Lauren
"I just- I don't know what I'm supposed to do." Lauren paces by the pool, aware that she could probably slip and hurt herself, but she doesn't really care. "I haven't done anything, but I feel like I have to. My PR team got the articles down, but it's not like that hasn't stopped ten more from popping up."
"Well, what about Camila?" Alexa asks from her deck chair. She'd slept over last night, and Lauren pretty much won't let her leave. "Is it- like, have any of the articles named her?"
"No, no, she's not- from the only picture they have, she's not recognisable, and if any fans have drawn any connections between us, no media outlet has picked up on it," Lauren brushes that off, and she's thankful for that much, "I haven't really spoken to her for the last couple of days."
"Why not?" Alexa questions her. "She's your girlfriend, if anyone is going to help you through this, it's her."
"I'm just- I'm worried. I don't know what I'm supposed to do, and if people see us together right after I get fucking outed, then they'll make the connection. And I don't know if she's ready to be in the public eye." Lauren rambles on, but it's partially an excuse. "And I don't know if it's a good idea if I- I mean, if I'm not ready to be out, maybe I should just- you know, I really don't want to, but maybe it would be best if I-"
"Don't even finish that sentence," Alexa warns her, and Lauren blinks in surprise, "you care about her a lot, I can tell that much. And from all of our FaceTime conversations, when you're talking about her, you're so happy. Breaking up with her would just make you even more miserable."
"Then- then what am I supposed to do?" Lauren lets out a growl of frustration and sits down on the deck chair next to Alexa, taking a sip of her water. "What do you think?"
"Well, you have two options." Alexa shrugs, "You could either hide away from it all until it dies down, and then just act like it never happened. Or you could own it. Take your power back. Forget that you were outed, and come out yourself. You told me you were going to."
"I was- I was getting ready to." Lauren quickly corrects her. "I wanted to do it by the end of the year, but... then this happened."
"Then don't let the jerks in the media take that away from you." Alexa grabs her hand and squeezes it, and Lauren considers her best friend's advice. In reality, it's the best course of action, and it's not like she'll feel any more anxious than she already does about it. "At the end of the day, it's your sexuality and your truth, and you don't owe anybody an explanation. But if you were already going to come out..."
"Then I should just do it?" Lauren asks, and Alexa nods in reply. She frowns, biting down on her bottom lip, and picking up her phone. She hasn't spoken to Camila since that phone call, when her girlfriend had told her what happened as Lauren was collecting her bags at the airport.
She'd hung up the phone, locked herself in a bathroom stall and had a panic attack, and then ran out through the arrivals gate, past the crowd of fans who were waiting for pictures, and straight into her dad's arms. She'd cried into his shoulder as the fans who couldn't take a hint took pictures of her having a breakdown; she did note some of them holding the others back, blocking their cameras and telling them to leave her alone, which she appreciated and she managed to choke out a small thank you to them. She let her dad lead her to the car, where she'd proceeded to sob her heart out all the way home.
Then, she'd composed herself slightly, and called her PR team to see what they were doing to get the articles down, and for advice about what she should do. They'd gotten the articles down, and told her that she should keep a low profile for now.
Coming out would completely shatter the whole low profile thing, but by this point, what don't people already know? Isn't it better that she clarifies it, rather than let people continue to speculate? Her PR team had always loved the speculation; they act like they care about her emotional wellbeing, but mostly they just care about their paychecks. To get said paychecks, they need to keep her image up, keep her relevant, and keep her public portrayal relatively clean. They'd somehow managed to keep a lot of the drinking and partying she'd been doing over the last couple of years under wraps, and she's not surprised that they managed to get the articles down, but she's honestly sick of being so filtered. Why shouldn't she just live her truth?
"Okay. Okay, you're right." Lauren realises, nodding to herself. "But I need to talk to Camila first."
"Invite her over," Alexa suggests, "I have to be home soon anyway, I'm working tonight."
Lauren frowns, adjusting the string on her bikini top. "Okay. Thanks for listening to me rant."
