you keep robbing my heart like a bank ~camren~

11.

Camila: hey! did u have fun today?

Dropping her phone back onto her bed, Camila furrows her brows as she towels herself dry. She had texted that to Lauren over an hour ago when she got home from the pool party because she didn't get a chance to ask Lauren in person. The girl was in a deep conversation with Zayn while Camila herself was preoccupied with Ally's story of how she broke things off with Troy because he didn't turn out to be the guy she thought he was (and Tori looked about ready to murder Troy during Ally's spiel).

It's unlike Lauren to go too long without answering a text message unless she's sleeping, and seen as it's only 7:00, Camila highly doubts that she is. She's not going to think too hard on it though; Ally and Tori are probably occupying Lauren's time and in between that, showering, and getting dinner, Camila assumes that the girl is just honestly too engaged at the moment.

Except, when it hits 11:00 and there's still no word from Lauren, Camila does get a little concerned. She contemplates calling the girl but before she can, her phone rings, Zayn's contact name flashing across her screen.

"Hey, what's up?"

Zayn doesn't even offer a greeting. "Are you with Lauren?"

"No... why?"

"It's just... earlier she... fuck!"

"What are you talking about?" Camila demands, because Zayn is starting to make her panic. "What happened to Lauren? Is she okay?"

She hears a huff through the line and begins nibbling on her bottom lip in worry. "Physically, she's fine. Emotionally, not so much."

"What the fuck did you do Zayn?!"

"Nothing, nothing! God, I didn't do shit!"

"Then explain to me what the fuck is going on!"

Zayn shuts a door on the other side of the line and she's assuming he just locked himself in his room. "Okay, so after we were done swimming, she came up to me saying she had to talk to me about something. And she kept like, looking at you so I honestly thought she was going to admit something to do with you. But then she... fuck... she..."

"Spit it out," Camila urges.

"She said that she has a crush on me."

Camila goes silent, halting her earlier alarmed pacing as she flops down onto the edge of her bed. Running a hand through her hair, Camila squeezes her eyes shut, because this was not how it was supposed to go.

"Mila?"

"I... what did you say?"

This time Zayn goes silent for a moment. "I said that... I told her that... this is– this is why she's upset right now. Because I had to tell her that I didn't like her like that anymore, even though I totally fucking do."

"Hold on. You said you liked her?!"

"It was before you told me you liked her! And fuck, I thought I told you," Zayn explains desperately. Camila wants to be upset with him, but she knows it's not fair to be.

"But why is she so upset?"

Zayn exhales loudly through the phone. "I had to tell her that we couldn't be anything, and when she asked why, I couldn't exactly tell her that it's because you fucking like her. Now she basically hates me, Mila, because I'm trying to be a good friend here and keep your secret."

Guilt starts building up in Camila's gut, because Zayn isn't even wrong. He had to lie to Lauren and make himself come across as the bad guy because Camila is too chicken shit to just tell Lauren she likes her. Granted, Camila is pretty obvious about her feelings but Lauren is most likely not used to that kind of attention so Camila can't really blame the girl for not recognizing it as flirting.