"Do you think they've made it back yet?" Camila questioned as they drew nearer to Lauren's home again.
"Yeah, definitely. We were out driving for like two hours," Lauren predicted with certainty. "I apologize in advance for anything Chris says."
"Noted," Camila laughed as she manipulated the free hand Lauren was resting on the console. Lauren flipped her palm upwards and invited Camila to hold it, which Camila gladly obliged to. "Chris is the brother, and Taylor...? is your sister's name?"
"Yes ma'am," Lauren nodded. "She's not nearly as bad as Chris can be."
"What's wrong with him?" Camila glanced at Lauren.
"He just says a lot of stupid shit that he shouldn't. I'm trying to work on him," Lauren rolled her eyes. She loved her brother, but oh boy, was he a piece of work.
"Oh, I get it," Camila nodded.
"Yeah, but it shouldn't be anything too bad. He just slips up and says homophobic things he doesn't register as homophobic. Like, he'll probably go "Wow, you're really pretty for a dyke," Lauren scoffed at some things he'd said in the past. "Or the iconic: you don't look like a lesbian."
"Oh, jeez," Camila sighed.
"Yeah..." Lauren wore her secondary shame plainly on her face. "This is so nerve-wrecking."
"What is?"
"Like, just having you around... Here. Letting you meet my family and letting them meet you... I don't know, it's weird. I want you all to like each other and I don't want to make it weird or anything, you know?" Lauren tried to put her thoughts into perspective. "It's like, you're not just a girl from the tournament anymore. You're like actually in my life. I mean, you have been for a while now, but I mean like - You're like in my life now. We're getting other people involved and it's strange."
"I kind of know what you mean," Camila listened and went into thought about it, herself. "I like it, though."
"I like it, too," Lauren's lips tugged upwards at the notion. "I'm usually just, me. I've never had a package deal before. You're like associated with me now. It's Lauren and Camila, not just Lauren. When people ask about me, they ask about you too."
"Really?" Camila wore a shy smile at that new finding. "People actually know about me?"
"Of course they do, babe," Lauren assented. "They weren't kidding when they said I never shut up about you. That's why they knew exactly who you were when they met you."
"That makes me feel important. I like being coupled with you. I've never been a part of someone's us, if that makes sense," Camila tried to elaborate.
"Just like you've never had the more?" Lauren linked it to another peculiar thing she'd said.
"Precisely," Camila laughed and felt so at ease with the girl beside her. "Being part of an us, a real, genuine us is so special to me. Like meeting your family and actually staying with you for a little while... I don't know. It's different than just like a sleepover, where you meet your friends' parents and family the same way," Camila broached vaguely.
"I know, me too," Lauren seconded. They were both tiptoeing around the prominent reason it felt so monumental. Lauren was practically bringing her home the way she would if she was introducing her as her girlfriend. They weren't obsessing over their labels and classifications, but it was in the back of their minds and neither girl wanted to speak out of term. Possibly breaching their conditions was a risk too big to take when things were so happy. Confident and comfortable with where they were, they both dropped the subject there.
