Never Say Never

Chapter 19

Enjoy justccabeYo badassbisshh SVR1965 :)

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Her time in London passes much quicker than Camila wants it to, her days filled with exploring the beautiful city with Leo, visiting historical landmarks and tourist traps, dozens of shops or just walking, the both of them taking in the glittering city lights with wide eyes.

They go ice skating one day, their back drop the tower of London (which they'd visited the previous morning, and both Camila and Leo had enjoyed it immensely), and Camila is hopeless but Leo gets one of those penguins to hold onto because he's so little and so what if Camila ends up using it more than him?

She's having the best time, not only her days filled with light and laughter but her nights, too, she and Lauren playing games some nights or just sitting with one other, existing in the same space in a way they haven't been, back home, and Camila really doesn't want the trip to end.

But it has to, eventually.

On their final night, Lauren is already waiting for them in the hotel room when Camila and Leo get back from their day of fun, having finished her final day of work early, and she announces that she's scored four free tickets to a West End show.

Ally declines, saying that she doesn't want a late night before travelling, and Camila wonders if she should, too, whether she should give Lauren and Leo a night to themselves, but she sees the hopeful look that Leo (and Lauren , she's pretty sure) throws her and knows she can't say no.

They go for dinner first in some fancy restaurant where everything on the menu is out of Camila price range, but Lauren tells her she can order whatever she wants and she'll foot the bill. The place is busy but they're mostly hidden away in a booth in the corner, giving them the illusion of privacy, and the lights are dimmed low, Lauren's eyes sparkling at her from across the table, and even though she knows that it's not, it's hard for Camila not to think of it as a date.

"What are your plans for the holidays, Camila?" Lauren asks after they've ordered, Leo quiet with some coloring Lauren had brought for him.

"I'm going back home to Midvale." She, Sofi and Maggie are all making the journey when Camila arrives back from London, and she's planning on spending the five hour drive sleeping. "I haven't been for a while, so it'll be nice." They'd spent last Christmas at Sofi and Maggie's place in New York, but Sinu wants to host is this year, and Camila's happy to let her, wouldn't mind a break from city life for a few days. "We're driving up the day we get back." The holidays have fallen kindly this year – Lauren had told her that she wasn't working Christmas Eve, which was a Monday, so it meant Camila could spend five days in Midvale before returning to New York.

"With your sister and her girlfriend?" Camila nods. "Dinah and Normani going to be there?"

"Nah, they're spending a couple of days with his foster parents in Miami, and then I think back to Metropolis to see Normani's family. What about you guys?"

"Well, it's just us." Lauren ruffles Leo's hair. "I think we'll probably go to the beach house, lock ourselves away from the world for a few days."

"You have a beach house?"

"Mm, about two hours outside of the city." Camila bets it's massive, sits right on the beach with gorgeous views, can imagine a huge Christmas tree next to a roaring fire. "It'll be nice to get away for a while."

Camila wonders when the last time Lauren had a proper break was, when she last allowed herself to truly relax and just be, wonders if she'd even be able to answer if Camila asked.