All or Nothing

8

The second Camila's lips brush against Lauren's, she knows she's well and truly done for.

She feels like she's flying, and the feeling only grows when she pulls away and finds Lauren looking up at her with soft, gentle eyes.

"Sorry," Camila murmurs, heart beating rapidly in her ears and fingers curling tighter around the back of Lauren's neck because god, she never wants to let her go. "There I go again," she adds when Lauren's eyebrows scrunch into a small frown of confusion, "breaking all your rules."

"You're more than welcome to do it again and again," Lauren tells her, a little breathless, and Camila grins, knowing she'd love nothing more than to do just that, because now she knows what kissing Lauren Jauregui feels like, she wants to do it over and over again, wants to kiss Lauren hot and dirty, dart her tongue past the seam of her lips to flick against the back of her teeth, wants to feel Lauren panting against her mouth as she draws Camila closer with her hands curled in her hair.

"I'll hold you to that," Camila murmurs, brushing her thumb one last time against Lauren's cheek before dropping it back down to her side, and Lauren's smile is radiant and Camila wants to transfer it onto canvas so she never, ever forgets how she looks like this, soft and open and so beautiful that it makes Camila's chest ache.

"I hope so," Lauren replies, and there's a heat in her eyes that makes Camila's throat go dry, and she wonders what they're even doing at this stupid gala in the first place when they could be making out behind the closed door of her apartment, instead.

Then again, she reminds herself, there wouldn't be any kissing if not for the stupid gala, so maybe she shouldn't be so quick to curse it. She has no idea what had changed Lauren's mind but god, she's so glad she did.

She'd almost regretted agreeing to be Lauren's date to this, because she knew it would be torture to be by her side but not really, just a façade for the people around them, but the way Lauren had looked at her when she'd first seen her dress earlier that night, the way she'd spoke of her regret in the back of the car... oh, it had almost made the pain of the last few days worth it.

And she knows they're not in the clear yet – they still have so many things to talk about, and Camila knows that Lauren is going to need some reassuring so that Clara's and Eliza's poisonous words don't take root in her mind, but she thinks, for the first time since Lauren had pressed a hand against her chest, that maybe there might be a chance for them, after all.

But this isn't the time or the place for that conversation, Camila knows – they still have to survive the rest of the night, and from the deadly glares Clara Jauregui is throwing them from across the room, Camila's not entirely sure she will.

She's almost tempted to kiss Lauren again, open-mouthed and messy, just to see that sour look on her face deepen because god, she deserves it.

She's still reeling from the things that Clara had said to Lauren, to her own daughter, even though Camila supposes she should have expected it, considering the stories Lauren has told her about her mother. But she still hadn't been prepared for it, hadn't expected Clara to outright ask Camila if she was just in it for the money, when Lauren was worth so much more than that.

Lauren was worth everything and Camila just hopes that she can make Lauren believe it.

"Want another drink?" She asks when Lauren lifts her glass to her lips to down the remaining amber liquid – her tongue slides over her bottom lip to chase the last few drops, and Camila's eyes follow the movement, transfixed as Lauren's lips curl into a smirk.

She doesn't even blush at being caught, because Lauren is hot and she knows it.

"Sure." Camila plucks the empty glass from between her fingers before she makes her way over to the bar, humming quietly to herself as she goes, feeling like she's been on cloud nine ever since she'd felt the soft pressure of Lauren's lips against her own.