green ➸ camren

thirty two

"We are back!"

Camila's voice echoed throughout the small house as she carried two heavy plastic bags into the foyer. She set them down on the floor, hurrying back out to help Lauren, who was half carrying, half dragging a large box down the sidewalk.

"What color did you decide on?" Maia asked, joining Camila as she began to retrieve more bags from the car.

"We didn't," Lauren laughed, earning a confused expression from the other girl. She grabbed the last two bags from the trunk and followed the other girls into the house.

"I thought that was the main point of this shopping trip? To get paint?" Maia asked, tilting her head to the side. Camila and Lauren exchanged glances.

"We did, but..." Lauren shook her head.

"We could not agree," Camila nodded. The smaller girl bent down, digging through the bags until she found all four cans of paint. She grabbed one and held it up, showing Maia proudly.

"See? This is the perfect color," Camila nodded, a wide smile on her face. Maia studied the can of bright yellow paint, glancing over at Lauren, who shook her head.

"But see, I think this color suits the room better," Lauren nodded, bending down to retrieve a can of sky blue paint. Camila giggled at their playful banter.

"So you bought both?" Maia raised an eyebrow. "Those two colors aren't that aesthetically pleasing together, you know..."

"Your poor child is going to think she lives in a Best Buy," Toby nodded, appearing by Maia's side with Lucas in his arms. Camila laughed and shook her head.

"We got both to test out," Lauren shrugged. "We figured you guys could break the tie for us."

"Sounds simple enough," Toby nodded, handing Lucas off to Maia and brushing his hands off on his jeans. "We got everything moved out of the room and tarped down. So we're ready when you are."

"Awesome," Lauren laughed, grabbing another can of paint and following everyone into the bedroom. Camila did the same, setting the cans down on the middle of the floor and looking around.

"Okay. So obviously we need to pick a color first," Toby laughed. Maia nodded in agreement, sitting down in the corner to keep Lucas entertained.

"Right," Lauren nodded and dug through the bags, pulling out two paintbrushes and handing one to Camila. "I guess we'll just test them out and see what they think," she nodded to the smaller girl.

Camila immediately got to work, which required a bit of Toby's assistance to get the paint cans open. Once she did, she dipped the smaller brush in the bright yellow paint and chose her spot on the wall. Keeping it simple, she painted a small square and filled it in.

Taking a step back, Camila smiled. She glanced at Toby and Maia, who were looking back and forth from her to Lauren.

"I still like the blue better," Lauren nodded, standing back to look at the small flower she doodled in the blue paint.

"I agree with Lauren," Maia said softly, biting her lip. "Sorry, Mila."

"Yellow is better," Camila huffed playfully, a small smile of amusement on her face.

"Me and Lucas side with Camila," Toby added. He raised both his hand and the child's hand, making Camila laugh even harder. Maia rolled her eyes.

"Lucas doesn't count," Lauren shook her head.

"Yeah, he's like... half a person," Maia agreed.

"Well then that's still half a vote more than you," Toby wiggled his eyebrows playfully. Lauren and Maia exchanged glances.