Never Say Never

Chapter 27

"Oh, hey, you made it!" Ariana greets Lauren as she steps through the open doorway of apartment 503, an easy smile on her face as she stands in the center of the living room, surrounded by boxes. "Camila wasn't convinced you'd actually show."

"I said I wouldn't carry anything up those godforsaken stairs," Lauren confirms, "but I'm more than happy to unpack."

"A sensible woman," Ariana replies, grinning. "Your girl is in there," she stabs her thumb over shoulder in the direction of one of the bedrooms, "arguing with James over the best way to get a couch up here."

"I'll go say hi." Ariana waves her away, and Lauren steps into the bedroom, smiles at James and presses a kiss to Camila's cheek. "Hey, you."

"Hey." Camila is wearing a tank top that leaves her arms bare and is tight enough to cling to the defined muscles of her abs, and Lauren thinks that seeing her carrying heavy things around is going to leave her very hot and bothered. "You okay?"

"Mm, are you? I heard you're arguing."

"We're politely disagreeing," Camila corrects, and Lauren chuckles.

"Well, I'll leave you to it."

"Yeah?" Camila glances towards the door, where Ariana waits, and Lauren knows that she's a little nervous about leaving the two of them alone – she's been told that Ariana can be a lot , but she also knows that Camila is desperate for Lauren to get along with her friends, and Lauren wants that, too.

"We'll be fine." She leans up to give her a quick kiss before stepping back. "Nice to see you again, James."

"You too, Lauren. Thanks for helping out – you didn't have to."

"Oh, it's fine." It's a strange dynamic, between the two of them, considering he'll officially be her employee come Monday. When Camila had asked if Lauren wanted to help her friends move in, she hadn't been sure whether to accept, but she'd been assured that James was fine with it. "Just don't let anyone at the office think that I'll make a habit of helping any new employees relocate."

"I wouldn't dream of it," James laughs, and Lauren smiles as she ducks back into the living room to help Ariana.

She's the one in charge, giving Camila and James their orders as they go to collect the next lot of boxes from the moving van downstairs. Lauren is tasked with unpacking the kitchen supplies, and she piles everything onto the kitchen counter and lets Ariana put everything into its rightful place.

It's quiet, for a while, the only sound the clink of plates or the rustle of cardboard, and the soft music playing from Ariana's phone.

Camila returns before James, carrying a box so massive that she has to peer around the side of it in order to see where she's going. It must be heavy, because there's a thin sheen of sweat on her skin, and the muscles in her arms are straining, and Lauren forgets, as Camila strides from the front door and into the bedroom, what she's supposed to be doing, can only blink after her, absolutely transfixed by how hot her girlfriend is.

"You okay there, Lauren?" Ariana's voice is filled with barely-suppressed laughter, and she looks positively gleeful as Lauren spins to face her, cheeks turning pink at being caught staring. "Feeling a little hot under the collar?"

"She wore that shirt on purpose," Lauren grumbles, after Camila has disappeared back downstairs with a wave, and Ariana chuckles.

"Got a thing for arms?"

"Camila's specifically," Lauren admits.

"You're really far gone for her, aren't you?" Ariana's watching her closely, and usually a question like that would make her retreat, but Camila knows how Lauren feels about her, and Lauren doesn't mind letting the whole world know, too.