Never Say Never

Chapter 4

"You know, this thing is more iron-clad than some of my military contracts," remarks Ariana, flipping through the pages of Camila's contract the next morning, an expression of deep concentration on her face. Ariana's a lawyer, and had agreed to give it a once-over before Camila had signed it. "I think you're good to go though. It's mostly to do with privacy, there's some non-disclosure agreements..." Camila nods, having expected no less. "I don't see any problems with it."

"So I'm not selling my soul?"

"Only signing your life away," Ariana grins, dropping the contract back onto Camila's coffee table, "to Lauren Jauregui. Although according to your sister, that's not much of an issue."

"I am going to kill Sofi," Camila grumbles, and Ariana laughs.

"Hey, I don't blame you – Lauren Jauregui is hot." Ariana stretches her arms over her head as she reclines on Camila's couch, kicking her feet up on Camila's lap. "If I wasn't so happy with James, I might have gotten you to introduce me to her – can you imagine how pissed my sister would be, if I dated her mortal enemy?" Ariana looks delighted at the thought – the Hamilton sisters do not get along.

"How is James? I haven't spoken to him in a while." The two of them had met a couple of years ago, when Camila had been visiting her cousin Dinah in Metropolis – Ariana was dating her roommate, and she and Camila had become fast friends from pretty much the moment they'd met.

"He's good." Ariana smiles, gets that look of love in her eye that Camila aches to have for herself one day. She's never been in love, not the crazy, stupid kind of love that she'd watched her sister fall into with Maggie, or that James and Ariana have. She's only ever had one serious relationship, while she'd been in college and it had ended messily and painfully, and Camila hasn't fallen for anyone since. "Still at the Planet, although he's starting to get restless... I don't think it'll be long before he starts looking for another job. Maybe with your new boss."

"He wants to go to Jauregui Corp?" Camila asks, surprised.

"He's talked about it," Ariana nods. "He's eyeing the director of photography job – if it's ever up for grabs, I think we'll be moving here. Unfortunately for you," Ariana adds, teasing, and Camila shakes her head.

"Are you kidding? It'd be amazing to have you here." Ariana's only in town for two days for a client, and Camila's enjoyed spending the morning catching up with an old friend. "You don't get to visit often enough."

"I know," Ariana sighs. "And now that you're in Lauren's clutches, you're never gonna be able to come see me, either."

"Like I could ever afford to make the trip before," Camila points out. "Maybe I can sabotage Lauren's current director of photography and get her to hire James so you can move here."

"Ooh, good plan, I like it." Camila grins. "So, what's she like, anyway? Lauren? All I really know about her is from Normani, so that's not even remotely reliable."

"She's... she's just amazing," Camila says, and Ariana chuckles.

"Your moon eyes can be seen from space."

"Shut up." Camila shoves at Ariana's legs, but the other woman doesn't budge.

"How long are you gonna wait til you ask her out?"

"I am not going to ask her out!" Camila is scandalised. "She's my boss."

"And?" Ariana asks, raising an eyebrow. "Plenty of people sleep with and/or date their bosses. And it's not like you're her assistant or something else that would cause a scandal."

"Pretty sure rich CEO sleeps with her younger female nanny would still cause quite the scandal," Camila points out. "Besides, there's no way she'd ever want to sleep with me."