take a picture of all my flaws

7

Lauren

"I still think you should tell her."

"I know you do, but I'm not going to," Lauren shakes her head, "at least not yet. Not until... until I can decide whether or not she'll treat me differently."

Lucy rolls her eyes, shouldering her overnight bag and checking her phone to see if her Uber has arrived to take her to the airport. She's flying back to L.A. today, and since Lauren doesn't have class until the afternoon, she'd decided to spend the morning with her. "Look, she obviously cares about you, and if you told her, I doubt she'd make a big deal about it. Especially if you made it clear you were uncomfortable with that."

"When has anyone ever cared about what makes me comfortable?" Lauren bitterly replies, but feels guilty for snapping immediately after it happens, running a hand through her hair. "Sorry. I just... sometimes I wish I'd never auditioned for that stupid show, because then people wouldn't treat me differently. Then when I find the one person on the fucking planet who hasn't seen it, and you want me to tell her about it?"

"You said it yourself, you're crushing on her," Lucy points out, "if you want to be with her, you have to be honest with her."

"I doubt she even likes me like that. She kept staring at you when she met you, and she asked if we were together," Lauren lists, "she probably likes you, not me."

Lucy watches her with mild amusement as Lauren talks herself out of any possibility of Camila liking her back. "Ever think she was asking because she likes you? She was holding your hand like the whole night-"

Lauren shakes her head. "Only because I was being clingy because I was tipsy."

"Oh my god, Lo," Lucy laughs, "don't you want her to like you?"

"I- of course I do, I just don't think she does, so there's no point in you getting my hopes up," Lauren sighs, and when Lucy's phone buzzes, she pulls her in for a hug. "Please don't go. I could use a roommate."

"You know if we both left the show, the whole world would implode," Lucy laughs, "it's bad enough that you're leaving. Can't wait to see the reaction to the cliffhanger. They're all going to think you're dead."

"It would be more meaningful if I was," Lauren snuggles into her, but when Lucy's phone starts to ring, she finally lets her go. "Alright. I'll walk you down to your cab."

She grabs her backpack with her laptop in to take notes in her class later. They take the stairs instead of the elevator, and when they leave the apartment building, Lauren pulls Lucy into another hug. She knows she shouldn't; if anyone pictured them, the shippers would blow it way out of proportion, and they're already going crazy at the fact that Lucy spent the weekend at Lauren's.

"I'll see you soon," Lucy assures her, giving her one last squeeze before letting go and getting into her Uber. "I'll text you once my flight lands in LA."

"Okay. Have a safe flight," Lauren says, but it's a little half-hearted, because she really wishes that Lucy was staying. But the cab drives away, and as she properly pulls her backpack onto her shoulders and turns in the direction of campus, she mumbles to herself, "back to reality."

She keeps her head down as she walks to campus, ignoring the one guy with a camera who thinks it's a nice idea to harass her, asking if she and Lucy had had a romantic weekend, if she was just going to come out already. She so desperately wants to tell him what she really thinks of him, but he has a camera, and she knows her PR team would hate her for it, and she doesn't want to cause them any unnecessary stress.

When he realises he's not going to get a rise out of her, he leaves her alone after snapping a few photos without her consent, and Lauren squeezes her eyes shut to hold back the tears of frustration. Outwardly, she acts like it never happened, and makes her way to her class, aware of the stares and whispers as she passes by groups of people.