A Light in the Dark

Chapter 44

Camila slowly opened her eyes and sighed in relief as she realized that last evening had not been a dream. It had been real. Lauren had kissed her. They had kissed.

She smiled widely as she felt the arm around her waist and carefully turned around, trying not to wake up the green-eyed girl beside her. Greeting her was a sight that had become normal since she had moved into Lauren's apartment, but this time it felt different. It had started to feel different ever since Lauren had told her that she liked her too.

But this morning...

Camila let her eyes travel over Lauren's sleeping face and noticed the tiny smile on her lips. Living together and sleeping in the same bed had definitely its perks...

She carefully reached out and brushed a strand of dark hair out of Lauren's face and grazed her thumb over the soft skin of her cheek for a moment. That was okay, right? She could do little things like that now... couldn't she? Frowning slightly, Camila let her hand sink and rested it on the pillow between their faces.

Suddenly her favorite raspy voice pulled Camila out of her thoughts. "You know, staring is creepy."

"I'm not staring," she defended herself and blushed. "I didn't know you were awake..."

"And now you're embarrassed," Lauren chuckled sleepily and blinked her eyes open. "See, you're blushing. I'm a genius like that."

"Right, and I'm famous." Camila grinned and looked into the tired green eyes, still very much aware of Lauren's arm around her waist. "Did you sleep well?"

"Uh-huh," Lauren yawned. "How could I not with you by my side?"

"That was so cheesy..."

"It's still early, cut me some slack," she whined, causing Camila's smile to widen. She was so adorable...

Her eyes traveled down and she bit her lip before they darted upwards to meet Lauren's eyes again. She wished she could just lean in and kiss her... even just a small peck on the lips... could she do that? They had kissed yesterday, yes, but Lauren hadn't tried to deepen it... was that a bad sign? Had Lauren's emotions just run wild after that song? Had she regretted it? They hadn't really talked about it...

"... Camz?"

"Hm?"

"Did you... did you mean what you said yesterday?" Lauren asked shyly and Camila frowned thoughtfully.

"Uh..." She had said a lot of things... especially when she had gotten so anxious and started rambling... but why was Lauren so nervous? What did she say? Camila racked her brain, but she came up with nothing. She couldn't remember every word. Had she said something bad? "What exactly?"

Lauren seemed to search her eyes for something specific, but after a while, she only shook her head. Was she disappointed? Relieved? "Nothing... it wasn't important..."

"Are you sure?" Camila asked suspiciously. Crap, what did she say?

"Yeah, it was just a thought. Don't worry..."

"... alright," she relented and sighed as Lauren carefully pulled her closer. She could think about this another time. "But whatever it was, I meant everything I said. When I'm nervous I have the habit of talking before thinking and so I just say what I'm feeling... I'm kind of an open book when I'm like this, but don't tell anyone."

And just like that the smile on Lauren's face was back. "Good to know."

Camila glanced down again for a moment, licking her lips thoughtfully. Maybe she was a bad kisser? That was actually a high possibility. With no experience whatsoever, she didn't really know what she was doing.