Caught (Camren)

•9•

I could not get Lauren Jauregui out of my mind. By the time Monday rolled back around and the final week of school began, I'd barely gotten a wink of sleep all weekend. I'd tossed and turned all night since Saturday thinking about her, but I didn't mind being awake when she was on my mind. Long before she ever came into my life, I used to look forward to going to bed every single night. That was always the highlight of my day- the ending- but the more time I spent with Lauren, the more I found myself trying to keep my eyes open for as long as possible. She had me in a headlock and I was ready to surrender. I liked her. I knew that for sure. Of course, as tough as I wanted her to think I was, I would never admit my feelings for her. I wasn't that girl who fell in love with one of her triumphs and cried about it when things didn't work out, and I made sure of that. I didn't even know if she felt the same way, and I wasn't about to ask her. I planned to hide my feelings just as we hid our little secrets, but that proved incredibly difficult every time her eyes met mine.

Lauren was obnoxiously persistent when it came to our essay, insisting that she come over every day to work on it until it was done. Granted, on Saturday we didn't get anything done, and Sunday was almost an exact replica of the day before. I picked her up on my bike despite her protests and we fell into bed the instant my parents were out of sight. She still persisted, though, and she made it a point to inform me that she'd be returning on Monday- in her own car, specifically so she didn't have to ride on my "death trap" again- but I started to wonder if the project was really her motive. I expected a repeat of the weekend, which was totally fine in my book. She rang the doorbell only a few minutes after I'd returned home from school and I sprinted downstairs, pulling the door open to reveal her blinding smile on the other side.

"Welcome back," I smirked.

"Ready to get to work?" she asked, pushing past me and turning around to walk backwards towards the stairs.

"What kind of work are we talking about?"

"I don't know," she shrugged. "You tell me."

She turned back around and continued up the stairs and I followed close behind, letting my eyes wander her body from behind. She pushed open the door to my room and threw her bag down in the corner like she always did, finding her seat at my desk and watching me intently as I did the same. I sat across from her and she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, flashing that smile that turned my insides upside down.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" I questioned.

"I'm not looking at you like anything," she argued.

"Yeah you are. You're looking at me like you want to undress me."

"Maybe I do," she admitted quietly, the corner of her mouth curling up into a smirk.

Lauren was hard to describe. She had too many sides to pinpoint just one, but that was what made her so intriguing. I found myself equally attracted to all of them. Sometimes she was quiet and innocent, completely vulnerable and unknowing, and all I wanted to do was hold her. Sometimes she was outgoing, allowing the sweet sound of her laugh to fill the air in that adorable way that I loved so much, and I wanted to taste her smile on my lips. Of course, she still possessed the initial side of her that was condescending and impatient, wearing a scowl that shot chills down my spine, but I found myself strangely attracted to her attitude. Then there was this side of her, the side that hid all of her insecurities and threw herself onto me with intimate aggression, but I had a feeling that particular side of her hadn't presented itself until I showed up. As much as I wanted to know every side of her in exquisite detail, the naughtier side of her was my favorite by far, and not just because of its results- because I knew I was the reason she showed it. There was something extremely enticing about the idea that I affected her like that, and I couldn't keep my hands off of her.