A Change Of Directions (Camren)

Chapter 32: Kiss and make up

"Camila." Dinah said, slowly and very quietly, and all eyes turned on me. "What did she mean with 'Do what you have to do'?"

If only I knew.

Wordlessly, I dejectedly shrugged.

"Mila, I'm so sorry." Shawn began and he kept pulling at his hair in shock, "I made you turn against Lauren just because I blamed her for getting to spend less time with you. It's not that I don't like her or don't support you two, I was just bummed and needed to let off steam."

"You didn't make me turn against Lauren," I quietly said and looked to the ground. "I made myself turn against her."

"But I was the one who tipped you off!" Shawn retorted. "If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have gone all mad on her."

He let his arms drop to his sides. He sighed. "Man, I was such an idiot, sprouting all that crap about missing the real you when you were there all along. I can't believe I almost wanted to force you to become someone else again."

I felt an arm being placed on my shoulder and I almost expected it to be Shawn, when I looked up to find Noah giving me a good-natured smile. "Though I've got no idea about what has happened, you're gonna be fine. Lauren may like the badass side of yours, but she fell in love with the real you. You know, the girl with the amazing voice and charming smile and big ass heart. Who has a stuffed lion in the backseat of her car."

I playfully punched him on the chest at the mention of Lauren's gift in my car which had been a steady companion since last Christmas.

"Yeah, I always knew that Cabello was only half as badass as she liked to be." Dinah said with a smirk. "Could see right through her pretending when we had our first real talk, which happened to be about Lauren."

I shot her a glare. "Then why did you never blow my cover?"

That was when I was surprised by her deflating. She sighed heavily and shook her head. "Cause I was doing the same. Cabello, you should know by now that I care more about people's view on me than I'd like to admit. You know my situation three years ago? I couldn't let anybody know that I was some insecure lesbian with a major crush on her best friend, that's why I became the way I'm known for now. So why would I have called you out on you pretending when I had been doing the same?"

I stared at her and wondered why I kept on forgetting these things.

"And now, we're finally doing progress; I'm not afraid of kissing Normani in school now or any public place for that matter, and you've stopped being an ego-centric wannabe badass. Things are going great the way they are, but what you just did there took you back to zero."

Arguing had never been my strength when it came to Dinah because she was always so damn right.

"Yeah, maybe I overreacted." I admitted, but then tried to defend myself. "But I'm tired of always being the one who screws up and apologizes. I always manage to be guilty when I'm not, and I honestly don't know what I've done this time."

At this point, I was more looking at Shawn than Dinah because he was the only one who understood what I was saying. He was the only one I had told about the strange behaviour of Lauren.

But he mistook my intense gaze as a glare and he started to apologize again, "Damn, it's all my fault - Mila, I didn't mean to fill your head with my crap, I should've taken a chill pill first, I'm such an ass -"

"No, I'm not blaming you." I interrupted him before he could rant further. "I'm the asshole here if I let my pride take over me."

He didn't seem convinced and I forced a reassuring smile on my face. "It's fine, really, things were about to blow up anyway."