The dark haired girl gingerly placed the lazy cat into her owners lap and moved to put Camden's seat belt but Camden slapped her hand away. "I have hands too," she bit.
"Barely," the girl retorted before she closed the passenger door and slipped around the car to her driver's seat.
"Wonder whose fault that is?" Camden replied once the stranger turned on her engine.
"Yooour ooown," The stranger sang mockingly and if she wasnt pulling out of the parking spot and it wasn't a risk hazard, she would've hit her so settled on clenching her teeth.
"Where are you going?" Camden asked as they took a turn.
"The hospital," The stranger replied.
"Dude, that not necessary it's fine," Camden sighed as she slumped in her seat.
"Are you sure?" The stranger glanced at her worriedly.
"Yeah, they're not gonna do anything you didnt't do. I'm sure just- just take me home please."
The stranger looked her over and sighed before giving a small nod and Camden breathed out a thank you.
"Type in your adress," she said pointing at the touchscreen.
Camden was too drained to make a stalker comment so she just did as told before she slumped back into her seat and stared at the passing houses while mindelessly stroking the cat that was fast asleep in her car.
It felt like minutes she couldn't tell before they pulled up in front the all too familiar neighbourhood. When the stranger came to a stop in her driveway, luckily the gate was open so she could drive her inside.
The stranger once again made her way to the passenger seat and Camden waited for her to open the door rather thans smacking it in her face again however tempting the idea appeared. So she waited as the brunette in the black trop top and ripped black skinny jeans opened the door for her and gingerly picked up Pogo.
Camden unbuckled her seatbelt and got out closing the cardoor behind her before she strode to the garage door. She didn't have her keys with her which wasn't that big of a problem as she typed in the code and the garage door opened suit.
She didn't wait for it to open completely and bent down to get under it with the girl following her. She made her way up the stairs that led to the kitchen and glanced around for any sign of her parents. Her dad was in his Real Estate office in Chicago for the next two weeks and her mother only had a a noon shift today. She glanced at the clock and realised it 4 in the afternoon. Time flies when you're wrestling dogs and sitting shirtless with girl in a vet's bathrooms.
She beckoned the stranger into the connected broad living room. The dark haired girl was taking in the house as she made her way over to the sofa to where Camden told her to set the cat down.
The stranger straightened her back and leaned back stretch it and if Camden was confronted, she would completely deny the fact she glanced at her stomach as her muscles flexed.
"Do you want something to drink?" Camden offered, her mother's years of drilling manners into her showing.
"Nah, I'm good," the stranger declined as Camden made her way to the fridge.
The brown eyes girl gazed around the living room. She felt like she walked straight into an house depo catalogue. With the white palette interior and the window walls it reminded her of her Pinterest boards. She walked closer to the wall that held picture frames. She couldn't contain her smile as she glanced at the picture of Camden's 7th birthday party. The child in the picture was wearing a bald cap and a grey suit and a grey moustache that was smudged with cake along with most of her face. She'd absolutely demanded to have a Dr. Phill themed party.
"Diet coke, water, dr. pepper, caprisun..." Camden listed as she scanned her fridge.
The stranger rolled her eyes at the fact she dismissed her decline. "Caprisun," she replied as the corner of her mouth turned up into a smile before she turned away from the pictures and faced the girl. "Catch," Camden warned before she chucked the drink a whole ass distance to reach the edge of the living room.
The stranger caught it with ease and Camden's face turned into a look of approval, "Impressive."
She walked around the kitchen Island and into the living room sitting on the white couch next to her cat with a diet coke.
"Nice house," the stranger remarked.
"Thanks," Camden replied awkwardly, "My dad's an architect, it'd be pretty ironic if he'd butchered his own house."
The stranger let out a small chuckle. "So, where are your parents?" she asked, still standing.
"My mom actually should be home any minute but my dad's in Chicago right now."
The stranger nodded as she looked down and fiddled with getting the straw out of the package. Camden saw her struggle so she set her drink down on the glass coffee table and walked over to her sticking her hand out. The stranger glanced up from the hand to Camden's face who had raised her eyesbrows up in suggestion.
With a defeated look she handed the caprisun over to the other girl. "All that muscle and strenght but you get beaten by a a plastic straw."
"Hey, those straws are beating the environment."
"God, you're one of those."
"Those," the stranger mocked acting offended. "Sorry, that I care about sea life."
"The same people that say that, are drinking out of plastic Starbucks cups with paper straws, simultaneously contributing to not only the consumptive capitalistic society that work: people with minimum wage to the bone, but also adding to pollution by contributing to the root of the problem.
Boycotting straws is the equivalent of tweeting 'thoughts and prayers' when there's a disaster instead of actively working on the bigger issues like fishing waste, that by the way makes up like 80 percent of ocean pollution, but I'll keep my mouth shut," Camden replied while opening up the straw package with ease before she stuck it in the Caprisun and handed it out for the brunette to grab.
The stranger's mouth had actually fallen open. Her eyebrows were raised and her eyes were wide as she stared at the girl like she'd falled out of the sky.
"Too much?" Camden tilted her head.
The stranger blinked. "God, no- I'm just, I didn't expect you to actually- Like I'm impressed," The stranger tried to speak.
