camila avert her gaze from Lauren's and she knew the younger girl was keeping something from her.
"Don't worry, Mami, I put ice on it." The brunette smiled up at her mother, completely avoiding Lauren's eyes that were still locked on the exact spot that the bruise resided on.
"Hopefully it'll fade in a day or two." Sinu gave her daughter's shoulders a hearty squeeze before retreating into the kitchen to present the food.
Alejandro offered Camila a gentle smile before taking his seat at the table, leaving only Lauren still crouched in front of her friend.
"We're talking about this." Lauren forced Camila to hold her eyes this time, not allowing the younger girl to lie to her again. "And I want the truth."
"Lauren, I-"
"Don't try to bullshit me, sweetheart," Those green eyes were stern and demanding. "You know that I can read you like a book and vice versa, so I also know that you can tell I'm not gonna let this go."
Lauren lifted herself up and perched herself on the seat beside Camila, turning her attention to Alejandro and striking up conversation with ease, but not without dropping her hand between her chair and Camila's, her heart feeling slightly at ease as she felt a familiar hand slip into her own. And with the growing fear for her friend rising in her, Lauren gave Camila's hand a squeeze.
Sofi arrived back home with five minutes to spare before dinner, bursting through the front door with searching eyes before they landed on Lauren and a wide smile erupted on her lips. She was quick to take her seat at the dining table and divulge her entire afternoon to any listening ears. She made sure Lauren was always paying attention as she told the green-eyed girl all about the mischief she got up to after school with her friends.
Sinu was quick to scold Sofi for any misbehaviour but Lauren knew that the parents wouldn't get through to their youngest daughter. Since Sofi could walk and talk she'd had a mind of her own and no one could change it. It was one of the things Lauren loved about the girl, she hoped it would never change.
Dinner passed by with ease, Camila staying silent for a large portion of it and Lauren didn't question that all that much because she was well aware of how focused Camila could get on food. That was nothing new.
So when everyone finished up and went about their separate ways, Lauren allowed Camila to take her time leading them back to her bedroom. And she allowed Camila to take her time to build up whatever she was going to tell Lauren.
And what Camila told her had her blood running red hot with anger.
"We were just playing a little rough, Laur," Camila didn't want to rile her friend up any more, in fact, she was hoping to calm the situation. "I pushed him as well and then he pushed me just a little too hard, it was an accident. I hit the side of the bed, you know how clumsy I am, Laur. It's really not a big deal."
Lauren thought over her options for a moment because she knew what Camila sounded like. She sounded like every victim she'd ever heard on TV. Camila sounded like a cliche.
Camila sounded brainwashed.
And the more she thought that, the more Lauren couldn't settle her anger.
So when she pushed herself off the bed, she knew where she was going. She knew what she was going to do. She knew there was no stopping her.
"No, Lauren, please," The younger girl tried to pull at her friend but Lauren was strong and she would not be stopping any time soon.
Lauren made her way downstairs with impulse and anger leading her every step.
"Thanks for dinner, Sinu, I'll see you soon." Lauren didn't so much as look at the family as she said her goodbye and slipped out of the front door, Camila still attached to her arm trying to pull her back. "Let go." The green-eyed girl growled, ripping her arm from Camila's hold and slipping into the driver's seat of her car.
And Camila thought over her options over and over until she found herself perched in the passenger seat trying to get Lauren to see the rational side to it all.
Lauren knew exactly where she was going because she'd dropped Camila off there countless times over the last six months. He didn't live far away and Lauren was glad for it because if she spent time thinking over what she was doing, she would stop herself and she didn't want to be stopped.
She brought the car to a screeching halt and she got out with one purpose in her mind. And Camila followed behind her pleading with her to stop, begging her not to go to the house. Camila was crying as she asked her friend to let things be, as she asked Lauren to just believe her but Lauren believed only one thing.
And that was that it was Matthew who put that bruise on her best friend.
Anything else seemed irrelevant.
That's what it was like with Lauren and Camila. There was no...rational thought when it came to them. Lauren would take a hundred bullets for the girl and vice versa. So this was a no-brainer. Matthew hurt Camila and so Lauren was going to hurt him.
She pounded her fist on the front door and by this point, Camila's pleading was just sobs that Lauren ignored because she didn't want to be distracted from what she came to do.
And what she came to do was push Matthew as soon as he opened the door. She pushed him so hard that he lost his footing and fell backwards.
"Did you like that?" Lauren barked down at the man, his eyes wide with confusion before he switched them over to Camila. "Don't fucking look at her." The green-eyed girl sneered.
"What the fuck?" He crawled backwards and lifting himself up. "What is wrong with you?" He looked bewildered as his gaze found Camila again.
"You don't get to fucking touch her, you piece of shit." Lauren went for Matthew again but he was prepared this time, he grabbed her wrists and held her back with ease, squeezing her wrists just tight enough for it to hurt.
"Look, if this is about her fall, I apologised, okay? It was an accident." He turned his attention to the younger Cuban once again. "Camila, tell her."
"I tried to," Camila pushed herself between Lauren and her boyfriend. "I'm sorry," She looked between the two. "This is all a misunderstanding."
"You left a bruise on my best friend, how am I misunderstanding that?"
"I didn't mean to." Matthew threw his hands in the air. "This is so fucking childish," He looked to Lauren. "You couldn't just talk to me instead of barging into my house with these ridiculous accusations?"
"Camila and I have played plenty rough and not once did I ever leave a bruise on her." Lauren lurched forward again, the image of the said bruise reappearing in her mind.
"Oh I bet you have." Matthew scoffed. "That's what this is about, isn't it, Lauren? I've heard all about it," He chuckled humorlessly. "I've heard all about how close you two are, maybe you're a little worried about how close Camila and I are now."
"Matt, that's-"
"Fuck you," Lauren's eyes still held that venomous glare that Camila wished would wash away. "This is about the safety of my best friend."
"Is it?" He raised his brows. "Or are you jealous that Camila might outgrow you? Because honestly, Lauren, this is pathetic. Showing up here without so much as hearing her out first. The Camila I know would find that completely crazy."
And this time Lauren looked to her best friend. Her childhood best friend. Who she figured would chime in and say something but Camila wiped at her eyes furiously and bit her lip with hesitation clear in her eyes.
She wasn't going to say anything. Lauren could see she wasn't.
She could see Camila's anxiety as clear as day.
"Shit, Camz," Lauren scoffed, taking a step back and fighting to keep the hurt from flitting across her eyes. "This guy? This is the guy you want to be with?"
"Laur, I just-"
"Really like him, yeah, I heard that." The older girl shook her head. "You're smarter than this jerk, Camila." She scratched the back of her neck before pulling her car keys from her pocket and dangling them between them. "I'll see you around."
"Lauren-" Camila tried to reach for her best friend but Lauren was quick to turn her back on the brunette.
"Hey," Lauren spun around quickly, steeling any emotions in her eyes. "You don't have to show up for Lucy's tomorrow."
And before another word could be uttered between the pair, Lauren slipped out of the front door and raced to her car.
And only when she found herself a safe distance from the house did she allow herself to cry.
Because that was the first time Camila had ever chosen anyone over her. And it hurt because Lauren wouldn't even choose Lucy, the love of her life Lucy, over Camila.
Start the angst off nice and early.