Never Say Never

Chapter 28

Camila stays at Lauren's on Sunday night, both of them needing some comfort after the emotional toll the day had taken. Leo crawls into bed with them in the middle of the night, having trouble sleeping with his cast, and Camila wakes up sandwiched between the two of them, the best possible start to the day.

Camila gets Leo dressed while Lauren's in the shower, makes him up a bowl of cereal and it feels almost like old times, except when Lauren comes into the kitchen she wraps her arms around Camila and presses a kiss against her lips, and things had been good before, before London, but god, they're so much better now.

They eat breakfast together as a family before going their separate ways when Ella arrives (after she gets her instructions from Lauren about what time Leo gets his pain meds, and what he is and isn't allowed to do, and Ella listens attentively and Camila knows he's in excellent hands), Lauren heading for work and Camila back to her apartment, with a couple of hours to spare before her first class at eleven.

Her second class isn't until three, and she spends the gap sipping coffee with some of her classmates down by the lake that Sofi had taken her to when she'd shown Camila around campus. Her class sizes are small, which she likes, and everyone is friendly, which just makes the whole experience even more fun.

Sinu texts her as she's packing her things away at the end of her final class of the day, letting her know that she's thinking of coming to visit that weekend if that's okay, and Camila smiles, replies that that would be great, is already excited.

She can't wait for Sinu to meet Lauren, for all parts of her life to finally come together, although she knows that the thought makes Lauren nervous, that she's terrified of making the wrong impression. Insecurity isn't a thing she ever expected to associate with Lauren Jauregui, but the fact that she's so worried about making a good impression only makes Camila love her even more.

She decides to swing by Jauregui Corp. on her way home, grabs a coffee on the way in-case Lauren's having a crappy day, and picks one up for James, too, because she knows he'd been nervous for his first day even though she knows he'll have done great.

"Hey, Ally." She pauses at her desk, and Ally grins back at her. "How are you?"

"Good, thank you." Camila can see Lauren within her office, squinting at her computer screen, look of deep concentration on her face. "You?"

"Really great."

"Glad to hear it. You can go in, if you like. She said she didn't want to be disturbed, but I know that doesn't apply to you." Camila still knocks before she steps inside, watches as Lauren's frown morphs into a tired smile as Camila crosses the threshold.

"Need a pick me up?" Camila asks, depositing the latte she'd brought on Lauren's desk, receives a grateful smile in response.

"Thank you."

"Been busy?"

"Yep." Lauren pushes her glasses up to the top of her head and rubs at her temples. "I'm not getting out of here anytime soon, so Ella is in for another late night."

"I could go and take over for her, if you want?" Her only plans for that night had been curling up on her couch with Netflix, but hanging out with Leo would be much more fun.

"You don't have to do that."

"I know, but I'd like to. Besides, I promised him that I'd help him decorate his cast." They hadn't done it yesterday because he was still a little tender.

"Are you sure?" Camila nods. "I'll let Ella know."

"Cool." Camila had come over here to let Lauren know about Sinu's visit, but now that she knows that she isn't having the best day, maybe it isn't the right time. It can wait until later, so she's about to leave Lauren to get back to her work when the other woman speaks.