Happier

4

Something has shifted.

Lauren doesn't notice it right away, but halfway through their coffee date on Friday, she realizes Camila is acting kind of strangely. Even though she and Lauren did become closer, Camila had never been overly cozy or lovey-dovey, but she wasn't... like this.

She's not smiling- not frowning, exactly, but not smiling- and she won't answer of any Lauren's personal questions anymore. In fact, she dodges every inquiry Lauren sends her way unless it's about their book.

Lauren wonders what she's done wrong immediately.

"Hey, are you okay?" Lauren's working on her chapter now, and she peers over her laptop to meet Camila's gaze. Camila's sipping at her coffee and writing in the little black moleskin notebook that Lauren always sees her with. She glances at Lauren for a half-second and returns to writing. "Yeah. Why?"

"You seem, um, quiet?" Lauren doesn't want to outright confront Camila, so she tries to be discreet. Needless to say, she doesn't succeed, because Camila is hands-down the most observant person ever and it shows when Camila raises an eyebrow. "Really? Sorry. Hey, how did that whole thing with Ashley go, by the way? I forgot to ask."

Lauren blushes. She kind of forgot she told Camila about that. "O-oh, uh, nothing really, uh, happened, we just h-hung out, and-"

"Relax." Camila gives her an all-too-polite quirk of her lips. Still not a smile. "It's not a big deal. You can hook up with whoever you want to, Lauren. You're an adult. It's fine." She closes her notebook and slips it into her Prada purse, trading it for a packet, a red pen, and a couple different highlighters. Noting Lauren's slightly confused gaze, she tilts her head at the packet. "The first chapter. I like to print it out before editing it."

"Oh," Lauren says. Her heart rate is still faster than normal. Damn it, she chastises herself. Why does she get so flustered when talking about... sexual stuff these days? She was pretty much the complete opposite in high school, which is slightly ironic if she reflects on it. She's twenty-six years old, for god's sake. This shouldn't be so taboo.

Lauren tries to distract herself from her own embarrassment by glancing at Camila. She's really not being very subtle at all, but Camila is so engrossed in her work she doesn't notice. Camila also probably doesn't know this, but she looks really good right at this moment- completely in her element, her eyes half-lidded, her nose slightly scrunched, and the tip of her tongue is poking out between her lips. She's so totally meticulous with her writing, too: she'll switch from careful lettering to dragging her highlighter in slow lines across the paper. Then she cocks her head, softly mouths what she's just written to herself, and then nods, and then repeats. It's weirdly mesmerizing to watch. Lauren will tap out a couple lines on her own keyboard but she keeps looking back up at Camila because it's like she's in a trance or something.

Camila still doesn't catch on. She's practically folded into herself at this point. Lauren's gazes become more frequent and long; so much she's just plain staring at her now. She probably looks like a creep, but Camila's oblivious to it, so she keeps looking.

The little ticks Camila does are drawing Lauren in, and she suddenly finds herself noting each one of them and relaying them into the chapter on her laptop. She's never been the best at character descriptions, but just watching Camila for a couple minutes is giving her the most material she's ever had. The way she'll lightly scrape her perfectly manicured nails against the bridge of her nose, or suck in her cheeks slightly and let out a little huff of air, or taps her fingers on the ends of her mascara-coated eyelashes- they're all just odd and completely random, but for some reason Lauren finds them so attractive.