Serendipity // Camren

Chapter 40

The sun was hanging high above the Pacific when Lauren pulled into her driveway, tired from the weekend's activities and more than happy to be home. Surprisingly enough, even with their impromptu shower activities and a prolonged goodbye from Hiram and Leroy – in which the men confirmed that they would be coming out to California toward the end of July – they had made their flight out of Miami and hadn't needed to go standby on a later one. Of course, the only reason that had happened was because of a small gray and white kitten named Tempest who had managed to escape her carrier and disappear into the mass of luggage in the cargo hold under the plane. The rogue kitten was eventually caught after a three-hour standoff with airport security, who managed to coax her out of her hidey-hole with some food, treats, and a laser pen, and flight 0529 was finally allowed to board and take-off.

Because of the delay, it was already early afternoon back in Los Angeles, and all Lauren wanted was to unpack, start some laundry, and relax. Maybe sunbathe up on the rooftop deck or just lounge about on the couch. Or in bed. Where the relaxing was to be done didn't matter so much as the idea of peace and quiet and spending some quality time with Camila.

Of course, real life had other plans and her cell phone started ringing the moment she pulled into the garage.

"Fuck, that's Jack," she swore softly, groaning as she killed the ignition. She knew something had to be going on for him to call her because he was much more hands-off than Ally was with Camila – and the only reason he'd bother her was if there was something circulating that he needed more information about.

"Wonder what's going on," Camila said. She opened her door and climbed out of the car. "I'll get the bags, you talk to him."

"I can do both," Lauren argued as her phone continued to ring.

Camila rolled her eyes and shrugged. "Fine. But you better answer that before it goes to voicemail."

"Yeah, yeah," Lauren muttered before she actually took the call. "Jauregui."

"Laur – true or false: you got engaged this weekend," Jack said without preamble.

Lauren frowned. "Um, false. What's going on?" she asked. She shrugged at Camila's questioning look as she took her suitcase from the brunette and started into the house.

"Well, there are some pics of the two of you at the airport in Miami. It's no secret that you and Camila are both from there, and a few of the less than honorable tabs are running speculative stories that you went home to ask Camila's fathers for her hand. No mention has been made of your strip club exploits, by the way."

"Well, that's good. But, they seriously drew that conclusion from pictures of us in an airport?" she asked, rolling her eyes as she left her suitcase at the foot of the stairs and went to sit down in one of the armchairs in the living room.

"Like I said, we're not talking major outlets here, but the story is out and it won't take long for the wolves to latch onto it," Jack said. "So... you did not get engaged this weekend?"

Lauren sighed and ran her hand over her face as she watched Camila start up the stairs with both of their bags. "No, I did not get engaged this weekend." What went unspoken was her desire to actually propose. Even though she knew it was too soon, and that they needed to figure out the future, she couldn't deny the fact that she wanted to marry Camila.

"Alrighty then. If any of the more reputable reporters call, I'll put the kibosh on it. I'm guessing you don't want to issue a statement."

"You guessed right," Lauren confirmed. She groaned quietly as she slouched down in her seat so that her head was resting against the back of the chair. "Do you think this is something that is going to keep coming up?"