Talk To Me (Camren)

Chapter Four

Chapter 4

Lauren's POV

When I first met Luis we would talk sometimes. The only reason we saw each other so often was because Alexa was good friends with him so he was basically at every party, bonfire, and hangout. In sophomore year he asked me out then shortly after asked if I would be his girlfriend. I, being the naive girl I was, thought, "why not" and said yes. When a sophomore, I thought it was possible for me to fall in love with him. Now, two years later, I know I had not. Yet I'm still with him.

I don't want to say that I haven't broken up with him because there hasn't been a reason to, because that sounds beyond bitchy and selfish. But Luis was a good guy and our relationship had always been very calm, safe. Now, at this moment, Luis was not either.

"Why the hell are you even near her? People are going to start talking, hell people already are!"

I could have leaped for joy when the lunch bell finally rang. I was out the door faster than you can say, "Mrs. Brunner sucks ass at teaching." Seriously, that old lady needs to retire. I'm ninety nine percent sure she turns off her hearing aids to shut us up because today Dinah was shouting to Normani from the other side of the room and Mrs. Brunner didn't even react.

I was feeling oddly giddy today, so I decided to try a different route to the cafeteria. I was happy I did because there was Camila, ten feet away with her textbooks in her hands in front of what I suppose was her locker. My giddiness escalated even higher as I got closer and touched her shoulder.

She turned around with a look of fear and shyness. Once she saw it was me, her face automatically became relaxed and a smile appeared on her face.

"Hi, Camila," I greeted in a sing-song manner. I guess I was happier than I thought.

"H-hi, Lauren," just seeing her look as joyful as me made my heart happy. She still had a stutter, but I figured that's from her lack of social skills.

I remember that Dinah, Normani, and Ally were on a trip with their dance class, "So I was wondering if I had the honor to sit with you at lunch."

I gave a cheesy grin before realizing that what I said could sound bad so I quickly added, "Unless you don't want me to sit with you, in which case I'd totally understand."

Camila shoved her books in and shut her locker. She whirled around and looked me square in the eyes.

"Did somebody put you up to this?" Her stutter was gone.

"Wh-what?" I was taken off guard by her sudden mood change.

"Is this some kind of joke because if so, please leave me alone." Her voice was flat and it was the first time I'd heard it like that. I glanced around for the first time. People were staring at us. Had they been before?

I looked into her shining brown eyes, unwavering.

"No jokes. I just want to sit next to a person that I think is really rad and that I'd like to get to know." I reused the word "rad" that she had used yesterday. I don't think I had ever said that word to describe anything before. It kind of amused me.

"Honestly, Camila, I'm not like that." I added when she didn't reply.

The Cuban girl did the same thing she did weeks ago where she looked through my eyes to my soul.

"You really want to sit with me?" an unsure voice asked

"Truly."

A pause.

Her face broke out into a winsome grin, "Okay then. I'm hungry, let's go get some pizza."

She took my hand softly and guided me through the crowded hall. My heart was doing this funny thing where it started to beat out of my chest whenever Camila's skin came in contact with mine.

While in line, Camila avoided the eyes of everyone that would look between the two of us. I didn't want her to feel uncomfortable because of me, so I attempted to start a conversation.

"You like books?" I asked lamely, looking at the book she had tucked underneath her arm.

"Yes," she answered simply.

"Is that a good one?" I pressed. Her voice was so nice to listen to, but she often answered in one word phrases.

She ran her fingertips over the gold letters on the cover. They seemed to be in a foreign language.

"It's for French class," she supplied, "It's terrible."

Being her partner in English, I knew how perceptive she was, so the book must have really not been that good.

"Oh."

There was a long silence. I stared at  Camila's side profile when she lifted her head to take a plate of pepperoni pizza. She was definitely nice-looking, I thought again. My eyes traveled from her dark eyes that seemed to be lighter from the sunlight streaming through the cafeteria windows, to her thick eyelashes down to her cute nose. When my eyes dropped to her lips she turned back to me. My green eyes snapped up.

I started talking right away to distract her from my slip-up, if she had noticed, "Doyouwantketchup? Of course you don't want ketchup, you're having pizza, so, uh, never mind." I shut up and internally slapped myself for talking so fast.

I furrowed my eyebrows and waited for her to speak (I seemed to do a lot of that). The next thing I know my ears were filled with the sound of her laughter. It was beautiful. Not very loud, but I'd never heard Camila do or say anything loud. The infectious chuckle made my lips twitch into a smile. I don't think I have ever smiled as much as I have in the short time period that I'd known Camila.

I took a packaged salad and we sat down at the table Camila usually sat at. On the way to our seats, students turned their heads and subtly stared at us. Not a lot of students, but enough for me to notice.

It was so fucking ridiculous how if you did one thing that may be thought as "strange" or not in the ordinary, people will make a point to let you know. It wasn't even a big deal, but these kids craved some sort of drama and had to stare at us like we were wearing clown suits.

When I was about to ask Camila if she had finished Miss Lovato's packet, I felt a rough tap on my shoulder. I twisted in my chair to see Luis eyeballing the two of us.

"Lauren, what are you doing?" whispered Luis as he scanned the cafeteria.

"Having lunch," I quipped.

"Yes, but why with the freak?" Luis voiced shamelessly, his voice getting louder and angered.

"Shut up, Luis."

I was mad.

First of all, she wasn't a freak. Second, he was being immensely rude just calling her a freak basically to her face.

"Oh come on, Lauren. When you said you wanted to know about her I didn't know you were going to fucking try to be all buddy buddy. She doesn't even talk to you."

I bounced up from my chair and pushed him to the side, "You know what, I need to talk to you."

I didn't want Camila to hear anymore from Luis. She did talk to me. I didn't know why, but she did, and I didn't want that to change.

"Maybe I don't give a damn, Luis." I stated firmly when we were standing a good distance away from the table, but as I looked around at people whispering nearby, I wasn't so confident.

"You're impossible."

"No I'm not."

"No, you wanna know something?" he pointed to his chest in emphasis, "I don't want to be the guy with the girlfriend that likes talking to the girl that's like a blank wall. No-"

"She's not a fucking blank wall." I felt the anger building up inside me. Not just the anger from this but also from my relationship in general, all intensifying.

We had been talking in a somewhat hushed tone until then, "Fine, whatever. Do whatever you want, not that you don't do that anyway."

With that he was gone. I let out a frustrated sigh and returned to my seat.

When I looked at the seat in front of me, it was empty. I let out a sad sigh and stabbed a piece of lettuce with my fork.