thanks for the memories (camren one-shot)

even though they weren't so great

trigger warning for mention of past self harm and homophobic slurs

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-

They're definitely not friends. Not even close.

For one, they have, like, nothing in common. Lauren is the cool girl. The classic cool girl, the pretty popular cheerleader with the thick mane of dark hair and clear green eyes and the charming smile, the one who goes through boys like tissues and never pays attention in any of her classes. She's the cool girl with the cool friends, and Camila is absolutely not one of those friends.

Camila is an art kid, a wallflower. She doubts most of the kids at her high school even know her name. She keeps to herself a lot. The only time people pay attention to her is when the almighty Lauren Jauregui takes it upon herself to shove Camila into a locker as she passes, or call her a name in class - bitch, freak, psycho. Dyke, more often than not. Lauren loves to call her a dyke. She says the word with such vitriol, like it's poison, like it burns her mouth as she spits it out.

It used to hurt a lot more than it does. Camila guesses she's become sort of numb. Plus, every time Lauren calls her that, there's some fiercely defensive fear clouding her eyes, and maybe only Camila can see it, but she does see it.

She sees it a lot more nowadays, she thinks.

-

Camila had never spoken to Lauren - besides the occasional insult, of course - until they started working together at the coffee shop a few miles away from their school, closer to the mall than the highway. They live in a small town. There's never a lot to do. Maybe go to the drive-in, or go to football games, or hang out at the aptly dubbed "Top Of The World", where they do construction up near the new, expensive houses, and teenagers will go there to get drunk or smoke. Camila's never been there. She always figured a girl like Lauren Jauregui must go there a lot, with all her pretty, peppy friends and muscular jocks. Camila had never been cool enough to be invited.

She got a job over the summer because she was bored. Plus she wanted money for art supplies. She'd deny it if anyone asked, because it sounded lame, but she's taking AP Art next year and she's nervous and she just wanted to practice - it sounds pathetic. It kind of is. Whatever.

Her first day on the job her boss introduces her to the girl she's going to be sharing most of her shifts with and Camila nearly loses her breath when she recognizes the smooth pale skin and the intense green eyes and sharp, perfect features of Lauren Jauregui. Lauren seems surprised to see her too, but in a cool, collected way, where she manages to barely acknowledge her and also make Camila feel like she's doing something wrong just by being there. It's stilted and awkward as they pretend to introduce themselves to each other. Camila prickles under Lauren's gaze.

Their boss leaves and Lauren is left to train Camila how to use all of the equipment. She speaks in a low, half-drawling voice, like she can't be bothered to actually be helpful, and it's making Camila more irritated than it probably should. She's not even making the effort to bully her like she does in school. This somehow feels even more insulting. It's weird, the way she's acting like they're strangers.

And then Camila is officially starting her shift, and she's sort of fucking up. She accidentally messes up a customer's drink, and helplessly, regretfully, she turns to Lauren, expecting the girl to chew her out. Instead, Lauren - god, and Camila has no idea why she does this - slides an arm around Camila's waist, letting her hand rest on her hip, as she gives that charming, gleaming white smile to the customer and apologizes in that velvety voice of hers, promising that she'll give the customer a refund. Camila feels like she's about to fall out of her own skin while Lauren leads her back towards the espresso machine and begins making the drink herself. "Don't worry about it, seriously," she murmurs. "Happens to everyone when they first start working here. You're fine."