Unexpected

Chapter 14: That's What I Thought This Was

For the next few weeks, Camila continued to recover and open up about the night of the attack with Lauren, feeling more comfortable talking about it as each occasion passed. Lauren never wanted to push her to talk about the incident, because she could see how visibly upset she would get just thinking about it. Lauren also felt guilty still, seeing as if she never left Camila by herself at the ice cream stand, she never would've had to walk home alone. So, Lauren tried to do everything she could to make it up to her.

"Do you wanna go to the movies tonight? Maybe we could get dinner after?" Lauren asked, leaning against Camila's closed bedroom door as she stood in front of the mirror applying her makeup.

"Another date? We've been out every night this week. Don't you just wanna stay in for once?" Camila asked, half laughing.

"But I owe you big time. It's the least I could do" Lauren said, walking toward Camila.

"Babe, I already told you. You don't owe me, okay? We're moving past it" Camila said seriosuly.

Lauren came behind her, wrapping her hands around her waist and nuzzling her head into the crook of Camila's neck. "I knowwww but I still feel really really bad about it" she said, pressing her lips against Camila's neck.

She stopped applying her makeup and looked at Lauren through the reflective glass, "you know how you could make it up to me? Stop feeling so bad about it and just, let it go."

Lauren kissed Camila's neck once more, "fine, I'll let it go, but I'm still taking you out...I really wanna see that new Kevin Hart movie" she said, smiling against the skin of Camila's neck.

"Ugh, fine" Camila rolled her eyes and finished her makeup.

After spending most of the day with Dinah, Ally, and Normani, Camila and Lauren separated from the rest of the group and made their way to the movie theater. They stood in line for a minute before hearing a faint voice coming from behind them.

"Camila Cabello is that you?" The voice asked hesitantly and surprised.

Camila and Lauren both turned their heads in the direction of the voice.

"Oh my gosh, hi!" Camila exclaimed, throwing her arms around the source of the voice, a tall, lanky kid, with a backwards hat on. 

"How have you been, it's been so long!" He said, as they separated. 

"I'm doing okay, how's your sister? How's your mom? Oh my God, how's everybody?!" Camila asked excitedly as Lauren stood next to her awkwardly. 

"Everybody's doing really good, my sister's starting college this fall, my mom still teaches at the elementary schoo-" he was cut off by a shorter blonde girl who came up next to him smiling, holding a bag of popcorn in her hands.

"Oh, Camila" he began quietly, "this is my girlfriend, Emily" he said, gesturing to the girl next to him. "This is Camila," he said, "we used to live next door to each other back when we were younger."

"Oh, hi" the girl said brightly as she looked over at Lauren, waiting to be introduced.

"Oh, gosh, sorry" Camila said, realizing she completely forgot to address Lauren. "This is my...friend...Lauren" she said quietly.

Lauren looked down at Camila uncomfortably before glancing her eyes back up at the two unfamiliar faces in front of her. "Hi, nice to meet you guys."

There was a bit of an awkward silence before Emily broke it to Camila's relief by saying, "we should get back in line. We don't wanna miss the movie."

They all said their goodbyes and Camila and Lauren turned back to face the front of the line. Camila reached for Lauren's left hand but she pulled it away before she could take hold of it.