The Girl Next Door ➸ camren

nine

Camila, Lucy, and Luis sit across the table from Brad and Lauren at the best barbecue restaurant in town. The level of awkwardness among the table is unbearable. Camila continuously stabs her Mac 'n Cheese with her fork, looking utterly miserable. Luis keeps attempting to make small talk with Brad, but he has absolutely no idea what to say to the guy. Lucy is trying to cheer Camila up, and Lauren is just too overwhelmed by the entire situation to do anything at all.

"So..." Brad says, trying to break the tension. Nobody picks up the other end of the conversation.

He finally just decides to flag down the waitress in order to get the check, ending the disaster of a dinner for good.

Camila and Luis pull out their wallets to pay their part, but Brad waves them off. "It's on me, guys."

Once the meal is paid for, the five teenagers stand in the parking lot, heading towards Camila's truck that drove them all there. Lucy and Luis hop in the back seat, and Camila climbs in the driver's seat.

"Hey, we're going to walk around a little bit and then go home, so we don't need a ride," Lauren tells Camila through her open window.

⠀⠀⠀"Okay," she grumbles.

Lauren frowns. "Is everything alright? You seem... Off."

She nods. "I'm just tired."

"Oh, okay," Lauren says. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"See you tomorrow."

Camila watches as Lauren skips back into Brad's arms, who kisses the crown of her head, before she backs out of the parking spot.

"He seems nice," Lucy says genuinely.

Luis elbows her in the ribs and nods his head in Camila's direction, shaking his head.

⠀⠀⠀"And by nice I mean terrible," she corrects herself, understanding her boyfriend's message. "He seems like an absolute shit of a person."

"I agree," Luis says. "I don't like him at all."

There's no response from Camila, and the three ride in silence all the way to Lucy's house, where both she and Luis get out.

Brad scratches Lauren's puppy, Honey, behind her ear. "She got you a dog?"

"Yes but no. She didn't go out and buy me a dog. Her dog had puppies, so she offered me one," she explains.

He wraps his arms around her from behind and pulls her into his chest, kissing her neck softly. "She wants you so bad."

"She does not! Camila and I are just friends," she says. "Girls can be friends without liking each other."

"And the fact that you're just friends is why she was in such a pissy mood about me being here?" Brad intrigues.

Lauren shrugs. "She said she's just tired."

"You've been here for, like, six hours and you're already jealous," she jokes back.

"Damn straight I'm jealous of Camila," Brad says. "She gets to see you everyday and gives you cute pets, and all I can do is text you. Plus she has that country charm thing going for her."

She twists around in his arms, so she's facing him. She moves her hands to the back of his neck and kisses the corner of his lips. "You don't have to be jealous."

"I probably still will be," he whines.

She kisses him again. "Shut up and kiss me."

But maybe Brad should be jealous because as Lauren is kissing him, she can't seem to stop thinking about the girl next door and what she's thinking about. This is usually the time they're either Skyping, texting, or eating ice cream in her room. The fact that she's with Brad now instead of Camila just feels... wrong.