Never Say Never

Chapter 8

Camila finds herself at the gym again on Sunday morning, this time with her sister and Maggie in tow, and she can't help but be a little hopeful that she might run into Veronica again.

She doesn't spot her in the main gym, and after half an hour, she decides to go and check out the weight room in the vain hope that she might be in there.

"Why would you want to do that to yourself?" Maggie asks when Camila tells them where she's going. "It's just going to be full of dudes who think they know better than you."

"No reason."

"There's a reason." Sofi is on her immediately – Camila knows she's a terrible liar. "There's a definite reason."

"No, there's not."

"Then we'll just come with you."

"What?" Maggie protests. "Ew, no, why would we do that?" But Sofi ignores her protests and merely drags her girlfriend along as she follows Camila down the stairs. "You owe me for this, Cabello."

"I'll buy you dinner," Sofi promises, which seems to satisfy Maggie.

Camila tries not to be disappointed when a quick glance around the weight room reveals only sweaty guys and no Veronica in sight, but settles in to do some reps on one of the machines anyway – now that she's here, she may as well get something out of it.

Plus, she's really confusing her sister, who she can see out of the corner of her eye, desperately trying to work out why Camila had come down here.

"Oh, hey," a familiar voice calls from behind her, and Camila spins to see Veronica standing there, a smile on her face. "You came back."

"I did."

"And you brought friends?" Veronica glances towards Sofi and Maggie, who, Camila is horrified to see, are staring at Veronica with near open-mouths. "Was I not a good enough spotter for you?" Veronica teases, and Camila feels herself blush.

"What? N-no, you were great." Sofi puts a hand over her face in exasperation, and Camila hopes to God that Veronica can't see her. "This is my annoying sister, Sofi, and her girlfriend Maggie." They both wave. "And this is Veronica. We met the other day."

"Wanna be workout buddies again?" Veronica asks, and Camila nods, because she would like to get her away from Sofi as soon as possible, and also, she's definitely not terrible to look at. "Awesome." Veronica's smile is dazzling, and Camila refuses to look back at her sister as Veronica leads her towards one of the machines.

"Your sister and her girlfriend make a cute couple," Veronica comments, glancing towards them as Camila does a benchpress.

"Yeah, they do. I'm glad they found each other."

"And what about you?" Veronica asks. "You have someone waiting for you at home?"

"Nope."

"Seriously?" Veronica raises an eyebrow. "A girl as cute as you?" Camila flushes. "Why the hell not?"

"New to town, remember? I haven't had a chance to meet anyone yet. Well," she adds, "except for girls at the gym who call me cute." Veronica grins.

"Hey, I just call it like I see it." They swap places, and god Veronica has great arms, and it feels kind of good, to be flirting with a hot girl, and she wonders if maybe Sofi is right – maybe she should be putting herself out there. "I feel like we're being watched."

"Oh my god." Camila looks up to see Sofi and Maggie on the machine opposite and being completely obvious about the fact that all they're doing is spying on them. "I am so sorry."