Riptide (a camren fic)

Chapter 3: Seduction is an art form apparently

It's been about three days since she's proposed that request upon her neighbor. It's also been three days of said neighbor conveniently not being home. Camila isn't stupid. She knows when someone is avoiding her and clearly Lauren is avoiding her. Which is totally so dumb and so childish. It's not like Camila was asking for Lauren's help to hide a body or something.

It went like this: immediately right after the statement fell from Camila's mouth, Lauren's father burst into the room also brandishing a bat and a wild expression. Jauregui's were seriously so dramatic.

It served to freak out both Lauren and Camila into stunned silence (not that Camila's initial request hadn't contributed to that already), and because of Lauren's father's loud threats, nearly the whole household was awake at this point. It didn't take long for Lauren's entire room to fill with groggy, frazzled Jauregui's demanding an explanation as to what on earth was going on.

Lauren had turned to Camila for the answer, which prompted the rest of her family to also turn to her expectantly. Normally, Camila would offer a joke or two or perhaps a very obvious made up excuse about sleep walking into Lauren's room.

(It's not like it would've been the first time).

But Camila floundered on the spot, feeling the mortification become painfully apparent across her face. This was a family she hadn't interacted with in nearly a year. Showing up in their daughter's room, after probably noticing their lack of friendship over the past months, was not only downright strange but suspicious as hell. Suspicious how exactly? Camila wasn't sure. Maybe they thought she had broken in to murder their daughter in her sleep or something - how the hell was she supposed to know?

Lauren, however, finally stepped in and offered quite the bullshit excuse: it was a sleepover.

"Sorry I didn't tell you guys earlier, it just kind of happened," Lauren had said. Her father then eyed Camila's jeans and sweatshirt skeptically.

"I heard you yelling," he insisted.

"She said it was a sleepover, Mike," Lauren's mother, Clara, had said wearily.

"I'm pretty sure I heard her the first time, Clara."

"Then listen to her." There was an unnatural bite in Clara's tone. And when Mike turned to look at her it almost felt as if a chilly atmosphere had fallen over all of them. The room felt too small, too confined, too suffocating. Camila immediately received the distinct impression that she was witnessing something she probably shouldn't have.

In the end, Camila was told to go home, which she did - reluctantly considering Lauren never got the chance to respond to her request.

But judging from Lauren's total MIA attitude, Camila thinks the hint is pretty clear.

"So what are you gonna do then?" Dinah asks, as Camila sets down her glass of water and pill bottle. It's nine in the morning. And for once, she's out of bed earlier than past noon. "You can't make someone want to sleep with you."

"I'm going to seduce her," Camila states, so nonchalantly, as if she were telling Dinah the weather.

Dinah bursts out laughing. A prolonged kind of insulting laughter that frustrates Camila with each giggle.

"The day you seduce Lauren Jauregui is the day I binge watch your little Star Trek movies."

"Star Wars. And anyway what makes you think I can't do it?"

"Mila, if you couldn't even tell the girl you had a big fat crush on her what makes you think you can just skip right into getting into her pants?"