you keep robbing my heart like a bank ~camren~

12.

Nothing much changes.

Camila is still entirely too sweet to Lauren, complimenting her and encouraging her to step out of her comfort zone. They still hang out and text just as much, and nothing in their dynamic is different. The only thing that really changes is that now Lauren is aware of the meaning behind Camila's actions and words: flirty.

Lauren feels a little embarrassed that she never picked up on it until Camila had to spell it out for her, but in her defense, it's the first time that someone has ever flirted with her before (Lauren thinks; she knows that it's possible that someone has before and she didn't realize, but she finds it hard to believe).

Whenever Camila would compliment her before, it always made Lauren feel flustered, but now, with the knowledge that it's straight up flirting, the flipping in her stomach has multiplied.

Lauren can't help blushing every time Camila flatters her, and she's pretty sure that the girl knows it too. It's like Camila enjoys getting that reaction out of Lauren.

The thing is, while Lauren is now fully aware of Camila's feelings for her, she herself still has feelings for Zayn. And at this point, she's not really sure what to do.

Camila likes Lauren, Lauren likes Zayn, Zayn likes Lauren.

If she started something with Zayn, it wouldn't be the most outrageous thing in the world since they have mutual feelings for each other. But Lauren knows that Camila's feelings for her are stronger and have been around much longer than Zayn's. She also realizes that they're best friends and starting something with either one could lead to a mess in their friend group.

So, at this point, as flattered as Lauren is that two of the most attractive people in school like her, she really has no idea what to do. She doesn't want to start problems but she doesn't want to completely ignore the reality either (she never thought in a million years that she'd ever be part of a love triangle with her in the middle).

The bell rings signaling the end of the school day and Lauren realizes that she spent her entire class fretting over the dire situation she's in where two insanely gorgeous people like her.

She rolls her eyes at herself because she honestly never thought that she'd have this problem. It sounds ridiculous just to say it out loud.

Lauren is still deep in her thoughts when Ally and Tori approach her at where she had been waiting for them by her car.

"I can't believe he had the audacity to say that to you," Lauren hears Tori say as they near her. "He's such a fucking dick."

"I honestly don't know what I ever saw in him," Ally replies with a scowl on her face.

It takes Lauren a moment but she assumes that they're talking about Troy, and Ally's brief relationship with him.

"Honestly, you deserve so much better, Ally," Tori says, the two girls finally reaching Lauren's car. Tori turns to greet Lauren, missing the smile on Ally's face at her comment.

Lauren leans in to hug them both because they've always been very friendly and close and it's practically second nature at this point. "Hey guys. Everything okay?"

Ally nods, walking around to the passenger side to enter the car. "Yeah, I'm good. Troy was being dumb and tried to bother me but Tori helped me out."

"Need me to set Camila on him?" Lauren asks jokingly but realizes that the moment she does, she's going to have to endure a car ride full of teasing.

The night after Camila had admitted her feelings, Lauren had spilled to Ally and Tori because while she felt a little bad that this was probably private information, she honestly had no idea what to do or how to handle it. She knew that she needed her friends to sort her thoughts out and figure out what to do from there.