"I'm your best friend, it's pretty much my job," Alexa gets up, tugging on the big t-shirt she has as a cover-up, and nodding towards the back door. "I'm just going to grab my stuff and then I'm heading home. Love you, okay? Tell me how everything goes."
Lauren nods, still feeling anxious, but when isn't she feeling anxious? "Okay. Love you too."
As Alexa disappears inside, Lauren picks up her phone from where she'd left it by her glass of water. She looks at the tweet she'd drafted when she'd first had the idea to maybe, possibly come out, and instead of sending it, she closes the Twitter app and calls Camila, waiting nervously as she hears the familiar dial tone.
Camila
Lauren has been radio silent.
Not even just to her; she hasn't posted on any kind of social media for three days, since the article leaked. Camila figured she was just spending time with her family, and trying to process things, but she's still a little worried. She tried checking with Lucy, to see if she'd heard anything from Lauren, but Lucy hadn't heard from her either, aside from a similar I need space text.
The fans are going crazy with all the speculation. Most of the sane people just want everyone to forget about it and leave Lauren alone, but the Laucy shippers are insisting that the woman Lauren was spotted kissing was Lucy, coming up to visit her at college. A couple of people had dragged Camila into it, saying that it's her, that it's obvious they're dating even from the two social media interactions they'd been given; they're right, evidently, but Camila isn't about to say that.
She's gotten a couple of DMs on Instagram, with people straight up asking her if she's the girl in the photos, but Camila had merely switched her DMs to private and ignored the messages.
She's still worried about Lauren, but it's only been three days, and Camila can understand that someone would need space after getting outed to millions of people. She'd sent some texts, telling Lauren that she was here for her, and she would be willing to listen when Lauren is ready to talk, even though she knows she can't fully understand the weight of the situation and how Lauren would feel.
She's checking Lauren's Instagram again, just to see if she'd posted anything at all, when her phone screen changes to Lauren 🌹 – Incoming call. She answers it immediately.
"Lo," She breathes a small sigh of relief, "hi. How- how are you feeling?"
"Can you come over?" Lauren asks her, without any kind of greeting. "I need to talk to you."
"Oh, um... sure?" Camila's brow furrows, before she inquires, "Am I going to like this talk?"
"It's not anything bad," Lauren is quick to assure her, and Camila relaxes, because any time a girl has needed to talk to her, it's never usually gone well. "I'm just... thinking about stuff, and I know that- that you always give a good opinion. And a hand to hold..."
"Okay. Alright, well text me your address," Camila says, "I'll get my mom to drop me off."
"Sorry for being so... MIA these last few days," Lauren apologises, and Camila's heart flutters, "I just needed to think about stuff. But I- I'm sorry for being so distant."
"It's okay. I was a little worried, but I figured you'd come to me when you needed me," Camila assures her, "how are you feeling?"
"Just kind of... empty. Trying to figure things out." Lauren tells her. "Kind of glad it happened while I was at home, because my family have been... really amazing. Are you on your way? I texted you my address."
Camila pushes herself up from the couch. "No, I need to ask my mom for a ride, hold on."
"I can pick you up, if you want." Lauren offers, but Camila declines her offer and quickly asks her mom for a ride, and Sinu nods, telling her to get her shoes on. "Okay, well... I'll see you soon? And- um, I'm going to come to yours later this week, too. Promised I'd meet your family, remember?"
"Yeah." Camila smiles, slipping her shoes on, "I'll... see you soon?"
"See you soon, Camz," Lauren answers, "I missed you."
"I missed you too," Camila tells her, and she really means it; she knew that Lauren needed her space, but she'd missed her regardless. "Be there in about... fifteen minutes."
After she hangs up, she gets into the car with her mom, and tells her that Lauren will be coming over later that week. She doesn't know what's going to come from this talk, but Lauren had said it herself on the phone that she was going to come over, so obviously nothing bad would come from it.
She literally told you that, dumbass, Camila scolds herself, you and Lauren are fine. She didn't talk to you because she needed space.
