Faking It | Wattys 2022

Chapter 4

The next time Lauren sees Camila—it's at 'Professor Appreciation Week'.

Normani hooked arms with her best friend, pulling her further into the room, the fragrant smell of baked goods wafting throughout the air.

"Is that..?" The two of them stared at Camila from across the room.

"Jesus," Lauren rolled her eyes. "Is she stalking you now or something?"

"Pretty sure it's you that's being stalked, not me. I'm off the market, honey." Normani lifted up her left hand to flaunt off her diamond ring. "I didn't know Cabello Industries did parties like these."

"Because we don't," Camila said from behind them.

They immediately turned around, both of them having opposite reactions when they see Camila up close and personal.

"Hi, Mila!"

"So, why the hell are you here then?"

"My dad thinks it'll be good publicity for us—considering our motto is 'investing in future generations'. I was hoping you'd be more excited to see me." The last part of her sentence is directed more towards Lauren than Normani.

"Laur..." Normani's eyes followed one of the servers carrying a tray of chocolate-covered sweets. "I'll be right back,"

"No, don't you dare—" Lauren sighed as her best friend chased down the server.

Camila's smile grew tenfold. "So, Professor Jauregui, have you tried any of the foods we brought?"

"What are you trying to do, Camila?"

To be quite honest, Camila was too afraid to say it out loud. She and Gwen had spent the past few days on Tinder—right-swiping through a series of women in hopes that one of them would be a perfect match for the COO which, in the end, failed miserably.

It was only when she was halfway into a bottle of tequila and devouring a slice of apple pie with her two friends that it hit her.

-

"How was the reunion, chump?" Harry sat down on the other end of the couch with his drink in hand.

"Fucking boring," Camila answered earnestly. "I didn't do much but just say hi and get drunk at the open bar,"

"Sounds like you," Shawn joined them shortly after. "You didn't see anyone you used to be friends with?"

"I barely had friends in high school," she shrugged. "A lot of people knew me, but I wasn't close enough with anyone to call them my friend. Ran into this one girl who did a complete three-sixty, though."

"Define three-sixty,"

Camila rubbed the back of her neck. "The last time I remembered seeing her, she had these chunky big glasses on and would always wear this hideous shade of blue. To add on top of that, she'd carry around a copy of 'To Kill a Mockingbird' like she was some activist or some shit."

"Maybe the girl just likes to read, have you ever thought of that?" Harry quieted down when Shawn sent a glare in his direction. "But, carry on with what you were saying,"

"She... Looks like a fucking model now. Long, long hair with beautiful eyes that I never realized before." Camila scrunched her face up when she realized how she was describing Lauren. "If you saw her, you would definitely start swinging for the other team."

"What's her job again?" Shawn asked.

"Psych professor at Northeastern. She just recently moved up here."