like a forest fire | camren (au)

2

Camila texts her later that night.

Lauren's curled up on her bed, taking notes for one of her upcoming exams, books spread out all around her, when the notification pops up on her screen. Her stomach flips as she stares at the blinking light on her phone for a moment. She should wait. She should probably give it... at least half an hour or something. Her heart is beating a lot quicker inside her ribcage, though. She tries to turn her attention back to her notes, but the blinking light is very distracting. She stares at it again, biting her lip.

Then, she leans over and grabs her phone, sliding her fingers over the screen and quickly tapping on Camila's message.

Fuck waiting.

It's a picture of the Starbucks coffee cup. The message attached to it reads best cappuccino of my life.

Lauren grins, tugging her bottom lip back with her teeth. She stares at her phone, letting her eyes go over the words a couple more times. The comment makes her feel a little bold, a little confident, so without properly thinking about she types back Which part of 'call me' are you interpreting as 'text me' exactly? She presses 'sent' before she can stop herself.

About ten seconds later, her phone starts ringing.

A heavy shiver runs down Lauren's spine. Fuck. Of course. Damn it, she even asked for it. After letting it ring for another ten seconds, she takes a deep breath, taps the screen and picks up.

"Hi," she says, praying that her voice doesn't give away the fact that her entire chest is suddenly tingling.

"Hey," Camila says.

"Hey," Lauren says again, feeling stupid about it right away.

"Hi..." Camila repeats and Lauren can see the teasing smile without seeing it. She closes her eyes and runs a hand through her hair - nervous habit. Why is it always so impossible to keep her act together around this girl? She leans back into the pillows, starting to feel a little hot, which she absentmindedly registers as a reoccurring thing when it comes to Camila, so maybe she should start getting used to it.

"H-how are you?" Lauren stutters out then, because she has to say something.

"Really?" Camila says, playful edge to her voice. "Is that why you told me to call you instead of text you? So you could ask me how I'm doing, even though you saw me, like, an hour ago."

"Well-" Lauren says, feeling herself get more embarrassed by the second. "-a lot can happen in an hour, right?"

Camila chuckles. "Absolutely - and don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I like hearing your voice."

God. It's a good thing that they're talking on the phone, because Lauren can just feel herself start blushing harder with every passing moment. Get it together.

"So..." she quickly continues, trying to shift into actual conversation instead of her just making a fool out of herself while Camila grins on the other side of the line. "Are we still on for Saturday?"

She can hear Camila laugh softly. "We're still on."

"Good..." Lauren breathes out, and then, because she is done with being shy and bashful all the time, she blurts out, "Let me take you out. You know - before the event."

There's a beat of silence and it sounds like Camila takes in a sharp breath before she says, "Ok, y-yes, sure, I would - love that."

Lauren bites her lip, feeling her confidence kick back into place as she notices the sudden nervous edge to Camila's voice. "Great. Text me your address. I'll come pick you up."