When Sinu's car pulls up at the address Lauren had given her, Camila gets out and walks up the driveway. There's a Toyota parked in the driveway, and Camila is a little nervous that she's at the wrong address when she doesn't see Lauren's Tesla, but then she realises that it's still parked in her apartment building at school, because obviously she didn't fly here in it. That would be a state of the art vehicle, now that she's thinking about it, and she's a little salty that they don't have flying cars yet.
"Camz," A gate to the back of the house swings open, and Lauren waves her over. Camila really has to work on her concentration when she realises she's clad in a skimpy orange bikini, her gorgeous body on full show. She'd seen Lauren in a bikini before, but only in pictures, and most of those were from a few years ago; seeing it in person is a heavenly experience.
"Hi," Camila walks over, knees a little weak at the gorgeous sight in front of her. "Going for a swim?"
"I- mostly just tanning by the pool," Lauren shrugs, taking her hand and pulling her into the back garden, shutting the gate behind her as a little dachshund tries to make his escape. "Dashy, no, stay! I don't know why he runs away like that every time he gets a chance. It's not like he has infinite warmth and shelter and food and cuddles here or anything."
"You must be Dash," Camila murmurs, petting the little dog, "You're so cute. Almost as cute as your owner here, but you know... don't tell her I said that."
Lauren blushes, and when Camila stands up after getting her fill of doggy snuggles, the older girl leans in and kisses her, cupping her jaw. When she pulls away, she sends her a small smile; it's weaker than usual, but that's to be expected after what happened to her. "Missed that. Come on. Let's... go talk."
She lets Lauren lead her over to the lounge chairs by the pool, and when the older girl offers her a drink, she asks for water. Lauren goes to get her a glass, and Camila admires her body as she walks away, still feeling a little anxious about whatever they're going to talk about.
When Lauren brings her a glass of water, Camila takes a sip and asks her, "tell me how you're feeling. I know you needed space, but I feel bad that I haven't been able to comfort you or anything."
"I just didn't want to drag you into it. If people saw – I mean, it's not hard to make the connection between us, and I know what it's like to be shoved into the spotlight, and I don't want that for you unless we're both sure and we're both comfortable with it." Lauren rambles, worrying the string of her bikini top between her thumb and forefinger, and Camila kind of hopes she'll pull it loose by accident. "I just feel kind of... defeated. You know? I was going to come out by the end of the year, I promised myself that, and then it just got taken away from me."
"I'm so sorry, baby," Camila reaches over and takes her hand, squeezing it in reassurance. "I'm sorry that people don't understand boundaries. I wanted to say something in response, but I figured that would draw attention to it. I dragged Perez Hilton on my old fan account, though."
Lauren lets out a weak laugh. "Thank you. God, I just... I thought I'd stop expecting the best in people after they constantly crossed lines when I said I was uncomfortable with them pinning labels on me in the first place, but this is just a whole other level."
Camila leans over and presses a kiss to her cheek, and she's suddenly fully aware of the woman peering out through the blinds in the kitchen, looking towards the pool. "Okay, think your mom just saw me kiss you, that's embarrassing."
"A million people have seen you kiss me," Lauren sarcastically replies, and she still looks so sad, but now that Camila is aware of Lauren's mom watching them, she doesn't kiss her again. Instead, she squeezes her hand comfortingly. "Anyway, I was talking to Alexa earlier, and she told me that I should just... come out. Take my power back. Like, post the tweet I was going to post the other week, and just get it out there rather than let people keep speculating. My PR team are sure that if I just lay low it'll all go away, but they said the same shit about the Laucy rumours three years ago, so..."
"Do it, baby." Camila encourages her, because there's nothing more Lauren than her girlfriend speaking her mind. "You should do it, and put something in there about the lines and boundaries people crossed, and how it shouldn't matter if someone is 'famous', because they're still a person and they're still entitled to privacy."
"Okay. Yeah, you're right," Lauren meets her gaze for a few moments, and after looking her over, she smiles. "Should've known you'd make me feel better pretty much instantly. I wish I'd called you sooner, I just didn't want anything to get... complicated."
