right there in the details | camren (au)

19

LVIII.

"What do you have in your neck?"

Sofi stares up at Lauren in confusion, her fork fallen still in her hand. You follow your sister's gaze right to where Lauren just flipped her long, dark hair over her shoulder, accidentally revealing the bright red mark of a hickey.

Fuck.

"Hm?" Lauren says, oblivious to what exactly Sofi is referring to.

Your sister points at it, before giggling behind her hand. "It looks like you have a bruise in your neck."

At that, Lauren's eyes go wide. She gives you a panicked look, before stammering out, "Oh - that's - that's nothing, Sofi."

She quickly pulls her hair back over her shoulder again, covering the hickey, but Sofi is not convinced yet.

"Did you fall?" she asks.

"Y-yes," Lauren answers a little breathlessly. "I fell - on my neck - against the edge of the bed."

Sofi's eyes go wide and you cringe hard at the ridiculous lie. You notice that your dad has suddenly stopped eating, looking at Lauren with a small frown on his forehead. You can feel your cheeks heat up. Oh God - this is terrible. Your mother's eyes are slightly narrowed, as if she's trying to solve a difficult math problem. Sofi just looks concerned.

"Do you want a kiss on it?" she asks sweetly, reaching over the table to grab Lauren's hand.

"N-no, thank you," Lauren mumbles, voice a little hoarse.

You bite hard on the inside of your cheek, while a slightly uncomfortable silence falls over the dinner table. Lauren's cheeks are flushed and she quickly grabs her glass of water.

After a moment, your mother says, "Lauren, I didn't get the chance to ask you yesterday - how have you been sleeping? Is everything all right for you in the guestroom?"

Lauren almost chokes on her water.

"Oh-" she says, coughing, while her face turns even redder. "I-I've been sleeping very well, thank you."

"Does anyone still want some salad?" you quickly cut in, grabbing the big salad bowl and holding it up to your family members. "Anyone? Some salad?"

No one says anything, so you quickly put the salad bowl down again, turning your attention back to the plate in front of you.

"So, Lauren," your dad says then, "Remind me again, what position do you play on the team?"

Happy to have the subject switched into safer territory, Lauren beams at your dad's question. "I play center forward, sir," she says, before adding, "Well, usually, at least. At UCLA, I've been playing right wing, too."

Your dad smiles. "Right - because Camila plays center forward of course."

"Papa..." you say.

Your father turns to you. "Did I say something wrong?"

You can feel your chest tightening. You haven't really talked about field hockey with your dad since your last argument. You're not sure if now is a good moment to pick up where you left off.

Lauren bites down on her lip for a moment, before trying to lighten the air and saying with a soft smile, "No, you're right, sir. Out of the two of us, Camila is definitely the better center forward."

"Laur, that's not true," you say. "You're absolutely amazing. You're so damn talented and focused and-"

You stop talking abruptly when you realize that your dad's frown is only getting deeper and your mother's eyes go wide at your use of the word damn in front of your little sister. Sofi smiles a little smugly, opening her mouth to comment on it, but before she can say anything, your dad already starts talking again.