Never Say Never

Chapter 29

Three weeks pass in a haze, a mix of classes and assignments and trying to carve out time for Lauren, Leo, her sister and her friends, and Camila is glad for a reprieve, though brief, when February 22nd comes around, the night of the awards show Lauren had invited her to in Metropolis.

Lauren finishes in the late morning, picks Camila up from campus after her final class and she gets a few curious glances from her classmates as she slips into the backseat of the sleek Sedan – they know that she's dating an older woman with a son, but she hasn't told them that it's Lauren Jauregui, has been keeping that information close to her chest.

"Hey." Lauren had been tapping away on her phone, but when Camila sits next to her she puts it away and draws her into a kiss.

"Hi." Lauren's eyes are bright, the prospect of a night away making her happier than Camila seen her the past couple of days after a stressful week at work. "How was your class?"

"Good." Camila takes Lauren's hand and laces their fingers together. "But how about we agree not to talk about work until we're back in New York City?"

"You've got yourself a deal."

Lauren had decided to use the Jauregui Corp. jet to make the trip across the country, and as their car pulls into the private airfield where it's kept, Camila looks around with wide eyes, feeling like she's just entered another world.

She forgets, sometimes, now that she knows her so well and sees her so often, how much money Lauren has, and how wildly different their lifestyles are, even though Lauren is always careful not to let Camila feel like she's too out of her depth.

But as she's led up the steps of a very fancy private jet, it's very hard for her not to feel like a fish out of water, and she wonders if that's how she's going to be feeling for the remainder of the day, knows that tonight she's going to be surrounded by a lot of important people, when she is anything but.

She is important to Lauren, though, wants Lauren to share her life with Camila the way Camila has shared her own with Lauren, and if that means she has to put on a fancy dress and go to a fancy dinner in a fancy building then she'll do it, because she can do anything so long as Lauren is by her side.

She takes the opportunity to explore the plane's interior as Lauren talks to the pilot, waiting just inside the doors, as her driver brings their bags into the cabin.

Camila's only been on two planes before, to and from London, but this one is a world away from that, all open space and leather seats that recline, huge television screens everywhere and there's even what appears to be a fully stocked bar.

Even the bathroom is fancy, and Camila can't quite believe that she's inside something as magnificent as this, dreads to think how much the thing had cost.

"You okay?" Lauren asks, appearing by her side as she's exploring the well-stocked kitchen.

"Slightly overwhelmed?" She answers honestly. "It's so fancy."

"I like to travel in style," Lauren quips, and Camila chuckles.

"How come we didn't use this to fly to London?"

"I only tend to use it for shorter flights, mostly domestic. Things get a little more complicated to arrange when you're travelling internationally."

"Makes sense." Camila wouldn't even know how to go about arranging any kind of private travel at all.

"Ready to go, Ms Jauregui?" The pilot asks, and Lauren nods, leading Camila over to one of the leather seats as he and his co-pilot, emerging from the cockpit, ensuring that everything's safe to fly.