"I understand, babe," Camila assures her, "now go on. Write your rant, in true Lauren Jauregui fashion."
Lauren finally sends her that goofy grin, the one that lights up her eyes and gives her the cutest little double chin, and when she gets off her own deck chair, she's quick to squish herself onto Camila's. "Okay, but I'm writing it with my girlfriend snuggling me for moral support."
Camila glances back at the window, but Clara seems to be gone, so she nods and kisses the top of Lauren's head. "Okay. As long as you're down for the weird tan lines you'll get."
As Lauren types in the notes app on her phone, Camila occupies herself by tracing her fingers across Lauren's body, drawing invisible love hearts across her tummy. She decides that Lauren isn't ever allowed to wear anything but a bikini ever again, because it's kind of a holy experience, being snuggled up by the pool with Lauren pressed up against her.
Camila is quick to kiss her shoulder when Lauren looks particularly frowny as she's reading her little rant over, and she asks, "you finished?"
"I want you to read it first," Lauren passes her phone over to Camila, "you tell me if it's good enough or not."
"Anything you write would be good enough," Camila assures her, but she takes the phone anyway and reads Lauren's words over.
Hi.
The last couple of days have been an emotional rollercoaster for me, in the way that I felt I was literally plummeting off a cliff at 1000 miles per hour with nothing to stop me until I hit the bottom. But now I'm finally starting to feel like I'm going back up again, thanks to the amazing people I have surrounded myself with.
Three days ago, certain media outlets publicised a picture that was taken – without my consent – of me kissing my girlfriend. But the thing I want to focus on here isn't that. The emphasis should be put on how easy it is for some people to cross boundaries. Just because I am a public figure, it does not mean I can't keep parts of my life private, and it certainly does not make it okay to out me. I understand that it wasn't the fans who outed me, but the media, and a large majority of you were asking those sites to take the articles down and telling other fans not to spread the photo. But to the minority who continued to share it; as fans, I do not owe you the details of my personal life and relationships. It is not okay for you to decide if/when I choose to share that kind of thing. That is between me and my girlfriend.
I am not going to tell you her name. I ask respectfully that you don't try to 'expose' her or our relationship. It's okay to speculate, but please keep it between yourselves and don't tag me or whoever you assume she is in your posts.
I had a tweet saved in my drafts, which I was planning on sending out at some point between now and the end of the year, and that was going to be my coming out. No dramatization of it, just a simple post. But the decision on when I was going to share my sexuality with my followers was taken away from me, but at least I still get a little say over how I do it. Today, I take my power back.
I am a bisexual, Cuban American woman, and I am so proud of it.
Sending you all love, light and happiness,
Lauren
"Send it," Camila assures her, "I don't have anything to say, because it's not my coming out. It's yours, and this post should be from you and you alone."
"Are you sure?" Lauren asks, and when Camila nods, she presses further, "And you're okay with me mentioning that I have a girlfriend? Because they're going to think that it's you. Or Lucy, probably."
"I can handle it, baby. I was a fan, I understand why they do the things they do and why they're so passionate about it," Camila assures her, wrapping her pinky around Lauren's in a promise. "I'm okay with it. Go on, send it."
Lauren reads it over one more time, before she screenshots it and attaches it to a tweet. She looks at the send button, and her teeth graze across her bottom lip anxiously. "Will you at least press send with me?"
"That much, I can do," Camila hovers her finger over the send button, and when Lauren counts down to zero, they tap it together, and watch as the tweet sends itself out into the universe.
Lauren
"Well, everyone who has your notifications on is currently having a heart attack."
Lauren closes the Twitter app pretty much instantly, not wanting to think about the comments from people. They don't matter, she tries to tell herself, they're just teenagers on the internet. It's not like coming out can ruin your career in any way; you already play a lesbian on TV. "Okay, well, I don't want to think about any of that anymore. It's done, I've made my bed, might as well sleep in it. Do you want to meet my mom?"
"Not particularly, parents scare me," Camila laughs, glancing back over to the house; Lauren knows her mom had been peering out earlier. "But we should probably get it over with. Is your dad home too?"
