All or Nothing

12

"I do not have heart eyes," Camila hisses the second her front door has closed behind Lauren, folding her arms across her chest and leaning her shoulder back against the wood as she regards her sister with a level gaze.

"Uh, you do," Sofi replies with a nod. "It's both sickening and adorable at the same time." Camila groans, pushing herself away from the door and purposefully knocking into Sofi's shoulder when she passes her on the way to gather up her and Lauren's dishes to wash them. "I haven't seen you look like that in a long time."

She'd taken her last break-up hard, and Sofi had been the one to pick up the pieces and help her put herself back together again – her eyes now are soft as they look at Camila, a smile on her mouth, and maybe Camila can handle the teasing if it makes Sofi this happy.

Maybe.

"I haven't felt like this in a long time," Camila admits. "It's terrifying. So do not," she warns, sternly, "mess this up for me by trying to scare her with one of your 'if you hurt her I'll kill you' speeches."

"I have to let the woman know not to hurt my baby sister!" Sofi exclaims as she leans a hip against the counter beside Camila as she begins to do the dishes, taking a towel and drying them as Camila stacks them beside the sink – it's a routine they've had since they were growing up, Camila washing and Sofi drying, and the normalcy of it makes her smile.

"She's already nervous enough, I don't need you making it worse."

"Wait, back up a sec. Lauren Jauregui is nervous about meeting me? No freaking way."

"She is. She knows how important you are to me." Camila had seen the fear in Lauren's eyes when she'd asked her about Halloween. "And she thinks that if you don't like her then the two of us won't work."

Which is probably a fair assessment. She and Sofi have fought before – they are sisters, after all – but they were always there for one another, and if someone they were dating didn't get along with the other Cabello sister? It never lasted long.

Camila's praying that she and Lauren become fast friends.

She thinks they might – Lauren Jauregui, head of Jauregui Inc is very different than the woman Camila sees, the woman behind closed doors. That Lauren is light and her smiles are so bright, and she's kind and funny and so endlessly smart, and Camila knows that Sofi will respond to each of those things. She also knows that Sofi already respects Lauren and her rise to power, and she can't see a reason why Lauren wouldn't like Sofi in return.

She's been nervous before, whenever she'd brought someone home, but this time it feels different, and she thinks it might be because she feels more for Lauren than she has for anyone else ever before. It's different and it's exhilarating and it's terrifying, and Camila doesn't think she'll ever be able to get enough of the way it makes her feel, head spinning, heart racing and knees weak.

"I'll be on my best behavior," Sofi says, though Camila swears there's a hint of sarcasm in her voice – when Camila throws her a sharp look, she raises her hands in front of her, a gesture of peace. "I will, I promise. The last thing I want to do is screw this up for, especially with how long it took for her to admit she had feelings for you. I don't want to send her skittering away."

"She's not a baby deer."

"She sure as hell seems to act like one, around you." Camila just rolls her eyes. "But if you think I'm not gonna warn her about breaking your heart, baby sister, you have another thing coming. I don't want to see you as crushed as you were after Ashley left ever again."

"Just... be nice?" Camila pleads and Sofi nods. "And be especially nice to Leo, okay? If he doesn't get along with you..."

"Kids love me, Camila, don't worry. And he's a science buff, right? I can work with that. I'll win him over in two seconds flat." Camila hopes she does because she knows Sofi and Leo making friends will set Lauren at ease. "So," Sofi asks, in her best conspiratorial tone as Camila finishes the last of the dishes and dries her hands on the towel in Sofi's hands. "The date. Tell me all about it."