By: cruci_fics
2015-03-26
Summary:
It became a habit for Camila. Like eating bananas or stepping out of the way every time Dinah does a hair flip. It started with a t-shirt. And then another. And another. Until wearing sweatshirts and beanies that belonged to her just didn't feel right.
Or wherein I am Camren trash and wrote a short sucky thing that might turn into a long sucky thing.
***
Lauren didn't notice; at least not at first. Her 1975 shirt's disappearance was nothing new, the girls like to borrow and swap clothes often so she figured one of them had it and brushed it off. Then it was a pair of sweatpants. Another t-shirt. A beanie. Three more t-shirts. She'd had enough.
"Have you been stealing my clothes?"
"Huh?" Dinah glanced up from her phone to where Lauren was standing in the doorway.
"My clothes have all mysteriously vanished and I figured the most likely culprit is you." Lauren saw the look on Dinah's face and quickly butt in before the girl could say anything.
"Don't give me that look! I know you've had a pair of earrings and a bracelet of mine for over two weeks."
Dinah had the good grace to look sheepish but defensively raised her hands.
"Look, I may be a jewelry thief but I'm not a clothes snatcher, boo." she laid back against the headboard and brought her phone back up to her face. "Ask Mila, I saw her suitcase when we checked in and let's just say she probably needed Big Rob's help zipping it closed."
Lauren sighed a thanks before turning and exiting the hotel suite. The walk down the hall to where room 305 was took longer then she thought and by the time she stopped in front of the shiny wood door her irritation had increased. Immensely.
She rapped three hard knocks on the door before realizing it was slightly propped against the frame. She pushed it open, calling out as she did. "Camila?"
"In here." came the raspy reply.
Lauren quickly rounded the corner of the entryway to a sight that made all of her previous grouchiness disappear down the drain.
Camila was lying in a fetal position, with the comforter pulled up to her chin and an expression on her face that could only be described as "kicked puppy".
Lauren was by her side in an instant, brushing the loose hair that had fallen from her messy bun away from her bloodshot eyes and rubbing up and down her arm that was beneath the covers.
"Camz, what's wrong?" Camila buried her face in the pillows and mumbled a reply.
"Everything."
Lauren sighed and sat on the edge of the bed. "Were you on twitter again?"
The low grunt that came from the pile of hair in front of her confirmed that as a yes.
"Scooch over." Lauren nudged Camila until she was on the other side of the bed and slipped under the covers so that they were face to face.
Camila's voice came out whispered. "Why are they so mean, Lauren?"
Lauren found Camila's hand beneath the sheets and laced their fingers together before answering.
"Because they're cowards. They hide behind a computer screen and act like they know exactly who you are and then get mad when you don't fit every little detail they made up about you." Lauren slid closer to Camila before continuing. "The important thing is that YOU know who you are. If you don't know them personally, don't take it personal." Camila finished the last line of the saying with a small smile on her face.
"Thanks, Lauren. You're so intelligent, like Oprah."
Lauren giggled and brought their laced hands between them up onto the pillows. "No problem. If singing ever doesn't work out, I'll just become Oprah."
Camila's face lit up. "Does that make me Gale?"
Lauren's heart thumped harder in her chest. "Sure."
Camila fist pumped with the hand that wasn't holding Lauren's, causing the comforter to be pulled farther down Camila's body, and Lauren noticed something.
"Is that...my sweatshirt?"
Camila glanced down at the dark blue fabric and shrugged.
"Huh, guess it is." Camila looked back at her. "That's cool with you right?"
Lauren nodded slowly and chose her next words carefully. "You don't happen to have anything else of mine by chance, do you?"
Camila shrugged again. "I dunno...maybe a couple shirts?"
Lauren rose up onto her elbows and looked around the hotel room until her eyes landed on the wide open suitcase she hadn't noticed upon walking in. "A couple?"
When no response came, Lauren looked beside her expecting a guilty 18 year old, but instead found lumpy covers that seemed to be breathing.
"Camila..."
A muffled noise came from beneath the white sheets.
"What was that?"
Camila's voice came clearer this time. "They're comfortable."
"My sweatpants?"
"Also comfortable."
Lauren sighed. "My beanies?"
Camila's doe eyes peaked from the edge of the comforter. "I mostly use those for selfies."
Lauren ran a hand through her hair and fixed Camila with a deadly gaze. "Do you know what this means?"
Camila sat up and almost shrunk back down into her cocoon immedetely at Lauren's eyes bearing into her. "What?"
"It means..." Lauren didn't finish her sentence, but instead launched herself at the younger girl, pinning her arms above her head and straddling her waist. "TICKLE MONSTER."
Camila shrieked as Lauren released her arms and instead started relentlessly attacking Camila's neck and sides with her hands.
Camila's boisterous laughter echoed throughout the room which Lauren thought sounded like if sunshine had a noise.
"...Lauren...please," Camila managed to get out between her laughter. "I'll... do anything.....I won't talk for...a week straight! I'll....give....you..my... firstborn!"
Lauren finally let Camila breathe after a minute or so and realized the compromising position they were in. She quickly swung her leg off the younger girl and sat back onto the bed.
Camila hadn't seemed to notice as she was still catching her breath, her hair had completely come out of it's top knot on her head and was fanned across the pillow like a halo, and it was Lauren's turn to catch her breath.
Camila turned towards her. "I'm going to get back at you for that someday, Jauregui."
Lauren shrugged. "That's what you get for taking my band t-shirts."
Camila sat up, pulling the covers with her. "That reminds me, could you grab me a pair of your pants? I'm not wearing any."
Lauren was going to be dead by the end of this tour.
***
https://archiveofourown.org/works/3620094?view_adult=true