"No, he's working. My mom is a teacher, so she gets the whole Thanksgiving break off, but my dad just gets the day itself," Lauren follows Camila's gaze towards the house, "Come on, let's rip the band aid off."
She takes Camila's hand, trying to push down any residual anxiety she feels. Weirdly, she's not bothered about her girlfriend meeting her mother; she's more bothered about the fact that she came out. She's still a little shocked at her own actions, even though it had to be done.
She walks them away from the pool, and up towards the house, opening up the back door through to the kitchen for her girlfriend. She senses the nervousness; she's so used to seeing it on herself that it's not hard to notice in others. "Don't worry, okay? My parents already like you after everything I've told them."
"I know, it's just meeting the parents is something I've never done with a girlfriend. I'm awkward enough around my friends' parents..." Camila trails off, shaking her head, "It's like little high school Camila with all of her anxiety decides to make a sudden reappearance."
"Well, tell little high school Camila to fuck off and be the badass I know you are," Lauren tries to encourage her, pressing a kiss to her cheek just as her mother walks into the kitchen. "You're fine."
"You must be Camila," Clara doesn't wait to start her assault, "it's lovely to meet you. Lauren has told me so many things about you."
"It's nice to meet you too, Mrs Jauregui," Camila says, and Lauren can hear the nerves behind it, but she mostly does well at masking it. "I know that Lauren really cares about her family, so it's nice to be able to meet you."
Lauren can see the way her mother looks a little guarded, but still courteous. She understands that; they have to be wary of people, particularly after the one time Lauren had feelings for a guy who turned out to want the publicity and not her. Even though they'd only gone on two dates, and it wasn't that much of a heartbreak, her parents were extra protective since then.
"How is it you two met again?" Clara asks, and Lauren almost rolls her eyes; she had cried to her mother on the phone about Camila lying to her, and now she definitely regrets it. "I know it was at college..."
Camila looks a little startled, but she tells her. "Oh, yeah, um, I was studying in an empty classroom and Lauren came in and we got to talking and then a couple of days later she asked to sit with me in class."
"Because I was totally crushing on you," Lauren adds, sending her a comforting smile before turning to her mom and shooting her a look that says please lay off, "I told you that we had a fight, but I'm glad we did, because it's pretty much the reason we got together. I don't think I'd ever have told Camila that I liked her if I hadn't just blurted it out in the heat of the moment. And after that... it's all been really great."
Clara looks between them, and after a few moments, she smiles. "Alright. Would you like a drink or a snack, Camila?"
Camila looks at Lauren as if to say help, and the older girl quickly says, "Uh, we were actually going to go out for a coffee date. I'm just going to head upstairs and get changed, but if you want something while you wait..."
"Okay, yeah, just some water please, Mrs Jauregui," Camila says, and she looks a little anxious that Lauren is disappearing upstairs, but if she wants to go out, she can't exactly stroll to the coffee shop in her bikini. As her mom tells her to please call her Clara, she looks to Lauren and asks, "I'll see you in a few minutes?"
That's code for hurry up, and Lauren knows it, so she nods, presses a quick kiss to Camila's cheek, and practically sprints to her bedroom, taking her bikini off and throwing on an old band t-shirt and some ripped black jeans. She brushes out her hair quickly, and then grabs her wallet, tucking it into her pocket.
As she heads downstairs again, she hears her mother's voice, and at first, she rolls her eyes. Probably just telling her embarrassing stories, her favourite activity. But as she approaches the kitchen, she frowns at the words drifting out.
Lauren pauses outside the kitchen, listening to her mom's words. "She's been so sad for the last couple of years, but any time she talks about you, it's like she lights up. So... thank you for making that happen. I've missed seeing her real smile."
"You don't know how much it means to me that I could do that for her," Camila replies, "sometimes I just... I know I can never understand how hard it is for her, to be in the public eye all the time, but I can imagine how miserable it must be at times."
