My Favorite Camren One-Shots

A Reason to Smile

Rain poured heavily from the sky while Lauren, Camila, and Brooklyn remained dry inside their house. It was Sunday afternoon and they had been content to hang around the house to avoid the downpour that had been nonstop since Friday evening. That is, content until somewhere around their 4 year old’s 5th performance of “I’m A Little Teapot”, complete with hand motions that she insisted her Mamas do as well. 

Camila stretched her legs out so that they were across Lauren’s lap and closed the book she had been trying unsuccessfully to read. She let out a sigh in order to get her wife’s attention. Lauren looked up from her computer and gave Camila the eye contact she was begging for. She shrugged her shoulders and Camila groaned, leaning back so that her head hit the arm of the couch. 

“Let’s do it again!” Brooklyn shouted, gearing up for performance number 6. 

“Wait!” Camila said, “I have an idea.” She motioned for Brooklyn to come and sit in her lap. She pulled her little girl up and looked back and forth between her and Lauren. “Let’s go for a walk!” she said.

This time it was Lauren who groaned. “Camz, are you kidding? Have you seen what it looks like out there?” She pointed to the window to prove her point. 

Camila nodded her head. “Have you seen what it looks like in her?” she said, motioning towards the living room floor, which was filled with toys and other things that they would absolutely step on later. Lauren tilted her head, acknowledging that her wife had a point. 

“Come on, Laur. We’ve gotta get out of this house. A little rain won’t hurt anyone,” she pleaded. She nudged Brooklyn, who had been trained well. The little girl clasped her hands together in front of her chest and stuck out her bottom lip. Her bright blue eyes grew large and everything about the current situation went straight to Lauren’s heart. 

“Alright,” Lauren groaned. “But you, little one, have to go upstairs and put on your rain jacket and a pair of boots, understand?” The little girl took a moment to smile at Camila, holding her hand up for a high five. Camila returned it and moved Brooklyn to the floor so that she could run up to get ready.

“You won’t regret it,” Camila promised, reaching over to give her wife a kiss on the cheek before following their little girl upstairs.

*****

The three of them casually walked towards the small park at the end of their street. Camila and Lauren were arm in arm while Brooklyn stayed a few feet ahead of them at all times, dancing her way through puddles. She splashed until she couldn’t splash anymore and moved on to the next puddle to repeat the process. 

“She’s getting more and more like you everyday,” Lauren said, watching the little girl look up towards the sky and close her eyes, enjoying the feeling of the raindrops falling on her face. Camila laughed, mesmerized by the happiness that was radiating off of their daughter.

Lauren was reminded of a time when she wouldn’t have been so happy to dance in the rain. “Remember when we were younger and you couldn’t get me to play outside when it was raining?” 

“Of course I can! I couldn’t even get you to come outside until you knew for a fact that the ground was dry. Now that I think about it, I can’t believe I actually married you,” Camila joked, sticking her tongue out slightly in her wife’s direction. She saw that Lauren was deep in thought, so she tried her luck at getting her to spill. “What’s on your mind, babe?” 

“I never realized how weird that was until I got older…that a kid who had you as a best friend wouldn’t want to be outside in the rain. So I was thinking about the reason why. You know?” Camila nodded her head, urging Lauren to continue. “I think the reason is that I didn’t want to get messy and I didn’t want to be miserable. Even as a young child, I kept myself from taking risks. I thought taking a risk was more costly than the happiness I would gain.”