The Showstopper

Chapter 17

A/N: This is long af but a very good one ;)

Camila's POV

It was the night before Christmas, the day before my favorite holiday. I was so excited about tomorrow especially because I'll finally give Lauren her present. It was a charm bracelet with a few little charms on it: theater masks, the Empire State Building representing New York City, music notes, the sun and the moon, and my favorite one of all, a custom charm with the letters "L + C" on it. Dinah urged me to get "Camren" on it but we kind of got tired of the nickname after she kept calling us that everyday. But the bracelet was the perfect gift I think I ever got anyone. I was really proud of myself and knew Lauren would love it.

This holiday should be a lot better than the last one. Thanksgiving day was fine but the dinner the Saturday after with the Mahone's wasn't. It didn't necessarily go bad but it was just irritating. Austin and I acted very nice and flirtatious with each other which I hated. I had to tell my mom after dinner that I liked him and she talked to me for almost an hour about it, telling me how happy she was that I was finally liking a boy and giving me advice and crap. I ignored most of it since I really didn't need it. I was internally puking just thinking about the dorito boy, a nickname Lauren came up with.

It worked though and helped keep suspicion about Lauren and I down. I wasn't so nervous about asking to go over to her house or her coming over here. We would have sleepovers now that were so cute and cuddly. We just talked about our lives and dreams all night in bed until one of us sang one another to sleep. I also usually wore one of Lauren's T-shirts, getting to breathe in her lovely scent till I fell into my slumber. And during the day at school, I would wear her classic black bomber jacket and sometimes her grey knit beanie. I just loved having a piece of her with me everywhere I went.

We got to be closer and saw each other more especially after I announced to my folks that Austin and I were "officially dating." I made up some bullshit story on how he asked me in rehearsal, right after we sang together, to be his girlfriend with a bouquet of flowers in his hand. My mom was overjoyed but I just tried my best to ignore her as she gushed about boys again. The whole thing really didn't happen. All the dates I said I was going on with him were really just with Lauren. We went to the movies, bowling alley, theater, mall, café, beach, and downtown Miami. We had tons of fun on all the dates and didn't talk to dorito boy at all so he just left for the most part, but we didn't care. Even though he made me kiss him once, this whole thing with Austin wasn't affecting our relationship as much as I thought it would.

I was falling more in love every day with Lauren as we still continued to learn more about each other. This was in fact deepening our relationship and I've never been so happy in my life. I'm so madly in love with Lauren and I might tell her tomorrow on Christmas. It's really nerve wracking but I think I'm ready. I also think that maybe we'll go all the way. We've gotten super close before such as me taking off my shirt and her kissing and massaging my breasts over my bra and vice versa with her but we always stopped there. I wanted to wait till we said "I love you" to each other first before we hit home run. I didn't tell Lauren that but she knew and always respected my boundaries. She would still ask permission to do something which I still found incredibly cute.

Tomorrow night was the perfect night to do it too since I was going to have the whole house to myself. Typically I would go with my family to my grandparents house to visit with my extended family as we do every year but this year was different. I told my parents that I wanted to be with Austin and meet some of his family, but I was actually going to stay home and be with Lauren. It was the perfect plan and they wouldn't get home till after midnight so we had plenty of time for such activities.

Last week I was feeling extra nervous and bit pressured about sex with Lauren. It wasn't that she was pressuring me into doing it but I felt pressure by myself thinking that I might not be good at it or good enough for her. Lauren's had plenty of experience in the sex department and I didn't have any. I did't even really know to have sex with a girl and still fully don't. I thought about watching some pornographic videos but got highly uncomfortable as I kept thinking about it and decided against it. My other option was to ask around school. While everyone was studying for exams in the courtyard, I went over to where the softball team sat since Lauren had slept with almost all of the players. I was going to ask maybe a few of them how to really do it so I could impress Lauren. Bad idea.