Camden supressed the smile that wanted to form on her face as the girl took the caprisun out of her hand.
"You expect all LA girls to be airheads?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, not all- mostly the pretty ones," the stranger replied before sipping her drink.
"Oh, so you think I'm a pretty airhead," Camden suggested as she kept her eyes trained on the girl.
The stranger puckered her lips around the straw and gazed around the living room one again.
"Shit wait I still have your shirt," Camden reminded herself.
"You don't have to-" The stranger tried to protest.
"Ohn, too shy to see me shirtless," Camden teased her mockingly as she played with the buttons on the red plaid flannel to which the dark haired girl rolled her eyes.
"I'm a respectful, lady, I don't tell girls to undress themselves," The stranger shrugged.
"But if I did it out my own conscious free mind?"
"Than that's totally fine, but you shouldn't. Just keep it, it looks better on you anyway,"
At this Camden did effectively smile before she opened the first button up. The strangers eyes glanced down at her before they shot up staring straight into her Camden's. She unbuttoned the second button holding her gaze with that challenging grin as if daring her to do something about it.
The stranger's hand went to the shirt and she buttoned up the one Camden had just undone. Camden's eyebrows shot up in disbelief, the grin never leaving her face though. She enjoyed the irratation and frustration she was causing. So she kept playing the game wondering who'd give in first. Each button she easily undid the stranger struggled to redo.
"Camz whose car-," was called which caused both girls to freeze on spot as they hadn't even realised another person had entered the house through the front door that was openly accessible to the living room.
Camden cursed the lack of walls in her mind as she heard her mother freeze mid sentence having noticed the compromising position the two girls were in in the centre of the living room.
"What-?" her mother sputtered and Camden shut her eyes as if she was mentally trying to push a reset button.
The stranger had gone just as silent, her mouth open in a response that never managed to leave her throat. Her eyes glanced from the mother to Camden who took a breath before she took a step back turning to look at her mother with one button holding her shirt closed. "It's not what it looks like," she said.
Her mother raised her eyebrows expectantly, but her face told her she was caught in an act she actually wasn't doing.
It was pretty comical, though. How do you even begin to explain this.
The stranger glanced from daughter to the mother as she chewed her lip nervously, feeling like she was about to be exposed to a family dispute she had no business in. "You know, I'm just gonna-," she pointed to the garage door as she gave the mother a polite smile.
"Good luck. See you around, peanut butter," the stranger whispered to the Camden as she brushed past her. "Let's hope you don't ," Camden whispered back a bit more irritable.
The stranger saluted the girl before nodding politely at the mother. "Pleasure meeting you," she gave her a smile before she dissapeared behind the door.
"Mom, I swear-," she said as her mother stared her down.
"Ah," she cut her off with a raised hand. "Camden, I know you're eighteen and I get that at that age you're at the prime of your hormones and sometimes you want to-."
Camden clapped her hands over her ears, "I can't hear you! Lalalalalala!" she sung loudly cutting her mother off.
Her mother had marched over to her and took her arms of her ears. "Camden Amira."
"Yikes," Camden mumbled. Her mother held her index fingers to her own temples as if she was summoning some parenting god as she made her way to sit on the couch. Her eyes were shut after she sat down and she took one hand off her temple and patted the spot next to her. Camden sighed as she made her way to sit next to her mother while buttoning up some of the shirt so she wasn't completely indecent.
"Mom-," Camden tried again only to get a finger on her lips as her mother sushed her. Camden's eyebrows shot up but she shut up nonetheless.
"Okay," she nodded as if the gods had give her the answers. "So, as I was saying. You're a young, pretty 18 year old girl. You're going through changes. Your body starts craving things you didn't know you wanted and you want to explore yourself and try new things. But you need to know to learn that's important to have a healthy relationship with your body and other people's bodies. I was actually 17 when I first-."
Camden made an incomprehensible noise that sounded like a drowning war cry before she got off the couch and stood in front of her mother as she rushed out her words. "Mom! We literally weren't doing anything! Her dog bit me and she gave me her shirt after mine was ruined and she was just checking the wound!" She pulled the shirt off her shoulder to show the bloodied bandage to her mother.
"Oh, thank, god," her mother breathed out a sigh of relief. "That doesn't take away from the fact we need to have this talk," her mother continued.
Camden rushed the staircase ready to run up as her mother called behind her, "You can catch STDS from anyone!"
She shut her bedroom door behind her after she made her way upstairs and leaned against it. She shuddered at the thought of what her mother was going to say. Raised her unbattered arm up to hold her head as she internally cringed at the entirety of that situation. Thank god it wasn't her dad though, he would've probably pulled out a shotgun and chased the stranger off the premises before locking his princess into her tower for eternity.
The stranger, she realised. She didn't even know her fucking name. They'd balantly forgot to mention it. On one hand she was saddened at the thought that she might never see her again on the other hand she was relieved of the nuance of stranger that was a headache in human form.
She threw herself on her bed and instantly winced at the impact. She cradled her shoulder and the scent hit her. She pulled the shirt closer to her and the scent of laundry detergent mixed with a perfume that smelled sweet and softly floral with hints of vanilla. And she hadn't realised the smile that crept up her face as she took in the scent.