weak ➸ camren

chapter 14 ➸ you've changed

The day passed by rather quickly. Lauren was almost positive Camila hadn’t moved from her spot on the roof. She’d even texted Lauren, asking her to bring an extension cord and her phone charger.

In the meantime, Lauren had gone grocery shopping. As she was carrying the groceries back to her car, she paused to appreciate just how nice it was outside. While driving home, an idea crossed her mind and she smiled softly.

—

“What are you doing?” Camila scooted down to the edge of the roof, watching as Lauren spread a large blanket over the grass in their backyard. Lauren looked up, wincing when she saw how close Camila was to the edge of the roof.

“Scoot back, Camz!” she called, flicking her wrist to try and get Camila to find a safer spot on the roof. Camila, of course, didn’t listen. Instead, she hung her legs over the edge of the roof and swung them back and forth while she watched Lauren.

“What’s the blanket for?” Camila asked, ignoring Lauren’s orders.

Lauren realized Camila wouldn’t listen to her and sighed, smoothing out the edges of the blanket. “I figured we’d have a picnic outside, since it’s so nice out.” She walked over to the edge of the yard, searching for rocks to weigh down the blanket and prevent it from blowing away.

“A picnic?” Camila asked, grabbing her guitar and lowering it down gently by the strap, letting go once it was positioned on the deck below her. She swung her legs down and carefully dropped down next to her instrument. The idea of a picnic excited her. She hadn’t even considered the fact that most picnics involved food, which meant eating.

“Yeah, why not?” Lauren shrugged. Camila descended the stairs into the backyard and watched as Lauren stretched out the blanket and placed a rock on each corner.

“I think it’s a good idea,” Camila bit her lip, kicking a patch of grass by her feet. This seemed like a date to her. She knew it wasn’t, but she also knew it would sure feel like one. Camila wondered if Lauren felt the same way.

“Awesome,” Lauren laughed. “Well, I guess you can sit down then. I’ve got everything ready inside.” She motioned to the blanket.

Camila swallowed hard and kicked off her shoes. Of course Lauren had made food. For the sake of their date—no, for the sake of their… friendly dinner, she decided she could muster up the strength to eat a little bit. Sitting down, she crossed her legs underneath her and gave Lauren a soft smile as the girl turned and disappeared back into the house.

A few minutes later, Lauren reemerged, struggling with a basket in each hand. Camila quickly ran over to help her, grabbing one of the baskets out of her arms.

“Thanks,” Lauren laughed. She adjusted the basket in her arms and looked over at Camila.

“You could’ve told me you needed help,” Camila giggled. She set the basket down in the middle of the blanket and waited for Lauren to do the same before they both sat down.

“Yeah, well, I wanted to do this for you,” Lauren shrugged. Before Camila could question her, Lauren started grabbing things out of the basket and setting them up around the girls. She handed Camila a plate and opened the plastic containers she’d brought out.

“I made a bunch of little cute picnic foods,” Lauren laughed. “Those are mini cucumber sandwiches,” she pointed to one of the containers. “There’s also grapes and carrots, cheese and crackers, these chocolate covered banana things, and pretzels.”

“It’s like we’re feeding the entire neighborhood,” Camila laughed nervously.

“I went a little overboard, I guess,” Lauren shrugged and grabbed a cracker. “Eat what you can, no pressure.”