Afternoon Run (Camren)

six; ❝boyfriend❞

  I grumble at my phone screen, not happy with the text Lauren sent me. 

Laur | 4:05 pm
I can't make the run for today! I have a stupid dentist's appointment.

Camz | 4:05 pm
It's okay! I'll miss you though :(

Laur | 4:06 pm
We'll see each other soon!

I blush at the last text, and send her heart eyes. I turn my phone off and quickly get ready for my daily run without Lauren.

I throw my hair into a messy bun and I put on a white t-shirt with multi colored leggings. As I'm tying my shoelaces, my mom yells for me.

"Camila! Come into the kitchen! She yells, her Spanish accent coating her words.

I make my way out of my room, down the stairs and I enter the kitchen where my mom is holding a bowl of beans in her hands.

"What do you want?"

"Can you help?"

"No, mom. I have to go out for my daily run," I say, furrowing my eyebrows.

"Ah, well go then," she tells me, but I can sense the annoyance in her voice.

"Bye!"

She doesn't respond, still annoyed that I didn't help her but I shrug it off.

I begin my run and as I'm jogging, I'm disappointed Lauren will not be with me today. My frown deepens when I pass her house, making me focus on it so much that I accidentally trip someone.

"I am so sorry," I apologize when I look up.

I admit he's attractive when I look at him — he has a head full of brown hair, has hazel eyes and a nice smile. He's wearing a sleeveless shirt that shows off his muscular arms and I turn, looking up and meeting his eyes.

I tilt my head when I run through the faces of guys at my school and he seems to be one that I've ran into before at school.

"It's fine," he says.

"Do you go to the high school here?" I ask instantly, because it seems as if my curiosity is more important than being polite.

"I graduated this year and I'm heading off to college in the fall."

"Can I ask what your name is...?"

"Shawn. My name's Shawn," he tells me.

"My name's Camila."

"Your name is Camila?"

"Yes, my name's Camila..? Is something wrong with that?"

"No, it's just that Camila is such a beautiful name and it makes sense since you're such a beautiful girl."

"I'm already dating someone," I say, turning down his attempts to flirt.

"I didn't mean it like that," he says, laughing a little. "Can we be friends?"

"Sure, let's be friends."

He joins me on my run and I smile, happy that I have someone to join me for today.

He ends our run at my house and he says, "bye," to me when I go inside. I wave at him and I close my door lightly, hoping my mom won't ask about him.

When I finally get to me room, I'm glad that my mom doesn't interrogate me. I rest on my bed, thinking about the new friend I made.

When I wake up the next day, I decide that I have to have Shawn join Lauren and I on our run. So in the afternoon, I shoot her a text.

Camz | 3:34 pm
I made a new friend yesterday and I told him to join us on our run today. Fine with you?

Laur | 3:34 pm
Him?

Camz | 3:35 pm
His name is Shawn. He's really nice. Is it fine?

Laur | 3:39pm
Sure

Camz |3:39 pm
Alright, see ya at the regular time (:

I tie my hair up into a ponytail and grab the new outfit I bought recently, a grey sports bra with matching leggings and some black Adidas shoes.

"Bye, mom!"

As I'm running to Lauren's house, Shawn waves at me and I pause, waiting for him to come over to me.

"Hey there," he says.

"Hello," I tell him. "My girlfriend is tagging along today."

His grin doesn't falter, as I had expected since she's a girl— not a guy, and he turns around, then quickly turns back to me.

"What?"

"I didn't know you were into girls."

"Is there a problem with that?" I question defensively, immediately holding my arms to my sides.

"No! Is there a problem with me being gay?" He asks, grinning at me.

"Oh!" I exclaim surprisedly, and rather loudly. "No, there isn't."

"Good," he reaffirms.

We continue our trip to Lauren's house, and she's already outside waiting for us. The run goes well, with all of us now exchanging gay jokes and I happily notice that I grow more and more confident with having a girlfriend.

A blonde guy approaches us, and Shawn immediately embraces him, saying, "this is my boyfriend!"

Niall looks at Lauren and I, giving us a fake smile as he greets us. His protective shield seems to be up, and he holds onto Shawn closely.

His blue eyes begin shooting darts at me as she says, "I'm Niall."

"Hi, I'm Camila."

"Nice to meet you. Shawn is my boyfriend," he tells me as if I hadn't already known.

"That's nice. I'm gay and in a relationship," I say, looking over to Lauren who smirks.

Shawn raises his eyebrow, and laughs, adding, "I am too!"

Niall immediately seems to relax and his anger goes away, letting him give me a smile that isn't fake this time.

"We should hang out some time," he says.

"We should," I agree.

We end up trading numbers as Shawn stands impatiently, just wanting to get on with his run with us.

"We should all go out on a double date on Friday. I know this great restaurant that would be awesome for a date," Niall suggests.

"Sounds good," I tell them.

"We should get going now," Shawn says. "I'll see you later Niall!"

With that, we continue our run. I make a few jokes to Lauren about Niall's instant protectiveness, which makes Shawn both roll his eyes and laugh.

For those of you read the original Afternoon Run, do you prefer this version or the other one?