"It wasn't too bad until they started season two. I can't imagine what it's like for her in L.A., because it's bad enough for us here. Any time I get a new class, there's at least half of them asking if they can meet her, or if I can get her to come into school," Clara says, and Lauren swallows the lump in her throat; she knows how bad it's getting for her family, too. People asking questions, harassing them, trying to make them spill details about the show and her life. And there's the people who use her family and friends to try to get to her. "Her siblings have to be very careful about the people they're friends with, because a lot of people see the name Jauregui and think that's their ticket to Lauren. Naturally we were all a little wary when she told us she'd made a new friend in case they were just using her. It's happened before, so... we were worried. Even after she told us you were her girlfriend."
"Don't worry, I'm pretty much the captain of the Lauren defence squad, so I would never do anything that could possibly hurt her. She's... very special to me." Camila says, and Lauren can practically hear the smile on her face. "I promise, I'd never break her trust or use her for anything."
Before her mother can reply, Lauren walks into the kitchen and flashes Camila a smile. Not commenting on what she'd heard, she says, "So... coffee?"
"Coffee," Camila repeats, nodding and taking Lauren's hand. "Are we driving?"
"I thought we could walk, there's a place nearby that's really good," Lauren says, "I'd know, I used to work there, and I won like five thousand awards for being the best barista."
"I can't imagine you as a barista," Camila comments as they head out of the kitchen, calling back a quick goodbye to Lauren's mom their way out. Lauren grabs her house keys, slipping a pair of scuffed old Vans on as she unlocks the front door. "I can't really imagine you as anything but an actor. I feel like that's just what you were supposed to do."
Lauren hums in thought, following her out onto the front porch. She doesn't bother to lock the door, because her mom is home, and closes it behind her, holding Camila's hand as they walk down the driveway. She doesn't consider dropping it, and when Camila pushes her sunglasses on, it gives her a little comfort; she won't be as easily recognisable.
She knows that they need to have a proper talk about what they want to do and how they want to approach their relationship when it comes to PDA, but for now, she's trying not to think about it. A coffee date with her girlfriend after not seeing her for a few days is the best kind of relief for her anxiety.
Lauren snorts in amusement at Camila's words. "Well, acting is the only thing I'm good at, so..."
"Shut the fuck up, I know you can sing, play piano, and you paint, so..." Camila lists, "you are quite obviously good at other things."
"Fine, the only thing I'm really good at, then," Lauren corrects herself, and even though Camila looks like she's going to argue, she adds, "and, uh, I also write poetry, but that's private."
"Poetry?" Camila looks genuinely interested. "I bet it's amazing. What do you write about?"
"Well, it's sort of like my journal. But instead of writing about my day, I write poems about the things that are on my mind, and I draw little sketches," Lauren explains; it was a thing she'd always done, but more recently she'd started doing it often. She's found that it helps to get things out onto paper. "But they're just, you know. Silly."
"I doubt that," Camila easily replies, swinging their hands as they walk down the street. "Anything that comes out of your beautiful mind is obviously going to be perfect."
Lauren blushes, because people complimenting her intelligence over her looks has always made her weak at the knees. "Yeah?"
"Yeah," Camila flashes her a smile. "I love the way your mind works."
"Tanks, Camz." Lauren says in her baby voice, squeezing her girlfriend's hand. "You know, I still need that playlist of your music."
"Oh, I actually made that yesterday." Camila replies, and like she's just remembered, she pulls an old iPod out of her back pocket. "Here. There's some rough demos and stuff on here, but like I said, they're rough. Nowhere near perfect. My favourite song out of the ones on there is probably... In the Dark."
"Okay, I'll keep that in mind," Lauren turns the iPod over in her free hand, feeling like she's holding a piece of Camila's soul. "I'll listen tonight."
"And if you hate it, just don't tell me," Camila plays it off like a joke, "I would cry myself to sleep."
Lauren frowns. "I'd never hate anything that came from you. Anyway, come on, just up here."
She tugs Camila towards the coffee shop, and while she is thinking about fans that could be lurking, she tries to brush it off. Friends hold hands, and she only just came out like half an hour ago. Some of them probably haven't even seen her post.
