mending the pieces ~ camren

chapter eighteen

Camila's POV

"Okay, turn right. The place should be right at the corner." I commanded as I guided the driver aka Theo.

"Yes, ma'am." He only responded.

"Is this Lauren chica fine?" I heard Duardo speak up from the backseat.

"Excuse me?" I relented.

"Ugh," he groaned. "Is your dear friend, Lauren, a good looking female?" he said with purposely overdone sweetness.

"That's what I like," I said, turning around to look at him. "Yes, D. She's stunning."

"Yes!" he breathed, raising his fist in the air.

Theo and I laughed as we realized what he was referring to.

He's so going to flirt with her all night... That should be fun.

"Is she single? I don't want to come off too strong or anything, you know." Duardo explained.

"Uh, I suppose so, yeah." I answered. "But D, you know no lines, you pretty much always come off 'too strong'." I added as I made quotation marks with my fingers.

"Whatever, as long as I don't try too hard, things will be fine. Girls always seem to feel overwhelmed when I think of flirting. But I'm so good at it, that it comes naturally, you know?" he said nonchalantly.

"Yeeeah.." I dragged.

"Right.." Theo added unconvincingly as he parked the car.

I looked around and saw an unobtrusive diner, and I already noticed it was mostly occupied by teenagers. I think I even might have caught Lauren's dark wavy hair as I locked the door of the car.

"K, let's go guys." I called.

We walked in and I tried to find the girl with her friend when I felt someone's hand slide in my own. I looked down at the entwined hands and I recognized it as Theo's arm. I looked up and saw him eyeing my face.

"What's up, boo?" I asked concerned. He looked frightened.

"Umm," he mumbled as he ran his other hand through his short jagged hair. "You know, it's my first time being outside of my country, hometown even. I never go on vacations, and now I'm here, about to meet your friend and your friend's friend. I'm kinda scared maybe? I don't know, Mila."

"Aw, Theo," I cooed and rubbed his forearm for support "I promise you, you'll adore Lauren. She's nothing but intimidating and she's lovely."

I checked on him and his features again, he was giving me an unconvinced look and I tried calming him down one more time.

"Thee, don't worry! She'll love you, too! it's impossible not to love you! you're a little adorable chipmunk and you're irresistible."

He smiled adorably and squeezed my hand.

"Hey lovebirds, someone's waving at us." I directed my gaze at Duardo and he was pointing at one table in the corner of the diner. I looked there and saw Lauren smiling widely and waving excitedly.

Aww.

"Okay, let's go!" I called and guided both of my friends to Lauren and her friend's table.

"Hi guys," Lauren said shyly.

"Heeey!" a girl who I assumed was Normani got up and greeted. "I'm Normani, you must be Camila?" she introduced herself and offered her hand to shake.