Never Say Never

Chapter 23

"You're late." Camila meets her sister in a coffee shop on NYU's campus at ten past twelve, finds her sitting at a table by the door. "This might be cold." Sofi pushes one of the two cups on the table towards her, but when Camila picks it up, it still feels pretty hot.

"Sorry, the bus was running behind." Lauren had offered to drop her off, but Camila had declined – she was going to have to take the bus every day anyway, so she may as well start now.

"More like you missed the bus you were supposed to catch because you were too busy making out with Lauren."

Okay, so maybe that's true – Camila just hadn't been able to let her go, had grabbed Lauren's hips and pressed her against the wall beside her front door, kissed her until they were both breathless and dizzy, and almost dragged her back to bed, would have if not for Lauren's impressive self-control.

(Camila can't help but wonder what it would take to break it, to have Lauren desperate and begging, can't wait to have the opportunity to try ).

"Maybe."

"She stayed the night, then?" Sofi asks, rising to her feet and leading Camila out the door. The campus sits just outside the city limits, is full of open spaces and greenery, and it's beautiful on a day like today, the sky clear and the sun shining.

"Yeah." Sofi is quiet, stares straight ahead, and Camila sighs. "Look, Sofi, I know you don't approve - "

"I never said that."

"Your face kinda does, though." Sofi's lips twitch, and she grabs Camila's elbow, leads her down a path she never would've noticed, and at the end of it is a gorgeous lake, a few stone benches set up around it that Sofi heads towards.

"I just want you to be careful." There are ducks swimming on the water, and Camila watches them as she waits for Sofi to continue. "I've never... I've never seen you as torn up as you were when you got off that plane, Camila. And I don't ever want to see you like that again."

"I don't want to feel like that again, either," Camila admits – it seems like a distant memory, now, but the pain is easy for her to recall. "What did you say to her, yesterday?"

"She didn't tell you?"

"All she said was that you asked her to explain herself, so she did."

"I told her she had five seconds to give me one good reason why I should let her within five foot of you and not launch her out the window," Camila's lips twitch in spite of herself, wonders what Lauren's response to that would've been, "and she said, 'I can't. I don't have a good reason for anything I've done, for how much I've hurt her, other than I'm an old, scared fool that doesn't deserve her.' That kind of threw me for a loop."

"I'll bet."

"I could just... I could see on her face how much she cared about you, how much she was hurting, too, and I believed her when she said she wasn't going to run away from her feelings anymore, and I figured you deserved to hear what she had to say. I have no right to stand in the way of that, and you can make your own decisions."

"Do you think it's the right one?"

"I think... I think that we can't choose who we fall in love with, and I think you both deserve a shot at happiness, and if you make each other happy, then," Sofi shrugs. "I hate that she hurt you, but I think she does, too. And I'm happy for you, Mila. Just don't forget all about your big sister."

"Hey, I would never." Camila turns and pulls Sofi into a hug. "Thank you."

"Now, come on – lemme show you around this place." Sofi gives her a tour, showing her where she'll need to register and then where all her lectures are, finishing up at the physics building where Camila will be spending most of her time.