As she pushes open the door, there are plenty of free seats, including her favourites by the windows; the couch seats that are the comfiest in the whole café. When she was on her break from work, she'd always stretch out on it and eat her lunch; her boss was generally pretty chill about things.
She heads up to the counter to order, one of her old friends and co-workers Erica addresses her by saying, "Well, don't even need to ask what you're having. Double caramel latte and a croissant?"
"Yep, and a hot cocoa and a chocolate chip muffin for this one," She gestures at Camila, and the younger girl isn't at all surprised that she remembered her usual order, since that's what they get pretty much every Wednesday morning. "How are you?"
"I'm good," Erica replies as she punches the order in. "I see you've been keeping yourself out of the spotlight. Don't think I've heard anything about you for about... four hours?"
The sarcasm is refreshing, and Lauren snorts in amusement. "Yeah, obviously. You know me, I love to keep a low profile."
She doesn't pay; her old boss generally appears out of nowhere to scold her any time she tries, and she'd stopped attempting to leave the cash around the store when she'd come in a couple of months back and the old woman had thrust an envelope of cash at her and told her that she didn't pay here.
"This is the girl you were making out with, then?" Erica asks as she passes her a note with the order number on. "She's cute."
"I know she's cute, I have eyes," Lauren retorts, bringing Camila forwards and introducing her, "Camz, this is Erica, she was one of my old co-workers and is one of my current friends. This is Camila. She's..."
After a few moments of hesitation and glancing around to see if anyone is listening in, she finishes, "She's my girlfriend."
It's hard not to see the happiness radiating off her any time she says that. Erica notices it, and smiles. "I'm happy for you, Lo. Anyway, this coffee isn't going to make itself. Go sit down, I'll bring it over to you."
Lauren nods, and when Erica turns away, she takes two fifties out of her wallet and stuffs them in the tip jar before she can see. Then, she takes Camila by the hand, pulling her over to her favourite seats by the window, immediately sinking down into the couch. Camila sits next to her, ignoring the couch on the opposite side of the table completely, and squeezing Lauren's hand gently.
"So," Camila prefaces, and Lauren slouches back, getting herself comfortable, "have you checked Twitter at all?"
"Nope, and I honestly don't think I want to," Lauren replies, before she pulls her phone out of her back pocket and unlocks it, opening up Twitter and dropping the phone in Camila's lap. "You do it for me."
Camila laughs, picking it up. "You realise you give me the power to hack you right now? I could post anything I wanted."
"But you wouldn't," Lauren finishes, and she knows that for a fact. She trusts Camila. "What are people saying? And don't give me any of the negative responses."
Camila scrolls through the replies. "There aren't any negative responses. Your tweet already has fifty thousand retweets and a hundred and thirty thousand likes. Most people are congratulating you, saying they're proud, and there are a couple of Laucy people, but that's mostly just under Lucy's tweet congratulating you, but it's funny because she literally wrote 'so proud of my lil bi sibling', so..."
Lauren blinks in surprise. "Lucy congratulated me? Who else?"
"Keana, Vero, a bunch of different companies like iHeartRadio and BuzzFeed, Halsey, Kehlani," Camila lists, "loads of people. Even Keaton has tweeted saying he's proud of you. The account for Silverhollow say they're proud too."
"Oh," Lauren smiles when the words sink in. "Okay. That's good, then."
Camila squeezes her hand, passing her phone back. "I'm immensely proud of you too. I know part of why you came out is because you've been forced out, a little bit, but... I'm still so proud."
"I'm proud of myself," Lauren admits, because she never thought she'd ever actually do it. She'd wanted to, but she was still dealing with the magnitude of the situation, and with the fans who would think they helped her when really they were the ones who made accepting herself that much harder. "Anyway. Enough about me. Let's talk about when I'm coming over to meet your family."
Camila lets out an over-dramatic groan, saying something about how she's sure her mom will embarrass her, and Lauren just smiles. At first, she thought this was the worst week of her life, but it's actually turning out to be alright.